AUSTRALIAN hostage Douglas Wood was freed by Iraqi troops when they stumbled on him during a search of a suspected insurgent weapons dump near Baghdad. Troops had identified "suspect activity" at a suburban Baghdad house and took up combat positions around it, exchanging fire with gunmen on the rooftop. Brigadier General Jaleel Khalaf Shewi, commander of the Iraqi brigade that rescued the Australian engineer, said the militants were "taken completely by surprise". The troops found Mr Wood blindfolded and cuffed underneath a blanket. When they asked the occupants of the house who the man was, they said: "This is our father, he is sick."
Three people were arrested at the scene and Mr Wood was taken to a Baghdad hospital where he is now resting under the protection of Australian troops. "I'm extremely happy and delighted to be freed," he said in a statement. Mr Wood was positively identified by correctly naming his childhood dog to Australian counter-terrorism official Nick Warner in Baghdad. Friends said today Mr Wood had asked for a Victoria Bitter beer and an update on the progress of Geelong in the AFL championship.
Mr Wood, whose release was reportedly under negotiation by senior Sydney Muslim cleric Sheik Taj al-Din al-Hilaly. Supporters of Sheik Hilaly, who left Iraq earlier this month, said the cleric's efforts helped secure Mr Wood's release. US military officers said, however, that the Iraqi troops effectively "stumbled across Wood" during a "routine" raid on a suspected insurgent weapons cache. "Iraqi soldiers ... discovered Wood and an Iraqi hostage in the northwest Baghdad neighborhood of Al-Adel while conducting a planned cordon-and-search operation for a weapons cache," a US military statement said.
Prime Minister John Howard told Parliament shortly after 6.45pm last night: "Mr Wood was recovered a short while ago in Baghdad in a military operation that I am told was conducted by Iraqi forces in co-operation in a general way with force elements of the United States". Mr Howard said Mr Wood, who suffers from a serious heart complaint, had "suffered immensely" in captivity. The news of his release was conveyed to Mr Wood's brother Malcolm and other family members last night in a phone call by Mr Downer about 6pm. "They were slightly disbelieving," Mr Downer said. "Their hopes had been raised and dashed over the last six weeks. I told them no, we had the so-called "proof of life" test we had applied - asking him a question and him being able to give a personal answer to that question. Very few have been released by military action of this kind." Speaking outside his home in Canberra, Malcolm Wood said: "The family, of course, are delighted."
Malcolm Wood and his brother Vernon are due to give a press conference in Canberra at 11am AEST. Family spokesman Neil Smail said the family had been greatly relieved by the news. "The family greatly appreciates the work that has been done towards Douglas's release by the Australian government team in Iraq and officials in Canberra, other agencies in Iraq and earlier by Sheik Hilaly." Mr Howard told parliament that at no stage had a ransom been paid. Mr Downer said Mr Wood had been "extraordinarily lucky". Canberra had approved in-principle hostage release operations using military forces but had no prior knowledge of the Iraqi-led operation. He said the operation to release Mr Wood had not directly involved Australia's 20-strong emergency response team, which included a special forces detachment. The engineer was snatched on the way to work in late April by a group calling itself the Shura Council of the Mujahideen. Mr Howard admitted to being "overwhelmed with relief", as he broke the news of Mr Wood's release to the parliament.
Both Mr Howard and Mr Downer praised Sheik Hilaly's efforts in helping secure Mr Wood's release after nearly 50 days in captivity. Mr Howard said he had been trying to contact Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to thank him for his country's help in securing Mr Wood's release. "I hope very shortly to express my thanks for the efforts of his forces, and may I record again our thanks to our American friends," Mr Howard said. "It is a wonderful outcome for this man who suffered so much."
#1
When the guy who wrote your constitution says, "It is not possible for anyone to understand the full text", rest assured that you did the right thing by rejecting it. That the EUrocrats would try to foist off this incoherent monstrosity on the people in the first place is a measure of the disdain the ruling class holds towards those that pay there salaries.
Posted by: Scott R ||
06/15/2005 19:37
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#2
Open governement is a fine idea. I don't know that sending a hardcopy of the tome to every voter is the way to go. Is that what Chiraq really did?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/15/2005 21:10
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#3
Yes, and they took one look and about threw up. The biggest problem is that it is Roman Law based, instead of Common Law based, like the US Constitution. In Roman Law, unless something is specifically authorized by law, it is forbidden. This means that their constitution was written to entail ALL laws, past, present and future. They had perhaps some idea that their constitution would become their statutes--an insane idea that makes their founding document full of nothing but trivial bureaucratic rules, while ignoring the broad, grand philosophical ideas. Now compare this to the US, where, if something is not specifically *forbidden* by law, then it is automatically legal. It severely limits what the government is *allowed* to do, not the people, and even that, it says it in broad terms. Then it *doubly* gets philosophical with the Bill of Rights, essentially saying, "Not only is the government forbidden from doing this, it is doubly forbidden, specifically forbidden, to infringe on these rights." And this is why the US Constitution is dynamite, and the EU Constitution is bureaucratic pablum. Intellectual strained beets. It all boils down to a simple question: Do the people rule the government, or does the government rule the people?
The Iraqi Sunni Arabs are driving a hard bargain. In effect, they are still running an extortion racket on the Kurds and Shia Arabs who comprise 80 percent of the population. The terrorist violence in Iraq is almost entirely the creation of Sunni Arabs. Their proposals is that, in return for stopping the violence, they want a major say in the writing of the new constitution, and some major amnesty for past sins. The Sunni Arabs have a lot to account for in the pain and atrocity department, both currently and in the past.
In the past, the Sunni Arab extortion racket was simpler. As the Sunni Arabs controlled the police, army and everything else, it was easy to tell the Kurds and Shia Arabs to do something, or else. There was a lot of "or else," and Saddam Hussein's coming trial will contain abundant gory details. Since the Sunni Arabs were tossed out of power in April of 2003, they have been scheming to get it back. They have a plan, they believe it will work, and they may be right.
The Iraqi Sunni Arabs are not alone, and their list of allies is large. Locally, all Middle Eastern nations run by Sunni Arabs, and that's nearly all of them, back the idea of Sunni Arabs running Iraq. It's easy for outsiders to underestimate how much of a threat Sunni Arabs feel that Shia Iran is. For the last quarter century, Iran has been run by radical Shia clerics. But the Iranian tradition that terrifies Sunni Arabs the most is the fact that for over three thousand years, Iran has dominated the region. Currently, Iran is developing nuclear weapons, the better to continue that tradition of domination. Shia Arabs are 60 percent of the Iraqi population. In a democracy, those Shia Arabs should be running the country. The Sunni Arab nightmare is that a Shia run Iraq would ally with Shia Iran to take over the Middle East. It's an Arabian nightmare that is based on thousands of years of reality. Sunni Arabs in the Middle East may not support Sunni Arab terrorism in Iraq, but they do support Sunni Arab control of Iraq.
Iraqi Sunni Arabs also have the support of the majority of the world's media. The American overthrow of Sunni Arab control of Iraq was condemned by most of the world's media. This was largely the result of European "pragmatism", and willingness to tolerate Sunni Arab atrocities in return for lucrative business deals. Saddam's Republic of Fear was largely equipped with weapons and gear supplied by European nations (mainly Russia, France and Germany.) It had also become fashionable in Europe to condemn Israel for oppressing the Sunni Arab Palestinians. This made Europeans more popular in the Sunni Arab world. So it was something of a knee-jerk reaction for the European press to join with the Sunni Arab press to condemn the United States for removing Sunni Arabs from control of Iraq. This media coalition continues to portray Sunni Arab terrorism in Iraq as "insurgents" and "freedom fighters."
Sunni Arab leaders are demanding a new constitution that will make it easier for Sunni Arabs to regain control of the government, and amnesty for Sunni Arabs involved in the last two years of terrorism, and the previous decades of government sponsored atrocities. The Sunni Arabs are willing to blame it all on al Qaeda, which is mainly radical Sunni Arabs that are considered expendable. The Kurds and Shia Arabs are gagging on this. But they have a stark choice. If they don't give in, they may only be able to stop the Sunni Arab terrorism by, in effect, making war on the Sunni Arab population. This would get pretty ugly. Look at Lebanon, the poster child for Arab civil wars. That one lasted for fifteen years (1975-90) and killed over five percent of the population. Of course, that's what Saddam did to Iraq in three decades of misrule. But a major effort to suppress current Sunni Arab violence in Iraq could leave over 100,000 Sunni Arabs dead, and several million in exile. This is a nightmare for the United States, whose troops would be a witness to this, and accused of not doing anything to stop it.
It's a game of chicken, but the Sunni Arabs are confident that the other guys will blink first. They may be right.
Posted by: ed ||
06/15/2005
17:44 ||
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#1
If that happens ... would federalism look like a good idea (with an emphasis on bypassing a Sunni-ruled government to help the Shias and Kurds more directly) or should we just start advocating Kurdistan?
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
06/15/2005 18:09
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#2
This is one of the better bits of analysis that I've ever seen.
All along, the real question in Iraq has been, 'Do the Shia really want to be their own people? Or are they willing to be mastered again by the Sunni?' I strongly suspect that a major contributing factor to many of the current problems in Iraq has been the painfully slow process of the Shia 'getting their act together'. However, I think the evidence is now in -- the Shia want to be free.
At best, the Sunni strategy of 'driving a hard bargain' with suicide bombers might actually work for a while. So the Sunni could establish a special status for themselves in Iraq in which the worst of them don't have to pay for previous (and current) crimes. But that's probably just a temporary fix. Ultimately, the Sunni are riding the tiger. Their strategy is heavily dependent upon the forebearance of the Kurds and the Shia, and that forebearance is probably very tenous.
Posted by: Patrick Phillips ||
06/15/2005 18:19
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#3
I could come up with a completely different analysis, that has the Sunni 'insurgency' simmering for years and the Kurds and Shiias using this as an opportunity to progessively rollback Sunni control of large areas of Iraq. Already largely unoticed by the MSM the Kurds have defaco control of a large area south of their 3 provinces stretching from the Iranian border to the Syrian border. As the Shiias get organized I expect them to do the same from the south.
#4
It's a plan that'll work as long as America's army is free to babysit Iraq and we don't get involved in any wars with anyone else in the Middle East, or aren't attacked elsewhere or at home.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/15/2005 20:06
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#5
Iraq needs to make sure the Second Amendment is its first.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/15/2005 20:44
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#6
The two real factors at work here are both discreet: the invisible hand of US diplomacy (remember Condi Rice?); and the almost ritualized haggling of the casbah. Unless you are familiar with the Middle East haggle, then much of what is transpiring is missed. However, the hand of Uncle Sam is far more omnipotent. It seeks power and balance, transparency and honesty, and the evolution of the utter dominance of democratic institutions. First the haggle will iron out some kind of agreement satisfactory to the parties, then adjustments will be made to further level the playing field. There are hundreds of tools that can be used to strengthen one side or diminish the other, subtly. All the players within and outside of Iraq will be taken into account, and years of timetables will be developed to chart all sorts of baselines for national development. Even with the departure of most of the US forces, the game continues, far beyond when stability and strength have reached their maximum. Prosperity should bring with it the end of old institutions, and the transcendance of old animosities.
#7
But a major effort to suppress current Sunni Arab violence in Iraq could leave over 100,000 Sunni Arabs dead, and several million in exile.
I can see it already. Boatloads of them turning up, stating that their human rights to cause mayhem and terror sre being denied them and claiming protection of the Refugee Convention and welfare.
#10
Whats needed is to topple the moneybags behind the SUnni: the Wahhabists in Saudi. The Shia along the coastal are awhere the oil is could be encouraged to break away, armed and the protected by the US. THe Suadis without the oil money are nothing but a bunch of dirt poor, stinkin Bedu who dont matter crap in the world picture.
In a statement issued to the Internet today, June 15, 2005, al-Qaeda in Iraq through its official spokesman, Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, congratulates the mujahideen "who are fighting the converters in Mauritania."
The message seems to be referring to the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), a jihadist organization in Algeria, which claimed responsibility for an attack upon Mauritanian soldiers on June 3 to avenge "brothers who were recently captured by the converted Mauritanian regime, and to stand up for the weakened Muslims there." The claim was posted on the GSPC's official website and translated by the SITE Institute .
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2005
17:20 ||
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#1
"Mahmoud!"
"Yes, effendi?"
"I am preparing our statement. I wish for you to issue it to the internet."
"At once, effendi."
#3
"He is too healthy to issue radio or internet messages, and TV/video? No way! Too much time in makeup/prep when it could be spent beheading infidels. Busy busy busy. But healthy! Stock of the veritable Lions of the Desertâ¢. Did I say healthy?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 19:04
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From May 1, 2003, through June 5th, 2005, 1,674 American troops were killed in Iraq. However, 23 percent of those deaths were from non-combat causes (about 40 percent of being automotive accidents). Hostile gunfire accounted for 25 percent of the deaths, with PRGs caused another four percent. Roadside bombs also caused 25 percent of deaths, with car bombs contributing another four percent.
Over half the deaths occurred in a few locations. Twenty percent of the deaths took place in Baghdad, while 11 percent occurred in Anbar province (west of Baghdad.) Six percent of the deaths were in Mosul, eight percent in Fallujah and six percent in Ramadi.
Two percent of those killed have been women, while 31 percent were age 22 or younger. Only 11 percent of the dead were 35 or older. Active duty troops account for 78 percent of the deaths (but only comprise about 60 percent of the troops in Iraq). The army accounts for 69 percent of the dead, the marines 28 percent. Lower ranking troops (grades E1-E4) were 59 percent of the dead. Whites were 74 percent of the dead, blacks ten percent, Hispanic 11 percent. It's a suburbanites war, with 40.5 percent of the dead coming from the suburbs, and a third from rural areas.
Some 1,300 Iraqi police and soldiers have been killed in the same period, with that number increasing as more well trained and led police and troops become available. From April 2003 to the end of 2004, about 65 Iraqi police and soldiers died each month, on average. But in the last three months, that average has been over 200 a month.
In the last two years, terrorists have also killed 721 men who were applying to join the security forces. In addition, over a hundred Iraq interpreters have been killed as well. Also, 232 foreign civilian contractors have died in the last two years.
Crime is also high, and is worst in Baghdad, where the murder rate is about twice that of Washington, DC (where it is currently 43 per 100,000 population per year.)
Posted by: ed ||
06/15/2005
17:20 ||
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#1
DC has murders? In Dallas in the early 1990's - we almost hit 1,000 murders in a year, with a metropolitan population af about one million. You do the math. (O.K., it's almost 2-1/2 times the DC rate).
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/15/2005 21:06
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At-least 16 people have been killed and 20 others injured in fighting between rival militias in an almost two-month dispute over land and pasture.
Over a month of fighting intensified today in Aato village that borders the Rabdhuure and Ealbarde districts of the southwestern Bakol region of Somalia, said traditional leader Malaq Madkeer via a two-way radio.
Staff at makeshift medical facilities in neighboring towns confirmed the death toll, adding that 20 people were injured.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2005
17:19 ||
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Chechen rebels planned to fly an airplane into the Kremlin 10 years ago, a top prosecutor said this week as Russia marked the 10th anniversary of the Shamil Basayev-led raid on Budyonnovsk where hundreds of civilians were taken hostage in June 1995.
"The Prosecutor General's Office has reported that it has established the identity of 195 members of the Shamil Basayev gang, which committed the terrorist act in Budyonnovsk," the Moskovsky Komsomolets daily reported Wednesday.
"Investigators have acquired data on 195 members of the gang. 30 were eliminated, another 20 convicted," Deputy Prosecutor General Nikolai Shepel said.
An accomplice of the terrorists, Roza Dundayeva, testified that the gang originally intended to raid Mineralnye Vody in southern Russia but then the militants were forced to revise their plans, Shepel said.
"The former head of the Federal Counterintelligence Service, Sergei Stepashin, announced that according to his information, the terrorists intended to reach Mineralnye Vody, to hijack a plane and then fly into the Kremlin."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2005
17:17 ||
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Radical Russian nationalists could have carried out Sunday's bombing of a passenger train traveling from Grozny to Moscow, investigators said Tuesday.
"We consider this version on a par with a plot by Chechen terrorists," Yelena Rassokhina, a spokeswoman for the Moscow region prosecutor's office, which is in charge of the investigation, said by telephone Tuesday.
Citing the ongoing investigation, she refused to disclose what evidence had prompted investigators to put radical Russian nationalists on the list of prime suspects.
A homemade bomb went off at about 7:10 a.m. under the locomotive of the passenger train, which was 150 kilometers south of Moscow, derailing the locomotive and four passenger cars. No one was killed, but three injured passengers remained in Moscow hospitals as of Tuesday afternoon, Interfax reported.
An unnamed explosives expert from the investigation team told Interfax on Tuesday that the bomb had been assembled "utterly unprofessionally."
According to Russian media reports of investigators' findings, explosives equivalent to 3 kilograms of TNT were detonated by a toggle switch and six ordinary household electric batteries mounted on a piece of plywood. Investigators also found 50 meters of thin telephone cable connecting the bomb to the detonator.
"You get the feeling that one terrorist read a printout of 'The Terrorist Cookbook' from the Internet, and another one used these sketches to make a bomb," the explosives expert said, Interfax reported. He added, however, that the bomb could have been the work of a skilled explosives expert seeking to mislead investigators.
The experts said that the bomb bore similarities to the one used in March's ambush of Unified Energy Systems chief Anatoly Chubais. Three retired military officers connected to nationalist organizations were arrested in the attack and law enforcement agencies put three other people on wanted lists.
No group had claimed responsibility for the bombing as of Tuesday afternoon, and political analysts were divided as to whether in Chechen rebels or radical Russian nationalists had likely carried out the attack. Other theories, such as an attack by hooligans or aggrieved Chechen war veterans, were largely discounted.
"Planting explosives under a train can be done only with ideological motives," said Alexei Makarkin, an analyst with the Center for Political Technologies.
Alexander Verkhovsky, a researcher with the Moscow-based Sova think tank specializing in radical nationalist and neo-Nazi groups, said that neo-Nazis appeared to be most motivated for such an attack.
"They may feel that beating dark-skinned migrants on the streets is no longer an effective way to 'cleanse' Russian cities," he said. "Bombing a train coming from the Caucasus sends a much stronger signal and is much easier and safer to do."
He said that neo-Nazi groups probably did not fear arrest, due to the poor track record of law enforcement agencies in catching the perpetrators of such attacks.
"Whenever we are shown someone tried and prosecuted in terrorism cases, there is often a doubt that the right person is being punished," he said. "Neo-Nazis feel the same way and if a Chechen were to be tried in a bombing they carried out, it would suit them fine."
Russian neo-Nazis have been suspected of involvement in several smaller bomb attacks, including the planting of a hand grenade attached to an anti-Semitic poster near a highway outside Moscow in 2002. A woman who picked up the poster was badly wounded.
Alexander Savostyanov, leader of Russia's biggest radical nationalist group, the National Power Party of Russia, said by telephone Tuesday that nationalists would never bomb a train from Chechnya "because there were Russians among the passengers and crew."
He said, however, that he would not rule out that some fringe element or mentally disturbed individuals in Russian nationalist circles could have bombed the train.
Makarkin of the Center for Political Technologies said that the bombing fitted the pattern of previous attacks outside Chechnya claimed by Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev.
"If this attack had taken place anywhere in the North Caucasus, there would be not much fuss about it. But when it happened in the Moscow region, it was a shock for many here," he said.
The resumption of train services between Grozny and Moscow has been trumpeted by the Kremlin as a sign of peace returning to Chechnya, and so rebels could have seen the train as a legitimate target, Makarkin said.
The amateurish attack could have been due to the Chechen resistance movement running short of trained fighters, he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2005
17:14 ||
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One gunman was killed after Russian servicemen blockaded two of them in a house in the southern town of Khasavyurt on Wednesday, local officials said from the town on Chechnya's border.
Interior Ministry troops captured the other gunman after he was wounded.
"The fighter was detained after being wounded by a sniper," said Khasavyurt Deputy Mayor Arsen Murtazaliyev.
It was the latest in a series of sieges in the town, which is inhabited by people ethnically close to the Chechens and largely outside central government control.
Khasavyurt, and much of the region of Dagestan, has been rocked by an overspill of violence from Chechnya, where Muslim rebels have fought Russian rule for a decade.
Police and officials die on an almost daily basis in Dagestan, although it is hard to distinguish between the attacks of criminals and Islamic militants who say they want to set up an Islamic state uniting much of Russia's North Caucasus.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2005
17:13 ||
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Israeli forces have arrested eight Palestinians, including four teenagers suspected of planning suicide bombings in Israel, security officials said Wednesday. The suspects are affiliated with Fatah, the party of Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, and were based in the West Bank city of Nablus, the officials said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the information. They said four of the suspects were under 18, including two who were 15. ahhh. good. I'm sure it won't take much to make some shit4brains teens talk
One of the young men had already made a "martyr's video" explaining his actions, to be released after the attack, they said, and another admitted to interrogators that he was going to carry out a suicide attack. Suicide bombers often make such videos, used by militant groups to claim responsibility for the attacks. paleos are prolly claiming that's not sufficient proof
The militant Lebanese Hezbollah aided some of the of the men, the officials said. Israel and the United States accuse Hezbollah of funding Palestinian militants, but Hezbollah denies this. "Who, us? We're a political group"
In Nablus, the largest city in the West Bank and a hotbed of Palestinian militant activity, many groups operate with autonomy, even those loosely tied to Fatah. Palestinian militant groups have often recruited youngsters to carry out attacks against Israel, taking advantage of their impressionability and hoping their age will allow them to slip through Israeli security checks when they are sent on suicide missions. Two 16-year-olds were the youngest Palestinians to carry out suicide attacks. The attacks were to be carried out soon, the security officials said, without giving specific dates. Following 4 1/2 years of bloodshed, violence has dropped significantly since Israeli and Palestinian leaders declared a truce on Feb. 8. no, since Israel decided to build a wall!!!
However, Palestinian militant groups have threatened to end the cease-fire, over what they say are Israeli violations and a decision by the Palestinian leadership to postpone legislative elections. paleos postpone elections, kill jooos.
Israeli security officials say that despite the truce, they have foiled dozens of planned Palestinian attacks, including suicide bombings. and the world cried out "STOP TERRORISM AGAINST ISRAEL!!!" -- oh, sorry, fantasizing again
KEENE, N.H. -- A door-to-door meat salesman from Maine is accused of assaulting a potential customer after she turned down his offer of chicken in exchange for sex.
Should have at least offered her a prime steak
Ryan Park, 22, of Waterboro, Maine, is accused of grabbing the woman in Stoddard, N.H., and forcefully kissing her after she rejected his offer last month.
Park has been charged with assault and is due in Keene District Court on June 28.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
16:49 ||
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As they learn about the American Dream, these kids wonder if it's theirs to pursue
The second order of business is creating what Universal calls an "Islamic environment." The Koran and the sayings of Muhammad are taught two days a week, Arabic three days a week. Grades 2 to 12 break for prayer once a day. Beyond Scripture, a Muslim approach influences the traditional curriculum as well. When teacher Fuzia Jarad's English class read Romeo and Juliet, the girls wanted to know, "Is it love at first sight?" "Yes," the teacher answered. "As Muslims, we don't do that. The difference is lust versus love; appearance versus knowing. Islam protects you from mistakes." For assistant principal Abdallah, who is in charge of discipline, love is a big issue. "I've had students come to me and say, ￜSo and so are in love. Everyone is gossiping about the girl. Her reputation is ruined.'I tell them, ￜIf you care, show respect and stop the discussions.' Sometimes a girl or boy will tell me about a love letter they've received. It's always a letter. They can't socialize. They don't want the letter. They don't want to get in trouble. The feelings for each other are natural. Islam gives us a way to approach those feelings. Choose your spouse, but don't give your body or soul to someone until you're married."
Though the school and the parents want their kids to be successful in America, the ambivalence of many Islamic parents sends mixed signals. The pull of their home country is a constant distraction from fitting into this one. "They are obsessed with foreign politics," says Steve Landek, who has been mayor of Bridgeview since 1999. "I come to talk to them about better sidewalks. They want to know how to run for Congress so they can change America's Israeli policy." Clearly respectful, however, of the economic and cultural contributions of Muslims to the community, he regrets to say 9/11 has set them back. "I still hear comments. I'm not going to repeat them. I'm not going to perpetuate the negative."
#1
Heh, 98zulu - I feel like you set me up, lol! ;-)
[rant] "pursue an uneasy assimilation into secular, suburban life"
Assimilation? Really? Funny, but I'd say that it goes as far out of its way to be utterly separate and unassimilating as the laws regarding mandatory schooling allow. The story, written from the most sympathetic POV imaginable, nevertheless includes numerous examples of non-assimilating aspects and practices. I can't help but wonder if Marguerite had to keep pushing that pesky hijab back so she could see the keyboard.
The Universal School makes clear its independence from the controversial institution right next door, the copper-domed Bridgeview mosque. Built a decade before the school, the mosque was started by moderates but then saw a power struggle in which hard-liners came out on top. Among its leaders, said the Chicago Tribune in an investigative report, "are men who have condemned Western culture ... and encouraged members to view society in stark terms: Muslims against the world." Last year a member of the mosque was indicted for allegedly funneling money, before 9/11, to Hamas, the militant Palestinian group.
Right. Next door. Bad guys took over. Check. No relation, no connection. Check. Only sweetness and light flow outward from here. Ever hear of taqqiya, Marguerite Michaels? Sucker.
This is a sob piece. Feel soooo sorry for the little kiddies who are made to feel different by society. They are different. They do maintain their differences. They go out of their way and virtually demand they be treated differently in every manner possible. Education? Really? It seems they are not corrected when they spout classic Arab / Paleo / mythology / dogma - they prolly get an "A" for buying into the myths and lies, in fact. Consider the following:
"Assigned by his English teacher to write an essay about his own American Dream, a 15-year-old wrote that the occupied territories should be returned to the Palestinians and 'the Jews should be left to suffer.' More often, however, Universal's students feel resentment about being stereotyped, both in the media and on the streets. To senior Ali Fadhli, the Fox TV show 24, which had a plot this season about a Muslim terrorist cell, is "obnoxious," he says. 'America has moved on to a new enemy. We're treated now like the Russians were during the Cold War.' Being teenagers though, perhaps the worst slight of all is being regarded as outsiders. 'The students are aware,' says Dalila Benameur, head of the social studies department, 'that they are perceived as different.' Says freshman Gulrana Syed: 'It's kind of impossible to blend in wearing a head scarf.' Student Ryan Ahmad, whose dad is his toughest music critic, admits, 'Americans seem to have more fun. Muslims try to be American, but we don't know how. The cultures are so different.' A sense that U.S. life has its own contradictions provides some perspective. Senior Muna Zughayer, noting the use of women as sex objects, says, 'I think it's funny people look at us and say we're oppressed!'
Aw. Breaks my heart. Yewbetcha. Oh, and trot out the sex object meme, Gloria Steinem isn't dead yet, damnit, treat it as universal fact. Um, Marguerite, baby, do you still have your clit? Let's compare the uber-perverse misogyny of Islam to that of the terrible Great Satan, shall we? Asstard.
"fear and anger have grown among many students, teachers and parents as the Iraq war and the mistreatment of Muslim prisoners have provided further reminders of the conflict between cultures"
Ah, Time just renewed its MSM credentials... Haven't they had enough derision and ridicule, yet for their lower than low "journalism" standards? Apparently not, the editors let pass / inserted this inanity. Is that a pair of panties on your head -- or a hijab, Ahmed, er, Gulrana?
Sigh.
Yo, immigrant. One might think it's YOUR obligation to assimilate into OUR society, not the other way round. This constant whine that somehow we should be apologizing to you cuz you're fucked up has to end. Aw... But if you're Muzzies, heh, well everyone must adjust to you, of course, my bad. One might ask, if one was terminally UnPC: If you don't fucking like it, then go the fuck back to your shithole in Islam. Why did you come here and create this outpost of the 6th Century? Are you such morons that you didn't realize that, by being 1400 year throwbacks, you might just stick out like a diseased thumb? Are you really that stupid and self-absorbed? Heh. Fuckin Duh. Time for a thumbectomy, methinks.
Let's clarify something here. You're not Americans. You're not even Muzzy-Americans. You're Muzzies Firstâ¢, last, and always. Unlike almost every other immigrant population, you bring more grief, burden, and bullshit than benefit by your presence. On a scale of 1-10, you're -10. Wank the wank off you wanking wankers. And take Marguerite Sympclit with you.
This is not reporting, it's symp suckup. It's rife with half-assed insinuations and contradictions. It's a puff piece with a heavy dose of blame game BS cuz they feel so bad for being different... It's a Muzzy wankfest - for The Childrenâ¢, no less. Bite me.
This is not assimilation. It's cancer. America does not need the viral baggage of a barbarous sick twisted ideology installed in "boxes" across our land.
Fort Detrick is where we keep shit like this - on ice in Level 5 Containment.
[/rant]
#2
interesting what you brought forward, dot com. based on what was in the original post, I would have said that virtually everything except the 9/11 reference (and substitute "maintaining America's Israel policy" for "changing America's Israel policy") would fit a Jewish day school. Judaics 5 days a week, split between scripture/religion and language. Daily prayer. A jewish environment. An attempt (not always successful) to impart a sexual ethic different from the mainstream culture. Obsession with foreign policy, esp the mideast.
But you add further information that sets things in a different light. esp. the first paragraph you quoted. This particular school was founded on bad principles.
I wonder if it was founded with Saudi money? Many muslim schools in the US are, IIUC. This imposes Wahabism on immigrants from countries where Wahabism was NOT the common form of Islam.
One advantage Jews have is that our communities have financed our OWN schools, and have not received money from abroad.
#3
Lh - you left out something: you don't whine about everything, Jewish Mother jokes notwithstanding, lol!
I once taught a class of Israelis - all Israelis, unlike other classes which included military personnel from abroad, and they were about the best class I ever had.
That said - and apologies for being pedantic - not assimilating is, obviously, both "asking for it" and the last thing this (or any country accepting immigrants) needs or wants. Where people do assimilate, and that doesn't mean they must adopt the morals or habits of the lowest common denominator (most people are not wild sex-crazed animals - they're regular sex-crazed humans, lol!), they are quickly rewarded by our society - as I'm sure you would agree. Where they do not, and I'm referring to intentionally so, they abrogate the reason our borders and policies are open - and nullify their welcome. Just my take.
#4
"Where people do assimilate, and that doesn't mean they must adopt the morals or habits of the lowest common denominator (most people are not wild sex-crazed animals - they're regular sex-crazed humans, lol!), they are quickly rewarded by our society - as I'm sure you would agree"
Yes - Jews have been well rewarded for adopting the best (usually) of Americas values, both those who assimilated completely and those who retained more of our religion and culture.
Of course AFAICT thats happening for muslims as well. I saw some study lately that muslims in the US have HIGHER than average incomes and education. Thinking of second generation Pakistanis and others I occasionally meet, I think theyre doing reasonably well.
Of course most dont go to schools like this - most attend public school (as do most Jewish children, BTW) And i think youve hit the button on the head about the "whining". Its not the cultural distinctiveness per se - again, this school seems to devote as much time to an English language general studies curriculum as most Jewish day schools (and of course there are some schools in the Ultra Orthodox community that spend almost NO time on "secular" sunjects)
However even those schools have a generally positive view of the United States as a political entity. Which this school does not.
Again I think the problem is Saudi/Wahabi financing. And thats no small problem
#5
Lol, Lh, you always provide me with a tempting target, lol...
Point One. I don't know about the study you're referring to. I do know that there are plenty of foreigners in the US, in whatever phase of their naturalization process, claiming advanced degrees that are purest 100% USDA crap. Although the US education system is in a headlong slide into PCism oblivion, many of the universities abroad started at oblivion and remain there. Consider the Paki troll Cadet who visited RB just a few weeks ago - or a host of the people I worked with at Aramco, both those with degrees from Saudi "universities" and those from other definitively non-Western "universities"... Many were "engineers"... and I'd say in name only. That they are hired here using those inflated degrees equals a mighty-fine salary. Do they stay on for a long career (read: qualified and productive) - or are they "mobile", meaning they couldn't cut it but their former employer wants to avoid lawsuits and so will only acknowledge, "Yes, he/she worked here from..."?
I've seen a LOT of this in the oil patch - especially since I mainly worked for R&D in the patch. Ph D's who weren't worth warm spit, technically, and were shuffled out, if the company had the balls, or sidelined if HR was full of cowards. So I'll take your "study" with a grain of salt, heh. Been there and done that - for over 30 years. Wanna talk about the Myth of the Indian Programmer? Lol!
Point Two. I agree utterly regards Wahhabi funding, and I have little doubt they were behind the suborning of the moskkk. There's this skinny little strip of land, maxing out at about 40KM wide, running along the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia...
#6
I think deportation is the best way to deal with these people. Even Helen Keller can see that these people will NEVER integrate with our society or any other society.
What opened my eyes was when Holland got out of control. Those people are the most liberal in the world, yet they at least see their mistake. Only with the muslims do the countries of the west have this problem of non-integration. I saw a report on German TV that there are 3rd and 4th generation muslims (mostly of Morrocan descent) that still don't speak Dutch.
What's scary is that nobody wants to see what's right in front of their faces. In the story they want to be accepted, yet reject everything about our society. Huh? Then they turn around and say "Those bad Americans won't let us fit it." These asshats just don't get it.
They're aren't dumb though. They migrate into our countries, have large families, and it's just a matter of say 100 years before they are able to vote in their politicians and institute Sharia Law in the US. Outrageous? Not really if you look at the numbers of immigrants and birth rates. Bin Laden didn't have to fire a shot and they would've taken over America like this anyways. I thought it was a misprint when I read that they are over 300,000 arabs in Dearborn, Michigan. I'm white and have lived in cities with up to 120,000 people and they weren't all white. That blew my fricking mind. I still can't process a visual image of that. In just 1 city?
Still think I'm a crack pot? The historian Bernard Lewis predicts that within 100 years Europe will be Eurabia (all muslim). I know for a fact that the vast majority of Germans are 40+. It's predicted that in 50 years half of the German population will have died and their aren't enough German births to replace them. The Germans have experienced a negative birth rate since 1999. Who fills in the jobs then? Immigrants. And just what area of the world do they come from in droves to Germany?
Even if you do still think I'm a crack pot, look at this fact. Not once did I ever say we should kill them or harm them. I merely said that if they truly want to be part of a society that they can fully integrate into, send them back to their historical lands.
I believe that something must be done now to nip this problem in the bud or it will only end up in civil or religious strife later on. I don't want to see my son and daughter (or any other non-muslim American's) have to fight or die later because some dumb ass politican was too worried about hurting their feelings.
They are simply incompatible with modern civilization. Switch to Ethanol (Did you see the FoxNews article on this in the energy bill today?) Biodesiel, Hybrid cars, and Hydrogen cars and let them wallow in their own oil.
Lastly, I just love the way that TIME magazine dresses up the story like the school was somehow a good thing. Hell, you would've thought they would've photo shop'd a few picturess of cute puppies into the classroom or something.
#8
The Statue of Liberty has usually attracted downtrodden people who desire the opportunity to materially improve theirown lot and that of their children. Freedom of expression and religion are also attracters.
Wouldn't Saudi Arabia be more attractive to observant Moslems that are not interested in assimilating (other than running for Congress?)
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/15/2005 21:31
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#10
Have a look at this article from MEMRI, if you want to know what muslim brainwashing "education" is about.
Quotes:
A Barrier Separates the Muslim's Mind from the Real World, Making Him Lose the Capacity to Distinguish Good from Evil"
"The Muslim Is Fenced In to the Point Where His Mind Is Paralyzed"
Qaradhawi and His Followers Have Appointed Themselves the Deputies of Allah
We Let Terrorism Grow When We Allowed Islamist Thought to Infiltrate] Our Media and Schools
The Arab Media Has Given the Islamists Legitimacy to Kill Innocent People
SUSPECTED Taliban militants killed a doctor and six medical attendants during a spate of violent incidents in southern Afghanistan that left a total of 17 people dead, officials said.
The seven medics were shot dead in Moghgay Tana, close to the Pakistani border in Khost province, police say.
"Doctor Abdul Hanan and his six colleagues were killed by armed men in Moghulgay clinic," said General Almat Gull Mangal, commander of Khost border forces.
"It is the work of Taliban and Al-Qaeda to kill doctors," he added.
In a separate incident in the Sabari district of Khost, a civilian station wagon hit a newly planted landmine, killing two people. "A vehicle ran over a landmine and two passengers were killed as a result," said Mangal.
The same day in neighbouring Paktia province, a police chief was attacked and his bodyguard killed by a bomb.
"The Jani Khalil district police chief was wounded with his driver and a bodyguard. His second bodyguard died when a roadside bomb hit his vehicle," Mangal said.
On the same day, four US soldiers and their Afghan interpreter were wounded when a roadside bomb detonated near their Humvee vehicle in the southeastern province of Ghazni.
A day earlier a suicide car bomb packed with explosives rammed a US military convoy near Kandahar city, wounding another four American troops.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2005
15:21 ||
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#1
That should be "medics," not prisoners.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2005 16:57
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Spanish police arrested 16 suspected Islamist militants on Wednesday, including 11 followers of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, and men preparing to become suicide bombers, Spain's Interior Ministry said in a faxed statement, according to published reports.
It was the second European sweep in the last two days against suspected supporters of the Iraqi insurgency, following Germany's arrest of three Iraqis on Tuesday.
11 of the terror suspects were reportedly part of a support group for a Syrian-based recruitment network for attacks on U.S. and allied forces, and some of them had said they themselves wanted to become "martyrs for Islam" and were awaiting orders to do so, the Interior Ministry said.
Most of the 11 are reported to be Moroccan and nearly all of them sold drugs and committed robberies to finance the network, according to published reports.
Some of the remaining suspects could be implicated in the March 11, 2004, Madrid train bombings that killed 191 people and injured more than 1,500, according to the statement today.
Investigations in Spain, Italy, Germany and Sweden suggest Ansar al-Islam -- a group with which the United States linked Zarqawi before the Iraq invasion -- has emerged as the most prominent militant group engaged in recruitment.
Spanish police broadened their anti-terrorist investigations after suspects who helped plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the U.S. were discovered in Spain, and following evidence found after the Madrid attacks led to Moroccan and other Islamic involvement.
More than 500 security officers took part in the Spanish crackdown in Madrid, eastern Spain, the Andalucia region in the south of the country and in Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in Morocco, the ministry said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2005
15:07 ||
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Indonesian police found a partly assembled explosive device at a south Jakarta train station yesterday and a bomb squad was called in to dismantle it, a spokesman said.
Police were also seen stopping and searching vehicles outside another train station in the central part of the city early yesterday.
The discovery of the materials at the Tanjung Barat station came after reports last week that Indonesian troops were hunting for five cars believed to be carrying bombs made by al Qaeda-linked militants.
"We found 300 grams of potassium along with light bulbs, batteries, switches and nails which were assembled into a device, but it required more ingredients before we even can call it a firecracker," said Jakarta police spokesman Tjiptono.
Police have said that Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin M Top, believed to be key Jemaah Islamiah members, are recruiting and planning another attack.
Australia and the United States recently issued warnings to their citizens in Indonesia, saying intelligence suggested plans by terrorists to carry out attacks in the country were in their advanced stages.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2005
15:03 ||
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Osama bin Laden is in good health, a Taliban commander said, dismissing speculation the fugitive al Qaeda leader was sick. The commander, Mullah Akhtar Usmani, also said Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar was well and in direct command of Taliban forces in Afghanistan. "All praise to Allah, he is all right," Usmani told Pakistan's GEO, a private television station, when asked about bin Laden in an interview broadcast Wednesday. Asked about reports bin Laden was sick, he said: "No, no, he is all right. There is no problem."
The private television station did not say where or when the interview was conducted. Usmani, who is on a 10-member Taliban leadership council and has been identified by the government as a top rebel commander, has in the past met reporters. In the interview, his face was partly concealed by a black turban. An assault rifle was propped up at his side.
There has been speculation about the health of bin Laden, the architect of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, who has been reported to be suffering from a kidney ailment. Usmani declined to comment when asked about bin Laden's whereabouts. He said Taliban leader Omar was also well. "He is still our commander and we are still getting instructions from him," he said of Omar. "Rumours of his illness have been spread by our enemies."
Asked if he could be sure the instructions were from Omar, Usmani said: "I can listen to his voice ... I am sure he is alive." He did not elaborate.
The Taliban were getting increasing support from the Afghan people because of U.S. "brutality against Muslims and their bias against Muslim countries," he said. "The Taliban are everywhere. In some places they are very dominant and in others they are not. They are dominant in the eastern, southern and southwestern provinces," he said.
A Taliban spokesman said Usmani's comments on bin Laden were his personal views. "We don't know anything about Osama," the spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi, said by telephone.
This article starring:
ABDUL LATIF HAKIMI
Taliban
MULLAH AKHTAR USMANI
Taliban
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2005
15:01 ||
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#1
Yeah, yeah, blah, blah. I'm sure they're living high on the ho-- oh wait. What would devout Moose Limbs live high on?
Bring 'em out! Let's see 'em! They're a couple of chicken $hit cowards with no testicles between 'em.
At least 40 people died in violence in Iraq on Tuesday as Kurds in the autonomous north swore in former rebel leader Massoud Barzani as their first president.
The United States military said a rocket-propelled grenade killed one soldier and wounded two more in Baghdad, bringing US military deaths since the 2003 invasion to 1 698, according to a tally based on Pentagon figures.
In the deadliest attack on Tuesday, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of civil servants waiting for paychecks at a branch of Al-Rafidain bank in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, killing at least 20 people, police said. Another 81 were wounded.
A statement posted on the Internet in the name of the al-Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sunna group said it carried out the attack against the "infidel" police.
It warned potential recruits: "We will follow you everywhere, whether you are wearing military fatigues or civilian clothes."
The bombers struck shortly before Barzani was sworn in as Kurdish president in nearby Arbil and targeted a bitterly contested city that the Kurds want as capital of an expanded autonomous region.
North of Baghdad, another car bomb killed 10 more Iraqis, including two children, and wounded seven, security and hospital sources said.
Troops had been called in to reinforce a police station in the town of Kanaan that was under mortar attack, a police officer said. They were hit by the car bomb parked nearby.
Near Ramadi, US troops killed five Iraqi civilians and wounded four others on Tuesday, believing their car to be a bomb, a US military statement said.
The deaths followed a car bomb attack at their military checkpoint that had killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded another, it added.
"Regrettably, there were five civilians killed and four wounded as a result of their vehicles' charging the entry control point."
In the northern city of Arbil, Barzani, son of the Kurdish nationalist hero Mullah Mustafa Barzani, was sworn in as president before the 111-member regional assembly.
"I promise to safeguard the accomplishments of Kurdistan and to carry out my duties faithfully," Barzani told the gathering, which included Iraq President Jalal Talabani, who headed a rival Kurdish rebel group.
A giant portrait of Barzani's father watched over the assembly, flanked by red, white, yellow and green Kurdish flags.
In Baghdad, an Iraqi court set up to try Saddam Hussein promised to release more footage of the questioning of the ousted president and his top aides. A video released on Monday showed him answering questions.
But a leading lawyer charged that the video release was politically motivated.
"The current charged political climate makes it imperative to comfort people that Saddam will not come back and that his trial is ongoing," said Abdul Majid al-Sabawi, professor of law at Baghdad's Mustansiryah university.
The bearded, seemingly weary Saddam was questioned about the 1982 killing of 143 residents of Dujail, a Shi'a village north-east of Baghdad.
Saddam, who has been in US custody since his capture in December 2003, is accused of ordering revenge murders after villagers there allegedly tried to assassinate him.
He is also accused of a litany of other crimes against humanity and could face the death penalty if convicted.
In Kuala Lumpur, Iraq unveiled a 10-year plan to more than triple oil production to six million barrels per day by 2015, saying it would need 20 billion dollars in foreign investment to do so.
Recruitment agencies in Manila said more than 2 000 Filipinos had slipped into Iraq to work for US military camps despite a Philippine government ban imposed last year.
The New York Times reported that despite denials, UN chief Kofi Annan was apparently told of efforts by his son's employer to win an oil-for-food contract with Iraq in 1998, according to a memo written by a company executive.
And Annan has urged US-led forces in Iraq to help the new Baghdad government search for Kuwait's lost national archives, plundered by Iraq after the 1990 invasion of its neighbour.
Meanwhile, Florence Aubenas, the French journalist released in Iraq on Sunday after more than five months in captivity, told fellow reporters she had been kept in a tiny basement with virtually no room to move.
Romanian Prime Minister Calin Tariceanu confirmed in an interview on French television late on Tuesday that his country's secret services had worked to free Aubenas and her Iraqi translator Hussein Hanun.
Sources in Bucharest said that Communist-era spies, called back into service by the Romanian government, had helped France negotiate the release.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/15/2005
14:59 ||
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Iraqi and American forces spotted a form huddled beneath a blanket when they raided a home in a dangerous Sunni neighborhood Wednesday. The residents insisted it was their ailing father -- but the unfazed troops knew they'd found their man: Australian hostage Grand Mufti Sheik Taj al-din al-Hilali Douglas Wood.
"Hey Sarge! Lookee over there in the corner...he don't look like family."
Wood, 64, wearing a tan dishdasha, or traditional Arab robe, and with his head shaved, was smiling broadly as he was freed following 47 days in captivity.
As well he should be. Welcome back, Mr. Wood.
But he was weak and U.S. troops, including a medic, had to support the haggard-looking engineer as he was led to a waiting American armored personnel carrier. "He has been blindfolded, handcuffed, he has not been well looked after," Australia's counterterrorism chief Nick Warner said. "Wood is now resting comfortably and is in a safe location in Baghdad," Warner said. "He's as well as you could expect ... He's undergoing medical and psychological assessment and he's receiving the best of care." In a statement read by Warner, Wood, a longtime resident of Alamo, Calif., said: "I'm extremely happy and relieved to be free again and deeply grateful to all those who worked to bring about my release ... It is a sign for the future of Iraq that Iraqi soldiers played a role in my release."
Clues as to Wood's whereabouts emerged after Operation Lightning -- a broad counterinsurgency campaign -- was launched May 29 in Baghdad. Warner cited "specific intelligence and tips that provided a hint at what might be found at that location." He said he did not want to reveal too many details,
"I will say no a little bit more!"
but noted that Wood was rescued from Ghazaliya -- one of Baghdad's most dangerous Sunni Arab neighborhoods, located near the road that links the city to the airport and is considered the capital's most perilous stretch of concrete.
No one was injured in the raid, which was carried out by the Iraqi army's 2nd battalion, 1st Armored Brigade, with assistance from U.S. forces, Warner said. "No ransom was paid" despite a request for a "very large" amount of money, Warner said. It was the first time a ransom demand regarding Wood had been made public. Warner declined to comment on whether Wood, who has a heart condition, was tortured. However, footage released May 7 showed a battered and bruised Wood with two machine guns held to his head. Wood was found under a blanket and the kidnappers initially claimed he was their sick father, said Gen. Naseer al-Abadi, Iraq's deputy chief of staff. Three militants were arrested and an Iraqi hostage also was freed, he said.
#1
Go Iraqis! I'm glad he is free and the Australian government didn't pay a dime. I also hope they string up the kidnappers with pig entrails along the streetlamps as a warning to any future people thinking about this line of work.
#3
"He has been blindfolded, handcuffed, he has not been well looked after," Australia's counterterrorism chief Nick Warner said.
So, did Mr. Wood's captors not bother to follow the Geneva Conventions while he was being held? Seems to me ol' Saddy got better treatment at the hands of Americans than Mr. Wood at the hands of terrorists.
Now could someone please explain to me why the Geneva Conventions should be applied to captured terrorists..?
#7
This is actually extremely impressive. As military operations go, it takes a lot more skill to get a hostage out alive than it does to kill terrorists. (Many hostage rescue attempts against hijacked airplanes have failed, even though the terrorists were isolated and did not have an army of informants keeping them apprised of their surroundings). If Iraqi units are capable of things like this, the terrorists are in deep doo-doo. It'll take time to wipe them all out, but the writing is on the wall.
Posted by: ed ||
06/15/2005
14:54 ||
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#1
America is divided between the vast majority who do not serve and the tiny minority who do.
BULLSHIT!
I just checked 2000 census report - 26 MILLION Americans are veterans of the armed services. That's 11.5% of the total US population. To my mind... 1 out of 10 of the population is not "a tiny minority". Typical MSM bullcrap.
Who do they think believes their crap anymore? Just typical.
A dozen prisoners released from Guantanamo Bay have returned to "the battlefield" to fight against the United States, U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales said on Wednesday. They wuz framed.....TWICE!!
"There are several people that we have released that we know have come back and fought against America because they have had it with Christina Aguilera songs been recaptured or killed on the battlefield," he said after meetings in Brussels with European Union officials.
He acknowledged that the prison camp for foreign terrorism suspects was causing concerns among U.S. allies, but he said Guantanamo detainees were treated in accordance with international law.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Vice-President Dick Cheney this week both defended the camp, which is at a U.S. base in Cuba, after U.S. lawmakers said it had created an image problem for the United States.
Gonzales said the camp would be closed eventually, but that the decision rested with President Bush. "There will of course be an end," Gonzales told reporters. "Ultimately that will be ... for the commander-in-chief to decide when that will be," he added without giving any timetable.
The United States holds about 520 prisoners from more than 40 countries at Guantanamo, which it opened in January 2002 during the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan where most of the detainees were captured after the Sept. 11 attacks.
The camp has come under heavy criticism in Europe where activists decry the length of time inmates have been held and say prisoners' rights to a fair trial have been ignored. Gonzales admitted it was a cause for concern among allies.
"We want to listen and we hear their concerns and we are constantly re-evaluating what we are doing," he said.
But he also underlined the difference between the United States which sees the fight against terrorism as a war and many European states which tackle the problem as someone else's headache a crime.
#3
I'm sure Amnesty International will say that these people were innocent, but got really angry at the U.S. after we unjustly imprisoned them, so they turned into terrorists when we released them. They've got an explanation for everything.
#6
why were they captured? Shot on ID should be the policy.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 18:25
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#7
Frank has the right idea. However, if they are captured and not killed right away, then do not send them back to Gitmo. One of our allied nations could be subcontracted to provide those internment services. Then the Gitmo Guyz could see what a real prison camp is like and they will be praying to Allan five times a day for a return to Club Gitmo.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2005 20:41
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#8
If we cannot use Gitmo, we shold simply abide by the geneva convention and shoot them on the spot, as allowed for illegal combatants.
al-Jiz? BBC? MoveOn.org? Nope, Senator Dick Durbin D-Illinois remarks from the Senate floor last night:
"Polls show that Muslims have positive attitudes toward the American people and our values. However, overall, favorable ratings toward the United States and its Government are very low. This is driven largely by the negative attitudes toward the policies of this administration. Muslims respect our values, but we must convince them that our actions reflect these values. That's why the 9/11 Commission recommended:
We should offer an example of moral leadership in the world, committed to treat people humanely, abide by the rule of law, and be generous and caring to our neighbors.
What should we do? Imagine if the President had followed Colin Powell's
advice and respected our treaty obligations. How would things have been different?
We still would have the ability to hold detainees and to interrogate them aggressively. Members of al-Qaida would not be prisoners of war. We
would be able to do everything we need to do to keep our country safe. The difference is, we would not have damaged our reputation in the international community in the process. When you read some of the graphic descriptions of what has occurred here—I almost hesitate to put them in the RECORD, and yet they have to be added to this debate. Let me read to you what one FBI agent saw. And I quote from his report:
On a couple of occasions, I entered interview rooms to find a detainee chained hand and foot in a fetal position to the floor, with no chair, food or water. Most times they urinated or defecated on themselves, and had been left there for 18—24 hours or more. On one occasion, the air conditioning had been turned down so far and the temperature was so cold in the room, that the barefooted detainee was shaking with cold. . . . On another occasion, the [air conditioner] had been turned off, making the temperature in the unventilated room well over 100 degrees. The detainee was almost unconscious on the floor, with a pile of hair next to him. He had apparently been literally pulling his hair out throughout the night. On another occasion, not only was the temperature unbearably hot, but extremely loud rap music was being
played in the room, and had been since the day before, with the detainee chained hand and foot in the fetal position on the tile floor.
If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime—Pol Pot or others— that had no concern for human beings. Sadly, that is not the case. This was the action of Americans in the treatment of their prisoners."
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
14:21 ||
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#1
Yeah, I'm a bit disappointed about some of this - not that they didn't deserve it, but we are supposed to be better than they are.
#7
Bobby: Yeah, I'm a bit disappointed about some of this - not that they didn't deserve it, but we are supposed to be better than they are.
We are? Dunno about you, but if I had to decide (1) between being better than they are and (2) additional live GI's or American civilians, I would go for option 2 every single time, even if we had to feed every single terrorist into wood chippers feet first. I don't have to justify putting American lives ahead of our enemies' lives. If they mistreated people for pleasure, then they should be punished. But if it was done for operational reasons, to make the terrorists more talkative, I have no problem dousing them with gasoline.
#8
Its BS politics. Have to have something to bitch about on the other party, don't we? We got no control on this war - its Bushhitlerrummyrover's war and all we get to do is watch, find a little hiccup like gitmo and abu grhab and bitch, bitch, bitch. And these guys wonder why no one loves them anymore? If I was Karl Rove I would play the lottery everytime a Durbin, Kerry, Reid or Leahy opens his mouth. I mean this guy has the easiest job in the world - sort of like Tom Sawyer's. He gets everyone else to do it for him.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/15/2005 16:19
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#9
On behalf of the citizens of the State of Illinois, I humbly apologize.
My only regret is that I'll be living in Maryland by the time this asshat comes up for re-election. These remarks look like a nice campaign ad.
#12
Pol Pot had no GITMO. Prisoners taken by the Khmer Rouge were interrogated briefly and then were shot.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/15/2005 21:42
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#13
I would also like to apologize. This cretin represents my state, temporarily, until the next election. Hopefully, we'll be able to send Dildo Durbin back to whichever crack he climbed out of.
His utter and complete inability to comprehend the evil of Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot...
Sorry...I've been seething at the monumental imbecility of this two-legged turd since I first heard about this.
Posted by: Darth VAda ||
06/15/2005 21:43
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#14
"the monumental imbecility of this two-legged turd"
DV - I'd say you've clarified your thoughts and position, lol!
BTW, this is now being "featured" on Hannity & Colmes on Fox - and the Durbin tape proves your case. Sanctimonious drama queen. I believe the depths of exaggeration for TV have been plumbed.
#15
Betcha drinks all around in whichever Rantapalooza occurs when Durbin runs again he's elected. It's an attention span thing. Voters don't remember this stuff, and when somebody brings it up it becomes "the politix of personal destruction."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005 22:04
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#16
...when somebody brings it up it becomes "the politix of personal destruction."
And the further left on the scale the wanker squats the more egregious is the sin of reminding them. Playing videos is specifically forbidden.
;-)
He's up for reelection in 2006. Hopefully, the Illinois Republican Party can come up with someone bright enough to beat him over the head with this until his brains start leaking out of his ears.
The only two problems I foresee in this:
1) the Illinois Republican Party coming up with anyone bright enough to walk and chew gum at the same time.
2) You'd have to beat Dildo a looooong time before you could get anything like brains leaking out of his ears.
Posted by: Darth VAda ||
06/15/2005 22:28
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#18
Durbin assumes fetal position. Flush him and his Karen (post urination).
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/15/2005 22:29
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OSLO (Reuters) - Inuit hunters threatened by a melting of the Arctic ice plan to file a petition accusing Washington of violating their human rights by fueling global warming, an Inuit leader said Wednesday. Sheila Watt-Cloutier, chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), also said Washington was hindering work to follow up a 2004 report by 250 scientists that said the thaw could make the Arctic Ocean ice-free in summer by 2100.
Creating a lot of new beach front property to be developed by Haliburton Condos, Inc.
Watt-Cloutier, in Oslo to receive an environmental prize, said the Inuits' planned petition to the 34-member Organization of American States (OAS) could put pressure on the United States to do more to cut industrial emissions of heat-trapping gases. "It's still in the works, the drafting is still going on," she said of a long-planned petition to the OAS' human rights arm, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. She said the Inuit aimed to file it before a U.N. meeting in Montreal in December. The OAS represents 34 nations in the Americas, from Chile to Canada, promoting cooperation and common interests. Its Inter-American Commission on Human Rights analyzes and investigates petitions which allege human rights violations. It has no power to sanction the United States but it could issue a report agreeing with the Inuit. The Inuit hope that the commission will agree that climate change is tantamount to a U.S. abuse of their human rights by thinning the ice on which hunters depend and by threatening species ranging from polar bears to seals.
Ice is a human right? Now, if it's used to cool beer.....
Watt-Cloutier said that Washington, the world's top polluter, was doing too little to limit emissions of carbon dioxide from factories, cars and power plants that are widely blamed by scientists for driving up temperatures. Washington says it is investing heavily in energy research and clean hydrogen fuel but has not joined almost all its allies in signing up for the United Nations' Kyoto protocol, which sets caps on carbon dioxide emissions. U.N. studies forecast that global warming could bring more extreme weather with disastrous droughts, floods and storms. It could also melt icecaps and drive up sea levels, swamping coastal areas and low-lying islands drowning kittens and baby chicks. The Inuit total about 155,000 people in Canada, Alaska, Greenland and Russia. The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the globe because water or bare earth, once uncovered, soak up more heat than ice or snow. Watt-Cloutier collected the $100,000 Sophie Prize on Wednesday for her work for Inuit rights. The prize is named after "Sophie's World," a teenagers' guide to philosophy that was a 1990s bestseller written by Norwegian author Jostein Gaarder. She said she would use the prize to help write a book about the Inuit to be entitled: "The Right to be Cold."
You want us to stop Global Warming? Fine, here's a solution: Nuclear winter. That work for you?
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
13:47 ||
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#1
I'd love to see them in front of a jury, explaining how a rise from -25F to -20F (or whatever) threatens to melt the ice caps...
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/15/2005 14:27
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#2
You have "The Right to be Cold."
You don't have the right to snowmobiles, electricty, central heating, rifles, modern medicine, airtravel, and computers to type your silly manuscripts. Go native Sheila and come talk to us again in 10 years.
Posted by: ed ||
06/15/2005 14:53
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#3
Hoo boy. What a dilemma.
Save the ice so people can hunt. Climate change v. shooting the cuddly animals.
#4
Watt-Cloutier said that Washington, the world's top polluter
Bullshit point #1. China and soon to be India are the world's top polluters. China actually has a brown cloud that reaches the US in the hight of summer. Can we sue China?
...not joined almost all its allies in signing up for the United Nations' Kyoto protocol, which sets caps on carbon dioxide emissions.
Bullshit point #2: Most of our allies are failing to meet their emission quotas.
U.N. studies forecast that global warming could bring more extreme weather with disastrous droughts, floods and storms.
Bullshit point #3: U.N. studies have been shown to be highly flawed and use the pollutant data from the 1970s and assume the world population will rise to 20 billion, when in fact the world's population trends most likely will top out at 12 billion, then decline.
It (global warming) could also melt icecaps and drive up sea levels, swamping coastal areas and low-lying islands
Bullshit point #4: Common sense science which is often ignored ... sadly by sciencetits. Fill up a glass with ice cubes and then put water into the top. Does the water overflow the glass when the ice melts? No. Frozen water takes up more space than liquid water. Frozen water in liquid water displaces the liquid. Most of the ice caps are floating on water. The levels of the oceans would not change much, only the ice on land would add to the sea levels and their isn't much of that. (I think I saw this on junkscience.com)
#5
...also said Washington was hindering work to follow up a 2004 report by 250 scientists that said the thaw could make the Arctic Ocean ice-free in summer by 2100.
Sounds like they might want to switch to fishing.
You're welcome...
#7
mmurray821 - gotta disagree with you on bullshit point #2. She's right that we didn't sign Kyoto. That's all they want. A signature. Living up to the stupid thing is a whole 'nuther thing.
#8
I was talking mostly of the Koyto not being enforced while people whine about us not being a part of it. Clinton did sign it, but it was never ratified by the senate and thus never went into effect.
#9
In Europe, the Roman Warming lasted from 200 B.C. to A.D. 600. It allowed grapes and olives to be grown farther north, and good rains allowed the Romans to buy abundant grain from across the Mediterranean in North Africa. The Roman Warming was followed by the cold Dark Ages (A.D. 600 to 950). Weather is far less stable during the cold phases of the climate cycle. Widespread droughts and storms drove hordes of hungry barbarians to assault the granaries of the collapsing Roman Empire.
The Medieval Warming prevailed from about A.D. 950 to 1300, bringing ample sunshine, milder storms and longer growing seasons. Food harvests were so good that Britainâs population rose from an estimated 1.4 million people in the late 11th century to 5 million in 1300. Europeâs total population increased from 40 million to 60 million â during a period when temperatures rose higher than todayâs.
From 1300 to 1850, the planet shifted into the Little Ice Age. The good weather ended abruptly. During the summer of 1315, incessant sheets of rain fell from May to August throughout Europe, washing away much of the topsoil and beating crops to the ground. In late summer, the weather turned unseasonably cold, and the soft kernels of the few surviving grain plants were attacked by fungus. Across northern Europe, harvests were disastrous, and famine set in.
http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba516/
#10
Most of our allies are failing to meet their (Kyoto) emission quotas. Kyoto has only one objective which is to decrease emssions of greenhouse gases and has a single mechanism for this which is to decrease consumption of fossil fuels. In fact fossil fuel consumption is rising in all regions of the world as a another thread
makes clear. Kyoto is an abject failure and in all likelyhood exacerbating the problem by simultaneously increasing fossil fuel consumption while decreasing economic growth. The worst of both worlds. They should be suing the UN.
#11
Kyoto has only one objective which is to decrease emssions of greenhouse gases
and also, as Eurocrats have admitted, to "level the playing field" so that American companies are not as competitive as currently. It's not even an open secret anymore - it's a quote.
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005 18:49
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#12
It certainly shifts the dirty work to the Indians, Paks, et al, which run the dirtiest ops....smart? Mischievous and antiamerican
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 19:18
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#13
Damn Ima (to steal a phrase) conflicted DB. I'll go with killing little furry animals.
#14
Britt Hume pointed out that Rueters covers this same story every year as Sheila Watt-Cloutier seems to have made leveling this claim an annual event.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
06/15/2005 21:45
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#15
Not to repeat myself, SH, but is fundraising (again, lol) involved, perhaps?
JAKARTA - Indonesian police said on Wednesday they had frozen bank accounts belonging to the ministry of religious affairs on suspicion of corruption in the management of Haj funds.
Corruption? Of holy funds? I'm shocked!
The accounts, worth 684 billion rupiah (71.2 million dollars), were frozen after state auditors suspected irregularities in the management of the funds, left over from money collected since 2003 from Muslims wishing to travel to Makkah for the annual pilgrimage.
$71.2 million in "left-over" funds in just 3 years? That's one hell of a racket
"Police and prosecutors are investigating whether corruption is involved," said police spokesman Sunarko Danu Ardanto. Police have questioned 31 ministry officials, including the director general for Haj affairs, and are expected to name suspects on Thursday.
Lining their own pockets, funding terror orgs or both?
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
13:38 ||
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It was only supposed to be a mission to deliver a tire to an MP patrol that had come under heavy fire along Alternate Supply Route Sword near Baghdad. But Staff Sgt. Serena Maren Di Virgilio's convoy drove right into an ambush. Their three-truck convoy had been hit with a rocket- propelled grenade. "I heard myself screaming, but I couldn't hear anything else," Di Virgilio said as she looked away, as if watching a scene from the movie of her life. "Everything was black, and there was smoke everywhere. I'll never forget that smell."
And even though the medic from the Headquarters, 230th Military Police Company, was covered with shrapnel wounds, she took care of every soldier in her unit before caring for herself. She focused much of her attention on the gunner of her truck, Spc. Jonathan Kephart, 21, who had shrapnel lodged in his brain. She stabilized Kephart up until the last minute before placing him in a medical evacuation helicopter. "I feel a lot of guilt for the fact that he died," Di Virgilio said with a thick voice, as tears filled her light blue eyes.
This is one of the first times she has spoken of the ambush, which took place on April 8, 2003. Di Virgilio said she was just doing her job. Others call her a hero. Though at first the 31-year-old from Colorado said her memory of the ambush was fuzzy, the details came flooding back as she relived the day in her mind. The Iraqis hit the convoy with everything they had once the troops hit the end of one stretch of road. A string of bombs on the road blocked the troops from going any further, forcing them to turn around and head back into ambush. That's when Di Virgilio's truck was rocked by the RPG. "Kephart was hit. I saw through the smoke, behind the team, that Kephart had fallen back against the cooler, his legs up by the radio. I could only see him from the waist up and then just his legs. He was staring right at me."
Kephart's fading eyes locked on Di Virgilio as the medic in her took over. She said the hundreds of Iraqis who had lined up behind berms along either side of the road disappeared. She could no longer hear the whiz of bullets flying by. The explosions no longer mattered. All that mattered was keeping Kephart alive. While she worked, Iraqis drove alongside the Army trucks to shoot point blank at the troops. Slowly, the disabled Army trucks made it out of the kill zone. "She did the medic thing, but she was unbelievably level-headed through it all," said Master Sgt. Edwin Rossman, who was the fourth platoon sergeant during the ambush. "She went beyond the work of a medic, helping with weapons and ammo at the start of the ambush."
Di Virgilio — who is the single mother of 10-year-old Taylor Potts — said the real heroes are Sgt. Amy Kovac, who drove the truck out of the ambush, or Staff Sgt. Stephen Mandernach, who took over duties as gunner once Kephart was down. But it was Di Virgilio who received the Bronze Star with "V" device. She also has earned a Purple Heart and a Combat Medic Badge. And the horror of that day hasn't changed Di Virgilio's view of the Army: Before leaving Iraq, she re-enlisted.
#4
Everyday heroism by everyday people who happen to be great Americans. I wonder if her Mother is out there on that freaking Gold Star Mothers for Peace (corrupting a great organization) trip. Bet not. For everyone of those sorry rock hiders we have thousands of mothers with daughters and sons like Serena. God bless her and God bless America.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/15/2005 16:24
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BAGHDAD - The special court charged with trying Saddam Hussein and members of his regime released a videotape on Wednesday of the questioning of the ousted leader's half-brother Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan. Sabawi was captured in late February and believed to have played a pivotal role in financing the insurgency which rages on more than two years after the regime's fall. The interrogation was carried out on Monday, according to the tape obtained by AFP along with a statement from the Iraqi Special Tribunal. The statement said Sabawi and Mizban Khodr Hadi, another senior former regime member, were questioned about the "crimes committed against the Failis, including execution, deportation and imprisonment in the 1980s".
It said Hadi and Walid Hamid Tawfiq, another senior figure, were questioned separately also on Monday about "crimes committed during the events of 1991, in the presence of the investigating judges and the prosecutor general".
The tribunal, set up under the previous US-led occupation authority, released Monday footage of Saddam being questioned about the 1982 killing of 143 villagers in Dujail, northeast of Baghdad. The release of that tape, which was also played without the sound, triggered much criticism from his defense team and legal experts in Iraq. The tribunal also released separate footage showing four senior members of the regime being questioned about the repression of the Kurds in the 1980s and the Shiites at the end of the Gulf War over Kuwait in 1991. Apart from the alleged crimes committed by Saddam's henchmen against the Kurds, who are mostly Sunnis, his regime is accused of persecuting the Failis, who are Shiite Kurds, because of their suspected ties to Iran.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
13:27 ||
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KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Fighting between about 90 suspected Taliban rebels and hundreds of Afghan soldiers and U.S.-led coalition troops left seven insurgents dead and 10 wounded, while a rebel attack on a medical clinic killed a doctor and six others, officials said Wednesday.
The clash broke out on the border between Kandahar and Uruzgan, two southern provinces, on Tuesday after the rebels attacked a joint Afghan-coalition patrol, army commander Gen. Muslim Amid said. Four Afghan soldiers were wounded in the fighting, which ended with the insurgents fleeing into nearby mountains, carrying their injured, he said. Two rebels were captured. Troops pursued the rebels into the mountains and were still hunting them on Wednesday, Amid added.
This would be the ambush we heard about yesterday
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara confirmed that coalition troops were involved in the fighting, but declined to comment on it, saying an assessment was still going on. He said there were no coalition casualties.
The attack on the independently run clinic occurred in Khost province, which is next to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, said Almar Gul Mungle, commander of a frontier security force. Suspected Taliban rebels broke into the building and shot the seven late Tuesday night, he said. Mungle said the motive for the killing was not clear, though he suggested the insurgents may have murdered them because they thought they were working for the government.
Even though U.S. military commanders are upbeat about progress in making Afghanistan secure, there has been a sharp rise in violence since spring. President Hamid Karzai's administration has warned that Taliban-led rebels and al-Qaeda militants are trying to subvert crucial legislative elections in September.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
13:04 ||
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The Senate may be within one or two votes of passing a constitutional amendment to ban desecration of the U.S. flag, clearing the way for ratification by the states, a key opponent of the measure said Tuesday.
"It's scary close," said Terri Schroeder of the American Civil Liberties Union, which opposes the amendment. "People think it's something that's never going to happen. ... The reality is we're very close to losing this battle." and after that they may even go after our Sacred Giant Puppets!
Congress regularly has debated the issue since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a Texas flag desecration law in 1989 and its own Flag Protection Act the next year. But until now, it has failed to muster the two-thirds vote needed in both the House of Representatives and the Senate before states try to ratify the measure.
Next week, the House will vote on the amendment for a seventh time. If history is a guide, it will pass for a seventh time. That's when the spotlight switches to the Senate, where the amendment has always died.
But this time may be different. Amendment supporters say last year's election expanding the Senate Republican majority to 55 has buoyed their hopes for passage. Five freshmen senators - Richard Burr of North Carolina, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, Jim DeMint of South Carolina, John Thune of South Dakota and David Vitter of Louisiana - voted for the amendment as House members and plan to do so again.
They will be joined by at least five Democrats who have co-sponsored the resolution, including Dianne Feinstein of California and Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Both are up for re-election next year.
Not all senators have publicly declared their support or opposition.
In 2000, when the Senate last took up the matter, 63 voted for the amendment, four short of a two-thirds majority.
"We're going to have deeper support for this, and the intensity is growing," Thune said Tuesday, which was Flag Day. "There's momentum."
Norm Ornstein, a political analyst at the business-oriented American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, says he expects "a cliffhanger." He says Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is eager to bring up the issue, and some Democrats may be too nervous to oppose it.
Scenes of foreigners burning American flags may be common on TV, but such desecration is rare in this country. The Citizens Flag Alliance, an advocacy group that supports a constitutional amendment, reports a decline in flag desecration incidents, with only one this year.
Still, "it's important that we venerate the national symbol of our country," said Sen. Orrin Hatch (news, bio, voting record), R-Utah, the amendment's chief sponsor. "Burning, urinating, defecating on the flag - this is not speech. This is offensive conduct."
The Senate Judiciary Committee may not hold a hearing until around the July Fourth holiday, and a floor vote hasn't been scheduled.
University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato is skeptical about the amendment's prospects. "They may come close," he says, "but I would put good money on the likelihood that, once again, it won't be sent to the states."
If it is, though, "it is almost a foregone conclusion that the states would ratify" the amendment, says John Vile, a constitutional law expert at Middle Tennessee State University and editor of Encyclopedia of Civil Liberties in America.
Every state legislature has passed resolutions urging Congress to send them a constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration. Still, such resolutions aren't binding, and "that doesn't necessarily mean it would pass in the states," says Heather Morton, of the National Conference of State Legislatures.
A poll released last week by the Freedom Forum First Amendment Center in Nashville found 63% oppose a flag amendment, up from 53% last year.
"Clearly, more Americans are having second thoughts about using a constitutional amendment to" instill respect for the flag, said Gene Policinski, the center's executive director. "Many Americans consider it the ultimate test of a free society to permit the insult or even desecration of one of the great symbols of the nation." sure it is. right after protecting the giant puppets.
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005
12:42 ||
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#1
In Australia it is illegal to 'blaspheme' or to insult a religion. It is illegal for me to rip up a koran and crap on it in public. Gotta do it in private.
Yet the flag is not protected....
If you pass this law, it may open the door to other legislation that you will not like. You will fill prisons with people who desecrated a piece of cloth.
As much as I love America and loathe those who desecrate the flag, I hate Australian laws that deny me freedom of speech and expression. DOn't become more like us!!!
No, it should be legal to burn the US flag, but also to burn a Koran. Thus you can have your right of reply! After all they are both just symbols.
#2
I'd just as soon not see this pass. Instead, allow severe beatings without criminal repercussions for the burners.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 13:59
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#3
It's a matter of balance Anon,
We have to sit here in the states and listen to a bunch of liberal sissy-boys cry about koran abuse when we are in a fight for our lives. Yet, we also have to watch news clip on the communist news network (CNN) of arab assholes ripping up a flag in the middle of N.Y. city. Something is askew here, do you really feel at a disadvantage in Australia because you cannot publically blaspheme a religion? I think we need to be a little more like Australia, I think having a little bit more orderly of a society wouldn't hurt us a bit. I'm just one guy talking here, but not being able to commit wildly outrageous acts in public wouldn't make me feel like I was living in communist china.
#4
Nope. I don't care for this law, and certainly not as a Constitutional amendment. In my view of the Constitution, the amendments are to clarify what the Government may or may not do ("Congress shall make no law..."), and details about how it is to operate (voting age, income tax, presidential succession). IIRC, the sole Amendment that attempted to regulate what the People may or may not do was #18, Prohibition. That was a dismal failure and had to be repealed.
A friend of mine says that if the amendment banning the burning of the US flag (red/white/blue, 50 stars, 13 stripes) goes into effect, we will be able to read by the light of the burning 49-star, 17 stripe, pink/green/yellow flags.
I tend to agree. I also note that in the Yahoo news version of the story, they show a burka clad woman in Sadr City holding a burning flag. (It's the year anniversary of Tater and the Tots laying down arms, heh.) How is that supposed to be 'cured' by this stupid amendment?
#5
I disagree with the idea of criminalizing flag burning, period. It puts the flag -- a symbol -- into the same category as a Koran -- a magic talisman, maybe an idol, certainly a symbol of superstitious belief.
On the other hand, we Americans do love our flag because it's the symbol of all that's great and good about our country, along with Mom and Apple Pie and Baseball. Its desecration should certainly provide mitigating circumstances to anyone who happened to thump knobs on the head of its desecrators.
I can live with "desecrate the flag at your own risk" a lot better than I can live with "treat the flag like Mooselimbs treat the Koran."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005 14:46
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#6
Even if this does pass(which I hope it doesn't), it's not the end of the world. Prosecuters aren't going to send people to jail over "cloth", maybe a fine at the very worst. My guess is that most of the times this is reported to police nothing will be done. There are FAR more important matters than arresting a flag-burner.
Posted by: Charles ||
06/15/2005 14:58
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#7
I see room for compromise here. Allow them to burn the flag but decriminalize the offense of beating the shit out of the flag burners. Also should one light him or herself up while burning the flag like our famous Pakistani friend, make it illegal to put him out.
#8
Let me get this straight, we're already handing out punishments in various forms for 'hate' speech, but we're getting our nits in a bind over the actual process of the 'will of the people' to make flag burning a criminal offense. The ACLU "It's scary close," doesn't ask the fundamental question why it is so close? You push the edge of the envelope too many times, you're going to pop it. And they - the ACLU - doesn't grasp that because they believe that the people should be ruled through an independent branch of government that is not accountable to the people. Rule through litigation, not consent.
Good, Bad, or Indifferent. If the people want it, the people get it. And the process is so involved and requires so much more than simple majorities, that you might as well throw any justification to rationalize true demoncratic self rule if you can not recognize it in action.
My two cents, it just a manifestation of our way to the American Civil War Part II. Lines are being drawn. People have stop talking to each other and are talking past each other. One side a long time ago decided not to compromise. The otherside is now taking the same posture, recognizing that further gesture of rational discourse are fruitless.
#11
Yep, Mojo gotter it. I'll piss on the flag if my bladder is full. It's cloth. I'll light my bong with bible leaves, it's a book. Get a grip folks. To damn much stylin and symolizin and not enough hard core believe.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 19:42
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#16
Sea, don't worry. The Supreme Court is in business to work out exactly this kind of conflict in the constitution. The SC will also have no problem nullifying it as the California SC does each Amendment or referendum it doesn't like.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/15/2005 20:41
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#17
SC can not stop it if it becomes an admendment to the Constitution. Getting 2/3 of the states to ratify it will be hard.This is a bad law we can put are energy into to someelse like executing gitmo prisoners :)
The USSC has ignored darned nearevery amendment.
1. Campaign Finance "reform"
2. Too many to list
3. Never challenged.
4. No-knock drug raids, the IRS, checkpoints...
5. Taking-through-regulation, the LAPD cops tried twice for Rodney King.
6. Sexual harassment and certain other crimes you can be convicted by "witness" you may not see or cross-examine.
7. Can you get a jury trial from the IRS when the amount is over $20? Heck, Parking Tickets are over $20. Can you get a jury for them? Or a minor (not DUI) traffic ticket?
8. Um, well, OK, I don't think this one has been grossly violated. In fact, probably they read too much into it.
9. Who knows?
10. Long gone. Growing your own wheat or pot is Interstate Commerce.
11. I don't know. I wouldn't doubt it.
12. OK. This one still stands.
13. A lot of people will disagree with Me here, but I think the Draft qualifies.
14. Section 2 was a dead letter. Congress had to pass the Voting Rights act because the courts ignored this. I'd like to see Section 3 apply to J. Forbes Kerry and a few others.
15. My copy doesn't say "Unless they're white males, of course," but the Court's does.
16. [sigh] If you could pick one amendment the Court should ignore...
17. Hmm. OK, I think.
18. Moot.
19. I don't think it's ever been challenged. I suspect the sex being abridged might make a difference should a case come up.
20. Never challenged.
21. I have to admit they've done OK on this one.
22. Never challenged.
23. I wish they would violate this one.
24. OK.
25. Never challenged.
26. Never challenged.
27. Hasn't been around long enough to violate.
AMSTERDAM — A mosque was gutted by an arson attack in the west of Rotterdam in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Police have said the inside of the Shaan-e-Islam prayer room in a warehouse on the Aleidisstraat has been destroyed. The mosque is linked to the Dutch Muslim association NMA and is mainly frequented by members of the Surinamese community. The cause of the fire has yet to be established. It was discovered at about 4am after local residents heard a loud bang. A police spokesperson said the blaze caught hold quickly in the building and the ground floor which houses the mosque was totally burnt out. There were no injuries.
Was it arson? Or somebody smoking in the magazine?
Several slogans were clearly visible on the outside walls of the building in news footage of the building on Wednesday morning. Locals claim the messages were also written in the early hours of Wednesday morning and the police are investigating if there is an actual link between the slogans and the fire. The message in one of the slogans read: "geen moskee in Zuid" (no mosque in south). Another was the word "Lonsdale" along with a cross in a circle, a far-right symbol. Some Dutch right-wingers, particularly teenagers with fascist sympathies, have a preference for clothing made by the Lonsdale clothing company in the UK because the middle letters of the brand name — nsda — call to mind Adolf Hitler's Nazi party, NSDAP.
Pro-friggin'-found, man! You gonna hog that bong all night?
Another slogan "Theo R.I.P." which was daubed on the wall of the mosque is a reference to filmmaker and Muslim critic Theo van Gogh. Van Gogh was murdered in Amsterdam on 2 November and a Muslim man who was arrested moments later following a gun battle with police has admitted killing Van Gogh. Mosque chairman Abdoelhak Billar expressed shock at the arson attack on the Shaan-e-Islam when he was interviewed by RTL Nieuws. "Arson and racist slogans are an abnormal act⊠committed only by pathetic people," he said.
... just like murdering people you don't agree with by slaughtering them like sheep.
The mosque has been based in its current location since 1982 and has never been attacked before. It is due to be move to the south of Rotterdam in 18 months time, but Billar said he did not see this as the motive for the attack. Some media outlets reported on Wednesday that there had been a rally by right-wingers in the south of the city at the weekend in protest at the coming of the mosque. Denying this was the case, Billar said "everything is arranged".
"We're comin' whether you like it or not. And we have more brownshirts than you do..."
On Tuesday a court in Rotterdam sentenced a man, 25, to 12 months, with six suspended, for an arson attack on the Mevlana mosque on 7 November 2004 — five days after Van Gogh's murder. Taking into account time he had already served in custody, the defendant walked free after the court handed down its ruling. The Mevlana mosque is in the same part of Rotterdam as the Shaan-e-Islam mosque. In April, another man received 12 months, with nine suspended for an arson attack on the Rahmann mosque in Breda a day after Van Gogh was killed. Badir Islamic primary school in the Brabant town of Uden was totally destroyed by arson a week after the killing. Several native Dutch schoolboys have appeared in court in relation to this incident.
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005
12:37 ||
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#1
Sounds to me like some people are tired of your shit, guys.
#3
Absoutely fed up, even the Welfare State loving Dutch see this Sect as a threat. Lots of things going on that are not reported, are hushed up or blamed on other things by the Political elites in Holland. Uden has had more than a just school fire.
When the government fails to protect people from evil-doers, the people will become vigilantes to protect themselves.
I think alot of the government inside-the-beltway types don't understand this... We aren't a bunch of facist nutcases who are upset about this. We are regular people...
If anything were to happen to my wife and son, there would be HELL to pay, and I wouldn't be depending on any cops. I would want be sure to have the right folks, and that's all I would want to be sure of...
#8
"...The mosque has been based in its current location since 1982 and has never been attacked before. It is due to be move to the south of Rotterdam in 18 months time, but Billar said he did not see this as the motive for the attack...."
I'm presuming the phrase 'move to the south' means the mosque was going to be sold to help pay for construction of a new mosque. If that's true, then it would make sense for the Moslem community to burn their mosque and use the insurance to pay for the new mosque. Of course, I might be misinterpreting the report.
#9
the Nazi/Lonsdale/NSDA link smells like a convenient tar brush slur.....
reap what you sow, jihadis
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 13:32
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#10
A couple of years ago, this might've bothered me. But after 2 years of suicide bombers and beheadings, etc., by folks that either condone or turn a blind eye to the atrocities done in the name of their religion, I could care less...
#11
Well said tu3031, the muslim community cannot have it both ways. Sure the liberals tell them they can, but they are just about as full of shit as the jihadis. They declared the war, they set the terms, they boasted islam will overtake the world, so now is the time of the reckoning.
#12
We just have to understand the arsonists and realize that until the root causes of their unhappiness and anger are discovered and corrected that these people simply have no other way to deal with it than to lash out.
That's what they say about Islam right? Seems only fair the same apply to everyone else.
#16
I don't want to tip my hand and let on I'm not a gentle soul, but buildings are not people. How many buildings destroyed or damaged equates to a murder victim? Burning a moskkk doesn't even approach the magnitude of Muzzy acts - Theo Van Gogh isn't the only non-Muzzy to have been murdered in the name of the Religion of Peaceâ¢, just the most "famous". This strikes me as not much more than hooliganism...
"Hey, let's rumble after the soccer match!"
"I've got a better idea - let's burn down a moskkk!"
"H'okay!"
If the Dutch are actually fed up, then they should listen to Hirsi Ali. She's been truth-telling for quite awhile, now. I'd say they should deport every fucking imam who preaches anything harsher than loving thy neighbor, turning the other cheek, and "Do unto others what you would have them do unto you." Too Christian? Tough shit - it's not the Muzzies' country and Islam is an unwelcome fatal disease. Make that more tough shit. Oh, and deport everyone who attended those moskkks with them.
"If they pull a knife, you pull a gun; if they send one of your guys to hospital, you send one of theirs to the morgue."
Yo, Nederlanders... Magnify by 100x and you'll start getting through to them. They are Muzzy First⢠- that is the first rule of Islam. If opposed by infidels, they will always side with each other, support each other, lie for each other. You (and us), as infidels, will never get anywhere using a law enforcement approach - it depends upon civility, honesty, and social fraternity. The Muzzies don't buy into any of that shit. They ain't us. Period. After a life of indoctrination, they are irretrievable, broken, dehumanized - they are Muzzies.
Use every means available to make that branch of the family tree a dead end and you'll be on the right track.
That said, this is the hooligans' message, methinks. It's cute, in a swaggering schoolyard sort of way, but it's a far cry from being an adequate answer to Islam.
#17
Arson and racist slogans are an abnormal act⦠committed only by pathetic people," he said
Not racism, Islam is not a race. Frustration at their country being overun with people who have no loyalty to their flag, who want to to turn change their way of life, culture, economy, religion, dress, laws, mind & take their freedom. As well as intimidate/murder people who speak the truth about the darkness of Islam like Van Gogh
#18
"Arson and racist slogans are an abnormal act⦠committed only by pathetic people," says the imam. I guess the real winners of the world stick to kidnapping and beheading.
#21
here in the states very large proportion of church and synagogue arsons are in fact related to insurance and related financial issues. So that should not be absolutely excluded, despite the slogans.
OTOH, if this WAS arson motivated by religious bigotry (not racism, thanks for the quibble) then it IS terrorism and should be outright condemned. I despise Euroapoligists who say that Synagogue arsons dont count as long as one was killed - theres no reason to accept that lameness in this case either. Arson is done to instill fear - its a nasty crime, and one that puts life at risk, even when thats not intended.
Its certainly true that losing property is not as bad as taking life - which is why when a Mosque in Fallujah that was used as a base for terror is destroyed, I have no regrets. NONE.
But, AFAICT, the people who belong to this mosque have commmitted no murders, and were in no way responsible for the death Van Gogh. Collective guilt is NOT compatible with democracy, folks.
BTW these guys are Surinamese (which means probabluy ultimately Pakistani origin, although with generations of Dutch cultural influence) Its the North Africans who seem to be associated with violent acts BY muslims in Holland (and Belgium too, for that matter) Why should these people suffer??? Come folks, lets condemn this.
The point that law and order is a good way to prevent vigilantism is well made. Europe could use some more law and order. But hatred exists in Europe independently. Again the evidence seems to point NOT to ordinary Dutch people, but to neonazis. These guys could as easily have torched a Synagogue, had the mood struck them, or one been more convenient. These guys are haters apart from any current events - even if they use Van Gogh as an excuse. I dont know that Van Gogh, who believed in freedom of speech, would have had anything to do with these arsonists. Im sure Ali, the feminist ex-muslim, would NOT.
#23
Lh - Y'know, someday, you're gonna "get it" about Muzzy Firstâ¢. I know you understand what I'm saying, but it's surprising to me that you are apparently willing to dismiss the most fundamental aspect of Islam - the sharp pointy aspect of Islam in practice.
Your "collective" argument is spot-on for every other group or religion or ideology I've ever come into contact with, but it's blind feel-good Pollyanna PCism in regards to Islam. But that's cool - we can disagree. I hope you live to see that day.
#24
Y'know, someday, you're gonna "get it" about "Muzzy Firstâ¢. I know you understand what I'm saying, but it's surprising to me that you are apparently willing to dismiss the most fundamental aspect of Islam - the sharp pointy aspect of Islam in practice."
I understand it, I just dont agree with it. Of course I havent been blessed with spending lots of time in KSA, as you have. Probably the worst place to go in the world, bar none, to get a positive view of muslims.
I doubt I will ever spend much time in Saudi, so I doubt i will pick up your "unique" perspective.
#25
even you dont believe it, dot com. Youve tried to square the circle - youve decided forex, that the Kurds arent really muslims. Cause they dont ACT like muslims, ya know.
well do we know if the Surinamese in this mosque acted like Kurds, or like Wahabis? We dont. I dont think the folks who torched it really cared. I dont think they read Rantburg, or know about the Wolf Brigade. Or the Iraqi soldiers who liberated Mr. Wood. Or the Beduin arabs who are being evacuated FROM Gaza to Israel, to save them from Pal retribution for collaborating.
Nah, a muzzy is a a muzzy to them. Thats why theyre neonazis.
doesnt it occur to you, mr dot com, that im not kewl with ANYTHING done by folks who are admires of NSDAP? Ya know, when Im involved in something that leans a little left, I watch out for Stalinists. I find any, i dont give them the benefit of the doubt. I certainly dont go on about how the capitalists probably deserved it. Even if its a group of capitalists i dont much like.
Folks who are making apologies for this stuff are flirting with ideologies as dangerous as Wahabism. The enemy of my enemy is NOT always my friend.
#26
Then let's agree - if the moskkkk was involved in teh killings, it should be burned to the ground in front of the Wahabist adherents? That's what it will come to, you know? Europeans have a history of isolating someone they don't like. I think the Muzzies haven't figured out that they stand out more than the jews did
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 18:09
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#27
well do we know if the Surinamese in this mosque acted like Kurds, or like Wahabis?
Which Kurds, Liberalhawk? The ones working with us or Ansar al Islam, who not only are terrorists in Iraq but also linked to open rape, child marriage and a bunch of other objectionable acts in Scandanavia.
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005 18:14
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I think the Muzzies haven't figured out that they stand out more than the jews did
I think they know. In fact, I'd say it's a point of pride. It's just that they think they can suppress any antagonism through rapid and disproportional outbursts of rage and violence. So far, I'd say they've been proven correct.
#29
to a point, BH, you are correct. When it becomes acceptable to ridicule them in the streets, however, the seething will look as ineffective as it really is, and the actual backlash against the muslim ghettos will begin. By staying unassimilated, they make the rollup easier
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 18:27
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#30
and more necessary.
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005 18:38
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Sigh. Okay, enough being nice to a fool: kiss my hairy ass Lh.
"Does it occur..."
Y'know, sometimes you just boggle with your disingenuousness. I didn't defend burning down the fucking moskkk, jackass. I pointed out that it's irrelevant, mere hooliganism. It addresses nothing of the real issue. Does it occur to you that I'm not cool with Aris-like bullshit - which your #25 is full of? Bite me.
Regards the Muzzies, the point is behavior, Mr Lh, lol! Can you absorb that, at least? IT IS WHAT MATTERS. The Kurds get a break because they deserve one - they're intelligent civil people, based upon long-term observation of their behavior toward each other and non-Kurds. They could be taking revenge - the Peshmerga's qualified and available... but they're not. Indeed, they are very very bad Muzzies. Have you finally read the qu'uran and the haddiths, yet? The Kurds SUCK as Muzzies. So yeah, I cut 'em slack.
"Folks who are making apologies for this stuff are flirting with ideologies as dangerous as Wahabism."
Folks who can't see past their feel-good dumb as dirt PCism are equally as dangerous. Geez, what a load of shit. Total Dhimmiwit shit.
You sound like you drank your lunch, today. And went back for seconds and thirds.
#32
Liberlhawk is right: don't add bigotry to the mess we already have. We descend to the level of the Islamofascists when we applaud this kind of violence.
The fire would be understandable--and still wrong--if the resident mullah was preaching bile like that fellow in London (you know who I mean; I can't remember his name, the one who came for Welfare benefits). The Surinamese don't have the reputation for violence that other varieties of muslim do. Everybody take a deep breath and think before supporting the neonazis.
#37
You know, I love this site and I've posted occasionally but you guys really throw elbows... its your site (collectively) so I guess you can do what you want. Still, you might ponder the fact that having a mite less-than-hair-trigger approach might be more conducive to constructive exchanges... IMHO.
MADRID — A major operation across Spain has led to the arrest of 16 suspects linked to the al-Qaeda leader in Irak Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. The alleged terrorists were detained in Madrid, Andalusia, Catalonia, Levante and Ceuta, Spain's north African enclave. Eleven suspects are allegedly linked to Abu Musab Al Zarquai, who is the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq and behind Islamic terrorist attacks in the country. The other five suspects are said to be linked to the Madrid train bombings in March last year in which 191 people were killed. Five hundred police have been involved in the operation. The Spanish ministry of the interior said the operation was ongoing and more arrests could follow.
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005
12:35 ||
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BRAUNSCHWEIG - Tabloid newspapers across Germany on Wednesday warned of "a plague of poisonous caterpillars" that has prompted schools and kindergartens to close.
Officials dismissed the plague as an annual mid-summer ritual pitting man against the insect world. The bristly foes are oak processionary caterpillars, which have the nasty habit of 'firing' their venom-spiked bristles at enemies.
Contact with the caterpillars, which have multiplied by the thousands in recent days in Hesse state, can lead to skin rashes and asthma, a spokesman for the town of Dreieich said.
On Tuesday, a local day care centre was shut and a school in the town of Roedermark Ober Roden closed for two days earlier this month as a result of the outbreak.
Exterminators dressed in protective gear have been destroying and removing the cocoons from school yards in the area. Because the caterpillars prefer sunlight to shade, they tend to multiply in parks and playgrounds as opposed to the forest.
"The bristles can cause considerable skin irritation, which can result in a bad rash which is made worse when children persist in scratching the raw areas," says Alfred Wulf of the Federal Biological Institute (BBA) in Braunschweig.
He says an unusually warm and dry 2003 had initially drawn the insects to Germany from their preferred habitats in regions farther south. Most of southern and central Germany has been affected by the onslaught.
Otherwise defenceless creatures, their bristles are tipped with an enzyme-based poison designed to leave a bad taste in the mouths of any predators, such as birds.
The tiny, almost microscopic bristles come loose and bore their way into the tender tissues of any attackers. In humans, especially children with tender skin, the poison can lead to a form of contact dermatitis.
"These bristles can retain their toxicity for up to a year," said Wulf.
But he cautioned against over-reaction, saying, "This is just a manifestation of nature.
"In a few weeks these caterpillars will undergo a metamorphosis and everyone will be ecstatic about the unusually high numbers of beautiful butterflies we're having this summer."
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005
12:31 ||
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An Indian rape victim is being forced by village elders to "marry" her rapist -- her father-in-law, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. Community leaders in Charthawal village, backed by local Muslim clerics, believe that by being raped, 28-year-old Imrana's 10-year marriage has been nullified under Islamic law, The Asian Age newspaper said. Holding a special council on Sunday, village leaders ordered the mother of five to leave her husband, Noor Mohammed, and live with her parental family for seven months and 10 days and make herself "pure" again, The Age said. It did not say how she becomes pure. After that, she must "marry" her father-in-law and live with him, along with his legal wife. "She... will then be like a mother to Noor Mohammed," the paper quoted local cleric Shamim Ahmad saying. So he gets to violate her any time he wants now. Ah, those Muslims. Punish the victim, after all, she is a woman therefore she must have been asking for it.
If hubby decides to rape her next, does she have to go back to him? Maybe he and Pop can work out a deal where they get to diddle her on alternate days, unless Uncle Mahmoud wants to get in on the deal, so it'd be every three days. But then there's Cousin Ahmed, who never gets any, so maybe they'll have to invite him. And that guy down the road, the one with the yellow turban. And Mustafa the Curry Man. He'd be offended if he was left out...
Her four brothers have agreed to the edict. In India, victims of crime often have nowhere to turn and with even her own family supporting the edict she may have little choice. Police are now investigating and say they plan to arrest the father-in-law. They refuse to comment on the village elders' ruling, saying it is a sensitive religious issue. "We can say no more."
The village is in Uttar Pradesh, one of India's poorest and most backward states and its most populous, with more than 165 million people, more than Russia's 145 million.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/15/2005
12:28 ||
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#1
I know guys on crack that make more sense than these crazy-ass mother fuckers.
Boeing overtook Airbus Tuesday in the race for aircraft orders, grabbing the lion's share of their combined 10.4 billion dollars (8.6 billion euros) in deals announced in the first two days of the Paris Air Show.
Boeing surged ahead in the afternoon, notching up a deal valued at 2.9 billion dollars in list prices. The rivals had been neck-and-neck in the morning with European aircraft maker Airbus at some 3.6 billion dollars and Boeing at 3.9 billion.
Airbus meanwhile downplayed turbulence on the production side of its new super-jumbo A380, the star of the show at Le Bourget Airport near Paris.
Two weeks ago the company announced a delay in delivery of the A380 of up to six months, affecting launch-carrier Singapore Airlines, Hong-Kong based Cathay Pacific Airways and Air France/KLM. The delay could entail financial penalties from customers.
Airbus chief executive Noel Forgeard, asked at a news conference about the financial effect of the delays, said they "won't have any significant impact" on the company's 2006 results.
Forgeard attributed the delays to electrical problems and "a very tight schedule" that the company had set, knowing "that this would be hard to match."
Airbus and Boeing have signalled that Asia and the Middle East are key growth drivers in the global aviation market, and the orders announced at the 46th biennial show reflected this.
Boeing fired the first shot Tuesday: an order for 20 Next-Generation single-aisle 737s from US aircraft leasing company GE Commercial Aviation Services valued at 1.1 billion dollars. The 20 737s are scheduled for delivery to GECAS from 2006 to 2008.
Then Boeing streaked ahead in the afternoon with a firm order from another major US lessor, International Lease Finance Corporation, for 20 Next-Generation 737s and eight 777s, valued at nearly 2.9 billion dollars.
Alan Mulally, the head of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said the company was in "intense negotiation" with ILFC on an order for the new fuel-efficient 787. A deal was seen this year.
The biggest private airline in India, Jet Airways, landed in the order books of both Airbus and Boeing.
Jet Airways signed a letter of intent with Boeing to buy 10 777s and 10 737s and took options on 10 777s, in an agreement worth about 2.8 billion dollars. The Indian airline said it had ordered six of Boeing's new long-haul 777-200LRs, four 777-300ERs and 10 Next-Generation 737-800s.
With Airbus, Jet Airways signed a letter of intent to purchase 10 A330s valued at some 1.65 billion dollars, and took an option to buy 10 more. Airbus also announced a commitment from Kuwait-based international aircraft leasing company ALAFCO to buy 12 of its future A350 aircraft.
The intention to order, valued at some two billion dollars, includes an option to buy six more aircraft, Airbus CEO Forgeard said.
The planned long-haul, medium-capacity A350 now has won 102 purchase agreements, in orders and commitments, Airbus sales chief John Leahy said, topping the company's target of 100 A350s set for the air show.
Delivery of the 12 A350s to ALAFCO, most of them A350-800s valued at 160 million dollars, will begin in the third quarter of 2012, the company said.
Forgeard said there was strong demand for the planned A350, announced in December.
Airbus expects to have "110 to 120 orders by the end of the week... and about 200 commitments by the end of the year," he told another news conference.
The delay in the industrial launch of the A350, announced last week by Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS), was decided to allow "a maximum amount of time for a negotiated solution" in the subsidy dispute between the European Union and the United States, Forgeard said.
The EU and US procedurally blocked each other's lawsuit Monday at a preliminary hearing at the World Trade Organization. The US objects to state aid for Airbus while the EU contends that lucrative US military contracts awarded Boeing should also be considered a government subsidy.
EADS holds 80 percent of Airbus and the rest is owned by British group BAE Systems. Forgeard said Airbus had lifted its forecast for aircraft deliveries this year to "at least 360" - compared with a previous 350-360 range - and forecast a 10 percent rise in 2006. Next year's deliveries should be "way past 400", Forgeard said.
The week-long show ends Sunday, with the final three days open to the public.
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005
12:25 ||
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Airbus chief executive Noel Forgeard, asked at a news conference about the financial effect of the delays, said they "won't have any significant impact" on the company's 2006 results.
Well, of course not. When you're the receipient of subsidies, there's nothing to lose, since typically, you're not expected to pay back what you've received. There's no reason to believe that any Airbus subsidy would be any different.
..while the EU contends that lucrative US military contracts awarded Boeing should also be considered a government subsidy.
Er, no it's not, since defense contracts are competed for. A good example was the JSF; Lockheed and Boeing slugged it out and Lockheed won. The government didn't automatically give Boeing the JSF contract. The EU needs to come up with a batter argument....if it can.
#2
Hello, anybody home? Eurofighter = EADS = Airbus. Care to open that boondoggle Eurofighter up competition? I'm sure Boeing has a very competitive product. What about the A400 military airlifter? Lockheed has some fine products, at a fraction of the cost, and will tailor fit for any requirement you have?
Posted by: ed ||
06/15/2005 14:26
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said they "won't have any significant impact" on the company's 2006 results.
Most of the orders are for out years.
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005 14:32
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..since typically, you're not expected to pay back what you've received.
A little clarification: this assumes that the product that was subsidized in development/production doesn't recover it's costs via sales. Not only does this not affect the books much, but the risk of failure no longer is something to worry about.
British officials unveiled plans Tuesday for spectacular celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, where Admiral Horatio Nelson's fleet routed the French and Spanish navies. A six-day festival is planned for Portsmouth, home of the British Royal Navy on the southern coast of England, starting on June 28 with a huge flotilla gathering offshore before a state-of-the-art Nelson-era battle recreation using some 30 tall ships. Queen Elizabeth II will review the British fleet for the first time since 1977 and thousands of ships from countries as far afield as South Africa, Australia, Japan and India will take part.
The epic Battle of Trafalgar, off the southern coast of Spain, finished the threat of invasion by emperor Napoleon Bonaparte's France and established British naval supremacy for the next century. Nelson, killed in action, "set out to try and beat the hell out of the French and the Spanish", said Peter Workman, chairman of the International Festival of the Sea. Britain did not lose a single ship, while 18 opposing vessels were destroyed. Some 14,000 French and Spanish sailors died, 10 times the British casualties. The tall ships show, billed as "theatre on water" will not, however, be a recreation of Nelson's triumph. Instead, teams dubbed "blue" and "red" will recreate "vignettes" from the scenes of October 21, 1805.
Wouldn't want to offend anyone, of course...
Newspaper reports had said that a re-enactment was side-stepped to avoid further wounding the pride of the defeated nations.
"Losers! Losers! Lo-o-o-o-o-sers!"
"There are sensitivities, but it's not stopped the French and Spanish sending their biggest ships, with an escort and a submarine each, which we're delighted about," Captain Steve Bramley, Royal Navy director of marketing and publicity, told AFP. "We can't change history: Nelson won. We haven't got that number of ships (to recreate Trafalgar fully). The real battle was well over 70 ships. There's not the sea room and there's no way that we could recreate the conditions," he said.
The recreation finishes with a blaze of lights, smoke, cannon and fireworks to represent the great storm that both sides had to contend with after the original battle. "We're using over twice the amount of weight of pyrotechnics used at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The amount of fireworks, we could never, ever afford to do it more than once. We can't even rehearse it," Bramley said. The giant fleet to assemble for review will measure some 10 kilometres by two kilometres (six miles by one mile) in size. Up to 30,000 vessels will be in the anchorage, including some 110 multi-national warships, 30 tall ships plus thousands of private craft.
British yachtswoman Ellen MacArthur was also to attend in her B and Q yacht, in which she broke world record for sailing solo around the globe this year. Some 200,000 people are then expected at the tie-in International Festival of the Sea, beginning June 30 at Portsmouth harbour, home to Nelson's flagship HMS Victory. Around 2,000 entertainers - from pirates to ladies of ill-repute - will perform amid military displays with visitors welcome aboard the moored boats. "The tall ships have a magic. It's the atmosphere which grabs people," said Workman. The commemorations will close in London's central Trafalgar Square on October 23, when 15,000 are expected to attend the grand finale beneath Nelson's statue.
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005
12:23 ||
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#1
I can't wait for the Battle of Britain Red vs. Grey reenactments.
Posted by: ed ||
06/15/2005 13:32
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Screw that. I say we go sink the French Navy again...
French intelligence agents were on Tuesday questioning two men arrested on suspicion of helping one of the organisers of the March 2004 bomb attacks in Madrid, officials said. The two men, whose names and nationalities were not released, were detained Monday in the Paris suburbs and were being held at the headquarters of the domestic intelligence service DST.
They are suspected of providing lodgings for Hassan El-Haski, a member of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group who Spanish police believe was one of the masterminds of the Madrid train bombings. Nearly 200 people were killed in the explosions on March 11, 2004
This article starring:
HASAN EL HASKI
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005
12:22 ||
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#1
The two men, whose names and nationalities were not released, were detained Monday in the Paris suburbs and were being held at the headquarters of the domestic intelligence service DST.
Not released? I wonder why... (NOT!)
With the recent finger given by the French populous to the government, does one detect the beginnings of a "I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore" attitude on the "Frog Street" as it were?
Global energy consumption has jumped to its highest level for 20 years on the back of raging demand from fast-growing economies like China and India, according to BP, the world's second-biggest oil and gas company.
However, the company said there was no need to panic that the world is running out of hydrocarbons, forecasting that there is at least 40 years worth of oil left and enough gas to last until 2071. "The world does not face a shortage of hydrocarbon resources or reserves," it said.
Peter Davies, BP's chief economist and author of BP's Statistical Review of World Energy 2005 which was published yesterday, said world energy consumption grew by 4.3pc last year, above the 10-year average in every region in the world. He said: "In volume terms, this is the largest-ever annual increase in global primary energy consumption and is the highest percentage growth since 1984. It is exceptional that this demand growth was so geographically widespread."
While China's economy grew 9.5pc in 2004, this was outstripped by a 15.1pc jump in energy demand. Chinese energy consumption has now increased by 65pc since 2001 and accounts for 13.6pc of the world's demand. Outside China, world energy demand jumped by 2.8pc.
Oil production grew at its fastest rate since 1978, increasing by 3.4pc to 2.5m barrels a day, with Iraqi production trebling to 2m barrels per day. The biggest fall was in the UK and US where production fell by 230,000bpd and 160,000bpd respectively.
The soaring demand has come amid high oil prices, which averaged $38.30 a barrel over the year and have risen above $50 in recent months. However, Mr Davies said: "At no time has any indication been given that high energy prices could be caused by a lack of resources. Prices have been driven by demand growth but scarce production does not necessarily imply a scarcity of resources."
There was plenty of oil, gas and coal left in the world, he said: "Proved reserves of oil and gas continue to increase. In other words, at a global level, every barrel of oil and cubic metre of gas that is produced is replaced by at least one new barrel or cubic metre of newly proved energy.
"Proved reserves of oil, gas and coal remain more than adequate to meet the world's growing needs in aggregate for the foreseeable future.
"Oil still has a reserves-to-production ratio of over 40 years, gas of 67 years and coal of 164 years. Investment and new technologies will ensure that there will be further additions to these reserves in future."
BP's forecasts came as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries considers lifting production quotas by 500,000 barrels a day, or 2pc, to 28m bpd, at a meeting later today. However, Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah of Kuwait, the oil cartel's president, said it had little choice but to act with prices so stubbornly high and countries worried that high oil prices could impede world economic growth.
He said: "Whenever it's over $50, we have to react. The market is well-supplied, but we have to do everything we can to make more reasonable prices."
Some traders say Opec looks powerless to prevent prices challenging April's record of more than $58 a barrel as the global economy, led by China and the US, soaks up more oil in the second half of the year.
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005
12:17 ||
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world energy consumption grew by 4.3pc last year, above the 10-year average in every region in the world Nice to see Kyoto's working!
KATTERBACH, Germany — The 1st Infantry Division began its long farewell to Europe as its AH-64A Apache attack helicopter battalion cased its colors Monday for the last time on German soil. More than 100 soldiers stood at attention for the sheathing of the flag of the Big Red One's 1st Battalion, 1st Aviation Regiment, then relaxed for a low- key farewell dinner of sandwiches, chips and cake.
Just five months after returning from a yearlong tour of Iraq, the unit is dissolving. Later this summer it will re-form at Fort Hood, Texas, with new soldiers for a long-planned year of training on the advanced AH-64D Longbow Apache. After that, 1-1 Aviation will fly its Longbows to a new home that hasn't been officially disclosed. Members of the unit presume it will be Fort Riley, Kan., identified by the Pentagon as the future headquarters of the 1st ID, which currently is based in WÃŒrzburg. It will be the first European piece of the Big Red One to move back to U.S. soil. "We close this chapter of 1-1 Aviation history," said Col. Walter Golden, commander of the division's aviation brigade, "but much more lies ahead."
According to its unit history, the battalion was activated at Fort Riley on Feb. 15, 1957, as a fixed-wing, light-transport unit. It got its first helicopters in October 1965, just in time for deployment to Vietnam. Inactivated five years later, it re-formed in 1981 and fielded Apaches in April 1990. During the Persian Gulf War, 1-1 Aviation spearheaded the VII Corps assault into Iraq. It moved from Fort Riley to Katterbach in 1996, deploying to the Balkans for peacekeeping missions in 1996-97 and 1999-2000.
Lt. Col. David Moore took command June 3, 2002, for an extraordinary three-year tour that saw the unit deploy to Hungary and Kosovo before heading to Iraq early last year for a yearlong tour. In Iraq, the unit flew 1,500 missions and 14,000 combat hours while earning a Valorous Unit Award and suffering no casualties. Moore said it is the last active-duty Army unit still flying the old model Apaches. He said about two-thirds of the 1-1 Aviation's personnel already have moved to other units since the division's stop-loss/stop-movement order was lifted last month. Those left behind will help pack the battalion's gear and ship it to Fort Hood.
To the soldiers still here, it is strange to see their wartime unit go away. "It's kind of sad — the colonel was crying, too," said Spc. Ian Maharaj, 22, of Hyattsville, Md. "It's definitely weird, unique," added Pfc. Denise Monroe, 20, of Crown Point, Ind. "I'll probably never go through this again." Spc. Alix Cassagnol has been in the Army only three years, but this is the second time his unit has dissolved right after a wartime deployment. "This time it's harder, because I knew what was going to happen," Cassagnol said. "It's like losing a part of the family."
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
12:13 ||
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More withdrawals from Europe, faster. The Euros can afford to defend themselves and we need the units elsewhere. And God only knows how much we could save by shutting down the European bases.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
06/15/2005 13:21
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It is not nearly as bad now as it was during the long 90's force reduction. If you think it hurts to see your wartime units go away, how about watching your airplanes chopped into pieces as part of the START II agreement. The unit names may stay, but the new mission could be radically different. The 97th Bomb Wing is now the 97th Air Mobility Wing flying C-5s instead of B-17s, B-29s. and B-52s. Not many air mobility wings have a patch with a flaming spear.
A man who tried to conduct a job interview naked has been sentenced to three years' probation and placed on the sex offenders' register. The father-of-one, from Dunfermline had pleaded guilty to committing a breach of the peace.
I wonder why?
Glasgow Sheriff Court was told that Saeed Akbar, a manager at an interpreting and translation company, "had wanted a bit of excitement". He worked at Alpha Translating and Interpreting Services in Glasgow, which advertised for a translator. The woman answered the advert and was invited to attend an interview at the firm's Glasgow office the following day. When she arrived, Akbar - who was held in "high esteem" by his company - asked if she would mind if they took their clothes off. Akbar, 35, left the interview room and came back in to speak to his female victim naked and clutching a clipboard. When the job candidate refused to strip as well, he put his clothes on. The £25,000 per-year executive tried to restart the interview, but his victim fled and reported the matter to police. He initially told police his strip was a consensual "role play" as part of his "tough interviewing technique".
Akbar, from Fife, said: "I wanted a bit of excitement that afternoon, that's purely all it was." Sheriff Brian Lockhart described the behaviour as "wholly unacceptable". Passing sentence, Sheriff Lockhart said Akbar's partner had now left him, he had lost his job and his friends refused to associate with him.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005
12:05 ||
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Racist English, you just don't understand. I am the real victim here. The harlot, by not wearing a jilbab, was practically naked. By stripping, I was just trying to make her comfortable.
Posted by: Akbar ||
06/15/2005 13:17
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Akbar, from Fife
says it all, right Andy?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 14:02
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FILTHY INFIDEL TEMPTRESS!!! LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!!!
Posted by: Saeed Akbar ||
06/15/2005 16:32
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Well the California taxpayer takes it in the shorts already. $200,000 - 1.2 million per patient. Ouch..... So much for the recovery of California's economy.
#3
When I was a grad student, the university informed me that one of the Chinese grad students in my lab complex had TB. I was none too thrilled since I already tested positive for TB antibodies (skin test) from my time in Asia. And yes, the university health plan covered treatment for the Chinese grad student.
Posted by: ed ||
06/15/2005 13:56
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Osama bin Laden is alive and in good health, as is fugitive Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar, a purported senior commander of the ousted militia said Wednesday in a television interview. Pakistan's Geo television broadcast the interview with a man it identified as Taliban military commander Mullah Akhtar Usmani, a former aviation minister who said he still receives instructions from Omar. Asked whether bin Laden is hiding in areas of Afghanistan that are under Taliban control, the man said he would not specify where the terrorist mastermind was hiding. "Thanks be to God, he is absolutely fine," he said.
The man wore a black turban to shield his face, making it impossible to recognize him or verify his identity. He wore a gray jacket, and an AK-47 rifle was propped up next to him as he spoke in front of a red-patterned, Afghan-style rug. Geo said the interview was recorded last week, but declined to say where. A senior journalist at the independent station said on condition of anonymity that the interview was done near the Afghan town of Spinboldak, which is close to the Pakistani border.
The interview was conducted in broken Urdu, Pakistan's main language and the language in which Geo broadcasts most of its programs. Most senior Taliban speak Pashtu. The man said the Taliban are still organized, and that senior Taliban leaders hold regular consultations. "Our discipline is strong. We have regular meetings. We make programs," the man said. He said Omar does not attend the meetings but "decisions come from his side." He did not say where those meeting take place.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005
11:56 ||
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see also this story for background on the Northrup/EADS attempt to bid against Boeing for the air tanker contract
When the Airbus A380 superjumbo took to the skies at the Paris Air Show, executives from Boeing crowded an observation deck here to gawk at the plane, the new flagship of a European company that is embroiled in a trade battle with Boeing. As the A380 traced swooping circles above the airfield on Monday, the Boeing delegation was plainly impressed. But after it touched down with a thud, the spell was broken. "Look for the dent in the runway," said one of the executives, referring to the A380's chronic weight problems. rather a serious problem when fuel prices are so high
Boeing can afford a few wisecracks. After several years in which the company seemed in danger of being flattened by the Airbus juggernaut, it has stormed back into contention. Boeing's new midsized plane, the 787, is selling briskly, while the A380 has been dogged by production glitches. Airbus says it will announce more than 110 orders this week for the A350, its response to the 787. But that plane, too, is being slowed because of changes in its design and doubts about how it will be financed.
Those questions have been fueled by a lawsuit the United States has filed against the European Union at the World Trade Organization, alleging that Europe has damaged Boeing by illegally financing the development of new planes like the A350 with low-cost government loans.
While the European Union insists it will fight the suit - and has filed one of its own alleging that Boeing also receives improper subsidies - there is mounting evidence that Washington's unbending stance has thrown Airbus off balance in one of the world's epic commercial rivalries. "Boeing's original strategy was purely defensive: to protect the 787 program," said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of research at the Teal Group, an aerospace consulting firm in Fairfax, Virginia. "Now it's switched from defense to offense. They want to disrupt the A350."
The stakes are enormous. Medium-sized planes - those with 200 to 300 seats - will generate more revenue than any other market segment, according to recent industry forecasts. It is also a segment where Airbus first eroded Boeing's franchise, with its popular A330.
Airbus typically finances one-third of the development cost of its planes with refundable aid from France, Germany, and Britain. The United States says this has allowed Airbus to end Boeing's dominance of civil aviation, forcing it to cut its commercial production by 60 percent over the past five years and pare its work force by 40,000 people. For the European Union, which is still reeling from the rejection of its proposed constitution by French and Dutch voters, the dispute threatens to expose fissures within its commercial establishment about the future of Airbus, one of Europe's most successful industrial collaborations. To some Airbus backers, particularly in Germany, the WTO case is viewed as an impediment to the far bigger goal of winning military contracts from the Pentagon. European companies are eager to compete for a $20 billion contract to supply aerial refueling tankers to the Air Force.
"We believe this case was pushed by Boeing not only because of the A350, but because they want to cut us out of the tanker," said Thomas Enders, a German who has been appointed co-chief executive of Airbus's key shareholder, the European Aeronautic Defense & Space Co., or EADS.
The board of EADS voted last week to put off formal approval of the A350 until the end of September, in part to give negotiators from Brussels and Washington another chance to settle the dispute.
A meeting of European transport ministers here this week to consider the issue of state loans for the A350 broke up without a resolution, according to an executive who attended. There are differences of opinion between France, Germany, and Britain over how to proceed, he said. EADS, a military contractor controlled by France and Germany, said it would consider forgoing $1.7 billion in state loans, known as "launch aid," for the A350. In return, it seeks cuts in what it says are Boeing's indirect subsidies from the Pentagon; from Japan, which is building parts of the 787; and from Washington State, where the plane is to be assembled. "This is as a dramatic step," said Manfred Bischoff, the co-chairman of EADS. "We are proposing to give up the way Europe has historically supported this industry. But we're asking for fairness."
Boeing dismisses the EADS overture, which was outlined in a recent letter sent to the European Union's trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson, as old news. Boeing says the only issue is the $15 billion in launch aid that Airbus has received over the past 30 years. It has no plans to budge from its position that the Europeans must abandon that aid for the A350 and future planes. "It's very hard to imagine a quid-pro-quo," Lewis Platt, the chairman of Boeing, said in an interview. "To me, their position seems to be, 'we'll give up launch aid if you give up something.' We think we've made our position clear that we have no launch aid to give up." Platt denied that Boeing's intention in pushing the trade campaign was to shelter the 787 or the scuttle the A350. "It's not about confusing the market," he said. "We just want a level playing field."
Boeing executives say their recent success in orders can be attributed to having a better plane, not more aggressive trade lawyers. Airbus executives admit they underestimated the 787, which uses composite materials to achieve very high fuel efficiency. Airbus has had to retool the A350 several times, after trying with little success to peddle a plane derived from the A330. Boeing's steadfastness, analysts say, is also driven by a remarkable unanimity of political support in the United States. In a year noteworthy for Democratic challenges to nearly every aspect of the Bush administration's trade agenda, the two political parties have been able to agree on only one issue: the suit filed against the European Union over its subsidies to Airbus.
Congress did not want the United States to stand by and watch another major manufacturing industry undermined because of what it considered unfair trading practices from overseas competitors. "Boeing is more than one company, it is a critical industry and it was being eroded because of the subsidies given to Airbus," said Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington State, which is granting tax incentives to Boeing to assemble the 787 at its manufacturing base there.
The decision by Boeing to pursue the case against Airbus grew out of both a sense of weakness and opportunity. Boeing had fallen well behind Airbus in the overall number of planes delivered to airlines. But with the 787, Boeing felt it had a chance. "The issue had been there for many years, but with Airbus getting the majority of contracts, Boeing took another look," said Peter Allgeier, the deputy United States trade representative.
In January, however, the United States agreed to another three months of talks, after Mandelson was named trade commissioner. Officials hoped to negotiate a deal with him that had proven elusive with his predecessor Pascal Lamy. Yet those talks faltered as well. Lamy is now the director-general of the WTO, which puts him in the odd position of overseeing a trade dispute to which he was once a party. Lawyers for Boeing said that did not trouble them because WTO would appoint a panel to hear the cases, and Lamy would play only a small role. The question is whether Boeing and Airbus will ever get to that point. The United States insists it is ready. "We are totally comfortable taking our case to the WTO," Allgeier said. "The playing field is so unlevel now."
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005
11:44 ||
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Dozens of Palestinian militants raided the vacation home of Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia on Wednesday, shooting in the air and demanding they be given jobs in the security forces, security officials said. Qureia was not in the home in the West Bank town of Jericho at the time, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions. Although the militants shot in the air, forced their way past two guards and pushed open the door, no injuries or damage was reported. The gunmen refused to leave. They stayed for about an hour, until security officers persuaded them to leave. "This act is a violation of the law and we will resolve the situation," Qureia said in reaction while touring the West Bank town of Nablus.
#2
I guess they wanted to prove they'd be responsible and effective security forces by shooting weapons in the air, committing assault, vandalizing property and trespassing.
"This act is a violation of the law and we will resolve the situation," Qureia said . . .
#3
They stayed for about an hour, until security officers persuaded them to leave. "This act is a violation of the law and we will resolve the situation," Qureia said in reaction while touring the West Bank town of Nablus.
And what do they do to lawbreakers? They persuade them to leave, instead of charging them with an offense and subjecting them to judicial proceedings.
Cultivation of coca, the raw material for cocaine, increased last year in the Andean region for the first time this century, according to figures released on Tuesday by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
The report indicated that in spite of a reduction of more than 50 per cent in cultivation over the past five years in Colombia, the world's biggest coca producer, higher production in Bolivia and Peru accounted for an overall increase of 3 per cent across the Andean region in 2004. wonderful. unstable Bolivia and a resurgent Shining path, funded by cocaine
Coca cultivation rose 17 per cent in Bolivia, while Peru's coca surface increased by 14 per cent. The report said Peru was now responsible for one-third of the world's cocaine production.
"The increase in Bolivia and Peru is worrisome," said Antonio Maria Costa, UNODC executive director.
"After the sustained decline in the Andean region during the past five years, however, it is too early to characterise the increase in 2004 as a trend reversal."
The figures challenge Washington's insistence that there is no evidence of a "balloon effect" in the region, in which the eradication of coca crops in one area pushes it into a neighbouring country or region.
A US government report released in March said there was virtually no increase in regional coca production between 2003 and 2004.
Congress is expected this month to consider President George W. Bush's 2006 budget proposals for the State Department's Andean Counterdrug Initiative.
Although the budget request increases anti-drug aid to Colombia, it would cut money to Peru, the second biggest coca producer, from more than $115m this year to $97m in 2006. Anti-drug aid to Bolivia will be trimmed from more than $90mto $80m.
Nils Ericsson, head of Peru's anti-drug agency, says Peru risks becoming a "narco-state" without drastic measures to reduce coca planting. Mr Ericsson estimates that Peru is capable of producing between 150 and 170 tons of cocaine a year.
Elmer Cubas, a Peruvian economist, has warned that Peru may be in a "pre-boom" period in which conditions existed for a repeat of the late 1980s, when coca crops spread rapidly through the jungle region. which would fund the cocaine gangs who are making common cause with the Islamacists ....
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005
11:10 ||
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In Clinton's time some researchers were reprimanded for comming up with a fungus that kills coca. The logic was that the fungus would upset the eco balance.
Pyongyang, June 14 (KCNA) -- Charge d'Affaires a.i. Klaus Wendelberger and staff members of the German embassy here helped the Ryang Se Sik-led farm in the farm work on June 13. German guests were briefed on the monument to the field guidance given by leader Kim Jong Il before helping farmers in weeding paddy fields.
Looks like all the embassy folk are spending time out in the fields
During break they conversed with officials of the farm, deepening the friendship. Referring to the fact that the DPRK is focusing all its efforts on the farming this year, Klaus wished the farm greater success in its agricultural production.
"Good luck. You'll need it"
Pyongyang, June 14 (KCNA) -- The agricultural working people and helpers of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have wound up rice transplantation successfully on the main across the country by giving full play to collectivism. Lots of laudable collectivist deeds have been done in the socialist co-op fields under the slogan of "One for all and all for one!"
"Every man for himself!"
The slogan was set forth by President Kim Il Sung after the socialist system was established in the DPRK with the successful completion of the socialist transformation of the old production relations.
On June 1, farmers of the Migok Co-op Farm in Sariwon City, North Hwanghae Province, who had finished rice-transplantation, helped those of a neighbouring farm in their work without any rest. This collectivist spirit displayed in the Songun era has been spreading throughout co-op farms of the country including the Oguk Co-op Farm in Anak County, South Hwanghae Province, arousing agricultural working people in the efforts for a new upswing in production. It has been responded by all the people of the country.
Kim Hyok Jin, vice-minister of Agriculture, told KCNA that the beautiful deeds done by agricultural working people demonstrated once again the true feature of the Korean society in which the the leader, Party and masses are united in one mind. It is certain to win a victory in the agricultural sector when the advantage of the socialist collective economy is given to full play, he stressed.
The chief secretary of the Sinchon County, South Hwanghae Province, Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea, said that the secret of the successful conclusion of the rice-transplantation in the most proper time is a demonstration of the advantage of the collective economy.
The members of the Migok Co-op Farm are resolved to counter the intensified moves of the U.S. imperialists to isolate and stifle the DPRK with the collectivist spirit and thus to adorn this significant year with a shining victory. The trait of collectivism has been brought into fuller play in the Songun era under the wise leadership of Kim Jong Il.
"And now, today's Farm Weather report. Take it away, Kim!"
Pyongyang, June 14, (KCNA) -- It hailed untimely in South Hamgyong Province in the northeastern part of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Between around 20:30 and around 21:00 on the 10th of June and between around 18:30 and around 19:30 on the next day heavy showers with hailstones fell once or twice in the overall inner highland of the province under the influence of the low atmospheric pressure traveling from the northeastern area of China.
According to the observation made by relevant weather stations the hailstones fell in Sinhung and Hongwon areas were as big as 25-30mm in diameter and those in Jangjin, Pujon, Hamhung and Jongphyong 5~10mm in diameter.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
11:02 ||
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Yes, yes. Just some harmless intelligence gathering rice planting. Glad to help out.
Posted by: Klaus Wendelberger ||
06/15/2005 12:02
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the secret of the successful conclusion of the rice-transplantation in the most proper time is a demonstration of the advantage of the slavery-based collective economy
Way to do lots of laudable collectivist deeds, dood
#4
Lots of laudable collectivist deeds have been done in the socialist co-op fields under the slogan of "One for all and all for one!" "Every man for himself!"
ROFLMAO! Sometimes I thinker I could be like green man, but it's lines like the above that make me realize Ima still in the instructional league.
#5
but it's lines like the above that make me realize Ima still in the instructional league.
Old fashioned education, bad movies, tv and sci-fi novels and years of heavy drinking made me the man I am today.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005 16:17
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OTTAWA—The RCMP and Canadian military believe they've discovered a vital cache of information on Al Qaeda that includes the whereabouts of wanted members and details of attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan. The information is allegedly contained in a laptop, dozens of DVDs, audiocassettes and the pages of diaries, seized by the RCMP officers who met Zaynab Khadr at Pearson airport with a search warrant as she arrived back in Canada in February, court documents state. Khadr is the eldest daughter of a family that has admitted close ties to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and whose patriarch was once believed to be the highest-ranking Canadian member of Al Qaeda. Her younger brother, Omar, is currently Canada's only known detainee in the American camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
The Khadr family is featured on a regular basis here at Rantburg. Brother Abdurahman also spent time at Club Gitmo
With the three-month time limit allotted to the federal police force to hold the items having now expired, the RCMP must go to a Toronto court this Friday to persuade a judge to allow them to continue doing a forensic evaluation of the seized materials. But Khadr's lawyer Dennis Edney says the Mounties are on nothing more than a "fishing expedition," and will argue that Khadr is entitled to her possessions.
Khadr, 25, said in an interview yesterday that anything found on the laptop, except personal pictures and a few "cartoons" that she downloaded, are not hers. She says she bought her laptop second-hand about seven months before coming to Canada. The audiocassettes, described in court documents as providing "significant information regarding `after-battle action reports' of Al Qaeda and Taliban insurgents" involved in attacking coalition forces in Afghanistan, were found among her father's possessions after he was killed in 2003, Khadr said. "I think it's my right to bring what I want since I'm not breaking any laws, so I decided to bring them," she said. "Although I don't know what's on them, I still thought I'd bring them."
The "I don't know, they ain't mine, I'm being framed" defense.
Khadr has not been charged in Canada or Pakistan, where she lived with her young daughter and sister before returning to Scarborough to be with her mother and brothers. The court documents state there are "still a number of steps" to be taken in the investigation, that cannot be disclosed, but that her written records are being studied by the RCMP's behavioural sciences unit for a "psychological analysis" and to determine if she is a "threat to society."
Among her possessions, the RCMP allege, are downloaded clips of bin Laden's voice and songs — one titled "I am a Terrorist" — which contain excerpts from speeches calling for the killing of Americans. There is also allegedly a video clip of a 2003 attack on a compound used by Westerners in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and cassettes about insurgent attacks in Afghanistan. Canada has troops stationed in Afghanistan.
"(T)hey provide insights into the tactics, techniques and procedures by these insurgent groups," the documents allege. "They (also) provide time and place information regarding activities of key Al Qaeda and Taliban personalities who are presently at large and operating against coalition troops." The seven-page affidavit by RCMP Sgt. Konrad Shourie, filed last month in the Ontario Court of Justice, provides rarely revealed details about the terrorism investigation.
#2
Aren't these the same people that said they would leve Canada if they would give them back thier passports. Give them back thier passports and follow them. They are too stupid not to lead us to some more enemys
#4
These are the kind of people the ACLU, and People for the American Way are always going to the matt for. Why? Tell me why do we do our level best as a society to tollerate shit like this? It is time for some big changes boys. Before we have another 9-11, lets kick these a-holes out of OUR country.
Two previously undisclosed memos have emerged which seem to implicate the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the UN's scandal-ridden oil-for-food programme. The memos appear to challenge Mr Annan's assertion that he knew nothing of the award of a lucrative UN contract to a company that employed his son.
Last night, the Independent Inquiry Committee appointed by the UN to investigate corruption in the oil-food-programme said it was launching a fresh investigation into the documents. Until now, the committee has cleared Mr Annan of any conflict of interest in the award of UN contracts. The memos are the first evidence from the time to suggest that Cotecna Inspection Services, a Swiss company that employed Mr Annan's son, Kojo, may have had contact with the Secretary-General before making a successful bid for a UN contract issued under the oil-for-food programme. The memos describe a meeting between Cotecna and "the SG and his entourage" in Paris in 1998 and say that Cotecna expected "to count on their support." The company was awarded a multi-million dollar contract a few weeks later. [more at link] If the moonbats want to see a building brought down by internal explosions, look no further than the UN...
Bet this won't make my paper. We will run a story on some stupid poll in the USA where 'most americans don't think the war in Iraq made them safer' instead.
Former FBI Director Louis Freeh has written a book detailing his career, including his eight years as head of the bureau during the Clinton administration - where he describes his frustration over the fact that Bill Clinton wouldn't take his warnings about the terrorist threat seriously.
Freeh's book - due out in October and titled "My FBI: Bringing Down the Mafia, Investigating Bill Clinton, and Waging War on Terror" - promises to be the first in-depth account by the nation's former top cop of his days presiding over FBI investigations into one Clinton scandal after another. According to publisher St. Martin's Press, "Freeh tells his story, from Catholic school to law school to U.S. district attorney to head of the FBI, where he battles his boss, Bill Clinton, and tries to make everyone wake up to the threat of terrorism." The former top lawman has previously complained about Clinton abuses of power in the Filegate and Chinagate scandals. He told the Wall Street Journal in 2002 that the Clinton administration had a cavalier attitude toward terrorism.
Boy, I can't wait till the "60 Minutes" interview with him about this book. Oh, you say it's about Clinton and not Bush? Never mind
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
10:30 ||
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IIRC, Freeh's a world-class technophobe and the main reason why a lot of FBI personnel had Intel 386 PC's at their desks as late as 2000. Wonder how the hell he handled running out of ribbon for that 1912 typewriter of his? Or ya suppose he found a retired 70-year-old secretary who can still do shorthand?
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
06/15/2005 23:11
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June 15, 2005: In Saudi Arabia, the government, for the first time, issued a warning of terrorist attacks against American housing compounds. In the past, Western governments had issued their own warnings, saying that they were relying on their own intelligence resources. But Saudi Arabia was reluctant to admit that Westerners living in the country were at risk. That has changed. Saudi Arabia has also, recently, been calling for world wide cooperation, and sharing, of intelligence on terrorism. Saudi Arabia now sees al Qaeda as a long term, and world wide, threat.
Saudi Arabia has cracked down hard on Islamic terrorism within its borders. But at the same time, millions of Saudis still support such terrorism, although nearly all Saudis are opposed to such terrorism within Saudi Arabia. Most Islamic radicals in Saudi Arabia are willing to abide by this unofficial rule. Thus several hundred Saudi men have gone to Iraq to fight. Some 42 percent of the suicide bombers in Iraq have been identified as Saudi.
But some of these Islamic terrorists continue to plot attacks within Saudi Arabia. Such terrorists have a hard time of it, as there are always enough Saudis willing to turn them in. But a few active terrorist cells continue to survive. For example, last month, two gunmen, disguised as women, tried to shoot their way into a mosque in the holy city of Mecca. The two were killed, as were two of the policemen who confronted them when the guns came out from beneath the women's clothing. Senior clerics in Mecca then denounced such terrorism. Yet many of these same clerics still support the things like destroying Israel, expelling all non-Moslems from Saudi Arabia and forcibly converting Shia Moslems to the mainline Sunni form. The government tolerates some of this talk, and only comes down hard on those who advocate terror attacks on civilians anywhere, especially Western countries that buy Saudi oil, and sell it weapons.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
10:25 ||
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For the same reason India attracts Buddists, Churches attract Christians, San Fransisco attracts gays, etc.
Make an enviroment that encourages that mindset, the minders will come.
Algerian Islamic gunmen attacked a military patrol in western Algeria, killing three troops and a civilian, security sources said Wednesday. The sources said the attack occurred Monday in the coastal province of Tibaza, 70 kilometers (43 miles) west of Algiers, when a group of 20 gunmen ambushed the military patrol with automatic weapons fire. A civilian traveling with the patrol was killed in addition to three soldiers. The army later combed the mountainous region in search of the attackers.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
10:23 ||
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A Lebanese national killed a defendant being tried for genocide in a Beirut courtroom Wednesday in an act of revenge, police said.
They're conducting genocide trials in Lebanon? Did they clear this with the UN?
The minute defendant Mohammed Farhani appeared in court at the military tribunal, a member of the audience, Mustafa Mustafa, rushed to the middle of the room and shot him.
"Take this, mutha f**ker!" BANG!
Police said Mustafa smuggled the gun in the tribunal building by hiding it in the gypsum that covered his leg which he pretended that it was broken. Mustafa did not go through the metal detector pretending that his fractured leg was fixed with metallic plate and screws, police added.
Ok, I give him A+ for the hidden gun in the cast gag, A+ for talking his way around the metal detectors and A+ for marksmanship. He does lose points for lack of an escape plan, but still gets a final grade of A.
Initial investigation indicated that Mustafa acted to avenge the killing of his brother.
No details as to who his brother was, why he was killed and why this is a genocide trial
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
10:05 ||
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from Debka, so it is either right on target or way off ...
On the march against the Tehran regime since April, the ethnic Arab rebels of Iran's southwest province of Khuzestan have for the first time struck an Iranian oil target. This attack, revealed here by DEBKAfile's Exclusive Iranian sources, took place Wednesday, June 8. The guerrillas struck the new petrochemical installations of the Karoun Oil and Gas Production's drilling and well services, east of the provincial capital of Ahwaz.
Saturday night, June 11, President Mohammed Khatami flew in to the restive region which supplies 80% of Iran's oil output to assess the damage.
Four hours after he returned to Tehran, Arab guerrillas detonated four bombs in Ahwaz — one at least by a suicide bomber - against the Iranian planning ministry near the governor's seat, the central post office, the housing ministry and the home of the Tehran-appointed director of the local television station. At least eight people were killed, up to 35 injured
Later Sunday, June 12, a busy Tehran square was the scene of another bombing attack, the first the Iranian capital had experienced in a decade. One person was killed, according to the Iranian interior ministry.
The Khuzestan Arab guerrillas, calling their movement Nahda (Renaissance), hit the two Iranians cities five days before the June 17 presidential election. They brought to a climax bombing attacks for weeks against trains, banks and government buildings - and most recently nightly shooting attacks on the Ahwaz campaign offices of presidential candidates Hashemi Rafshanjani and former Revolutionary Guards commander Mohsein Rezai. Nahda appears to represent a coalition of Khuzestan's at least eight anti-government groups.
About two weeks ago, Iranian security arrested thousands of Arab community leaders in Khuzestan, releasing them later against bonds running into hundreds of thousands of dollars against their abstinence from anti-government activities. A second round of mass arrests took place Sunday. Khuzestani Internet links were also cut.
The ethnic Arabs of Khuzestan, some 3% of Iran's 67 million inhabitants, are now threatening to boycott next Thursday's election. This organized protest by the 2 million Shiite Arab inhabitants of Iran's most abundant oil center would be a severe blow for the Islamic regime.
Teheran has accused US and British intelligence of engineering Arab unrest in Khuzestan from across the border in Iraq. Iraq Kurds are also believed to be assisting the rebels. The Iranians countered two weeks ago by halting all Iranian pilgrimage to Iraqi Shiite shrines, virtually shutting their borders with Iraq. more, please
Iranian Arabs, mostly Shiites, had been making regular pilgrimages to Najef and Karbala in the last two years. Officials in Tehran accused US and Iraqi intelligence of recruiting these pilgrims and sending them back home trained for anti-government guerrilla action
Ain't life a bitch when doors swing both ways?
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005
09:52 ||
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#1
Oh, that's devious. Reprogram the killbots at the docking station. *snicker*
My uninformed opinion is that Iran is just sore that they are losing pilgrim revenue from their own holy tourist traps.
#2
I am far more optimistic. I would hope that the US has already got more covert ops forces in not just the Arab SW and the Kurdish NW, but also the Pushtun SE and even in the Turkmen North, all vigorously cutting up rough. If you think a two front war can be taxing, what about a five front civil war?
#3
I would'nt count on the Arab SW, or help them. They will use anything we help them with on us later. I'd help the Iranians here. They've been helping terrorist who in turn help these terrorist. These terrorist will do the same to us in a second.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, June 15 (UPI) -- A United Arab Emirates daily, citing unnamed sources, reported Wednesday the United States was massing troops on the Syrian-Iraqi border.
Do tell...
The pro-government al-Bayan daily quoted unidentified Arab officials as saying that Egypt and Saudi Arabia "have reliable information from Damascus of U.S. military mobilization on the Syrian-Iraqi border." The sources also told the paper the U.S. forces have repeatedly crossed the Iraqi border with the "pretext of chasing infiltrators and Iraqi insurgents."
Gee, he sez that like it's a bad thing
They said that Egypt and Saudi Arabia will express their "grave concern over the growing U.S. administration's threats against Syria" during U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to the Middle East that starts at the end of the week.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
09:47 ||
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#1
I wish. They probably just mistook some US Army units conducting anti-infiltration operations for "massing troops." Of course, hot pursuit of infiltrators into Syria is a pretty good pretext for taking down the Assad regime, but I don't see it happening.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
06/15/2005 10:18
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At least a month or two ago, Debka said that the US was going to start both pursuing bad boyz into Syria and going into Syria proper to hunt down some of the Baathist a-holes. They also said that while Syria might grumble about it a little, they would sit back and watch it happen, having been advised by Washington to lie back, relax and enjoy it or else. Any "build up" would be the personnel on the good side of the border needed for support.
#7
Works for me. If Syria is unable or unwilling to stop terrorists from using the country as a base, someone needs to do it. The other part of the equation is to deal with the Saudi Imams that promote their Jihad package and the Saudi princes that finance it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2005 11:11
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#8
Al-aksa: long-range, the US had a choice, do that with a couple of nukes and change the culture, or do it piece-meal, humanely, sacrifice US lives, and try to remake the middle east into a functional modern region.
They humanely chose the latter. And it seems we are slowly winning in Iraq which means a long slow painful victory with plenty of setbacks.
But at least no radioactive glass.
Next threat though is plainly China. With an army of untold millions. And an arsenal of nukes.
#12
I hope this is true however I sereously doubt the take over syria part I do believe that old Rumsfield & Rice would not have a problem with OKing the chase down the insergents into Syria and hitting certian training camps over the border of course all such moves would be denied and the Syrians if any sense at all would also deny the attacks for two reason 1) if they tried to stop the US it would turn into a take over syria and 2) if they admitted it and dindnt attack back they would look weak to thier people and when totalitarian regiems look week they usually are replaced in short order by the next thug.
I like the fact of if true US forces chasing and hitting camps across the border. It looks to me we have been making a layered advance. First we secured the Kurd North then Shia south. Now recently we have established police and Iraqo army in and somwhat secured or in process of finishing Baghdad and the imediate west of including Mosul, Ramadi, Falluja ect... and it looks we are moving to establish in the far west border region with our large number of attacks and searches soon I expect we will be setting up the Police and Iraqi Gov to begin Securing the newly taken territory. Once that is completed the next step is the death blow across into the syrian base territories on the border.
Once this is completed I imagine we will build Iraqi support forces resupply maintenance repair logistics air force ect.. to make them independent capable then a R&R for our forces a holding force like the S. Korea defense force then of course on to Phase 3.
#13
An officer who was in al Anbar province very recently told me the troops are there for interdiction: "The border is very very porous. In reality there's no border there at all."
#19
If there's no border, it's time to make a border. I understand the US Army is fairly well equipped with engineers and surveyors, this would seem to be an ideal place for them.
The center of gravity in Baghdad has changed. IP and ING have managed to pacify a lot of it. ANd that means US units are free to move out of those areas, leaving behind intervention forces.
Where do all those troops go? Out into the triangle, and up on the border areas. Start choking off the flow and making the IP/ING job easier. Virtuous cycle.
Too bad the press doesnt see it - or mischaracterizes it as in this article.
A leading British medical journal has published an editorial warning against the "hype" surrounding recent advances in stem cell research. The editorial notes that at a recent public debate in London, experts predicted that safe and effective treatments for diseases were at least a decade away. The Lancet's warning is the latest attempt by medical experts -- including many who support embryonic stem cell (ESC) research -- to dampen what they say are unrealistic expectations that stem cells will soon provide cure a range of diseases.
Last month South Korean researchers said they had succeeded in producing stem cell lines from cloned human embryos, a major breakthrough in a field whose proponents depict as science's exciting new frontier but whose opponents call immoral because embryos are destroyed in the process. The Lancet noted that "numerous sensationalist headlines" had greeted the news from Korea. The journal does not oppose ESC research, but pointed to "major practical and ethical issues" and said much more research was needed "before clinical trials become widespread."
In the drive to experiment on human embryos, different countries have considered allowing scientists to obtain the cells from varied sources -- from unwanted embryos left over after IVF treatment; from embryos created by IVF specifically for the purpose of providing cells; or from cloned embryos. In each case, the embryos are destroyed, making the research anathema to pro-lifers.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
09:41 ||
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Wait a sec, didn't Edwards generate a river of crocodile tears and endear himself 'n Skeery to the Moonbats forever with his insinuation that Christopher Reeve could've been magically cured, apparently instantly, were it not for Dubya? Yeah, he did.
Today Douglas Wood, Australian hostage, was freed in a joint Iraqi-US military operation. You wouldn't know it as Sheikh al-Hilaly, in Iraq "negotiating" his freedom has claimed it as his personal victory and that Douglas Wood was released. Govt appears not to care now hostage is free and is letting him claim this victory.
The truth is, he wasn't released, he was freed in a military raid. But the following is how the original story is now being perverted: Cleric to receive hero's welcome
AUSTRALIA's Islamic community is celebrating the release of Australian hostage Douglas Wood and the part played in it by its spiritual leader, Sheik Taj al-din al-Hilali. The sheik, a controversial figure in Australia, has spent much of the past month in Iraq trying to negotiate Mr Wood's release. Including telling the Jihadis he supports their jihad, including telling Australia it's close relationship with the US was not helping Douglas Wood.
The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils says the sheik, or Grand Mufti as he is also known, knew as early as 2am (AEST) today that Mr Wood had been released (freed by a joint Iraqi/US military raid)
by the insurgents who kidnapped him in early May, Council head Amjad Ali Mehboob said he had spoken by phone to the sheik, who was in Cairo. "He said everything had been set in place for Mr Wood's release for some time, like last time he promised Wood would be released and he wasn't...
but he was very glad Mr Wood had been released," Mr Mehboob said. "The mufti risked a lot ... he is not in good health. "He will be joining the Wood family after he has had some check-up and things." Australian Muslims, who have long complained repeatedly, vocally despite being protected by legislation and a PC media such as SBS who refuses to even report the word Islam and terrorist in the same sentence even when it is blatantly factually required. That's right we're all racists here...
of being discriminated against, particularly since the September 11 attacks in the US, believe the release of Mr Wood will provide a much needed boost to the community. by lying about the importance of Hilaly in freeing Wood I suppose...
The sheik has been widely criticised in Australia over his reported speeches and sermons, seen by many as provocative. Racist, anti-women, anti-gay, anti-jew, anti-kuffar...
He was quoted in a sermon a few years ago as saying Jews were the underlying cause of all wars. And yet he was never taken to court... why?
He was also reported as praising suicide bombers and calling the September 11 attacks in New York "God's work". He claimed to have been mistranslated. But he wasn't.
#1
From earlier reports:
"Iraqi forces helped to free Wood"
Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer later said a number of militants had been detained following the operation. (daily telegraph)
AUSTRALIAN hostage Douglas Wood is well and undergoing medical checks following his rescue more than six weeks after being kidnapped in Iraq.
...
Mr Wood was freed this afternoon by Iraqi and US troops in Baghdad, Mr Howard said.
AUSTRALIA'S leading Muslim cleric, Sheikh Taj Aldin Alhilali, has thanked "honest Iraqis" for helping him organise the release of hostage Douglas Wood.
AUSTRALIA'S leading Muslim cleric, Sheikh Taj Aldin Alhilali, has thanked "honest Iraqis" for helping him organise the release of hostage Douglas Wood. (Daily telegraph - "Sheikh thanks Iraqis for Wood")
#4
Me, too, Seafarious, but as PC culture down here has it, I am unlikely to see it except on Rantburg.
The MSM here will be UNABLE to print a story on the rescue of Wood without inflating Sheikh Hilaly's role.
Downer, in trying to be diplomatic, will not come out and say Hilaly is lying. He has already said it was "team Australia" and thanks to all Aussies coming together from diverse multicultural backgrounds.
It's becoming a propaganda coup for the multicultis regardless of the fact that it was actually our best allies and friends the US that we have to thank - again!
At least 23 Iraqi soldiers have been killed in a suspected suicide bomb attack, army officials say. The explosion happened at a canteen inside an army base in the town of Khalis, 60km (40 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad. About 28 people are reported to have been injured in the blast. At least 900 people - mostly Iraqi civilians - have been killed in renewed violence since a new interim government was formed on 28 April. The blast - described by an Iraqi army spokesman as "massive" - occurred at about 1300 local time (0900 GMT). Army officials say the attacker - dressed in an army uniform - waited until soldiers had gathered for lunch before blowing himself up. Iraqi officials said most of the injured were sent to hospitals in the nearby town of Baquba. An investigation has been launched into the incident - the second attack inside an Iraqi army base in four days.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
09:30 ||
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"This bit looks Soddy, this bit looks to be Yemeni. Hard to tell at this juncture. We'll wait for Dr. Quincy's report."
#2
assuming the bomber is non iraqi this kind of thing should be relatively easy to prevent simply by having all people entering the camp answer some questions, the foreign accent would give the foreigner away
if the suicide bomber is Iraqi, then code words would be needed to enter camp -- this is a bit more difficult but still doable
Spanish police have arrested 16 people suspected of having links to Islamic terror groups. Five of the suspects were held for alleged involvement in the Madrid train bombings of March 2004. The other 11 men are thought to have links to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant spearheading the insurgency in Iraq. Some 500 police took part in raids in Madrid and a number of regions across Spain, the interior ministry said. No weapons or explosives have been reported found.
A series of co-ordinated bombs attacks on trains in Madrid on 11 March last year killed 191 people and sparked a wave of police raids on suspected militants. Dozens have been arrested and several have already faced trial. Twenty-four men charged with terror offences recently appeared in court, three of them accused of involvement in planning the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US. As well as Madrid, Wednesday's arrests were made in the north-eastern region of Catalonia, Andalucia in southern Spain, Levante in the east, and Ceuta, Spanish territory on the northern Moroccan coast.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
09:24 ||
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A Buddhist man has been found beheaded in the majority Muslim province of Pattani in southern Thailand. A note found next to the man's head claimed the murder was carried out in response to last week's arrest of a prominent Muslim student leader. It was the fifth decapitation in a conflict that has claimed more than 700 lives in the past 18 months.
The note next to the severed head of retired teacher Kamol Chuneth carried a message obviously intended for police. The note said that the authorities had arrested the wrong man. The person it appeared to be referring to is a local Muslim student leader, who was recently arrested and charged with involvement in the ongoing unrest. He is currently being held in the capital, Bangkok.
Since the violence escalated in January 2004, the death toll has continued to rise steadily in a conflict between local Muslim separatist groups and the Buddhist Thai authorities. Many Muslims have complained of discrimination by the central government, particularly in education. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra publicly stated last month that his government would tone down its hardline stance on the issue. However the almost daily murders in the area appear to signify he is no closer to solving the problem.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
09:19 ||
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#4
frank g and jfm. You both are right on. Someone needs to do that. Everytime they do something to avenge something, we need to double whatever it is they are avenging.
#5
So... if the Thai cops arrested the wrong student.. an one innocent was decapitated for it, then what would the result be if the alleged correct student was apprehended? 3 innocents? 4 innocents? A whole kindergarten class? It does prove that these radical moonzlims are indeed the spawn of Satan and we should be gladden that these evil spirits are revealing themselves now rather than later. We can rejoice that these demononic products of satan provide the chance to battle them in defense and glory of the one true and living God. It is saddening and sickening that the innocent are always vicitimized in this struggloe between the good and bad.
The site itself isn't as complete as the french version (http://www.laveritemaintenant.org/), even if it has some good material, so you can also refer to the Transatlantic Intelligencer blog for a good summary of this modern-day blood libel : http://www.trans-int.blogspot.com/ (see the multiple links in the sidebar).
This is old news, agreed, but this deserves more coverage, as the french mediasphere is bunkerized in its denial.
A rebel splinter group has admitted responsibility for a recent spate of attacks in Senegal's troubled southern region, Casamance. The group is a breakaway faction of the MFDC, which signed a peace deal with the government late last year. The rebels are described as a hardline faction that is opposed to the peace agreement.
Translation: "We didn't get our piece of the action"
The army says renewed hostilities would mean a major troop redeployment in the region. A BBC correspondent in Casamance says people in the region have been terrified by the attacks, which are also threatening investment in the region's valuable cashew nut production.
"No blood for nuts!"
(Insert African country here) Casamance is struggling to rebuild itself following a violent separatist rebellion that lasted more than 20 years and killed an estimated 3,500 people.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005
09:14 ||
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MAY was a costly month in Iraq: 700 Iraqis and some 80 Americans died, making it one of the bloodiest months of the war. While bombings in Baghdad decreased over the last two weeks as the result of a major sweep by some 40,000 Iraqi soldiers and policemen, backed up by 10,000 troops (Operation Lightning/Operation Thunder), insurgent attacks against Iraqi civilians and police have resumed.
The continuing attacks have generated the usual sort of stories in the U.S. press: America is mired in a Vietnam-style quagmire. Thus a recent Boston Globe report began by claiming: "Military operations in Iraq have not succeeded in weakening the insurgency."
But the Globe is wrong. Coalition operations in Iraq have killed hundreds of insurgents and led to the capture of many hundreds more, including two dozen of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's top lieutenants. Intelligence from captured insurgents, as well as from Zarqawi's computer, has had a cascading effect, permitting the Coalition to maintain pressure on the insurgency.
Vice President Dick Cheney's recent claim that the insurgency was in its "last throes," however, was clearly an overstatement. But while the outcome in Iraq is far from certain — and even a favorable one won't come overnight — evidence suggests the United States and the new Iraqi government are on the right track to ultimate success. To understand why, it is necessary to grasp the essentials of the current U.S. strategy in Iraq and how it seems to be playing out.
The Globe's problem, one shared by most of the American press, is the tendency to see events in Iraq as isolated. They fail to see the overall campaign: a series of coordinated events — movements, battles and supporting operations — designed to achieve strategic or operational objectives within a military theater.
No force, conventional or guerrilla, can continue to fight if it is deprived of sanctuary and logistics support. Accordingly, the central goal of the U.S. strategy in Iraq is to destroy the insurgency by depriving it of its base in the Sunni Triangle and its "ratlines" — the infiltration routes that run from the Syrian border into the heart of Iraq.
One ratline follows the Euphrates River corridor — running from Syria to Husayba on the Syrian border and then through Qaim, Rawa, Haditha, Asad, Hit and Fallujah to Baghdad. The other follows the course of the Tigris — from the north through Mosul-Tel Afar to Tikrit and on to Baghdad. These two "river corridors" constitute the main spatial elements of a campaign to implement U.S. strategy.
This campaign began last November with the takedown of Fallujah.
Wresting Fallujah from the rebels was critically important: Control of the town had given them the infrastructure — human and physical — necessary to maintain a high tempo of attacks against the Iraqi government and coalition forces.
In and of itself, the loss of Fallujah didn't cause the insurgency to collapse, but it did deprive the rebels of an indispensable sanctuary. Absent such a sanctuary, large terrorist networks cannot easily survive, being reduced to small, hunted bands.
More at link
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/15/2005
09:13 ||
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#1
The Globe's problem, one shared by most of the American press, is the tendency to see events in Iraq as isolated. They fail to see the overall campaign...
The problem stems from a dearth of experience in this area, lack of reaonably friendly contacts with people that could provide observations based on experience, a traditional viewpoint that eschews any current look at 'the big picture', and an ingrained mentality about what the press should focus on (like social issues, pandering to interest groups, not angering their sophisticated urban readership, etc,)
#2
Let's not forget that if a member of the US military sat down with a dozen reporters and spelled it all out to them, accompanied by raw photos, the analysts to interpret them, and eyewitnesses to corroborate everything, the reporters would all be thinking, "He's covering up something."
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/15/2005 10:48
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#3
Also, the reporters have to be critical when reporting on US military or else they worry they will be or appear to be propaganda puppets.
But this critical nature doesn't extend to reporting PR press releases from Islamists ... they can go straight in the paper no questions asked, at least in Australia.
#4
obviously I hope this rivers strategy is working but frankly I don't understand it
there seems to be plenty of space between the rivers for the terrorists to have sanctuary
It doesn't take a lot of space to put together the bombs used by the suicide bombers; it doesn't take a big 'in Iraq' logistics operation if much of the operation takes place somewhere else.
#5
Anyone who reads the Boston Globe for insight on the military situation in Iraq would probably also read Lady's Home Journal for their NFL Draft Special Edition...
#6
Let's not forget that if a member of the US military sat down with a dozen reporters and spelled it all out to them, accompanied by raw photos, the analysts to interpret them, and eyewitnesses to corroborate everything, the reporters would all be thinking, "He's covering up something."
..or if it was a pre-action briefing they would probably print it! How can our military really trust some of these guys from LAT/NYT/Globe/NPR etc.? I don't think they can. Best reading on all of this is still "Army Times"
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/15/2005 16:32
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Got it through one of my ML. Compare it to the past story about thoses pious islamic preachers telling the rubs that miniskirts cause cancers for infidel wimmen.
[...]Q: What do 19th century London-dwellers and conservative Muslim women living in 21st century Scandinavia have in common?
A: Both display a tendency toward vitamin D deficiency.
Historical accounts indicate that rickets was common in 19th century English cities, probably because coal smoke was so thick it hid the vitamin D-producing midday sun. (Rickets is a disease in which developing bones soften and curve because they aren't receiving enough calcium, uptake of which into bones requires adequate vitamin D.)
Modern research suggests that the traditional head covering called the hijab leaves Islamic women living in already sun-lacking northern latitudes prone to substantial vitamin D deficiency, which can promote cancer, depression—and osteoporosis.
[...]
It looks very much like we have reached OPEC's absolute capacity to supply oil. Its not clear what happens next (apart from a wrenching recession) but I'm guessing things that seem unthinkable today will rapidly come onto the agenda. Khuzestan becomes liberated Arabistan? A Kurdish corridor to the sea? The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to increase output quotas by 1.8 percent, acknowledging that four increases in production in the past 12 months failed to stop oil's surge above $50 a barrel.
The group, which pumps almost 40 percent of the world's oil, will boost quotas by 500,000 barrels a day to 28 million a day, said Saudi Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi. OPEC is already supplying that amount, and ministers from Iran, Venezuela and Kuwait earlier said additional oil supply isn't imminent. The OPEC president, Sheikh Ahmad Fahd al-Sabah of Kuwait, will have the authority to seek another increase later as needed.
``The quotas have become meaningless,'' said Julian Lee, an analyst at the Centre for Global Energy Studies, a London-based consulting company founded by former Saudi oil minister Sheikh Zaki Yamani. ``The only likely way out of $50 to $55 a barrel oil is a dramatic slowdown in oil demand. There's no new source of supply that's going to come on stream.''
OPEC members want to lower prices to prevent a further weakening of the world economy, which would hurt oil demand. The International Monetary Fund forecasts world economic growth will slow to 4.3 percent in 2005 from 5.1 percent in 2004, and Group of Eight finance ministers last weekend said higher energy costs are a ``significant concern.''
Crude oil futures were up 44 cents at $55.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange as of 12:39 p.m. in London. Prices reached a record $58.28 a barrel on April 4.
Concern that crude oil demand may exceed production later this year has extended to the refining industry as processing plants run close to their limits. SNIP
A former Bush team member during his first administration is now voicing serious doubts about the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9-11.So, you want to run for public office, get a rational platform. Former chief economist for the Department of Labor during President George W. Bush's first term Morgan Reynolds comments that the official story about the collapse of the WTC is "bogus" and that it is more likely that a controlled demolition destroyed the Twin Towers and adjacent Building No. 7.Uh, yeah. What about all the camera crews that filmed live coverage of the jets slamming into the towers? Reynolds, who also served as director of the Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis Policy Analysis, now we have our axe to be ground in Dallas and is now professor emeritus at Texas A&M University said, "If demolition destroyed three steel skyscrapers at the World Trade Center on 9/11, then the case for an 'inside job' and a government attack on America would be compelling."A case for you being dangerously insane would also be compelling Morgan Reynolds commented from his Texas A&M office, "It is hard to exaggerate the importance of a scientific debate debate? I'm debating wether you are retarded or just purposely trying to make a mockery of our nations worst tradjedy of my lifetime. over the cause of the collapse of the twin towers and building 7. If the official wisdom on the collapses is wrong, as I believe it is, then policy based on such erroneous engineering analysis is not likely to be correct either. The government's collapse theory is highly vulnerable on its own terms. Only professional demolition appears to account for the full range of facts associated with the collapse of the three buildings." Except for the fact that: all this took place live, in front of an audience of millions, OBL admitted to planning it, there were no explosions after the planes hit, and the reasons given for the collapse seem perfectly plausible to anyone with a brainstem But you're probably right dickweed, it's a big cover up. Why don't you move to Germany or better yet Iran . Oh, and since I'm bitchin, look where the story came from.
#1
He's a moron. The fire that resulted from all that jet fuel being dumped into the towers was hot enough to soften the floor deck which then pulled away from side wall. After that the upper stories pancacked onto the lower floors crushing them down. I've seen several engineering documentaries on the collapse and they all agree on that point. Biggest argument among engineers seems to be if the fire retardent applied to the WTC strucural members was not enough or if it had been blown off during the impact.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005 8:35
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#2
Under what rock do they find stupid assholes like this?
Controlled demolition? You'd think they'd finish getting firemen and cops out before they dropped the buildings. Idiot.
This retard is most likely a bitter douchebag with some axe to grind.
#3
Poor Osama, I bet he's rolling over in his grave that his big moment of fame has been stolen from him. Oh and binny boy, rather than being a big bad jihadist, you are just a GW stoolie.
The most distressing part of the article is that he was this little note: now professor emeritus at Texas A&M University
#4
BigJim, are you complaining that this is from the UPI feed, or that you found it at the Washington Times? I used to think highly of UPI, they seemed to have some good analysis, but after 9/11 they went into serious BDS mode. A reputable journalist organization would never have written this story straight-faced, but rather for Queerities & Oddities section.
#5
Did a little searching and he's a 9-11 nut. Consider this: Bush and the Republican party invoke 9/11 for personal profit, playing the fear card daily, but the downside for these fools is that it fans the thirst for real information about what happened on 9/11. True, the war party has the silent cooperation of a self-censored mainstream media, but that wonât be near enough to carry the day in the information age. Excellent investigations are headed our way and will stir the pot to boiling. To name two, David Ray Griffin, the author of The New Pearl Harbor, soon will publish a new book, The 9/11 Commissionâs Omissions and Distortions: A Critique of the Zelikow Report, and journalist/activist Michael C. Ruppert will publish his shocking Crossing the Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil.
The 9/11 Commission canât quell skepticism about what happened three years ago for three major reasons: First, the event was just too big, too important, to accept a slipshod account and then forget about it. Too many big consequences flow from 9/11 daily, not least of which is the bogus "war on terror." Second, the Bush government has boosted suspicion by getting so darned much benefit out of the whole deal. Where would this bunch be without the horrors of that day? Cui bono?, after all, is the linchpin of criminal investigation. Third, the Commission left way too many unanswered questions and avoided too much evidence.
Oh, and "professor emeritus at Texas A&M University" means he's mostly retired and shows up every once and a while.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/15/2005 9:14
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#6
Oh, and "professor emeritus at Texas A&M University" means he's mostly retired and shows up every once and a while.
#7
So this is what the work product of the "Criminal Justice Center at the National Center for Policy Analysis" looks like? Hell, I can come up with better incendiary BS at 6am any given day even before four cups of coffee. Hopefully he wasn't a full nutter ejit when he was in the government. When this chief economist ventures out of his vole hole he begins to look and sound pretty pathetic under the light of day. Somebody should pop a .22 round off his skull (must be really thick so it wouldn't be harmful, let alone lethal, but rather more akin to hitting reset on a machine) to get him back on the tracks. Time for A&M to review the man's short term disability insurance coverage for mental disorders.
#9
I could be wrong but the footage I've seen suggests that a building destroyed by planned demolitions has it's knees cut out from beneath it and the top of the building comes crashing down on it (mostly intact until it hits the bottom). The twin towers pancacked floor by floor on their way down.
In other words someone planted the demolitions on or around the exact floors the planes hit. The planning required would be staggering even with evil Haliburton remote controlled jets.
A Zimmerman Telegraph scenerio implicating past and future attacks to Iraq combined with some statements from operative Bin Laden himself would have ensured enough lee-way to take out the Taliban and Iraq without mass murder and economic havoc.
The wacky left live in a dark world if they believe this crap.
#10
Steve - correct, except the fire protection sprayed onto the steel is intended to withstand the heat from normal combustibles in buildings, not the tearing impact and all that jet fuel, which overwhelmed any sprinkler systems. The fact he's an economist, as is Paul Krugman, says it all
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 9:53
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#11
The building did it's job, quite well, actually, holding up forover an hour. Fire ratings are usually two-hour or three-hour, designed to give the occupants time to get out and the firemen time to get in. But all that jet fuel was never considered in the design.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/15/2005 12:23
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#12
This ridiculous "theory" keeps surfacing. I had a long-running email battle with a nutter from sydney who refused to budge from this same position.
In some warped brains it is more plausible that the US govmint plus Jooos planted explosives all over the WTC and the pentagon and set them off.
They have all sorts of phoney "science" (misquoted or wrong 'facts', twisted half-truths and out of context assertion and plain old lies) to back up their theory.
Of course it ignores the bleeding freakin' obvious: it happened live in real time, we all saw it, OBL confessed etc.
Yah and the world is still flat ......
But guaranteed it will keep popping up as the human mind likes to look for the harder, hidden 'truth' when the facts are just too simple. It's the X-files effect.
#13
Lots of Aggies are military officers. Might be one reason for this:
The following is a statement from Texas A&M University regarding recent news reports about the collapse of the World Trade Center on 9-11.
Dr. Morgan Reynolds is retired from Texas A&M University, but holds the title of Professor Emeritus-an honorary title bestowed upon select tenured faculty, who have retired with ten or more years of service. Additionally, contrary to some written reports, while some faculty emeriti are allocated office space at Texas A&M, Dr. Reynolds does not have an office on the Texas A&M campus. Any statements made by Dr. Reynolds are in his capacity as a private citizen and do not represent the views of Texas A&M University. Below is a statement released yesterday by Dr. Robert M. Gates, President of Texas A&M University:
"The American people know what they saw with their own eyes on September 11, 2001. To suggest any kind of government conspiracy in the events of that day goes beyond the pale.â
#15
I knew it - The Jews did it, operating out of Roswell and aided by BigFoot and Elvis. Oh and I bet the Romulens (part of that vast right wing Republican/ omulan conspiricy) were in on it too!
#16
Their are 2000 members of the Corps of Cadets on campus, many of whom will commission into the military. I don't imagine Reynolds is their favorite prof. Time for the university to give Reynolds a very low key retirement.
Posted by: ed ||
06/15/2005 13:24
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#17
To hear the Radio Free Conspiracy people over the last couple days, you'd think this guy was both completely objective and a civil engineer or other authority.
He's an economist?
I suspect there's a lot of money to be made (courtesy of the same people who really funded 9/11) for pedalling this load of ___p.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/15/2005 14:03
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#18
The fact he's an economist, as is Paul Krugman, says it all
Posted by: Scott R ||
06/15/2005 18:11
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#20
hee hee - bring it on!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 19:12
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#21
Their are 2000 members of the Corps of Cadets on campus, many of whom will commission into the military.
It's the alums the Aggie administration might want to be careful with .... they start withholding $$ for the football team and things could get ugly quick.
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005 19:59
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#22
____ like this is probably going to be the end of tenure on may college campuses.
Or at least I hope so.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/15/2005 20:08
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#23
"Assuming the consequent" plays a major role in conspiracism, asking "if this is true what else must be true?"
It figures on both sides. For conspiracists, it is really the origin of many of the really whacked out theories. The credulous media slave asks itself, "Well, if the gummint can fake a Moon landing and blow up the WTC, why can't the world be secretly controlled by lizards from the fourth dimension?" Acceptance of one major alternate reality makes others credible since the case for a new belief, a new conspiracy, is as good as that for others that are already believed.
It also works for the skeptic, however. "If the government can blow up the WTC and essentially get away with it, then what else would have to be true?"
In this case, the Democratic Party itself would have to be under Bush control. The leading Dems have the same evidence Dr. Reynolds does (and indeed that we all do) and the same qualifications (none) yet, with the exception of a couple of two-bit hangers-on, none of them have reached the same conclusions. The same may be said for the law enforcement community, all of it, academia and the major media. The control has to be positive and compelling, too, since an "atmosphere of intimidation" would not silence everyone. If the Bushites have that kind of control, why did we hear about Abu Ghraib or any number of other stories that the Bush administration would prefer had not happened?
There is only one answer, True Believers. We Rantburgers and LGF lizardoids really are alien reptiles from the fourth dimension. Ever consider that, Moonbats? Why not?
Sleep tight.
#24
I agree, Phil. Whether it's judges for life or untouchable academics, the privilege has been thoroughly and dangerously abused. That such an honor, and that's what it should be, should be abolished because of the acts of these Moonbats, cretins,and fuckwits is a true shame, but there's no doubt that they've made such a move an eventuality.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 20:40
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#27
Does this guy also help the Aggie pep squad build its bon fires before the Big Game?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/15/2005 20:42
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#28
Many thanks, .com.
I even have photographic evidence, in the form of this warning sign posted near the Denver Airport:
Incidentally, the "assumption of the consequent" is the basis for a classification system of conspiracy theories. A first order theory, like the Moon Hoax, is one that any sufficiently credulous person, with or without existing conspiracist beliefs, might be persuaded to believe.
A second order theory, such as secret alien invasion, requires an existing belief in one or more first order theories.
A third order theory requires a belief in a whole complex of first and second order theories. An example would be the notion that alien abductions are actually the result of a deal between the aliens and the US Government. This allows the aliens to kidnap people for food, and in return the government receives alien goodies, such as advanced technology and immortality.
Such luminaries as Louis Farrakhan have claimed to believe in this, Farrakhan adding the detail that the victims are kept in "holding pens" under the Denver Airport until they are whisked off to alien steakhouses and the like.
#29
I am not encouraged by the level of debate here, but I'm not really surprised either. This shouldn't be a left-right thing. I do not think it horrible for some people to question some aspects of the about what happened on 9/11 any more than I think it's horrible for Jayna Davis to question some aspects of the Oklahoma City bombing, or Laurie Mylrioe to question some aspects of the first WTC attack, or Peter Lance to question TWA 800. In fact, I strongly suspect they're all threads in the same tapestry.
The US gov't's response to any terrorist attack, if possible, is to deny it. It was an accident. Eight simultaneous explosions at an oil refinery? Oh, it was an accident. Railroad car full of hazmat catches fire? Accident. Security guard at the same BASF plant shot point blank a year later? Local cops say a bearded perp did it. FBI says it was self-inflicted.
Plane blows up in a fireball over Long Island sound? Center wing tank explosion. Plane's tail falls off into Jamaica Bay? Top Gun jet wash. The Russians squirmed for a couple of days trying to come up with a really good reason why two of their aircraft crashed within an hour of each other. But in the end, they had to admit it.
Bomb blows up Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma? Two angry white guys. Nothing more. OK, the Fortiers, too. Terry Nichols visited Cebu city at the exact same time Ramzi Yousef was there? Nothing. Oh, and we just found some explosives in Nichols old basement - so maybe the bomb was more sophisticated than we allowed at first - despite our extensive forensic investigation, which consisted of bulldozing the site and paving it over. Our source for the cache location - just some crank felon named Gregory Scarpa Jr. Did you know he tried to tell us that Ramzi Yousef gave the order for the TWA 800 explosion, while he was on trial for the Bojinka plot? Sure, Scarpa was in the adjoining cell, but how much of his BS are you gonna believe?
Heaven forbid that anyone suggest that Al Qaeda is as incompetent as it appears. Heaven forbid that anyone suggest that AQ is incapable of mounting the sophisticated disinformation and technical operations that were required to pull off 9/11. Heaven forbid that anyone suggest that Osama bin Laden couldn't take a piss without a professional intelligence agency to hold his dick for him -- agencies like the IRGC or Unit 999 or the ISI or all three together. Heaven forbid that we get a narrative that the Towers were mined - for that would suggest extreme sophistication. Much more sophistication than the dunderheads living in mud huts and caves in Waziristan could offer up.
Once we start getting into questions of state sponsorship, things start to look really sticky. Where did that anthrax come from? Who sent it and why? How much more of it is there? Avigdor Haselkorn wrote the only competent assessment of the 1991 Gulf War. He saw the reason the conflict ended, and he saw the future. "The Crisis of Deterrence" he called it.
Why can't Bush be honest about 9/11 -- it is not because of ooiiiilll or haliburton or the Jeeeewwws. Bush can't be honest about 9/11 for the same reason he can't sit in front of a camera in the oval office and say: "Look, you anti-war chumps..." and read, verbatim, Stephen Hayes' The Connection or Jayna Davis' The Third Terrorist.
Under the Denver Airport? Um, WTF did Denver do to become so popular? Air rage due to oxygen deprivation / thinner atmosphere? Lol!
The explanation of the classification of conspiracy believers is spot-on. And instructive. Perhaps, in future posts, we can use short-hand and refer to the depth of moonbattedness in the 1-3 range. Farrakhan - yes, now there's a luminary in the field of lucidity and critical thinking. Sigh.
#31
So, Rory, is that the forward of your upcoming book? Are you asserting or offering a view of possibilities?
There's no way to respond, as it is. Looks like a mass of wiggling worms. You invite cherry-picking.
Determining whether or not there's substance to an assertion is one hell of a lot more time-consuming and difficult than throwing spaghetti at the frdge door to see what sticks making an assertion.
#32
Rory, when your meds wear off do you post under the name Joseph Mendiola perchance?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/15/2005 22:01
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#33
Dot Com. Sorry, point taken. I tried to cram an awful lot into a small space in a short amount of time. After breathing into a brown paper bag for a few minutes ;) I'll try to get my point across.
Governments aren't always entirely honest. This is particularly the case in wartime. Governments often have good reason to keep secrets.
Shortly after 9/11 Cheney (I think it was on Meet The Press) described al Qaeda as a "chat room" for terrorists. This struck me as an odd description. But thinking on it now, I can see what he meant, though I probably would have used the words "out sourcing company" or something like that.
I beleive that the major terrorist attacks of our time have been, in fact, state sponsored. I don't think al Qaeda has the capability to do the things it has been blamed for/takes credit for. This is a convenient fiction for all sides.
The state sponsor send sly signals about the real authorship.
Bin Laden and his merrie men get to look the the international badasses they so desperately want to be.
The US, and our allies, get freedom of action (or inaction) in dealing with the state sponsors.
In the commission of these state-sponsored terrorist acts, though, the states leave some fingerprints, both deliberate (those sly signals) or inadvertant. Sometimes we may infer the state sponsorship.
Some people see these elements of sophistication shining through, and automatically assume that, since the government is keeping secrets about the attack, then the government is responsible for the attack.
When the Murrah Federal Building was bombed in 1995, the Clinton administration was not honest about many things. One of those many things recently came to light when the FBI suddenly found those explosives in Nichols' former residence. (If they forget to search a place for evidence, they don't have to find the evidence, don't have to enter it into evidence, don't have to reveal it to the defence during discovery, etc. etc.)
Some people on the right automatically assumed that the Clinton administration were the real perps. Well, no, they had reasons for what they did. Maybe not all *good* reasons, but they had reasons.
Same with 9/11. Bush & Co. have reasons for sitting on lots of information. Including - MAYBE - that the buildings had explosives pre-positioned inside. But the people most likely to be skeptical, most likely to trumpet their skepticism, are on the other side of the political spectrum. They've detected the foul stench of deceit, but they don't see the reasons behind it. They view everything through their ideological lenses.
Of course, the knee-jerk response of any right winger will be "Of course Bush hasn't lied about 9/11. How grotesque!" Just as any left-winger will say the same about Clinton's handling of several terrorist incidents.
Mining the WTC towers (and I think that even the most hard-boiled anti-skeptic must admit that WTC building number 7 represents a real mystery) would indicate serious state support. Not from within - from hostiles abroad. And it might help explain the stories floating around NYC shortly after the attacks, e.g. the cab drivers that wouldn't go below Canal Street on that morning, the Muslim kid in elementary school that said "those towers won't be there tomorrow." If there was a ground team to supplement the air team, there would be locals who knew about it.
The first reaction of a government is to deny a terrorist incident. This destroys the main purpose behind the act. And I believe that Bush administration was on this path - hence Bush staying planted in that classroom - until the second plane hit. Then the position became untenable. But in his remarks soon afterword, he still referred to it as a "tradgedy" not an attack. Hadn't had time to update the speech.
So, now you're stuck with an undeniable terrorist act. You still want to supress knowledge of state sponsorship. Keep the options open, always. In 1914-1917 there were numerous, mysterious explosions in the US at munitions factories. The most notorious was the Black Tom plant in New Jersey. The obvious culprit was Germany, as US production was going solely to Britain and France. But the US govermnent repeatedly denied that Germans were involved - in public. In private Wilson was getting angrier and angrier.
During to cold war, the Soviets sponsored myriad terrorist groups - Japan's Red Army Faction, Baader-Meinhof, Italy's Red Bridgades, 11 November, etc. But the polite fiction persisted that these groups were independent of Moscow's control. The US & NATO didn't make as big a deal as they might have out of it. Keep the options open.
Keeping options open was especially important in the Cold War scenario. Becase Weapons of Mass Destruction were involved, ultimately. WMDs are intimately involved in 9/11 and its aftermath, too. Anthrax. The sophisticated anthrax was, in the words of one anonymous official, prima fascie evidence of state support.
I have considerably more thoughts on the matter, especially the details on Ihsan Barbouti, Ramzi Yousef, KSM, Susan Lindauer, Dr. David Kelly et al but that's enough for one day! Yes, I will admit to being a bit more consipracy-minded than most. (I do believe, for example that Silas Deane was poisoned.) Atomic Conspiracy's tale about Lois F. and the Three degrees of conspiracy serve as a warning.
#34
hee heee Rory! I feel SO much better as an "intelligent" human being knowing you aren't.
Good luck on that North Korean PR campaign...
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 22:22
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#35
No, Mrs. Davis, I don't post under the name of Joseph Mendiola.
I will admit that I've read Rantburg for a long time, from back in the dark ages when only Fred posted articles. I used to post comments (and only a few articles) under my real name, but I've since decided cowardly anonymity is better. If Fred wanted to check the IP numbers he could find it out.
And I was in fact recently hospitalized for depression, and I've been on medication for a couple months now. I really needed it. But I had these ideas before the medication started! :)
#36
Well, sorry you feel that way Frank. I'm not claiming to be absolutely correct here. But I think there is room for some new thinking on the matter.
While these WTC conspiracy nuts may be absolutely wrong in their CONCLUSIONS, some of their OBSERVATIONS may be valid. I think Iraq was the prime mover behind 9/11 with an assist from the Iranians. AQ mostly provided cheap muscle.
#37
Lordy, lordy - that's a LOT to digest in one sitting - you should've started this at 12:01 AM, lol!
I hate to do it, but I have to cherry-pick the WTC event. There is no way I'll buy that the WTC towers had "pre-positioned explosives" to take them down. Just doesn't fit what I saw and know of structures. I saw it in real-time, though I was on the other side of the planet. CNN (via Orbis Satellite Network in Saudi Arabia) was the view I had. Though not the best, at least they kept cameras on the towers from about 6 minutes after the first bldg was struck. Perfect view of the second plane hitting.
The number of things that make me doubt the notion of the explosives are beyond recitation in the time available to me (about 10 minutes, in fact), but even intuitively - no way. The second bldg struck fell first - because of the angled entry and taking out a corner support on a lower floor - greater weight / stress / loss of structural integrity on the point of impact.
It just does not wash intuitively. You would have to present some amazing evidence to make the case.
Bush knew in advance as he sat there with the kiddies?
Now I believe you need adult supervision. No fucking way. If you'd like to start this over, say on tomorrow's Opinion page, then you could have some fun with us - and get a ton of replies - especially from our engineers. I'm just a lowly software guy, though I've used Ansys, PostTen, etc. in support of construction clients.
That would be my suggestion to get a fair hearing for your ideas.
#38
Rory, you should change your name to "long-winded." You have generalized our criticism of this particular claim into a broad opposition to the questioning of authority. This, of course, is a strawman.
You have also conflated this claim with various others, suggesting for no good reason that rejection of one would necessarily entail rejection of others.
You pretend that our opposition to this is based on an authoritarian acceptance of the government's word, another strawman and a trademark of the conspiracy industry and its victim/dupes.
In fact, you, as a representative of the conspiracist mindset, are the authority that is being challenged. Your post is one authoritarian pronouncement after another, one unsupported claim heaped upon another, one strawman after another. We have not denounced Reynolds for questioning; that is, examining; the
government's claims, but for reaching conclusions that are provably dishonest and destructive.
"Questioning" is not under attack, the conclusion is. Do you understand the distinction? It is closed-minded to refuse to consider a claim, it is not closed minded to reject it once that is done, nor is it closed-minded to infer likely motives once a pattern of willful dishonesty is established.
#39
Rory -
I can rip your reality in less than 100 words (with citations) - but there's no upside in "refuting smoke and mirrors" for free. Why don't you try a factual refute with cites, and I'll respond? That way, you actually have to work to back your shit up?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 22:52
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#40
Assumption of the consequent:
What else has to be true if the Bush administration and most of the Democrat opposition are concealing the placement of explosives in the twin towers?
It means, for example, that state and local investigators, and the owners of the building, are under absolutely rigid federal control and that the federal bureacracy is uniformly loyal and utterly reliable in enforcing this evil purpose.
It means that the government has some incentive for this cover-up, a very powerful one. If they did it, the incentive is obvious. If foreign intel agencies did it, things are a lot murkier.
Why is Bush covering for them?
If Saddam was involved, as Rory suggests, why would this not have been brought up during the lead-up to Iraqi Freedom? For that matter, why wasn't the Murrah building brought up if there was evidence of Iraqi involvement? Since the latter revelation would automatically imply heinous complicity by the Clinton Administration, the Bush gang would have double incentive to reveal it.
It would mean that everything we know about controlled demolition and the procedures necessary to implement it is either false, or the owners and managers of the building were complicit. Some of the latter died on 9-11.
I really don't have a lot of time for this, but, as CS Lewis famously observed, this is on a par with a man claiming to be poached egg.
Anyone wielding Occam's razor will tear your tissue of tales to shreds.
I've been inside. And I've been around a lot of this stuff pre-9/11 and post.
You're simply dead wrong about damn near everythign you post. Provide valid citations. Especially the "Osama cant take a piss woithout some western agency holding his dick". That in itself proves you are a moron. Have you studied the money the BinLaden family and the wahabbists and salafists place at his disposal? You see the tunnels in the Stans? You ever study the tribal relationsships that provide not only strong linkages, but damn near opaque comminications and secrecy?
I could go on and on. But if you are smart you'll discard the convulted twists and pretzle logic you contort yourself with, in order to support implausible and impossible conspiracy theories.
The "convienent fiction" here is all the completely unsupported (upon critical examination) crap you are flinging about. You use a lot of unsupported assertions, wild assumptions and propaganda techniques instead of fact gathering, logic and reason.
Bottom line: This country can't even keep a presidential blow job secret during relatively calm times with not nearly the rancor in the political arena as today. What makes you beleive that a conspiracy this large, this deep and this widespread could be concealed in the least with so much political ahy to be made and so many outlets for it? Hmm?
As dot com pointed out I should have started this at 12:01 am, so I could get more responses/feedback/you'reanidiot and maybe I will post something in the opinion section at midnight thirty tomorrow. It would also let me take some time to insert some links, as Frank G. helpfully suggests. I normally try to include links to back up my assertions, but I haven't tonight because I'm pressed for time.
Atomic Conspiracy - I'm sorry, but I don't feel that I can flesh out some of my arguments and be brief. And this is, after all, Fred's nickel, not mine. And if he wants to nix this thing, then I'd understand.
>>You have generalized our criticism of this particular claim into a broad opposition to the questioning of authority. This, of course, is a strawman.<<
This is true enough, and I apologize. I'll just say that it's not my intention. I'm not a particularly skilled writer, and I was trying to write some of my ideas in a very compressed amount of time.
>>You have also conflated this claim with various others, suggesting for no good reason that rejection of one would necessarily entail rejection of others.<<
I see it all as fitting into the same pattern. I might be mistaken in particular cases or in the whole thing.
>>"Questioning" is not under attack, the conclusion is. Do you understand the distinction?<<
Yes. I do understand, and you are absolutely correct here. I was being overly defensive of WTC theories in general. I was trying to convince people that some of these observations might have some merit in them - if not the conclusions. I will try to be more careful.
#44
Paranoid conspiracy theorists incite the global jihad and rationalize its Moonbat fifth column.
The conspireacy industry is a criminal enterprise and should be treated accordingly.
What do swine like the Moon Hoaxer Bart Sibrel really do other than enrich themselves? They justify fear and loathing of the United States and its collective intentions. Someone who believes in the Moon Hoax, as many Eurabians do, could easily believe that the US government secretly controls all media and that American perceptions are therefore worthless. They could easily believe that the US intends to bulldoze the Grand Mosque and convert it into a Wal-Mart. They could easily believe that Americans are simpletons and barbarians, and that the real purpose of 9-11 was to simplify the acquisition of a pipeline route.
These people are monsters, parasites on the First Amendment, and they should be eradicated like the vermin they are.
#45
Thank you, Rory. I have to take back some of my harsher comments then. I am used to dealing with completely implacable and dishonest opponents and it sometimes leads me to get ahead of myself when that is not the case.
#46
>>Anyone wielding Occam's razor will tear your tissue of tales to shreds.<<
Sometimes the simplest explanation is: there is a connection.
>>Especially the "Osama cant take a piss woithout some western agency holding his dick". That in itself proves you are a moron. Have you studied the money the BinLaden family and the wahabbists and salafists place at his disposal? You see the tunnels in the Stans? You ever study the tribal relationsships that provide not only strong linkages, but damn near opaque comminications and secrecy?<<
I was exagerrating about the taking a leak thing. Yes, I have studied, though I'm sure less than you, about the golden chain, etc. But at every step of the way, Al Qaeda has been significantly aided by state intelligence arms. Starting with Hezbollah IRGC trainers in the Sudan. I believe Dan Darling put Al Qaeda's budget at about 120 million per year.
My idea is that fighting in the 055 Brigade in Afghanistan, or fighting in Chechnya, or fighting in Kashmir, or Dafur, doesn't really prepare one for comitting acts of terrorism in American cities. The truly worrisome terrorist attacks have the hand of a state behind them, especially Iraq (or its remnants) or Iran.
I'm addressing some points at random here, just to get it in under the midnight rollover:
The buildings - if an engineer could set me straight on the tower collapses I can be persuaded. But wouldn't it at least make sense to have something else in there? They tried a truck bomb in 1993. Didn't the government post a BOLO for ambulances full of explosives the very night of 9/11? Suppose you fly an airplane into the building for some structural damage, but basically a diversion. The nasty stuff is disguised as a rescue vehicle that you drive right in.
>>Bush knew in advance as he sat there with the kiddies?<<
I think there was an extensive disinformation campaign run against the US govermnent in the weeks leading up to 9/11. The Iraqis allowed an Israeli intelligence asset to learn some details of the plot but not others. They might have done the same thing before OKC with the whole Elohim City crew. The Bush administration tried to stop it through finesse rather than force, and they got beat. They knew they were beat for sure as soon as the second plane hit.
>>If Saddam was involved, as Rory suggests, why would this not have been brought up during the lead-up to Iraqi Freedom?<<
The anthrax is the key. The stuff that got mailed to Daschle and Leahy wasn't junk by any standard. A 10 kilograms could wipe out a city, for sure.
Saddam and his cronies were convinced they survived the Iran-Iraq war only through their use and perfection of chemical agents. They were conviced (And Avigdor Haselkorn concurrs) that they survived the 1991 conflict only through their brinksmanship with SCUDs. And shortly after 9/11 they unveiled their newest strategic deterrent. As they found out, though, WMDs don't offer much flexibility. Once you use them, MAD sets in. The Soviets lost the cold war, but there are still lines that we won't cross with the Russians due to their deterrent. So it is with Saddam. I doubt he'll ever be executed.
>>What makes you beleive that a conspiracy this large, this deep and this widespread could be concealed in the least with so much political ahy to be made and so many outlets for it?<<
Journalists can understand basic stuff like the blowjuob you cited. But how many really skilled military/geopolitical analysts are there on the staff of the New York Times? WaPo? Time? Newsweek?
Managing the press can be done, if you just leak out the right bits to the right folks. Plus, things like this, if properly done, have an onion-like quality to them. Peel off one layer, and you find another story underneath, and then another. You're never quite sure if you've penetrated the final veil.
#47
Gee, I work most of the day, and I come back at 11:00 and find out this thread has been going on ad infinitum...
OldSpook: I'm not sure, but based on what I've speed-skimmed thus far I'm not sure Rory is a moonbat, but may just be using some of the same sources.
Rory: The discussion started out limited to the collapse of the towers themselves, and the possibilities that this was because of "demo charges" already set. Given the amount of time and labor involved in demolishing other structures of similar size (the Kingdome, et alia) I find this to be doubtful. ALso, the jihadis themselves tried that once before, and failed miserably, despite having a large truckload of explosives. Finally, I am convinced that the fire from the planes' impact was sufficient to cause the collapse of the towers, and I've heard a lot of bull**** attempting to make the contrary case.
Additionally, I do read and listen to a lot of the conspiratorially minded material, and know that they're leaving out a lot of material of interest. For instance, you brought up anthrax. You might be suprised to find that I agree with you that the anthrax (for more info why, see John Ringo's comments on the subject here) attacks are an important mystery that remain unexplained, that they may have been state-sponsored, and may have explained some subsequent events, such as the invasion of Iraq). If you can, I suggest getting a streamlink membership with Coast to Coast AM and checking out the interview they did with Peter Lance. Somewhere along the way they got a caller in who, like you, was curious about the anthrax attack and how it fit in with everything else.
They dropped him and changed the subject like someone had wheeled radioactive waste into the studio.
"Oh, never mind, that was domestic, we're pretty sure, NEXT CALLER!"
(Oh, I almost forgot: this was the show where the interview in question happened. He's been on there a couple other times.)
It was an amazing example of how much some of these people are editing away the evidence they don't agree with. I suggest you listen to it, it'll only cost you six dollars or so, and it will give you insight into how they operate when they get the chance.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/16/2005 0:03
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#1
They seem to have captured the kidnappers and we may well find out how the business works. I wait with anticipation to hear the truth about the 'Mufti of Australia's' role. He has been in Iraq for the last 4 weeks 'negotiating'.
#2
The 'Mufti of Australia' reminded me of Emperor Norton: Joshua Norton, or as he preferred to be called, Norton I, proclaimed himself Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico in 1859.
Although a pauper, he was fed free in San Francisco's best restaurants.
Although a madman, he had all his state proclamations published in San Francisco newspapers.
While rational reformers elsewhere failed to crack the national bank monopoly with alternate currency plans, Norton I had his own private currency accepted throughout San Francisco.
#3
Spot---Mufti of Australia and Emperor Norton. Brings back childhood memories. Emperor Norton: Emperor of the United States, Protector of Mexico, and sole owner of the Guano Islands,they called him. Every year the San Francisco Chronicle used to have an event called the Emperor Norton's Treasure Hunt. The Chron would give clues daily in the paper, and everyone went looking for the treasure chest, based upon the clues. This first one to find the chest and dig it up won some valuable prize. We kids would go with Mom with our shovels and look for the treasure, heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2005 9:23
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#4
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005 10:15
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#5
Mufti of Australia has already come out claiming he negotiated the "release" of the hostage.
It is laughable, a direct contradiction of earlier reports the hostage was freed in a military operation in which militants were detained.
I posted his spin up under "hostage freed but Islamist claims victory"
#6
Although a pauper, he was fed free in San Francisco's best restaurants.
Although a madman, he had all his state proclamations published in San Francisco newspapers.
Australian hostage Douglas Wood has been rescued in a military operation in Iraq, Prime Minister John Howard says. "I am delighted to inform the House that the Australian hostage in Iraq, Mr Douglas Wood, is safe," Mr Howard told Parliament. "Mr Wood was recovered a short while ago in Baghdad in a military operation that I am told was conducted by Iraqi forces in cooperation in a general way with force elements of the United States."
Mr Wood, 63, had been held hostage in Iraq for four weeks. Mr Howard says Mr Wood is now under the protection of the Australian emergency response team in Baghdad. "I understand that he is well - he's undergoing medical checks at the present time," he said. "I know that all Australians will be jubilant at this news - this man has suffered immensely."
The Prime Minister has paid tribute to Mr Wood's family, who he says has demonstrated enormous resolve and courage in its efforts to secure his release. There is no word on when Mr Wood will be returned to Australia. His family are yet to comment on his release.
Posted by: Dar ||
06/15/2005 9:28
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#5
see Jacques? When you have a capable, willing, and DEPLOYED military, you don't have to pay the bastards
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 9:36
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#6
A while back, on the main so-called *mainstream* muslim french internet forum, some pious online islam-is-peace-posterboy opened a thread joking about the "hairccut" of the hostage, with pics before and after his head was shaven (I recon this is the one). Everybody had a good laugh, remarking he "would probably get a closer shave later"...
Oh well, Mr. Wood hasn't been beheaded, and the Lions of Islam got busted. The internet french mainstream muslims must be very disappointed...
#7
excellent news. I look forward to hearing details of the op (to the extent they can be made public) would love to see the look on the kidnappers faces when the Iraqi forces broke in. And to hear what Wood felt when that happened. And good on Oz, for standing firm.
#8
Hadn't heard about this until now, but congratulations! AP's long reported the happy news, WITHOUT a mention of "the sheik" al-Hilali.
And I'm glad to know that the Iraqi Army performed its task flawlessly; by Mr. Howard's words, I assume they led the rescue.
(The New York Times reported on the Iraqi Army yesterday, but their good improvement - complete with a shoot-house photo of Iraqi special forces with obscured faces, and a mention that they have vigorous training in imitation of the US Army - shined through the NYT bias.)
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
06/15/2005 9:55
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#9
When you have a capable, willing, and DEPLOYED military, you don't have to pay the bastards
Ah, you unsopheesteecated yanquis! how else to funnel le cash to zee zeecret allies to fight zee Americaines???
"I'm extremely happy and relieved to be free again and deeply grateful to all those who worked to bring about my release," Wood said in a statement read by Nick Warner, head of the Australian emergency response team set up to secure his release.
"Some of these people I've already been able to thank personally but I know there are many others I may never get a chance to thank. I'm also very grateful towards my family," he said Wednesday.
"I'm looking forward to catching up with loved ones as soon as possible. It's a positive sign for the future of Iraq that Iraqi soldiers played a key role in my release."
#19
LH is correct. That is illustration by an on the spot illustrator. They used to ride the ambulances and police cars of the big city before the Graffix press camera was perfect. It was a short but glorious age of high-speed chalk work, tough questions and tougher beef.
If you can get past the WaPo agenda of 'Kurds are nasty pople because they are cooperating with the Americans and arresting terrorist suspects and interrogating them, and shock-horror most suspects are not Kurds' then there is some interesting stuff in this report. Including Kurds are investigating Saddam era atrocities. This is page 1, another 4 pages at the link.
Police and security units, forces led by Kurdish political parties and backed by the U.S. military, have abducted Read on and you find abducted is WaPo-speak for arrested hundreds of minority Arabs and Turkmens in this intensely volatile city and spirited them I'd guess they were driven to prisons in Kurdish-held northern Iraq, according to U.S. and Iraqi officials, government documents and families of the victims.
Seized off the streets of Kirkuk or in joint U.S.-Iraqi raids, the men have been transferred secretly and in violation of Iraqi law to prisons in the Kurdish cities of Irbil and Sulaymaniyah, sometimes with the knowledge of U.S. forces. The detainees, including merchants, members of tribal families and soldiers, have often remained missing for months; some have been tortured, according to released prisoners and the Kirkuk police chief. The subtext here is the Kurds are taking over control of institutions and in the process ousting Saddame era appointees, such as the police chief.
A confidential State Department cable, obtained by The Washington Post and addressed to the White House, Pentagon and U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, said the "extra-judicial detentions" were part of a "concerted and widespread initiative" initiative is a good word I like it. by Kurdish political parties "to exercise authority in Kirkuk in an increasingly provocative manner."
The arrests abductions have "greatly exacerbated tensions along purely ethnic lines" and endangered U.S. credibility, the nine-page cable, dated June 5, stated. "Turkmen in Kirkuk tell us they perceive a U.S. tolerance for the practice while Arabs in Kirkuk believe Coalition Forces are directly responsible." So people in the ME are prone to believe rumours, the more outrageous the better. I'm shocked.
The cable said the 116th Brigade Combat Team, which oversees security in Kirkuk, had urged Kurdish officials (my guess these are elected officials or appointees of elected officials) to end the practice. "I can tell you that the coalition forces absolutely do not condone it," Brig. Gen. Alan Gayhart, the brigade commander, said in an interview.
Kirkuk, a city of almost 1 million, is home to Iraq's most combustible mix of politics and economic power. Kurds, who are just shy of a majority in the city and are growing in number (I didn't realize WaPo was in the census business - actually they are quoting Saddam era stats but are too embarassed to say so), hope to make Kirkuk and the vast oil reserves beneath it part of an autonomous Kurdistan. Arabs and Turkmens compose most of the rest of the population. They have struck an alliance to curb the ambitions of the Kurds, who have wielded increasing authority in a long-standing collaboration with their U.S. allies.
Some abductions occurred more than a year ago. But according to U.S. officials, Kirkuk police and Arab leaders, the campaign surged after the Jan. 30 elections consolidated the two main Kurdish parties' control over the Kirkuk provincial government That's WaPo-speak for - They won the election. The two parties are the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan and the Kurdistan Democratic Party. The U.S. military said it had logged 180 cases; Arab and Turkmen politicians put the number at more than 600 and said many families feared retribution for coming forward.
U.S. and Iraqi officials, along with the State Department cable, said the campaign was being orchestrated and carried out by the Kurdish intelligence agency, known as Asayesh, and the Kurdish-led Emergency Services Unit, a 500-member anti-terrorism squad within the Kirkuk police force. Both are closely allied with the U.S. military. The intelligence agency is made up of Kurds, and the emergency unit is composed of a mixture of Kurds, Arabs and Turkmens.
The cable indicated that the problem Sounds like a solution to me extended to Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city and the main city in the north, and regions near the Kurdish-controlled border with Turkey.
The transfers occurred "without authority of local courts or the knowledge of Ministries of Interior or Defense in Baghdad," the State Department cable stated. U.S. military officials said judges they consulted in Kirkuk declared the practice illegal under Iraqi law. More Saddam era appointees?
Early on, the campaign targeted former Baath Party officials and suspected insurgents, but it has since broadened. Among those seized and secretly transferred north were car merchants, businessmen, members of tribal families, Arab soldiers and, in one case, an 87-year-old farmer with diabetes. A former fighter pilot said his interrogation in Irbil focused in part on whether he participated in the chemical weapons attack on the Kurdish city of Halabja in March 1988, in which an estimated 5,000 people died.
"I think it's about revenge," said the man, who identified himself as Abu Abdullah Jabbouri and who was released last week from the prison in Irbil. Nah, you will recognize revenge has occured when the bodies are stacked like cordwood.
#1
The Kurds built quite a society under our air umbrella (no fly zone) during the Saddam era. If anyone deserves their own representative govt it is the Kurds. Wonder who the mole is in the State Dept that gives away confidential cables. The Kurds need to root out these Saddam-era thugs, and we need to root out the State Dept. rats.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2005 2:56
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#6
It's interesting to see that the WaPo and NYTimes genre of media don't recognize anyone but the U.S. as an authority in Iraq. That would seem to go against their philosophy that we should be making more progress in handing them their country back. Is it becaue any progress, enven percieved progress would be gratuitous to Bush? Read AOL news today, not a word about Wood being rescued, but "Bomb kills 24 in Iraq", and "Clinton pays off legal bill for impeachment"
there is an entire half of the news that these assholes neglect to report because it might make you feel good about your country.
#8
WaPo writers have never seen an effective crime prevention regime. No wonder they misunderstand it.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 13:38
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"Early on, the campaign targeted former Baath Party officials and suspected insurgents, but it has since broadened. Among those seized and secretly transferred north were car merchants, businessmen, members of tribal families, Arab soldiers and, in one case, an 87-year-old farmer with diabetes."
car merchants or car bomb merchants? Businessmen or terrorist financier, members of tribal families or cousins of well known Sunni terrorists? Arab soldiers or insurgent paid intelligence agents who've embedded with the Iraqi forces? 87 year old farmer or 87 year old safehouse provider for insurgents?
It all comes down to your point of view doesn't it!
Not to say the Kurds aren't fielding hit squads and secret kidnapping rings, but revenge is a Motherf*@%ker aint it!
Posted by: Mountain Man ||
06/15/2005 16:57
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Somalian waters: Serious attacks have resumed off the eastern coast of Somalia. Since [March 31 2005], five incidents were reported where pirates armed with guns and grenades have attacked ships and fired upon them. In three incidents crew were held hostage and ransom demanded. Some of these attacks took place far away from Somali coast. Eastern and northeastern coasts of Somalia continue to be high-risk areas for hijackings. Ships not making scheduled calls to ports in these areas should stay at least 50 miles or as far away as practical from the eastern coast of Somalia.
Anambas/Natuna islands,Indonesia: Six incidents have been reported since [April 03 2005] in the vicinity of Anambas/Natuna islands. Groups of pirates armed with guns and long knives have boarded ships underway and robbed ships' cash and personal belongings.
Bonny River, Nigeria: Four incidents have been reported since [May 24 2005] around Fairway Buoy.
Suspicious Crafts
[June 10 2005] at 1130 LT in position 19:48N - 069:19E, 95nm off Gujarat coast, Arabian Sea. Six dark coloured boats, about 20m length were spotted by a container ship underway. Boats with 4/5 persons in each boat and without fishing nets followed the ship. Master raised alarm, took evasive manoeuvres and crew mustered. Boats moved away.
[June 10 2005] at 0820LT at position 03:55.1N — 07:08E, 20 miles SW of fairway buoy, Bonny River, Onne, Nigeria. Five persons wearing yellow raincoats in a 20 ft blue coloured fibreglass craft followed a supply ship underway. Supply boat took evasive manoeuvres and craft moved away. Craft had similar appearance as craft involved in two incidents on [May 24 2005].
Recently reported incidents
[June 13 2005] at 2100 UTC off Langkawi Island, Malacca Straits. Ten pirates armed with weapons in a speedboat hijacked a tanker underway. One crew managed to escape in the boat used by pirates. He landed ashore and contacted marine police at Langkawi island. Police despatched a patrol boat and located the hijacked tanker off Pulau Lebar. Subsequently, pirates surrendered and they were taken to Langkawi for investigations.
[June 12 2005] at 0145 UTC at Takoradi Anchorage, Ghana. Three armed robbers boarded a general cargo ship at forecastle. They stole ship's stores and escaped in a boat. Master informed port control who sent officials to investigate.
[June 07 2005] at 2350 LT at Kota Baru Anchorage, Indonesia. Five robbers armed with long knives board a bulk carrier at anchor. They tied up duty A/B. Other crew raised alarm. Robbers stole one life raft and escaped.
[June 07 2005] at 2130 UTC at Belawan Anchorage, Indonesia. Six robbers armed with long knives boarded a general cargo ship. Alert crew raised alarm and mustered. Robbers escaped in their speedboat.
[June 07 2005] at 0120 LT in position 04:12.3N - 006:57.3E, Bonny River Anchorage, Nigeria. Five robbers armed with machine guns attempted to board a reefer using hooks attached to ropes. Alert A/B raised alarm and crew mustered. Robbers fired several shots and escaped. Bullets hit bulwark but no injuries to crew.
[May 24 2005] at 2359 LT, Vicinity of Bonny River fairway buoy, Onne, Nigeria. Robbers armed with guns boarded a container ship at anchor. They beat up crewmembers and fired gunshots. Robbers stole ship's cash and stores and crew personal belongings. They escaped in a blue coloured 20ft high speed motorboat.
[May 24 2005] at 2110 LT in position 04:12.6N - 006:55.6E, off Bonny River fairway buoy, Onne, Nigeria. Armed and aggressive robbers boarded a container ship at anchor. They injured several crewmembers and wounded one crewmember with gunshot. Robbers escaped in high powered speed boat with ship's cash, bonded stores and crew personal belongings.
Guess the 'Nigerian letter' scam isn't as profitable as it used to be...
LANGKAWI, June 14 (Bernama) -- Ten Indonesian pirates surrendered without resistance, Tuesday after their attempt to seize a Malaysian-registered oil tanker off Langkawi was foiled by a crewman who dived into the sea, stole their speed boat and then led a police team back to the vessel.
The pirates surrendered to the marine police at 3.40pm, almost 12 hours after boarding the tanker Nepline Delima which was registered in Port Klang and owned by Shah Alam-based shipping company Nepline Berhad.
Kedah police chief Datuk Supian Ahmat said only a one-metre-long machete was found on the tanker while other weapons used by the pirates, believed to be firearms, had been thrown overboard... the captain of the tanker, an Indonesian, and two crewmen were taken to Langkawi Hospital to be treated for injuries on their heads and faces sustained from being beaten by the pirates. Three other crewmen were also treated at the hospital for dizziness...
Supian said the pirates boarded the tanker, which was loaded with diesel and heading from Singapore to Myanmar with a 19-man crew, at about 4am 25 nautical miles west of Langkawi near Thailand's maritime border... the sailor who escaped alerted marine police at Bukit Malut at about 9am and a 20-member police team led by DSP Abdul Salam Abdul Halim raced to the scene. The police team intercepted the tanker 23 nautical miles from Pulau Rebak Besar, Langkawi, at about 12.25pm.
Abdul Salam called on the pirates to surrender but they refused and instead threatened to kill the crew and burn the ship. However, the pirates agreed to bring the tanker to about four nautical miles off Pulau Rebak Besar where it anchored at about 1pm... the negotiations with the pirates continued until 3.20pm when they finally gave in and surrendered.
All the crew members and the captain have been allowed to return to the 90-metre-long tanker, which is now berthed near Awana Porto Malai, to wait for the police to take their statements... the pirates, aged between 22 and 45 years, were being detained at the Langkawi marine police headquarters.
#3
The pirates need to become shark bait as an example to their brothers-in-piracy. And hats off to the crewman who stole the speedboat. That guy was on the ball.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/15/2005 2:59
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#4
The crewman dives off an oil tanker, steals their speedboat and goes for help. That dude has balls big enough to come in a dump truck. I think somebody on that ship owes him a case of beer.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005 9:25
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#9
Why'd the police come? Did the pirates not keep current on their payments?
Because it was Malaysian police.
Malaysia is under a lot of pressure to get their act together, partly by playing on their over-developed sense of sovereignty. The U.S., Japan, Singapore, the U.K., and others have directly or indirectly implied that Malaysia better get its act togther or the others will step in.
Malaysia has also been trying to control corruption. It can't attract significant economic investment otherwise.
#10
Isn't dizziness and nausea the effects of 'The Scream', the new sound weapon Israel has? Who manufactures it? Do terrorists have a new tool in their arsenal?
#11
Malaysians don't like Indonesians and for good reason.
January saw them have a spat over maritime borders in which Indo sent its warships to have a stand-off.
Indonesians have a very casual attitude to ocean rules. We've caught 100 illegal Indo fishermen this year in our waters stealing our fish and hacking off shark fins - and it's only June!
That sailor who stole the boat is the James Bond of the sea. What a complete hero!
#13
I would think some special, well armed, troops aboard random tankers would go a long way towards stopping this sort of thing. Pirate ship comes up behind, they're climbing up the ropes, then suddenly faced with a barrage of machinegun fire.
Board the ship using helecopters out of site of land to make sure word doesn't get out on which ships are protected and which are not.
Take one prisoner per crew if possible. You want the word to get out, you want some details that will help break the networks and lead back to Vietnam or China or wherever a lot of these guys are selling the loot. And you want to send a message a pirate is unlikely to miss.
The transformation of an indigenous uprising in Punjab during the 80's into a proxy war was very much the model repeated in Kashmir in the 90's. However the training and deployment of Jihadis for Kashmir had far greater consequences than training a bunch of angry Sikhs.
With the arrest of Jagtar Singh Hawara, the Babbar Khalsa International's (BKI) 'operations chief' in India, on June 8, 2005, the curtain has rolled down on another chapter of the long saga of Pakistan's failed attempts to revive Khalistani terrorism in Punjab. Hawara fell quickly into the net as the leader of the circle of conspirators who engineered the Delhi Cinema Hall Blasts on May 22, 2005. The rapidity with which this 'terrorist module' unravelled is an important index of the state of the Khalistani movement and of what was once the most feared terrorist organisation in the Punjab. The disruption of a single cell would ordinarily not be expected to lead to the arrest of the 'operations chief' of a group such as the BKI - one of the first groups to take to terrorism in the Punjab in the end-Nineteen Seventies, and regarded as the most ideologically driven and violent organisation among the proliferation of gangs that overran Punjab through the Eighties and early Nineties. The operational leadership is normally insulated by significant layers and 'circuit breakers', so that the arrest of one of the 'foot soldiers' cannot lead beyond the immediate cell. Hawara, who had evaded arrest since his sensational escape from the Burail Jail in Chandigarh on January 21, 2004, clearly lacked the organisational depth that could isolate him from the bottom rung of what are evidently mercenary and most unreliable operatives. It is significant that none of the other conspirators in the present case fit the profile of the traditional and deeply conservative BKI activist. Two are Hindus, and the others have an evident taste for the 'good life' and a hankering to go abroad - legally or otherwise. That Hawara was in direct contact with, and exposed to, the likes of these indicates the degree to which the ideologically motivated Khalistani recruitment base has simply vanished from Punjab.
This is despite frenetic efforts by Pakistan to keep the 'defeated rump of Khalistani terrorist organisations', (as I have described them elsewhere) alive; and despite significant flows of funding, support and propaganda from minuscule and increasingly isolated groups among Non Resident Indian (NRI) Sikhs. While Hawara and Jaspal Singh 'masterminded' the operation in India, they were functioning under the direct control of Wadhawa Singh, the BKI 'chief', who continues to enjoy Pakistani hospitality ever since he fled the fighting in Punjab in the late 1980s. The group was coordinated through Satnam Singh Satta Mallian, Wadhawa Singh's son-in-law, propped up by his Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) handlers, who is currently taking advantage of the laxity of German law in Stuttgart, to manage the movement and operations of BKI cadres, who have a presence in several European countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Norway and the United Kingdom. BKI is also active in Canada and USA. It is on the list of terrorist organisations in both the US and UK.
#3
Israel needs to understand that the China sales aren't worth the cost to ties to us. Damage would be the Liberty incident extended forever and thrown in their face at every opportunity by their only friend on the world stage
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 9:45
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#4
INN is a far right wing Israeli website. Most Israelis are much more sensitive to US relations.
#5
When Israel supplies a big chunk of Uncle Sam's defense budget and most of Uncle Sam's weaponry, and provides a nuclear umbrella for Uncle Sam, then Israel can decide what weaponry Uncle Sam can sell to its Arab neighbors. This blindness towards the danger (to US-Israeli ties) from Israeli sales to China is bipartisan - various Labor governments pushed through the sales of advanced equipment to China under Clinton's accomodative policies (towards China). At bottom, the Israelis are trying to defray the cost of R&D. They need to understand, however, that their R&D is going to get a lot more expensive when Uncle Sam stops supplying advanced weapons to them.
#6
When the Israelis were developing their F-16 related Lavi fighter, we transferred a huge amount of technology to them. They nevertheless stole (or at least tried to steal) more ... I remember the brouhaha over attempts by them to crack our composite materials manufacturing in particular. Congress pressured them to shut down the Lavi program when it became clear they would not agree not to resell the plane despite the requirements of the ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) provisions in the export licenses granted to them for the technologies we made available.
Two years ago they sold Lavi technology and IIRC some airframes to China.
#7
And as I pointed out to you later, Robin, they used the Lavi technology (among other stuff) to make targetting pods for export. And they can and probably will export said pods to the nations we sold planes to but left out the air-to-ground capability so it wouldn't be a threat to Israel...
Posted by: Phil Not At Normal Computer ||
06/15/2005 10:47
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#8
Nuttin' wrong with maintaining ties; just scale back technology transfers. They'll get the message sooner or later.
#9
True, BaR. and, the transfers have gone both ways.
The problem is that they don't have a sustainable way to fund their own defense efforts. I understand their problem -- I just object to their solution when it comes to countries like China.
Pouncing on Hurriyat leader Yasin Malik's startling revelation that Pakistani information minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had operated jehadi training camps, New Delhi on Tuesday gave fresh impetus to its charge that Islamabad hadn't taken any action to dismantle infrastructure supporting to terrorism. At a function in Islamabad yesterday, JKLF chief Yasin Malik, who is part of the Hurriyat delegation to Pakistan, asserted that about 3,500 militants were trained at a camp set up by Mr Ahmed when militancy was at its peak.
The JKLF chief's assertions were endorsed by Pakistani TV anchor Hamid Mir, who added that Mr Rashid had set up a militant camp in his sprawling farm house near Fateh Jung, about 50 km from Islamabad. The camp was operational from 1988 to 1990 to train JKLF cadres, Mr Mir explained. According to agency reports, Mr Mir said that Mr Ahmed accompanied JKLF leaders including Yasin Malik to the LoC several times. The existence of the camp was known to many high officials in Islamabad including the then ruling dispensation, he said. Mr Mir said the camp was closed down after 1990 when the Pakistani establishment favoured Hizbul Mujahideen which was supported by the Jamat-e-Islami with whom Rashid did not have good relations.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
06/15/2005
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#1
Now you reap what you have sown. As if life in Pakiland wasn't bad enough before.
TSUNAMI BULLETIN NUMBER 002
PACIFIC TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER
0612 PM HST 14 JUN 2005
TO - CIVIL DEFENSE IN THE STATE OF HAWAII
SUBJECT - FINAL TSUNAMI ADVISORY
AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS
ORIGIN TIME - 0451 PM HST 14 JUN 2005
COORDINATES - 41.4 NORTH 125.6 WEST
LOCATION - OFF COAST OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA
MAGNITUDE - 7.4 MOMENT
MAGNITUDE - 7.1 RICHTER
EVALUATION
THE WEST COAST - ALASKA TSUNAMI WARNING CENTER HAS CANCELLED
THE REGIONAL TSUNAMI WARNING AND WATCH IT ISSUED FOR OTHER PARTS
OF THE PACIFIC. BASED ON ALL AVAILABLE DATA THERE IS NO
DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI THREAT TO HAWAII AND THE ADVISORY FOR HAWAII
IS ALSO ENDED.
HOWEVER...SOME COASTAL AREAS IN HAWAII COULD EXPERIENCE SMALL SEA
LEVEL CHANGES AND STRONG OR UNUSUAL CURRENTS LASTING UP TO
SEVERAL HOURS. THE ESTIMATED TIME SUCH EFFECTS MIGHT BEGIN IS
0929 PM HST 14 JUN 2005
THIS WILL BE THE FINAL BULLETIN ISSUED FOR THIS EVENT UNLESS
ADDITIONAL DATA ARE RECEIVED.
#1
Fox News. Tsunami warning is still in effect for Pacific coast. Cancellation is for Hawaii and other Pacific islands only. Warning extends from Vancouver to Mexico.
#9
I'm sure the folks in Crescent City took this warning seriously. The Great Alaskan earthquake in 1964 generated 20 foot Tsunami waves that resulted in eleven deaths. They've been cautious ever since.
#10
Here in Guam I've been feeling several minor tremors and quakes since yesterday - still ongoing as of this post. However, local Feds haven't officially reported any yet.
#15
Jihad-Subsidy warning: jihadis are winning one-time free elections in Islamania, under GWB's inclusivist indulgence of Muslim depravity.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/006616.php
You are either for jihad subsidy, or against it. Declare your position. I am for a bloody pacification campaign against Muslims, that would leave the Islamonazis without a bullet to bite on. Nuke Mecca!
Posted by: War on Islam ||
06/15/2005 2:31
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Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005
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#1
From TFA: Democrats have said Guantanamo Bay was contributing to a US image problem in the Muslim world.
And democrats all want to look good for their bosses, right?
"The stain of Guantanamo has become the primary recruiting tool for our enemies," Vermont Democratic Senator Patrick Leahy said.
Actually, Pat, I suspect the left is the primary recruiting tool for the nation's enemies.
Cheney said it was his feeling that "the track record there is on the whole pretty good, and that this is an essential part of our strategy of prevailing and winning in the ongoing war on terror".
"Now, does this hurt us from the standpoint of international opinion? I, frankly, don't think so. And my own personal view of it is that those who are most urgently advocating that we shut down Guantanamo probably don't agree with our policies anyway," Cheney said.
Any questions why I voted for this guy? Just outstanding.
#3
And Attica is still in operation how many years after? Certainly the Dem's have controlled the state house and governorship since then to close such a terrible facility.
The frontrunner in the turbulent race for Iran's presidency, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, won high profile support yesterday from the oil and nuclear sectors but the election still appeared set to go into a second round. The run-up to Friday's vote, which will herald an end to the difficult reformist presidency of Mohammad Khatami, also saw more bomb attacks — with new blasts reported to have shaken the southeastern city of Zahedan.
As candidates intensified their campaigns, Khatami advised voters to be skeptical of promises of more freedoms — a clear snipe at the campaigns of religious hardliners busy reinventing themselves as slick moderates. "Today all the candidates are talking about freedom, democracy, fighting censorship, the rights of the youth and women's rights," said Khatami, who is himself barred by the constitution from standing, having served two consecutive four-year terms. "The important thing is to consider their records to see how committed they have been, and what practical plans they have to follow through with their promises." Informal opinion polls in the Iranian press are signaling that none of the eight candidates will be able to secure the more than 50 percent of the vote needed to win on June 17. In that case, the top two would face a run-off, which would be held on July 1.
Seen as trailing Rafsanjani in the No. 2 position is either former police chief Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, a uniformed hard-liner-turned smiling casual technocrat, and leftist-reformist Mostafa Moin. The other in the race are hard-liners Mohsen Rezai, Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmedi Nejad and former state television boss Ali Larijani, and reformists Mohsen Mehr-Alizadeh and Mehdi Karoubi.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005
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Oooh, how exciting! Who will be the next Pointless President of Iran? A cliffhanger!
Rafsanjani has raped, looted, and pillaged more than his share, but it seems the old fart just can't let go or STFU. I hope he's a close second behind Khomeini to be hung from a lamppost.
IAEA head Mohamed El-Baradei urged Iran to allow a team of experts to return to a military site called Parchin, which they inspected once but have since been barred from visiting. "I would... ask Iran to support the agency's efforts to pursue further its investigation of the Lavizan-Shian and Parchin sites," El-Baradei said, adding that his inspectors wanted to visit "areas of interest" at Parchin. Parchin, the leading center of Iran's munitions industry, and Lavizan are among the sites where the United States suspects Iranian scientists have conducted research related to the development of nuclear weapons. Iran says it has no interest in such arms, only in civilian nuclear technology to generate electricity.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005
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#1
Every time I see that picture one thought, well maybe 2 heh, immediately strikes me:
AN 87-year-old man who beat off an intruder with his shoe says he'll be ready if his attacker ever returns to his home. Semi-retired horse trainer Johnny Oswin was attacked by a man wielding a metal bar at his home at Mt Eliza, south of Melbourne, about 9pm (AEST) yesterday. Mr Oswin suffered cuts and bruises to his head and arms. "If he comes back, I'll do him up. I'll be ready for him next time," he said. "I didn't expect anybody to come in wanting to do me up, did I? I'll fix him up if he comes in, I'll use my fists on him next time, I'm pretty handy." In a strange twist, Mr Oswin said the intruder demanded to know about a man named Bert, a front-end loader and the location where Bert had buried his sister Cathy. "They've got the wrong bloke," Mr Oswin said.
Police would not comment on the claim. The attacker struck Mr Oswin several times on the head and right arm before Mr Oswin hit back with his shoe. "I took the bloody shoe off and thumped him," Mr Oswin said. "I probably broke his nose and broke his teeth and he fell over. By this time he got up and I thumped him again. He ran out the door and he said 'I'll get you, I'll come back to get you'. He was a bit determined."
Detective Sergeant Rob Clark of Mornington police, urged home invasion victims not to fight back if confronted. "Obviously it's a vicious attack on an elderly man in his own home," he said. "We don't recommend people to confront assailants."
"We'd much rather they just stand there and let the punks beat them to death. Murder investigations are so much more interesting..."
#3
I always thought the Ozzies were more sensible than the Poms.
Sadly, no. At least, not in Victoria. When I lived in Oz there was a feller down there had his home invaded by something like five guys. He took after them with a sword, and it was his ass that was in trouble.
'Course, I think there was a little more to it than a random break-in.
A Kansas preacher and gay rights foe whose congregation is protesting military funerals around the country said he's coming to Idaho on Wednesday to picket the memorial for an Idaho National Guard soldier killed in Iraq. A flier on the Web site of Pastor Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church claims God killed Cpl. Carrie French with an improvised explosive device in retaliation against the United States for a bombing at Phelps' church six years ago.
Sounds like Preacher Phelps is suffering from delusions of significance...
"We're coming," Phelps said Monday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. Westboro Baptist either has protested or is planning protests of other public funerals of soldiers from Michigan, Alabama, Minnesota, Virginia and Colorado. A protest is planned for July 11 at Dover Air Force Base, the military base where war dead are transported before being sent on to their home states. Phelps gained national notoriety in 1998 when he picketed the funeral of Matthew Shepard, the gay college student beaten to death in Wyoming.
What's that have to do with the military?
Since then, Phelps said his church has been the target of hateful words and actions, including a bomb attack six years ago. Phelps' church has picketed the funerals of AIDS victims for more than a decade.
He and his parishioners sound like a bunch of ignorant sods...
French, 19, was a Caldwell High School graduate and varsity cheerleader. She was killed June 5 in the northern city of Kirkuk. French served as an ammunition specialist with the 116th Brigade Combat Team's 145th Support Battalion. Phelps said the fact that French led an all-American life gives him all the more reason to picket her final public tribute.
That makes sense. Not a lot of sense, but sense. Of a sort... I guess.
"An all-American girl from a society of all-American heretics," he said.
Heretics? He into autos-da-fe?
"Our attitude toward what's happening with the war is the Lord is punishing this evil nation for abandoning all moral imperatives that are worth a dime," Phelps said.
I'm not too enthused about some of the extremes various freedumbs are being taken to, either, but calling people heretics and disrespecting our war dead would seem to be a pretty roundabout way of fixing the problem.
Caldwell Police Chief Bob Sobba said he cannot bar Phelps from going to the public funeral, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Albertson College of Idaho in that city. "While we respect Mr. Phelps' right to protest, we would hope that he drops dead on the spot and rots in hell for all eternity would respect the family and friends of this young person by not disrupting the memorial," Sobba said. Idaho Air National Guard Lt. Tony Vincelli, acting as spokesman for French's family, said there were no plans to change the funeral arrangements.
They'd probably just follow wherever it went. They're obviously lacking in taste, tact, and patriotism of any sort...
The Rev. Brian Fischer, pastor of Boise's Community Church of the Valley, and himself a past target of protest by the Westboro Baptist Church, decried Phelps' plan. "What Phelps is doing is a reprehensible thing, to take a funeral and turn it into a photo op for his hate cause," Fischer said. "We hope everyone will ignore Phelps' group."
Since he has a right to make an ass of himself, I guess that's the best available course. If the country was the fascist state that the lefties keep harping it is, a swarm of brownshirts would descend upon him and kick his ass all the way back to where he came from. But it's not, so they won't. And despite my dislike of brownshirts, I'll add: darn it.
In 2003, Phelps demanded that he be allowed to erect an anti-gay monument in a Boise public park. To avoid a lawsuit from his group, city officials voted in 2004 that a Ten Commandments monument be moved out of the park to a private setting. I pray that veterans assemble in force at that funeral, each carrying an axe handle with a black ribbon around it, and when Phelps and his swine herd show up, to beat them until each and every one has to spend six months in the hospital.
That would be the brownshirt alternative I was just mentioning. I'd rather see some intelligent setup work by duly sworn officers of the law and the legal system. Since they're coming from Kansas to Idaho, they're not walking. That's an excellent opportunity for enterprising patrolmen to make their states a lot of money with tickets for speeding, seatbelt violations, unsafe vehicles, aggressive driving, failure to signal when changing lanes, emissions violations, failure to make a full stop, tire tread too thin, all sorts of horrible things. And then there's disturbing the peace, assembly without a license, noise pollution, littering, jay-walking, damage to public property... I like abuse of police power only slightly less than I like swarms of brownshirts, but there are exceptions to every rule, aren't there?
#6
Am I to understand that these intend to disrupt military funerals in those sections of America where there as many guns, or more, than people. THe Lefties and Deaniacs are losing more than ever because, among other things, when post-Clinton Lefties argue/proclaim that Leftism-Socialism results in successful and superior RIGHTISM, and while ranting that Rightists or Conservatives per se deserve to be vilified and imprisoned, etc. it helps to say or argue that you are a RIGHTIST, NOT TO MILITANTLY OR OBSCENELY RANT THAT YOU ARE STILL A LEFTIST OR SOCIALIST. NOT TO BE LINKED OR CONFUSED WITH THE OTHER RIGHTISTS. Goes to show Stupid is as Stupid does, and a Loon/Lunatic is as a Loon/Lunatic does, and a Traitor is as a Traitor does, etc.
#7
Point of order: Fred Phelps doesn't have a "congregation." His church is entirely composed, I believe, of his extended family.
I've seen a couple of his "protests" in person at graduations in Kansas. "God hates Fags" signs and the like. His congregation is a pretty meek bunch -- I bet they're visible, but they'll stay away from the gravesite. This is purely a tactic to get him in the newspapers.
#9
Expect a problem. Our church was targeted by this guy over abortion. His MO is to create an incident that allows him to bring suit against an individual or organization and shake down the insurance company for a settlement, sort of a small time, fundamentalist Jesse Jackson.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/15/2005 7:02
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#10
Who let Mendiola off his meds? He's spewing incoherently all over the place.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/15/2005 7:35
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#11
Regarding Phelps as a preacher, there is a saying from the Bible "My Sheep Know My Voice", that voice being the voice of Christ. (The Shepherd metaphor.)
Well, let's just say I don't recognize the voice of Phelps in any way.
#13
"Good morning, Mr. Phelps. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to be a total bugwit moonbat so as to show the depravity to which crazy people can aspire." Looks like he accepted the mission.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/15/2005 8:59
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#14
I agree with Phil. He should be traded for a hostage in Iraq. That way they could behead him and it would be win-win-win: US gets rid of fundy moonbat, jihadis satisfy bloodlust, Phelps get press.
#15
My wife was a law student at KU back in the day. She said that the text for the Ethics in Law class (taught by a gay judge) was pretty much exclusively dedicated to the Phelps Klan. I'm not sure that there's one left that hasn't been disbarred.
#16
Can we trade this guy to the salafists? Maybe get a decent shortstop out of the deal?
Nah. The Yanks already have 2 really good shortstops. We could use some more depth in the outfield and DEFINITELY more pitching talent, tho.
Posted by: Joe Torre ||
06/15/2005 9:57
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#17
He was pulling this shit at Ronald Reagan's funeral too ...
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
06/15/2005 10:02
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#18
Ima thinkr the cops should take about ten minutes' break and let what happens, happen. Cracked skulls on these asshats might make an improvement....
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 10:10
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The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed that Saudi Arabia does not possess any nuclear facilities or fissionable material and does not engage in any prohibited nuclear activities. "We don't have any information proving Saudi Arabia has any prohibited nuclear fissionable material," Okaz daily yesterday quoted IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozedecky as saying.
That's what Pakistan is for, the Saudi's outsourced the program.
He also said that Saudi Arabia was a leading IAEA member who supported the use of nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.
Meanwhile, Saudi ambassador to Vienna and its permanent representative to IAEA, Omar Kurdi, said the Kingdom was ready to sign the Small Quantities Protocol (SQP) of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Gwozedecky said the Saudi government's decision to sign SQP and the safeguards agreement during the current meeting of IAEA governors in Vienna was a significant move. "This again confirms the Kingdom's commitment to international charters and the peaceful use of nuclear energy," he told the Arabic daily.
"Cuz there ain't nothing more peaceful than a bunch of dead infidels"
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005
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#1
Hey, Fred - how about a "Mr. Magoo" graphic for all IAEA-related stories?
The US government may have set its security standards for nuclear power plants too low, and guards say they may not be ready to stop a terrorist attack of September 11 magnitude, a US magazine reported Sunday. A Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) document "raises serious questions about whether the government has set security requirements for nuclear plants too low and allowed nuclear plant operators to provide security on the cheap," Time reported. Even plant guards worry they would be unable to thwart a big terrorist operation, saying they lack the necessary training and weapons, the magazine said. The plants could also be vulnerable to an attack on foot, it said. "Our training has increased, but I don't think it's increased enough to deal with that," a veteran guard, who was not named, told Time. Another guard said: "We don't have the weapons or training to stop an attack of that magnitude. ... Everyone feels that way. It's a consensus of opinion."
"I don't think they could handle a 9/11-size attack," David Orrik, a senior NRC official who retired in February after a 20-year career probing power-plant vulnerabilities, was quoted as saying. Since the September 11, 2001, attacks, the government has spent one billion dollars to boost nuclear power plant security, compared to 20 billion for aviation security, Time reported. "The NRC and the nuclear power industry are today where the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] and airlines were on Sept. 10, 2001," a senior US anti-terrorism official was quoted as saying by the magazine.
NRC-commissioned studies say a plant's concrete and steel infrastructure could withstand a suicide airplane attack, making the risks of a major release of radioactivity low. But other experts, including a recent National Academy of Sciences panel, say the particular design and vulnerabilities of each plant make such blanket assurances meaningless, Time said.
#1
But other experts, including a recent National Academy of Sciences panel, say the particular design and vulnerabilities of each plant make such blanket assurances meaningless, Time said It really pisses me off when journalists write this weasly crap. 90% of the people reading this will conclude that some 'experts' say nuclear plants are vulnerable to a 9/11 type airliner attack, whereas in fact it says nuclear plants have unspecified vulnerabilities to unspecified types of attack, i.e. security aint perfect.
#3
Since I worked on building 4 nukes in my time as an engineer, construction manager and project manager, I would like some one in the press to show me exactly where the vulnerabilities are and how you would attack them or cause them to become dangerous. It is easy to say "nuclear" and "threat" and "vulnerable" but to actually take advantage of it is another thing. Internal security is such that even getting into the spent fuel area would be near impossible without complete knowledge of the security process which includes HP (health physics)and documentation up the ying-yang. Also, attacking the containment structure would have to be absolutely precise. My work in the PSR and FSR for PWR containment structures included missile vulnerability. At that time the largest missile we used was a 727 fully fueled. It survived and all safety systems performed as required. Albeit this is a desktop simulation and model but it shows that careful calculation and safety engineering has been utilized.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/15/2005 9:57
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#4
There you go again, muddling a good story with facts...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005 10:23
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#5
the largest missile we used was a 727 fully fueled
#6
ahhhhh that's why nobody's trained to actually land that beast
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 10:33
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#7
The plants are not allowed to have belt-fed weapons because of state and local regulations. That is just nuts. David Orrick is a smart guy. There are weaknesses, but they can and will be addressed.
#8
What Jack said. If we really want to get some measure of energy independence, we're gonna hafta get over the hysteria of nuclear power. Chernobyl had serious safety problems, our nukes have safety up the ying-yang, and had pretty good security before 9-11.
They probably are not designed to ward off meteors, either. Wait 'till the Times finds out about that!
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/15/2005 12:33
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#9
Jack-is-Back!
Most of the plant is built with reinforced concrete and lead lining right? Also, nothing really goes boom, right? We only really need to worry about radioactive steam being released if the shielding is cracked, right?
I don't know the details of nuke plants, but I'm pretty sure about the above details. Let me know if I am wacked on one of 'em.
#10
If you think about it, the headline is one of those Master of the Obvious gigs that journalists love so dearly.
Everything is vulnerable at some point. Let's say we man every nuclear power plant with a battalion's worth of guards. Guess what? The plant is vulnerable if the bad guys somehow manage to attack with a division's worth of terrorists. And so on and so on.
The real question that adults must ask: what is the most likely size of unit that jihadis (or anyone for that matter) can muster without drawing attention to themselves? (Given the PC-blinders law enforcement is working with, I'd say about corps level) From that level of threat, what is needed to properly defend said target?
Having worked as a reactor engineer, I must agree with a previous poster, the plants themselves are pretty hard targets. The containment building is highly reinforced. The reactor vessel is designed to handle over 2000 psig of pressure.
#12
The plants are not allowed to have belt-fed weapons because of state and local regulations. That is just nuts. David Orrick is a smart guy. There are weaknesses, but they can and will be addressed.
Holy moley, missed that the first time thru.... you know RB only got enough room for one of us.... :)
Iran has made its first arrests over a string of deadly pre-election bombings blamed on Iraq-based extremists, vowing that the presidential poll would go ahead without disruption. Up to 10 people were killed in separate attacks in the Arab-dominated city of Ahvaz and the capital Tehran on Sunday, rattling the country in the midst of a fractious and sometimes bruising election campaign. "Some of the perpetrators of the acts have been arrested, others are on the verge of being caught," Information Minister Ali Yusseini told reporters. "They have foreign links," he added, without giving further details.
Ahvaz Governor Mohammad Jafar-Sarrahmi pointed the finger at the Iraq-based People's Mujahideen, which is Iran's main armed opposition group, and Baathist supporters of deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein. "They want a low turnout [in the election] to show people were not present. They tried satellite television and leaflets, but this did not work. They want to create fear," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005
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A small, Earth-like planet has been discovered beyond our solar system orbiting a star like the sun, according to a team of US astronomers. The team of excited astronomers announced that the planet is the most Earth-like found so far outside the solar system, although its surface would be far too hot for humans to live on. "We keep pushing the limits of what we can detect, and we're getting closer and closer to finding Earths," team member Steven Vogt, a professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, said in a statement released Monday. "Today's results are an important step toward answering one of the most profound questions that mankind can ask: Are we alone in the universe?" said Michael Turner, head of the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate at the National Science Foundation.
The astronomers said the new planet is about seven-and-a-half times the size of Earth, with about twice its radius. They believe it may be the first rocky planet ever found orbiting a normal star not much different from the sun. The newly discovered "super-Earth" orbits the star Gliese 876, located 15 light-years from the Earth in the direction of the constellation Aquarius. The star also possesses two larger, Jupiter-size planets. The new planet orbits the star in two Earth days. The planet is so close to the star's surface that its temperature probably tops 400 to 750 degrees Fahrenheit (200 to 400 degrees Celsius), the astronomers said, adding such "oven-like" temperatures would be far too hot for humans. Nevertheless, the ability to detect the tiny wobble that the planet induces in the star gives astronomers confidence that they will be able to detect even smaller rocky planets in orbits more hospitable to life.
#1
"...the new Planet..."
Perfect example of total decline of the MSM. Back when reporters had to know how to write and not opinionate,the line would have been "the newly discovered planet". After all,I hardly think the planet sprung into existance in the past couple of years. Where was the editor by the way?
Posted by: Stephen ||
06/15/2005 3:46
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#2
that they will be able to detect even smaller rocky planets in orbits more hospitable to life
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 10:08
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#5
The team of excited astronomers announced that the planet is the most Earth-like found so far outside the solar system, although its surface would be far too hot for humans to live on.
Justice Minister Khaled Qabbani conferred with MP Marwan Hamade on Tuesday about the latest developments in the investigation into the October 1, 2004 assassination attempt against Hamade, in which the MP was severely injured and his companion killed. Accompanied by his lawyer, Salim Othman, Hamade spoke with Qabbani along with Investigating Magistrate Saqr Saqr, in charge of the case.
Hamade expressed gratitude for the minister's concern, and praised Qabbani's competence and honesty. The MP said he hoped that cooperation with the international community would yield results in the case. "All these incidents confirm my accusations about the security regime that spread corruption in Lebanon and its institutions for the past years," he added. Judicial sources said Hamade provided Saqr with evidence and information that could lead to an arrest. When asked, the MP said: "This is confidential and we will keep it secret so that none of the criminals takes advantage of the situation."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005
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Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005
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#1
Chnese fire drill at the best. Love the bit about throwing Chad out - what is this Florida?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
06/15/2005 9:44
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#2
Looks like its time for the UN to come to the rescue again. I hear there are 5-star Hotels in Tahiti where the food is exceedingly fine. Then theres a few resturants the delegates haven't visted in Thailand....
Faced with increasing lawlessness in the occupied territories, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei yesterday said his Cabinet would go on strike if security forces failed to rein in armed groups.
Ahmed, I don't think you've quite got this down: the gummint doesn't go on strike...
"If this security chaos does not end, we will suspend our duties," he told reporters in the Palestinian Authority headquarter in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
"Yeah! We'll quit! What're you gonna do then? Riddle me that! Hah? Hah?"
"We are telling the heads of security services that there should be severe deterrence for all those who are tampering with security."
"Just... Just... Just shoot 'em or something!"
Qorei said some members of the security services were responsible for some of the disturbances which they were meant to prevent. "The people are no longer prepared to tolerate these attacks, hundreds of which have been carried out by members of the security services," he said. "Any commander (of the security services) who is reluctant to hold them to account should leave the service along with the people themselves."
"That's if it's okay, of course.... Put those down! You don't have to go for your guns!"
Qorei's remarks followed a surge of violence in Ramallah, previously less affected by strife that has plagued other towns in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. In the most recent of three shooting incidents in Ramallah in the past week, several members of the Palestinian security services took part in a gunfight between rival families in which two people were wounded. They ultimately fired on police who intervened to stop the fight.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005
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#1
Oh NO!
If the gummint goes on strike, the people will be without the benefit of the rule of law! Chaos will reign!
..er..
Posted by: Darth VAda ||
06/15/2005 6:49
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#2
Maybe the implied threat is that the security forces don't get paid. ??
Posted by: too true ||
06/15/2005 10:28
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#3
âIf this security chaos does not end, we will suspend our duties,â he told reporters in the Palestinian Authority headquarter in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal yesterday denied suggestions that Egypt was mediating a dispute between Saudi Arabia and its southern neighbor Yemen. "There is no dispute between Saudi Arabia and Yemen and we have not requested any mediation in this matter," the Saudi Press Agency quoted the minister as telling reporters in Cairo. Prince Saud was in the Egyptian capital to hand a message from Crown Prince Abdullah to President Hosni Mubarak. "The message was within the framework of mutual consultation between the two countries on major developments in the Arab region," the prince said, adding that he was carrying a reply from Mubarak to the crown prince.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005
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The final make up of Lebanon's Parliament will be determined this weekend, when the last 28 parliamentary seats up for grabs in North Lebanon will be decided. Fresh from his election victory in last week's round of elections, Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, who was exiled from Lebanon after his "War of Liberation" against Syria in 1990, has joined forces with pro-Syrian politician Suleiman Franjieh in the North where they are fielding two complete lists.
Aoun will again do battle with Lebanon's anti-Syrian opposition following his failure to reach an agreement to run on their lists last month. The opposition is spearheaded by the Future Movement, led by Saad Hariri, the son of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and the Christian Qornet Shehwan group. Qornet Shehwan member Samir Franjieh, running for a seat in the North, said: "The electoral battle in North Lebanon is decisive because it will determine the state's agenda for the future." Franjieh also expressed fears that an opposition defeat on Sunday would reinforce the role of Syria in Lebanese politics.
Franjieh seems to have switched sides rather neatly...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005
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#1
so it is now the " War of Liberation " is it? *scoff*
#2
hmmm...my quote marks didn't bold in an obvious manner, but if the press feels the need to go after him with quote marks, then I'm guessing he's expected to do better than they want to admit.
The main body of Afghan Muslim clerics called on the United States yesterday to apologize and punish those responsible for desecrating the Qur'an at its Guantanamo Bay prison, an issue that sparked bloody riots in Afghanistan. The US military released details this month about five cases in which the holy book was kicked, stepped on, soaked in water, and in one instance, splashed with a guard's urine falling through an air vent at the military prison in Cuba.
America's top general, Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has said the military is unlikely to hold court-martial proceedings in the two or three cases of deliberate mishandling of the Qur'an at Guantanamo Bay. Afghan Chief Justice Fazl Hadi Shinwari, head of the influential national clerics' body, the Ulema Council, said it had passed a two-point resolution on the issue yesterday. "The Ulema Council resolved that the United States and those who have done this should apologize to the whole Muslim community, and the ones who have done this should be punished so that others don't do this again," he told Reuters.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/15/2005
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#1
I'm sorry that you're a bunch a devil-worshipping savages.
In Baghdad, the Iraqi court set up to try Saddam Hussein released a video that showed the deposed dictator answering questions. Judge Raed Al-Juhi, a member of the Iraqi Special Tribunal, questioned a bearded, seemingly weary Saddam about the 1982 killing of 143 residents of Dujail, a Shiite village northeast of Baghdad. Saddam, who has been in US custody since his capture in December 2003, is accused of ordering revenge murders after villagers allegedly tried to assassinate him. He is accused of a litany of other crimes against humanity and could face the death penalty if convicted. Four Saddam lieutenants, including his cousin Muzahim Al-Tikriti, faced questions from an investigating judge about the "Anfal" (spoils) offensive against Kurds, including an attack on the village of Halabja, and the 1991 repression of Shiites in southern Iraq, according to separate footage obtained by AFP.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The bodies of 20 people, bound and shot in the head, have been found on a military firing range in the eastern suburbs of Baghdad. A police source said on Sunday that the victims' identities are unclear and the bodies appeared to have been there for some time. They were found on Friday and are now in a Baghdad mortuary, another police officer said.
A leading Sunni organisation, the Association of Muslim Scholars, issued a statement on Sunday, however, saying that 30 bodies had been found at the firing range. It said one body was identified as belonging to a Sunni Arab, but it gave no details. In a separate find in Baghdad, Iraqi police announced the discovery of six more bodies in Baghdad, most of them tortured before being executed. Three bodies, including those of two tortured policemen brothers, were found in eastern Baghdad, police said on Monday, and another three unidentified, blindfolded and tortured bodies were found in the north of the capital.
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#4
Hope Rice borrows a pair of Dubya's boots with the spurs attached. She might need to get those spurs dirty.
Posted by: Charles ||
06/15/2005 6:19
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#5
Qorei's preparation checklist:
1. hide smuggled arms - done.
2. cover tunnels - done.
3. placate hamas, islamic jihad, al aqsa, for now - done.
4. write list of reasons why Israel is to blame for the lack of progress - done.
5. new suit and a haircut - done.
6. kill jooos - in progress.
#6
He also said that "any final status agreement must to be reached between the two parties, and changes to the 1949 Armistice lines must be mutually agreed to."
'49, huh? How about 1849? When no f*&king Palestine existed?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/15/2005 10:07
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The land of Canaan was devoted to the worship of Baal...
"One may question that those ancient enemies of Israel were as evil as the Bible
claims that they were, but even a superficial glance at Canaanite
religion alone ably demonstrates their iniquity. Base sex worship was
prevalent, and religious prostitution even commanded; human sacrifice
was common; and it was a frequent practice--in an effort to placate their
gods--to kill young children and bury them in the foundations of a house
or public building at the time of construction: Joshua 6:26 "In his days
did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in
Abiram his firstborn..."
Howard E. Vos,
"An Introduction To Bible Archaeology" Revised ed.
(Chicago: Moody Press, 1953) pp. 17-19.
The modern followers of Baal continue to carry on human sacrifice
and the murder of their children.
China is using a vast network of spies in an attempt to turn Australia into a "political colony," a defector said, as it was revealed Beijing officials had been allowed to interrogate Chinese held in Australian detention centres. Former Beijing University professor Yuan Hongbing, the fourth Chinese defector to surface in Australia in the past month, supported charges by a rebel Chinese diplomat that Beijing had an extensive network of agents in the country. The agents are targeting Chinese dissidents and are also being used to influence political thought "to turn Australia into a political colony of China," Yuan told ABC radio. "Political colony means the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) will use their ideology to influence Australia's politics and gradually to turn Australia to betray its fundamental principles of freedom and democracy," Yuan said through an interpretde.
He said he and his friends had been followed and harassed, with one having his car destroyed and another being sent a dead cat. Yuan's charges came as it was reported that almost 50 Chinese people held in Australian immigration centres were put in isolation for more than two weeks last month and interrogated by Chinese government officials. Rights activists said the government may have breached its human rights and legal obligations by allowing the interrogations. Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Ian Rintoul said smuggled letters had revealed some of those interviewed were asylum seekers who now feared persecution. "If it is not illegal, it is certainly reckless," he said.
The Immigration Department said the Chinese officials visited the detainees to assist in the processing of documents to facilitate their return home and that it had no plans for a mass deportation of Chinese detainees, ABC reported. The treatment of Chinese asylum seekers in Australia has become the focus of fierce debate since first secretary at the Chinese consulate-general in Sydney, Chen Yonglin, 37, sought political asylum last month. Chen's asylum application was rejected and he was advised to apply for a protection visa, leading government critics to accuse the government of allowing its growing trade relations with China to affect its commitment to human rights.
#1
Once more, again, with feeling - And we're NOT in World War; and 9-11/ WOT is NOT about SAVING SOCIALISM AND FORCING THE SAME ON FREE AMERICA AND WEST ...WHY, AGAIN!? I'll join the Aussie Commies-Socies iff they can get Nicole Kidman and Kylie to goosestep in bikinis like good Clintonian Hitlerists/Nazis-for-Stalin.
Btw, SOMEBODY in the mainland went absolutely apeshit over a previous (the third?) defector, Chen Yonglin, with this *ahem* whopper: "I hope he is sent back so China can harvest his organs to save lives of true patriots."
For that matter, anyone hear of a certain "bingfeng"?
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
06/15/2005 10:11
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#5
What really disgusts me is our pussy government sells out to China instead of protecting these defectors and milking them for info.
These guys went out on a limb and have loads of intel we need. Obviously they need protection from persecution and we should give it to them.
But no, we will let free all the rich illegal immigrants (boat people) in no real fear from persecution.
#6
Well, I don't know if they're real or "false flag" agents or WHAT the truth is, period ...
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
06/15/2005 11:28
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#7
True, could be a double bluff?
I don't think so though, Chen Yonglin seeks asylum for himself, wife and child. He may very well just like Australia better. Many Chinese do plus we have thousands and thousands of them.
PM Bob Hawke let 10,000 stay right after Tiannenmen Square massacre and all of those are able to bring their families out under family reunion immigration law.
So for Chinese people, Australia is a tip top destination: full of people who speak your language, cook your food and yet a free democracy with free healthcare and education.
It's the destination of choice.
Best test for suspected chinese spy.
Ask them: Should Taiwan be independant?
If China invades Taiwan should we support Taiwan?
Lovers of Chinese Communist Party will HATE that idea. Taiwan is part of China! and the spittle will start frothing...
His church was bombed, and now he protests funerals of the war dead
Kansas preacher says he's coming to Idaho
By CHUCK OXLEY
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
BOISE, Idaho -- A Kansas preacher and gay rights foe whose congregation is protesting military funerals around the country said he's coming to Idaho tomorrow to picket the memorial for an Idaho National Guard soldier killed in Iraq.
Fred's website reposes under the charming name of www.Godhatesfags.com. The companion site is GodhatesAmerica.com, where Fred presents his theory that 9-11 was divine punishment for tolerating homosexuality. Among other things, it features a cartoon in which an American soldier is shown raping a little Iraqi boy.
A flier on the Web site of Pastor Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church claims God killed Cpl. Carrie French with an improvised explosive device in retaliation against the United States for a bombing at Phelps' church six years ago. Gee, why would anybody do such a thing to Fred's church, as opposed to his ass?
"We're coming," Phelps said yesterday. as the weekly Westboro orgy moved to a climax....
Westboro Baptist either has protested or is planning protests of other public funerals of soldiers from Michigan, Alabama, Minnesota, Virginia and Colorado. A protest is planned for July 11 at Dover Air Force Base, the military base where war dead are transported before being sent on to their home states.
Fred and his gang went to Baghdad while Saddam was still in power to protest American foreign policy. The Saddamites were delighted to have them by all accounts.
Phelps gained national notoriety in 1998 when he picketed the funeral of Matthew Shepard, the gay college student beaten to death in Wyoming.
Fred's website features a daily count of how many days Matt has been in Hell.
Since then, Phelps said his church has been the target of hateful words and actions, including a bomb attack six years ago. tsk, tsk, such intolerance.
Phelps' church has picketed the funerals of AIDS victims for more than a decade. These include signs saying such clever things as "Fag funeral" and "Fags burn in Hell" The gang also picketed Ronald Reagan's funeral on the grounds that Reagan had tolerated homosexuality.
French, 19, was a Caldwell High School graduate and varsity cheerleader. She was killed June 5 in the northern city of Kirkuk. French served as an ammunition specialist with the 116th Brigade Combat Team's 145th Support Battalion.
May God cradle you in his loving arms, dear one.
Phelps said the fact that French led an all-American life gives him all the more reason to picket her final public tribute.
"An all-American girl from a society of all-American heretics," he said. I am all-American heathen, Fred. Now bite my ass till your dentures break.
"Our attitude toward what's happening with the war is the Lord is punishing this evil nation for abandoning all moral imperatives that are worth a dime," Phelps said.
Well, yes, our moral imperatives are those of the Enlightenment and they are beyond all reckoning of price.
Caldwell Police Chief Bob Sobba said he cannot bar Phelps from going to the public funeral, which is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Albertson College of Idaho in that city. The ACLU would probably defend Phelps if Sobba threw him out of town. Almost everyone else in the civilized world would defend Sobba. Incidentally, Fred's congregation is made up almost entirely of his immediate family. IIRC, he has 13 children, 9 of whom are lawyers, and close to 70 grandchildren. They all live on the same tract in a Topeka neighborhood, which they have closed off and turned into a kind of fortified compound. Several of the devil-spawn lawyers work for the Kansas Department of Corrections.
"While we respect Mr. Phelps' right to protest, we would hope that he would respect the family and friends of this young person by not disrupting the memorial," Sobba said. I respect his right to remain silent, forever.
Idaho Air National Guard Lt. Tony Vincelli, acting as spokesman for French's family, said there were no plans to change the funeral arrangements. "In other words, fuck the old bastard and his devil-spawn congregation."
The Rev. Brian Fischer, pastor of Boise's Community Church of the Valley, and himself a past target of protest by the Westboro Baptist Church, decried Phelps' plan.
"What Phelps is doing is a reprehensible thing, to take a funeral and turn it into a photo op for his hate cause," Fischer said.
"We hope everyone will ignore Phelps' group." Wimp. We hope everyone kicks their asses.
In 2003, Phelps demanded that he be allowed to erect an anti-gay monument in a Boise public park. To avoid a lawsuit from his group, city officials voted in 2004 that a Ten Commandments monument be moved out of the park.
Cowardice or a sly assertion of equivalence?
I have been wondering how Fred gets the money for all this. The congregation numbers fewer than 100 people, almost all related. His mob is on the road almost all the time, often sending different groups to different cities on the same day. As I mentioned, they even travel outside the country when they find someone, like Saddam, who will have them. He says nothing about finance, merely asserting that God provides.
#2
This muthaf*cker seems to be morphing into a Kansas mullah.
I have a customer, as devout a Christian as can be but a man who also understands that humans are of the flesh and are deemed worthy of salvation by grace and forgiveness alone. Hse asks me how things are going, and I tell him nothing a hooker and a bottle of nice wine wouldn't cure. He laughs, and he tells me that that not all things can harm except which you allow to harm yourself. Says so right in the NT, so he says.
It's not an excuse not to have a spiritual life if you understand Christian doctrine is of Love first, and by allowing God to guide your life. That customer is a real and positive way demonstrates that to me, keeps me hoping someday I may actually act Christian in my personal life.
That said, this f*cker needs his head removed by a speeding fist. I'd love to volunteer. I would expect I would get, in Oklahoma, a few days and a wrist slap from local judges, but ya never know.
I suspect this cult, to call it what it appears to be, will find a relatively bad ending. Not all social groups, even families, are so congruous that a sense of injustice won't break it apart.
Our Jewish friends: please forgive me if I have offended you with this little bit of semnonizing. I am about as far from a perfect human being as I can be, but I also felt I needed to show the readers here was a wothless pussy this Phelps is. I won't do it much, I promise.
badanov, speaking for myself, no insult taken. Your customer sounds like a good advertisement for Christianity as it ought to be, as opposed to this Phelps character, and as good a guide as one could hope for. Only I think you won't achieve that turning the other cheek bit right away. ;-)
#4
Sometimes tolerance isn't called for. This moron must be skating close to the edge regards hate speech. And I believe he's due for a date with a 300 lb horney lifer.
#5
This idiot has plauged Colorado Springs twice now. If he comes back, he is gonna get a major ass kicking now. Don't piss off the soldiers and then come back where there are 5 active military bases.
#8
This man is horrifying and is certainly not a Christian. Unfortunately, anyone is free to call themselves anything they like.
Here's a review of this character by Phil Johnson, who assists a very large Christianity ministry (Grace to You) in Los Angeles:
Here's a Topeka, Kansas, "Baptist" church that has managed to mangle the gospel so completely that hate, rather than love, is at the heart of the message they proclaim. They picket funerals of AIDS victims, carrying signs saying "No Tears for Queers." This "church" is actually a small cult comprised mostly of "Pastor" Fred Phelps's own offspring and their children. An eye-opening expose of the Phelps clan ("Addicted to Hate," by investigative reporter Jon Michael Bell) is on line, Exhibit A in some court documents in a lawsuit involving a Topeka newspaper.
As a Calvinistic Baptist, I'm embarrassed by the Web presence of this "church." What you'll find here is a radically different gospel from the good news proclaimed in Scripture, so this is an apt candidate for the "really, really bad" category.
#12
Unfortunately the way the left has perverted the concept of citizens rights.... You have to convince this bozo to sign himself into a mental institution.
A dawn-to-dusk strike called to protest Monday's deadly bombing shut down India's portion of Kashmir. Almost all shops, schools and private offices were closed yesterday to protest the suicide attack that killed 15 people and wounded 60 others the day before. Major business districts were deserted. Government offices remained open but had much lower attendance than usual because public transport was off the roads.
Police and troops went on high alert yesterday in Kashmir to forestall further violence. "We're on high alert to prevent such incidents," a police officer said. "We don't want to take chances. We want to save lives," he said. Troops in combat gear were out in force in the streets of Srinagar and other areas, frisking pedestrians and searching vehicles.
The bombing Monday struck a neighborhood near a security forces camp in Pulwama, a town south of Srinagar. Police blamed it on militants fighting for Kashmir's independence or merger with Pakistan. Three Indian security personnel died in the attack. The separatist leader who called the strike said he suspected Indian government agencies of plotting the bombing to derail peace efforts, and demanded an independent probe. "It seems to be part of a conspiracy, aimed at sabotaging the ongoing freedom movement," said Syed Ali Shah Geelani, head of the hard-line pro-Pakistan faction of Kashmir's main separatist alliance. Police detained Geelani along with three other separatist leaders and 40 followers yesterday after they set out for Pulwama to show sympathy for victims and their families.
Posted by: Fred ||
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South African President Thabo Mbeki has sacked his deputy Jacob Zuma who has been implicated in a high-profile corruption trial. Zuma's former financial adviser Schabir Shaik was convicted of corruption and fraud this month in a Durban High Court ruling that also implicated Zuma and said the pair's relationship was "generally corrupt", sparking calls for Zuma to resign. "I've come to the conclusion that the circumstances dictate that in the interests of the honourable deputy president, the government and our young democratic system ... It will be best to release honourable Jacob Zuma from his responsibilities as deputy president of the republic and member of the cabinet," Mbeki told a joint session of parliament on Tuesday. He added: "I wish to thank him for the service he has rendered as part of the executive, at national and provincial levels, sparing neither strength nor effort to ensure that, with each passing day, we build a better life for all South Africans."
Zuma, however, remains popular with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) rank and file as well as its trade union and Communist allies. He had refused to step down, saying he believed he had committed no crime and had not been tried in a court of law. Shaik was jailed for 15 years last week on charges of paying Zuma $189,400 in return for using his political influence to further Shaik's business interests. The court also said he sought a bribe for Zuma from a French arms firm in return for protection from a government probe into an arms deal.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
... the ruling African National Congress (ANC) rank and file as well as its trade union and Communist allies.
There isn't a heck of a lot of difference betwen the three.
#3
pappy, actually there is, and that may be whats behind this. Mbeki has tended to adopt more or less free market policies. This offends the SACP, and its trade union allies. Now the leadership of the SACP is largely white - they were the strongest white allies of the ANC during apartheid. So one way to counter them, which IIUC Mbeki has also followed is so emphasize race and black power - which Mandela (more leftist) did not. Black power tends to push away the SACP.
#4
pappy, actually there is, and that may be whats behind this. Mbeki has tended to adopt more or less free market policies. This offends the SACP, and its trade union allies. Now the leadership of the SACP is largely white - they were the strongest white allies of the ANC during apartheid. So one way to counter them, which IIUC Mbeki has also followed is so emphasize race and black power - which Mandela (more leftist) did not. Black power tends to push away the SACP.
The chief of Iran's nuclear program says the Islamic republic fears Israel or the United States may carry out threats to bomb his country's atomic facilities. The Bush Administration has accused Iran of secretly trying to develop nuclear weapons. In an interview with the ABC, director of Iran's Atomic Energy organisation, Gholam-Reza Aghazadeh, said his country was only interested in using nuclear technology to generate electricity. Mr Aghazadeh denies US and Israeli accusations that Tehran is secretly trying to build an atomic bomb. Iran's nuclear chief says he does fear that Israel or the US may try to bomb the Islamic republic's nuclear facilities. Iran has agreed to suspend its enrichment of uranium until it holds fresh talks with Britain, France, and Germany.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
There is an old (extremely un PC) Russian saying, which translates (roughly) as "The only way to straighten a hunchback, it to put him in a casket."
#3
What I dont understand is the terrorist attacks had already been stopped before the cease fire. The wall was doing its job the only difference between then and now is that the Isrealis are restrained from taking out the leadership and making the major counter strikes. The terrrist would be stupid to call of the cease fire they will not be able to make the attacks in Isreal proper Gaza will soon not be a target that the now isolated surrounded settlements are the major West bank settlements are now on the Isreali proper side of the wall and short the motor fire and rockets that never did stop the only thing the terrrorist will get from ending the cease fire is some thier leader of the month being splatted in the street by a maverick and the great blood lust "car swarm" that always follows. LGF http://www.littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/lgf-car-swarms.php?PHPSESSID=88b66af83e8f1b0ec4d942bcb5a70fcd
Pakistan and Australia have signed three agreements on security, agriculture and investment, said Prime Minister John Howard. Mr Howard met with Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf, who is on a three-day tour of Australia. "We discussed the opportunities for further education links, particularly the provision of some scholarships by Australia to Pakistani students and also the expansion of trade and investment links," Mr Howard told reporters. "We also witnessed the signing of three memoranda of understanding - one on counter-terrorism, one on agriculture and one on fostering ties between the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and its counterpart body in Pakistan, designed to provide greater protection for investors."
Iraqi violence killed at least 40 people yesterday. The US military said a rocket-propelled grenade killed one soldier and wounded two more in Baghdad, bringing US military deaths since the 2003 invasion to 1,698, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures. Two other US soldiers were killed Monday in a roadside bomb attack in the restive city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, the military said.
In the deadliest attack yesterday, a suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd of civil servants waiting for paychecks at a branch of Al-Rafidain bank in the northern oil city of Kirkuk, killing at least 20 people, police said. Another 81 were wounded. A statement posted on the Internet in the name of the Al-Qaeda-linked Ansar Al-Sunna group said it carried out the attack against the "infidel" police. It warned potential recruits: "We will follow you everywhere, whether you are wearing military fatigues or civilian clothes." Kirkuk police chief Maj. Gen. Turhan Yusif said a suicide bomber blew himself up in a queue at Al-Rafidain bank in the city center. "Most of the casualties were civil servants lining up outside the bank to receive their monthly pay," said Col. Shirzad Abdullah, chief of Rahimao police station.
North of Baghdad, a car bomb killed 10 more Iraqis, including two children, and wounded seven, according to security and hospital sources. The troops had been called in to reinforce a police station in the town of Kanaan that was under mortar attack, and were hit by a car bomb parked nearby, a police officer said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Up to 20 percent of suicide car bombers in Iraq are from Algeria, a sign of growing cooperation between Islamic extremists in northern Africa and like-minded Iraqis, a senior U.S. military official said Tuesday. The American officer said terror cells in the Middle East and northern Africa were increasingly joining forces as they face crackdowns in their own countries, leading to a stepped-up flow of money and Islamic extremists to Iraq. Forensic investigations have revealed that 20 percent of suicide car bombers in Iraq are Algerian and roughly 5 percent come from Morocco and Tunisia, according to the officer with responsibilities in Europe and Africa. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity, preferring for reasons of protocol to let U.S. commanders in Iraq speak on the record. The majority of foreign bombers in Iraq are believed to come from countries in the Persian Gulf, mainly Saudi Arabia and Yemen, U.S. officials say.
The officer said the numbers had increased, but gave no specific figures. He said increasing efforts on the part of Algerian, Moroccan and Libyan security services to combat local terror cells have resulted in extremists joining international operations. But he warned they would later return home. The United States has reacted by funneling more money and troops into north and northwest Africa to train and equip armies to combat the growing threat from local terror and insurgent groups like Algeria's Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which is believed to have links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States. The Algerian group was accused of involvement in kidnapping 32 European tourists in the Sahara in 2003 and launching a raid into Mauritania this month that left 24 people dead. Last week, U.S. troops from the European Command — which overseas U.S military interests in Europe and most of Africa — kicked off a two-week counterterrorism training exercise called Flintlock involving forces from Algeria, Chad, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Nigeria, Tunisia and Morocco.
The officer said north African Islamic militant groups were providing some cash to the insurgency in Iraq — about $200,000 so far, mostly funneled through Europe to Syria and into Iraq. Underground European networks were providing more cash, while African networks were providing manpower — mostly unskilled militants used to drive and then detonate car bombs that have killed thousands. Once in the country, extremists join up with the al-Qaida-linked network of Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Islamic militants are traveling through Turkey, into Iran and crossing into Iraq — many times through unpoliced areas along Iraq's vast border. A handful of Islamic fighters were believed to be returning to their home countries as well — people who can plan, work communications devices and design and set off explosives, the officer said.
Continued on Page 49
#1
So, as the LLL and MS keep saying, Iraq is a magnet for wackos. Is this a bad thing? I think it is natural selection at work - the dumb go to be killed in the desert.
Unfortunately, they take of few Americans with them, but not as many as if they were practicing their extremism on our turf.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/15/2005 8:17
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Syrian President Bashar Assad named a new intelligence chief and deputy premier yesterday, less a week after the ruling Baath Party recommended economic and political reforms. Bashar appointed Abdullah Al-Dardari, head of Syria's state planning commission, as deputy premier for economic affairs, the official SANA news agency reported. The post had been vacant since Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Al-Otari formed his Cabinet in September 2003.
Meanwhile, a Syrian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Bashar had issued a decision appointing Lt. Gen. Ali Mamlouk as head of Syria's General Intelligence Department, succeeding Lt. Gen. Hisham Al-Ikhtyar, who has become a member of the Baath Party's Regional Command. Mamlouk had served as the deputy general director of the Air Forces Intelligence Department. The General Intelligence Department is distinct from Syrian military intelligence, which faces international accusations of interference in neighboring Lebanon. The new appointments are in line with economic and political reforms recommended by the ruling Baath Party at its congress last week.
The choice of Mamlouk, in his mid-fifties and born in Damascus, was part of efforts to streamline the "mukhabarat" security service, focus it on domestic state security and downsize its pervasive role in society, other analysts said. The new head of intelligence was expected to curb the agency's overt political role and heavy-handed tactics against political dissidents, a semi-official source said. "The move is in line with efforts to push ahead with wider political reforms," said the source, who requested anonymity.
The mukhabarat is a secret police organization, not an intelligence organization, and I feel offended when people lump the two together. The Syrians, like most dictatorships, don't make a distinction between intelligence — collection, analysis, and reporting in support of decision-making — and the state security aparatus. Until recently, such equivalents as we have — FBI, DEA and such — were intel consumers, rather than producers. Despite the post 9-11 recommendations, I think I was more comfortable when that was the case. But maybe that's just me...
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
One potential problem I see with the post-9/11 reorg is cultural: there's a big difference between law enforcement, on the one hand, and intel generation and analysis on the other hand. The former deals with evidentiary rules and the certainty needed for successsful prosecution. The latter deals with probabilities, possibilities and a lot of uncertainty. Trying to do both in one org / culture will be very hard. And since we can write up clear rules for the former, I fear it will dominate over the latter.
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.
OSLO (Reuters) - Inuit hunters threatened by a melting of the Arctic ice plan to file a petition accusing Washington of violating their human rights by fueling global warming, an Inuit leader said Wednesday. Sheila Watt-Cloutier, chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), also said Washington was hindering work to follow up a 2004 report by 250 scientists that said the thaw could make the Arctic Ocean ice-free in summer by 2100. 
JAKARTA - Indonesian police said on Wednesday they had frozen bank accounts belonging to the ministry of religious affairs on suspicion of corruption in the management of Haj funds. 
It was only supposed to be a mission to deliver a tire to an MP patrol that had come under heavy fire along Alternate Supply Route Sword near Baghdad. But Staff Sgt. Serena Maren Di Virgilio's convoy drove right into an ambush. Their three-truck convoy had been hit with a rocket- propelled grenade. "I heard myself screaming, but I couldn't hear anything else," Di Virgilio said as she looked away, as if watching a scene from the movie of her life. "Everything was black, and there was smoke everywhere. I'll never forget that smell."
BAGHDAD - The special court charged with trying Saddam Hussein and members of his regime released a videotape on Wednesday of the questioning of the ousted leader's half-brother Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan. Sabawi was captured in late February and believed to have played a pivotal role in financing the insurgency which rages on more than two years after the regime's fall. The interrogation was carried out on Monday, according to the tape obtained by AFP along with a statement from the Iraqi Special Tribunal. The statement said Sabawi and Mizban Khodr Hadi, another senior former regime member, were questioned about the "crimes committed against the Failis, including execution, deportation and imprisonment in the 1980s".
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Fighting between about 90 suspected Taliban rebels and hundreds of Afghan soldiers and U.S.-led coalition troops left seven insurgents dead and 10 wounded, while a rebel attack on a medical clinic killed a doctor and six others, officials said Wednesday. 
AMSTERDAM — A mosque was gutted by an arson attack in the west of Rotterdam in the early hours of Wednesday morning. Police have said the inside of the Shaan-e-Islam prayer room in a warehouse on the Aleidisstraat has been destroyed. The mosque is linked to the Dutch Muslim association NMA and is mainly frequented by members of the Surinamese community. The cause of the fire has yet to be established. It was discovered at about 4am after local residents heard a loud bang. A police spokesperson said the blaze caught hold quickly in the building and the ground floor which houses the mosque was totally burnt out. There were no injuries.
MADRID — A major operation across Spain has led to the arrest of 16 suspects linked to the al-Qaeda leader in Irak Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. The alleged terrorists were detained in Madrid, Andalusia, Catalonia, Levante and Ceuta, Spain's north African enclave. Eleven suspects are allegedly linked to Abu Musab Al Zarquai, who is the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq and behind Islamic terrorist attacks in the country. The other five suspects are said to be linked to the Madrid train bombings in March last year in which 191 people were killed. Five hundred police have been involved in the operation. The Spanish ministry of the interior said the operation was ongoing and more arrests could follow.
An Indian rape victim is being forced by village elders to "marry" her rapist -- her father-in-law, a newspaper reported on Wednesday. Community leaders in Charthawal village, backed by local Muslim clerics, believe that by being raped, 28-year-old Imrana's 10-year marriage has been nullified under Islamic law, The Asian Age newspaper said. Holding a special council on Sunday, village leaders ordered the mother of five to leave her husband, Noor Mohammed, and live with her parental family for seven months and 10 days and make herself "pure" again, The Age said. It did not say how she becomes pure. After that, she must "marry" her father-in-law and live with him, along with his legal wife. "She... will then be like a mother to Noor Mohammed," the paper quoted local cleric Shamim Ahmad saying. 
British officials unveiled plans Tuesday for spectacular celebrations of the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, where Admiral 
A man who tried to conduct a job interview naked has been sentenced to three years' probation and placed on the sex offenders' register. The father-of-one, from Dunfermline had pleaded guilty to committing a breach of the peace. 
Osama bin Laden is alive and in good health, as is fugitive Taliban chief Mullah Mohammed Omar, a purported senior commander of the ousted militia said Wednesday in a television interview. Pakistan's Geo television broadcast the interview with a man it identified as Taliban military commander Mullah Akhtar Usmani, a former aviation minister who said he still receives instructions from Omar. Asked whether bin Laden is hiding in areas of Afghanistan that are under Taliban control, the man said he would not specify where the terrorist mastermind was hiding. "Thanks be to God, he is absolutely fine," he said.
TTAWA—The RCMP and Canadian military believe they've discovered a vital cache of information on Al Qaeda that includes the whereabouts of wanted members and details of attacks on coalition forces in Afghanistan. The information is allegedly contained in a laptop, dozens of DVDs, audiocassettes and the pages of diaries, seized by the RCMP officers who met Zaynab Khadr at Pearson airport with a search warrant as she arrived back in Canada in February, court documents state. Khadr is the eldest daughter of a family that has admitted close ties to Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and whose patriarch was once believed to be the highest-ranking Canadian member of Al Qaeda. Her younger brother, Omar, is currently Canada's only known detainee in the American camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. 
Two previously undisclosed memos have emerged which seem to implicate the United Nations Secretary-General 
Algerian Islamic gunmen attacked a military patrol in western Algeria, killing three troops and a civilian, security sources said Wednesday. The sources said the attack occurred Monday in the coastal province of Tibaza, 70 kilometers (43 miles) west of Algiers, when a group of 20 gunmen ambushed the military patrol with automatic weapons fire. A civilian traveling with the patrol was killed in addition to three soldiers. The army later combed the mountainous region in search of the attackers.
A Lebanese national killed a defendant being tried for genocide in a Beirut courtroom Wednesday in an act of revenge, police said. 
A leading British medical journal has published an editorial warning against the "hype" surrounding recent advances in stem cell research. The editorial notes that at a recent public debate in London, experts predicted that safe and effective treatments for diseases were at least a decade away. The Lancet's warning is the latest attempt by medical experts -- including many who support embryonic stem cell (ESC) research -- to dampen what they say are unrealistic expectations that stem cells will soon provide cure a range of diseases.
Cleric to receive hero's welcome
At least 23 Iraqi soldiers have been killed in a suspected suicide bomb attack, army officials say. The explosion happened at a canteen inside an army base in the town of Khalis, 60km (40 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad. About 28 people are reported to have been injured in the blast. At least 900 people - mostly Iraqi civilians - have been killed in renewed violence since a new interim government was formed on 28 April. The blast - described by an Iraqi army spokesman as "massive" - occurred at about 1300 local time (0900 GMT). Army officials say the attacker - dressed in an army uniform - waited until soldiers had gathered for lunch before blowing himself up. Iraqi officials said most of the injured were sent to hospitals in the nearby town of Baquba. An investigation has been launched into the incident - the second attack inside an Iraqi army base in four days.
Spanish police have arrested 16 people suspected of having links to Islamic terror groups. Five of the suspects were held for alleged involvement in the Madrid train bombings of March 2004. The other 11 men are thought to have links to 
A rebel splinter group has admitted responsibility for a recent spate of attacks in Senegal's troubled southern region, Casamance. The group is a breakaway faction of the MFDC, which signed a peace deal with the government late last year. The rebels are described as a hardline faction that is opposed to the peace agreement. 
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries agreed to increase output quotas by 1.8 percent, acknowledging that four increases in production in the past 12 months failed to stop oil's surge above $50 a barrel. 
Australian hostage 
Somalian waters: Serious attacks have resumed off the eastern coast of Somalia. Since [March 31 2005], five incidents were reported where pirates armed with guns and grenades have attacked ships and fired upon them. In three incidents crew were held hostage and ransom demanded. Some of these attacks took place far away from Somali coast. Eastern and northeastern coasts of Somalia continue to be high-risk areas for hijackings. Ships not making scheduled calls to ports in these areas should stay at least 50 miles or as far away as practical from the eastern coast of Somalia.
LANGKAWI, June 14 (Bernama) -- Ten Indonesian pirates surrendered without resistance, Tuesday after their attempt to seize a Malaysian-registered oil tanker off Langkawi was foiled by a crewman who dived into the sea, stole their speed boat and then led a police team back to the vessel.
Pouncing on Hurriyat leader 
The frontrunner in the turbulent race for Iran's presidency, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, won high profile support yesterday from the oil and nuclear sectors but the election still appeared set to go into a second round. The run-up to Friday's vote, which will herald an end to the difficult reformist presidency of Mohammad Khatami, also saw more bomb attacks — with new blasts reported to have shaken the southeastern city of Zahedan. 
IAEA head Mohamed El-Baradei urged Iran to allow a team of experts to return to a military site called Parchin, which they inspected once but have since been barred from visiting. "I would... ask Iran to support the agency's efforts to pursue further its investigation of the Lavizan-Shian and Parchin sites," El-Baradei said, adding that his inspectors wanted to visit "areas of interest" at Parchin. Parchin, the leading center of Iran's munitions industry, and Lavizan are among the sites where the United States suspects Iranian scientists have conducted research related to the development of nuclear weapons. Iran says it has no interest in such arms, only in civilian nuclear technology to generate electricity.
AN 87-year-old man who beat off an intruder with his shoe says he'll be ready if his attacker ever returns to his home. Semi-retired horse trainer Johnny Oswin was attacked by a man wielding a metal bar at his home at Mt Eliza, south of Melbourne, about 9pm (AEST) yesterday. Mr Oswin suffered cuts and bruises to his head and arms. "If he comes back, I'll do him up. I'll be ready for him next time," he said. "I didn't expect anybody to come in wanting to do me up, did I? I'll fix him up if he comes in, I'll use my fists on him next time, I'm pretty handy." In a strange twist, Mr Oswin said the intruder demanded to know about a man named Bert, a front-end loader and the location where Bert had buried his sister Cathy. "They've got the wrong bloke," Mr Oswin said. 
A Kansas preacher and gay rights foe whose congregation is protesting military funerals around the country said he's coming to Idaho on Wednesday to picket the memorial for an Idaho National Guard soldier killed in Iraq. A flier on the Web site of Pastor Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church claims God killed Cpl. Carrie French with an improvised explosive device in retaliation against the United States for a bombing at Phelps' church six years ago.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has confirmed that Saudi Arabia does not possess any nuclear facilities or fissionable material and does not engage in any prohibited nuclear activities. "We don't have any information proving Saudi Arabia has any prohibited nuclear fissionable material," Okaz daily yesterday quoted IAEA spokesman Mark Gwozedecky as saying. 
The US government may have set its security standards for nuclear power plants too low, and guards say they may not be ready to stop a terrorist attack of September 11 magnitude, a US magazine reported Sunday. A Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) document "raises serious questions about whether the government has set security requirements for nuclear plants too low and allowed nuclear plant operators to provide security on the cheap," Time reported. Even plant guards worry they would be unable to thwart a big terrorist operation, saying they lack the necessary training and weapons, the magazine said. The plants could also be vulnerable to an attack on foot, it said. "Our training has increased, but I don't think it's increased enough to deal with that," a veteran guard, who was not named, told Time. Another guard said: "We don't have the weapons or training to stop an attack of that magnitude. ... Everyone feels that way. It's a consensus of opinion."
Iran has made its first arrests over a string of deadly pre-election bombings blamed on Iraq-based extremists, vowing that the presidential poll would go ahead without disruption. Up to 10 people were killed in separate attacks in the Arab-dominated city of Ahvaz and the capital Tehran on Sunday, rattling the country in the midst of a fractious and sometimes bruising election campaign. "Some of the perpetrators of the acts have been arrested, others are on the verge of being caught," Information Minister Ali Yusseini told reporters. "They have foreign links," he added, without giving further details.
Faced with increasing lawlessness in the occupied territories, Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei yesterday said his Cabinet would go on strike if security forces failed to rein in armed groups.
The final make up of Lebanon's Parliament will be determined this weekend, when the last 28 parliamentary seats up for grabs in North Lebanon will be decided. Fresh from his election victory in last week's round of elections, Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun, who was exiled from Lebanon after his "War of Liberation" against Syria in 1990, has joined forces with pro-Syrian politician Suleiman Franjieh in the North where they are fielding two complete lists.
The main body of Afghan Muslim clerics called on the United States yesterday to apologize and punish those responsible for desecrating the Qur'an at its Guantanamo Bay prison, an issue that sparked bloody riots in Afghanistan. The US military released details this month about five cases in which the holy book was kicked, stepped on, soaked in water, and in one instance, splashed with a guard's urine falling through an air vent at the military prison in Cuba.
China is using a vast network of spies in an attempt to turn Australia into a "political colony," a defector said, as it was revealed Beijing officials had been allowed to interrogate Chinese held in Australian detention centres. Former Beijing University professor Yuan Hongbing, the fourth Chinese defector to surface in Australia in the past month, supported charges by a rebel Chinese diplomat that Beijing had an extensive network of agents in the country. The agents are targeting Chinese dissidents and are also being used to influence political thought "to turn Australia into a political colony of China," Yuan told ABC radio. "Political colony means the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) will use their ideology to influence Australia's politics and gradually to turn Australia to betray its fundamental principles of freedom and democracy," Yuan said through an interpretde.
A dawn-to-dusk strike called to protest Monday's deadly bombing shut down India's portion of Kashmir. Almost all shops, schools and private offices were closed yesterday to protest the suicide attack that killed 15 people and wounded 60 others the day before. Major business districts were deserted. Government offices remained open but had much lower attendance than usual because public transport was off the roads. 
South African President Thabo Mbeki has sacked his deputy Jacob Zuma who has been implicated in a high-profile corruption trial. Zuma's former financial adviser Schabir Shaik was convicted of corruption and fraud this month in a Durban High Court ruling that also implicated Zuma and said the pair's relationship was "generally corrupt", sparking calls for Zuma to resign. "I've come to the conclusion that the circumstances dictate that in the interests of the honourable deputy president, the government and our young democratic system ... It will be best to release honourable Jacob Zuma from his responsibilities as deputy president of the republic and member of the cabinet," Mbeki told a joint session of parliament on Tuesday. He added: "I wish to thank him for the service he has rendered as part of the executive, at national and provincial levels, sparing neither strength nor effort to ensure that, with each passing day, we build a better life for all South Africans."
Iraqi violence killed at least 40 people yesterday. The US military said a rocket-propelled grenade killed one soldier and wounded two more in Baghdad, bringing US military deaths since the 2003 invasion to 1,698, according to an AFP tally based on Pentagon figures. Two other US soldiers were killed Monday in a roadside bomb attack in the restive city of Ramadi, west of Baghdad, the military said.
Up to 20 percent of suicide car bombers in Iraq are from Algeria, a sign of growing cooperation between Islamic extremists in northern Africa and like-minded Iraqis, a senior U.S. military official said Tuesday. The American officer said terror cells in the Middle East and northern Africa were increasingly joining forces as they face crackdowns in their own countries, leading to a stepped-up flow of money and Islamic extremists to Iraq. Forensic investigations have revealed that 20 percent of suicide car bombers in Iraq are Algerian and roughly 5 percent come from Morocco and Tunisia, according to the officer with responsibilities in Europe and Africa. The officer spoke on condition of anonymity, preferring for reasons of protocol to let U.S. commanders in Iraq speak on the record. The majority of foreign bombers in Iraq are believed to come from countries in the Persian Gulf, mainly Saudi Arabia and Yemen, U.S. officials say.
Syrian President Bashar Assad named a new intelligence chief and deputy premier yesterday, less a week after the ruling Baath Party recommended economic and political reforms. Bashar appointed Abdullah Al-Dardari, head of Syria's state planning commission, as deputy premier for economic affairs, the official SANA news agency reported. The post had been vacant since Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Al-Otari formed his Cabinet in September 2003.
