Airline groups have condemned plans by the world's richest countries to impose a tax on airline tickets to fund extra money for poor African countries - and make a gesture towards fighting climate change. Finance ministers from the G8 agreed at the weekend to look at using income from airline traffic to boost aid. Although the tax might only amount to a few extra pence on a ticket, experts believe the move would be a major blow to cut-price airlines that sell tickets for as little as £1. The move, which could add a pound on to air fares, was greeted with delight by environmental groups who said it was a first step towards making people pay the true cost of plane travel.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005
2:49:13 PM ||
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WTF? Airlines don't make a profit now, they would freak out it this were to happen.
#3
it's the smell of desperate actions to try and somehow get a "world tax levied" anyhow or anywhere - the camel's nose...
once one tax was OK'd they'd be all over you like a cheap suit to tax the rest of your income/possessions - "to reduce debt in Africa"....
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2005 15:15
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#4
Oh brother. There is no end to the idiot schemes to create pots of money for skimming, slushing, and stealing. I do not believe that Bush has signed up for this nonsense. The BA spokeswoman's quote says it all: "There is no justification for singling out airline passengers for an additional tax to fund development in the Third World." Unsaid was Spot's dead-on observation - the airlines couldn't be in worse shape at the moment and this can only make things even worse. Also unsaid was that there is no "plan" that can fix broken people (read: corrupt govts and sycophants) and THAT is Africa's real problem.
#6
They keep trying to get that first international tax in the door, "for the po' folks." Once the first one's in place, there'll be lots more to follow.
Sure looks like a camel's nose.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005 16:02
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#7
G8 wants tax on airline tickets to help world poor
Why?
The world poor aren't planning on flying anyplace anytime soon.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/13/2005 16:14
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#9
If these people were really serious about helping the poor, they would place hefty taxes on champagne, truffles, expense account lunches at 5 star restaurants, and Mercedes cars. Until then, I will just fart in their general direction.
Posted by: ed ||
06/13/2005 19:31
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Magnitude 7.9 TARAPACA, CHILE
Monday, June 13, 2005 at 22:44:33 UTC
Preliminary Earthquake Report
U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver
The following is a release by the United States Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center: A major earthquake occurred IN TARAPACA, CHILE about 115 km (70 miles) east-northeast of Iquique or 1515 km (940 miles) north of Santiago at 4:44 PM MDT, Jun 13, 2005 (6:44 PM local time in Chile). The magnitude and location may be revised when additional data and further analysis results are available. No reports of damage or casualties have been received at this time; however, this earthquake may have caused damage due to its size.
There is no tsunami hazard to the US or outlying territories associated with this. Commercial outlets report one death and a number of injuries with more expected.
A jury acquitted Michael Jackson on Monday of molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor at his Neverland ranch, vindicating the pop star who insisted he was the victim of mother-and-son con artists and a prosecutor with a vendetta.
Jurors also acquitted him of conspiring to imprison his accuser and the boy's family at the storybook estate — a huge legal victory but one that may do little to improve his bizarre image.
A caravan of black SUVs delivered Jackson, wearing a black suit and flanked by family members, to the courthouse. Jackson was greeted by "Michael, innocent" chants as he walked into the courthouse.
The jury, which listened to 14 weeks of testimony and arguments, deliberated over seven days before sending word of a verdict at about 12:30 p.m.
The announcement came shortly after Judge Rodney S. Melville issued a statement saying that the jury asked and withdrew a question Monday morning. He also confirmed that on Friday the jury had a read-back of testimony and there were four meetings in chambers with attorneys. News organizations had filed motions seeking information on such developments.
Jackson, 46, is charged with molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor in 2003, plying him with wine and conspiring to hold the boy and his family captive to get them to rebut a damaging television documentary.
In the documentary, "Living With Michael Jackson," Jackson held hands with the boy and told interviewer Martin Bashir that he let children into his bed but it was innocent and non-sexual.
Jackson, who climbed to fame with the Jackson 5 and dominated pop music in the 1980s with the powerhouse "Thriller" and other albums, was portrayed at trial as a pedophile who lured boys into his bed at his fairytale Neverland ranch. The defense called the accuser and his family con artists.
Jackson's career began to lose its luster after 1993 allegations of child molestation that ended with a multimillion-dollar civil settlement paid to a boy, and his lifestyle, two marriages, and drastic changes in appearance became fodder for "Wacko Jacko" tabloid headlines.
This is just like the Simpson case all over again.
The Mauritanian Army claims to have absolute proof that a radical Islamic group from neighboring Algeria was linked to a raid on a military post that killed 15 soldiers last weekend. At a news conference, military spokesman Colonel Alioune Ould Mohammad produced the Algerian registration document for a truck left at the scene on Wednesday.
Ould Mohammad said two of Belmokhtar's top aides, Abd-Lekhdime and Abdel-Aziz, had been killed in the attack. "These two men are known to be under Belouar's thumb, never left him, and as a rule did not take part in combat, which proves that he himself directed this operation," he added.
Ould Mohammad also said that a claim of ordering the attack attributed to the GSPC had been authenticated. Military sources said a widespread hunt for the raiders was still going on. Mauritanian Defense Minister Baba Ould Sidi announced last week that some 150 insurgents had attacked a military base in the remote northeastern Lemgheitty region, sparking a bloody confrontation that left 15 soldiers and five assailants dead and 17 wounded.
A statement on the GSPC Web site said the attack, in which two soldiers were also abducted, was a reprisal for a crackdown against Islamist leaders in Mauritania begun in April. The government of President Maaouiya Ould Taya has accused the Islamists of links to the Salafists, who have known ties to the Al-Qaeda terror network. Mauritania's Islamist movement has denied the charges. Critics of the Taya government say the allegations of an Islamic security threat is merely a ruse to stifle dissent and to curry favor with the U.S.
This article starring:
ABDEL AZIZ
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
ABD LEKHDIME
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
BELAUAR
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
Colonel Alioune Ould Mohammad
Defense Minister Baba Ould Sidi
MOKHTAR BELMOKHTAR
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
President Maaouiya Ould Taya
Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2005
16:43 ||
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Renewed clashes between Mauritanian soldiers and Islamic militia have been reported in the desert area near the border with Mali. Mauritanian sources, quoted by Arab daily al-Bayane, say the violence erupted on Sunday night and the Mauritanian army bombarded bases of the Algerian Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) and attacked militants of the "Cavaliers of Change" opposition group, considered responsible for three failed coup attempts in Mauritania.
A Mauritanian military source said that in recent hours the government had decided to intensify the presence of its military in the area; in particular soldiers have been deployed along the border areas with Algeria and Mali, to tackle the Algerian Salafite guerillas.
The Mauritanian government decided to send new troops into the north of the country after the 4 June attack in which 18 of its soldiers were killed in a commando raid on their base by Islamic militants. The GSPC, in a statement published on an internet site, claimed responsibility for the attack.
The UN's IRIN news service reported that tens of thousands of people protested in the capital Nouakchott last week responding from a call by the ruling party to protest the terrorist attack on the military camp.
The increase in tension in Mauritania coincided with the start of US-led counter-terror exercises in the area. The training exercise began last Monday in Chad, Mauritania, Mali, Niger and, for the first time, Algeria. Twelve-man U.S. special forces teams will conduct infantry training with African units and carry out border patrols, as well as instruct on human rights and the laws of land warfare. Five other countries will take part in the second phase.
On June 16, officials from all nine countries will participate in a "command post exercise" in which they'll be given a terrorism scenario and be asked to solve it together.
Terror analysts say the 4 June attack in Mauritania involving the al-Qaeda linked GSPC reflects strains in the relationship between the Algerian terrorist formation and the international network.They say that the GSPC took responsiblity for carrying out the attacks on the detachment of the Mauritanian army in an attempt to get back in favour with al-Qaeda, which the analysts allege has lately been distancing itself from the GSPC, due to the high number of defections in its ranks.
The stand-off is said to have started April when Tunisian police arrested ten alleged terrorists heading to the Algerian mountains to join guerilla training camps. The ten were reportedly preparing a major attack against the capital Tunis, but Tunisian police managed to uncover the cell as a result of informants within the Algerian Salafite group.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2005
16:41 ||
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More blackouts are likely in Moscow's electricity system because of badly equipped substations, the head of a parliamentary probe into the recent major power outage in Moscow said on Friday.
Top deputy Vladimir Pekhtin quoted by Reuters said "electricity equipment stands on a lot of damaged foundations and constructions." Speaking of the Chagino substation in Moscow region whose failure is blamed for the blackout, he said, "there are substations in a worse condition than this one, so we can expect more trouble."
On May 25, several parts of Moscow and neighboring Tula and Kaluga regions were left without electricity. The head of Moscow's main electricity supplier (Mosenergo), Arkady Yevstafyev, left his office. Russian President Vladimir Putin has criticized the power monopoly Unified Energy System led by Anatoly Chubais over the outage.
Officials said the outage was caused by a fire at the aging Chagino substation and there was no evidence of a terrorist attack despite a claim by Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev that it was the result of an attack by his men.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2005
16:40 ||
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Substations aren't purdy and cost a shit load of money.
AN UNSPECIFIED amount of ransom money was believed paid to members of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf for the safe release of two kidnapped Indonesian sailors in the southern Philippines, Filipino security sources said Monday. The duo, Yamin Labaso, 26, and Erikson Hutagaol, 23, who were kidnapped last March 30 by Abu Sayyaf gunmen off Mataking island near the Sabah border, had been recovered by troops at dawn Sunday in the hinterland of Indanan town in Sulu, about 950 kilometers south of Manila.
A security official earlier said the duo escaped from the Abu Sayyaf in Mt. Tumantangis near Indanan town with the help of a local villager, Nijal Aradani. It was not immediately known why Aradani helped them escaped or what role he played for the safe release of Labaso and Hutagaol. But sources in the island said ransom money was believed paid to the kidnappers under Abu Sayyaf leader Albader Parad and Gumbahali Jumdail and that negotiations for the release of the remaining Indonesian hostage Ahmad Resmiyadi, 32.
The hostages were crew members a Malaysian boat firm, and were returning to Sandakan in Sabah from East Kalimantan when the bandits attacked them. "We received reports that ransom money was paid to the kidnappers and that the hostages were dropped off from a specified rendezvous, and there are negotiations for the release of Ahmad Resmiyadi," sources said, adding, the remaining hostage is being held captive by another Abu Sayyaf faction under Salip Abdulla in Indanan town. But the military said the two hostages were rescued after a firefight with the kidnappers in Indanan town.
Indonesian Ambassador to the Philippines Sanusi on Monday flew to Zamboanga City and met with Southern Command chief Lt. Gen. Alberto Braganza to thank the military for the safe recovery of the hostages. Sanusi later met with Labaso and Hutagaol, but Filipino soldiers said the ambassador did not want reporters near the military hospital where the pair were resting. Soldiers also prevented news photographers from taking Sanusi's picture while he was talking with the victims.
Sanusi also did not give a statement to reporters, but was later spotted waving to photographers on his way back to the airport. "We want to give Sanusi the chance to air his side about the ransom payment, but he did not want to give any statement. He also did not want reporters and photographers to cover his visit to the escaped hostages," a Filipino journalist said.
"It would be great to see Sanusi's pictures on Indonesian newspapers, so his compatriots would know that for once embassy officials have visited the freed captives or just to show that they are now so concerned about the sailors," another Filipino journalist, who is are working for international news agencies, said.
A group of Indonesian lawmakers led by Junus Effendi Habibie is also expected to arrive in Zamboanga City this week to see the hostages, Braganza said. "The Indonesian ambassador is elated over the rescue of the hostages, and Indonesian lawmakers are also arriving here this week," he added.
The kidnappers have earlier demanded three million ringgits ($789,600 dollars) in exchange for the safe release of the three hostages. The kidnap group said it will kill one of the hostages if ransom is not paid. The demand was sent last month to the Indonesian Consulate in Sabah. The spokesman of the Indonesian consulate Bambang Gunawan earlier said the kidnappers had sent mobile phone text messages to consulate officials and asked a video camera so they can air their demands. The captors also demanded medicines for the hostages, he said, but Filipino security officials claimed these information were not passed on to them.
Some within the U.S. intelligence community think Osama bin Laden is in eastern Iran, instead of the rugged tribal areas of Pakistan's northwestern frontier, where most American officials think he is still on the run.
Golly. What a new theory! Dan, did you ever imagine such a thing?
U.S. officials said in interviews that the Iran theory, which is held by a minority, is based on bits of intelligence information and the fact that months of CIA intelligence operations, along with search-and-destroy sweeps by thousands of Pakistani troops, have failed to find the al Qaeda leader or his No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri. Asked whether the U.S. intelligence community thinks bin Laden may be in Iran, a senior administration official told The Washington Times, "Some people think he is."
Do a little better than that. Some people think the world is flat or that Al Franken is funny... Wait. I'm not too sure about that last statement.
That source said there is great frustration, especially within the inner circle around Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, that bin Laden has not been caught or even unequivocally spotted in Pakistan's border region. The frustration is fueling speculation that bin Laden may not be there after all.
Wotta surprise.
Rep. Curt Weldon, Pennsylvania Republican and House Armed Services Committee member, writes in his new book, "Countdown to Terror," that a reliable Iranian source he identifies only as "Ali" told him that bin Laden has been in Iran for some time.
"Ali," huh? I'da used "Mahmoud," myself.
"The course of world events have established incontrovertibly that Ali is a high credible source of reliable intelligence on Iranian and other terrorist activities," Mr. Weldon writes.
So's Mahmoud. Nobody better, by golly. What's the real intel show? Or do you only have what somebody told you over drinks at the golf course?
But the Bush administration's official position is that bin Laden is most likely in the border region straddling Pakistan and Afghanistan and that he is hidden by tribal allies. "The consensus is that bin Laden remains in the border region," said a U.S. intelligence official.
Could be, I suppose. The concensus used to be that he was dead.
Asked about reports that bin Laden is in Iran, which borders both Pakistan and Afghanistan, the official said, "That would be a big risk for the Iranians. ... There are all kinds of rumors that these guys go in and out of Iran, but that always struck me as odd."
Today's troll's expecting us to whack Iran over it's nuclear program. It's just as likely we'll whach Iran over sheltering bin Laden & Sons, Inc.
Bin Laden lived near Kandahar, Afghanistan, the Taliban cultural headquarters, until the 2001 U.S. invasion. He moved north to the Tora Bora mountain range, then slipped across the border into Pakistan.
My guess is that he went to Fazl's guest house. He got a shave and a haircut and changed his turban and curly-toed slippers. From there he went to Lahore to say hello to Hamid Gul, then took a boat from Karachi to Yemen, and probably into Assir province of Soddy Arabia, where he hung out with family until the heat died down. At some point, according to his cook, he went to Chechnya, but I imagine that was just for a state visit to Khattab and didn't last very long. Getting caught by the Russers would have been uncomfortably terminal and getting caught in Azerbaijan would have been nearly so. Now, that story may or may not be true in overview or detail, but I have at least as much evidence to back it up as Welcon does.
Gone are the heady predictions of early 2004, when the U.S. command in Afghanistan predicted bin Laden would be killed or captured by year's end. No commander is making such predictions now, and privately, some officers say the trail has gone cold.
Yeah, I'd say so. You could cool your beer with that trail. But precisely because of that, I suspect he's in either Iran or in Assir, with Iran the more likely, since the couriers were heading in that direction when they got stopped in Iraq.
Bush administration officials have accused Iran, a U.S.-designated sponsor of terrorism, of harboring al Qaeda lieutenants who escaped from Afghanistan in 2001.
Iran owns Lebanese Hezbollah, as well as its domestic Hezbollah and, apparently, Soddy Hezbollah. It finances Islamic Jihad as well. Even though it's a Mooselimb Brotherhood mob, it kicks in to support Hamas. To me that's 3+2 terror organizations Iran sponsors, before we get into the minor leaguers like PFLP-GC.
The administration has stopped short of providing the names of the al Qaeda fugitives or suggesting that bin Laden is among them.
Rumor had it that Suleiman Abu Gheith was in custody in Iran, and that Seif al-Adel and Saad bin Laden were both operating from within the country. And then there's Zark...
The U.S. also has intelligence that Abu Musab Zarqawi, who heads al Qaeda in Iraq, has slipped in and out of Iran since 2003 to evade capture. Officials say that is why Mr. Rumsfeld and the new Iraqi government have publicly warned Iraq's neighbors not to take in Zarqawi, whom Islamic Web sites say was wounded and needed medical care.
And that sort of thing will provide a casus belli, if Bush prefers...
Washington thinks one of bin Laden's sons as well as a top operations chief are in Iran. Iran denies harboring al Qaeda, but has said it has arrested and detained some members.
Like Sully, presumably. We haven't heard a peep out of him that I've noticed since he warned us to "fasten our seatbelts" three years ago almost to the day.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2005
16:15 ||
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#1
I had often thought that OBL was in Iran over the past several years as it is one of the few countries that would harbor him, and where he could continue his activities safely under the protection of State security services.
#3
Given his past participation in a pogrom against Shia civilians, Bin Laden would not be safe in Iran.
The Shia are waiting for revenge. It was a Shia airman who brought down General Zia Ul Haq's plane (in retaliation for the pogrom he ordered, executed by Bin Laden and Pakistani SSG troops).
Bin Laden is not on the Pak-Afghan border?
This is not news.
My money is on Rawalpindi cantonment
#4
I am sick and tired of hearing about some jerk in DC telling us idiots in the hinterland about how Bin Laden is hiding out in some region of the world that is completely inaccessible to us. (Duh, we've been to the moon already...) Bin Laden is either being protected by somebody or we don't have the faintest clue about where he is.
#5
WITT, I agree with you. I just pray to my God (unfortunely the one that let's you pee on his own symbol, without killing people in my own belief), that he's either killed this a hole, or let's us do it soon.
The suicide bomb blast that injured four U.S. troops Monday fueled worries about the spread of a deadly terror tactic that, until recently, had been little seen in Afghanistan.
A driver in a taxi stuffed with explosives rammed into a U.S. military vehicle about six miles west of the southern city of Kandahar, an unsettled area long a bastion of Taliban support.
The attack was at least the third suicide blast since May in a country that has largely been spared the kamikaze tactics used across Iraq against American soldiers and, increasingly, Iraqi civilians.
Until May, just five suicide blasts had hit Afghanistan in the more than three years since U.S. forces ousted the Taliban from power. Four of those had targeted NATO-led forces.
The latest hit "suggests that an alarming development may be under way: the importation of insurgent techniques from Iraq to Afghanistan," Carl Robichaud, editor of Afghanistan Watch, wrote Monday.
A Taliban supporter claimed responsibility for the latest incident. Witnesses told reporters at the scene that the dead bomber appeared to be an Arab.
A U.N. engineer and an Afghan were killed May 7 when a suicide bomber struck an Internet cafe in the capital, Kabul. On June 1, a lone bomber blew himself up at the entrance to a Kandahar mosque where a funeral for a slain anti-Taliban critic was under way. At least 19 people were killed and 50 wounded in that attack.
Fighting in Paktika province, near the border with Pakistan, has killed five American troops recently, including two who died June 8 in a mortar attack on a firebase.
Largely out of the global limelight, Afghanistan has registered an uptick in violence in the past few months. Experts point to a stew of possible perpetrators: restive warlords, criminals, competing politicians, drug traffickers, as well as foreign Islamic terrorists.
U.S. and Afghan officials interpret the apparent trend as an effort to destabilize the country in advance of the September parliamentary elections.
Experts on Afghanistan say it is not yet clear if there is a concerted push by al Qaeda or Taliban terrorists to embrace suicide attacks in Afghanistan and use them against civilians as well as soldiers.
"It is perhaps surprising that suicide bombs have been so rare in Afghanistan, since the tactic would seem well suited to the Taliban's relatively unskilled but highly motivated insurgents," Robichaud wrote. "If Iraqi tactics are imported to Afghanistan it could ignite a bloody second front against an American army that is stretched perilously thin."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2005
16:14 ||
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The latest hit "suggests that an alarming development may be under way: the importation of insurgent techniques from Iraq to Afghanistan," Carl Robichaud, editor of Afghanistan Watch, wrote Monday.
I'd be interested to know if this correlates with a small rise in people coming into Afghanistan. If it does,.....
#2
I think it's been more than a "small rise of people" returning to Afghanistan. I remember reading that Mushareff reached an agreement with the US to start re-patriating hundreds of thousands of Afghans who have been hiding in Pakistan, some or many of whom may have been Taliban/AQ jihadists who scattered to Pakistan when Afghanistan was invaded by coalition forces.
Some men want to walk without crutches, and some women want to get pregnant. A few Romeos stand in front of the graves and ask for love. Others pray for the souls of the dead.
Everyone has a wish at this Al Qaeda cemetery.
"I have an ache in my left leg," said Khanema, who like many Pashtuns has only one name. "I have a backache. Sometimes it hurts so much, I can't sleep. So I came here to pray to the martyrs. I came from Pakistan only for this shrine."
The men buried here at Martyrs shrine and another shrine nearby were killed in late 2001 during the U.S.-led war against the Taliban. On the second night of Ramadan, the fasting month for Muslims, U.S. forces bombed a mosque in the southeastern town of Khost. Dozens of Taliban and Al Qaeda members were killed.
The mosque has been rebuilt, light green and peach, with large windows and a sunlit prayer room. But the two shrines for the dead and another in eastern Afghanistan have turned into pilgrimage sites, almost tourist attractions featuring Al Qaeda dead.
Villagers sometimes travel for hours to go to these shrines to pray. They stop as they return home to Afghanistan from Pakistan, where they had been living as refugees. They visit every day, or once in a lifetime.
The shrines show the logic of some people in the new Afghanistan, particularly those in the south and southeast, where the influence of the Taliban and Al Qaeda has been strongest. Those who come here do not necessarily support terrorists. Many say they do not hate the Afghan government or the U.S. forces. They welcome the upcoming elections and do not want war.
But these people are often desperate, for whatever reason, and they believe the dead men might help them. The visitors call the dead "martyrs" and the U.S. forces who killed them "infidels." But they mean that in the nicest way. They see no contradiction.
"People love the shrine, and I love it," said Marjullah, the Martyrs caretaker, adding that he helped carry the bodies of the dead to the shrine. But he says he also likes the Afghan government. And he says the U.S. forces should stay as long as they help rebuild the country.
At the shrine, there are 39 graves in two rows, starting with No. 1, "This is the leg of an Arab," and ending with No. 39, "The grave of Holy Korans." All told, there are 12 Arabs, eight Pakistanis, eight Afghans, nine unknown people and two graves for Korans destroyed in the blast.
Ropes are strung over the graves, and people have tied colorful flags and scarves to the ropes, providing some relief in the mundane beige landscape. One visitor has hung up an embroidered white sheet with "God is great" and a duck, a candle and a butterfly. "Congratulations on your pilgrimage, Asil Khan," proclaims a painted banner on the front of the shrine. The graves are covered with bright yellow flowers and weeds.
Visitors park in the dust outside, just off the main highway leading north from Khost, a town near the border of Pakistan. They taste a pinch of salt for good health, and some put money into the wooden donation box in front; money will be used to build a roof over the brick walls.
People then walk up and down the aisle of graves, pausing maybe in front of No. 3, "Martyr Paradise," or No. 34, "Hamidullah from Badakhshan."
Khanema, who does not know her age, ties knots in the scarves hanging over grave No. 16, marked simply "Arab." She unties others, in a ritual she hopes will end her pain.
"The people who are deaf, who cannot talk, who are sick, who are paralyzed, they come here and they are made better," said Ajab Noor, 27, who sometimes visits the shrine to pray. "This is not a place for lovers who come to pray for sweethearts."
"Why not?" countered Gulab, who said he was 29 or 30. "I have come more than 50 times, believe me, for two years. I am in love. But I have got nothing. I am drowned in the water.
"Many people have come, and it has worked. I don't know why my prayer is not accepted."
A minute later, he asks for help in finding a wife.
Others have had more luck.
Gulwali Shah, 18, prayed at the shrine six times. "God, give me the one I love," he thought to himself. Finally, a year ago, he married his sweetheart, after both families agreed. Still, Shah comes to the shrine to see the graves.
"They were both devoted Muslims and Al Qaeda," Shah said. "Some of them fought for nothing. Some of them fought for the sake of God."
The nearby Al Qaeda shrine, called Arabs Family Shrine, is smaller, a large grave plot where many people are buried. Besmellah, the caretaker, insists that these victims are women and children, although visitors say they are Al Qaeda and Taliban members.
As Besmellah talks, a dozen women and girls walk in, stand by the mass grave and then leave. Besmellah said he believes the women may want to get pregnant, but he would never ask them, as the conservative culture does not allow it.
He said many people come here and are cured.
"I have seen lots of these cases, I don't want to lie to you," said Besmellah, who is about 45. "People who could not walk came here. On the way out, they walked away. People who could not talk came. When they left, they started speaking."
He is still waiting. He limps here every day on his artificial leg, leaning on his crutch and walking carefully in his Adidas tennis shoes. He lost his lower leg in a land-mine explosion. But he is a practical man. Unlike some others who visit these shrines, he knows there are some things even prayer cannot fix.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2005
16:13 ||
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another fricken holy site...I have a headache.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
06/13/2005 18:36
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The suspected leader of al Qaeda in Spain traveled with Sept. 11 hijacker Mohamed Atta aboard the Barcelona metro in the summer of 2001, a witness has testified. The testimony last week was the first to directly link lead defendant Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas with Atta, the Egyptian believed to have piloted the first hijacked jetliner into the World Trade Center. Syrian Barakat Yarkas is one of 24 men on trial for belonging to al Qaeda and one of three charged with mass murder for helping plan the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
Atta traveled in Spain from July 9 to 16 of 2001 for what investigators believe was a final planning session with Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, currently in U.S. custody. "I am completely, absolutely sure I saw them, without a doubt, the three of them," the witness said, referring to Barakat Yarkas, Atta and bin al-Shaibah, in a video of his testimony reviewed by Reuters on Monday. The witness, a university professor, appeared in court on Wednesday. The prosecutor had not met the witness until that morning and his testimony was unexpected. The court ordered his identity be withheld for his protection.
The professor said he saw Atta, Barakat Yarkas and Ramzi bin al-Shaibah on the Barcelona metro in June 2001. The three men raised suspicion because they were wearing brand new matching black leather jackets during hot weather, and the witness said he spent the next three metro stops studying them. In the days following Sept. 11, the witness said he recognized Atta's picture because the two had spent that metro ride staring at each other. "I discovered that he was looking at me, very intently. ... When I see someone looking at me aggressively, I keep staring back. The look he had was exactly the same as in the photograph," the man said. "I kept looking at him. We didn't like each other," the witness said.
This article starring:
IMAD EDIN BARAKAT YARKAS
al-Qaeda
MOHAMED ATTA
al-Qaeda
RAMZI BIN AL SHAIBAH
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2005
16:12 ||
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Troops are scouring the West Java city of Indramayu for five cars carrying bombs made by al-Qaeda-backed militants linked to the Bali bombings.
Military authorities believe the bombs were made by recruits of Malaysian terrorism fugitive Noordin Top, who is accused of being one of the masterminds behind a spate of recent bombings in Indonesia.
The Koran Temp newspaper cited a military telegram in Indramayu that carried details of the five suspect cars.
The chief of the Indramayu district military command Lt-Col Bambang Heriyadi had confirmed the memo's existence, the newspaper reported.
"All military personnel have been ordered to be more watchful and vigilant in monitoring strangers.
"This is an early prevention step against bombing threats," the paper quoted Lt-Col Heriyadi saying.
He said all five cars had Jakarta-issued licence plates.
The city of Indramayu is located on the northern coast of Java island, 175km east of Jakarta.
Police have said Noordin Top and fellow Malaysian Azahari bin Husin are among the perpetrators of a series of blasts in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali atrocity that killed 202 people, the 2003 Marriott hotel bombing in Jakarta which claimed 12 lives, and last year's blast near the Australian embassy that killed nine.
Police have warned that Azahari and Top, alleged key members of the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah militant terror network, are currently recruiting guerrillas and planning another attack.
Last week, an Indonesian court jailed Top's wife for three years for helping him evade a police manhunt.
Australian security forces also said last week that they had received intelligence reports suggesting that plans by terrorists to carry out attacks in Indonesia were in advanced stages.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2005
16:10 ||
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Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Hassan Rowhani said here on Sunday that no Saudi member of the Al-Qaeda terrorist group has been kept in Iran.
"Certainly not! They're honored guests"
Talking to Saudi reporters at the Riyadh airport, the SNSC secretary added Iran had previously handed over a number of detained Saudi nationals to their home country.
He further pointed to his talks with Saudi officials on Iran's nuclear program, saying Iran carries out legal and healthy activities since its nuclear program is within the framework of international regulations and under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Referring to his talks with the high-ranking officials of the four states, Rowhani said that he had outlined Iran's nuclear program to make it clear that "Tehran has nothing to hide" in the field of its nuclear activities.
As for his talks with Kuwaiti officials, the SNSC secretary said that the two sides discussed implementation of a security agreement previously signed by the two capitals as well as Kuwait's call for Iran's gas and fresh water. Turning to his talks in the UAE, Rowhani said that the two sides reached a general agreement to sign a security deal in the future and to prepare the necessary ground to this end.
While in Yemen, said the SNSC secretary, he discussed Tehran's peaceful nuclear program with the Yemeni officials as San'a is a member of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Well, that's reassuring
The two sides also exchanged views on security issues as well as some certain domestic developments in Yemen and the way that Western media were trying to attribute the developments to foreign states, Rowhani said. He noted that in his meetings with the Saudi officials, Rowhani discussed Tehran-Riyadh security cooperation as well as regional security arrangements and the war on terror.
Regional crises including developments in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East as well as Tehran-Riyadh defense cooperation and Iran's nuclear program were among other major topics that Rowhani discussed with the Saudi officials. The SNSC secretary expressed hope that his Riyadh visit would pave the way for boosting bilateral security cooperation. Rowhani left Riyadh for Jeddah on Sunday evening.
The SNSC secretary and his entourage are due to pay a visit to Oman on Tuesday and meet with senior Omani officials including Sultan Qaboos.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/13/2005
16:09 ||
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SANTA MARIA, Calif. (Reuters) - The jury in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial has reached a verdict, a court spokesman said on Monday Jackson was expected to report to the courthouse in Santa Maria from his Neverland Valley Ranch, about 20 minutes away, for the reading of the verdicts at 4:304:45 5pm EDT. Prosecutors and lawyers for the 46-year-old entertainer will also be on hand.
As well as the legion of Jackson "supporters". If he's found guilty, they'll riot
Jackson is charged in a 10-count Santa Barbara County grand jury indictment with molesting a teenage boy in February or March of 2003, plying the young cancer patient with alcohol in order to abuse him and conspiring to commit child abduction, false imprisonment and extortion.
Please Lord, let this freak show end. Fox chopper is following Jackson motorcade of 4 black SUVs, decision expected in 15 minutes, he's about 30 minutes away. Typical.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
16:06 ||
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#1
LOL, the "We're Sorry" idiots are back, now at this circus trial.
#9
Got off scot free. California juries, wtf is the matter with these people?
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/13/2005 17:13
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#10
Wow--they announced "not guilty" on ALL counts. The state must have had a pathetically weak case.
I can not believe the zany supporters he has--on Fox they were showing one lady release a dove as every "not guilty" was read out. Do these people have jobs?! Do they have lives?!
Posted by: Dar ||
06/13/2005 17:15
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#11
And so it's off to Neverland for a glass of Jesus juice and a game of...God, I don't want to think about it.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
06/13/2005 17:16
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#12
Unbelievable, guess that Money and and White ppl do get off easy in Kalifornia... Who'da thunk it.
#14
well I was wondering why he turned into a white guy, he musta known this day was comin and best to be prepared goin into the courtroom. first appearances are everything Ya know.
#15
So now I suppose we will get back to 24/7 coverage of that attractive white woman who ran off with some locals disappeared in Aruba again right? (never mind those people being tortured, raped, and killed in the corner... their only mud people...).
#16
My take on the whole matter is that the Santa Barbara County DA was getting reports of goings on in Neverland and finally decided to nail MJ. The only trouble was that parents that sent their kids to Neverland for overnight have got to be flakes. Flakes make weak witnesses, so the prosecution had to make a case with people that could be torn to shreds by a good defense attorney. Witness credibility (or the lack thereof) probably sunk this case for the prosection.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/13/2005 17:53
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#17
I think my jaw dropped about NO inches in shock at this one. The DAs in Kalifornia couldn't convict Judas of handing Christ over to the Pharasies
Dr Steve - got a lithium regime or something you can recommend? A legal one, affordable by peons and working stiffs? Mebbe eating 5 bananas a day or something? You can post a response as Spemble something - to maintain your medical distance from such homebrew remedies... the AMA might jump ya, otherwise.
#24
.com, take 3 morphins every 4 hrs till a piece of yer schnoze falls off.
Posted by: Dr. Spemblov ||
06/13/2005 19:24
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#25
:)
Posted by: Red Dog ||
06/13/2005 19:27
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#26
So that's what did it, huh?
And here I was duped into thinking it was that they'd used a Stanley 12-205 jackplane to skinny it down instead of a fine Clinicon Diamond Laser scalpel. Silly me. ;-)
#32
I really don't like the picking and choosing of jury members. It just winnows it do to the mentally challenged. Come on. Just spin the wheel and fill the members. A RANDOM not FILTERED AND SELECTED jury.
#33
I was once told by a very old and esteemed lawyer that he had spent decades carefully picking jurors but that, if he could do it all over again, he would probably just take the first 12 people who walked through the door. All human beings are wild cards.
Posted by: Tom ||
06/13/2005 20:55
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Someone at my company posted this to our internal 'water cooler' gossip Notes BBS. Link goes to the NDRC site.... I'd thought I'd share it.....
(Note: The NDRC is the organization behind the 'Alar-on-apples' scare of 89)
Dear NRDC BioGems Defender,
Global warming is fast becoming the number one environmental problem of our time. Apart from its far-reaching impacts on people, global warming may prove disastrous to the wildlife of Greater Yellowstone, the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other vulnerable BioGems that are already suffering the effects of a changing climate.
Today, we're asking you to take an important step in our campaign by joining the "Stop Global Warming Virtual March on Washington." This unprecedented Internet effort is led by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., Senator John McCain, NRDC trustee Laurie David and other environmental leaders.
Please go to http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/campaigns/sgw/partner/nrdc/ to join this historic march, and invite your family and friends to do the same. Together, we will demand that Congress and the Bush administration take the necessary and long overdue steps to reverse potentially catastrophic changes in the Earth's climate.
The Virtual March on Washington will move across the United States via the Internet from one town to the next, educating people about the impacts global warming is already having on our environment, and highlighting personal stories along the way. Through an interactive map, you can track the progress of the march in real time as more and more people join.
The world's leading scientists now agree that global warming is real and is happening right now. Yes! The same group who terrorized school districts everywhere with their Alar Scare...
According to their forecasts, and they used horse instead of chicken entrails this time because this is important....
extreme changes in climate could produce a future in which erratic and chaotic weather, melting ice caps and rising sea levels usher in an era of drought, crop failure, famine, flood and mass extinctions. So could the conversion of the Sun into a Red Giant Star....
The good news is, we have the technology to avert such a catastrophic future. Just send us Money and we will fix all your problems....
All that's lacking is the political will in Washington.
That's why we're asking you to march with us -- and enlist others to join -- so that our growing numbers will help light a fire under Congress and the White House.
Please go to http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/campaigns/sgw/partner/nrdc/ and make your own commitment to stop global warming. Our grandchildren will thank us for taking this momentous step in the right direction.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
John H. Adams
President
Natural Resources Defense Council
Frances Beinecke
Executive Director
Natural Resources Defense Council
Europe's troubled constitutional treaty will be ditched by EU leaders at their crunch summit later this week.
"It's dead, Jean-Claude"
Without any formal announcement of its demise, the treaty will be allowed to slip quietly into infamy, according to senior EU sources preparing for the Brussels gathering on Thursday and Friday. After talks with fellow EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw also delivered a clear signal that the treaty is effectively dead, saying: "The indications are, I think, that there is a general consensus that decisions on whether to proceed with ratification or not should be left to individual member states."
Until now, all 25 EU governments have permitted themselves to ratify the proposed new document - either by parliamentary assent or through referendum votes - by November 2006. Now, in the wake of the devastating treaty rejections in France and the Netherlands, this week's summit declaration will make no reference to the deadline. Instead the summit language will make clear that governments can make their own decisions in the wake of the double setback to the prospects of the treaty ever coming into force. EU officials are also considering a more concrete declaration of a "freeze" in the ratification process. That would let Luxembourg's prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker off the hook - as his nation prepares for its own treaty referendum later this month with odds growing of a third rejection. Whatever words are chosen at the summit, the effect will be the same. "The whole thing is being kicked into some very long grass indeed," said one official. "You could say it is effectively dead."
Another nod to the "no" voters, particularly in the Netherlands, is a decision to make no direct reference at all to Turkey in the summit declaration.
"Turkey? Never heard of them"
Dutch voters expressed concern about the pace of the enlargement and particularly the prospect of Turkey joining the EU. "The 'T' word will not be featuring now, but that does not mean any backsliding on the pledges of full negotiations with Turkey on EU membership," explained an official.
"No, no, certainly not."
The diplomatic manoeuvrings over the treaty in Turkey cannot be used to wish away the row over the future EU budget and the growing tensions over the British rebate. With British and French government ministers toughening the rhetoric over the rebate almost hourly, the scene is set for a major clash, with little prospect of agreement on spending.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
14:21 ||
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#1
We should at this point befriend turkey. They will be looking for a pal and we can use them to drive a wedge right through europe. That would provide hours upon hours of entertainment for me and probably millions of others.
#3
bigjim-ky - Nice idea, but I don't trust Turkey not to stab us in the back again the moment that whore France bats their eyes at them again.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/13/2005 15:53
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Let's not befriend Turkey. Instead, let's remind them quietly that this is what happens when they stab a true friend in the back. Then remind them that should they ever have a good friend again in the future that they should take better care.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2005 16:39
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#5
This smacks of Europhile propaganda. It's a 'C' word, for starters... Those using the 'T' word are those who would slip the contents through without putting it to the public vote,
#6
Let's not befriend Turkey. Instead, let's remind them quietly that this is what happens when they stab a true friend in the back. Then remind them that should they ever have a good friend again in the future that they should take better care.
Turkey occupies a strategic position geographically, with regard to scarce water resources and at the edge of the Islamic ex-Soviet republics we are courting. They also control the Bosphorus.
Trust, but verify.
Posted by: too true ||
06/13/2005 19:44
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#7
I think they are all made for each other. We should do what we can to make life more complicated for all of them. Act like a friend when it suits us, but avoid entangling alliances...I vaguely recall an older and more astute generation suggesting that.
#8
First item on the summit agenda will be the lecture, 5 sneaky ways to ratify treaties without the consent of the people. 2nd up will be a moving and nostalgic look at Adolph. Next up, lunch, of course! Jacques is up with a speech entitled, We Shall Eat Cake...after our lobster bisque, filet mingion, and shallot potatoes with curly carrots julianne.
#1
BBC, CNN, Al-Jizz.
Congrats on the hat trick, kid. I don't think you have to explain the move. It looks like a natural progression.
I look forward to you running the show at Jihad Unspun in a couple of years...
#4
Riz is seen mostly on CCNI and every year (even before 911) would do a week long special report from Mecca/Medina on the Haj. He is very Islamic and an apologist. He is only making the natural progression from BBC to CNN to Al-Jazeera and when Binny takes over the world will become his press secretary.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/13/2005 14:55
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#5
I believe step 4 on that career ladder is suicide bomber.
Posted by: ed ||
06/13/2005 14:57
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#6
Then he can become OBL's press secretary in hell....
#7
Ed: naw, first he has to get "kidnapped" so some dhimmi government can slip a few mil to the jihadis. Next, he'll have to produce a few beheading videos. Then, perhaps, they'll let him be a true shaheed and get his 72 raisins.
Posted by: ST ||
06/13/2005 15:14
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#8
So what, the asshole hates freedom in the west, or the asshole hates freedom in the east. Maybe someone over there will want to listen to that shit. Good riddance.
Well, that's Show Jizz! Personally, I'm not suprised by the transition from BBC => Al Jiz. I used to read the BBC webpage daily, back in the pre-Rantburg era. No more. Praise be to Allan for the snarky, info-goodness of Rantburg!
#12
America's oil-patch dhimmi President may finally be bending to the pressure of those like me who oppose democraticizing Islamofascism.
Rantburgers: I conscript you in the total war campaign against Islamofascism, and order you to cease and desist in supporting subsidized jihadism in the Muslim junk states. Read of our following success in knocking the oil-patch kiss-butt orientation to the Sauds, out of the alcohol sotted brain of GWB.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8733850
And here is some bipartisanism education for the fat-headed:
http://weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/005/703azlsf.asp
Hearts and minds are for bullets. Thank me!
Posted by: War on Islam ||
06/13/2005 22:26
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#13
bite me
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2005 23:25
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BANGKOK, June 13 (Reuters) - Militants set off two bombs and ambushed motorists in Thailand's Muslim-majority south on Monday, killing two and wounding four in the latest violence in a region where more than 700 people have been killed in 18 months. One bomb exploded when the garbage truck in which it was hidden drove past Sungai Padi police station in the province of Narathiwat, along the Malaysian border, killing one of the garbage workers and injuring two, police said. A policeman parking his motorcycle near the road was also injured.
Two hours earlier, a bomb blew up outside a bank in nearby Waeng district, although nobody was injured, police said.
In nearby Pattani province, Buddhist twin brothers were shot with an M-16 while riding their motorcycle home from school, police said. One boy was killed instantly and the other was wounded. The government has imposed martial law in parts of the three southernmost provinces to curb the violence, which first erupted in January 2004 when gunmen raided army barracks and stole 400 assault rifles, including M-16s.
Shootings, bombings and arson attacks have since become daily occurrences.
However, authorities in the mainly Muslim region, which has a century-long history of often violent opposition to the Buddhist government in Bangkok, appear no closer to bringing an end to the unrest or identifying its masterminds.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
13:49 ||
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Police continue to search for three men in connection with the shootings of two Kirtland Air Force Base airmen Saturday night. Police found the two men at a Nob Hill coffee shop after they stumbled in looking for help. Kirtland officials say one of the airmen was shot multiple times and the other suffered minor injuries. Witnesses say they heard several gunshots and saw the two men bleeding. "I couldn't tell where he was shot or where he was dripping from," recalled witness Georgia Whitson, "but it was like all over his face and it was all coming down his shoulder. He didn't look too good."
Police say the airmen were in an SUV at the time of the shooting. Police are looking for three Hispanic men who were in a red SUV in the area during the shooting. "The motivation for the shooting in unknown at this point," said APD spokesman John Walsh.
#1
Three Hispanic men! You're practically acusing a minority of commiting a crime! Racist! Racist! Call the ACLU! Call Amnesty! Call People for the American Way! or maybe call the INS and deport those Assholes to a mexican prison.
#4
Additional background.
That portion of Central Avenue in Albuquerque is a trendy small boutique shopping area near the campus, not the usual gun gallery. For over two weeks on the other side of the tracks near the Old Town district off of Central, the gangs have been firing each other up lately. Its a local quagmire that the mayor (D) and the police have failed to get on handle on. The gangs favorite current mode of transportation is a SUV. It appears that these airmen were just in the wrong model vehicle at this time. Meanwhile, the local papers which frontpage the traditional MSM swampwater from Iraq are not giving this similar play. The local politicos are Dems and the papers are fronts for the DNC. May also have something to do with BRAC - as in let's pull the troops out. Time for the local and national MSM to be pillored on their own words and behaviors.
The Supreme Court refused Monday to be drawn into a dispute over President Bush's power to detain American terror suspects and deny them traditional legal rights.
It would have been unusual for the court to take the case of "dirty bomb" suspect Jose Padilla now, because a federal appeals court has not yet ruled on the issue. Arguments are scheduled for July 19 at the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va.
A year ago, the court ruled the Bush administration was out of line by locking up foreign terrorist suspects at the Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, without access to lawyers and courts. But justices declined to address a separate issue: whether American citizens arrested on U.S. soil can be designated "enemy combatants" and held without trial.
Padilla has been in custody since 2002 when he was arrested at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport after returning from Pakistan. The government views him as a militant who planned attacks on the United States, including with a dirty bomb radiological device, and has said he received weapons and explosives training from members of al-Qaida.
A federal judge sided with Padilla and ruled that an endorsement of indefinite detentions would be a "betrayal of this nation's commitment to the separation of powers that safeguards our democratic values and individual liberties."
Solicitor General Paul Clement, the Bush administration's top Supreme Court lawyer, said the lower court ruling "marks a substantial judicial intrusion into the core presidential function of determining how best to ensure the nation's security."
Padilla's lawyers had wanted to jump over the appeals court and have the Supreme Court intervene. "Delay increases the chance that Padilla could be faced with an unconstitutionally coerced choice - for example, whether to plead guilty to a crime or to give up other rights in order to avoid further months of detention as an enemy combatant," his lawyers told justices in a filing.
The court is already familiar with Padilla's case, which they debated last fall but then threw out on grounds that Padilla's lawsuit had been filed in the wrong jurisdiction. The latest round comes from South Carolina, where Padilla is being held in a Navy brig. Officials contend Padilla received weapons and explosives training from members of al-Qaida, and planned an attack with a "dirty bomb" radiological device.
Padilla, a New York-born convert to Islam, was one of just two U.S. citizens held as enemy combatants, a designation that allows indefinite detention without charges for al-Qaida suspects and their associates. The other one, Yaser Esam Hamdi, was released last fall after winning a Supreme Court appeal. The justices said Hamdi, a U.S.-born suspected Taliban foot soldier captured in Afghanistan, could use American courts to argue that he was being held illegally.
The Monday case is Padilla v. Commander C.T. Hanft, 04-1342.
This article starring:
JOSE PADILLA
al-Qaeda
Posted by: too true ||
06/13/2005
13:31 ||
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Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton turned furious and considered legal action after learning bestselling author Ed Klein would allege in a new book: Bill Clinton raped her -- resulting in the conception of daughter Chelsea Clinton!
"[Author] Klein is going to rot in hell for this," a well-placed source close to Hillary said over the weekend.
more at link...
The Clintons get wierder and wierder as time goes on...
Key graf: But Hillary and her camp may have a hard time typecasting Ed Klein as a Clinton-crazed right-winger. Klein is the former foreign editor of NEWSWEEK and former editor in chief of the NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE. He is a frequent contributor to VANITY FAIR and PARADE.
Hildebeast has a problem, and the problem isn't this book or previous books and articles. It's this: she has rabbit ears. Every baseball-playing male knows what that is, the inability to focus when batting because you hear the rude comments being directed at you. Hillary loses her focus; George Bush never does.
#4
I'm not impressed by these decades-old allegations by anonymous sources. I'm also not impressed with the release date of this book; for it to actually impact Hillary's chances at any office, this book would need to be released within weeks or months before a key primary or general election. Not the middle of the summer of an off year. Now the allegations are out, everyone has a chance to look at them, she can start her campaign for whichever office right on schedule. Thanks, Newsweek editors!
#5
That's the whole point of the book, Seafarious. Just like the things Ken Starr chose to investigate precluded the investigation of more serious offenses, while making it _look_ as if they were being persecuted by ye VRWC.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/13/2005 15:41
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#6
Heeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy! now batta batta batta!
Lefty batta lefty batta,
Hey lefty battq batta batta
You daughter gotter big noooos!
#2
It's jus tlike in thie country, where the "silent majority" ignores the Left Leaning Liberal Losers. Except Mikey Moore doesn't advocate exploding things. Yet.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 14:37
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Swaziland's King Mswati III took an 18-year-old former Miss Teen Swaziland finalist as his 12th wife during the weekend, barely two weeks after marrying his 11th, media in the tiny African kingdom said. Nothando Dube was selected as Mswati's fiancee after last year's Reed Dance, an event where thousands of maidens dance bare breasted in honor of the Queen Mother and where Mswati has chosen wives in the past. It's funny, that's how I met my wife, too.
The Times of Swaziland's Sunday edition quoted Mswati's traditional prime minister, Jim Gama, as saying that Dube's nuptials had been concluded Saturday night.
"The sultry wench with the fire in her eyes and the bouncy honkers — bring her to my tent! I shall conclude the nuptials on her!"
Palace officials were unavailable for confirmation on Monday, when Mswati was due to leave on an overseas trip.
"I'll bring you back something special from gay Paree, baby!"
In late May, Mswati married his 11th wife, 20-year-old Nolichwa Ntenesa, who was also selected during a Reed Dance.
What? They have 'em every Friday night? Or only when he's horny?
Mswati, 37, has drawn criticism for spending money on luxury cars while many of his 1.1 million subjects struggle by on food aid, ravaged by the world's highest rate of HIV/AIDS which affects around two in every five adults.
Nothing here that relieving their debts won't cure. Well, except for the starvation, HIV, looting of the treasury, horny kings, etc...
Statistically speaking, Mswati better wear a slicker when he sleeps with 4.8 of his wives.
Mswati early in June said he was not sub-Saharan Africa's only absolute monarch [just the one with the most wives and luxury cars and whose population is most ravaged by AIDs and hunger], contending that although political parties were banned in Swaziland, he only made decisions after consulting with the people [ . . . at gigantic dances attended solely by bare-breasted maidens].
In 1973 Mswati's father, Sobhuza, whose authorized biography says he had 45 official wives, tore up the constitution of the former British protectorate, sandwiched between South Africa and Mozambique. Mswati's officials are drafting a new constitution, which is set to uphold the ban on political parties.
I've still got a soft spot for him, ever since he forbade Swazi women to wear pants. But maybe I'm just kinky that way...
Posted by: Tibor ||
06/13/2005
12:18 ||
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#1
Where's my checkbook! I want to invest in this guy!
#5
Don't kid yourself. Since time immemorial, kings have *had* to have multiple wives, mostly for political reasons. It's part and parcel of the tribal system. Heck, even most of Brigham Young's wives were to cement intra-religious ties. I suppose getting married beats having a civil war.
I'm so confused, I thought the joos did it!... Btw, nice to see Thierry Meyssan's work is bearing its fruits in the arab world, thanks to the Zayed institute... At least, a successful frenchman!
Egyptian Historian on Saudi Iqra TV: The Vatican's Mission of Destroying Islam was Delegated to the U.S. — Which Carried Out 9/11 on Assignment by the World Council of Churches
The following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian historian Professor Zaynab Abd Al-Aziz, which aired on Saudi Iqra TV [1] on May 26, 2005. [To view this clip from MEMRI TV visit http://memritv.org/search.asp?ACT=S9&P1=708]
Abd Al-Aziz: "The decision to impose one religion over the entire world was made in the Second Vatican Council in 1965."
Host: "Huh?"
Abd Al-Aziz: "Yes. A long time ago."
Host: "They decided to Christianize the world?"
Abd Al-Aziz: "Yes. The decisions of the 1965 Vatican Council included, first of all, absolving the Jews of the blood of Christ. This decision is well known and was the basis for the recognition of the occupying Zionist entity - Israel. The second decision was to eradicate the left in the eighties. I believe we've all witnessed this. The third decision was to eradicate Islam, so that the world would be Christianized by the third millennium."
Host: "Why is America hostile to Islam, although we never had and never will have the same conflict with them we had with Europe?"
Abd Al-Aziz: "Well, do you remember what we just said about the Second Vatican Council in 1965 and about Christianizing the world? It was agreed upon and pre-arranged. John Paul II prepared a five-year plan, on the eve of the third millennium, Christianize the world. His address in 1995 was based on the assumption that by the year 2000, the entire world would be Christianized. Since the plan was not accomplished, the World Council of Churches assigned this mission to the US in January 2001, since the US is the world's unrivaled military power. They named the decade between 2001-2010 "the age of eradicating evil" — "evil" referring to Islam and Muslims.
"The Crusader war is ongoing, because it has been a religious war since the dawn of Islam. Later, colonialism, missionaries, and Christianization were introduced. The Crusader war is ongoing. The Inquisition courts exist to this day. As I told you, the pope who was appointed a few days ago, headed the Inquisition Court, which is now called the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
"When in January 2001, the World Council of Churches delegated this mission to the US - what did the US do? It fabricated the show of⊠is it September 9 or 11?"
Host: "11. Please explain this to me."
Abd Al-Aziz: "Yes, of courseâŠ"
Host: "You mean to say that the World Council of Churches delegated the mission of Christianizing of the world to the US."
Abd Al-Aziz: "Yes. And how could the US win legitimacy for this without anyone saying that they are perpetrating massacres and waging a Crusader war? It fabricated the 9/11 show. I call it a fabrication because much has been written on this. We are also to blame. Why do we accept a single perspective? Countless books were written, some of which were even translated into Arabic, like Thierry Meyssan's 9/11 — The Appalling Fraud [2] and Pentagate. "Pentagate" like Watergate⊠He brings documents to prove that the method used in destroying the three (sic) towers was "controlled demolition.
"This is an architectural engineering theory, which was invented by the Americans. They teach it in their universities. They make movies and documentaries about it. They incorporated it in movie scenarios and then carried it out in real life. Why do we accept this?"
Host: "My God, doctor. This is unbelievable! You're saying that this destructionâŠ"
Abd Al-Aziz: "...was a controlled demolition. The building collapsed in its place, without hitting a single building to its left or right. The three towers fell in place."
Host: "In the same method they use in movies and plays?"
Abd Al-Aziz: "Yes, Exactly like that. That is how the US won international legitimacy. You could sense the (9/11) operation was pre-planned because many things were revealed in the days that followed. For example 4,000 Jews caught influenza on that exact day. They set a timer, and all 4,000âŠ"
Host: "By God, you crack me up! They all set a timer and got influenza on the same day. So the building was completely empty of Jews."
Abd Al-Aziz: "Much has been written about this. 150 Congressmen demanded an inquiry."
#1
Wow! I didn't realize we were so powerful. And the Pope! Incredible! And then there's "The second decision was to eradicate the left in the eighties. I believe we've all witnessed this."
Somebody better tell Mikey, and Howie, and JFKerry, and George Soros, and ... oh, my ... the eradicators missed a whole bunch of them!
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 12:44
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It fabricated the show of⦠is it September 9 or 11?
#3
See, he got confused by our "shorthand" - 9-11 for September 11th. He must of thought it was 9/11, with the slash meaning 'or' - like, 9 or 11.... Snicker.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 12:54
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ROFL! I doubt this idiot realizes that the Roman Catholic Church is not part of the World Council of Churches (to do so would give too much recognition to Protestants). Besides, The decision to impose one religion over the entire world was made in the
7th century by the mooselimbs!
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The military announced the killing of four more U.S. soldiers over the weekend, pushing the American death toll past 1,700 -- more than double what it was a year ago. Since last June 13 -- when 825 members of the U.S. military had died in Iraq -- the insurgency that took shape with the fall of Saddam Hussein has increased its toll on American forces and Iraqi soldiers and civilians alike. When the toll gets to the number of innocent Americans killed in one day 4-1/2 years ago, somebody let me know.
Separately, Reuters reported that a senior U.S. diplomat survived on Monday when a suicide car bomber struck a U.S. military convoy in Baghdad. The report cited several police sources although the U.S. embassy said it was unaware of the incident. A spokesman for the Iraqi Islamic Party, a major Sunni Muslim grouping, said the official had just left its compound in western Baghdad when the explosion went off. Talking to the Sunnis and almost got wacked? A leak, perhaps?
A snippet of good news. Iraq has fulfilled a number of key goals set by the Bush administration, including historic elections, a new government and the drafting of a new constitution. But the deaths continued.
In the volatile town of Tal Afar where a U.S.-Iraqi offensive to rout terrorists has been launched, three mortar rounds missed an Iraqi army barracks and landed on a house Sunday, killing a 6-year old child, police Capt. Amjad Hashim said. The motar rounds came from un-named Heroes of the Islamic Revolution, I guess.
In one of Sunday's bright spots, the French journalist Florence Aubenas and her Iraqi assistant Hussein Hanoun al-Saadi returned home after five months in captivity. Hoo-ray! A journalist was freed!
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005
12:01 ||
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Cool inline! I remembers when Bman lerned to trademark. :)
NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico, June 13 (UPI) -- A Mexican city near the U.S. border removed the remainder of its police force from the streets after a weekend shootout between police and federal agents. A federal agent was wounded when Mexican city and federal police in Nuevo Laredo swapped gunfire in a battle Saturday that officials characterized as a mistake. Authorities said 41 civil police officers were detained for questioning about their role in the shootout.
The federal forces, which went to Nuevo Laredo to reinforce the city's security amid a violent crime wave, are now in charge, El Universal newspaper reported Monday. The shootout is just the latest strike against the city's law enforcement. Last week, newly appointed police chief was killed last week, just hours after assuming the position.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
11:35 ||
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"Mistake". Yeah, right. The federales tried to interfere with a "protected" drug shipment.
#2
The depth of corruption is on par with any Third World country. Just weeks away from everyone being spammed to help some widow of a Mexican offical requesting aid in moving millions of dollars.
#4
It's because we keep an eye out for you Bigjim.
Posted by: John Law ||
06/13/2005 17:43
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Muslim and civil liberties activists disagree. They argue that authorities are enforcing minor violations by Muslims and Arabs, while ignoring millions of other immigrants who flout the same laws.
Ok by me. Lets enforce it against all ILLEGAL ALIENS - including those who violate or overstay their visa and deport them as a matter of course. We can build detention centers to temporarily house them until we can ship their asses back to wherever-the-hell they came from.
And no, this is not based on RACE (besides Islam isn't a race) but on legal status.
Repliee Q1 appeared yesterday at the 2005 World Expo in Japan, where she gestured, blinked, spoke, and even appeared to breathe.
Of course it's a life-like girl robot, if you're a computer geek what else are you going to build?
Shown with co-creator Hiroshi Ishiguru of Osaka University, the android is partially covered in soft supple skinlike silicone. Q1 is powered by a nearby air compressor, and has 31 points of articulation in its upper body.
And 1,647 points of "articulation" below the waist
Internal sensors allow the android to react "naturally." It can block an attempted slap, for example. But it's the little, "unconscious" movements that give the robot its eerie verisimilitude: the slight flutter of the eyelids, the subtle rising and falling of the breasts chest, the constant, nearly imperceptible shifting so familiar to humans.
Surrounded by machines that draw portraits, swat fast-moving balls, and snake through debris, Q1 is only one of the showstoppers at the expo's Prototype Robot Exposition, which aims to showcase Japan's growing role in the robotics industry. But given Q1's reported glitch-related orgasms "spasms" at the expo, it may be a while before androids are escorting tour groups or looking after children—which may be just as well. "When a robot looks too much like the real thing, it's creepy," Hiroshi told the Associated Press.
Picture at the link above, he's created a tour guide.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
11:24 ||
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The sexbot 3000! Tired of women turning you down? Your beautiful pastey complection a turn off to the opposite sex? Then get a sexbot 3000! No more hurt feelings, just good sensations! Never be alone while playing Everquest 2 again!
#3
With Japan's population taking a dive and the 'ladies' deciding that life has other offerings than Japanese motherhood and coupled with the Japanese resistance to foreign immigration, you may be seeing the beginning [and end] of how they look at solving the labor problem. Nice replacements for those welcome ladies in front of the department stores. Look out gramps, your job at Walmart is threatened!
Behind their brave common front on Iraq shown the world by Tony Blair and George W. Bush in Washington last week, the British prime minister is orchestrating an aggressive campaign to force the American president to retreat on climate change. Blair and the other European leaders are aiming at next month's G8 industrial summit in Scotland as the last good chance to get the U.S. to back the Kyoto Protocol on reducing greenhouse gases.
Blair is working behind friend Bush's back trying to turn him on Kyoto. The prime minister secretly has lobbied U.S. senators, and British officials are collaborating with American environmentalist advocates. Lord May of Oxford, president of the British Royal Society, was able to convince science academies from 10 other countries (including the U.S.) to demand "prompt action" on global warming. Congress is closer than ever to enacting fossil fuel restrictions.
"In reality, Kyoto was never about environmental policy," a White House aide told me. "It was designed as an elaborate, predatory trade strategy to level the American and European economies." The problem for Europeans has been that Bush refused to go along, ruining the desired leveling effect. The EU's industries have been devastated, while the U.S. has prospered.
Europeans' desire to bring U.S. prosperity down to their level is no conspiracy theory of American conservatives. Margot Wallstrom, the Swedish vice president of the European Commission, in 2001 (when she was commissioner for the environment) said the Kyoto Protocol was "not a simple environmental issue . . . this is about international relations, this is about economy -- about trying to create a level playing field."
The ground has been carefully prepared for the G8 summit at the Gleaneagles golf resort in Scotland July 6-8. A clever domestic politician, Blair in Washington last week balanced unpopular support for Bush on Iraq by splitting away from the Americans on aid to Africa and global warming. While the African question does not vitally affect U.S. interests, the Kyoto Protocol does. Blair was candid. "If the U.S. isn't part of this deal overall," he said on PBS's "NewsHour," "then it's very difficult to tackle the problem."
As Blair met with Bush Tuesday, the report of the 11 national academies was released, with the U.S. National Academy of Sciences signing on in a major shift of position. On Wednesday, The New York Times published a story about White House official Philip Cooney editing government climate reports in ways that minimized the link between industrial emissions and global warming.
The Times story was provided by Rick Piltz, a career civil servant and former Democratic congressional staffer who was inherited by Bush as a senior associate in the U.S. Climate Change Science Program. Since he resigned from the government earlier this year, he has been represented as a whistle-blower by the Government Accountability Project. Piltz on June 1 issued a 14-page paper attacking the "credibility" of the administration he had just left.
The reason for all this activity is the EU's plight in regard to Kyoto's emissions reduction targets of five percent below the 1990 level. According to credible private sources, the EU's 15 nations will be 3 percent above 1990 and 10 percent above in carbon dioxide. Several countries are substantially over the targets, led by Portugal (61 percent over target), Spain (61 percent) and Greece (51 percent).
While Blair mobilizes pressure on Bush at Gleaneagles, efforts will be made the next two weeks in the Senate to amend the energy bill to force reduced emissions. The global warming bill of Sens. John McCain and Joseph Lieberman, estimated by the energy industry to cost more than 600,000 jobs and ruin U.S. coal production, was easily defeated in 2003. However, thanks to possible defections by several Republican senators, a mandatory climate change amendment by Democratic Sen. Jeff Bingaman might pass.
George W. Bush is surrounded by hostile friends. Old bull Republican Sen. Pete Domenici, manager of the energy bill, may support the Bingaman amendment. Within his own administration, the departed mole Rick Piltz has many allies. And in the lakes and glens of Scotland, he will find dear friend Tony Blair winning points with the Labor left and his fellow Europeans
Posted by: too true ||
06/13/2005
11:03 ||
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#1
This sounds like a lot of hand-wringing to me. Bush is not going to cave on Kyoto. BTW, Kyoto as "leveling the playing field" is obvious. If the EUros increase costs in order to comply, they put themselves at a competitive disadvantage, so of course they want US firms to increase costs too. Doesn't mean we should, especially for something as flawed as Kyoto.
#2
You go Tony! Lead the way. Double the English gas tax. Shanghai city folk and press gang them to pull plows in the countryside, ala Zimbabwe.
Posted by: ed ||
06/13/2005 11:57
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My guess is that if the economy keeps improving, technology keeps surging forward, and gas prices keep high the US will end up making the Kyoto restrictions without signing on or leveling these painful demands upon ourselves.
Bush should do what the Chinese did regarding Nuclear testing. They said they wouldn't sign anything but they'd do their best to not test nukes. Either that or he should have left Kyoto in the bottom desk drawer where Clinton put instead of officially declaring it dead and taking the heat.
#4
"In reality, Kyoto was never about environmental policy," a White House aide told me. "It was designed as an elaborate, predatory trade strategy to level the American and European economies." Bingo! The Euros have dug themselves into a nasty hole on Kyoto and perceive the only way out is for the US to join them in the hole. BTW, Australia is not going to give on this either, not while Howard is in office.
BALTIMORE, United States (AFP) - Increasing numbers of young American children are showing signs of serious malnourishment, fueled by a greater prevalence of hunger in the United States, while, paradoxically, two-thirds of the US population is either overweight or obese. In 2003, 11.2 percent of families in the United States experienced hunger, compared with 10.1 percent in 1999, according to most recent official figures, released on released by who? Cat got yer tongue?
National Hunger Awareness Day held this year on Tuesday, June 7.
Some pediatricians worry that cuts in welfare aid proposed in the evil President George W. Bush's 2006 budget will only exacerbate the situation. By contrast Bush plans to keep tax cuts for more affluent sectors of the population, they note. Ah, the gratuitous slap at tax cuts
In the working class port city of Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Maureen Black, a pediatrician, sees numbers of underweight babies in her clinic specialized in infant malnutrition located in one of the poorer areas. "In the first year of life, children triple their birth weight," said Black, "and if children do not have enough to eat during those very early very times, you first see that their weight will falter and then their height will falter."
"If their height falters enough and they experience stunting under age two, they are then at risk for academic and behaviour problems" at school, said Black.
My good Dr. Black, we have various women and infant nutrition and welfare programs that are considered 'entitlements' -- paid regardless. It's not the fault of the federal government if these women and infants are having problems. There just might be other factors in this -- I paid attention to this when I attended med school.
Dr. Deborah Frank, a professor of pediatrics at Boston University's School of Medicine, who also runs a specialised clinic for malnourished babies, has similar concerns. "We are seeing more and more very young babies under a year of age which is a particular concern because they are most likely to die of under nutrition, and also their brains are growing very very rapidly," said Frank, in a telephone interview. "A baby's brain increases 2.5 times in size in the first year of life," she says, adding that if the baby fails to get the nutritional building blocks he or she needs for the brain to develop, a child can have lifelong difficulties in behaviour and learning.
But infant-child protection centers do not exist in the United States, unlike it other countries, such as France, ... *sniff* the US is so disgusting compared to France
Because we handle it differently -- we have aid checks and clinics, whereas the French centralize the system.
... which makes children below the age of three or four years old somewhat invisible to authorities, laments Frank. "They don't come to my clinic until they are already quite underweight.
"Recently I have been alarmed because we are getting more children who are so ill that they go to hospital rather than they come to the clinic first" a situation which, in 20 years of practising medicine, Frank had seen reverse.
Some children in the United States occasionally look like the malnourished children we see in some parts of Africa, however, welfare programs targeting society's poorest ensures that problem is generally avoided, the pediatricians say.
Paradoxically, malnutrition is not always due to lack of food -- rather to the quality of the food being consumed. "People often ask me how many children go to bed hungry. The answer is the parents work very hard so they don't go to bed feeling hungry. The parents try to fill the baby up with french fries and soda pop," said Frank. Bullsh*t alert! Fries and soda pop (and junk food in general) are expensive relative to non-junk food
And it might be that the mommies in question are making poor choices -- that's also not the fault of Pres. Bush.
In some areas, green vegetables and fruit are impossible to buy -- even in a can, because there may be no supermarket. Moreover, such items are costly. Oh give me a break. More expensive that junk food?
There are supermarkets even in poor neighborhoods. And poor neighborhoods have plenty of small grocery stores that take WIC and food stamps. I drive past a couple every day when I come to work; I know they're there.
"What happens in America is -- what seems bizarre -- that some of the recommendations that we give to families to prevent underweight of children are the same as we give to prevent overweight," said Black. "We recommend families not to give their children junk food."
In some families, eating junk food will mean one child is obese while the other is underweight, said Black. "The first will eat junk food and nothing else, the second will eat junk food and everything else." I've rarely read such pure, unadulterated anit-American, anti-Bush bullsh*t. Argh! Goebbels would be proud.
Wonder if the AFP reporter wrote the story from Paris? It's easier that way.
#1
Bullshit. Pure Bullshit. Americans are the biggest and tallest people on the planet because we get more food at a young age. Our average height is near 5'10 for men, 5'8" for women. Other countries (non-first world) the average is 5'7" for men, 5'4" for women. Also, our IQs are increasing (see rantburg archives) because of better food and education.
Green veggies are not THAT expensive. We have to have all of ours shipped in and you can still buy a head of lettuce for $1.20. That and a 1lb bag of carrots for $1.50 will make you salads for several days.
#3
If we grind up all the baby ducks and kittens we can find into a nice, tasty gruel, that will help Save the Children™!
Posted by: Dar ||
06/13/2005 13:02
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Whatta load of BS!
IMHO, if any children are malnourished in this country, the parents of said kids (virtually all moms, I'd guess) belong in jail or, at least, to lose custody.
#5
"A baby's brain increases 2.5 times in size in the first year of life"
As this AFP reporter proves, even a full-sized brain can be useless, especially if it is programmed in French.
Posted by: Tom ||
06/13/2005 13:19
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You know, my wife is from the Philippines and she is amazed by our welfare and 'the government will take care of you' systems. Where she comes from they simply don't have such concepts as 'Welfare' - if you are out of work you depend on your family and friends to help you out until you can find something.
She could not beleve that people would be paid money (and a lot of it by Philippine standards) for not doing anything. She also could not beleve that people would accept (much less expect as a right) such without remorse or any shame at all. But here people (and politicians) feel that it is a right that the lazy and slothful (I am not talking about the truely disabled here) get a free meal at the expense of the hard-working.
But then the left (this story is form Boston isn't it?) feels that the State is the 'family' - the state is 'all'.
#7
Fact is if you take a poll in the US and ask if you've ever gone to bed hungry you'll get a lot of yes responses. Sent to bed without dinner, hungry. On a diet, hungry. Didn't get the second slice of cake, hungry. Puked up your dinner along with the dozen tequla shots, hungry.
Hunger is a relative term and I think they are misusing the term here through confusion or deception. I'm guessing deception.
#8
In some areas, green vegetables and fruit are impossible to buy -- even in a can, because there may be no supermarket.
It's true. There are areas in my city where the supermarkets, such as they are, don't even have a produce department. They had a big write-up about it in the local indy rag, moaning about what a tragedy it was. For me, the crucial quote came from the manager of one store who pointed out that they stopped carrying produce because NOBODY WAS BUYING IT.
#9
Puked up your dinner along with the dozen tequla shots, hungry Lol rj! Been there, done that.
BH - that's right, lots of produce is wasted in any supermarket. Besides, they could still buy frozen or canned.
Those evil right-wingers forced me to eat the big mac and supersized fries!
#12
I read about a "survey" a number of years ago (sorry, no link - too lazy to look for one) that had a quarter or some such of American children going to bed hungry every night.
Then somebody got hold of the questions.
Seems "hungry" meant the kids didn't get what they wanted to eat.
It wasn't that they didn't have food - they did. It was just that they wanted pizza and had to settle for hot dogs.
So you can understand why I have such a hard time even bothering with these kinds of stories.
Bullshit stinks. But then so does the Phrench AFP. For the same reason.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/13/2005 16:21
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BAGHDAD (Reuters) - An Iraqi judge has questioned Saddam Hussein about the killings of dozens of men from a Shi'ite village where he survived an assassination attempt in 1982, the Iraqi special tribunal said on Monday. It also released film of Saddam and other members of his administration being questioned by presiding judge Raad Jouhi, which a spokesman said had taken place on Sunday. The killings at Dujail are a relatively minor incident among the crimes of which the former president is accused but there has been speculation that they might be used as a test case in an early trial.
Iraqi government officials have said they would like to put Saddam on trial in the next few months, before an election, although tribunal officials have said the timetable is not set. A spokesman for the elected government, dominated by Shi'ites and Kurds, said this month that it was interested in a swift trial and death sentence for Saddam, and that therefore it was not necessary to prepare cases on all the many charges of genocide and crimes against humanity he faces.
Just as long as he swings
There has been speculation that prosecutors may find it easier to produce evidence of direct personal involvement by Saddam in the killings at Dujail than in some of the more prominent accusations.
One source in the Iraqi government has told Reuters that two of five people currently charged in connection with Dujail -- Saddam's half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan -- were ready to testify that Saddam had personally ordered the killings.
The prosecution will allege that over 100 executions were carried out in reprisal for an attempt to assassinate Saddam as his motorcade passed through the village, north of Baghdad, in July 1982. The village's date groves were destroyed and hundreds of residents were interned in the south of the country.
The tribunal also released a list of four other people, including Barzan Abdel Ghafoor, commander of the Special Republican Guard and a cousin of Saddam, and Muzahim Saab al- Hassan, a former air defense commander, who were questioned about the 1988 Anfal campaign against the Kurds, during which poison gas killed 5,000 civilians at Halabja.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
10:20 ||
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"the 1988 Anfal campaign against the Kurds, during which poison gas killed 5,000 civilians at Halabja."
Whoa! And it's taken the US over two years to kill 12,000 (IIRC) but Saddam got 5,000 in a single event! We'd better sharpen our collateral damage skills!
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 12:20
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Bobby, those Kurds were not collateral damage, they were the targets.
June 13, 2005: The U.S. Army continues to have problem attracting recruits for its non-combat jobs. All the other services are exceeding their recruiting goals this year, but the army is coming up short. The current fiscal year is eight months gone, and the army is 17 percent short of its annual recruiting goals. But all the other services met or exceeded their goals, putting overall recruiting short eight percent. That's some 8,000 troops, in a force of 1.4 million. The reserves are doing better, with an overall shortfall of a few thousand recruits in a force of 1.2 million.
In May, the army was 25 percent short in recruits for the active force, and has been short just about every month since January. There's no shortage of warriors, it's the 85 percent of the jobs that involved clerical or maintenance tasks that not enough people want. The marines, which put their "combat" role up front when recruiting, are getting all the people they need. Despite the fact that the marines have a higher casualty rate than the army in Iraq, marine recruiters challenge potential recruits to find out if they are good enough to be a marine. But the army has long stressed the "career" aspects of army service. This made sense, as only about 15 percent of army jobs involve combat. Since the 1970s, somewhat to the army's surprise, there has never been a shortage of recruits for these dangerous jobs. And until recently, there were plenty of recruits for the non-combat jobs. But when Iraq was invaded in 2003, and non-combat troops were attacked frequently, the word got around. Parents, and many of the recruits, no longer saw the army as a safe place to go for a few years, to learn skills, get education benefits, and some good stuff to put on the resume.
While casualties are low in Iraq, the lowest the army has ever suffered in wartime, a disproportionate number of the killed and wounded are non-combat troops. Decades of army recruiting, and training, that played down the danger angle for non-combat troops. This has now become a major recruiting problem. While the army never hid the fact that everyone in the army was, well, in a combat organization, the training and leadership over the last two decades has played down the possibility of combat, and combat injuries, for non-combat troops. As a result, the potential recruits feel, well, deceived. It's, like," "hey, dude, you didn't saying anything about getting shot or blown up."
The army has added to the shock by hastily revising training for combat support troops. Now non-combat troops get the kind of intense combat training they have not received for over a decade. Back in the early 1990s, the army created a separate basic training systems for combat troops, because political pressure forced them to mix male and female recruits in basic training units. Since the women could not keep up with the men in the standard, very intense, basic, the "non-combat basic" was toned down so the female recruits could handle it. This change has gone unnoticed outside the army, but NCOs and officers know the problem well. The discipline of non-combat troops declined after basic training was watered down. It became pretty easy to tell the difference between combat and non-combat troops, even when they were out of uniform. The combat troops carried themselves like soldiers, while many of the non-combat types appeared to be civilians in uniform. This became a serious problem when many non-combat troops got shot at in 2003, and their lack of discipline and preparation for combat made them more likely to get hurt.
The army is not having any problems getting current troops to stay in, and plans to solve the recruiting problem by keeping the more intense training for non-combat troops, and offering more financial incentives for specific skills it is looking for. Army recruiting ads now stress the fact that we're at war, and its dangerous out there. More non-combat jobs will be replaced with civilians, and, slowly, the army will retool its image to the way it used to be. The new doctrine is that everyone in the army is a soldier, and everyone must be ready to deal with combat. Eventually, army recruiters will have the same kind of success the marines currently have. The marines have always made it clear that every marine must be ready for combat at all times.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
10:16 ||
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AHHH the TRUTH finally comes out!!!
So its not the combat branches that are coming up short. The Army is not missing goals because people do not want to fight, its because most of the enlistees WANT to fight hence the shortage in the "clerk and jerk" category.
Boy it gives you a glimpse into how the news is being spun when you read an article like this after hearing the local radio shows and the op ed pages blast away that Iraq is Viet Nam.
Can we just BURN the LA times and the Washington Post to the ground and lynch their editorial staff? Boy I wish.
#2
I did a scene in an up-coming movie a few weeks back where we trashed a newspaper editor's office and then tarred and feathered him and his assistant. I'm not a violent person so I just kept thinking of the New York Times, et al.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/13/2005 11:56
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Again, enlistment is economy based.
The Army had recruiting problems in the 80's and 90's when the economy was going good. Note how this is never addressed in MSM. It doesn't match the bigoted template.
Note how many job specialities which are having 'shortages' are basically the same as civilian base jobs.
The army is not having any problems getting current troops to stay in...
Retention is affected by the war and operational tempo.
The army has added to the shock by hastily revising training for combat support troops. Now non-combat troops get the kind of intense combat training they have not received for over a decade.
To a certain extent the CS [combat support] and particularly the CSS [combat service support] units never in the 70s, 80s or 90s received much in the form of combat training beyond basic or just deploying to field training. This has always been a disaster waiting to happen. Fortunately the damage has been kept to a few units before the GO corps got its head out of its rectal orifice.
Only posting this because several comments have been made here putting CA school spending at the bottom - CTA-spread BS. RTWT
A recent Public Policy Institute of California poll shows that while Californians have strong opinions on what to do about public education, they have no idea what's going on. I give the public an "F" in Education.
As a wonderfully sneaky test of awareness, PPIC asked Californians in a recent survey how much of the state budget is spent on public schools. They were clueless. Only one in three knew that public education is by far the biggest item, sucking up half the budget--very roughly, $50 billion of $100 billion.
Ignorant voters insist more money pour into the schools, not knowing California spends more on schools than the entire operating budgets of each of the 49 other states, including New York. Here's reality: The National Education Association (NEA) and National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) rank California in the middle on per-pupil-spending. We're at the comfy median. We do not "under-fund" our schools despite our many troubles.
Why doesn't everybody know this?
The PPIC poll shows how misconceptions are driven by partisanship in California. Democrats tend to believe (ridiculously) that California's prisons get the most state money. Republicans tend to believe (absurdly) that social welfare gets the most state money.
People are ignorant in part because our crisis-driven media often lazily push the myth that California is near "the bottom" in school funding. That myth is a product of the education lobby, led by the California Teachers Association, which makes sure California teachers earn the highest salaries in the nation, yet constantly whines that schools are under-funded.
The myth was furthered in January when Rand Corp. released a just-plain-wrong study showing California wallowing near the bottom. Rand had not returned my call by press time, but state Department of Finance spokesman H.D. Palmer notes that Rand included "all children who had excused absences" in California but didn't attend school. The 49 other states did not inflate attendance in this way. Rand has acknowledged that by dividing spending by an inflated student count, it probably affected California's outcome.
Eric Hanushek, at the Hoover Institution, notes, "We're not even close to eighth from the bottom---nowhere near that. We are at or near the middle in the nation." Frank Johnson, a respected statistician for NCES, adds, "California per pupil funding is near the middle. Some people are presenting data in a way that supports their (political) views." According to the NCES, California spent $7,552 per student in 2002-03. The national median was $7,574. We're $22 short, so no wonder our kids are near the bottom in math and reading! Fresh NEA data mirrors the NCES data. Its "Rankings & Estimates" report shows that California in 2003-04 was in the exact middle, ranked at 25th, spending $7,692 per pupil.
California voters imagine themselves to be well-informed. The PPIC poll says, "72 percent believe voters should make decisions about the budget and governmental reforms rather than abdicate that responsibility to the governor and legislature ⊠But when it comes to the budget, how much knowledge do residents bring to the table? Only 29 percent of Californians can identify the top category for state spending (K-12 education)."
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2005
10:10 ||
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#1
School spending is up because you may have some 125 languages spoken at one elementary and have to pay teachers who are at minimum bilingual. Illegal immigration has lots of hidden costs.
#2
bs danielle. With 184 languages, bilingual education is not possible. Sooo...are you saying that every inner city school has 184 teachers for every grade? No..ok, then how many.
It used to be, don't know what it is now, that they did ESL for the very reason that there are 184 languages spoken. These teachers teach in ENGLISH, but slow it down and use techniques such as learning centers. You don't need to know a second language to speak ESL, as you'd have to be supra-lingual to know enough languages to teach the 8-10 different nationalities in your class.
As for tutors, yes, they do have them in various languages. But these float from school to school in each district.
The spanish mon-lingual is a business. It's a scam too. The teachers who teach often, most often, don't have teaching credentials - their only credential being they speak spanish. Many of the mexican families do not want their children in these classes, because they don't learn english.
California really doesn't have any more problems than other states that have inner cities - regardless of the language spoken.
#3
The NEA and NCES data on school spending are way off, no matter where they rank CA. That $7,500 national median figure is fiction. Checking California school district budgets one quickly learns that the actual spend, including special ed, employee benefits, capital financing, etc. is way over $ 10,000. LA has over $13,000 per kid, all in , and SF over $10,000. The US as a whole is probably somewhere there also.
Now, CA has a worse student-teacher ratio overall because it pays its teachers above-average, and costs, including the prevailing salary levels in CA are also above average.
June 13, 2005: The U.S. Air Force received over 150,000 feedback responses to its proposed new work uniform. The troops didn't like the flashy blue and green tiger strop motif of the test uniform.
It screamed "Vietnam", and not in a good way.
So the air force will do a field test of a more sedate tan, blue and gray camouflage pattern. The air force wants a camouflage pattern that will make air force personnel look like warriors, or something like that.
Disclosure notice, I retired as a MSgt after 24 years in the AF. I expect nothing less than a (cough) McPeak(cough) disaster.
A secondary benefit is to make people, wearing the air force camouflage work uniform, harder to hit targets, in the off chance that hostile gunmen get on to an air force base. This has rarely happened in the last half century, but you never know, and it doesn't hurt to be prepared. The new camouflage uniform will be introduced in 2007, and take four or five years to completely replace the current uniforms, which look something like a soldier or marine might wear. The new uniform will unmistakably say, "Air Force."
We're getting leisure suits?
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
10:08 ||
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#1
The air force wants a camouflage pattern that will make air force personnel look like warriors, or something like that.
They're going to get those t-shirts with the muscles drawn on the front.
#3
Just to show that this sort of thinking isn't restricted to the USAF, have a gander at this:
Frankly, I'll quit the Navy before something that godawful! Fortunately, rumor has it that these uniforms have been just as poorly received in the Navy as the AF.
#4
20 year AF Vet here too and if McPeak had his way we would be dressed like the Navy. I think that the AF should have it's own motif but I thought those blue cammies looked well GAY. I know that most of us are REMFs, but that doesn't mean our uniforms have to be metrosexual.
#6
I think half the uniform types the ANavy and AF are trying out look, well...
Canadian.
And McPeak was an idiot when it came to command of the USAF.
As for the USAF, the main unifor will still be flight suits, and when in the filed, the PJs and FO's will still wear whatever the Army is wearing.
So these uniforms are just for the REMFs. My solution? May as well just put them back in the old OD fatigues with an authorized squadron/section ballcap. They looked good with a bit of pressing & starch, and were entirely adequate for garrison duties. Plus they were inexpensive, so messing a set up was no big deal. Go back to the "Gomer Pyle"s.
#7
Propeller hats. The brass are still cogitating on the appropriate camouflage pattern, though I am partial to the flames model.
Posted by: ed ||
06/13/2005 11:20
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Anyone here deal logistics?
How many variations and how many sizes are going to be needed to sustain the deployed troops of all the services when each has their own again? How many storage areas and load lists are going to be filled with 3 or 4 'unique' uniforms to satisfy egos?
Now this is what the term 'militaristic' was about. If one uniform can perform 90% of the legit function of what is needed to do the job, that satisfies military need. The remainer, to get that unique look, is pure militarism, that is to assume the form of military but not substansively contribute to actual function. Its the old story of why the Army ranks resisted rough brown boots, because the First Sergeants couldn't get the troops to polish them.
#9
Old Spook, dead on. And if they can't bring back the ODs then go to Wally World or Sears and order about 10 million sets of work clothes. For the people serving over seas by all means put them in camo. It somewhat makes sense there.
#10
I dunno. When was the last time an airbase was overrun? What would you camoflage yourself as on the flight line? Asphalt?
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005 13:47
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#11
This design has a lot to say, but I don't think "Air Force" in on the list. Well, it is blue. Terpbsboy explains it rather well, IMO. I'm thinking she's prolly one of the fabled MILF's we hear so much about.
#14
A secondary benefit is to make people, wearing the air force camouflage work uniform, harder to hit targets, in the off chance that hostile gunmen get on to an air force base.
Then make 'em entirely gray. When people wearing the new uniforms stand in front of the rows of airplanes on the tarmac, no one will be able to see them!
June 13, 2005: After three years effort, an American-Afghan intelligence effort has concluded that there are between 1200-1800 armed organizations in the country, each with five to 300 men. Many of these "gangs" are temporary organizations, brought together by outside events and local opportunities. In the Afghan tradition, anyone with a fast mouth and persuasive proposition can get a bunch of his buddies to grab their guns and go off to fight, or just steal. Ancient traditions and all that. Many of these armed groups in turn follow a more powerful leader, often referred to as a warlord. As long as the warlord can supply his followers with gifts (cash, food, weapons, whatever), they will remain loyal. When the gifts dry up, so does the loyalty, and the warlord "army" melts away.
The UN backed DDR (Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration) program, begun in October 2003, and ending at the end of June, has disarmed over 58,000 former fighters who had registered with the Defense Ministry. DDR was basically a bribe, paying fighters to go home, and turn in heavy weapons. DDR will be replaced by DIAG (Disbanding Illegal Armed Groups), which will be run by provincial officials and, in a year, hopes to disarm another 100,000 of these organized fighters. Like DDR, DIAG is organized bribery, paying the gunmen to forsake their gang leaders and warlords and go home. However, aside from surrendering heavy machine-guns, mortars and such, the gunmen can quickly organize themselves into new groups and find another warlord to follow. Tradition.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
09:57 ||
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Listed criminal killed in "crossfire" with police
A listed criminal of the district was killed in a "crossfire" between police and his accomplices in Rangunia upazila under the district early yesterday. Detective Branch police led by Additional Police Super Jahangir Hossain Matubber arrested Md Salim alias "Karate Salim", 34, along with his three accomplices from a hotel in the city's Chawk Bazar area on Saturday night, police said.
"Evening, boys. Stick'um up!"
During interrogation, Salim confessed of possessing more than 30 illegal firearms that he rented out to robbers in different areas of the district. Police went out to search for illegal firearms taking Salim with them at a hideout of criminals in Majumderkhil under the upazila at around 3.30am.
Of course, when else would you go looking for criminals hidden arms?
As police reached near Majumderkhil School, Salim's accomplices opened fire on the law enforcers, triggering a gunfight.
Bang bang bangity bang!
Trying to flee, Karate Salim fell in the line of fire and received bullets behind the right ear. He was rushed to the local upazila health complex where the on-duty doctor declared him dead, police said,
"He's dead, Jim"
adding that Constable Wahiduzzaman was also bullet-hit during the incident. Police seized a local made gun, one LG and seven bullets from the spot. Karate Salim was accused in over 13 criminal cases.
RAB nabs Juba Dal leader
The Rapid Action Battalion has arrested a Juba Dal leader in Rangpur on charge of gun attack on a businessman in 2003. The police said Nazmul Alam, senior vice president of district unit of Juba Dal, youth front of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party, was arrested from his residence at Guptapara in the town Saturday night. He was charged for the attack on Moslem Uddin on November 5, 2003. Later, a local court sent Nazmul to jail.
Another shady case of Rab 'crossfire'
The killing of a plumber in Rab 'crossfire' on May 11 in Narsingdi has now taken a new turn with witnesses saying it was a murder in cold blood. "The Rab men fired a couple of rounds in the air and then fired Nazmul in cold blood shoving him to the ground with a foot on his chest," a witness told The Daily Star in the locality this week.
Yeah, that's about what I figure normally happens
The Rab-3 members said Nazmul Islam Bhuiyan, alias Nazu, resident of Malita village under Palash Police Station (PS) in Narsingdi, was killed in an "encounter" at the BSCIC industrial estate at Kararchar under Shibpur PS in the district.
They said Nazmul, armed and accompanied by several friends, gathered near a water tank at the BSCIC area with the aim to commit muggings. The Rab also claimed to have recovered a pistol from Nazmul's possession and arrested two youths--Nurul Islam Dulal and Sohel Miah--from the spot. Witness accounts, however, gave a totally different picture.
Should have picked a more deserted spot
The spot where Rab men shot Nazmul was just some 100 yards east of the Dhaka-Ghorasal highway and at the southwest corner of the BSCIC area. The witnesses were sitting at the roadside tea-stalls, some 150 yards from the spot, or walking in front of the mill-gates where they work.
"Nazmul was talking to two motorbikers--Dulal and Sohel--at around 3:00pm when a few Rab men came there in plainclothes," an employee of one of the mills at the BSCIC, who was walking to a tea-stall, said on condition of anonymity. "Nazmul did not recognise them as Rab men and engaged into an altercation with them," said a shopkeeper in the locality, adding that Nazmul traded heated words with them and at one point pushed one of the Rab members.
The Rab men then put on their Rab jackets and identified themselves to the youths, the witnesses said. Realising the mistake, Nazmul got down on his knees and begged the Rab men for his life, said another witness who was standing some 100 yards from the spot. "The Rab members then held the three youths and dragged Nazmul to a nearby crop field," said the mill-employee. "The Rab men first fired into the air and then shot Nazmul pinning him to the ground with a foot on his chest," he added.
Shot in the air being "fired upon", triggering the "crossfire"
Another witness expressed his surprise to this correspondent, saying, "Is this thing called 'crossfire'? They [Rab] shot him as if killing a bird or an animal!" The Rab members then cordoned off the whole area and did not let anyone go near Nazmul's body, which lay in the field, the witnesses said. "For the next couple of days, the Rab randomly patrolled the area, threatened us not to tell what we had seen, and ordered us to tell that Nazmul died in 'crossfire'," said a shopkeeper.
The following day, Subedar Sarwar Jahan of the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) filed a case with the Shibpur PS and handed over Dulal and Sohel along with a pistol and their motorbike. In the FIR (first information report) Sarwar said that, acting on a tip-off, he along with Sub-Inspector (SI) Jahangir Uddin, Corporals Khairul, Anwar Hossain, Ershaduzzaman and Mosharraf, Lance Nayek Harun, Sepoys Nur Mohammad and Jabed Ali went to the spot at around 2:30pm. The Rab members were informed that some armed youths had gathered at the BSCIC area to commit some criminal activities, he said in the FIR.
As the Rab men reached the spot, the youths, sensing their presence, opened fire indiscriminately from the water tank, prompting the Rab members to counter with bullets, the FIR said. During the shootout, the Rab men held three youths, one Nazmul- bullet-wounded with a pistol in his hand, it said. Nazmul was taken to Narsingdi Sadar Hospital where the doctors declared him dead.
"He's dead, Jim."
The FIR also said the Rab members picked three shopkeepers who saw the seizure of the pistol from Nazmul. The two arrested youths also confessed in front of the Rab witnesses that they gathered there with arms intending to commit crimes.
"We were inside our shop and heard a couple of gunshots," said one of the FIR witnesses. "After the firing, some Rab men came to me and asked me to go with them," he said, adding, "Going to the field, I saw a youth lying dead and the Rab men showed us a pistol saying they had recovered it from him." Another FIR witness also said the same while the third one went to his village home during the investigation.
I believe this is known as "creating witnesses"
The Shibpur police have already given the charge-sheet in one of the three cases--arms case, murder case and one for barring government officials from duty--filed with them.
SI Rafiqul Islam, the Investi-gation officer (IO) of the case, told The Daily Star that he had submitted the charge-sheet in the arms case stating that a pistol was found in the possession of the youths. He also said that he brought the two arrestees, who are now in Narsingdi jail, on remand and made an investigation in the locality. He, however, refused to reveal his findings but hinted that those are similar to that in the FIR. When asked about the findings of The Daily Star investigation, Major Anis, in-charge of Rab-3 at the Adamjee camp which conducts operations in the Narsingdi area, said he does not have anything to say beyond what has been said in the FIR.
Both Palash and Shibpur police stations admitted that they did not have any criminal records against Nazmul, who was also the vice-president of the Jatiyatabadi Chhatra Dal Charsindur union unit. Nazmul went to Saudi Arabia and came back in 2001. Since then, he was working in a factory near the Ghorasal fertiliser factory and has also been a contractor in the locality. At his village, this correspondent found Nazmul was regarded as an amicable and friendly person. "I want justice," said Nazmul's wailing mother, adding, "You wouldn't find such a charming, gentle and lively youth in the village."
Yeah, yeah, "good boy, kind to his mother, reads his koran daily, etc".
"We have been traumatised for almost a week since we heard the news and received his body the following day," she said. The family did not even file any case, fearing the Rab may harm them.
2-km crack in Jessore village creates panic
Panic has gripped several thousand people in Dalennagar and Andalpota villages in Jessore sadar upazila as a crack has developed on the earth surface of the area stretching about two kilometres. The crack is up to two feet wide and 10-14 feet deep at places, villagers told this correspondent yesterday. The area is about 20 kilometres off the district town. They said the stretch of the crack is increasing.
I'd take that as a sign to move
A nor'wester blew over the area Monday evening when houses shook, possibly due to a tremor, the villagers said. The next morning they saw the long chasm on the earth surface.
Signs and portents, next comes the giant firebreathing lizards
People offered special prayers as they thought it was a sign of a powerful tremor yet to come. Ainal Haq, headmaster of a local government primary school, said many panicked villagers are thinking leaving homes.
There goes the property values.
Jessore Deputy Commissioner Mohammad Abdul Wazed visited the area yesterday. He told the villagers that he will inform authorities concerned in Dhaka about the incident and ask to send a team of seismologists to investigate the matter.
In the movie version, we'd expect a bright young scientist to predict doom, the local politicians to surpress the report and the scientist to team with a beautiful journalist to save the day.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
09:28 ||
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#7
I think the AOS is responsible for this turn of events.
Hey, I told them to use the deserted brickyard at 4am and make sure there were no witnesses. I can't help it if they got careless.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005 16:20
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I want to thank everyone here who responded to my request concerning Sgt. Hank Harvey and also to the moderators who allowed me to make the request. Hank is doing just fine and your letters really helped. He said he will try to respond to each one of you personnally. He is now and will be for some time really angry with our "media" for their stoking the fires of the jihadis against his fellow soldiers. A bunch of us took him out on Friday for a "Welcome Home and a Job Well Done" celebration and he had a great time and got absolutely wasted. He earned it. He doesn't think he did anything special and was a bit self-concious about the attention we paid him. He was in command of three gun trucks for convoy security and with all the rules about when to fire and the consequences of making a mistake in the heat of a firefight it was a very stressful tour. He told me of more than one occasion when a group of children would gather to wave at them and suddenly some terrorists who would be among the children would open fire. He said he was impressed with the progress the Iraqi armed services was making in taking over their own defence and security and they seemed to be very effective in finding these nutjobs both before and after their attacks. He said he knows a lot of attacks were prevented by the Iraqis themselves but didn't probe into the methods of how they got their information. Raj, He said he's really considering the clambake.
Again, thank you all for your support. Hank is really a fine man.
Sincerely, Deacon Blues.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/13/2005
09:26 ||
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#1
Thanks for filling us in, Deacon. Can you send me his address too? I forgot to ask you. And Raj, what's this about a clambake? I might be up Boston way in August...
#4
I've got the horse and am holding it in escrow. His soon-to-be-ex doesn't know where I live so the horse is just fine. Sea, I'll send you his address. I don't have it here at work.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/13/2005 16:08
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Security forces yesterday arrested chief of Myanmar's antigovernment guerrilla group National United Party of Arakan (NUPA), Tai Jo Khoy, and his three associates at Naikkhongchhari. BDR sources confirmed the arrest but did not disclose the whereabouts of the arrestees. But a well-placed source said the four were being interrogated in a secret place and they have disclosed significant information about hidden firearms and ammunition.
Don't go for any late nite drives...
Acting on secret information, the security forces comprising army and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) members raided Narkelbunia area in Naikkhangchhari upazila yesterday afternoon and nabbed Tai Jo Khoy, Mohin, Maisha and Domo, BDR sources said. Tai Jo and his associates, aged below 30, were unarmed and could not resist the security forces during the raid in the remote bordering village. Tai Jo admitted that he is the president of the antigovernment guerrilla group, the sources said. Details of the operation were not available immediately.
The operation was part of an army-BDR joint anticrime campaign in Bandarban that began on May 21. Security forces had seized huge caches of arms and ammunition from Naikkhongchhari border in several operations last year and early this year. There were press reports over the last few years that some Myanmar rebels have taken shelter and set up temporary camps in Naikkhong-chhari. They are engaged in the smuggling of firearms, using the region as transit route. The government, however, termed the information false. After Tai Jo's arrest, sources in the security forces said they are verifying the information.
Sources said a section of NUPA leaders split and formed Democratic Party of Arakan (DPA) to wage armed struggle against the Myanmar government. The DPA, which is operating in the remote jungles of Myanmar, India and Bangladesh, also runs firearms trade.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
09:22 ||
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Iraqi political forces began preparing for general elections, slated at the end of the year, leading to the formation of Iraq's first elected government. Former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi announced Monday he is seeking to establish a new political front of democratic and secular forces to compete against the Islamic political forces. Also two political parties -- the Iraqi Umma Movement led by Mithal Aloussi and the Movement of New Iraq under Tarek Maamouri -- announced that they will merge, with the new party to be known as the Democratic Iraqi Umma Movement. A joint statement said the new party will be headed by Aloussi, a former member of Ahmed Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress. He was expelled after visiting Israel last September. The statement said the new party will be a liberal and reformist movement whose objective is to prevent sectarian and ethnic confrontations.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
09:20 ||
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#1
Gasp - secularism in Iraq! Where is War on Islam? Where are you, half-wit? Did you get replaced by TG? Is it all part a newly established Visiting Hemmoroid program?
A Saudi newspaper said Monday the Jund al-Sham for Jihad and Unity group were planning terrorist attacks to establish Islamic states in and beyond Syria. The semi-official al-Watan daily said Syrian authorities, who recently discovered the group, seized documents in the possession of al-Jund al-Sham elements showing preparations were being made to launch attacks in the country and sending its members for training abroad. It added the documents showed that Syria would be divided into five areas, each being an Islamic emirate with a leader and its own organizational structure, with plans to expand to Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Egypt and other countries.
Ah, that would get the Syrians moving. Much as the Saudis, they support jihad elsewhere, but don't try it at home.
The paper quoted unidentified "well-informed sources" as saying the discovery of this group came through a woman whose son was killed by a bomb he was planting on the Damascus-Beirut road in November 2004.
Mom found his diary?
They added the aim of that operation by the group was to target a prominent Syrian government official while he was heading to Lebanon to attend a meeting of the Higher Syrian-Lebanese Committee.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
09:14 ||
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There's another angle on this too, the old Reichtag Fire trick. Maybe this will allow Baby Assad to clmap down?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 12:31
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#2
In the meantime it will certainly allow Assad to protest to Bush that he, too, is at risk from Islamist terror groups. Obviously we are on the same side, so won't Bush please stop picking on him!?!
Iran may not have the largest number of insurgents in Iraq, but what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality, Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., said Sunday. Weldon, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," said Iraqi officials have told him "Syria may have the largest number (of insurgents) from outside of Iraqi country, but Iran overwhelmingly has the quality behind the insurgency."
That's because Syria's Iran's vassal state...
Weldon -- Vice Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee -- said U.S. military brass told him there isn't much that U.S. forces can do to control the flow of insurgents from Iran. "One of our commanding officers looked to Iran on a map and said, 'It's a black hole. We just don't have the intelligence that we need about Iran's involvement,'" said Weldon. "That's, to me, absolutely outrageous." Weldon said Iranian leaders are major players in the insurgency. "Ayatollah Khomeini is the problem, and he has as separate council of nine that's been fomenting unrest in Iraq during this entire time," said Weldon, "and that's what's increasing -- that's what's increasing dramatically as we attempt to stabilize the country." Weldon said Iran's long-term plan is to force any government that takes hold in Iraq to eventually become a partner with Iran.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
09:10 ||
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We just don't have the intelligence that we need about Iran's involvement,'" said Weldon. "That's, to me, absolutely outrageous."
And were you in office, Rep. Weldon, when your associates decided we didn't need human intelligence, cut the funding, and then decided we shouldn't talk to guys with "blood on their hands"?
It IS outrageous, but what are YOU gonna do about it?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 12:17
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Don't look now, but the ground has shifted on global warming. After decades of debate over whether the planet is heating and, if so, whose fault it is, divergent groups are joining hands with little fanfare to deal with a problem they say people can no longer avoid. General Electric is the latest big corporate convert; politicians at the state and national level are looking for solutions; and religious groups are taking philosophical and financial stands to slow the progression of climate change. They agree that the problem is real. A recent study led by James Hansen of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies confirms that, because of carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases, Earth is trapping more energy from the sun than it is releasing back into space.
The U.N. International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that global temperatures will rise 2 to 10 degrees by 2100. A "middle of the road" projection is for an average 5-degree increase by the end of the century, says Caspar Amman of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colo. What the various factions don't necessarily agree on is what to do about it. The heart of the discussion is "really about how to deal with climate change, not whether it's happening," says energy technology expert James Dooley of the Battelle Joint Global Change Research Institute in College Park, Md. "What are my company's options for reducing greenhouse gas emissions? Are there new business opportunities associated with addressing climate change? Those are the questions many businesses are asking today." Headline says: Debate's over, text says nothing about a debate...
#1
I think that we should tax all the rich nations of their wealth and piss it away on feel-good programs, while giving all the primitive polluters a pass.
Oops, already proposed. My bad.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/13/2005 9:32
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#2
I'm still waiting to find out what we did to cause the last Ice Age. Was it flatulent wooly mammoths, or caveman barbecue fires? It couldn't just be the natural cycle of things, could it? We have to blame someone or something so Ralph Nader's existence is justified!
Posted by: Dar ||
06/13/2005 9:45
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#3
The Earth is warming. It has been gradually warming for the past 250 years (before the industrial revolution). The sun has been putting out slightly more energy since that time too. The Earth has warmed up in the past before humans and lost its icecaps as well. Most of the reputible scientific arguments I have seen are debating whether humans are accelerating this process.
Now the rub of the whole thing is, now that more fresh water from the melting ice is entering the atlantic, the gulf stream is starting to falter. This MAY trigger an ice age. At the very least, Great Britain, Norway and Sweden will not have to worry about islamic forces taking over their countries since the ice will do that for them.
#5
All this means is that somebody discovered a way to make money off the global warming fad. That was obvious when BP started using it in their commercials.
#6
Something interesting is happening. The world's climate has definitely got warmer although only over the last 25 years and by an hardly noticeable .5C. But if you were to ask me what would happen if the worlds climate was getting warmer then I would answer the climatic bands and especially the low pressure systems that circle the globe in the temperate lattitudes would move further away from the equator. In fact the reverse seems to be happening. Last northern winter the low pressure systems tracked closer to the equator and southern California got drenched. We are now seeing the same thing in the southern winter. Low pressure system are tracking several hundred kilometers closer to the equator and here in Western Australia the systems that normally pass well to the south are actually hitting land. We have had 2 so far and a third is due later this week.
I have pointed out before that the runaway global warming predicted by the models requires that we explain why this has never happened in the past when volcanic eruptions have injected vast amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. There must be at least one mechanism acting to reverse the effects of greenhouse gas increases and maintain climate stability (more or less). We may have an answer in the low pressure systems.
#7
it gets warmer - it's due to global warming. It gets cooler, it's due to global warming. Puhleeeze. When you get a model that really waorks, let me know. Oh, by the way, when China and India are under Kyoto then we can talk, until then FOAD, cuz all you're asking is to cut our lifestyles so China can pollute. Read Michael Chrichton's takedown of the global warming "travelling circus"
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2005 10:57
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#8
When someone will step up to the bar and declare what base temperature the earth is suppose to be, I'll listen. Last time I say reliable information it indicated that after the mini-iceage that occurred near the end of the Roman Empire, the earth has been re-warming. Regardless, the earth is not a static environment by all indications [multiple iceages, continental drifts, etc]. So what the heck is the 'baseline'? If you don't have a baseline, how can you rationally argue 'warming'?
#9
Actually FrankG global warming can cause cooling in the Birtish Islae. The Gulf Stream is what keeps Britian warmer than would be normal for that lattitude. If the polar ice melts significantly then the gulf stream cools thereby making things cooler in Britain. Not ice age cool but it could become significantly cooler.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/13/2005 12:12
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Actually, a recent article in a magazine with nice pictures, Scientific American, noted the "baseline" does show a cyle. We should be in the middle of an ice age, right now. But global warming started 8,000 years ago, with the start of the agricultural society and yes, agricultural animals producing, ummmm, greenhouse gasses.
Any other theories out there, before the "debate" ends?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 12:29
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#12
Apparently debate ends before the real scientific modeling can be perfected. DB - I know about the shift in Gulf Stream argument. Prove it? Can't be proven, nor can any of the rest of the henny-penny cries. Never confuse an academic mob for reasoned discourse
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2005 13:40
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#13
Has anyone studied the effects of all these enviromentalists? I mean, all the ones I know seem to smoke 3 packs a day and drive cars from the 70's that belch black smoke. Let's blame them for it.
#14
I don't buy the animal "gases" effect. Humans wipe out animals all the time (at least that's what ELF says). There were millions and millions of buffaloes roaming North American 150 years ago. That's millions and million of stinky gas factories to drive up global warming and we blasted them all to hell.
If anything, humans help STOP fart greenhouse gases. *g*
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/13/2005 14:22
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#15
I heard an interesting suggestion of how to solve several problems at the same time. The first part involves mining ocean methane in the sea bed. As it is mined out, it is replaced with frozen carbon dioxide (CO2) (dry ice), that is far colder than the methane and keeps it stable during mining, then is slowly replaced in turn by water ice to maintain sea floor integrity. The mined methane is burned to release CO2 and water, which is returned to the mine. The energy from the methane is sent by cable to the northern extreme of the ocean streams, where it is used in giant cooling coils to lower the extremely deep water of the stream just a degree or two, which makes the stream work. The heat generated from the refrigeration process is used for conventional energy production. This should accomplish the following: First, the reduction of these dangerous methane fields that could catastrophically explode with horrific amounts of greenhouse gases; Second, by getting the streams cooled, it would help forestall any potential Ice Age in Europe and North American; and Third, it would provide a vast amount of relatively clean energy.
#16
As noted in earlier article on global warming,Mars is showing unmistakeable signs of global warming. Just how much pollution did our few landers release to create the man-made warming on Mars? Enquiring minds want to know. I propose a global tax on all red colored products to pay for ending the warming on Mars. I volunteer myself to oversee the dispursement of the funds collected.
Posted by: Stephen ||
06/13/2005 15:44
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#19
How about all of us open our windows and run our A/C on max until the earth cools back down to where it should be?
I bet we could get Barbra Streisand to back that.
Posted by: Dar ||
06/13/2005 17:19
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#20
The 2 NASA landers on Mars found evidence of global warming there too. Which brings up the question:
Are we witnessing a periodic change in the output of the sun? And if it is a natural phenomena, what should we do about it?
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/13/2005 18:42
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Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
06/13/2005 21:16
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#23
The terms Global Warming and Climate Change are used interchangeably, but they are most definitely not the same thing. Climate has a well defined meaning that is unrelated to (average) temperature. Climate refers to a place's location in relation to weather systems. So a mediteranean climate means in the path of low pressure systems in the winter but not in the summer. If the climate were warming then weather system should be further away from the equator.
Weather in the southern hemisphere is much less variable than in the northern H, becuase we don't have the large land masses. Especially here in Western Australia where our weather systems track over 4,000 to 6,000 miles of open ocean. If the climate were getting warmer we should get more tropical storms (cyclones) and fewer southern ocean low pressure systems. In fact we have seen the reverse and it seems the climate is most definitely cooling in the sense weather systems are moving closer to the equator.
#24
The weather now (in Arizona) is much warmer than when I was growing up in the 60s and 70s (in Michigan). I guess that proves global warming.
Seriously, what should the global temperature be? The Global Optimum of the 11th century? That was warmer than what we have now? The Little Ice Age of the 18-19th centuries?
Why don't we ask the people in Edmonton or Stockholm if they want it to be colder?
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South Korea's government is likely to seek an extension of its deployment of more than 3,000 troops in Iraq, the defense minister said Monday. Yoon Kwang-ung said he believes Iraq will need multinational forces until the middle of next year before its own security forces can take over. Asked whether the government plans to seek lawmakers' approval to extend the deployment, Yoon said: "At the moment, there is a big possibility it will go in that direction toward the end of this year."
South Korea deployed nearly 3,600 troops in northern Irbil late last year to help with reconstruction. In December, the National Assembly approved an extension of the mission through 2005.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
09:05 ||
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#1
Well, lookie here - the Koreans are looking to extend their Iraqi vacation in the Kurdish sector.
#2
Appreciated none the less. 3,000 troops can handle the entire Kurdish region. Plus the Koreans and PeshmergaNew Iraqi Army can do lots of joint training exercises.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2005 9:29
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It's interesting that Korea is such a good ally here, yet is being annoying where the NorKs are concerned.
AIR AMERICA's Al Franken became "The Guest Who Wouldn't Leave" after receiving an award at a talk-radio convention in New York over the weekend. NY POST's John Mainelli reports Monday: The liberal talk-show host was finally forced off the stage -- amidst shouts from supporters and detractors -- after an acceptance speech became a nearly half-hour rant against Bill O'Reilly and the Iraq war. "Al, hurry up," said Michael Harrison, publisher of TALKERS mag, the convention sponsor.
"It's freedom of speech," said Franken, referring to the Freedom of Speech Award he'd just been given by the magazine.
"It's not freedom to kill everybody's evening, so why don't you wrap it up," Harrison argued.
"I'm talking about the war in Iraq and I have about two pages left, and I think the people in Walter Reed [Army Medical Center] who've been injured deserve the last two pages of my speech," Franken countered.
"It's for the little people!"
"There are people walking out," said Harrison. "We gave you the award and it's time to leave."
"Everyone who wants to leave can leave," said Franken, addressing hundreds of talk-show hosts and radio execs at a cocktail reception in a downtown hotel.
"Now don't leave!" Harrison urged the attendees. "We honored you. Now honor us. Don't kill our party."
With that -- while some shouted "keep going, keep going" and "let him finish" -- the Air America star wound down his rant by talking about his visits with Iraq-war vets. "The soldiers were so magnificent," Franken said, appearing to suppress sobs.
Developing...
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
09:01 ||
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#2
The words "Al Franken overstays welcome at . . ." could start nearly every sentence about Franken. "Al Franken overstays welcome at Arby's free fixin's bar." "Al Franken overstays welcome at marital bed, claims Mrs. Franken." "Al Franken overstays welcome at public eye." "Al Franken overstays welcome at Earth, returns to home planet fatter, still not funny."
Posted by: Tibor ||
06/13/2005 10:24
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#3
He's definitely overstayed his 15 minutes by now, at any rate.
Posted by: Dar ||
06/13/2005 10:46
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#4
Al Franken and all of his genetic lineage should not be allowed to ever have children. Talk about gene pool pollution!!
Big Al is the poster child of the angry spoiled brat frat boy left that thinks that name calling and pie fights is what made America great. Have you ever seen him go off on some one who wants to discuss facts and figures instead of opinion? Have you ever seen him show any respect for the opinions of anyone but himself? For that matter when was the last time you ever saw a liberal with any respect for dissenting opinions against their world view.
If Al Franken was President it would be the Soviet Union all over again. We would have the thought police and the Black Marias cruising the streets at night.
Heaven forbid that anyone would want to go to church either. Gasp!! a person with a faith based moral ethical base.
Remember that Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot and Joseph Stalin were SOCIALISTS.
#5
I know a couple of guys who stayed at the Walter Reed center and would have hobbled off their beds, flown to New York to beat this idiot to death with their crutches.
For the soldiers my ass. Cheap political swipe is what it is from this asswipe.
#6
I saw a car the other day plastered with moonbat bumper stickers. Two stood out as a wonderfully unintentional irony: "Somewhere a village is looking for its idiot" next to one promoting alfranken.com.
#8
Anyone seen the rating for Err Amerika lately? I know they must be piss-poor or CNN would do a live simulcast to celebrate any good ratings. You would think that the guy does enought ranting/raving during his show and could turn it off in this setting.
Iran was rocked by bombings on Sunday, killing at least nine and wounding more than 30, as dozens of journalists from around the world gathered in advance of the presidential election this Friday. One of those journalists, actor Sean Penn--covering the events for the San Francisco Chronicle--was involved in a separate incident, and had his video camera confiscated for a time.
Several hundred women at a sit-in outside the entrance to Tehran University demanded rights revoked after the 1979 Islamic revolution. As chants and taunts arose, police and plainclothesmen surrounded the demonstrators, pushing away those trying to join the group. Officials also cut off cell phone service in the area, and challenged reporters nearby. In the process, they briefly seized the video camera of Penn, 44, acccording to The Washington Post. He had arrived in Iran as a reporter for his friend Phil Bronstein, editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. Penn was spotted on Friday with a notebook in hand covering a prayer service. He has also written about his visits to Iraq for the Chronicle.
I had a brief vision of Sean Penn being raped and beaten to death in a Iranian prison. Is that wrong?
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
08:48 ||
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Wasn't it Penn that had a penchant for beating up photogs back in the 80's? Oh, the irony...
Posted by: Dar ||
06/13/2005 9:07
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#2
Go get 'em, kid. You'll get to the bottom of things. Might even be a Pulitzer in it for ya...
Posted by: The Ghost of Walter Duranty ||
06/13/2005 9:11
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#3
Steve, it's OK. Everything is OK. Methinks mild brutality inflicted upon Penn in his role as "journalist" would be a beautiful irony for the little thugeen. He could then devote some of his endless intellect to that one and ponder the irony. He should stick to acting. On second thought, he's not so good at that either. The Marines could have saved him had he enlisted years ago.
#4
IIRC,Peenis also is a strong proponet of gun control(for thee)he was busted for illegal posetion of a hand gun.(Peenis,typo but it looked appropriate)
#6
"But . . . but . . . but . . . I'm on your side!"
Posted by: Mike ||
06/13/2005 10:04
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#7
Need a contest to see who gets closest to how he will play this as America's fault. Be hard even for him, to say it's American's fault that women are rising up for more rights, when they should just cover up and get back in the house. This could be fun.
#8
Although I would love to hear that Sean Penn was thrown into an Iranian prison and sexually molested (for weeks), this might be a case where Penn can do more for the conservative side than the liberals. The Chron can't tells us how nice the mullahs are while those same mullahs are giving the bum rush to their star reporter. His report on Iraq AFTER the fall of Saddam was most telling, because he said claimed that he now heard those voices of dissent against the Saddam. Of course that report got buried deep in the Chron and never saw the light in hte MSM. Time will tell but I am hoping Penn does a good job while in Iran, because few reporters are going to be able to report on what transpires.
#9
CS -- Aside from the obvious humor value, I am also somewhat encouraged by this incident. Maybe Penn will get a dose of reality when he's in Iran and doesn't have some corrupt regime kissing his butt and giving him a dog-and-pony show, as he did in Iraq from Saddam before the invasion.
Posted by: Dar ||
06/13/2005 10:44
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#10
Sean Penn wouldn't have to play reporter if he was a better actor.
Posted by: Ben Affleck ||
06/13/2005 11:29
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#11
I'm not a reporter but I play one in Tehran...
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has blamed Washington's brand of capitalism for the recent troubles in Bolivia. Speaking on his weekly TV programme, he said US open market policies in Latin America had led to "exclusion, misery and destabilisation". He called President George W Bush's proposal for a regional free trade agreement a "medicine of death". Bolivia was brought to a virtual standstill by protesters calling for economic and constitutional reforms. "Look at Bolivia. Fortunately the Bolivians opened the door toward a peaceful path, but they were on the verge of a civil war," said Mr Chavez.
They're always on the verge of civil war.
The Venezuelan leader, who is an outspoken and kooky critic of Mr Bush's foreign policy, was responding to suggestions by some US officials that he was stirring up the Bolivian protests. US assistant secretary of state Roger Noriega said President Chavez's support for the Bolivian indigenous leader Evo Morales might be partly to blame for the mass protests there. But a report in the Argentinian newspaper Clarin quoted unnamed diplomatic sources as saying that Mr Chavez may have played a key part in achieving a solution to Bolivia's crisis. The report said that a frenetic exchange of phone calls with Caracas encouraged Mr Morales to accept the constitutional outcome. Clarin also carried an interview with former Bolivian President Carlos Mesa, who said that although the sympathy between Mr Chavez and Mr Morales was widely known, he had not seen any evidence of Venezuelan interference. Mr Mesa's predecessor as president, Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada, who was ousted in 2003, told the BBC on Monday he blamed Colombian drug trade interests for stirring up division in Bolivia with an eye to controlling cocaine production there. During his programme on Sunday, which lasted more than seven hours, Mr Chavez said Latin American countries were moving towards socialist economic models instead of US-style capitalism.
Yes, we noticed.
He said Mr Bush's idea for a hemisphere-wide free trade zone, mooted last week at a meeting of the Organisation of American States in Florida, would lead to more poverty and protests in the region. "We say no Mr Bush, no sir... I'm sorry for you," he said. "The people of Latin America are saying 'no' to you, Mr Danger, they are saying no to your medicine. "Capitalism is the road to destabilisation, violence and war between brothers."
Whereas socialisum leads to pretty flowers and puppies for everyone
The blockades in Bolivia starved the capital La Paz of fuel and food, and forced the resignation of President Mesa last Thursday. He was replaced by Eduardo Rodriguez, who on Sunday met representatives of the protesters. They have now put their action on hold. They told Mr Rodriguez that they would maintain the truce if he agreed to demands to nationalise the natural gas industry and increase political representation for the country's Indian majority.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/13/2005
08:40 ||
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They're not always on the verge of civil war mr smarty pants, they always on the verge of peaceful, civil society.
The Indonesian military is said to be searching around a West Java city for five cars believed to be carrying explosives made by Al Qaeda-linked militants.
The report by Indonesia's Koran Tempo daily follows warnings from the Australian and US governments and Indonesian police that militants belonging to Al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah were set to launch more attacks in Indonesia. Koran Tempo said the alert for the explosives-laden vehicles was issued to troops in Indraymayu district in West Java province.
A local military chief told the paper all five cars had Jakarta-issued licence plates.
Top of the police wanted list are two fugitive Malaysians alleged to be key members of the Jemaah Islamiyah group: Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohamed Top. Koran Tempo said Mohamed Top made the bombs allegedly being carried in cars in West Java. Police have said Mohamed Top and Azahari are among the perpetrators of a series of blasts in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali blasts that killed 202 people, the 2003 JW Marriott hotel bombing in Jakarta which claimed 12 lives, and last year's blast near the Australian embassy that killed 10.
AT least seven people have been killed and 70 injured by a powerful car bomb explosion near a school in a busy southern Kashmir town. The blast shook the town of Pulwama, 30km south of the Indian Kashmir summer capital of Srinagar, about 11am (1530 AEST) when it was bustling with life.
Four people were killed on the spot while three died on the way to hospital in Srinagar, police said. "So far seven people have died and over 70 are injured," a spokesman said.
The explosion took place near a high school, and students were among the injured, police said. Eight of those hurt were in critical condition. Army spokesman Vijay Batra said the blast had been caused by a car bomb.
Ambulances ferrying the injured from Pulwama, a district headquarters, were seen arriving at Srinagar's main hospital. Private cars and mini-buses also rushed to Srinagar with the injured, their drivers pleading with policemen to clear traffic snarls. "It was a massive explosion that brought us out of our homes," retired government employee Ghulam Mohammed said by telephone. "I could see people lying on the ground, some of them bleeding profusely."
Many vehicles were damaged in the explosion that also smashed the windows of several dozen shops, houses and office complexes and sent people running for cover Mr Mohammed said. The blast closed all shops, banks, post offices and schools in the town, which is prone to rebel attacks. "The town is in chaos," Mohammed Ayub, 35, said by telephone. "People are running from hospital to hospital to look for their missing relatives."
#1
"one of the world's bloodiest conflicts" But now the only one. In 2003, some 300,000 people died in all wars. I assume the definition of "war" included police actions, insurgencies, wars of colonlial agression, etc. In the same time period, over one million died in automobile accidents. Life is tough. Then you die.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 7:53
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AUSTRALIAN scientists have made an international breakthrough with the development of a rapid test to detect avian influenza, or bird flu. The test developed by the Victorian Department of Primary Industries (DPI) would reduce the time taken to detect the virus from three weeks to one day, state Agriculture Minister Bob Cameron said. "What Victorian scientists have been able to do is develop a real-time PCR test, which is many times faster than the existing culture process currently used throughout the world today," Mr Cameron said.
Victorian scientists? Man, I had no idea the 19th Century was that advanced.
The test would be able to detect 15 different strains of bird flu, including the strains that are transferable to humans, he said. "As with all disease outbreaks, the quicker it can be diagnosed the quicker the problem can be dealt with."
Bird flu posed a serious threat to Australia's $430 million poultry industry, which employed more than 3000 direct and indirect jobs, Mr Cameron said. It also posed a risk to human health, and could impact on tourism, trade and exports, he said. "While there have been no reported cases of avian influenza or bird flu in Australia for more than five years, recent scares in South-East Asia mean we must remain vigilant."
The diagnostic test will form the centrepiece of Victorian research to be showcased at BIO2005 in Philadelphia later this week.
WHALE watchers off the New South Wales mid-north coast were "blessed" to catch a glimpse of a rare albino humpback whale today. The whale, known as Migaloo, passed by Port Macquarie this morning as it migrated to warmer waters in the Whitsundays, off the north Queensland coast.
Carol Hunt, who runs a Port Macquarie charter boat company, said it was the first time Migaloo had been sighted off that part of the coast. "He was sighted in Sydney at four o'clock on Friday and I've been tracking him since," Ms Hunt said. "We watched him for about an hour and a half. He was heading north to Coffs Harbour.
"He had three other whales with him and they were quite active. They were rolling over and slapping their fins."
Ms Hunt said the whales were about a mile (1.6km) offshore, delighting those on board with their antics. "Everybody on the boat was just beside themselves," she said. "We are blessed to see this. It is just a million to one chance.
"It was just magic — we were very, very lucky."
Ms Hunt said Migaloo was travelling to the Whitsundays to mate. "He had other whales with him, so his mate might be among them," she said. "He may very well be taking a mate with him that might be pregnant.
Then again, he might dump her and head down to the bar with the boys.
"He'll stay up in the Whitsundays and hopefully when he comes back he might come into Port Macquarie again on his southern migration."
Named Migaloo, or white fella, by an Aboriginal elder in Hervey Bay, the whale is believed to be the only one of its kind in the world. It is expected to pass the coast of Coffs Harbour tomorrow. Don't let the Japanese see him lol
#2
For some reason, 'albino humpback whale' made me immediately think of Michael Moore, but I suppose ol' Lumpy Riefenstahl is more likely to be spotted in Grand Traverse Bay these days.
#3
Then again, he might dump her and head down to the bar with the boys.
Not if he knows what's good for him. Female humpbacks can get some speed on 'em when they're mad. A few good rammings should clear up the situation and put him straight.
heh.
Posted by: too true ||
06/13/2005 10:43
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PARIS, June 13 (Bernama) -- [Malaysian] Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak has called for concerted efforts be made to increase French tourists' arrivals to Malaysia... only 32,000 French tourists visited Malaysia compared to 300,000 to Thailand last year.
Malaysia had secured daily landing rights and French tourists and investors wanted a good connection to Malaysia such as daily flights, he said. Records show Malaysia Airlines (MAS) only fly five times a week to Paris currently.
Speaking at a reception with the Malaysian community in France here last night, Najib said serious initiatives should be made to enhance Malaysia's image in France.
"I am not asking you to lie about Malaysia but every Malaysian in France must say the facts and good things about our country," he said.
Najib, on a five-day working visit to France ending today, spoke about the economic, political and social developments in Malaysia at the reception.
#1
Almost everyone in Malaysia speaks (some) English and absolutely no one speaks French. So they just have to make sure they target english speaking Frenchmen/women. I suggest 'Malaysia the heart of English-speaking Asia.' That should bring in the French in droves.
Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Shafie Salleh said the Saudi Arabian government is ready to sponsor more Malaysian students to further their studies at several universities in the Kingdom. He said this year Saudi Arabia would take 40 students for several courses related to Islamic studies, which was double the number offered previously. "Most of them study at the Riyadh, Medina and Mecca universities and the new intakes this time around will also be offered to do other courses like medical and engineering besides Islamic studies," he told reporters after a welcoming ceremony for Malaysian students from Saudi Arabia here Sunday. He said the number of students (40) was just one per cent of the total number of foreign students studying in Saudi Arabia.
Shafie said with the readiness of the Saudi government, the Malaysian government was also reciprocating by offering to sponsor their students to study in this country, although it was still at the discussion level. Asked whether the Malaysian government had sponsored Malaysian students to study in Saudi Arabia, he said: "No. Most of our students are studying in Cairo and at the moment, we have more than 300 students there." On the memorandum issued by the Umno Youth movement to review the meritocracy system, he said the system would not be amended immediately but the proposals would be studied first. Meanwhile, he also asked corporate bodies and private companies to perform their social responsibilities by sponsoring outstanding students to further their studies at the local and foreign universities.
#1
To study what? Terrorism?
Has anyone here seen a Saudi University Curriculum? At least four hours are dedicated to the study of Islam and the rest of the hours to incredibly mediocre study of the core subjects.
From the Associated Press...
TUCSON, Ariz. — Humanitarian groups setting up emergency camps in the desert to try to save some of the illegal immigrants who die trying to cross the border said Thursday that Border Patrol surveillance will hinder their efforts. Churches and humanitarian groups have set up camps dubbed "Arks of the Covenant" — one in Arizona and one in northern Sonora, Mexico — to provide food, water and medical help to immigrants who otherwise might die in the desert's summer heat.
But the Rev. John Fife of Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson said stricter Border Patrol surveillance will stop immigrants from seeking help because many immigrants will not enter a camp if they see a Border Patrol agent parked nearby.
Because, unlike the good Rev. Fife (a particularly unfortunate choice of name), the illegals are not stupid.
The Border Patrol has increased patrols and agents recently, especially in California and Texas, making Arizona the busiest point along the Mexican border for illegal crossers. Michael Nicley, who took over as interim chief of the Border Patrol's Tucson sector last August, said he has told officials that "there are no free zones in the Tucson sector. There is not an avenue of ingress where Border Patrol agents do not patrol."
He actually sounds like he wants to do his job.
He added that he had "no interest in keeping them from providing humanitarian aid. Quite the contrary." He said people who need help "time and time again" seek out Border Patrol agents and the presence of an agent within shouting distance is the quickest way to get an immigrant emergency medical care.
The Border Patrol said 172 migrant deaths in Arizona last fiscal year, while critics said at least 221 people died, many because of heat as summer temperatures in the desert rose up to 110 degrees.
The camps are part of a larger campaign by a coalition of human rights groups and churches called No More Deaths. The group is trying to draw attention to what it says is flawed immigration policy and urge reform.
#2
...Hey, by all means set up 'Arks Of The Covenant'. Remember what happened the LAST time somebody opened one of those:
www.foggydoggy.com/RAIDERS.gif
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/13/2005 7:42
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#3
How about setting out signs in northern Mexico saying "Stay Home"?
#4
But the Rev. John Fife of Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson said stricter Border Patrol surveillance will stop immigrants from seeking help because many immigrants will not enter a camp if they see a Border Patrol agent parked nearby.
#6
Your right Crazy, these people are illegal immigrants. They are breaking the law. If you assist them in doing that, you are breaking the law. Moreover the good reverand will probalbly rethink the whole issue the next time he has to drive his wife or little girl 120 miles to a hospital since they have all closed down near the border, because only 50% of their clients pay for services.
#8
What a bunch of crap. Try getting into Ecuador or Costa Rica illegally and see what happens.
The side bar to this is a very interesting question:
Normally politicians and these high profile human rights groups play to their constituency. If the people coming into the US are here illegally, why are they being considered a constituency? Me thinks that this is all a big ploy for massive voter fraud at some point or there is some oddball underground movement to have the Southwestern US returned to Mexico.
I for one do not understand why politicians are pandering to a group of people who THEORETICALLY do not have the write to vote and are here in the this country illegally.
Someone throw me a bone, I am completely clueless on why we have so many elected officials kissing the ring of the illegal alien business.
#9
Rev. John Fife of Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson should set up assistance points SOUTH of the border. Enjoy your stay. BTW, in accordence with the Mexican Constitution, they can toss your ass out without cause.
Cause there are many in the Latin community who are loyal to their raza/race, sangre/blood rather than the greater identity of citizen of the United States of America. Since the practice worked so well for so many decades in the Black community, the politicians are playing the same game in the Hispanic community. Not withstanding the political and social cul-de-sac much of the black leadership has gotten their communities into, there are the same leadership types in the Hispanic community following the same game plan which demands homage to their idenity which in this case manifests itself in tolerating criminal activity, illegal immigration.
Seven Christians, arrested for their faith, were released on the condition that they renounce religious practice, which they carried out privately in their homes. Of the seven released on Wednesday, six were part of a group of Protestants, who were arrested on May 28 in a raid by the muttawa, or religious police, in Riyadh.
Think Mike Isikoff will be all over this one?
The seventh Christian released is Indian evangelical Samkutty Varghese, who was jailed last March. Police used his address book to track down the other Christians. Two other Christians are still being held for 'further investigation', authorities said. According to AsiaNews sources close to Indian citizen Vijay Kumar (45) of Tamil Nadu, one of the freed prisoners, their release took place after having signed a document in which they renounced the prayer sessions and religious practices they had been carrying out in their homes. In Saudi Arabia, only Islam is allowed public expression.
Up to a few years ago, "a Christian was not even allowed to pray in private," said Father Bernardo Cervellera, director of AsiaNews. He added that now, because of international pressure, the Saudi royal family is allowing non-Muslims to practice their religion in the privacy of their homes. "Unfortunately, however," the priest explained, "the police and a considerable part of Saudi society do not accept this liberalisation, so Christians are arrested."
And beaten. And tortured. And executed.
Meanwhile, there's another unconfirmed report that an MP at Gitmo handled a Qu'ran with one gloved hand instead of two ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2005
00:23 ||
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#1
Wow, what a modern, progressive, healthy society they have themselves over there. Those sandy assholes are not our friends, they still live in the 9th century, but they want our money. We have got to get out from under the heel of their boot and find some real alternatives to oil.
#2
Just five days ago the Magic Kingdom was denying .... "allegations that the kingdom has arrested and tortured Christians, saying such actions run counter to Islamic tolerance"link. ...."the allegations 'don't go with the principals and values of the kingdom and above all our tolerant Islamic belief which guarantees the rights of Muslims and residents of different religions and ethnicities alike'."
Seems that someone forgot to properly inform the Muttawa of this NEW policy. SA policy is residents of different religions are guaranteed rights but nothing in that statement implies EQUAL rights. In fact the rule is: Members of other religions in the conservative Islamic kingdom generally are allowed to practice their beliefs in private but are prohibited from seeking converts or holding organized religious gatherings. Now there's a story for NEWSWEAK if they wish to follow up on it.
#3
Big Jim, are you familiar with the fact that most of SA oil production is centered in a narrow (15 km) strip on the eastern coast? Odder still the area is mainly inhabited by Shia! Weird no? There's a fine post about this in the archives.... anybody have it handy?
Were any "Korans" looked at with a sour face during this? That is what's important.
Who cares if a few mud-people get tortured, raped, and executed? We want to know of any muslims could have been offended while burning and pissing on Bibles and Torahs....
Bolivia's caretaker president met Sunday with activists in the opposition stronghold of El Alto, and appealed for calm as labor leaders promised more crippling protests if he does not meet their demands. Interim President Eduardo Rodriguez spent nearly two hours with the coalition of Indian and labor activists whose nearly month-long blockade cut off the main food and gasoline supply route from the slum city of El Alto to the capital, La Paz. They demanded he nationalize the country's oil and gas industries and hold early elections. "We must re-establish the peace," Rodriguez told strike leaders.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005
00:20 ||
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#1
Yeah, sounds like their country is a paradise now. No food,clean water,gasoline, good going guys. Now if it goes like south america usually does, this will happen 5 times in the next 6 years and when they are done they won't have anything left.
Don't let him in. He should never be allowed to set foot in this country.
Charles Jenkins, a U.S. soldier who deserted his Army unit 40 years ago and fled to North Korea, and his Japanese wife left their home in northern Japan on Monday for his first visit to the United States since he turned himself in late last year. Jenkins was scheduled to fly to Washington D.C. on Tuesday after spending a night in Tokyo. He has said he has no plans to move to the United States, but has repeatedly said he wants to see his 91-year-old mother, who lives in a nursing home in Roanoke Rapids, N.C. He was expected to stay in the United States for about a week.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005
00:15 ||
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#1
Jenkins is 65 years old, in poor health, and he lost 40 years of his life in N. Korea. He wants to visit his invalid mother who is 91. I for one have no problem with Jenkins being given some consideration to visit his mother in the USA for humanitarian reasons alone. During the Korean War, 1.5 million American men were conscripted. Perhaps Jenkins was one of the 1.5 conscripted, and in my opinion no country has the moral right to enslave young men to fight in the military against their will. Also, there were 80,000 draft dodgers in the Korean War who got off scott free, not to mention that we allowed countless numbers of Vietnam draft dodgers to come back to the USA and re-start their lives with no penalty. What's the big deal about keeping Jenkins away from his country of birth in his old age?
#2
Yer half right there Thotch...but I take umbridge at the consription = slavery; at least as far as the U.S. is concerned. Draft dodgers only got off "scott free" thanks to Jummuh. Did you for him? Something tells me you love draft dodgers...so get bent.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/13/2005 2:03
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#3
Did you for him? Something tells me you love draft dodgers...so get bent.
Sorry to disappoint your pop-psych analysis of who I am. Draft was/has never been a threat to me. I'm a menopausal female. But I don't think one needs to be a male draft dodger to recognize the un-democratic underpinnings of conscription. Most civilized Western countries have done away with conscription and for good reason. You can't call yourself a free country if you force people to do risky things at your bidding against their will.
First do a maintance check on the tinfoil and repair as needed...as the radio waves and exotic beams may interfere with the following concept.
I don't care what you imagine a "free country" is or what you think a draft, a citizen, a republic, a democracy, or rights and responsibilities are.
/btw Thotch you're on my list.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
06/13/2005 3:29
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#5
Well then I must be half suicidal to take on a "menopausal female" but what the heck. We can argue about conscription...I would say that conscription in defense of the US Constitution is not slave, and again, I would hazard a wager that you would disagree. And, what makes you think I ever said the draft was a threat to you? I said no such thing. My mistake was assuming you're a US citizen. My bad.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/13/2005 3:33
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#6
Whatever, red dog. I doubt your type of pseudo macho man has ever "fought" in anything other than computer games. Dream on.
Yes, I'm a US citizen, rex mundi. And I'm not alone in viewing conscription as a negative - the military itself has no use for conscription either so I guess I'm in good company. I've found that most people who believe in conscription have never served on the front lines of battle themselves. They just want others to do so against their will. The Vietnam War, which heavily used conscripts, did not affect my freedoms one way or another, but it certainly took away freedoms from the young men who were draftees. The military profession should be chosen voluntarily, not be handed down as an edict.
#7
I've read that Jenkins enlisted on his own right out of high school well after the end of the Korean War. His defection was in the early 60's..
Still, I agree that he ought to be left alone. He's done hard time in Nork land and his attitude has been nothing but forthright, remorseful and repentant. In all his public utterances he has admitted that he made a huge mistake and has not tried to make excuses or ask for understanding - only lenience in light of having already suffered 40 years of slavery. While he may have a hard time resisting the temptation of the money for the inevitable book-deal, so far he has not sought to draw attention to himself through interviews, the talk-show circuit, left-wing anti-military groups, etc. - a refreshing change compared to the current crop of traitors like Pablo Paredes, et al.
Posted by: John in Tokyo ||
06/13/2005 5:03
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#8
Whatever, red dog. I doubt your type of pseudo macho man has ever "fought" in anything other than computer games. Dream on.
...Said the person who can't change her name in a dialog box.
Lissen, everyone's not only got a right to an opinion, but to have an opinion on other people's opinion. YOURS is noted, weighed, and found wanting in the light of the vast majority of draftees that DIDN'T desert. (Which draft, by the way, DEMOCRATS have been trying to bring back.)
#9
Most civilized Western countries have done away with conscription. TG, you'll go far at Rantburg, saying France, Germany, Italy and at least a dozen other European countries are not civilized. http://www.nationmaster.com/red/graph-T/mil_con&int=-1 is UN.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/13/2005 7:27
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#11
I agree about letting him in to visit, but I must take umbrage with "The Vietnam War, which heavily used conscripts, did not affect my freedoms one way or another". Sorry. The Vietnam war is connected, via history, to everything that came after - good and bad - including Watergate, Jimmy Carter, Iran Hostages, fall of the Berlin Wall, collapse of the Soviet Union and end of the Cold War. Didn't CAUSE all that stuff, but is connecected to it. Had there not been a Vietnam War, the world - yours included - would be different. Some things might be better, some would be worse, but see if you can figure out which things might be worse. Too bad you can't eliminate history.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 7:42
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#12
During World War II after the initial rush by motivated ment to enlist there was a shortfall of manpower in the military. By the war's end somewhere around 86% of all military personnel were draftees. It is my view that if a person refuses to defend or support a state he/she should have no rights to protection by that state.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/13/2005 9:04
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#13
I'll go along with TG in saying that in usual circumstances there should be no draft. Our military agrees.
In an all-out dog-fight such as WWII, the draft is necessary. If the survival of your country comes into question, you pick up a rifle and defend it.
As to Jenkins, I have to agree with Fred. He may be repentant but I don't want him in the country. Do a video-link with his Ma.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2005 9:33
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#14
#7 John in Tokyo, good point. I would add: (1) In today's Kool-Aid climate, conscription should be flatly avoided. The drain on cohesion and morale would require a draconian disciplinary system, making life seriously un-fun for the volunteers who want to be there. (2) However, when the very survival of the nation is on the line, a draft is entirely appropriate, and in fact, I'd make the right to vote and other privileges of citizenship contingent on honorable service.
As for being civilized, I'd also note that conscription, of men and women alike, is part of the reason Israel remains a civilized country, rather than a Judenfrei Islamist shithole paradise.
Posted by: ST ||
06/13/2005 9:45
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#15
Hienlin's"Starship Troopers"has a pretty good take on who should be a"full"citezen.
#16
Thotch - The man had some fairly easy choices to make and he made some pretty poor ones yet doesn't want to live with the consequences. He turned his back on his mother a long time ago when he betrayed his comrades and went to live in a piss hole ruled by a nasty troll, and then the son of a nasty troll. He turned his back on his country of birth and his peers (like my Father who actually fought in the Korean War when it was far from certain what the end would be!) who gave some of the best years of their lives to serve the country that had provided so much to them. I feel sorry for his mother but to allow him into our country is an incredible insult to alot of people living as well as those who died over 50 years ago in Korea serving our country. He should take the time to apologize amidst his globetrotting.
#18
Thotch Glesing2372 "the un-democratic underpinnings of conscription"
Actually they are very democratic, just a bit dated. Let me walk you through. The 'draft' or 'conscription' is actually the activation of the Federal Militia. For the United States since it founding, the Constitution, Article I, Section 8 gives the Congress the authority to organize all land and naval forces to include the militia. The Federal Militia is defined under Title X U.S.Code. Section 311: Militia: Composition and classes is that instrument. Besides the National Guard all males at least 17 years of age and no older than 45 years of age are members of the unorganized militia, para.(b)(2). Considering that in 1789, women, slaves and indians where not considered full members of the politicial body, all males therefore were part of the militia. The incorporation of all male rather than the reservation of authority and bearing of arms limited to a knighty class and its retainers marks a keen historical transition from rule by a few to rule by the many. That part that hasn't caught up yet, is that all citizen should carry the same burden.
#20
Actually they are very democratic, just a bit dated. Let me walk you through...That part that hasn't caught up yet, is that all citizen should carry the same burden.
You contradict your own argument. Conscription is highly selective, unfair, and the burden is not shared by all.
Someone suggested that voting should be dis-allowed without military service - I would agree with that concept. Then most of us on Rantburg, myself included, would lose our vote.
Another poster said that Jenkins was not a draftee. I did not know that. An account I read did not mention his status but said that he drank up to 10 beers on the night he deserted because he was so scared. He was inebriated, not thinking clearly, on the night when he made his decision to desert. I'm sure many a lawyer has used this type of defesnse to get scoundrels off worse charges than desertion stateside and we've tolerated it. No outcry. Also what I read was that Jenkins had intended to turn himself in after he deserted during the night but because he was so drunk he got lost and walked into the hands of the North Koreans. In other words he had not intended to go over to the enemy.
I'm a coward. I admit it. I hate scary rides. I would never join the military even if it meant I had to give up my vote. I don't see myself as being less a productive citizen than a military warrior. I am productive because I have other skills than warrior skills. Therefore, I have sympathy for other people - like Jenkins - who lose their heart to risk their lives as warriors. Not every person is meant to be a warrior, and that's why it's so laughable when a hear some of you think that it's perfectly sane to demand that every male in age group 18-25 be an instant warrior at your command, not that you have been warriors yourself - perhaps only a handful have at most.
Jenkins meant to do the right thing by turning himself in to US military authorities to face consequences, but he was drunk and everything else went wrong for him. What's the point of punishing him at age 65? He has already served 30 days in jail. As I said 80,000 cronscriptees avoided the draft in the Korean War. Did they lose their citizenship? The Vietnam War had even higher numbers of draft dodgers, draft avoiders who "hid" stateside in the reserves or in college or behind marriage and childbirth certificates or actually ran off to Canada. What was their punishment? Some sit in high political office representing both political parties. How were they punished? Jenkins did what many Americans did after him, he like they, did not want to die, but Jenkins was clumsy about making his get-away.
He committed a military crime, called desertion. He chose to go over to NK. He was free to make any choice he wanted. He chose wrong but more importantly he deserted not the US Army but his unit and his buddies. He has yet to pay his debt for that action. If NK was a poor choice and he later recognized that - well that was his alone to make not ours or his units, or his buddies or the command structure of the US Army. He is the worst kind of soldier who deserts his unit. The only consolation was it wasn't under fire in which he would be sentanced to death most likely.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/13/2005 15:15
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#22
Uh ohh.... I'm getting soft.
I find some of TGs arguments fairly persuasive. But no book.
No, its an obligation shared by all able bodied men. Therefore it was equal when it was first initated upon the country's founding since those excluded were not considered part of the political body [women, slaves, indians]. What is selective is the call-up process which is why before its termination it was known as 'selective service'.
[What has become unequal is that women now enjoy full benefits of the body politics, but don't carry the obligation. Slaves being done away with in 1865 and the independent or sovereign indian nations being incorporated by the end of the 19th century.]
You have selective activation of the militia because you only take on as much as you need [or can support] for the threat. You still need [literaly] manpower for the economy [tax base upon which it will all have to be paid from] and sustainment of the society from which the militia is drawn.
#24
Wonder when he'll be hitting up the Army for 40 years worth of back pay?
All pay and time in service stopped when he was declared a deserter.
Then again, I once helped on a case of a seaman- apprentice who jumped ship - in 1929. Fast forward 60 years, he's in a rest home, senile. Wife remembers him mentioning being in the Navy and checks with VA to see if she can get help paying his medical bills. VA can't find his records, so they send the case to us.
Turns out he was never declared a deserter. What do you do with an 82-year old sailor still listed as active? Sooo... he gets 60 years of back pay as an E-2 and has to be medically retired.
#25
EU, I think you're dancing around the fact that conscription remains unfair, unequal, by being focused on one gender and on one small range of age groups to risk their lives, and that's why today conscription has become such a negative concept. To say that other taxpayers foot the bill of wars, so it's fair that young men's choices for their futures be summarily taken away is pure nonsense. Conscription is always the cheap screw politicians' and taxpayers' choice for waging war. How does paying taxes stateside equal the value of an individual's life or future? Given that choice I'm sure that many 18-25 males would be more than happy to work at 2 civilian jobs at a time so ages 26-33 able bodied men AND women could be shipped off to war fronts around the world. And depending on when a war is declared age groups 18-21 have not even had a chance to vote even once. There's a saying that most wars are declared by stupid cowardly old men and there's good reason for that saying because the ones least likely to be affected by death on the battle front are the ones who merrily see nothing wrong with thrusting others to face death.
There would never be a need for conscription if military warriors were paid the true market value salaries as what their jobs are worth. But the electorate is too cheap to pony up the money it would take to pay for warriors. The politicians realize this and so they dally with the concept of conscription - cheap labor for work no one else wants to do. That's why Democrats were the party in power in recent years to mandate conscription -they are the elites who always want to save social programs for the "poor and disabled" state side but place no value on what true warriors should be worth. Conscription is not only unfair but it's dangerous to true warriors, but once again the elites have rarely fought for anything other than bargains at Macy's White Sales, so what do they know about how dangerous it is to have a unwilling comrade in arms covering your back? That Jenkins recognized that he was scared and had lost his heart for waging war and tried to leave the battlefield actually saved his comrades' lives then if he had stayed and frozen in the heat of battle and put comrades in jeopardly who might have counted on his support.
#26
I have/had a blacksheep uncle who deserted the USMC in the late '30s. It took Roy Geiger (then a Col.) to to keep his ass out of serious slam, Fleet Marine Force Pacific instead.
#27
Don't the Swiss have two years mandatory national service? I missed Vietnam, not by much, but would've enlisted before being drafted. Younger son just got back from six months in Iraq with the Marines. Freedon isn't free, and somebody has to pay the piper. Ask the Swiss!
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 21:26
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#28
Basic Swiss military service is 4 months plus 12 times 3 weeks spread out until the age of 40 (iirc). Their doctrine is very limited: call in 600,000 men in 24h (they have their weapons at home so they can fight their way to assigned positions if necessary), withdraw into the Alps, make it very expensive for potential invaders attempting to occupy the country. Not sure it would work in a modern world.
Sweden has a different approach. They've gone from 1-2 years of service and able to raise 800,000 men in 24h -- thus destroying the economy, but not allowing the Red enemy to spend more than a few hours on Swedish territory -- down to soon a mere 3,000 people left for... UN missions.
DOHA — Qatar has stripped the citizenship of 5,000 people, most of whom hold dual Saudi Arabian and Qatari nationality, government officials said yesterday.
"Get out and stay out!"
But they denied Arab media reports that the move was to punish some tribe members suspected of involvement in a failed coup in 1996. Officials did not say when the nationalities had been revoked and gave no further details.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2005
00:13 ||
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The Palestinian Authority has carried out its first executions since 2001, killing four convicted murderers as part of a new campaign to rein in lawlessness and chaos. An Interior Ministry spokesman said the four men, who were executed on Sunday, were sentenced to death by a Palestinian court. Spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa added that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed the execution orders on Saturday. Three of the men were hanged and one was executed by a firing squad.
The Palestinian Authority has had the death penalty in place since its establishment in 1994. However, late president Yasser Arafat halted the death penalty in 2001 after criticism by international human rights groups. Sunday's executions approved by Abbas, under intense internal pressure to stamp out rampant crime, appeared to be an attempt to deter criminals and send a message to the public without confronting resistance groups. "There is a new policy of enforcing the law, to face and fight the chaos and lawlessness in the Palestinian territories," Abu Khoussa said.
Fifty-one Palestinians are on death row, about half of them alleged collaborators with Israel. Palestinian officials said last month that they had suspended plans to execute the collaborators, fearing their deaths would inflame tensions with Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005
00:11 ||
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BAGHDAD - The Iraqi Central Criminal Court has found 321 of 482 suspected terrorists guilty during a series of trials, according to a statement issued on Sunday by the Iraqi Communications Ministry.
It did not say over what period the trials had taken place. It concentrated on three cases in which five persons were found guilty of possessing unlicensed weapons found in raids conducted in August 2003, and January and December 2004. Although the names of the accused were given, the locations of the raids were not mentioned. The sentences handed down ranged from 18 months to life imprisonment.
Life? Excellent. Iraqi legal system is getting warmed up.
Weaponry found included rifles, revolvers, machineguns and various types of mortar shells and grenades, including those used in rocket- propelled grenade launchers. Explosives and firearm ammunition were also found, plus ID cards for the Afghan army, an instruction booklet for flying a 747 aircraft, and tyres for a US Humvee all-terrain vehicle.
The guy whose fingerprints were on the 747 manual? He gets life.
Iraq also said it had released 259 detainees on Thursday and Saturday after finding that there was insufficient evidence supporting the accusations against them.
Hmmm, the new Iraqi legal system also seems to be more, um, just than the previous one.
The persons were freed on the recommendation of a joint committee of representatives of the ministries of human rights, defence and interior, and high-level armed forces officials. The committee has reviewed the cases of 12,500 persons, and recommended releasing some 7,000, but did not mention over what period it had been operating.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2005
00:09 ||
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#1
Hmmmmm.... Maybe it's time to send them some folks from Gitmo?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 7:21
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#2
an instruction booklet for flying a 747 aircraft
Can't expect to find a juror in Iraq who's never heard of him and doesn't have an opinion, now can you?
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005
00:08 ||
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#1
Hell, in Europe Di Stefano could turn this into a let's-blame-Bushitler showcase trial. I still claim there's a chance that Sammy will walk.
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/13/2005 0:43
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#2
He also suggested the defence team had received guarantees Saddam would not face the death penalty. "The Americans, the British, the Italians will not allow that, they will not allow the death penalty to be imposed, and the president of Iraq has confirmed to us he will be signing no warrant of execution as would be required under Iraqi law."
This is bad, if true. Why shouldn't Saddam face the death penalty per Iraqi law? What right does America, the UK, or Italy have to give "guarantees" that Saddam will not pay with his life for his crimes against his own and other peoples? Are any Americans, Italians, or Brits in the mass graves in Iraq?
#3
My Thotch....how ummmm, blood thirsty. I like it. I like it a lot. Not to worry, Sammy's gonna fry. I've got a magnum of J reserved for the occasion. Cheers!
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/13/2005 3:39
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#4
I belive it is Amnesty International that's against the death penalty.
#5
What this guy is claiming is that Saddam has so many witnesses against him, they can't find a jury which would give him more than a 50-50 chance of walking free (i.e. let him, the lawyer, win).
A trial is not an lottery granting a chance to a criminal to go scot free, but a means to determine the truth and apply the law in the light of that truth. This kind of legal maneuvering is a testimony of there being so much evidence against Saddam, that 80% of the country are credible witnesses against him.
#6
What Sammy needs is justice, which is getting what you deserve and he deserves the death penalty for his crimes. In a fair trial in Iraq he can get justice. A trial in front of EUro lefties would not be justice, since he wouldn't be getting what he deserves.
#7
There's nothing Saddam is guilty of which Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are not also guily of. Who supplied the mustard gas in the first place? Did they think it was going to used as dressing on burgers?
#8
Oooh! Oooh! Lemme guess! The Soviet Union? La Belle France? Samoa?
A reasonably bright but sufficiently dull high school student can brew up mustard gas in his basement, dumbass.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005 9:01
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#9
Grearong: well, logically, look at the countries that worked the hardest to save Saddam (France and Russia), and that they were also his major conventional-weapons suppliers, and the ones who gave him nuclear plants, and one might conclude that those are the ones who have the most to hide in other areas.
(Plus, the Dutch are trying someone there for supplying a lot of chemical precursors for nerve agents...)
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/13/2005 9:07
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#10
Grearong: "There's nothing Saddam is guilty of which Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are not also guily of."
Aaaaooogaha! Aaaaooogaha! FOOL ALERT!
Posted by: Tom ||
06/13/2005 9:25
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#11
He also suggested the defence team had received guarantees Saddam would not face the death penalty.
#12
Grearong Elmurong9235: Are you saying that Bush, Cheny, and Rumsfeld gave Saddam mustard gas back in the 80's and 90"s? Wow! Bush, Cheny, and Rumsfeld have orderd the exection of 300,000 (approx) Iraqis and burried them in mass graves? Your logic escapes me.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/13/2005 10:39
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#13
Aaaaooogaha! Aaaaooogaha! FOOL ALERT!
Keyboard and monitor alert, Tom! LOL!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/13/2005 10:49
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#14
As for the gassing of the Kurds, I'd let the Kurds themselves state who THEY think is really guilty.
The worst the US did was sell dual use helicopters that Saddam's army diverted from their stated use as sprayers of insecticide to their use as sprayers of humanicide. After that, the United States ceased to deal with Saddam, while the French and Soviets plunged right in to supply him with his arms, KNOWING WHO THEY WERE DEALING WITH.
GE, you'd would be more credible if you added the French and Soviets to the list you cited. I'll pay you NO attention until you explain why you are not morally incompetent by turning a blind eye to the French and the Soviets. Ditto to Thotch.
There's nothing Saddam is guilty of which Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are not also guily of. Who supplied the mustard gas in the first place?
Well the Israelis were pretty bitter during GWI when Scuds rained over Tel-Aviv about German grand-fathers who manufactured gasses for Auschwitz, German youngs supporting the PLO and German middle aged people providing gasses and other WMDs to Saddam. Remember about the discoveries of German firms who had been traficking in WMD material for Saddam?
BTW: Don't you think that if the USA had helped Saddam it would have insisted in him buying American instead of filling Russian, Chinese and French pockets? Can you show me a single photo of an Iraki soldier carrying an M16? A single photo of an Iraki M1 or M60 tank? A single photo of an Iraki F16 or of an Iraki F/A 18 fighter planes? What was America providing to Saddam? Donuts?
1982-1988. Defense Intelligence Agency provides detailed information for Iraq on Iranian deployments, tactical planning for battles, plans for air strikes and bomb damage assessments. [4]
November, 1983. A National Security Directive states that the U.S would do "whatever was necessary and legal" to prevent Iraq from losing its war with Iran. [1] & [15]
November, 1983. Banca Nazionale del Lavoro of Italy and its Branch in Atlanta begin to funnel $5 billion in unreported loans to Iraq. Iraq, with the blessing and official approval of the US government, purchased computer controlled machine tools, computers, scientific instruments, special alloy steel and aluminum, chemicals, and other industrial goods for Iraq's missile, chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs. [14]
October, 1983. The Reagan Administration begins secretly allowing Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Egypt to transfer United States weapons, including Howitzers, Huey helicopters, and bombs to Iraq. These shipments violated the Arms Export Control Act. [16]
November 1983. George Schultz, the Secretary of State, is given intelligence reports showing that Iraqi troops are daily using chemical weapons against the Iranians. [1]
Donald Rumsfeld -Reagan's Envoy- provided Iraq with
chemical & biological weapons
December 20, 1983. Donald Rumsfeld , then a civilian and now Defense Secretary, meets with Saddam Hussein to assure him of US friendship and materials support. [1] & [15]
July, 1984. CIA begins giving Iraq intelligence necessary to calibrate its mustard gas attacks on Iranian troops. [19]
January 14, 1984. State Department memo acknowledges United States shipment of "dual-use" export hardware and technology. Dual use items are civilian items such as heavy trucks, armored ambulances and communications gear as well as industrial technology that can have a military application. [2]
March, 1986. The United States with Great Britain block all Security Council resolutions condemning Iraq's use of chemical weapons, and on March 21 the US becomes the only country refusing to sign a Security Council statement condemning Iraq's use of these weapons. [10]
May, 1986. The US Department of Commerce licenses 70 biological exports to Iraq between May of 1985 and 1989, including at least 21 batches of lethal strains of anthrax. [3]
May, 1986. US Department of Commerce approves shipment of weapons grade botulin poison to Iraq. [7]
March, 1987. President Reagan bows to the findings of the Tower Commission admitting the sale of arms to Iran in exchange for hostages. Oliver North uses the profits from the sale to fund an illegal war in Nicaragua. [17]
Late 1987. The Iraqi Air Force begins using chemical agents against Kurdish resistance forces in northern Iraq. [1]
February, 1988. Saddam Hussein begins the "Anfal" campaign against the Kurds of northern Iraq. The Iraq regime used chemical weapons against the Kurds killing over 100,000 civilians and destroying over 1,200 Kurdish villages. [8]
April, 1988. US Department of Commerce approves shipment of chemicals used in manufacture of mustard gas. [7]
August, 1988. Four major battles were fought from April to August 1988, in which the Iraqis massively and effectively used chemical weapons to defeat the Iranians. Nerve gas and blister agents such as mustard gas are used. By this time the US Defense Intelligence Agency is heavily involved with Saddam Hussein in battle plan assistance, intelligence gathering and post battle debriefing. In the last major battle with of the war, 65,000 Iranians are killed, many with poison gas. Use of chemical weapons in war is in violation of the Geneva accords of 1925. [6] & [13]
August, 1988. Iraq and Iran declare a cease fire. [8]
August, 1988. Five days after the cease fire Saddam Hussein sends his planes and helicopters to northern Iraq to begin massive chemical attacks against the Kurds. [8]
September, 1988. US Department of Commerce approves shipment of weapons grade anthrax and botulinum to Iraq. [7]
September, 1988. Richard Murphy, Assistant Secretary of State: "The US-Iraqi relationship is... important to our long-term political and economic objectives." [15]
December, 1988. Dow chemical sells $1.5 million in pesticides to Iraq despite knowledge that these would be used in chemical weapons. [1]
July 25, 1990. US Ambassador to Baghdad meets with Hussein to assure him that President Bush "wanted better and deeper relations". Many believe this visit was a trap set for Hussein. A month later Hussein invaded Kuwait thinking the US would not respond. [12]
August, 1990 Iraq invades Kuwait. The precursor to the Gulf War. [8]
July, 1991 The Financial Times of London reveals that a Florida chemical company had produced and shipped cyanide to Iraq during the 80's using a special CIA courier. Cyanide was used extensively against the Iranians. [11]
August, 1991. Christopher Droguol of Atlanta's branch of Banca Nazionale del Lavoro is arrested for his role in supplying loans to Iraq for the purchase of military supplies. He is charged with 347 counts of felony. Droguol is found guilty, but US officials plead innocent of any knowledge of his crime. [14]
June, 1992. Ted Kopple of ABC Nightline reports: "It is becoming increasingly clear that George Bush Sr., operating largely behind the scenes throughout the 1980's, initiated and supported much of the financing, intelligence, and military help that built Saddam's Iraq into [an aggressive power]." [5]
July, 1992. "The Bush administration deliberately, not inadvertently, helped to arm Iraq by allowing U.S. technology to be shipped to Iraqi military and to Iraqi defense factories... Throughout the course of the Bush administration, U.S. and foreign firms were granted export licenses to ship U.S. technology directly to Iraqi weapons facilities despite ample evidence showing that these factories were producing weapons." Representative Henry Gonzalez, Texas, testimony before the House. [18]
February, 1994. Senator Riegle from Michigan, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, testifies before the senate revealing large US shipments of dual-use biological and chemical agents to Iraq that may have been used against US troops in the Gulf War and probably was the cause of the illness known as Gulf War Syndrome. [7]
August, 2002. "The use of gas [during the Iran-Iraq war] on the battle field by the Iraqis was not a matter of deep strategic concern... We were desperate to make sure that Iraq did not lose". Colonel Walter Lang, former senior US Defense Intelligence officer tells the New York Times. [4]
This chronology of the United States' sordid involvement in the arming of Iraq can be summarized in this way: The United States used methods both legal and illegal to help build Saddam's army into the most powerful army in the Mideast outside of Israel. The US supplied chemical and biological agents and technology to Iraq when it knew Iraq was using chemical weapons against the Iranians. The US supplied the materials and technology for these weapons of mass destruction to Iraq at a time when it was know that Saddam was using this technology to kill his Kurdish citizens. The United States supplied intelligence and battle planning information to Iraq when those battle plans included the use of cyanide, mustard gas and nerve agents. The United States blocked UN censure of Iraq's use of chemical weapons. The United States did not act alone in this effort. The Soviet Union was the largest weapons supplier, but England, France and Germany were also involved in the shipment of arms and technology.
#19
Grearong: Let's accept, just for purposes of argument, your premise that the U.S. was one of Saddam's major supporters.
Therefore, we inflicted him on Iraq and Iran.
Therefore, we are morally responsible for mitigating the harm inflicted.
The logic is therefore unassailable--we had a duty to take Saddam out and to see that he is properly punished* for his offenses. Therefore, Operation Iraqi Freedom was a completely just war and you should be praising Bush and Rummy to the rafters.
*"Short drop and a sudden stop."
Posted by: Mike ||
06/13/2005 12:54
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That's right, Mike, just trying to clean up our mess.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 13:02
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Sure, try him in Europe. No skin off the Iraqis' noses. But they'll have to wait their turn.
Just as soon as Iraq has tried, convicted, and executed Soddom Insane, Europe can have him for their own trial. No problem.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/13/2005 14:25
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Europe?
Sure, how about Belgrade, I'm sure they'd love to try a Muslim war criminal.
After careful analysis, the only question that leaps to mind is - So what?, the world is not a static place, things change.
In the 80's containing Iran with a strong Iraq seemed to be a reasonable policy.
Who knew?
#25
Playing Iraq against Iran was a stellar example of realpolitic, it kept two bloodthirsty fascistic expansionist regimes occupied exhausting each other instead of decimating the rest of the ME.
NO, do not let the Hague get hold of this trial! Isn't the Slobo trial entering it's 5th year?
At 8:00 PM on 17 March 1987, a Mirage F-1 fighter jet took off from Iraq's Shaibah military airport and headed south into the Persian Gulf, flying along the Saudi Arabian coast. An Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) plane, in the air over Saudi Arabia and manned by a joint American-Saudi crew, detected the aircraft. Aboard the USS Stark, a Perry-class frigate on duty in the gulf, radar operators picked up the Mirage when it was some 200 miles away; it was flying at 5,000 feet and traveling at 550 mph. Captain Glenn Brindel, 43, commander of the Stark, was not particularly alarmed. He knew it was fairly common for Iraqi and Iranian warplanes to fly over the gulf. Earlier in the day, Iraqi jets had fired missiles into a Cypriot tanker, disabling the vessel. But no American vessel had been attacked.
In keeping with standard procedure, Captain Brindel ordered a radio message flashed at 10:09 PM: "Unknown aircraft, this is U.S. Navy warship on your 078 for twelve miles. Request you identify yourself." There was no reply. A second request was sent. Still no answer. Brindel noted that the aircraft's pilot had not locked his targeting radar on the Stark, so he expected it to veer away.
At 10:10 PM, the AWACS crew noticed that the Mirage had banked suddenly and then turned northward, as though heading for home. What they failed to detect was the launching by the Iraqi pilot of two Exocet AM39 air-to-surface missiles. The Exocets had a range of 40 miles and each carried a 352 lb. warhead. For some reason, the sea-skimming missiles were not detected by the Stark's sophisticated monitoring equipment. A lookout spotted the first Exocet just seconds before the missile struck, tearing a ten-by-fifteen-foot hole in the warship's steel hull on the port side before ripping through the crew's quarters. The resulting fire rushed upward into the vessel's combat information center, disabling the electrical systems. The second missile plowed into the frigate's superstructure.
A crewman sent a distress signal with a handheld radio that was picked up by the USS Waddell, a destroyer on patrol nearby. Meanwhile, the AWACS crew requested that two airborne Saudi F-15s pursue the Iraqi Mirage. But ground controllers at Dhahran airbase said they lacked the authority to embark on such a mission, and the Mirage was safely back in Iraqi airspace before approval could be obtained.
As fires raged aboard the Stark, Brindel ordered the starboard side blooded to keep the gaping hole on the port side above the waterline. All through the night the fate of the stricken frigate was in doubt. Once the inferno was finally under control, the Stark limped back to port. The Navy immediately launched an investigation into an incident that had cost 37 American seamen their lives. The Stark was endowed with an impressive array of defenses -- an MK92 fire control system that could intercept incoming aircraft at a range of 90 miles; an OTO gun that could fire three-inch anti-aircraft shells at a rate of 90 per minute; electronic defenses that could produce bogus radar images to deceive attackers; and the Phalanx, a six-barreled gun that could fire 3,000 uranium rounds a minute at incoming missiles. Brindel insisted that his ship's combat system was fully operational, but Navy technicians in Bahrain said the Stark's Phalanx system had not been working properly when the frigate put out to sea. (Brindel was relieved of duty and later forced to retire.)
A C141B Starlifter carried 35 flag-draped caskets to the Stark's home base at Mayport, Florida. (Two of the crewmen were lost at sea during the attack.) President Reagan and the First Lady were on hand to extend condolences to grieving families. Reagan was under fire from Congress and the press for putting American servicemen in harm's way on a vaguely defined mission. "We need to rethink exactly what we are doing in the Persian Gulf," said Republican Senator Robert Dole. The Senate overwhelmingly passed a resolution, sponsored by Dole and Democratic Senator Robert Byrd, that demanded the president explain to Congress the strategy and goals of the Persian Gulf mission -- and the risks involved. Congress was also unhappy with Saudi Arabia for what it viewed as a lackadaisical response to the request to pursue the Iraqi Mirage -- so unhappy, in fact, that the administration thought it wise to delay submission of a proposal to sell new F-15 fighter jets to the Saudis.
The strife in the gulf had started in 1984 when Iran and Iraq, at war since 1980, began attacking each other's ships. Inevitably, the vessels of third countries became targets. Over 200 ships had been attacked in the past three years. The Iranians were particularly keen to target the ships of Iraq's ally, Kuwait. Even though only 7% of American oil supplies came from the region, the Reagan administration insisted that U.S. strategic interests required a naval presence in the gulf. Critics complained that Western Europe and Japan, which acquired 25% and 60% of their respective oil needs from the gulf, weren't doing their part in keeping the sea lanes open. In fact, certain Western European nations had become major suppliers of military hardware to both Iran and Iraq. Damage done to the Stark had been caused by French-built missiles fired from a French-built aircraft.
The administration argued that to withdraw from the gulf would be to surrender America's role as leader of the free world, and that if oil shipments were disrupted, prices would soar, adversely affecting the U.S. economy. As one Western diplomat put it, if the U.S. backed out, it wouldn't "have enough credibility to float a teacup." Furthermore, the Soviet Union had increased its naval presence in the gulf, and the fear was that if the U.S. faltered, the Soviets would gain the upper hand in the region -- and growing Soviet influence in the region would pose a long-term threat to the West's oil supplies. "We will not be intimidated," said Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger. "We will not be driven from the gulf." He described the attack on the Stark as a "horrible error," and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was quick to apologize for the "unintentional incident." Evidently, the Mirage pilot had mistaken the Stark for an Iranian tanker. Iraq promised to pay compensation to the families of the 37 slain seamen, and reparations for damages to the frigate. Officially the United States was neutral in the Iran-Iraq conflict, but the administration had decided that geopolitic considerations required that Iraq not lose the war. In the aftermath of the Stark incident, the rhetoric coming out of Washington was of a forgiving nature where Iraq was concerned, while growing increasingly hostile in reference to Iran.
The White House was resolute. "The use of the vital sea lanes of the Persian Gulf will not be dictated by the Iranians," said President Reagan during a press conference. "Those lanes will not be allowed to come under the control of the Soviet Union. The Persian Gulf will remain open to navigation by the nations of the world." The U.S. naval presence was increased from six to nine ships. Air cover would be provided by a carrier stationed outside the gulf. The American warships would escort convoys of Kuwaiti tankers every ten days or so. Iran vowed to continue attacking Kuwaiti tankers regardless of whether they flew the Stars and Stripes.
Congress objected to the open-ended nature of this commitment. Memories of Vietnam -- and of the Lebanon peacekeeping debacle in the early 1980s, during which 241 Marines were killed in their barracks by a suicide bomber -- prompted many solons to insist on knowing what rules of engagement the U.S. Navy would be operating under while escorting oil tankers in the gulf. The answer: A U.S. warship could fire on any aircraft that came within 20 miles of it, on the authority of the captain.
Unfortunately, the U.S. was so concerned about Iranian Sidewinder missiles being placed so as to control the Strait of Hormuz that it neglected to sweep the approaches for mines, one of which damaged an escorted tanker in July. The incident was egg on the face of the Navy, accused of sloppy mission preparation, and embarrassed the administration, which, while presiding over an unprecedented peacetime military buildup, had only three operational ocean-going minesweepers in service. But on 21 September 1987, the military redeemed itself by conducting a successful raid involving U.S. Navy SEALS on an Iranian vessel caught laying mines. Five Iranian seamen were killed. That same week, Iran attacked a British-flagged tanker; Britain responded by shutting down Iran's London-based arms procurement office. (By this time, British, French, Belgian, Dutch and Italian warships had joined the Americans and Soviets in patrolling the gulf.) The American raid gave some senators an excuse to push for invocation of the War Powers Act; they claimed the U.S. was clearly engaged in hostilities. The law required that the president obtain congressional approval of military action extending beyond a period of 60 days. But the Senate voted 51-40 not to invoke the law.
Following the September 21 raid, Iran amassed 60 gunboats and directed the flotilla toward Khafji, a Saudi-Kuwaiti oil facility. The USS La Salle, flagship of Rear Admiral Harold Bernsen, commander of the U.S. Navy Middle East Force, moved to intercept the gunboats, which turned back after being buzzed by Saudi warplanes. Another encounter involved an Iranian warship that locked fire control radar on a USN destroyer, the Kidd; warned off by the Kidd's skipper, the Iranian ship sailed away. Then, on October 8, Iranian gunboats fired at a U.S. Army helicopter, missing the target but attracting the attention of two U.S. AH-6 gunship choppers, which sank one of the gunboats and damaged two others. Iran responded by firing Silkworm missiles at the U.S.-owned Liberian supertanker Sungari and the reflagged Kuwaiti tanker Sea Isle City, damaging both vessels. There were no fatalities, though the American skipper of the Sea Isle City, Captain John Hunt, was blinded.
Few doubted the U.S. would retaliate. Two weeks later, four U.S. destroyers fired over one thousand rounds of 5-in. shells into Iran's Rashadat oil-loading platforms in the Persian Gulf -- after giving the platform crews twenty minutes to evacuate. Ninety minutes of continuous shelling left the platforms smoldering ruins; SEAL commando teams exploded the pilings and sent the rubble plunging into the sea. The Iranians answered by firing another Silkworm at Sea Island, Kuwait's deep-water oil-loading facility, destroying the loading dock. "We're not going to have a war with Iran," said President Reagan. "They're not that stupid." But it certainly seemed as though an undeclared war was already underway. A public opinion poll revealed that while 68% of Americans expected a "military exchange" between the U.S. and Iran, 60% were in favor of stronger retaliatory action against the Iranians.
The situation remained tense throughout the winter, but not until April 1988 did violence erupt once again in the Persian Gulf. Ten seamen were injured when the USN frigate Samuel B. Roberts struck an Iranian mine on April 14. Being careful to consult with Congress this time, President Reagan ordered a retaliatory strike against two Iranian oil platforms in the southern gulf -- platforms that served as bases for Iran's intelligence service. While one platform was shelled by the frigates Simpson and Bagley, Marines helicoptered to the second, seized it, planted explosive charges, and destroyed it. A few minutes later, the Simpson sank an Iranian patrol boat that had fired a missile at the USN guided-missile cruiser Wainwright. (The Wainwright defended itself by dispensing aluminum chaff in the air, which deflected the missile.) Meanwhile, near the Strait of Hormuz, two Iranian frigates and several gunboats were sunk by American warships and an F-14 Tomcat from the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise. During the day-long battle, a Cobra helicopter carrying two American crewmen was shot down by the Iranians.
This defeat at sea, coupled with grave setbacks in the land war with Iraq, persuaded Iranian leaders to seek improved relations with the West. The Ayatollah Khomeini agreed with Hashemi Rafsanjani, Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, on the need to pursue a new foreign policy that would defuse tensions in the Persian Gulf. As for the United States, its resolve in the gulf in 1987-88 improved its standing with allies, not only in the Middle East but also around the world.
This is not quite the Second Amendment, of course...
Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Nasir al-Qidwa has repeated his stand on the right of Palestinian resistance movements to keep their arms. Al-Qidwa was commenting after the Israeli reaction to his earlier comments on issues including disarming the resistance, Fatah's vision of not targeting civilians, a reciprocal ceasefire and the guaranteeing of the right to resist occupation. Al-Qidwa said the resistance groups should not be disarmed as long as the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land exists. Speaking on public television on Saturday, al-Qidwa said any move to disarm would be inconceivable at this time. He described the possession of weapons during an occupation as legal. "Keeping our weapons is a strategic option," he said.
This article starring:
Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Nasir al-Qidwa
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005
00:05 ||
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And Israel has the right to go after terrorists being sheltered on Paleo territory. End of story.
More on the story posted by Fred; different source; EFL.
BEIRUT - Anti-Syrian Christian leader Michel Aoun, who returned from 14 years' exile only five weeks ago, appeared poised to hand other anti-Syrian opposition groups a surprising defeat in Lebanese parliamentary elections, denying them the majority they had hoped to muster in their drive to end Syria's political control. A senior opposition leader, Walid Jumblatt, conceded late Sunday that the opposition had suffered losses, as did several other main opposition candidates.
Sounds like they'll have to make a deal.
With no official results expected before at least midday Monday, preliminary results and campaign estimates, as well as polls by TV stations, showed Aoun and his allies leading or winning in several districts in Mount Lebanon and in the eastern Bekaa Valley. In some areas, his allies were already celebrating with fireworks. A strong showing by Aoun, whose Free Patriotic Movement has waged an anti-corruption campaign, could make him a key player in the fight over Syrian control in the new Parliament.
The fiercely contested vote on Sunday in central and eastern regions of the county is deciding nearly half the legislative seats up for grabs in Lebanon's four-stage elections.
Going into Sunday's race, the opposition had the 19 seats it gained in the first stage of the elections held in Beirut May 29, and needed another 46 to win a majority in the 128-member legislature. But in races that were already clear among the 58 seats contested Sunday, Aoun appeared to have clinched at least 14 seats, at least temporarily thwarting the opposition's quest for a majority. By early Monday, many of the races had yet to be decided, but 10 seats in a region in the northern part of the Bekaa were expected to go to a ticket backed by the pro-Syrian Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah. Hezbollah and its allies swept the 23 seats at stake in southern Lebanon in the second round on June 6.
The opposition, however, still has a chance to gain the parliamentary majority when the final stage of the elections is held in the north on June 19, when 28 seats are up for grabs.
Jumblatt, speaking by telephone to Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. television, said Aoun, who broke opposition ranks and challenged his former allies with the help of pro-Syrian groups, was winning in contested constituencies. Jumblatt accused Aoun, a former military commander and fierce anti-Syrian who returned May 7 from exile in France, of being brought in by Damascus to undermine the opposition and claimed he was promoting extremism. Aoun fought and lost a 1989 "war of liberation" against Syrian forces that led to his exile. "Michel Aoun is a small (Syrian) tool," Jumblatt said. "True he succeeded, I concede that."
He'd be a curious tool, but stranger things have happened.
In his first comments late Sunday, Aoun said he was willing to talk with other factions in the new parliament and, if there were no agreement, he and his allies would be in opposition "carrying out our duties."
Unofficial turnout tallied by media and various campaigns put the turnout at a relatively high 54 percent in Mount Lebanon and 49 percent in the Bekaa. About 1.2 million men and women over 21 were eligible to vote in Sunday's round. About 100 candidates competed for Mount Lebanon's 35 seats, allocated to different sects according to Lebanon's power-sharing political system. In the eastern Bekaa Valley near the Syrian border, 119 people were competing for the region's 23 seats.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2005
00:04 ||
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senior opposition leader, Walid Jumblatt, conceded late Sunday that the opposition had suffered losses
Gee, Wally...you're a loser.
/s/
the Beav
#3
Well hell. The way the washington post told it, Syria and Hamas had this thing tied up. Another bad call from people who don't really believe in freedom.
You just have to love the conventional wisdom keeping their fingers on the pulse of world opinion. Geez, first its the voter turn out in Iraq and now we have this. Can't those people get it right? They are supposed to be a bunch of oppression loving xenophobes.
Dang, I wonder how this is going to play over in Foggy Bottom at the Lebanese desk. Boy he is going to have hell to pay at the club today, he told the press that the election was in the bag for the jihadists.
Mr al-Saadi, 42, was driven to his family in Baghdad, where relatives and friends danced and slaughtered a Shia sheep in his honour. That's just what I do, just as soon as me and 40 of my closest friends fire willy-nilly into the air with automatic weapons.
There were suggestions that M Chirac authorised the payment of a ransom to the kidnappers who were holding Mme Aubenas and her guide. Robert Menard, the secretary-general of the press freedom lobby group Reporters Without Borders, said that the hostage-takers had demanded $15 million (£8.3 million) within weeks of the disappearance of the journalist on January 5. However, the French Government denied that a ransom was paid. "There was absolutely no demand for money. No ransom was paid," Jean-François Cope, a spokesman, said. Nothing to see here, move along!
I'd start looking for some wealthy terrorists with nice, shiny new weapons.
Analysts say that the French authorities are unlikely to have paid the full $15 million demanded by the gang that kidnapped Mme Aubenas and Mr al-Saadi.
Well sure, the French always know how to bargain at a market ...
In December two other French journalists, Christian Chesnot and Georges Malbrunot, were freed after four months as hostages in Iraq. In their book on their ordeal, they said that the "going rate" for securing a Westerner's freedom was about $2 million. Boy, Italy sure got hosed on the Giuliana Sgrena deal.
Bernard Bajolet, the French Ambassador to Iraq, said that the journalist and her assistant, who spent their first night of freedom on Saturday in a secure embassy building, were in good health and high spirits.
In France a national campaign, spearheaded by the media, kept "Florence and Hussein", as they were known, in the headlines and the Government under pressure. The DGSE, the French intelligence agency, which led the ransom rescue efforts, is believed to have established contact with a credible intermediary capable of transmitting the kidnappers' demands, and the French responses, within the past month. The agency will question Mme Aubenas over the next few days.
Posted by: ST ||
06/13/2005
00:01 ||
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A ransom was paid to be sure, anything to make US Soilders bleed and die the French will gladly do.
#4
Whell, one ovf our journaleests ees whurth tehn ovf yhoure keeling macheens. Kermit de Frog
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 8:46
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In a nutshell this is why France and Italy and Germany and the rest of "old" Europe are dying from a million cuts - one at a time. Its pathetic to watch and some how I think we are going to have to come to the rescue again.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/13/2005 8:59
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#6
thanks Jacques! New money for IEDs to kill our troops!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2005 10:07
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It must be getting harder for France to contribute to the cause if they have to hide it in a 'hostage' ransom nowdays....
Polling stations in Lebanon have closed with initial results showing former general Michel Aoun winning fierce electoral battles against rival anti-Syrian opposition groups in key districts. At stake in the third round of parliamentary elections are 35 seats representing the central Mount Lebanon district and another 23 for the eastern Bekaa Valley. Preliminary results indicate a sweeping victory for electoral tickets backed by Aoun in Mount Lebanon's mainly Christian Kesrwan-Byblos and Upper Metn districts. Aoun, a former general who spent 14 years in exile in France following a failed "war of liberation" against Syrian troops in 1989, returned to Lebanon on 7 May, shortly after Syrian forces withdrew from the country.
Counts conducted in 278 of 336 polling stations in Kesrwan-Byblos showed that Aoun maintained a substantial lead over opponent candidates, winning at least 55,000 votes. Opposition alliance candidate Mansour al-Bon, was trailing with 27,000 votes by the latest count. Aoun's list comprises prominent pro-Syrian politicians including Druze leader Talal Erslan in the Baabda-Aley district, former minister Elias Skaff in the Bekaa's Zahle district and former interior minister Suleiman Franjieh, who will be running in the last round of elections in the north next week. A coalition of Christian groups, including the Christian Lebanese Forces, headed by jailed Christian leader Samir Geagea, and Christian Qornet Shehwan Gathering, embraced by Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir, ran against Aoun's ticket in the Kesrwan-Byblos district. Other members of the coalition included the Phalange Reform Movement, headed by former President Amin Gemayel and the Future Movement, headed by Saad al-Hariri. In the Upper Metn, the list backed by Aoun and pro-Syrian former interior minister Michel Murr also won with only one seat going to an opponent candidate, MP Pierre Gemayel of the Phalange Reform Movement.
Posted by: Fred ||
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I haven't followed this enough - so I probably shouldn't comment - but I kind of hope this guy gets a seat. It doesn't seem like he can consolidate enough power to become a tyrant - and he's really the only one with any fighting spirit against the Syrians. The others Jumblatt, etc. just strike me as the type that will get cozy with Syria while claiming to be For The People (TM). They will all wink and nod, and issue a document after lunch that said that progress will take place...soon.
This guy will be a real thorn in their side because he will actually be Against Syria. The people might benefit from him questioning their anti-Syrian credentials.
#2
boy, does Aoun ever have guys around here taken. From what Ive seen, this guy turned and cut a deal with the pro-Syrian groups, and deliberately divided the opposition - note he went against Gemayel, Geagea, Hariri (the son) as well as Jumblatt. Aoun fought the Syrians in '89 - with the backing of none other than Saddam Hussein. Y'all may not like Wally cause of antiUS things he said and did back in the '80s, but I think thats leading us to misjudge Lebanese politics.
#3
I wish I understood all of the underlying connections, loyalties, rivalries, et al, but I don't.
Personally, I don't trust any of the players who've been around long enough to remember pre-Syrian Lebanon. Warlord Wally and Aoun both strike me as an almost guaranteed return to the old chaos. Hariri - or somebody new on the political scene who isn't an Iranian toady or a Syrian toady (same thing, prolly) and hasn't made his bones by killing members of the other factions is needed. Someone who can put the past behind and pull the Lebanese together - and convince them to throw off all of the ancient baggage.
Of course, assuming Hariri was something along that line or near enough, anyway, there's no wonder he was killed.
Can it still be done? I don't know. Is there anyone left who could do it if it were possible? I don't know. The ethnic, religious, tribal, yadda3 differences, all trivial and pointless in reality, are insanely magnified by certain societies. Lebanon is doomed until someone can pull it off. This is truly sad. A golden opportunity will likely be missed here.
A Saudi held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on suspicion of terrorism, was forcibly injected with fluids, grilled in the proximity of military dogs and straddled by a female soldier, according to secret logs obtained by Time magazine.
Not quite the same as dying a glorious Islamic death and being served for all eternity by 72 doe-eyed virgins, is it?
Mohammed Al-Qahtani was forcibly injected with an undisclosed volume of fluids after refusing food and water in late 2002 at the Guantanamo camp, according to US interrogation logs obtained by Time and released yesterday. The logs parts of which are incomplete provide a detailed account of some of the measures used against a detainee at the prison, many of which have been harshly criticized by rights groups.
Luckily for those doing the criticizing, they weren't where al-Qatahni could get to them to kill them...
Al-Qahtani was captured fleeing Tora Bora, Afghanistan in December 2001 and transported to Guantanamo two months later, Time said.
So he's obviously innocent as a babe, pure as the driven snow, his poop smelling of attar of roses. It's not like Tora Bora was a battle fought with Arab mad-dog killers in a desperate attempt to shield their Fearless Leader while he flew the coop, leaving them in the lurch...
US authorities subsequently discovered he was deported from Florida in August 2001 and believe he had sought entry to America to participate in the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, Time said.
But he stunk so loudly even the 9-10 INS turned him away...
The logs detail how Al-Qahtani was interrogated for 50 days from early November to early January 2002-2003, during which 16 additional interrogation methods were approved by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Pretty hard core, was he? And what terrible things happened to him?
Often woken at 4 a.m. and probed until midnight, Al-Qahtani was forced to stand or sit on a chair, shown pictures of 9/11 victims, and told he could not pray.
Poor Babykins didn't get his beauty sleep, huh? Gee, golly. I feel for him. I used to hate it when I had long days like that when I was in the Army. Of course, I didn't have to look at pictures of people my cohorts had murdered, so maybe that was what made it so much easier to take. Not that it was nearly as hard as jumping from the 85th floor of a burning building...
At one point, Al-Qahtani mounts a food and water strike and becomes so dehydrated that medical corpsmen "forcibly administer fluids by IV (intravenous) drip." After a struggle, the Saudi is restrained, strapped down and "given an undisclosed amount of fluids," according to Time.
I'd guess it was enough to keep him from croaking himself through dehydration. Hopefully, it was administered with the dullest IV needle they could find, by the most thumb-fingered tech available.
Al-Qahtani subsequently tells his interrogators he works for Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden, before urinating in his pants.
I think we noticed he worked for al-Qaeda and Binny when we picked him up at Tora Bora. But peeing himself will look good on his resume.
After Rumsfeld approved the new interrogation measures on Dec. 2, 2002, he was subjected to a drill known as an "Invasion of Space by a Female."
Oh, no! Not a Female! I'll bet she had nice tits, too. Oh, the humanity!
"He was laid out on the floor so I straddled him without putting my weight on him. He would then attempt to move me off him by bending his legs in order to lift me off but this failed because the MPs were holding his legs down with their hands," one log entry states.
On Dec. 7, Al-Qahtani's condition deteriorated so badly that he was not interrogated for 24-hours. Over the next month Al-Qahtani after his condition improves is stripped naked, told to bark like a dog and pictures of scantily clad women are hung around his neck. The logs recount Al-Qahtani saying he wants to commit suicide.
"No, jerkwad. You can't commit suicide until we tell you you can commit suicide!"
He was probed in the presence of a military dog, but "no details are given beyond a hazy reference to a disagreement between the military police and the dog handler," Time said.
Hey, Time! If you're reading this, it doesn't bother me a bit. If the tick wanted good treatment, he should have sung. And if he didn't want to go to Gitmo he should have stayed home in Arabia. Instead, he went tromping out with the other lords of creation, lording it over the natives and hollering "Death to the Great Satan." He bought the Islamic story, so now he can live with the consequences, which include us laughing at him while he pees his pants. As far as I'm concerned, he should be dead.
This article starring:
MOHAMED AL QAHTANI
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005
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As far as I'm concerned, he should be dead.
You'll get no argument from me in that regard. What's the point of warehousing these folks? Just kill jihadists, forget about interrogations and giving them 3 square meals a day courtesy of the US taxpayer. How much intel do we get for the most part, as opposed to bad publicity and high maintenance costs? And by bad publicity costing us, I don't mean with the ACLU or the US Law Society. I mean with our erstwhile Muslim dominated countries, like Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, etc. I think those countries are helpful for the most part, but when our own traitorous MSM (eg. Izakoff) focus on Gitmo "abuses" it makes life difficult for folks like Mushareff to stay on board. Gitmo is more trouble than it's worth IMO.
#8
My bad. The sink trap is clogged right now; hang on whilst I call a plumber ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2005 9:42
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Fixed now...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005 10:05
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This is the sort of nonsensical bullshit you put up with from lying Jihadi's when you let those miserable pieces of shit walk out of there alive.
Of course all self hating Americans, the MSM, the dhimmi's and Euro's will continue to buy this horeshit lock, stock and barrel, undermining the war effort.
Solve the problem by shooting these scumbags the moment intellegence believes they've been tapped for all they know.
And at one point the reader might assume that if something really bad had happened, we might have read about it by now. I know a little bit about modern journalism, and we tend to emphasis the splintery plunger up the butt over the mocking puppet show. In any case, this detail makes you almost want to weep in frustration; domestic politicians are posturing for the camera, huffing about then horrors of Gitmo, insisting that the rest of the world wonât forgive us until we close the joint down and pave it. Over what? A Punch and Judy show? If we gang-mimed the guy and had 17 men in striped shirts with white makeup pantomime falling out of a burning skyscraper, would the critics demand we not only let the guy go but pay him a per diem for his troubles? Iâve read the story twice, and I keep wondering if I missed the part where the suspected 20th hijacker spits teeth into a chamberpot rimming with own bloody urine while massaging the welts the jumper cables left on his groinal division. I mean, I take all that for granted, because our soldiers are all killbot brutes - except for the lower-class ones who got drafted against their will and can only hope Bruce Springsteen sings a monotonal account of their disaffection.
Puppet shows and secret code / I donât know who to trust / Iâm the metaphorical twin of old Tom Joad / inasmuch as we both dealt with dust / his was the kind that got in your eyes / mine gets in your gun / but they both get down deep in your soul / whaddya mean, sing âBorn to Runâ?
He is taken to a new interrogation booth, which is decorated with pictures of 9/11 victims, American flags and red lights. He has to stand for the playing of the U.S. national anthem.
Okay, this is torture. But only if youâre interrogating a poster on the Democratic Underground.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/13/2005 10:18
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Oh my God! Straddled by a female soldier? Last time that happened to me (weeping) I had to marry that soldier (tears flowing). Like me that poor bastard probably never saw it coming.
#14
That asshole is lucky I wasnt doing the interrogation. He'd be wearing a colostomy bag and breathing with the aid of a machine, however we would have alot more info from him. If giving him IV fluids because he wouldnt eat and having a woman straddle him is the worst that they did to him I am ashamed of the army.
#15
âInvasion of Space by a Femaleâ? I think I saw that on the Sci-Fi channel...and it DID make me want to confess to all sorts of crimes. So if they forced this poor bastard to watch it...repeatedly, then yeah, that's torture.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005 11:23
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âInvasion of Space by a Femaleâ ? I think I saw that on the Sci-Fi channel...
Naah, it was on the Lifetime Channel ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2005 12:13
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This leaves me very disappointed with Rumsfeld. I was thinking more along the lines of shoving a double-barreled shotgun in Al-Qahtani's mouth and playing Gitmo roulette until the game was over by default.
Posted by: Tom ||
06/13/2005 13:09
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We should allow Al-Qahtani to fulfill his destiny and desire. Namely, being aboard an airplane as it crashes into a building.
So the next time we locate a bad-guy hangout in Iraq we strap Al-Qahtani unto a drone and fast-track him to virginville. Works for me, and him too I'm sure.
#22
A double barreled shot-gun? Infidel Tom shows an unexpected merciful-side.
Posted by: Farmers General ||
06/13/2005 14:48
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I am now convinced more than ever that journalists at Time, Newsweek, NYT, WaPo, LAT, etc. are idiots. If they think that this kind of story based on this interrogation log is going to make us all run to the UN and ask forgiveness or worse rescind our votes and have Kerry take over they are nuts. What it does is make it more apparent that ever that we are not doing ENOUGH tough stuff to get these murdering sobs to cough up the goods (as Cagney would say). But then it also wouldn't suprise me that Time wrote this story for their Internationale readers and not us moronic, rightwing, rednecks here in Amerika!
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/13/2005 15:04
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I am now convinced more than ever that journalists at Time, Newsweek, NYT, WaPo, LAT, etc. are idiots.
You're just now convinced of this?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/13/2005 16:01
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just out of curiosity... has anyone heard of this method? wheeler-serotonin
not that I'm against the medieval approach, but wringing him (completely) dry first is the priority, right?
#33
Of course Old Spook can't comment. He's much to dainty. (Would you like some decaffinated tea (it's too late for the regular stuff) to go with that belly laugh, OS dear?)
Iran's main armed opposition group denied that it had any hand in a wave of deadly bombings that rocked Tehran and the south-western city of Ahvaz on Sunday. The Iraq-based People's Mujahedeen "strongly condemned" what it described as "efforts by the Iranian regime and its agents to blame" it for the blasts, in a statement received by AFP in Nicosia. "These claims are sheer lies," a spokesman said. "The mullahs' objective in churning out these lies is to create mischief between the People's Mujahedeen Organization of Iran and the Iraqi government.
Oh, thanks a heap. Now I don't know who to believe: the terrorists, or the ayatollahs. How about if I judiciously cease caring who dunnit?
Posted by: Fred ||
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Mujahadeen E khalk is ethnically Parsi, no? While its possible they planted a bomb in ethnically Arab Ahvaz, it could have been locals. The first steps toward democracy in Iraq have to be particularly tempting to the Arabs of the Iranian province of Khuzistan.
No schadenfreude - civilians were killed, terror is terror.
But I heard a long story on ferment in Iran on NPR yesterday. Talked about a protest by several hundred women at the gates of Teheran Univ, and the massive efforts of the security forces to contain and keep folks from joining. If even National Palestinian Radio has taken notice, things must REALLY be on the boil there.
#2
Iran seems to me to be like Saudi Arabia or china. The modern world is knocking on the door and if the govt. doesnt let changes take place they are not going to like what happens. You never see the moderate side of Iran, but I suspect about 90% of the country would rather be happy and make a living than be a fundamentalist. I remember that day that the soviet union started falling apart on the news, it made for good viewing. I'll enjoy watching the guardian council deposed.
Troops have taken control of Pakistan's telecommunications facilities and netted scores of trade union leaders yesterday after they called a strike against privatization next week, sources said. "We have deployed troops, (paramilitary) Rangers and police at 150 PTCL (Pakistan Telecommunications Company Ltd.) installations," Inter-Services Public Relations chief Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said of Saturday's move. The deployment of troops and police officers follows the government's announcement on Saturday that bids would be invited to invest in 26 percent of Pakistan the PTCL on June 18.
The government had earlier postponed the privatization of the country's largest telecoms company to end a 10-day standoff with 55,000 PTCL workers. Military officials said security forces had taken control of key PTCL installations in major cities while police and paramilitary rangers were posted to check on the law and order situation.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Iran has for the first time expressed its support for the re-election of International Atomic Energy Agency Director Mohamed Baradei, hailing what it said was a "consensus" against the United States. "We hope that he is elected again because there is a consensus about him and America has been isolated," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters. Since February 2003, Baradei has been leading a probe of Iran's nuclear program, and Tehran was subsequently forced to acknowledged it had hidden its sensitive activities from the UN's nuclear watchdog for close to two decades. Baradei, 62, has said the "jury is still out" on whether Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons, resisting pressure from the United States which insists the country has been using an atomic energy drive as a cover for weapons development.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Baradei, 62, has said the "jury is still out" on whether Iran is secretly developing nuclear weapons...
#2
United States which insists the country has been using an atomic energy drive as a cover for weapons development.
We need better evidence of Iran's atomic weaponry development than what we used for Iraq's WMD program ie. ex-patriates who have not been home for 30 years (Chalabi style grifters).
#3
We need better evidence of Iran's atomic weaponry development than what we used for Iraq's WMD program
Agreed. Let's send USMC/CSI in to get it.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/13/2005 7:33
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How much evidence is enough, TG? Some of the Nazi evidence just surfaced this year. Saddam fooled everyone, including his own sons. Read the WMD report - the son charged with throwing back the infidels went to Saddam and asked him to release the chemical agents.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 7:56
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Immaterial whether Baradei or even Sean Penn is the director. Do you all really think we are going to depend on the UN to tell us whether Iran has a nuclear weapons ambition, program and testing protocol? Hell, no! Only if Kerry had been elected President was that even a remote possibility.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/13/2005 9:10
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This IAEA situation was mishandled, IMO. There should've been an alternative candidate offered since ElBaradei is utterly useless and, quite likely, complicit / compromised.
TG, did you draw the Troll lot for today in your Coffee Coven for the Current Events Challeneged?
#7
This should tell us all that we need to know about ElBaradei - he is an enabler for Islamofascist nukes. The Moslems know it. Kofi knows it. We keep ignoring it at the cost of future nuke explosions in Israel and the USA.
#8
TG, did you draw the Troll lot for today in your Coffee Coven for the Current Events Challeneged?
Okay, genius, let's pretend... you be the President and present to Congress and to the American people all the assorted types of evidence you have that Iran is developing nuclear weaponry and also where Iran has these WMD. Keep in mind that you have already gone once to the same people with the claim about Iraq and WMD which was later found to be based on faulty intel - not your fault- but Congress and the Amerocan people are "once bitten twice shy" as the saying goes...Go ahead, pretend you're Prez and give us all the evidence you've got to invade another nation, all the while that you are conducting 2 wars already abroad. Let's hear your untroll-like genius for sequential thought...how do you get from A to Z? "A" being feelings, intuitions, payback for the Iranian Revolution to "Z" outright invasion of Iran's sovereignity all the while keeping the faith of your allies, whose help you desperately need to keep the other 2 war fronts going....and let's not forget, currently 6 out of 10 Americans have doubts about the Iraq War and your party is facing re-election in 2006, so some Republicans like Lindsay and Jones and Martinez and Hagel and others have already bolted to the "questioning" side... let's hear you make a persuasive argument to invade yet another country ....
#9
TG - You repeated yourself there, oh Master Of Doom - with a Minor in Attempted Sarcasm.
Invasion? You believe that is the only option? Sigh. There are, at least, five. Where to begin? Ah, at the beginning, of course.
Y'know, this may surprise you, but Rantburg was here before your showed up. So were many other sites which pay close attention to important events. Many many stories and comments have passed into the archives. If you'd like to know what's going on, you could start reading. Better make it a nice comfy chair - you're about 2-3 YEARS behind the curve. Many have speculated exactly how Iran would be "handled", but it's only speculation, although based upon military experience (in many cases), knowledge that we do, indeed, have limited resources, and common sense. You seem to be hobbled by your lack of two of those.
There are other approaches, other means, other plans. You could start here, if you'd like - and think that those who post here can't possibly know more about it than you.
You could learn about the "Sense of the Congress", too. See Senate SCON 81 and House HCON 308. The resolution is quite clear, was recognized by cognizant beings well before your bedtime, and is already on the books.
HAND*
* Have A Nice Day. And fuck the fuck off - it's not my duty to educate you, it's yours.
French journalist Florence Aubenas and her Iraqi interpreter returned home to emotional welcomes yesterday after they were released from a five-month hostage ordeal in Iraq, triggering a joyful wave of relief across France and beyond. Aubenas, a 44-year-old senior reporter for the newspaper Liberation, was being flown back to Paris on a small French air force jet due to arrive today. Her interpreter, Hussein Hanun, was driven to his Baghdad home in a French embassy car, and was immediately embraced by his crying wife and family. The pair were "in good health," President Jacques Chirac said in a televised address after French officials announced the release. "On behalf of everyone, I want to express to Florence Aubenas and Hussein Hanun our happiness and that of the entire nation to know that they are free," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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This French for one, is not overcome with joy.
First of all, would have there been one thousandth of the mediatic mobilization (day after day TV bulletins started with a remainder about how long Miss Aubenas had been captive) if instead of a journalist she had been of ANY other profession, even a doctor or a nurse.
Second: Once again our politicians have caved to the chattering classes, the ones who can make or unmake a candidate to an election
Third: Her liberation has not been funded with the money of her paper (whio BTW is one of the more pathologiaclly anti-american in France, still more than "Le Monde" but through both political concessions and my taxes. A money who will be spent tomorrow in IEDs in Irak and the day after, who knows, in placing bombs in French commuter trains. How generous from Chirac (who doesn't use commuter trains) to try to regain popularity with my money and the political price France, not him, will pay.
#2
JFM, you need to come to the States with as many as your like-minded friends as you can find, have lots and lots of children, and prepare yourselves for the French reconquista. After all, after France falls to the Muslims there will be an interregnum before the Muslims achieve the population levels and variety of skills to properly run their new country. That's when you and your compatriots Blitzkrieg, as was done in Iraq, and take back France for the true Frenchmen. Ahhh, what a partner your France will be, the Sixth and final Republic. ;-p
The much-hyped peace talks between Naga rebels and the Indian government to end a bloody revolt have virtually collapsed because of New Delhi's refusal to redraw provincial borders in the troubled northeast. Intelligence officials fear the breakdown of the talks will stoke the embers of violence. They said that separatist guerrillas will go on the rampage particularly after July 31 when the eight-year-long cease-fire between Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland and Indian security forces expires.
Nagaland, where more than 25,000 people have lost their lives to insurgency since India's independence from Britain in 1947, is a majority Christian state of 3.5 million. On Saturday, NSCN General Secretary Thuningaleng Muivah said that he is so disappointed with the lack of progress in peace talks with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Home Minister Shivraj Patil that he is returning to Amsterdam on June 24.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The Kurdish Parliament in northern Iraq yesterday elected veteran leader Massoud Barzani as president of the region, giving the group greater autonomy after decades of oppression under Saddam Hussein. Adnan Al-Mufti, speaker of the Kurdish Parliament, told a news conference that parliament unanimously elected Barzani, whose longtime rival Jalal Talabani, of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, became Iraq's president earlier this year. Barzani, head of the once rival Kurdistan Democratic Party, will be formally sworn in tomorrow because poor weather prevented officials from flying to the region from Baghdad for a ceremony yesterday, officials said. After months of wrangling following an election at the same time as national voting on Jan. 30, the show of support for Barzani in the new post strengthens the Kurds' grip on the north of Iraq and may bolster their bid to ensure they maintain their autonomy once a new constitution is drawn up in Baghdad.
Posted by: Fred ||
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I'm not sure what this means for Iraq's future. Talabani and Barzani, the Kurds' 2 major political leaders, reconciled their parties' differences in time for the Iraq elections so the Kurds were able to generate extraordinary attendence at the polls and have influence over the formation of the new government. Barzani is more of a separate Kurdistan type, whereas Talabani is more a federalist all one Iraq type. I wonder if the Barzani-Talabani co-operation will last for too much longer.
#2
Sheesh. Are you paying attention, TG? Methinks not.
They did precisely what you would expect of two intelligent leaders of factions within a cohesive whole. They compromised with each other, worked out who would be put forward for each position (one on the national scene and one in the regional scene), and followed through with a strong bilateral effort to ensure their political power.
Got out the vote.
Got Talabani into the Pres chair on the strength of their election showing.
And Barzani will head up the Kurdish Parliament.
What, pray tell, gives you the notion that Talabani and Barzini are at odds in any significant way? This Arab News article saying there was wrangling going on? Give me a break. Consider the source and consider that, with Talabani in Baghdad, Barzini is a shoo-in for the top position in the Kurdish regional political structure. Mebbe there was wrangling about who would be his deputies, but that would be the limit of it. What you have seen transpire is precisely the opposite of Talabani and Barzini "vying" against each other - it has been almost perfect collaboration for the good of their community.
The Kurds are the perfect example of a people who deserve the shot at freedom and self-rule that they are getting, courtesy of the US / Bush, and making the most of it within the circumstances. They are doing just about everything right.
My only quibble, thus far, is with Talabani allowing his personal views on the death penalty to override his obligation to represent Iraq as a whole and to support and abide by its laws.
The opposite of the model group is the Sunnis, of course.
#3
I agree that Kurds have two things in their decided advantage. First is that they have people who are intelligent, western-educated, and very politically astute; second is that they respect those qualities in their leaders. Both of those guys are totally committed to their country in whatever form, will not sell out, and will not double cross their own people for their own personal benefit.
#4
three things - they don't seem to have the Arab knack for victimization, whining, and seething. They get up, dust off, and move ahead
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/13/2005 14:31
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I agree with you .com on all your points. My comments were not meant to criticize the Kurds - far from it. They are very well organized people who have taken good advantage of all the options open to them. My point was: now the Kurds have positioned 2 leaders in powerful offices who hold 2 diametrically opposed ideas about the Kurds' future - as being part of a single nation called Iraq or as being an independent Kurdistan. They are poised to go either way. I'm wondering which direction the Kurds will end up taking, say 5 years from now. Especially if Turkey and the US mend their fences, will this reconciliation make the Kurds nervous and cause them to follow Barzani's lead rather than Jalabani's? I think the Kurds are not taking any chances about relying on the good faith of their coalition allies or their fellow Iraqis, that's for sure.
#6
"who hold 2 diametrically opposed ideas about the Kurds' future"
Ah, so THIS is the crux of where your thoughts originated? Funny, I've read shitloads of info, many interviews by them, and have never seen this declaration. Can you provide something to back that assertion up?
Personally, I believe they are completely in-synch: they want an independent Kurdish nation. Period. It is the understatement of all time to say they've been patient. It's hard to imagine a cohesive people who have been shat upon more times - and screwed in the breach as thoroughly. Funny, but I think the odds are in the neighborhood of 50-50 they'll get it, too -- but that's purely my own speculation, no more.
It's based upon living among the Arabs for years and watching the process in Iraq. That Iraq, as an entity, is yet another Yugoslavia, is self-apparent. The Sykes-Picot "treaty" was where it was born and is about as "valid" and "legitimate" as Stalin's creation, too. The interesting thing, to me, is how somewhere recently it seems that the international view of countries as "inviolable" entities was set in cement. If you were a people who hadn't yet "gotten yours" - well, it's suddenly just tough luck.
Bullshit, of course. I hope the Kurds get their chance. I know they won't waste it if they do. I just hope they can hang on until it comes "naturally" - as the Middle East shakes out and many new opportunities present themselves. Syria, Turkey, Iran - all are in for some rude shocks. The Kurds might be one of the truly significant beneficiaries of Bush shaking the tree. As I said, this is just my speculation.
Egyptian authorities yesterday released 163 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood who were among hundreds detained in a crackdown on the opposition movement during May protests, a judicial source said. Police arrested hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members during the protests for political reform and then jailed hundreds more in later demonstrations calling for the release of those held. An Interior Ministry source said 486 people were still being held for ties to the Brotherhood.
They include leading members of the group, which like other opposition groups says recent political reform by the government aims to secure power for the incumbents rather than allow more competition. The Brotherhood says a constitutional amendment replacing the old referendum on a single candidate for the post of president with a system allowing multi-candidate elections in fact aims to bar it from fielding a candidate.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Two of three Indonesian sailors kidnapped by suspected Abu Sayyaf extremists fled to freedom before dawn yesterday in the southern Philippines, officials said. Military spokesman Lt. Col. Buenaventura Pascual said Yamin Labaso and Erikson Hatagol escaped from their captors at around 12.30 a.m. from the bandits' jungle hideout in Mt. Tumatangis in the island of Jolo, about 950 kilometersm south of Manila. Pascual said a villager named Nijal Aradani helped the duo escape. He did not elaborate.
"The Indonesians are now under military doctors in Jolo," Pascual told Arab News. "We are now only going to have to rescue just one. Hopefully, we may be able to get him in the next few days," Armed Forces of the Philippines chief Lt. Gen. Efren Abu told reporters. A Malaysian intelligence report last month suggested that two hostages died in captivity and that the third had escaped from the Abu Sayyaf. The Indonesian Foreign Ministry had also said last month that it received reports suggesting that one hostage died in captivity. Hutagaol and Labuso were snatched on March 30 while sailing near Malaysia's Sabah state along with a third Indonesian identified as Ahmad Resmiyadi, and taken to Jolo, the officials said. The freed hostages were flown by helicopter and taken to a military hospital in southern Zamboanga city, where they were presented to the media.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Is it really a good idea to go around naming people who help hostages escape from hostile territory? Disinformation is the only thing I can think of.
Sudan has formed a special court to try alleged criminals in its remote Darfur region and its chief judge insisted yesterday it would be independent, amid international pressure for war crimes trials abroad. The president of the court, due to start work on Wednesday, told Reuters he would be ready to try anyone, no matter how senior, and said he would resign if there was any government interference in the court proceedings.
"Nothing that will interfere with our work has ever happened nor will happen and if it ever happens I as a judge will quit the court," Mahmoud Mohamed Saeed Abkam, who is also one of the roving court's three judges, said in an interview.
"Your Honor, I just got a letter for you from Mr. Big."
"Yeah, what's it say?"
"'Shuddup or we'll kill you.'"
"Hokay, I quit!"
Senior government and military officials, militia and rebel leaders, and foreign army officers are among 51 war crimes suspects on a secret list drawn up by a United Nations-appointed commission of inquiry into the Darfur conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
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I think a pic of a kangaroo would be appropriate here.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/13/2005 13:59
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RKBs right that's a lefthanded Submarine slinger, takes good knees to stand-in against a quality big red roo. I figure he's a closer, submariners rarely make good starters.
Yup. It's all over folks. Gloom doom agony and Fairbanks, the works. But wait! Is that the Electric Slide that I'm hearing...
Business is booming for the wedding DJ in the Iraqi capital. The party planner at the city's upscale Hunting Club can't find enough floral designers to keep up with decoration demands. Overwhelmed by the demand for marriage contracts, two judges in Basra are turning away would-be brides and grooms. And an unscripted series that follows couples as they plan their weddings is among the most popular shows on Iraqi TV.
Right after the show that rebuilds bombed-out houses...
Since President Saddam Hussein was ousted two years ago, the number of nuptials in Iraq has soared, say party planners, judges and clergy members. Although there are no reliable countrywide statistics, those in the business estimate that the number of "I do's" has doubled since the uneasy months before and after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003. Some say a better living standard is driving Iraqis to the altar. Others speculate that many weddings were postponed because of the war, and couples are catching up. And there are those with a more existential bent, who see wedding celebrations as a retort to death itself. "People tend to compensate for their losses," said Nagham Azzawi, whose sister is planning a big wedding this year. "This is the natural response to all the deaths we're facing."
"I'm very happy," Marwa said of her upcoming wedding, which, unlike many in Iraq, was not an arranged one. "I love him, and he loves me." Although the wedding reception was months away, Marwa, 25, and her fiance, Adil Kamil, could start living together as man and wife if they wanted because they had signed a marriage contract. Kamil had waited a long time for this moment — the official announcement of their marriage. "She was always on my mind," said Kamil, 29. "I liked her for years. But the financial situation, and the general security situation, hindered me from proposing." A steady job as a clerk in the Ministry of Oil had allowed him to build a little nest egg, and the outlook was better, he said. Six of his seven close friends were also engaged or had wed recently. "The environment has become much more suitable for young men to get married," Kamil said.
Ali Mukhtar, the Hunting Club's party planner, said the first four months after the invasion were slow. There were no wedding parties at the club, a former hangout of the late Uday Hussein, one of Saddam Hussein's sons. But business slowly began to pick up, he said. These days, Mukhtar, who color coordinated the bride and cake, arranges about a dozen weddings each month. He complains that these days, he has to do everything himself. Key staff members have left. Some have been killed in the violence both random and rampant in Baghdad. He has had little success in replacing them. "It's not easy finding good decorators," Mukhtar said with a small sigh. Staff shortages also afflict the courthouse in Basra, in the country's Shiite Muslim south.
Mazel tov, my friends. May you live long and well.
#1
Ali Mukhtar, the Hunting Club's party planner, said the first four months after the invasion were slow. There were no wedding parties at the club, a former hangout of the late Uday Hussein, one of Saddam Hussein's sons.
Of course not: Uday looked the brides over and picked out the best for himself. That little detail is forgotten by the left who cringed in sympathy when he got ventilated.
This is a sign of OPTIMISM in the future. Expect a baby boom in Iraq that will go unreported...
Voters flocked to the polls in Lebanon yesterday for the third round of elections hotly contested by rival anti-Syrian candidates as the shadow of its powerful neighbor loomed large. The election in eastern and central regions of the country was held as a UN special envoy met Syrian President Bashar Assad amid US claims that Syrian intelligence agents remained in Lebanon despite its troop pullout in April. No final turnout figures were immediately available when polls closed at 6 p.m. (1500 GMT) but three hours earlier Prime Minister Najib Mikati said it varied between 20 percent and 50 percent depending on the constituency. Mikati said no disturbances had been reported during the polls, and hailed what he called the "democratic atmosphere" of the voting for 58 representatives from the Bekaa Valley and Mount Lebanon. The premier predicted the final turnout would be "high because of the tightness of the races." Unlike the first two rounds which saw clean sweeps by the anti-Syrian opposition and the pro-Syrian Shiite movements Hezbollah and Amal, respectively, yesterday's vote witnessed a real election battle.
The fiercest contest pitted retired Christian general and former exile Michel Aoun and his Free Patriotic Current against opposition Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and his anti-Syrian ticket. Christian politicians are also odds with each other after Aoun, who was kicked out of Lebanon by Syrian forces after the 1975-1990 civil war, decided to forge an unlikely alliance with pro-Damascus candidates. Jumblatt, who allied himself with wartime foes the Christian Lebanese Forces, accused Aoun of trying to divide the anti-Syrian opposition, which expects to win the majority of seats in the 128-member Parliament. LF organizer Georges Tawil told AFP the alliance with Jumblatt was intended to "turn the page on the civil war". The four-round elections are the first free of Syria's 29-year-long military presence and follow the February killing of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri which plunged Lebanon into turmoil. "He's an extremist and we will not let him steal our victory," Jumblatt said of Aoun.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005
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#1
Elections! Two choices! High turnout!
Ain't it grand!
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 12:52
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#2
If I read Beirut Daily Star correctly, this is the part that wasn't fixed.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/13/2005 16:11
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Iran's interior minister has asked security agencies to protect campaigners in Friday's presidential election after a speaker was beaten up at a reformist rally in Qom. Newspaper photographs showed Behzad Nabavi with a black eye and cuts on his head from the attack on Thursday after a rally that he said had been disrupted by people using teargas. "I haven't been beaten like this since the days of SAVAK," Nabavi, a leftist stalwart of the 1979 revolution, told a news conference. SAVAK was the Shah's secret police.
Nabavi, a former deputy parliament speaker, is a supporter of Mostafa Moin, a leading reformist candidate in the 17 June election. The campaign had been relatively free of violence. "Apparently in recent days there is an order from certain centres of power for organised physical confrontation with Moin's campaign meetings," Nabavi said. "The fact that they used teargas and handcuffs ... shows they were members of parallel security and military entities."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Behzad, darling, the Revolution has moved on and left you behind. Not only are you no longer central, you are barely peripheral. Your time in the sun was more than a quarter century ago. The majority of your fellow citizens were still unborn when people cared what you had to say. I am terribly sorry to be the one to tell you this, but those of your political pursuasion tend to be a bit slow to notice these things.
#4
Thank you, Shipman. I do try. Mama said one should always maintain one's tools. But I leave grindstones to the professionals, and I'm not sure what that other thing is. Mr. Wife prefers me to stay away from sharp things -- he's afraid I might accidently cut something off. Which is awf'ly silly of him -- I haven't yet, even the time I snuck out and used the chainsaw.
Iraqis inspecting the damage of US air strikes in western Iraq have accused the Americans attacking "indiscriminately", saying there were no guerrillas in the area.
"Nope. Nope. Nobody there. See for yerself!"
The US military said on Saturday (local time) that seven precision air strikes on the outskirts of the town of Karabilah killed 40 insurgents who had been stopping vehicles at gunpoint and threatening Iraqi civilians. "There were no mujahideen (fighters) or armed men in the area. The planes attacked indiscriminately," said one man, who did not give his name, as he inspected the rubble of a house.
"It wuz just a buncha civilians stopping cars at gunpoint and threatenin' people!"
Quite how many may have died, or their identities, remained unclear. Residents would not let a Reuters cameraman film two of the houses that were hit by the strikes. The military said there were no reports of civilian casualties after the US troops fired on large groups of insurgents armed with rocket-propelled grenades, machine guns and AK-47 assault rifles. "The target was more of a compound with scores of armed men. No women or children were observed the entire day," said a US military spokesman on Sunday (local time).
"Well, they wudn't dressed up like wimmin and children, but that's what they wuz! [Snif!] An' all them poor puppies an' kittens an' fluffy bunnies an' baby ducks, too!"
Was someone getting married in the compound that day?
He said troops would not be going to the site to sift through the rubble. Television footage did not reveal whether buildings damaged in the air strikes had been occupied by guerrillas or civilians during the attack. No bodies were visible in the footage. Residents said three people had already been buried.
"Yeah! We buried poor ol' Grandmaw soon's we wuz sure she wuz dead!"
Hamdi al-Alusi, chief of the nearby Qaim hospital, said three civilians from houses in the nearby district of Rumana were brought in wounded after the air strikes, including a 12-year-old boy who later died. The US military spokesman said Rumana was not targeted during or after the strikes. "These are children's clothes," said one man, picking up a shirt from the rubble left by the strikes.
US troops have launched several offensives on areas near Karabilah in the rebellious Anbar province in a bid to weaken the Sunni Arab insurgency, which has killed more than 850 Iraqi security forces, officials and civilians since a new, Shiite-led government was formed in late April. Last year, Marines killed around 40 Iraqis in an air attack on a house in the western desert near the Syrian border. The US military said the house was a staging point for foreign fighters but survivors said a wedding party had been massacred. The US military says it always tries to avoid civilian casualties and has accused insurgents of using civilians as human shields.
#2
Oh yes, another wedding party. The US hates weddings. We stand uniformly opposed to weddings. No wedding for you!
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/13/2005 1:54
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Television footage did not reveal whether buildings damaged in the air strikes had been occupied by guerrillas or civilians during the attack. So THEREFORE, no one can DISPROVE the innuendo that it was civilians. And anyway, the military does not attack "indiscriminately" - it focuses on Sunnis, newsmen, Baathists, young men, women and children, old men, and good people minding their own business in a quiet and undisturbed little corner of the cradle of civilization.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/13/2005 7:49
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#4
It might really help if they put signs on the buildings. "Terrorists", "Civilians", "Wedding in Progress". Might help cut down on these incidents.
#6
A previous posting mentioned child soldiers used in the Pakistan region as well as other documented cases around the globe. Why doesn't the Euros and Amnesty International protest the use of children by terrorists in Iraq? Americans can never please them. The liberals seem short on ideas lately. Maybe France could take the detainees off our hands, and serve them champagne with their honey glazed chicken, courtesy of Parisians?
The Omani government has said there are now no political prisoners in the country after a general amnesty granted by Sultan Qaboos ibn Said to 31 citizens convicted of plotting to overthrow the government through an outlawed organization. Lt. Gen. Malik ibn Sulaiman Al-Maamari, inspector general of police, said the convicts, mostly in their 30s, were released soon after the royal pardon on Wednesday. Al-Maamari said those arrested during protests seeking the release of the 31 people have also been freed. "There are no political prisoners in the country whatsoever."
Sheikh Ahmed ibn Hamed Al-Khalili, the Grand Mufti, has welcomed the royal pardon, urging the youth to understand Islam in its truest spirit." Deputy Prime Minister Sayyid Fahd ibn Mahmouud Al-Said said the pardon was aimed at "reforming erring citizens to serve society" in keeping with Oman's age-old traditions.
Posted by: Fred ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Airline groups have condemned plans by the world's richest countries to impose a tax on airline tickets to fund extra money for poor African countries - and make a gesture towards fighting climate change. Finance ministers from the G8 agreed at the weekend to look at using income from airline traffic to boost aid. Although the tax might only amount to a few extra pence on a ticket, experts believe the move would be a major blow to cut-price airlines that sell tickets for as little as £1. The move, which could add a pound on to air fares, was greeted with delight by environmental groups who said it was a first step towards making people pay the true cost of plane travel.
Some within the U.S. intelligence community think Osama bin Laden is in eastern Iran, instead of the rugged tribal areas of Pakistan's northwestern frontier, where most American officials think he is still on the run. 
The suspected leader of al Qaeda in Spain traveled with Sept. 11 hijacker 
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (Reuters) - The jury in the Michael Jackson child molestation trial has reached a verdict, a court spokesman said on Monday Jackson was expected to report to the courthouse in Santa Maria from his Neverland Valley Ranch, about 20 minutes away, for the reading of the verdicts at 
Dear NRDC BioGems Defender,
Europe's troubled constitutional treaty will be ditched by EU leaders at their crunch summit later this week. 
Swaziland's 
Repliee Q1 appeared yesterday at the 2005 World Expo in Japan, where she gestured, blinked, spoke, and even appeared to breathe. 
June 13, 2005: The U.S. Air Force received over 150,000 feedback responses to its proposed new work uniform. The troops didn't like the flashy blue and green tiger strop motif of the test uniform. 
Listed criminal killed in "crossfire" with police
Security forces yesterday arrested chief of Myanmar's antigovernment guerrilla group National United Party of Arakan (NUPA), Tai Jo Khoy, and his three associates at Naikkhongchhari. BDR sources confirmed the arrest but did not disclose the whereabouts of the arrestees. But a well-placed source said the four were being interrogated in a secret place and they have disclosed significant information about hidden firearms and ammunition. 
Iraqi political forces began preparing for general elections, slated at the end of the year, leading to the formation of Iraq's first elected government. Former Prime Minister 
A Saudi newspaper said Monday the 
Iran may not have the largest number of insurgents in Iraq, but what it lacks in quantity, it makes up for in quality, Rep. 
Don't look now, but the ground has shifted on global warming. After decades of debate over whether the planet is heating and, if so, whose fault it is, divergent groups are joining hands with little fanfare to deal with a problem they say people can no longer avoid. General Electric is the latest big corporate convert; politicians at the state and national level are looking for solutions; and religious groups are taking philosophical and financial stands to slow the progression of climate change. They agree that the problem is real. A recent study led by James Hansen of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies confirms that, because of carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases, Earth is trapping more energy from the sun than it is releasing back into space.
AIR AMERICA's 
Iran was rocked by bombings on Sunday, killing at least nine and wounding more than 30, as dozens of journalists from around the world gathered in advance of the presidential election this Friday. One of those journalists, actor 
Speaking on his weekly TV programme, he said US open market policies in Latin America had led to "exclusion, misery and destabilisation". He called President George W Bush's proposal for a regional free trade agreement a "medicine of death". Bolivia was brought to a virtual standstill by protesters calling for economic and constitutional reforms. "Look at Bolivia. Fortunately the Bolivians opened the door toward a peaceful path, but they were on the verge of a civil war," said Mr Chavez. 
Higher Education Minister Datuk Dr Shafie Salleh said the Saudi Arabian government is ready to sponsor more Malaysian students to further their studies at several universities in the Kingdom. He said this year Saudi Arabia would take 40 students for several courses related to Islamic studies, which was double the number offered previously. "Most of them study at the Riyadh, Medina and Mecca universities and the new intakes this time around will also be offered to do other courses like medical and engineering besides Islamic studies," he told reporters after a welcoming ceremony for Malaysian students from Saudi Arabia here Sunday. He said the number of students (40) was just one per cent of the total number of foreign students studying in Saudi Arabia.
The seventh Christian released is Indian evangelical Samkutty Varghese, who was jailed last March. Police used his address book to track down the other Christians. Two other Christians are still being held for 'further investigation', authorities said. According to AsiaNews sources close to Indian citizen Vijay Kumar (45) of Tamil Nadu, one of the freed prisoners, their release took place after having signed a document in which they renounced the prayer sessions and religious practices they had been carrying out in their homes. In Saudi Arabia, only Islam is allowed public expression.
The Palestinian Authority has carried out its first executions since 2001, killing four convicted murderers as part of a new campaign to rein in lawlessness and chaos. An Interior Ministry spokesman said the four men, who were executed on Sunday, were sentenced to death by a Palestinian court. Spokesman Tawfiq Abu Khoussa added that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas signed the execution orders on Saturday. Three of the men were hanged and one was executed by a firing squad. 
BAGHDAD - The Iraqi Central Criminal Court has found 321 of 482 suspected terrorists guilty during a series of trials, according to a statement issued on Sunday by the Iraqi Communications Ministry.
Polling stations in Lebanon have closed with initial results showing former general Michel Aoun winning fierce electoral battles against rival anti-Syrian opposition groups in key districts. At stake in the third round of parliamentary elections are 35 seats representing the central Mount Lebanon district and another 23 for the eastern Bekaa Valley. Preliminary results indicate a sweeping victory for electoral tickets backed by Aoun in Mount Lebanon's mainly Christian Kesrwan-Byblos and Upper Metn districts. Aoun, a former general who spent 14 years in exile in France following a failed "war of liberation" against Syrian troops in 1989, returned to Lebanon on 7 May, shortly after Syrian forces withdrew from the country. 
A Saudi held by the United States at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba on suspicion of terrorism, was forcibly injected with fluids, grilled in the proximity of military dogs and straddled by a female soldier, according to secret logs obtained by Time magazine. 
Iran has for the first time expressed its support for the re-election of International Atomic Energy Agency Director 
French journalist 
The Kurdish Parliament in northern Iraq yesterday elected veteran leader Massoud Barzani as president of the region, giving the group greater autonomy after decades of oppression under Saddam Hussein. Adnan Al-Mufti, speaker of the Kurdish Parliament, told a news conference that parliament unanimously elected Barzani, whose longtime rival Jalal Talabani, of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, became Iraq's president earlier this year. Barzani, head of the once rival Kurdistan Democratic Party, will be formally sworn in tomorrow because poor weather prevented officials from flying to the region from Baghdad for a ceremony yesterday, officials said. After months of wrangling following an election at the same time as national voting on Jan. 30, the show of support for Barzani in the new post strengthens the Kurds' grip on the north of Iraq and may bolster their bid to ensure they maintain their autonomy once a new constitution is drawn up in Baghdad.
Egyptian authorities yesterday released 163 members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood who were among hundreds detained in a crackdown on the opposition movement during May protests, a judicial source said. Police arrested hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood members during the protests for political reform and then jailed hundreds more in later demonstrations calling for the release of those held. An Interior Ministry source said 486 people were still being held for ties to the Brotherhood.
Two of three Indonesian sailors kidnapped by suspected 
Iran's interior minister has asked security agencies to protect campaigners in Friday's presidential election after a speaker was beaten up at a reformist rally in Qom. Newspaper photographs showed Behzad Nabavi with a black eye and cuts on his head from the attack on Thursday after a rally that he said had been disrupted by people using teargas. "I haven't been beaten like this since the days of SAVAK," Nabavi, a leftist stalwart of the 1979 revolution, told a news conference. SAVAK was the Shah's secret police.
Iraqis inspecting the damage of US air strikes in western Iraq have accused the Americans attacking "indiscriminately", saying there were no guerrillas in the area. 
