Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Saturday with Palestinian Interior Minister Gen. Nasr Yousef in the West Bank town of Ramallah. An Interior Ministry statement said the two sides discussed efforts to implement Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' decision to unify the Palestinian security services and to develop their work. The minister also briefed Rice on Palestinian preparations to take control of the territories from which Israel says it will withdraw.
The statement said that Yousef affirmed the Palestinian Authority's insistence on "controlling the security situation and to stop the armed chaos in order to provide security and safety for the Palestinians and to protect the PA's commitments." It added that Rice reiterated the U.S. administration's support for the PA's efforts in restoring security in the Palestinian territories. The statement said the minister also told Rice that Israel should stop its "aggressive measures, collective punishment, settlement activities and the construction of the racist separation barrier." Yousef reportedly said such Israeli measures obstructed the restoration of the Palestinian-Israeli peace process.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2005
15:57 ||
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#1
kinda wasted until the Paleo "volunatray thinning out" occurs, no?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2005 18:18
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Iran's presidential election will go to a second round for the first time ever, with former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani facing former Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who opposes detente with the U.S. Rafsanjani gained 21.01 percent of the vote held yesterday, Ahmadinejad 19.48 percent and former parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karroubi 17.28 percent, according to the nation's interior ministry today. The two highest vote-getters in the seven-candidate field advanced to the second round, to be held June 24 or July 1. Karroubi said today that the vote had been ``rigged'' by supporters of Ahmadinejad and called for an investigation.
Rafsanjani, 70, and Ahmadinejad, 49, have different approaches towards relations with the U.S., which were severed in 1979 after radical students stormed the U.S. embassy in Tehran, holding 52 people hostage for 444 days. Rafsanjani has called for a ``new chapter,'' while Ahmadinejad rejects any deal with the ``Great Satan.'' ``We are going to have friendly relations with all the countries that show no hostility to us,'' Ahmadinejad told reporters at a press briefing in Tehran today. He put the U.S. in the hostile camp.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2005
15:44 ||
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May the best man win. Win what, I do not know. We will just have to get edumicated when Sean Penn writes this one up with his inciteful insightful rhetoric anal-ysis analysis from the scene of the crime location.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/18/2005 17:27
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#2
Rafsanjani, 70, and Ahmadinejad, 49, have different approaches towards relations with the U.S.
#3
Iran's presidential election will go to a second round for the first time ever, with former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani facing former Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who opposes detente with the U.S.
U.S. Marines along with Iraqi troops have opened anther anti-insurgent campaign, this one near Baghdad. Operation Dagger includes about 1,000 Marines and Iraqi troops, backed by fighter jets and tanks. And this one is targeting weapons cache and training sites. Meantime, Operation Spear, continues near the border with Syria. The military says so far that offensive has resulted in the killing of about 50 insurgents.
Elsewhere, the military said two U.S. soldiers transporting a detainee have been killed in an insurgent attack near Baghdad. It said another soldier was wounded and that the detainee and a civilian were killed. And, in Baghdad, a 10-year-old Iraqi girl was killed and two people were injured when a roadside bomb missed a passing American military convoy. Two Iraqis were injured when another roadside bomb missed another U.S. military convoy.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2005
15:39 ||
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a 10-year-old Iraqi girl was killed and two people were injured when a roadside bomb missed a passing American military convoy.
MSM Headine:
American military convoy kills 10 year old Iraqi girl!
(buried deep in article: "by not waiting for a IED to explode.")
Several days ago I received a telephone call from an old friend who is a longtime Amnesty International staffer. He asked me whether I, as a former Soviet "prisoner of conscience" adopted by Amnesty, would support the statement by Amnesty's executive director, Irene Khan, that the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba is the "gulag of our time."
"Don't you think that there's an enormous difference?" I asked him.
"Sure," he said, "but after all, it attracts attention to the problem of Guantanamo detainees." Not even "fake but accurate," just "fake but useful. It is also called "hyperbole" "propaganda" and "bullshit." In short, it is a classic Big Lie, a technique made famous by a chap whose bosses ran some serious concentration camps.
The word "gulag" was a bureaucratic acronym for the main prison administration in Stalin's Soviet Union. After publication of Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago," it became a symbol for the system of forced-labor camps that have been an integral feature of communist countries. Millions of prisoners confined in the gulag had not been involved in violence or committed any crime -- they were there because they belonged to a "wrong" social, national or political group or expressed a "wrong" opinion.
The cruelty and scale of the gulag system are described in numerous books, so there is no need to recount them here. By any standard, Guantanamo and similar American-run prisons elsewhere do not resemble, in their conditions of detention or their scale, the concentration camp system that was at the core of a totalitarian communist system. In a notable flying pig moment, even Al Guardian has run a piece denouncing Amnesty's loathesome analogy. AI remains oblivious to this, proving once again that it is simply a media-cult corporate fund raising operation with no real concern at all for human rights.
We round up the paid AI staffers, put half of them in a camp simulating conditions at Gitmo, the other half go in a re-created Gulag camp.
After a month they switch places.
After another month, the survivors can vote on which they think was worse and select the camp in which they would prefer to spend another year of incarceration.
They can also select from a 1-10 scale what they believe to be the most accurate degree of difference; with 1 being "identical in every respect" and 10, "Are you fucking crazy? I'm lucky to be alive."
#3
"it is simply a media-cult corporate fund raising operation with no real concern at all for human rights"
That's the most concise description of AI I've ever read. Applies to almost all of the so-called "human rights" orgs and NGO's, as well.
My first realization, the death of my naivete, was when I found out that The March of Dimes (founded by FDR) went looking for another cause to "champion" when the Salk vaccine proved successful and was massively distributed in 1954-55. Now, allied with the Easter Seals folks, they've gone for the blanket category of "birth defects". Charity Navigator gives them only 1 "star" - out of 4 - which means they suck, in terms of efficiently serving the cause they pretend to espouse. Park Paradise for the management.
#4
BTW, to my surprise, AI-USA was also "reviewed" by Charity Navigator and given 2 "stars" of 4. The International org isn't rated - prolly cuz they aren't forced to open their books - they're UK-based, as charities based in the US are.
Note that Charity Navigator ratings must be taken with a cowlick (that's a big-assed block of salt for you city folk) - they rated the Carter Center 4 of 4 "stars", lol. The rating is for how much money actually makes it to fund the stated purpose -- it doesn't address the question of if they're crazy or socialist tools, lol.
#5
Cuz the still mostly LeftMedia is, for the time being, the "Democratic Party", while the Dems themselves, i.e. Clintonian Dems-for-Repubs/Rightists-for Dems, aka Repubs-for-Socialism, etal. are trying to focii on destroying, disrupting and subverting the GOP-Right from within. The Failed Left wants War, it wants America to be attacked, cuz it believes that America's Federalist, Three-Branches, Constitutional Repub form/system of Govt. and DemoCapitalist economy and society will NOT survive the rigors of expansion unto new Global Empire. Contemporay Leftism is about POLITICS, etc. i..e getting someone to do or submit to your will or desires [ Islam???]. WHEN AMERICA IS DONE MAKING EMPIRE INDIRECTLY FOR THE REDS, eg RUS [Russia] = USR [United States Socialist Republic], OUR HEAD WILL BE CUT OFF LIKE NICK BERG!
I wish to express my thanks and appreciation from my fellow Rantburgers for your help over the last couple of years. Your efforts have played a large part in keeping me sane.
Met the Social Security Administrative Judge yesterday, and he approved my Social Security Disability. This will remove a considerable amount of stress from my and my family's life, and make life a bit easier for us.
Special thanks to Fred, for creating and managing this awesome site, and for all the friendship and support I've enjoyed as a "regular" over tha past three years or so. God bless you all, each and every one, regardless of your personal beliefs!
#4
I think it hits us all that way at some point. Several times for me, in fact! Frend and the gang are indeed life savers. Glad to hear things are going better for you and your family now, and may it go even better in the future.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/18/2005
11:55 ||
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This is a slightly different version of another post; I skipped to the conclusion to the editorial.
AI was useful to the author, at one time, he still holds out hope for it!
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/18/2005 15:48
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#2
Despite the risks posed by terrorism, the United States cannot indefinitely detain people considered dangerous without appropriate safeguards for their conditions of detention and periodic review of their status.
Who, of those in Gitmo, are legal American residents/citizens/visitors that are being detained indefinitely? Those twats being fed and clothed over there are illegal enemy combatants, meaning, they haven't bothered to abide by accepted rules in warfare. Play by the rules with us, and we'll do the same. If not, well, tough.
#3
In the absence of a truly impartial authority (a self-selected judge and jury, which is what AI and the Red Thingy are, cannot prove that they are imparital) and with no objective measure agreed to by all, we are forced to use relative comparisons between nations rather than absolute ones. Even then, we should use hard numbers, with nations refusing to provide information or allow inspections or prisoner visits (the equivalent of not showing up for the final exam) being scored ZERO.
Here's my point: demanding that we, the United States, be held to a higher standard than everyone else, is simply the definition of discrimination and hypocrisy. Applying one set of rules to one person, and a different set of rules to someone else, IS INTOLERABLE AND SHOULD BE CONDEMNED.
A patent reluctance to grade the United States on the same scale as everyone else is an admission that one does not want to issue an impartial, defendable, and COMPARABLE, judgement. Asserting that the United States is worse than Cuba is possible only by applying a different standard to the United States, while the use of the word "worse" falsely implies that the SAME standard was used.
The (true gulag) victim tries to be honest, but he's still a hypocrite because his demands define him as one.
#4
I still think they would be great bait on my line for the fish roundup at Port Aransas TX.
I think a Marlin or Shark would just love them. Of course it would need to be a "live bait" situation. Doe's AI have problems with Fishing? They don't beleive in God so bait being muslim or animal shouldn't make a bit of difference to AI.
Of course I don't know how the captians at Dolphin Docks would feel about it. (They likely belive in a God so see a differences....)...
#6
At best these are prisoners of war who we should set free when the war is over in 10, 20, or 100 years. At worst, they should face military tribunals and be executed. Since they are not going free anytime soon, there's no rush on the tribunals.
Posted by: Tom ||
06/18/2005 20:13
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Dr. Thomas G. Bonow
2200 West 39th Street
Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57105
605-339-7290
bonotbone@aol.com
June 18, 2005
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. President
Who has the father godhead in this country?
I dunno. Who?
Your investments have made you a millionaire.
I thought he was born rich? Make up your mind...
Are you being paid off?
Paying off millionaires can be expensive...
Texas always has the father godhead in this country. Did the Black Race and White Race join together to come against me and now can not handle the His-Spanic, Mexican's.
You think they might not like you? What'd you do to them?
Roman Catholic Police Female Godhead.
Lost me on that one, bub. I assume it's a reference to the Virgin Mary, but I haven't run across any flying squads of Knights of Columbus...
Is this the Mother goddess country?
Not that anybody would noice, except maybe you, and you don't sound too sure...
Will NATO stand for it?
Do they have a choice? If they notice, that is?
Will Laura and Dick Cheney run on a third Bush family ticket?
My guess at this point would be Bill Frist. Obviously you've been talking to the people who populate your head and they say different. Don't believe them.
Going to close Ellsworth?
Ellsworth Bunker? Ellsworth AFB? Daniel Ellsworth?
Are the Jews directing your Iran war with their money?
Yes. They're also after you. They put up the money for the guy who's been dropping dog turds on your lawn.
#1
Ahem. May I suggest, voluntary or no, that the street address and phone number be redacted?
I also suggest that a google search on "Thomas G. Bonow" is very entertaining. I particularly suggest this site. Do a "find" on "Virginia". So NSFW, or possibly home, if you think you might have a hemorrhage giggling.
#7
Hopefully Mucky won't be analyzing Angie's "find" line by line.
Posted by: Tom ||
06/18/2005 20:04
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#8
Angie, where on earth did you find that link?
Google is our friend. Google is God. It sees all, knows all, tells all.
If you mean, did I read through the entire thing, the answer is no. The "Virginia" bits just sort of jumped out at me. It's kind of like a kaleidoscope; everytime you look at it, you see something a little bit different.
Tighter controls of border crossings between the U.S. and Mexico have led to a shortage of strawberry pickers in Oregon, leaving some of the prized berries to rot on the vines during prime picking weeks.
Earlier this week, an emergency plea for strawberry pickers was issued by the Oregon Employment Department. It's the latest trouble for an industry already coping with rising labor costs, a decline in strawberry processors and the increasing domination by California growers.
"We're losing the first picking," said Juan Diego Sanchez, a labor supervisor on a 75 acres farm outside of Woodburn. "We're behind because there's not enough people."
So pay people more and they'll come out to pick the berries. That's how capitalism works.
The optimum amount of workers is 550 to tend the field, Sanchez said. On Wednesday, he had 330.
Traditional seasonal workers from south of the border have not shown up this year, said Daniel Quiones, the migrant seasonal farm workers representative from the Oregon Employment Department. "There's just not as many people," he said. "There's fear about crossing the border and insecurity because of the Minuteman Project."
Translation: he's admitting that his industry needs illegals to survive.
The Minuteman Project involved civilian volunteers who patroled the U.S.-Mexico border this spring by ground and air, looking for illegal immigrants. Since then, the Department of Homeland Security has beefed up the border with thousands of Border Patrol agents and doubled the amount of aircraft over the international boundary.
In Oregon, farmers and labor contractors said the government needs to start up a temporary worker program.
Or you could pay your workers more.
Independent labor contractor Arnulfo Sandoval Perez told The Statesman-Journal of Salem that some strawberry farmers are losing $10,000 per day.
Which causes them to whine to gummint, instead of raising the pay and finding new workers.
And using machines to pick the tender fruit is not an option "as long as people want quality, hand-picked strawberries," Sandoval said. He also said that when the cherry season gets under way later this month, most of the strawberry pickers will opt for cherry picking because the job does not involve the bending or crouching required to pluck the vines.
Jim Ludwick, president of Oregonians for Immigration Reform, said he felt sorry for the farmers, but that the situation does not justify more immigration to the state. Instead of clamoring for the cheap labor, farmers should be lobbying Oregon legislators to remove the restrictions on children working the fields, Ludwick said."A number of years ago, those strawberries would have been picked by Oregon school children," he said.
Ohfergawdsake.
Quiones said children between the ages of 12 and 16 are allowed to work in agriculture, so long as they are accompanied by an adult. Farmers pay between 18 cents and 25 cents per pound to pick strawberries. They sell the fruit to canneries for 47 cents per pound. Veteran pickers can collect up to 100 pounds an hour, fetching an hourly rate of $20, Quiones said.
Some farmers, concerned with losing their entire harvest, have started "people sharing" with other farmers so at least part of their crop gets picked, he said. And thus the whole "cheap" labor system starts to break down.
#3
Hey when I was young kid would mow lawns for money and everything... The damned lawyers ruined it and illegal aliens now fill the kid's niche...
It was even fun to detassel corn. You a the local wanton could have some fun in the middle of fields while pretending to detassel.
Admited that berries are not tall enough to hide that kind of action and berry growers use posion gas on the fields to sterilize them so they aren't that attractive to go into...
#4
At an absolute level, this does belong on page 3. However, the implication that -- at least for the moment -- we are winning this particular battle of the WoT, the battle for control of our national borders, should keep it on page 1. Good catch, Anonymoose!
Besides, it's good for kids to earn extra money by the sweat of their brow. And in some families, to help raise the family's standard of living. A thought: why not bus in the inner city poor to replace the illegal laborors? or use the local aid recipients (lots of poor people in the countryside, too, or so I'm told). Both groups won't need to be housed, so the cost should be a wash to the growers.
#5
Supply and demand. What a concept. Start paying higher prices for the labor. The wink of the eye inaction by both parties have resulted in a virtual unlimited labor market, artificially keeping labor costs low. Hey Dems! Yeah, You! You don't have to raise minimum wage levels if you actually shut the border and control the inflow of labor. The 'natural' market pressures will take care of the issue.
Posted by: Jong Cravirong9792 ||
06/18/2005 11:35
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#6
I wouldn't want kids to do this kind of stoop labor. It is terribly hard on the back and can cause lots of long-term problems. California, for example, has banned the use of the short hoe in fields because of the high injury rate. An alternative would be expensive in the short term, but would pay off later with reduced fertilizer, pesticide and water use; that is, elevating the strawberry plants about 3' off the ground in long planters. This eliminates many nematode and weed problems, along with preventing soil salinization. In a way, think of it as "semi-hydroponic" farming. Stoop tending, which is quite slow, would be replaced with much faster labor. All told, it would save the farmer money in the long term.
#8
It seems the Mexican government will have to print and distribute a few more copies of their invasion instructions"Guide for the Mexican Migrant"
Someone should investigate whether this farmer has used illegal workers in the past and take appropriate action.
I worked in strawberry fields as a kid and don't remember the hard work, but did appreciate the money.
#9
I want my strawberries picked by Americans.. not a bunch of migrant illegals. I despise socialism, but lets get the meth & reefer heads out of the trailer parks there and perform community agro assistance to revalidate their welfare checks. It sounds draconic, but enough is enough! We need more illegals to pick the tomatos and chilis and berries? No, I'll pay higher if that eventually puts an end to the nonsense we face by being demographically occupied by foreigners. We created this mess, and we are the solution.
#10
Flavins: don't think in the past. I would prefer a population improved so much that they wouldn't want to do seasonal agriculture labor. Replace them with machines and change you agribusiness to make it less labor intensive. Farming is just plain nasty, dangerous work. I'd far rather there was one well-paid machine operator than 50 migrant farm workers. As was noted, there are about 8 million illegals living in the US. I will point out that the vast majority of these illegals are not economically staying put, they are climbing up the ladder. In just two generations, they will be white and blue collar workers--no different from the workers America has now. Stopping the heroin of cheap and willing labor will force agribusiness to do what it has delayed doing for decades. The market rules.
#13
But Flavins, that would mean that the DNC's base would have to get off their fat asses and actually do something for their welfare money. Can't have that!
Why not have all those on welfare (and still able to work) pick the berries and *do* *something* to earn their keep instead of sitting at home in front of the { TV | game console | booze bottle }. The fresh air might do them some good (and perhaps, just perhaps, get them to feel better about themselves.
#15
nice try moose - and I want a pony. Secure the border - should migrant workers REALLY be necessary, a bracero program can be reinstituted. I didn't work in the fields (and no, the red herring short hoe - proved you a dissembler - read "liar") but I did do yards and cars, and once I could drive, I worked at an italian restaurant doing the crap work....
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2005 18:38
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#16
Moose: good point. The fella whining about people liking "hand-picked" berries is clueless. This is an opportunity, not a problem.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2005 18:40
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#17
What Frank G, DMFD, eLarson, Flavins, GK, trailing wife, and 3dc said
Moose you have an elitist outlook about honest work, so fu*king what if the work is hard? You get in shape when you work hard.
Like everyone else who's worked at different jobs I've worked in restaraunts, nurserys, post office, Heavy Construction overseas, mining,etc., and have been a gen. contractor for years.
Its been great experience, I wouldn't trade it for sedentary work.
BTW that, I do for free when I type on a keyboard everyday! ;)
Posted by: Red Dog ||
06/18/2005 19:51
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#18
your people are meanies. ima stand ready to go to workin on the 3 foot strawberry line. i will not however bent over to the nazi rule nof weight for pay, ima only work by the job or hour, itn about 23 american right now, unless it's real hot.
Another article on the communist involvement in terrorism; old, but interesting, if only as backround material.
Ryan Mauro - 12/30/2004
There is no doubt that the Soviet Union played a tremendous role in the expansion and evolution of Islamic terrorism. Many of the people responsible for the policy of promoting fundamentalist miliancy still hold key positions in Russia. People can accept the fact that there are "anti-Bush" cliques inside the CIA and State Department, and the fact that there are "pro-Bin Laden" cliques in the Pakistani military ISI. Yet, for some strange reason, they cannot accept the fact that there are still "pro-Marxist" cliques inside Russia. I believe that the Russian Mafia operates in unison with these "rogue" elements, almost as a separate intelligence directorate.
#1
Both are more significant given that vv 9-11 the Left, for now until 2020, prefers America to be suborned without resort to global nuke war, by any means necessary. Regradless of what happens in CHechyna, Russia > America IS the world's premier global terror state.
More articles form globalpolitician on the communists/islamists nexus.
This article traces the roots of Islamic terrorism, with special focus on Afghanistan. Notes are added on practical and philosophical problems of world media in finding the right track. From systematic errors in revealing little details, to serious misconceptions about basic facts and principles, we can relatively easily learn how much of "common knowledge" rests actually on superficial research and popular myths. Instead of becoming critical and aware of the traps laid around the issue, both Islamists and Islamophobes fail to recognize how they are manipulated. Long, rest at link
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/18/2005 15:55
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#2
Yes, yes. Muhammad massacared the Jews of Medina---after they surrendered on promise of life and limb, and later repeated the same with his Quariesh relatives because a KGB opperative was wispering in his ear.
A few months old, but still interesting, if a bit paranoid in his estimation of Russia (which seems pretty worm-ridden to my uneducated eyes), perhaps?. Long, needs to be p.49-ed.
See also the "cannibal" related stories on the sidebar.
Shameless plug : to witness the nightmare that South Africa has become, see the http://www.africancrisis.org/default2.asp website; btw, *don't* check the red photo galleries after (or before) eating...
Newcastle - Two KwaZulu-Natal girls have been left traumatised after seeing their father eat the flesh off their dead mother's face on Friday morning, said police.
Captain Tienkie van Vuuren said police were called to Thembalethu Village near Mkuze in the Tugela Ferry area about 03:00 on Friday after a 13-year-old girl ran to her neighbours for help. She said when they arrived at the house they had to force their way in the house to rescue the other girl, aged seven, who had been stabbed in the head by the father.
"Inside, police found a naked Jabulani Siphethu sitting on top of his common-law wife's body, eating the flesh from her face," said Van Vuuren. "Only the forehead was still intact. The bone was visible where the rest of the face used to be".
Siphethu was aggressive during the arrest and threatened police with the knife he was holding. He was eventually caught and taken outside. "There, he suddenly choked and became unconscious and died."
I had no idea they had a Rapid Action Battalion in South Africa.
"The seven-year-old girl was taken away by ambulance together with her older sister who had escaped unharmed," said Van Vuuren.
A post-mortem will on done on Siphethu and his common-law wife.
#1
Sickos everywhere! Justice happened though and the only thing I feel about is the dead woman, and even more for the children... how can they ever cope with this and try to lead for what passes as a normal life there? Kids always get hurt the most.
#1
You know why the media doesn't report on stuff like this? They can't read that many words in one article! (I got bored, too, with all the news of stability).
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/18/2005 15:46
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More on the SloMo Kyoto train wreck. Europe is failing to tackle climate change, putting further pressure on Tony Blair to come up with a fresh initiative at the G8 summit and embarrassing the European commission, which is floundering over budget cuts and the constitution treaty.
The latest figures for Europe's greenhouse gas emissions, seen by the Guardian but not due to be released until next week, show that the 15 countries who were EU members in 2003 increased their overall emissions by 1.1% in the year up to 2004.
Under the Kyoto agreement, which came into force earlier this year, EU countries must reduce emissions by 8% by 2012 - something which looks increasingly unlikely. Figures from the European Environment Agency show that only France, Germany, Sweden and the UK have any hope of cutting their energy use in time to meet their targets and that most countries are now falling well behind.
They also show that Britain increased its total emissions more than all other EU countries except Italy and Finland in 2003/4. The 1.3% increase, equivalent to 7.4m tonnes of carbon, was mainly because people drove more. Britain is expected to only just fulfil its Kyoto obligations but not the government's more ambitious target of a 20% cut in emissions by 2010.
In the EU only Ireland and Portugal have cut their emissions. But both are expected to exceed their future targets following years of economic expansion. Finland, Denmark and Austria burned more fossil fuels than in previous years.
Yesterday, the commission played down the figures, blaming a harsh winter for the increases. "It was very cold across Europe. The number of days that people needed to hear their homes was much higher," said a spokeswoman. Let me get this straight, you failed to reach your targets to stop climate warming because the climate was too cold.
But the figures are embarrassing for Britain, which is chairing the G8's discussions on climate change and assumes the presidency of the EU in less than two weeks. The statistics may weaken Britain's negotiating hand with the US by suggesting that wealthy countries' policies to curb the use of fossil fuels are not working.
One reason the US gave for not joining the Kyoto treaty was because the US administration said it would not deliver the cuts needed to avoid serious climate change. Looks like they were right!
Chris Green, the Lib Dems' environment spokesman in the European parliament, said: "The upward trend in European emissions is very worrying. These figures put in doubt the EU's commitment to fighting climate change. "The commission must seize the initiative and give a stronger lead."
Catherine Pearce, global climate change spokeswoman for Friends of the Earth, said: "If Britain and the rest of Europe cannot get it right, then how can anyone expect the US or developing countries to?" One of the most sensible things I have ever heard a radical Green say.
Leaked papers showed yesterday that the Bush administration officials working behind the scenes in advance of the G8 summit have weakened key sections of a proposal for joint climate change action by the G8. In the past few weeks, negotiators have deleted language which set ambitious targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions and stricter environmental standards for World Bank-funded power projects.
Next week the government's Sustainable Development Commission will propose radical new vehicle and aviation taxes, greater household energy efficiency and a carbon neutral public sector (I have no idea what that means, but its a triumph of Burecratic gobbledegook) to save at least 10m tonnes of carbon.
The UK's emissions are increasing mainly because rising traffic levels are eliminating the small gains being made in fuel efficiency. Or put another way legally mandated energy reductions are a spectacularly bad idea that don't work and tend to produce the opposite effect.
#2
Check this out:
--
Kyoto advocates mislead us all by focusing on emissions per head instead on net emissions per square kilometre of governed territory.
This has a remarkable effect on priorities and targets.
A focus on net emissions recognizes that any nation both generates anthropogenic green house gases and absorbs them. Generally, urban areas create greenhouse gas emissions while rural areas absorb them.
Hence net emissions relate to population density. While the US may be the greatest emitter there is now considerable evidence that the US is an overall greenhouse gas sink. On the other hand Europe with its high population densities far exceeds the United States in terms of net emissions per square kilometre.
This is the "US is the great polluter" fraud.
---
Great article, read it all, debunking Kyoto fraud at
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1034067/posts
#3
According to a very Pro-Kyoto Canadian website, this is their estimate of the difference Kyoto will make - and it ain't much.
Actually I read elsewhere it is more like a delay of Global Warming (not necessarily a bad thing) by 3 months.
But here is their figure:
Without the Protocol, scientists estimate mean temperatures will rise by about 1°C by 2050, and 2.5°C by 2100. With the Protocol, the expected rate of temperature rise is a little bit much lower. Between 0.04-0.10°C by 2050, and 0.08-0.28°C by 2100(but this is just a delay of the inevitable)
The worst thing about the Kyoto myth is it encourages people to see carbon dioxide as a pollutant when it is a benign gas necessary for all life on earth. Increasing C02 levels lead to lusher plant growth: they IMPROVE the biodiversity of plants.
But instead the alternative is nuclear power which releases deadly toxic pollutants that nobody wants to store anywhere near their backyard. But the nuclear industry is the big winner out of the Kyoto Fraud.
And what a great world it will be when every tinpot dictatorship has access to plutonium because they "need" a reactor for "energy". And dumps their N-waste in the nearest river or desert where it will be dangerous for hundreds of thousands of years long after the warning signs (if there are any) come down.
So much for limiting nukes to the developed world.
#4
Whopping effect of Kyoto Protocol a load of hot air
Here is the conclusion of a long, boring scientific paper discussing the effect of Kyoto at its highest and best, assuming US and Australian ratification:
--------
We find that implementing the Kyoto Protocol until 2012 has only an effect of 2 ppmv on CO2 concentration and several hundredth of a degree Celsius in 2012, its implementation and reductions after 2012 enable reaching a maximum CO2 concentration level by 2050 that is by the order of 20 ppmv or two tenths of a degree Celsius lower than not implementing the Kyoto Protocol
for reference: http://64.233.179.104/search?q=cache:ZzPDuX9-lWIJ:www.stabilisation2005.com/posters/Hohne_Niklas.pdf+impact+effect+%22kyoto%22&hl=en
#7
"Next week the government's Sustainable Development Commission will propose radical new vehicle and aviation taxes, greater household energy efficiency and a carbon neutral public sector" (I have no idea what that means, but its a triumph of Burecratic gobbledegook)
It means fewer poorer people will be able to afford to own and use cars, and low cost air travel will become a thing of the past. The government intends to price the less priviliged off the road and out of the planes. A good bit of old style socialism from New Labour. Nice, eh?
#8
While the US may be the greatest emitter there is now considerable evidence that the US is an overall greenhouse gas sink. On the other hand Europe with its high population densities far exceeds the United States in terms of net emissions per square kilometre.
That can change if the people in charge here don't get a handle on illegal immigration...
#9
anon1, your Saudi link nails one thing, which is that we don't have visibility on supply (or reserves). This makes us vulnerable to oil price shocks, which we seem to be on the verge of. If oil goes higher Monday/Tuesday next week, we won't see $58/b oil again for quite a while.
#12
Socialist govts in general demand their economic units work more regardless of the merits so that the State can take more - for me Kyoto is just a feel-good, PC alibi for Socialist Govts to raise tax burdens while making sure no one gets wealthy, since wealth = competition against Big Govt.
#13
They may demand, Joseph, but what they get is "You pretend to pay us, and we'll pretend to work." So everybody loses, which is exactly what's happening in the most socialist European countries.
Chinese farmers, acting with the approval and encouragement of government officials, have tried to suppress major bird flu outbreaks among chickens with an antiviral drug meant for humans, animal health experts said. International researchers now conclude that this is why the drug will no longer protect people in case of a worldwide bird flu epidemic.
China's use of the drug amantadine, which violated international livestock guidelines, was widespread years before China acknowledged any infection of its poultry, according to pharmaceutical company executives and veterinarians.
#3
anon1, your only options are to scam doctors - not that hard just research your story first, or get someone who is going overseas to somewhere where they can buy over the counter. A person can bring in a 3 month supply of a medication at the manufacturers recommended maximum dose. They just have to say its for their own personal use.
#5
thanks China! Stupid backwards ass-covering bureaucrats will bring a frigging plague upon us and we won't have an effective recourse. I just hope China's wiped out first, starting with the Politburo, then VN. Quarantine them at first (published) outbreak ...as if they'd tell us promptly
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2005 10:50
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#6
I just hope China's wiped out first, starting with the Politburo, then VN.
Given that flu outbreaks usually originate in that region, it's always a possibility.
#7
Thanks for the post, phil_b - I appreciate how you stay so closely on top of this news topic. The stories don't instill fear (Anymore - I read The Coming Plague over a decade ago, so I've already been scared witless and recovered, lol!) but they do stoke a slow-burn anger at Asia, in general, and China, in particular for the cavalier / paranoid (weird combo) handling of something which could become a pandemic almost overnight.
The really amazing thing, and this story is a prime example of it, is that they seem to choose precisely the wrong thing to do at every critical decision step along the way. I presume they are not trying to create a pandemic, but you certainly wouldn't know it by examining their actions.
They just might succeed, far better than ever imagined, in handling that little population problem.
#8
Someone who can read Chinese and is following Chinese language sources remarked yesterday that the Chinese government seems unusually paranoid even for them. Here
Do what you wish, but I am stocking up on stuff and have a backup means of cooking if I lose electricity and gas. Keeping warm isn't a real issue here. Next step is a means to store enough water for a weeks use.
The problem with a panic is everyone does it at the same time.
#9
Phil, apparently sari silk makes a fabulous water filter -- if you boil or treat the water first, let it settle, then pour through the silk to get out all the icky particulates. So you can probably get by with a 3-day supply of bottled water to get past the initial difficulties (4 liters/person/day for drinking as I recall). I keep distilled water in gallon plastic jugs, which I use anyway for ironing Mr. Wife's work shirts, and tomorrow he gets a chainsaw for Father's Day/ 23rd wedding anniversary, which he can use to create firewood. ;-) Do you really think bad days are a'coming, or are you just taking sensible precautions?
The EU faced further crisis last night as Tony Blair formally blocked a deal that would have substantially cut Britain's £3.2 billion annual budget rebate. Senior British officials suspected that a trap had been set for the Prime Minister that would have preserved France's farm subsidies until 2013 while offering no prospect of fundamental reform of EU finances until then.
Having kicked the problem of the constitution into the long grass, the summit was trying to settle a new seven-year budget from 2007 to 2013. Mr Blair said he would give ground on the rebate but only in return for changes to the bloated farm subsidy regime. The British No followed a day of manoeuvring during which states led by France had tried to corner Mr Blair into accepting annual cuts to the rebate or force him to wield a veto.
Britain strove to avoid accusations that it had wrecked what was already a crisis summit. The Prime Minister's official spokesman said the summit chairman, Jean-Claude Juncker, the prime minister of Luxembourg, had handed Mr Blair a revised offer in a private meeting but that it failed to establish the clear link Britain demanded between reforming the rebate and farm aid. He said the Government believed that other nations, including Spain, Italy and Holland, had serious reservations about the compromise. In addition, the spokesman said that Britain had been offered a unique payment mechanism on top of the existing budget and rebate system. "There was a request for additional money from the United Kingdom that is unacceptable to us," he said. The spokesman said the language in the Luxembourg compromise was "worryingly ambiguous" and put French interests above British ones. In a clear reference to President Jacques Chirac, of France, who had led resistance to the reopening of a 2002 agreement on farm subsidies, he said the wording could have been used to block any change.
Late last night Mr Juncker was tabling new proposals to try to bridge the divide. But British officials said the gulf was too wide. It's another beautiful day here in EUtopia.
#3
defended by a lonely Greek soldier full of boredom and disillusionment see his webjournal - he DID get to stand 2 hrs guard duty... :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2005 11:53
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#4
If you want to see what people in the UK think of all this, check out these (long) pages of comments from the BBC website. I thought the BBC would doctor the comments to be more pro-EU, but the number of anti-EU comments is staggering! - and very pleasing for someone like me who is very anti-EU ;)
Also, one commenter had a good idea -
The more I learn about the inequity of the EU, the more I wonder why any country would want to join. Hey guys, come on over to the "dark side", how about a Canada-UK-US-Australian trading block?
Roy, USA
I totally agree Roy! ;)
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
06/18/2005 13:18
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#5
Tony - works for me.
If I could do anything to make it so, I surely would. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/18/2005 16:35
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#6
Well, just re-iterating the meme that there are alternatives to the 'inevitable creation of a European superstate' is a start!
Didn't Dr Rice say that the EU was a good idea? That certainly got them very confused! (great reverse psychology there, an American said it so it must be wrong, no wait, didn't she say the EU was a good idea?)
I don't think the US will offer the UK entry to NAFTA whilst we're still in the EU, but if we were out of it...oh, and don't believe the hype about this being the Chinese century.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
06/18/2005 19:19
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Fourteen Chinese detainees in Sydney's Villawood detention centre have been taken to hospital this afternoon after harming themselves.
The Immigration Department says no one has tried to commit suicide. It is understood two women and 12 men have been taken to hospital and that the men have slashed their wrists.
Uniting Church refugee advocate Frances Milne says her contacts inside Villawood say the incident began when a Chinese woman with a history of suicide attempts once more tried to take her own life. Ms Milne says an older woman became distressed when she saw the blood and suffered pains in her chest and that both women were taken to hospital.
"Now a short time later, 12 male Chinese in another part of Villawood detention centre also cut their wrists, but one, the opinion of one of the persons was that it was more, perhaps of a symbolic gesture, although he's not sure," she said.
Fed Govt came out saying they were changing the laws to be softer on illegal immigrants, would let them out etc.
So this was perfect opportunity for media savvy illegals to do a bit of self-mutilation and get their pity party in the media to maximise the government's concession.
I don't get it. The Howard govt controls senate and floor. We voted them in to take no schtik from illegal immigrants. So what are they doing rolling over like this?
Deport them all now.
If they've gone through a couple of appeals processes and judges have upheld they are NOT refugees then send them packing don't let them keep appealing and dragging out their time in detention!
Real refugees are sitting in third world countries scrabbling in the dust for a bit of food to eat. They don't have thousands of dollars to pay for transit to indonesia and then a people smuggler to get them on a boat unlike these illegals.
#2
"To deport these individuals without determining their refugee status would be a violation of both the spirit and letter of international law," Amnesty International said. "These are vulnerable people who may have fled ... in fear for their lives. To return them there without due process would be a violation of the most fundamental obligation of international refugee protection," the organization added. Its against 'international law' to deport people who claim to 'fear for their lives'. The UN and AI say so.
THREE people, one a tantric, have been charged with murder after pouring boiling oil over a four-and-a-half-year-old girl before beheading her as part of a religious sacrifice. The tantric, or person who practises black magic, and two accomplices were arrested on Wednesday in the town of Muzaffarnagar in India's northern Uttar Pradesh state, the Press Trust of India said, quoting police. The body of the girl, named Surjo, had been found in a field the previous day, the agency reported.
A police spokesman said she had been "beheaded, her fingers cut off and her hair burnt to a cinder".
The accused had apparently poured boiling oil on the girl before beheading and mutilating her, the spokesman said.
Police were looking for a woman who handed over the girl to the tantric after he told her to sacrifice a child to be cleansed spiritually. The relationship between the girl and the woman was uncertain, the police spokesman said.
#2
Eeh, they've already had enough politically correct bull-originated-fertilizer on this incarnation of the doctor. Turnabout is fair play, I believe he's really behind the daleks to increace his own power :-)
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/18/2005 14:43
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Eight former U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations, including Madeleine Albright and Jeane Kirkpatrick, also weighed in, telling lawmakers in a letter that withholding of dues would "create resentment, build animosity and actually strengthen opponents of reform."
OOOOOOOHHH! Horrors! Create animosity. Heavens, we would not like that to happen to us in the UN.
I like what the House did. Hit the UN thugs, bureaucrats, and ne'er do wells where it hurts---in their pocketbooks. If these unelected, unaccountable do-nothing bureaucrats want to play their games, bash the US, and beg for help when they need it, then they can do it on their own nickel or Euro. I hope the Senate grows an exoskeleton and passes it. Congress controls the purse, not the President, though I do not know if this bill would survive a presidental veto. But it is a start. Hats off to the House. Ball is in the Senate's Court.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/18/2005 17:44
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#4
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm - FOXNEWS reported that the USA gives US$440.0M per annum to the UNO, yet officially the USA pays for 2/5 of the UNO budget of approx US$2.0B, not counting certain Programs. Do the Math.
ALOR STAR, June 17 (Bernama) -- Mohamad Hamid, the crewman who dived into the sea and escaped in a speedboat belonging to pirates to report the hijacking of his ship, the Nepline Delima, to the authorities, will receive a hero's homecoming when returns to Kota Baharu Saturday. Nepline Berhad [the shipowning company] chairman, Datuk Dr Nik M. Zain told Bernama that he would be among several people to welcome Mohamad at his family home in Kampung Biah in Kota Baharu.
He said Mohamed would also be given a letter of appreciation and an incentive for his brave deed.
In the incident on Tuesday, the RM40-million tanker carrying a load of RM12 million worth of diesel, which was on its way from Singapore to Myanmar was hijacked by armed pirates near Langkawi island. Mohamad, who managed to slip away in the pirates' speedboat proceeded to the Marine Police headquarters in Bukit Malut in Langkawi and reported the incident.
After a tense standoff with Malaysian Marine Police and commandos, the pirates, who had held the remaining 15 crew, comprising locals, Indonesians and Myanmarese for almost 12 hours, surrendered without a fight.
WASHINGTON - (KRT) - Efforts to toughen security along the troubled U.S.-Mexican border advanced in Congress on Thursday as a Senate panel authorized $322.9 million for an additional 1,000 border patrol agents and 500 support personnel.
"We can't allow our borders to be a weakness," said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, after the Senate Appropriations Committee endorsed her proposal for beefing up the border patrol. Hutchison, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas; and other Southwestern lawmakers are calling for tougher enforcement along the border following a rash of violence and continued reports that terrorists may be planning to sneak into the United States from Mexico.
The concerns gained new urgency after the killing of a police chief in the Mexican border town of Nuevo Laredo, which has been virtually paralyzed by drug wars. U.S. authorities fear the violence may be spreading across the Rio Grande into Laredo and elsewhere in Texas.
Now for the obligatory "True, but Smarmy Backhand-Written Paragraph":
Hutchison, in a rare break with the Republican White House, has sharply attacked President Bush's 2006 budget request that called for only 210 additional border patrol agents, a 10-fold reduction from the 2,000 agents Congress requested last year when it overhauled the nation's intelligence system.
#1
U.S. authorities fear the violence may be spreading across the Rio Grande into Laredo and elsewhere in Texas.
Err...you mean the murders, rapes, robberies and other mayhem already committed by the illegals throughout the United States which both party's administrations have let across, don't qualify as violence?
#2
...Sadly, until a bunch of Americans are dead from someone who can be proven to have come across the border (and the MSM will hold it to a courtroom level of proof), nothing serious will be done. The United States Army or the relevant National Guards. On the border.
NOW.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/18/2005 11:09
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#3
These guys can recruit all the BP agents they want, but until the government decides to get tough on illegal immigration and immigration law enforcement, not much is going to change.
Al Jazeera television on Friday aired a new videotape of Al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahri in which he called for more "jihad," and criticised assaults on women protesters in Egypt last month. Al Jazeera said the Egyptian-born Zawahri also slammed the Pakistani, Saudi and Egyptian governments. In the tape, in which he was shown with an assault rifle next to him, Zawahri said "invading (US) forces" would not be expelled from Muslim lands by peaceful demonstrations but by "fighting for the sake of God." Zawahri also urged the Palestinians "not to give up their jihad and not to be dragged into the game of secular elections."
"Real reform" must be based on the rule of Sharia, or Islamic law, he said, with the two other bases being "freedom of Islamic land" and "freedom of the Islamic nation to run its affairs." Zawahri "criticised "the US concept of reform," said Al Jazeera, which aired some of his remarks live while paraphrasing others.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2005
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#1
Sure he didn't call for an Italian Sausage, double cheese?
I just can't feature the Good Dr Zawahrihariwahiri advocating violensness, being a Doc and all.
Al Jizz musta hosed the translation. Prolly that Jiz Khan guy.
#4
So where's Binny? It's just not the same without him...
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/18/2005 1:26
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#5
Oh shit! Now Al Qaeda's pissed at us?? We MUST be awful.
Seriously, Al Qaeda morons calling for Jihad, is like the boyos in the Frat house callng for a kegger on Saturday night. It's assumed. Oh well, see what the boys in the back-cave will have...
#6
I am curious why he pushes for Sharia. He is known as a pedeophile and a thief. Perhaps he will set a good example and turn himself over to a real Sharia affair and receive the well-deserved justice that he clamours for everyone else. Perhaps his prostrate problem will catch up to him soon and do what Sharia cannot do.
#7
He wants a jihad, eh? Well, why didn't he say so already? I'm sure millions of Muslims have been sitting on their asses for years just waiting for his request to begin a holy war.
#12
BTW... when the hell are we going to play hardball with the camcorder makers and force them to imbed GPS units in camcorders that secretly put the location into the video. (I suggest redundantly as watermarking so it can't be easily seen or removed.)
"Assalamall- aykum," a man said after introducing himself as Abdullah Mehsud, wanted by the government for kidnapping Chinese engineers in October last year, in his calls to media offices in Peshawar and said he would resume his activities. "I was not well and that is why I was silent," said Abdullah who was pronounced dead on March 13 by a caller claiming to be his spokesman.
"I was dead. But I got better."
He did not elaborate his illness nor did he say where he got treatment but only said, "I was in heaven for treatment." The military put Rs 5 million on his head money and asked for information about his whereabouts. His close associate Baitullah Mehsud along with hundreds of fighters had reached a peace deal with the government in February this year when he surrendered to the South Waziristan Political Administration in the Sararogha area. Abdullah said he would continue fighting for an "Islamic system" in Pakistan. "Unless my head is chopped off I will not stop my struggle," Abdullah said on the phone from an undisclosed location.
This article starring:
ABDULLAH MEHSUD
Wazir Taliban
BAITULLAH MEHSUD
Wazir Taliban
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2005
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#1
Ok... sounds fair. I will volunteer to help him relocate his head in a dignified manner. Perhaps something painless like pork fat injections in his neck and tossed into a pen full of hungry mongrels. A prayer and a card will follow with a symbolic send-off of pig urine sloshed on his body to cleanse it of any vile microbes of decency. Or... he could be force-fed cheeseburgers till he croaks.
Mian Abdul Ghaffar, a local magistrate and civil judge, on Friday turned down a plea filed by police asking for a 14-days physical remand of the seven people who had allegedly paraded a woman naked in Chak No 41EB. The judge gave police the accused on a two-day remand instead.
"Nope! Nope! Two days is long enough! Can't even give you that without seein' the evidence myself!"
Earlier the accused told reporters that they were not ashamed on their act as they had squared the balance because the victim girl's brother had an affair with Muhammad Yousaf's wife, the main attacker.
I suppose I'm too Western. To me, it would have made more sense to parade him naked. But then, he was probably armed and dangerous...
People of the area named told reporters the accused belonged to Kumhar family which was in majority in Chak No 41EB.
"Yep. They been inbreeding for years now. They're kinda Upper Paleolithic, y'know..."
They claimed that Muhammad Yousaf's wife was running affairs with a number of men and 20-year-old Rehmat Ali was one of them.
In that case, maybe they should have paraded all the fellows. Or maybe the round-heeled wife...
They claimed the accused had allegedly chopped off a woman's nose in the village a few weeks ago but no case was filed against them.
"It was just some woman. What's she need a nose for?"
They added that had the police arrested the accused after the first incident the second one would not have happened.
For a couple days, at least...
Eighteen-year-old Shaheen, whom the accused had allegedly paraded naked in the village, told reporters that she had been a target of the savagery for 20 minutes, quite a handsome time for villagers to save her only if they had moved. She said she begged for mercy in the name of god and Holy Prophet (PBUH) but her attackers did not let her wear her clothes.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2005
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#7
i find reading Chaucer's medieval English helps at times with Muckie Wuckies use of ahem English. Though i find Chaucer in better control of his spelling. Mucky you need a spill chucker.
Posted by: Bill Nelson ||
06/18/2005 23:16
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Police said on Friday they had released eight Shia Muslims who were arrested last week for an arson attack on an outlet of US fast-food chain KFC which left six employees dead. Police failed to collect sufficient evidence against the detainees, who are linked to the outlawed Shia militant group Tehreek-e-Jafaria Pakistan, Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil told AFP. "They were arrested on suspicion of involvement (in the blast). However, no direct evidence was found against any of them and they were freed," he said. Police will now launch a fresh search for those people responsible for the deadly attack, he said. "The case has not been closed."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2005
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LAHORE: Former Pakistan cricket captain Javed Miandad's son and the daughter of India's most wanted man, Dawood Ibrahim, are expected to tie the knot in Dubai shortly, IANS reported on Friday. The cricketer's son, who is studying in England, had been engaged to Ibrahim's daughter in January this year, an event that was kept a quiet affair.
Gosh. I'll have to at least send them a card...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2005
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WASHINGTON (AP) - The Defense Department, under subpoena from a Senate committee, has provided enough information on the military base closing process to satisfy Senate leaders, so no further legal action will be taken, senators said Friday.
Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., in a letter to acting Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, said that while they haven't gotten all the data requested, the thousands of pages they received helped them better understand how the department made its decisions to close or realign military bases.
The letter comes just weeks before a July 6 public hearing in Boston of the independent base closing commission to review decisions to close bases in the senators' home states, Maine and Connecticut.
In recent weeks the Pentagon has released a massive amount of information on the proposed shutdown of about 180 military installations across the country, including 33 major bases. Federal and state officials demanded more information backing up the decisions, but some of it was initially classified. Under pressure from the subpoena issued by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, the Pentagon worked to declassify much of the information and release additional data.
Under the agreement disclosed in the senators' letter to England, the Pentagon agreed to continue releasing information and to make Defense Department analysts available for meetings with congressional staff.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2005
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#1
Where have I seen this tactic used before...I got it, Bolton
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/18/2005 2:19
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#2
The Bolton nomination is about territorial behavior and positioning in the baboon pack. The 'Bases' are about $$$$.
#3
..said that while they haven't gotten all the data requested, the thousands of pages they received helped them better understand how the department made its decisions to close or realign military bases.
So, in other words, the DoD knew what it was doing all along, right?
The estranged wife of former Bangladesh dictator Hussain Mohammad Ershad, arrested earlier this month on charges including threatening to kill her husband, remained behind bars yesterday after a fresh allegation of money laundering was filed against her. "She was granted bail on Thursday but when I went to the jail with the court order I was told there was another charge of money laundering against her," Sayed Quamrujjaman Mahbub, her lawyer, told AFP. Money laundering is a non-bailable offence in Bangladesh.
Bidisha, 38, has been in police custody since June 4 after the one-time military strongman, now 77, lodged complaints with police. In addition to the money laundering charge, she is accused of theft, criminal damage, forgery, bigamy, and threats to kill, said another member of her legal team, Sarah Hossen. Two days after Bidisha's arrest, her husband left the country telling reporters she was a bigamist. He said he believed she was still married to her former husband Peter Wilson, of Britain, because she named him as her spouse in a 2002 passport application.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2005
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Dead men and vegetables tell no tales Ex-Ambassador Reveals Dr AQ Khan is Already Mentally Dead
The man behind Pakistan's "prestigious" nuclear program was rushed to a military hospital Thursday (June 16) with a heart problem. Dr AQ Khan, who lives in ignominy and incarceration since he was singled out by Musharraf for export of nuclear technology, is learnt to have been rendered into a vegetable.
Rendered? Is pureed a choice?
Posted by: john ||
06/18/2005
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#1
Lol - love the pic!
Ah, what can I say? Read the story, loved it. 3 thumbs up. It fills a much-needed gap in my understanding of the quite peculiar mindset of PakiWakiIsm. I am sated.
Posted by: john ||
06/18/2005 6:50
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#3
There's no way the US ever gets Khan. The ISI would never allow it. "Rendered" is probably the right word cuz the ISI likely turned his brain to jello.
#4
...Had him pictured as more of a brussels sprout, actually.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/18/2005 9:22
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#5
"It just so happens that your leading nuclear scientist here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do."
"What's that?"
"Go through his clothes and look for loose change."
Posted by: Mike ||
06/18/2005 9:22
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Mike -
How about, "Not only simply merely dead, but truly most SINCERELY dead?"
And not to forget Blackadder Dead: "As dead as...a great big dead thing."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/18/2005 11:07
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#7
he would never be allowed into our hands in a manner where he could speak... wonder if it was the pillow over the face or the craftsman drill-bit with whisk attachment
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2005 11:28
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Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) gave military training to Kashmiri rebels battling security forces in Indian-held Kashmir, a separatist leader has said. While India has long accused Pakistan of training and arming the rebels, a charge Islamabad denies, this is the first confirmation by a separatist leader in the state. The revelation comes in a new book by Amanullah Khan, chief of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). "We had a gentleman's agreement, an oral sort of agreement. I was given the idea that the ISI was all for the independence of Kashmir," Khan told Reuters on Friday, referring to the beginning of ISI help for his group.
He said he was given the impression that Pakistan's then military ruler, General Ziaul Haq, also supported the notion of independence for Kashmir. Khan said the JKLF began bringing young men into Azad Kashmir from the Indian side in 1988, where they received training from the ISI. "The agreement was that we will bring boys from across and indoctrinate our ideology by ourselves. ISI trains them and they are sent back," he said.
This article starring:
AMANULLAH KHAN
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front
General Ziaul Haq
Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2005
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#3
Anon, the Calicivirus wasn't genetically engineered. It was a naturally occurring virus out of Central Asia, IIRC. Nor did it wipe out the rabbit, more's the pity. My guesstimate of rabbit numbers in Central Australia is that they have stabilised at 10 to 20 percent of pre calici numbers.
#6
details details! It certainly decimated the rabbit population. I'm happy to call a 90% kill rate wiped out.
You are right, I checked calicivirus is a natural mutation of a rabbit virus. A virus that suddenly got extremely deadly for European rabbits. First official case: China.
Biological control is very effective, wish we could make some viruses to wipe out cane toads, killer bees, funnel webs and box jellyfish.
#8
Just this once, heh: Just stick the URL of the graphic in the quotes. Make sure it's no more than about 500 pixels wide, lol. Preceed this with a hard return, just to be safe - i.e. put it on a line by itself - I don't think you want to be doing text-wrapping, just yet. And, of course, I could add the code for forcing the image size, but that would confuse non-HTLMers enough to guarantee someone would hose it and waste RB layout, lol!
Once enemies in battle, Vietnam and the United States will cooperate in the exchange of intelligence on terrorism and transnational crime, and Vietnam will send military officers for training in the United States, Prime Minister Phan Van Khai said Thursday on the eve of the first U.S. trip by a top Vietnamese Communist leader. The intelligence and military cooperation agreements will be announced when Khai visits next week, marking the highest-level visit to the United States since the Communists won the war in 1975. He will meet with President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld on Tuesday.
The move to forge solid military ties between Vietnam and the United States shows how far the relationship has advanced in the 10 years since President Bill Clinton established formal diplomatic relations. The trip will be a milestone, analysts said, a signal that a mature relationship based on mutual interests in security and trade is beginning to take shape. "During the war, Vietnam and the United States were opponents," Khai said during a 75-minute interview at his office in the capital, which is within walking distance of the mausoleum holding the embalmed body of Ho Chi Minh, the independence leader and North Vietnamese president during the war. "Now that 30 years have elapsed since the end of the war, it is our policy to put aside the past and look to the future and a better relationship between the two countries."
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Posted by: Steve White ||
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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday prodded Israel to curb its military sales to China while acknowledging the allies have had "very difficult" talks on the matter. In her first full-fledged Washington news conference since taking over as chief US diplomat in January, Rice reiterated the "rising concern here about military modernization in China." But on the eve of a Middle East trip, she gave no sign of progress in efforts to rein in Israel's transfer of military equipment and technology to China which prompted the Pentagon to restrict sales to Israel. "We have had some very difficult discussions with the Israelis about this," Rice said. "And I think they understand now the seriousness of the matter and we'll continue to have those discussions." She said the goal of the world community was to integrate China as a positive force but "it is also entirely appropriate to be concerned that that happen before there is a major military escalation of China's capability."
"And so Israel has a responsibility to be sensitive to that, particularly given the close defense cooperation between Israel and the United States," Rice said. Rice reiterated "concerns" over the arms sales to Beijing and said "I would hope that our Israeli friends would understand that the United States, of course, has ... primary responsibility for defending in the Pacific." But she did not say whether she planned to take up the matter with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and other Israeli officials when she is in Jerusalem this weekend.
The Israelis have a choice, and they better make the right one.
Some officials and press in Israel were speaking of a crisis in relations with their main international patron. But their disquiet was mixed with calls for the Sharon government to show some independence. The Pentagon has confirmed imposing some restriction on arms sales and technology transfers to Israel but said Wednesday they were focused on the Joint Strike Fighter program. "It's not a uniform freeze but it's a case-by-case basis," said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman.
The US concerns are reported to center on an Israeli deal to upgrade Harpy Killer drones that it sold to China. Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported this week that Washington was demanding Israel provide details of more than 60 percent of recent security deals with China and its arms export trade in general.
#1
I sell prods, Dr Rice. Really effective ones, guaranteed to get that certain someone's attention and hold it - for at least 5 minutes. Think of it as being spellbound. Trust me, 775,000 volts will do wonders in adjusting "recalcitrant" attitudes. For you, Dr Rice, I'll cut a special deal. Drop by my site and leave me a note. Free shipping and a money-back guarantee.
#2
May need industrial strength prods to remove that Harpy Killer drones look.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/18/2005 2:38
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#3
Well, industrial-grade cattle prods could really improve my social live, interaction with others, and possibly sexual activity (if it can paralyze a dog-sized-or-above mammal just long enough)! Where's your site? Don't be afraid of the shameless plug.
#6
From StrategyPage: June 17, 2005: Israel has agreed to keep the United States informed of all arms sales to China. This includes âdual useâ technology (like electronics that can be used for military, as well as civilian, purposes.) Israel has long been suspected of playing fast and loose with selling military gear containing American technology. Israel has been allowed to license this technology to make their own weapons. But to sell Israeli weapons containing this American tech, they needed permission from the United States. The weapon sale that really got the United States steamed was the Chinese purchase of the Israeli Harpy anti-radar system. The Harpy is a small, pilotless, propeller driven aircraft that can stay in the air for six hours, travel as far as 500 kilometers, and search for enemy radars, and destroy them. Harpy weighs 300 pounds, and carries a 40 pound warhead. Israel has already sold Harpy to India, South Korea and Turkey. The United States feared that China would use the electronics, that allow Harpy to find and attack targets, to develop a more powerful version that could, for example, go after American AWACS aircraft. The Harpy technology could also be used to improve Chinese UAVs in general. The Chinese are notorious for taking components of foreign weapons they have bought, and incorporating these parts in new, more powerful weapons. Sometimes the Chinese have permission to use this foreign technology, sometimes they donât. The United States cannot buy, or use, the Harpy because, technically, it is a ground launched cruise missile with a range that violates the SALT I treaty. The U.S. could buy air or sea launched versions of Harpy and not violate SALT I.
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2005 11:23
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#7
We're talking about spilled milk and a whole bunch of milk at that. How are "warnings" going to rectify the situation or make consequences be felt? Israel got its $ from China and China got the tech it needs to fight a better war against the US and the USA has been screwed every which way by its "good" trading partner and by its "good" ally.
I say cut off all aid and freebie loans to Israel for 6 months. And if Israel has not figured out a way to compromise the tech it sold to China, then cut off Israel's aid permanently. Maybe Israel is looking for a new deep pockets benefactor - I'm sure China will love funding Israel to the tune it has come to expect from Uncle Sam (NOT).
As for the #5 post with article links - Rice is telling Israel what it needs to hear. a. The world is not stupid about ye old trick of creating facts on the ground. It won't work and it makes Israel look cheezy. b. Israel needs to accept the fact that all nations, including the USA, want the 2 state nation formula (Israel and Palestine)to be set up. It may not seem fair to some Israelis, particularly the settlers and the Likud Party) and it may seem risky security wise, but that's what is going to happen and Israel better get with the program or it will risk losing the support of its most valuable ally, the USA. I don't think it can count on its new found pal,China, covering its back for longer than 2 seconds. Being at war 24/7 is nuts for Israel. At least the 2 nation state offers hope. The Palestinians will continue to blow themselves up until they get their own nation and one that is workable. Giving the Palestinians a good start with $3 Billion aid to build a decent infastructure is the best way to help the Palestinian state get off to a decent start so Palestinians have a future. And it helps Israel if the Palestinians are happy with their apportionment. Btw, the $3 Billion aid package is being put together by Western nations, not just the USA. That's what Israel gets from the USA each year so there's no need to view this as back-stabbing by the USA.
US will stick by Israel for the same reasons you did so far.
(a) We are the only ally you have in ME.
(b) We are the sorce of most of the truly innovative high tech you have.
The question is, should Israel stick with US, who is always trying to make Arab friends at our expence and/or treats Israel as a nation of techno-serfs?
#9
US will stick by Israel for the same reasons you did so far.
(a) We are the only ally you have in ME.
(b) We are the sorce of most of the truly innovative high tech you have.
a) it could be said that the reason America doesn't have better alliance with ME Arab countries is BECAUSE the USA is Israel's ally. The USA does not need Israel, but Israel needs the USA.
b) Israeli engineers are not uniquely clever about developing defense technology. If the USA chose to "grow" its own defense engineering talents stateside by doling out to private enterprise the same US taxpayer investments that we give Israel, I have no doubt that our defense industry could deliver. But without US tax investment, would Israeli engineers be as "inspired" or successful?
The question is, should Israel stick with US, who is always trying to make Arab friends at our expence and/or treats Israel as a nation of techno-serfs?
There's some saying about alliances - I forget the exact wording - but it goes something like this: there are no long lived alliances, only countries looking out for their own interests.
Maybe that's what Israel is doing cozy-ing up with the future super power, China, I don't think Israel needed the $.
Then maybe the USA needs to look out for its own interests, which is controlling world oil resources - one can't run factories, planes, cars on simpering rhetoric about "friendships" and Arab states do seem to have endless supplies of "black gold." Hmmm....
I think Israel was once upon a time paired up with communist Soviet Union, wasn't it - maybe communist/socialist mindsets are a more natural fit with its own left wing under pinnings.
If Israel doesn't like to be told what to do by its rich aunt, then by all means, Israel should get off our taxpayer tit and be "independent" and be "self-reliant" and we'll see how long Israel survives holding hands with China.
#11
Thotch, Israel will manage with or without American aid -- as it has in the past. You fail to understand that for Israel this is an existential question; that is to say, whether or not Israel will exist. And the moment Israel ceases to exist, your beloved Palestinians and their oil-rich Arab masters will engineer a massacre that will pile Jewish bodies as high as ever the Nazis did. There are 4 million Jewish Israelis, and the Arab world has been working toward their erasure -- not to chase them out, or to rule over them and benefit by their labours -- but to make them cease to exist.
You are, of course, entitled to your opinion. But, understand that were your recommendations followed, it would mean regional genocide. Is that indeed what you want, or would you like to rethink your position?
#13
trailing wife, you contradict yourself on a few points and also you make assumptions that are incorrect.
You say that Israel could survive without the USA as its benefactor but on the otherhand you imply that if the USA withdrew its aid, it would mean the end of Israel and the blood of 4 Million Israeli deaths would be on America's hands.
Secondly you assume I'm an Arabist and that I'm looking out for "my precious" Palestinians.
Please understand that I'm an American first and foremost and I am loyal only to America. I feel no loyalties to any other nation including Israel. I am not religious whatsoever, so I have no attachment to the Holy Land - it means nothing to me - the Old Testament peoples who exist in the Middle East are simply nations to me.
I say that the 2 separate states (Israel and Palestine ) will happen because it will. That's the way many Israeli politicians thought it should be as well. This process will happen easily or with great difficulty, but make no mistake, it's inevitable. For Sharon and the settlers to try to put obstacles in the way only delays the process and causes ill-will for Israelis in the long run. Rice is giving Israeli leadership some common sense advice.
What choices Israeli leadership make in the way Israel conducts itself as a friend to the USA or whether it back-stabs the USA will determine future support. Israel has control of its own future, and any blood that is spilled, will be a result of Israeli foresight or lack thereof.
And may I remind you that if Arab states are a grave threat to Israel, then China represents America's grave threat. Israel knowingly gave valuable aid to an enemy that may use the technology against our American soldiers in the not too distant future. I believe Israel should suffer some serious consequences for its selfish actions of cozying up to the emerging Super Power on the horizon, significantly more than a tsk, tsk from Rice.
The WWII Holocaust has been used over and over again by Israel to get what she wants from America. Now America faces dangers on many sides, and it's time Israel got over its self-delusion that only her nation is fighting for her existence. Israel brings a lot of bad baggage with it and being its friend causes quite a burden for America. I think it's time that Israel realizes and appreciates what a good friend America has been. And if Israel can't do so and wants to play games with its loyal benefactor, then Israelis should only hold their leadership to blame for any dire consequences they may suffer.
#14
If Israel doesn't think Uncle Sam is a worthwhile friend to have, then it should seek alliances elsewhere. Just stop taking our money and stabbing us in the back. Everybody sells weapons to the Arabs. The difference when Uncle Sam sells it is that if Arabs attack Israel, we won't send the Arabs spare parts.
It is in fact in Israel's interest for us to sell weapons to the Arabs. Do you think the French or the Germans would refrain from resupplying the Arabs if Israel were attacked? Another difference between the US selling to the Arabs and Israel selling to China is this - the Arabs can't tie their own shoelaces, and certainly can't reverse engineer the technology - they are completely reliant on Uncle Sam for parts and replacements, whereas the Chinese will gin up their own versions of the stuff and use them to attack Uncle Sam.
I can accept that the USS Liberty incident was an accident. Israel's sales to China, at a time when even the Euros won't do it, are simply beyond the pale. These sales do not make Israel an enemy. But they do mean that Israel has descended to France's level. And we don't sent $2b a year to France - or exercise our veto power at the UN in France's behalf.
Israel needs to grow up and figure out who its friends are. If it thinks that China can both provide Israel a nuclear umbrella and become its new sugar daddy, it is welcome to do so. Uncle Sam can do a world of good to his relations with the Muslim world by cutting Israel off, militarily and financially.
#15
I can accept that the USS Liberty incident was an accident. Israel's sales to China, at a time when even the Euros won't do it, are simply beyond the pale.
:)
It would be like the US selling AWACS to the Magic Kingdom.
#16
Actually, if the US stopped selling weaponry to Israel, its market in the Muslim world would expand in a big way. Why are countries like Malaysia and Indonesia jaundiced against Uncle Sam? Because we support Israel. The fact is that if we stopped selling arms to Israel *and* ended financial aid, Israel would have to come up with its own weaponry from scratch (since neither the Euros nor the Russians will sell anything sensitive to them) and close the financial aid gap, which constitutes close to 20% of Israel's military budget. Without American, European or Russian jets, how is Israel going to retain its air supremacy in the Middle East?
#17
And if we stopped selling arms to Israel we would feel oh so very much better for being in real politic and extra triple PC. I dig. It's the big picture, LOL!
#18
Shipman: It would be like the US selling AWACS to the Magic Kingdom.
We fly Saudi Arabia's AWACS planes. The average Saudi has trouble mastering the remote control on a VCR. Do you really think Uncle Sam would permit Saudi Arabia to use these planes to attack Israel? What I find contemptible about guys like Shipman is that they're really no different from the American in their contempt for American national interests - it's all about their sectarian interests.
#25
Shipman: And if we stopped selling arms to Israel we would feel oh so very much better for being in real politic and extra triple PC. I dig. It's the big picture, LOL!
It's got nothing to do with PC and everything to do with being able to compete for the same contracts that we've missed out on because we support Israel. It wouldn't bother me if Muslims were herded into a giant mass grave. But since we're not in that mode yet, we might as well do business with them, since the Israelis are helping the Chinese kill Americans with greater efficiency. If Israel is going to sell to China anything it wants, maybe Uncle Sam should start selling to Muslim terrorist groups (who are angry with Uncle Sam primarily for its support for Israel) and the Muslim world any non-nuclear weaponry they want.
#26
Shipman: Maybe if the US stops whoring F-15s to the Saudi entity? LOL Jeez.
We sell to the Saudis gold-plated toys that they can't use. Maybe if they mastered tying their shoelaces first. Besides, why blame us? The Euros will sell to the Arabs anything they want, but they won't sell the same equipment to Israel, subsidize Israel to the tune of $2b a year or support Israel at the UN.
#27
ZF: What I find contemptible about guys like Shipman is that they're really no different from the American in their contempt for American national interests - it's all about their sectarian interests.
That should have read: What I find contemptible about guys like Shipman is that they're really no different from American Muslims or Arab Americans in their contempt for American national interests - it's all about their sectarian interests.
#29
What I find contemptible about guys like Shipman is that they're really no different from American Muslims or Arab Americans in their contempt for American national interests - it's all about their sectarian interests
#30
Perhaps a few moments of cheap Hooch. However Ima willing to overlook bad manners. Especially since ZF is evidently a god damn yankee mother fucker.
#31
TG2372: The WWII Holocaust has been used over and over again by Israel to get what she wants from America.
Americans did not carry out the Holocaust and are certainly not obligated to make amends. Do you think that if Arabs had wiped out Judaism, that any Muslims would even have felt guilty about it, let alone try to make amends? No - they would have designated a public holiday specifically to celebrate the occasion - a day for handing out candy.
Don't get me wrong - I think Israel not only has the right to exist, the Palestinians really belong in Egypt or Jordan. But when Israel helps a nuclear-armed and potentially the second most powerful country (China) in the world fight Uncle Sam, my sentimental attachments to Israel start to fray.
But when Israel helps a nuclear-armed and potentially the second most powerful country (China) in the world fight Uncle Sam, my sentimental attachments to Israel start to fray.
Or Zhang, the current administration also objects to Israel's MI sells to India and Singapur (funny thing, a year, or so, ago USA objected to Israel's selling Arrow anti-balistic missiles to India. Now, USA negotiating with India a sale of guess that?)
#34
gromguru: Or Zhang, the current administration also objects to Israel's MI sells to India and Singapur (funny thing, a year, or so, ago USA objected to Israel's selling Arrow anti-balistic missiles to India. Now, USA negotiating with India a sale of guess that?)
Are Arrow anti-ballistic missiles more sophisticated than the ones Uncle Sam will be selling to India? Note this is a completely separate issue from Israeli sales to China - where Uncle Sam will not sell to the Chinese at all. If the Pentagon is strong-arming Israel in situations where US companies are competing with Israeli ones, then someone in DC needs to have his knuckles rapped - the Pentagon is in charge of national security, not industrial policy. But the China issue stands on its own.
#35
gromguru: Or Zhang, the current administration also objects to Israel's MI sells to India and Singapur (funny thing, a year, or so, ago USA objected to Israel's selling Arrow anti-balistic missiles to India. Now, USA negotiating with India a sale of guess that?)
Note also that Uncle Sam will sell F-16's but not F-15's to India, which tells me that we are selling them relatively old technology.
#36
gromguru: Or Zhang, the current administration also objects to Israel's MI sells to India and Singapur (funny thing, a year, or so, ago USA objected to Israel's selling Arrow anti-balistic missiles to India. Now, USA negotiating with India a sale of guess that?)
Note that Singapore isn't a completely reliable ally. We may want to reassess our commitment to supplying it with F-35's, given its close links to China. My feeling is that any technology we supply to Singapore has a serious chance of leaking to China, given that Singapore has an ethnic Chinese majority of 70% that is being kept up with massive Chinese immigration made up mostly of technical personnel.
#37
The US has no business funding another nation's weapons development (in the case of Arrow, at least $2 billion worth). If it is important enough for a nation to have a weapons system, let them either develop it themselves (including the critical subsystems) or buy/contract for it. Then the US will have no right to deny transfer of American tech to an enemy, and there will only be political fallout of arming America's (potential) enemies.
Posted by: ed ||
06/18/2005 22:58
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#38
By all means drop Israel in preference for weapons contracts to Muslim countries. But don't complain when those same weapons end up being quietly shared with terrorists to use against American troops. Or when fungible funds are used for more madrassahs and training camps around the world.
Oh, and Thotch, I wasn't talking about the money America gives to Israel. I was talking about political/diplomatic support. Which has historically been given freely by the U.S. because both Dems and Republicans disagree with the world's assessment that everything is the fault of those evil Joos, who should be forced to kneel and present their necks for the axe.
Nor did I mention the Holocaust to wring concessions from any of you, but to explain the situation. A significant number of Israelis have lived through events where the choice was Israel or death, where even many of those who chose Israel died along the way. Certainly that was my father's experience, as a result of emigrating in the 1930s. About the same number experienced themselves, or are descended from those who happened to survive the slaughter when there was no place to go, like a few of my mother's cousins. These experiences shaped the culture of Israel. "Never again" is not a slogan about the Holocaust, but a promise to the world. Under no circumstances, standing alone against the whole world if necessary, will the Jews of Israel permit the final safe haven to be destroyed. You don't like how Israel is handling things? Then offer them a better deal instead of trying to force them to do things that will endanger their survival -- and before you condemn them, do make sure they aren't setting things up to help the U.S. when the time comes with China. Are you quite, quite certain they haven't somehow enabled what they are selling to be disabled if used against the wrong foe? Or to be easily traced by someone (like the U.S.) with sophisticated tracer thingies?
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Shipman, you may be a lapsed Baptist, but in my opinion you are a fully paid up mensch.
#39
TW: But don't complain when those same weapons end up being quietly shared with terrorists to use against American troops.
Terrorists don't use MLRS's, 155mm artillery, jet fighters, destroyers or tanks. Their non-military grade weaponry include box cutters, fertilizer, blasting caps and stolen cars. Terrorists' military grade stuff (including plastic explosives, RPG's and AK's) are purchased from places like China or Russia and cost millions rather than billions of dollars.
Selling big ticket conventional weapons to Muslim countries helps soak up money they could otherwise direct towards sponsoring terrorist groups. Having Uncle Sam sell it instead of the Europeans helps the US control the kind of conflicts in which Muslim countries can get embroiled. India has traditionally been leery of buying US weaponry for this very reason - because it involves a US veto on any Indian foreign policy position that involves going to war. Note that Arab countries that have bought US weapons haven't been in a shooting war with Israel, because they can't sustain one - they know Uncle Sam won't resupply them.
#40
TW: You don't like how Israel is handling things? Then offer them a better deal instead of trying to force them to do things that will endanger their survival -- and before you condemn them, do make sure they aren't setting things up to help the U.S. when the time comes with China. Are you quite, quite certain they haven't somehow enabled what they are selling to be disabled if used against the wrong foe? Or to be easily traced by someone (like the U.S.) with sophisticated tracer thingies?
We are offering them a pretty good deal. We rescued them during the Yom Kippur War by rushing supplies there and almost went to war with Russia. We are supplying them technology that nobody else will. Can Israel really sustain its military industry without American transfers of technology? Can Israel retain its air supremacy if the US stops selling them its top-of-the-line jet fighters? Can Israel remain economically viable if we slap the same trade restrictions on it that other countries have for its treatment* of the Palestinians?
* I think Israel coddles the Pallies. But the reality is that we could do a lot more business, military and civilian, with Muslim countries, if we slapped Israel around like the rest of the world.
I know Israelis think that the rest of the world is anti-Semitic. But I think their political positions have nothing to do with prejudice and everything to do with making deals. If Jews were 1 billion and Muslims were 6 million, you'd see everyone lining up on Israel's side. In the real world, most people side with the top dog, not the underdog.
#41
How many Saudis are currently in Iraq, Zhang Fei? What percent of the Saudi armed forces are radical Islamists? What was the weapon used to attack the Twin Towers, box cutter or jet planes? And why are we concerned that Pakistan might give nukes to Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups? The Arab countries that buy weapons from America haven't been in a shooting war with Israel because they keep losing. But wasn't there a bit of a scandal when the Israelis intercepted a ship full of weapons for the Palestinians, much more sophisticated than they'd had heretofor ... where on earth did that come from?
#42
TW: How many Saudis are currently in Iraq, Zhang Fei? What percent of the Saudi armed forces are radical Islamists? What was the weapon used to attack the Twin Towers, box cutter or jet planes? And why are we concerned that Pakistan might give nukes to Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups? The Arab countries that buy weapons from America haven't been in a shooting war with Israel because they keep losing. But wasn't there a bit of a scandal when the Israelis intercepted a ship full of weapons for the Palestinians, much more sophisticated than they'd had heretofor ... where on earth did that come from?
Saudis are using F-15's to attack American troops in Iraq? The fact is that every F-15 they buy is less money to support terrorists - whether they are anti-American or anti-Israeli terrorists. The jet planes they used on 9/11 weren't even Saudi planes - they were planes owned by American airlines.
Again - back to the point - American weaponry sales to Muslim countries endanger neither the US nor Israel. Israel's sale of weaponry to China does endanger the US, since only Russia is selling (much lower tech) weaponry to China. Muslims can and do buy from the Euros and the Russians (not to mention the Chinese, in the area of ballistic missiles).
Israel likes to flatter itself that its superior military might is what has kept Arab countries from overrunning it. The reality is that post-Yom Kippur in 1973, when the US almost fought a nuclear war with the Soviets over Israel, Arabs have realized that even if they overrun Israel, Uncle Sam will take the ball away from them just as Lucy keeps on taking the ball away from Charlie Brown. And their acquisition of American weaponry has hamstrung them, because Uncle Sam will not resupply them if they attack Israel.
The Pakistani nukes came from North Korea and China. We have embargoed Pakistan for the past decade. The "advanced" weaponry intercepted came from the Iranians who may have bought it either from the Russians or the Chinese.
Again, just about nothing that Uncle Sam has sold to Muslim countries is really usable by terrorists.
Security forces in Jizan conducted a major cleanup operation in an area along the country's border with Yemen and arrested 2,500 infiltrators as well as nine people involved in drug and human trafficking, press reports said yesterday. Al-Watan newspaper reported that police had arrested the leader of the smuggling racket. The paper said the man, known as "Ghazanfar" (the lion), was wanted by police in connection with a number of crimes, including the sale of alcohol. As many as 35 units from the patrol police, border guards and special security forces took part in the largest such operation ever in the region, according to Maj. Gen. Ahmed Gazzaz, director of Jizan police. "We have arrested all criminals and illegal residents in the area and destroyed their hideouts," he said.
Col. Abdullah Aseery, director of administrative affairs at Jizan police, led the campaign. Gazzaz said his officers carried out the operation after weeks of thorough planning. He thanked tribal leaders and citizens for providing safe passage for security forces. He promised another major campaign soon to clear the remaining hideouts in the area. The detainees included 227 women and 471 children who were to be deployed in various parts of the Kingdom for begging — which has become a lucrative trade for the human traffickers lately. During the 10-hour operation in a shantytown known as "Chinese" hideout, south of Samita, police seized live ammunition and a large quantity of locally manufactured liquor and a number of motorcycles which the gang used.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2005
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Significant, if true and he's serious. This being Pakland and Perv we're discussing, it's probably not true, and if it was he wouldn't be serious.
Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Friday he has proposed nuclear disarmament with India to ensure peace and stability between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Gen Musharraf said Pakistan had gone "much further" than proposing a no first-strike nuclear policy in order to build confidence between the South Asian rivals. "We have suggested (nuclear) disarmament and reduction of forces," he said. Pakistan also opposes nuclear proliferation and was "against any other country acquiring nuclear weapons," he told reporters after talks with New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark in the northern city of Auckland.
Clark said she hoped recent confidence-building measures between the two neighbours "might extend into the nuclear arena". Musharraf said he was committed to a "rapprochement" with India, and was working with its Prime Minister Manmohan Singh toward that goal. Progress toward ending the decades-old fight over Kashmir was being made, he said. "We see light at the end of the tunnel in our efforts to resolve the Kashmir dispute once and for all," he said, adding that the "opportunity must be grasped". "I have no doubt it can be resolved," he later told the Auckland Foreign Correspondents' Club. Musharraf and Clark discussed terrorism, trade and human rights in their talks on Friday. The Pakistani president spoke about the situation in Afghanistan. New Zealand officials have described relations between the two countries as "friendly but slight" and Musharraf said the relationship needed to be strengthened. "We need to expand our relations beyond a shared passion for cricket," Musharraf said after the talks. Clark appreciated Pakistan's role in the fight against terrorism. She said New Zealand would assist Pakistan in the fields of education and primary healthcare.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2005
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#1
Is The Daily Times working the same sort of MSM scam on Pervy that our MSM tries to work on Bush?
#2
Y'know, never really noticed it before, but Pervy must have at least a dozen medals - just in that row, there. One for each time he's survived an assassination attempt? Sprockets for the times he's sent the PakiWaki Army to their doom in the mountains? The choker, hmmm, dunno what that one's for... How many Khaaaaaaans have died in captivity, mebbe?
Then Pak dictator Zia Ul Haq ordered the slaughter of pesky Shia muslims in Gilgit (part of Pak Kashmir). A Pak officer organized an Arab 'Lashkar' (comprised of jihadis from the Afghan war) to kill the Shia residents.
Zia later paid for this with his life. A Shia airman in the PAF is reputed to have brought down his C-130.
Several Pak commentators have alleged that the Pak commander was Pervez Musharraf and that the leader of the Lashkar was Osama bin Laden.
Posted by: john ||
06/18/2005 6:17
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#4
Pak leaders have suggested this before. It won't be acceptable to India because China isn't included in the disarmament.
Posted by: john ||
06/18/2005 6:27
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#5
These Pak soldiers sure are experts at surrender.
To Maoris as well?
Posted by: john ||
06/18/2005 7:05
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#6
Musharraf offers N-disarmament
An offer from His Trustworthiness is always to be taken seriously.
SRINAGAR, India - Fourteen people have died in a wave of violence in revolt-hit Indian-administered Kashmir, police said on Friday, a day after moderate separatists returned home from a two-week trip to Pakistan.
Indian troops shot dead six terrorist militant infiltrators during a nightlong clash in the Tangdar sector of northern Kupwara district, which borders Pakistan-administered Kashmir, army spokesman Vijay Batra told AFP. "The terrorists militants were asked to surrender but instead opened fire that was returned, killing six of them," he said. Batra said the slain terrorists rebels had infiltrated Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani portion of the disputed region.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2005
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#1
Moderate separtists???
Is this like coitus interruptus?
Posted by: billy hank ||
06/18/2005 13:29
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran headed toward the first runoff presidential election in its history as a key government official predicted Saturday that none of the seven candidates - including the favorite contender Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani - would win enough votes for outright victory.
Turnout in Friday's vote appeared stronger than expected and polls stayed open an extra four hours, with voting booths even set up at Tehran's main cemetery for those paying weekly visits to family graves.
An Interior Ministry official involved in the counting told The Associated Press that a second round of voting would take place on June 24, the first time since the 1979 Iranian Revolution that a second round of voting has been required. He said the vote count he had seen makes it impossible for any one candidate to collect the required 50 plus 1 percent to win.
Some credited U.S. denunciations of the election for goading more Iranians to cast ballots after a Western-style campaign that has reshaped Iranian politics. A runoff would almost certainly include Rafsanjani, a political veteran and leader of the Islamic Revolution who now portrays himself as a steady hand for uneasy times.
With 90 percent of the votes tallied in his home province of Kerman in southern Iran, Rafsanjani took only 45 percent of the votes, Rasoul Moazemi, provincial election official told The Associated Press. Rafsanjani's son Mahdi, who has been working on the campaign, told The AP that he did not expect his father to get the 50 percent of the popular vote he would need to avoid a run-off on June 24.
Final results were expected Saturday.
More fluff at the link.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2005
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...with voting booths even set up at Tehran's main cemetery...
The Senate has begun to examine legislation that could halt U.S. arms sale to Saudi Arabia. Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, has introduced the Saudi Arabia Accountability Act of 2005 into the Senate. The co-sponsors of the bill, designated Senate bill 1171, are Senators Evan Bayh, Susan Collins, Russ Feingold, Tim Johnson, Patty Murray and Ron Wyden.
The legislation, introduced on June 7, establishes sanctions for Saudi Arabia unless the kingdom complies with United Nations Security Council resolution 1373, which calls on states to deny haven to terrorist financiers and planners. The bill asserts that Riyad has failed to arrest Saudi nationals deemed to have funded terrorism. The proposed sanctions against Saudi Arabia include a ban on the export of advanced U.S. weaponry and technology to Riyad. Saudi Arabia has been the leading importer of U.S. weaponry although orders by the kingdom dropped significantly since 2001, when it bought $2.7 billion worth of air-to-air missiles missiles and aircraft systems. Riyad has been negotiating with the United States for the purchase of Black Hawk multi-role helicopters.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2005
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Obviously b4 KEEMOO
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/18/2005 2:15
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#2
Ore is it KEEMOOE
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/18/2005 2:16
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"Congress Mulls U.S. Embargo On Saudis"
If they do embargo U.S. weaponry, the Saudis will just buy arms from some other supplier.
but.. if the jellyfish do manage to pull it off, would there be enough time for the gruesome
8 to grow spines, Before the Sand Tribes retaliated by lowering their own/OPEC production and exports?
/In his dreams, Arlen wishes he had that much hair.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
06/18/2005 2:19
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#4
gruesome 7
Posted by: Red Dog ||
06/18/2005 2:25
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#5
I'm puzzled by the senate lately,on the one hand we have the filibuster and lack of Border control buls$%t,on the other we have them wanting to cut U.N. funds and putting an arms embargo on the Sauds.Are they schizophrentic or what?
#7
Just what is this supposed to achieve? The Saudis are a bunch of incompetents with a yen for buying gold-plated weaponry they can't use effectively because their manpower can't handle it. This is a grandstanding move by Specter and his liberal friends on the Democratic side of the aisle. All it will do is increase the trade deficit without affecting Saudi Arabia's military capability - which was probably degraded by their inability to figure out complicated American weapons systems. What is it with Specter and completely useless legislation?
#8
Yes gromgoru, and yes the $2.7 billion will even tempt some of our own allys to work around the embargo and sell US tech. (btw US tec rules)
I think raptor expressed my reaction to this legislation better than I did.
What are these gas bags trying to accomplish?
Since Saudi madrasses spreading Wahhabism are the greatest propagator of terrorism, this *legislation* is in an incredably inept tool to address the problem (WOT).
In fact I think it will have just the opposite effect, adding fuel to Muzzy terrorism while at the same time hurt our own tec industry.
It's a total foot shoot, because madrasses and hadji boombers don't need/use Black Hawk helicopters etc.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
06/18/2005 12:37
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#9
I think raptor and Zhang Fei expressed my reaction to this legislation better than I did.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
06/18/2005 12:39
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#10
#8,
But EU weaponry is even more TLC demanding than US.
#11
Even if the House does pass such legislation, the Senate won't. But it is a nice little shot across the Saudi bow, to remind them that America isn't nearly as fooled as they would like. The next step is to regulate the private schools -- are they meeting U.S. national standards for their American students, which requires examining curricula and textbooks. Unacceptabilities in either should be widely pubicized, inasmuch as the inspectors will be shocked that our friends the Saudis would teach such horrible, bigotted things to our children and theirs.
#13
TW: But it is a nice little shot across the Saudi bow, to remind them that America isn't nearly as fooled as they would like.
Actually, it isn't. They can buy gold-plated weapons systems that they can't use effectively from other countries. They know that Afghanistan and Iraq are our way of sticking it to Muslim supporters of terrorism for 9/11. It's one thing to warn them of future consequences - it's quite another to slap them in the face like this. How many Boeing civilian jet deals aren't being done because of stupid grandstand plays like this?
Red dog: If they do embargo U.S. weaponry, the Saudis will just buy arms from some other supplier.
gromguru: Like who? Euros?
That's right - Euros. Russians. Chinese. Et al. Arms salesmen are lining up around the block. All of whom will have fewer qualms than Uncle Sam about the kinds of conflicts during which they will resupply the Saudis. I am sure that the area's rulers remember that Carter embargoed the Shah during the Iranian Revolution in 1979 (that brought the Ayatollah Khomeini to power). They don't need another reason to avoid buying US weaponry. A reason that Specter just supplied to them on a plate.
The big red flag here is the fact that Patty Murray supports it. This is the same senator that believes that bin Laden is popular in the Muslim world because of his exploits as a social worker. The fact is that Christian organizations do a lot more than bin Laden - or Muslim charities - in the Muslim world. But they're not particularly popular for one simple reason - unlike bin Laden, they're non-Muslims and they haven't killed Americans in large numbers.
#14
gromguru: But EU weaponry is even more TLC demanding than US.
You're not getting the point. These weapons systems are trophies. In just about every weapons system they possessed, the Saudis had a serious qualitative edge over the Iraqi military. But if Uncle Sam hadn't inserted into Saudi Arabia a Desert Shield force involving two infantry divisions after the Iraqis conquered Kuwait in 1990, the Saudis would have folded like a cheap suit under an Iraqi onslaught.
TEHERAN - Iran's reformist opposition expressed confidence on Friday that its candidate Mostafa Moin was well placed to spring a stunning upset in the presidential election. "Moin is in a very good position. He will make it into the second round even if he does not succeed (outright) in the first round," said Mohammad Reza Khatami, brother of the outgoing president and leader of the main reformist party.
The reform candidate had been written off initially but many observers believe he has made a late charge and could well benefit if turnout is higher than expected. Moin, for his part, dismissed predictions that the race would go to a second round, saying "it is probable that it will finish in the first round, but one or two rounds is always good for Iranian society."
He said he hoped that turnout would reach 60-70 percent, while most analysts have predicted a figure of just over 50 percent.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2005
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Moin is the supposed dark-horse candidate.
Consider: Any campaign pitting the 'unknown reformer' versus a 'conservative' candidate, had to be vetted by the mullahs first. If the 'reformer' wins, it's because mullahs pretended to count the ballots and let him 'win'.
Of course, when the Moin 'wins', Europe will fall all over itself rushing forward to say, "We've gotta give the Reformers a chance now."
#2
Khatami was supposed to be a "reform" cnadidate too. He did squat because the Pres position in Iran is impotent. Who cares if a "reformer" gets it? Nothing would change. The EUros would only celebrate because they're fools who want to sell restricted technolgy to them.
(Roooters) NEW YORK - The US military must improve security checkpoints in Iraq that endanger civilians and soldiers, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday.
The Committee being comprised of eminent military experts, ya know.
In a letter to US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the organization called for the implementation of measures recommended in March after an Italian intelligence agent was killed by US forces at a checkpoint.
While death tolls at US checkpoints are hard to establish, such incidents have come under international scrutiny by disgruntled, angry leftist journalists looking for a cause since the 2003 occupation by US forces in Iraq.
The death of Nicola Calipari, an Italian intelligence agent killed by US fire at a checkpoint while escorting a freed hostage, drew outrage from the usual nutty left-wing communist Italians, some of whom called for the immediate pullout of 3,000 Italian troops from Iraq. Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena, who had just been freed from kidnappers, and another Italian agent were seriously injured in the shooting.
"Checkpoint shootings have sparked outrage among Iraqi citizens, undermining public confidence in the US military," Ann Cooper of the Committee to Protect Journalists wrote to Rumsfeld.
And you would know this from your perch at the hotel bar exactly how?
In the letter, which was co-signed by Human Rights Watch, Cooper called for the immediate implementation of checkpoint recommendations made after a US military investigation into the Calipari shooting. The recommendations include installing spiked strips and temporary speed bumps to disable approaching vehicles and using signs with Arabic, English and international symbols to warn drivers of upcoming checkpoints.
We'd be forced to pay for the tires, of course.
An Italian report on Calipari's death blamed the United States for failing to set up "the most elementary precautions" to warn drivers of approaching checkpoints. A US inquiry into Calipari's death blamed the driver for approaching too fast and on the lack of communication from Italian authorities on the hostage rescue mission.
I think I'll trust the US Army to know how to set up a checkpoint.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Oh, yeah, to satisfy our good friends the MSM Meme Committee to Undermine American Interests, we'll get right on that.
#2
"The US military must improve security checkpoints in Iraq that endanger civilians and =soldiers=, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists said on Friday."
Soldiers !!!! they mean assorted leftist journalist.
Security checkpoints are there for a reason, and if some idiots like that italian commie try to run them...well how unlucky she was not the one to get really hurt.
#3
These mobile checkpoints serve to interdict terrorists on the move. If journalists manage to prevent terrorists from carrying out attacks, I'm sure the US military will be glad to stop setting up these checkpoints - they would then be unnecessary. Until then, these checkpoints will probably remain in place.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/18/2005 2:23
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Yeah, the checkpoints endanger terrorists' lives.
That's what the "journalists" object to. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/18/2005 9:41
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"Committee to Protect Journalists" The gave me a chuckle. Do they have a commmittee to protect Iraqi civilians from suicide bombers? Oh yeah thats what the checkpoints are for!
#7
I thought the "Committee to Protect Journalists" was based in Gitmo...cell-block 12?? Oughta be.
Sorry about the long cut & paste...but here goes:
***********From the April 1989 MediaWatch*****
In a future war involving U.S. soldiers what would a TV reporter do if he learned the enemy troops with which he was traveling were about to launch a surprise attack on an American unit? That's just the question Harvard University professor Charles Ogletree Jr, as moderator of PBS' Ethics in America series, posed to ABC anchor Peter Jennings and 60 Minutes correspondent Mike Wallace. Both agreed getting ambush footage for the evening news would come before warning the U.S. troops.
For the March 7 installment on battlefield ethics Ogletree set up a theoretical war between the North Kosanese and the U.S.-supported South Kosanese. At first Jennings responded: "If I was with a North Kosanese unit that came upon Americans, I think I personally would do what I could to warn the Americans."
Wallace countered that other reporters, including himself, "would regard it simply as another story that they are there to cover." Jennings' position bewildered Wallace: "I'm a little bit of a loss to understand why, because you are an American, you would not have covered that story."
"Don't you have a higher duty as an American citizen to do all you can to save the lives of soldiers rather than this journalistic ethic of reporting fact?" Ogletree asked. Without hesitating Wallace responded: "No, you don't have higher duty... you're a reporter." This convinces Jennings, who concedes, "I think he's right too, I chickened out."
Ogletree turns to Brent Scrowcroft, now the National Security Adviser, who argues "you're Americans first, and you're journalists second." Wallace is mystified by the concept, wondering "what in the world is wrong with photographing this attack by North Kosanese on American soldiers?" Retired General William Westmoreland then points out that "it would be repugnant to the American listening public to see on film an ambush of an American platoon by our national enemy."
A few minutes later Ogletree notes the "venomous reaction" from George Connell, a Marine Corps Colonel. "I feel utter contempt. Two days later they're both walking off my hilltop, they're two hundred yards away and they get ambushed. And they're lying there wounded. And they're going to expect I'm going to send Marines up there to get them. They're just journalists, they're not Americans."
Wallace and Jennings agree, "it's a fair reaction." The discussion concludes as Connell says: "But I'll do it. And that's what makes me so contemptuous of them. And Marines will die, going to get a couple of journalists."
"Few miles later we were stopped by an American checkpoint and they didn't stop us for an inspection procedure, after greeting us they were glad to see that some of us speak English well, one of them said that a coalition point was attacked with mortars and so he was asking us for any information or observations about this attack.
I told them that we're only passers by and we don't know the area very well and I asked if there were any casualties but gladly the answer was "no but we want to gather information about the attackers".
And I also noticed that Iraqi soldiers on other checkpoints started friendly conversations with the people and this is a good indication; searching isn't enough alone, bridging the gaps is what really matters.
Security will not be achieved if the people do not cooperate with the authorities and I think now it's due the time for the people to take bigger role in a nation-wide action against terror."
US F-16 fighter planes dropped a series of 220 kg bombs on insurgent targets in western Iraq overnight as the US military launched a heavy offensive against rebels near the Syrian border. Nine of the powerful bombs were dropped, the US military said, two of them targeting suspected rebel safe houses near the town of Qaim, an insurgent stronghold on the Euphrates river about 20 km east of Iraq's border with Syria. Four more were aimed at rebels as they fired mortars and assault rifles at US ground forces near Qaim, and a further three were used to hit suspected weapons caches in the area. The airpower was in support of Operation Spear, the third major offensive US forces have launched in western Iraq in the past six weeks with the aim of crushing insurgent activity in the Euphrates valley which stretches northwest to Syria.
"Operation Spear ... began in the early morning hours with the objectives of rooting out insurgents and foreign fighters and disrupting insurgent support systems in and around Karabila," Capt. Jeffrey Pool of the US Marines said in a statement from Ramadi, capital of the surrounding Anbar region. Residents in Karabila, a suburb of Qaim where the suspected weapons caches were targeted, said fierce gunbattles broke out overnight and continued.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2005
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220kg bombs, huh? I'm thinking they were 500 pounders, MK-82's (see pg 3), myself. Took about 45 seconds to verify there's no such critter. ArabNews. Almost like reporting.
#2
500lbs=226.796185kg
I guess they rounded down, for some reason ;)
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/18/2005 1:23
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In other news, today, Arab News reports that 220 "insurgents" died in fighting in al Anbar Province. Us Military Command, however, stated that 226.796185 bodies were recovered.
#4
perhaps Iraq should be split, after all it was never one country except by the arbitrary border-drawing of the British.
It could be a mistake of our pro-multi-culti cultures that thinks it's possible to cobble together a nation out of shitites sunnis and kurds and expect them to live harmoniously with a consensual government.
It only worked under the jackboot of a dictator: why should it work now the threat of force is gone?
Maybe it should just be three countries and maybe this would stop the problems?
#5
I think partition is definitely lurking nearby, anon1. If the Sunnis keep it up - they've been nothing but dead weight when they weren't killing Shi'a clerics or running the "insurgency" - then it will end that way. Agreed that Iraq is a foolish Brit/French confabulation that is no more legitimate than Yugoslavia. If it won't work, and you make the perfect point of the only reason why it didn't disintegrate before now, then there's no overriding reason to try to force it to work.
I don't know if the Shi'a are really ready, they not showing much sense with guys like Jaafari, but sure as hell the Kurds are.
#7
I've been thinking the last couple of days(agin)that the U.S. should let the Sunnies know that if the U.S.pulls-out they are on thier own.Without Saddams military and goons they would be at the mercy of the Shias and Kurds,not a nice place to be.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2005 11:47
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#10
On the other hand there is virtue to a Federal system that puts faction against faction and ensures that no tyranny can easily arise again. Witness the USA, and Switzerland. In both cases there are large groups of people who think they'd be (or would have been) better off if they could set up their own tyranny while splitting from the rest of the country.
Long term, we're better off with a federal Iraq, where both minorities and majorities have learnt to live with each other and prosper in freedom and trade. A free and prosperous Iraq ought to be our modern Japan in the Middle East.
#12
I think partitioning Iraq has always been a fallback plan. The Shiites get theirs, the Kurds get their well-deserved part and for you Sunnis, well, not only do you get squat, but you have to deal with the 30 years of enmity and ill will you generated under Sadaam. Bummer, doods!
A strong, federated Iraq will be an example to the rest of the foo'ed up Middle East. I think it is starting to work, although you would not know it from the mainstream news. Some things that convince me: One is the increasing involvement of Iraqis in their own security. The other is the locals starting to rat out the jihadis over and over. The third is the Sunnis splitting into two camps; one the Death-to-Everyone crowd and the other the people who are finally realizing that deliberately refusing to participate in the political process is to be forever marginalized.
#13
The Sunnis better think about getting along. They need to look at their resource base. Oilfields in the north, oilfleids and marine terminal in the south. They ain't got squat except the rivers, so they just have farming. Cut off Baghdad's power and they are shiite outa luck. It's get along or game over for the Sunnis. They better grow a brain quick. The smart ones better get the dumb ones in line.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/18/2005 16:11
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The 220 kg is probably one of our new 250lb bombs. I read awhile back that we had deployed a couple with GPS to minimize damage to the surrounding civilians. could be aljazeera mistake or maybe the above dont know.
On the splitting the country I believe a real bad idea yes the shia and kurd areas will be happy but the shia by themselves I would give a very likly chance to go Iran style and the Kurds would be better more free and democratic but the sunni part would just go Afghanistan pre US invasion. I say force them together the Kurd will keep the Shia honest and in the middle ground while the kurd and shia together will either accept the sunni capitulation or when we pull out their will be a 2maybe 3month blood lust with the then capitulation of what is left of the sunni. I would be willing to bet their is huge files of tribes and Imans and names of sunnis that are involved or suspected of involvement in the Terrorism but either to contriversial or not enough evidence for the US to make a grab. When the Iraqi army gets strong enough to let the bulk of our men pull back for some R&R if things are not cooled off I would expect those files being cleaned out literaly. The way nations fight war not the bullshit way we do what changed between WW2 and today to make it were we can be called nazis because we hold enemy captured out of uniform in a active war and held in a tropical paradise in AC with Koran and special food WTF happened to this country. In WW2 I believe the infiltrators we captured in FL from Germany were hung quick trial some would say just kangaroo trial and of course the german soldgiers that were caught then executed during the battle of the buldge out of uniform causing caous in the rear or the Wearewolves who were caught after the war and executed yeah we were humane we gave them a blindfold and a cigarette before we shot them. Were we Nazis then??? What about the cities after the end of the war we shelled with artilary becuase when our forces went in one werewolf shot at a soldgier or what about how in one city when a werewolf assasin killed a US soldgier we just simply rounded up 10nazi soldgiers in the city and shot them to make a example. Yeah that is war that is how you win a war the Sunnis are still either activly resiting or staying quit becuase why risk it the terrorist will kill you the US will go out of thier way not to kill you even thou you live right next door to a car bomb factory. I say when we find a car bomb factory level the whole damm block becuase I garantee the neighbors knew something was going on. Maybe then next time thier cousin saw some weird activity he would call it in cause those crazy barbarian americans may come level his house which is next door. I am not saying kill everyone just that the assesories even if they just knew but didnt say something should be punished aswell especially in the Sunni area were it is so rampant. The tips we are getting now are the same incentive the only difference just thank god we fighting a retarted enemy that is killing the people they need support of becuase they are easier targets.
#15
In other news, today, Arab News reports that 220 "insurgents" died in fighting in al Anbar Province
Or maybe it was 220 insurgents dropped from the F-16. Not sure which I would prefer...a 500 pounder dropped on one insurgent, or one insurgent dropped from 10,000 feet. Tough call.
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/18/2005 16:52
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#16
less collateral in dropping the asshole from 10K
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2005 18:43
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#17
There's a hard point rack under each wing, Rafael. I do believe you can do both ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2005 18:51
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#18
Can't even consider a breakup without redesigning the road system. Take a look at it. A minimal spanning tree with key nodes in Sunni towns.
If you look at it more closely. The best grid to lay on it would be a hex grid as most current roads are angles on the spanning tree.
It really needs alternate road grid. In addition it would make it impossible for IED's to ever have a big effect on transport.
RBer's may remember a post from last year where a retired USAF colonel announced he had found 'increased levels of radiation' off Tybee Island, GA, where a Mk15 bomb was lost after the B-47 carrying it hit an F-86 that was playing tag. The colonel raised such a s*itstorm (stating, for instance, that all the fresh water on the east coast would be irreversibly contaminated if it went off)that the USAF was pushed into looking again. The results are as follows...
SAVANNAH, Ga. The first government search in decades for a nuclear bomb lost off the Georgia (search) coast in 1958 found no trace of the sunken weapon, the Air Force said in a report Friday. The report, released nine months after scientists tested radiation levels off Tybee Island (search), concluded the 7,600-pound bomb cannot explode and should be left at sea. "We still think it's irretrievably lost. We don't know where to look for it," Dr. Billy Mullins, an Air Force (search) nuclear weapons adviser who led the search, told a news conference.
A damaged B-47 bomber jettisoned the Mark-15 nuke into a sound about 15 miles from Savannah after colliding with a fighter jet during a training flight. The military never recovered the bomb and gave up searching until last year, when a retired Air Force pilot claimed his private search team had detected unusually high radiation levels in the sound. Government scientists investigated, taking radiation readings and soil samples Sept. 30 from water in an area the size of four football fields. The report said varying radiation levels were observed, but they were from natural elements in the sediment on the sea floor. "The best course of action in this matter is to not continue to search for it and to leave the property in place," said the report by the Air Force Nuclear Weapons and Counterproliferation Agency.
The Air Force has said the bomb contains uranium and about 400 pounds of conventional explosives, though it lacks the plutonium capsule needed to trigger a nuclear blast. The amount of uranium was undisclosed. In 2001, the Air Force declared the bomb "irretrievably lost" and estimated it lies buried beneath 8 to 40 feet of water and 5 to 15 feet of mud and sand. The report issued Friday by the Air Force Nuclear Weapons and Counterproliferation Agency said dropping the search and leaving the bomb was "the best course of action."
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/18/2005
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#1
In other news, General Francisco Franco's condition was reported as "stable"...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2005 0:36
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#3
The highly enriched uranium (HEU) in this bomb is not radioactive enough to produce detectably elevated radiation rates in a large body of water. Contrary to popular belief, fissionable meterials, HEU and Plutonium, are not in and of themselves intensely radioactice in comparison with fission products that are produced in a fission reaction, something that clearly hasn't happened here.
Seawater itself contains varying amounts of radioactive trace elements, including natural uranium and thorium. If the HEU has leaked, it would probably be easier to detect it chemically.
#4
To further illustrate the absurdity of the retired Colonel's contention, seawater is about 3 ppb (parts per billion) uranium. Natural uranium is .70% U-235, the fissionable isotope concentrated to 80% or more in weapons grade HEU. This means that a billion tons of seawater will contain 3 tons of natual uranium and 400 pounds or so of U-235, enough for ten or more atomic bombs. A body of water just 10 feet deep would have to cover only 150 square miles to contain a billion tons of seawater. If it were 100 feet deep, the required area would be just 15 square miles. The ocean contains roughly 500 million cubic miles of seawater, each with a mass of approximately 3.5 billion tons.
Bottom line, there are 35 million tons of U-235 dissolved in the world's oceans.
Beyond that, U-235 would provide only a small fraction of the total radioactivity, measured in curies, that could be found in a given volume of seawater. Thorium, which is nearly as radioactive as natural uranium, is typically 3 times as abundant and other radioactive elements are found in trace amounts, including plutonium (.02 ppb).
#5
Oh, and on the plus side, it is only one of about 250 or so nuclear weapons that are currently missing. Personally, I think they should check under the sofa cushions.
BTW, during the Cold War, Kremlin inspired pop-culturists liked to represent nuclear control as a hair trigger situation run by the usual stupid and socially inferior types. If this were true, why are we still here?
#10
What's the use? Hip comedians and cow-college lefties have pronounced all nuclear technology "deadly" if not "murderous," and that's all these fools need.
The anti-nuclear movement was entirely about giving the USSR an advantage in Cold War strategy, but it eventually took on a life of its own as a sacred tenet of the media cult.
Read Marshal McLuhan sometime, eco-wackies. The media don't work for the Reds these days, it's the other way around.
#11
Today, of course, US nuclear weapons are the ultimate barrier to Iran's plans to terrorize the world into submission. For the mullahs and their media symps, scare stories about nuke accidents will help mitigate this.
#12
Keep in mind, Rantburgeoisie, that media-slaves neither "believe" nor "disbelieve" the propaganda they allow themselves to absorb.
They adopt a position simply because it is perceived to enhance conformity to the media culture, without reference to such arcane concepts as "truth" "falsehood" or "consequences."
#13
Yeah, but what if Al-Zark finds it? Huh? Then he could spirit it up the Potomac and ... maybe I'll write a book....
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/18/2005 12:15
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#14
Hey Anonymoose -
I had the honor and privlege of serving in the Strategic Air Command during the Cold War, and part of my job - every day - was the care and feeding of nuclear weapons. As part of our training, we got a little bit of information about the semi-legendary 'missing nukes' we'd all heard about from the MSM and the protesters and their assorted friends.
We were told that the US had lost - i.e; destroyed in accidents or physically misplaced - up to that point 29 nuclear weapons. (It later became 30 - the Titan II accident at Damascus, AR in 1980 accounting for that one.) Of those, IIRC 7 or 8 of them were inert weapons, that is, no fissile material was in the weapons at the time. In that condition, they were better doorstops than nuclear weapons. And please allow me to point out that of those 30 weapons, TWENTY-SEVEN were physically destroyed in the accident or scrapped afterwards. That leaves three out there somewhere - the Tybee Island weapon, and 2 USN weapons that are at the far bottom of the Pacific.
Although ALL of those accidents - with the notable exception of the Titan II accident - were classified at the time, they are no longer so.
So please, do me a favor - account for the other 90% or so of the 250 'missing' weapons. I have a feeling that even if you can, they're going to have the letters 'CCCP' on them. The Soviets left at least two missile subs on the bottom, and God alone knows what kind of accidents THEY had.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/18/2005 13:39
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#15
Thanks, Mike.
#13 Bobby
Perhaps the Air Force did find it and they have the place staked out just waiting for Zark or his agents to show up.
#16
We might want to start matching diving school enrollments and salvage gear purchases against lists of known terrorists, ANSWER members, and Michael Moore supporters.
#21
Bobby - Do you need the Admiral Ackbar image to go with the "It's a trap!" quote? Heh.
Just remember the Clancy formula of focusing on 5 or 6 key individuals, for character development and reader symp / identification - must have honorable vulnerabilities or be pure evil, run subplots in parallel, converge in big splash.
#22
Yes, indeed, most of the 250 or so were Russian. The biggest losses are submarine down. You start with the initial number of missiles, then *multiply* by the number of MIRVs on each. It adds up in a hurry. 92 weapons are known to have been lost at sea, but this is deceptive, as it includes both single nuke weapons and MIRV'ed weapons. Tactical weapons are also included, though the US sometimes classifies inert training weapons as nukes and their loss is considered a "Broken Arrow", even if they're made of concrete. The US doesn't make it a habit of losing them. Again, the Russians win, because they have fired tactical weapons that don't go off, and they can't find them afterwards.
#23
ima not too worried about the lost 240, the martian secret service took most of 'em back in '74. i saw a lot of things during that time. i can speak too much about. Unless maybe somebody will come up nwith some steps for my trailer house
Soviet Cold War submarine losses, again from Global Security:The Soviet Navy lost at least five submarines during the Cold War, with another being scuttled at sea following a reactor accident. Since the end of the Cold War, the Russian Navy has lost one submarine.
K-129, a Golf-I class ballistic missile submarine, sank in March or April of 1968 in the northern Pacific Ocean (1390 kms northwest of Oahu harbor). The collapse of the hull was detected by the American SOSUS acoustic system, and in July 1974 parts of the submarine were recovered by US intelligence.
K-27, a November class nuclear submarine, experienced a reactor problem which released radiation contaminating the entire submarine on 24 May 1968. It was finally scuttled (deliberately sunk) in the Kara Sea in 1981.
K-8, a November class nuclear submarine, sank on 08 April 1970 in the Bay of Biscay and 52 people perished [the accident was kept secret till 1991].
K-219, a Yankee class strategic nuclear submarine, sank off Bermuda with 16 ballistic missiles on board on 06 October 1986. Four crewmen were killed. It is rumoured that the fire on the submarine broke out due to collision with a US submarine.
K-429, a Charlie I class submarine, sank on 23 June 1983 in the Savannaya Bay in the Bering Sea. The boat was raised and returned to service. Unluckily, she sank again alongside the jetty on 13 September 1985. The incident led to the loss 16 lives and the imprisonment of the submarine commander.
K-278 (Komsomolets), a Mike class nuclear submarine with a titanium hull, sank on 07 April 1989 south of the Bear island in the Norwegian Sea. A total of 41 crewmen, including the commander, were killed.
K-141 (Kursk), an Oscar II type 949 SSGN) commissioned in 1995, sank on 12 August 2000 in the Barents Sea, presumably due to two explosions in the torpedo tubes.
Of the vessels not raised or salvaged, only K-129 and K-219 carried nuclear missiles, 3 and 16 respectively. K-129's R-13 missiles definitely had single warheads.
K-219's were of the R-27U mirved with 3 warheads each for a total of 48.
The other lost subs may have carried small numbers of nuclear torpedoes, almost certainly fewer than 5 each, and obviously each with just one warhead.
#25
"92 weapons are known to have been lost at sea, but this is deceptive, as it includes both single nuke weapons and MIRV'ed weapons."
It does? Weapons are not mirv'ed, missiles are. Do you mean 92 weapons (warheads) or 92 missiles? If "weapons" means "warheads", this is not deceptive, since the count is final. If it means "missiles," say so. You are inviting a false conclusion from the uninformed, double multiplication of the mirv count.
I'm not surprised. Anti-nukers are pathological liars, always have been. I remember a Greenpeace report in the 80s ("Chernobyls at Sea") that listed every submarine sinking since World War 2 as a "nuclear accident" even though the great majority had neither nuclear power nor nuclear weapons.
#26
(page 10)Aleksandr Lebed, the former Secretary of the Soviet Security Council: while still operating in his capacity as Secretary of the Russian Security Council, he had conducted a study of the Russian military accounting for its nuclear weapons, specifically suitcase-sized nuclear devices, and had found that the military had lost track of approximately 84 suitcase-sized nuclear bombs, any one of which could kill up to 100,000 people with a capacity of 1 kiloton. In the U.S. television interview subsequent to that meeting, aired on September 7, General Lebed said he now believes the number of missing nuclear weapons to be more than 100...Now, Lebed's allegations have been vehemently denied by the Russian Government... So, a few here and a few there; after a while they add up.
UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council on Friday authorized a UN observer force to remain another six months in the Golan Heights, where it has served as a buffer between the Syrian and Israeli armies for 31 years. The 15-nation council unanimously adopted a resolution prolonging the mandate of the force of 1,028 soldiers through Dec. 31 after both Israel and Syria gave their consent.
The UN Disengagement Observer Force, known as UNDOF, was created in May 1974 to monitor a cease-fire and troop disengagement agreement that followed the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. In that war, Israel repulsed an attempt by Arab states to take back land, including the Golan Heights, which the Jewish state had captured in the six-day 1967 Middle East war. UNDOF's mandate would have expired at the end of June without the Security Council's approval.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan reported to the Security Council earlier this month that the area remained "generally quiet" in the past six months except in the disputed Shebaa Farms border enclave. But he said he considered the force's continued presence to be essential. "The situation in the Middle East is very tense and is likely to remain so, unless and until a comprehensive settlement covering all aspects of the Middle East problem can be reached," he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2005
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Ah, coalmine canaries, capital idea. And "buffer" - that would make a spiffy epitaph. Tense. Yes.
BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - A Belgrade court on Friday found a former Serb paramilitary guilty of a 1999 massacre in Kosovo in a retrial that confirmed the original 20-year sentence handed down last year.
Notice that Carla del Ponte had no role in this trial.
Sasa Cvjetan, from the notorious Scorpions unit, was convicted of killing 14 ethnic Albanian civilians, mostly women and children, when his unit stormed the northern Kosovo town of Podujevo in March 1999. Cvjetan, 40, had received the maximum sentence under Serbian law at the time of the crime, but last year's ruling was later overturned by Serbia's Supreme Court for alleged procedural trial violations.
The retrial in Cvjetan's case - which in 2004 was seen as a key test for the Serbian judiciary to handle war crimes cases at home - lasted less than two weeks.
Notice that Carla del Ponte had no role in this trial.
After reading the final verdict, Judge Biljana Sinanovic said the most compelling evidence against Cvjetan was the fact that witnesses and survivors of the Podujevo massacre had recognized him.
Notice that Carla del Ponte had no role in this trial.
During the hearings, Cvjetan again denied he took part in the Scorpions' rampage in Podujevo that killed 14 and wounded five, claiming he was chosen to be a "scapegoat."
Thousands of ethnic Albanian civilians were killed during the conflict in Kosovo.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/18/2005
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Nor did the ICC, ICJ, or XYZ.
The Law Enforcement approach only works for one-off, after the fact, clean-up. Doesn't scale and is not preventative.
SEOUL - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il said on Friday the communist country was willing to return to nuclear disarmament talks in July if the United States "recognises and respects" his country. North Korea "could rejoin six-party talks as early as July if the US recognizes and respects the country as a (dialogue) partner," Kim was quoted as saying by South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-Young.
Respect? Heh. Guess we won't be talking.
Kim, however, said his country needs "further consultations with the United States," Chung said after returning from talks with the North Korean leader in Pyongyang. Chung quoted Kim as denying North Korea had ever said it would abandon the six-party disarmament forum, which has been stalled for a year. The North Korean leader also reaffirmed that an inter-Korean agreement on denuclearising the Korean peninsula was "still valid," calling it "last will" of his father, Kim Il-Sung, who founded the communist country and died in 1994, Chung said.
The South Korean minister said he had "in-depth" discussions with Kim on politics, economy and humanitarian aid. He also delivered a verbal message from South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun on the disarmament talks and North Korea's nuclear weapons drive. South Korean officials said earlier that they would make the best use of Chung's visit to Pyongyang to urge the Stalinist country to return to six-party talks.
Continued on Page 49
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The head of a UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri indicated yesterday his team would investigate Syrian officials who were in charge of security. "We will of course investigate everyone who was in one way or another responsible for security in Lebanon at the time of the crime," Detlev Mehlis told a news conference when asked if his team would be able to question Syrian officials and intelligence.
Many Lebanese hold the Syrians at least indirectly responsible for the Feb. 14 attack which killed Hariri and 20 other people when his motorcade was bombed on Beirut's seafront. The UN Security Council ordered the investigation, which got under way on Thursday, after a UN fact-finding mission decided Lebanon's own inquiry was "seriously flawed". Veteran German prosecutor Mehlis said his commission expected to receive relevant information without delay. "Any country which may possess such information, be it judicial evidence or intelligence information, and does not provide it to the commission will bear the responsibility should we fail in our efforts to establish the truth," he said.
Mehlis showed photographs of a white Mitsubishi pick-up truck of the type German explosives investigators and Swiss experts determined was probably used in the attack. It was not yet clear whether the truck was moving or parked at the time of the blast, he said. Mehlis said his was a police and judicial investigation that would hand its findings to Lebanon's judiciary, which would decide on further moves and whether to make arrests. He said Lebanon had cooperated and supported his team so far. "Of course we will also investigate how the crime scene was handled, why it was handled in a certain way," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/18/2005
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No doubt Assad could use a good probing. But don't the UN guys typically like them a little younger?
Severely EFL. All you technical types go read the article ;-)
As part of an effort to anticipate -- and thwart -- the plans of potential terrorists, the Federal Aviation Administration is supporting the development of a new search engine by University at Buffalo researchers that is designed to detect "hidden" information that can be gleaned from public Web sites. The UB team recently completed an initial prototype system, designed explicitly to enable searches for "hidden" information within the 9/11 Commission Report. The system permits users to find the best trail of evidence through many documents that connects two or more apparently unrelated concepts.
Funded by the FAA, as well as by the National Science Foundation specifically for anti-terrorism applications, the UB project is based on Unintended Information Revelation, or UIR, a search technique designed to uncover hidden information. The premise of UIR is that pieces of information that by themselves appear to be innocent may be linked together to reveal inadvertently highly sensitive data. A more robust prototype is expected to be delivered to FAA for evaluation by the end of the year.
#1
This is Data Mining on the internet. Data Mining is widely used in business. In a nutshell DM helps you find patterns of interest in people of interest and then identify more people who fit the patterns you have found. In business this would be to sell them a car loan or whatever. In the WOT this would be to find potential terrorists. For example, you could search for patterns about the 9/11 hijackers and then search for others who fit the patterns in order to find people planning similar attacks.
My description makes it sound more precise than it is. Its like a high tech form of profiling that increases the odds of success. Otherwise the article overdoes the GeeWhiz hightech magic bit. The technique has been around for years on large databses, although I don't underestimate the difficulties of doing it over the internet.
JERUSALEM - Israel plans to build a barrier that will extend out to sea from its border with Gaza to deter Palestinian infiltrators once it withdraws from the coastal strip in August, military officials said on Friday. Details were reported in the Jerusalem Post, which said the barrier, part concrete and part floating fence, would stretch 950 metres (yards) into the Mediterranean from Israel's boundary with the northern Gaza Strip.
The aim is to stop Gaza militants from launching attacks into Israel by sea after the Israeli army implements a plan to remove all 21 Jewish settlements from the occupied territory, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
A thousand meters out to sea should be enough, even if the Paleos manage to call upon the Charles DeGaulle.
The Palestinian Authority reacted angrily to the barrier plan. "I hope the Israeli government will stop the mentality of barriers," chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters. "There is a barrier on the ground, now a barrier on the water and tomorrow we will end up with barrier in the sky. It will not bring peace and security," he added.
It will, however, stop Paleo homicide bombers.
Israel has surrounded Gaza, home to 1.3 million Palestinians, with an electronic fence that it says keeps out attackers but which Palestinians condemn for restricting their movements.
Nope, no demonstrated understanding of cause-and-effect yet.
The Jerusalem Post said the first 150 metres (yards) of the sea barrier would consist of concrete pilings burrowed into the seabed while the remaining 800 metres (yards) would be a submerged 1.8 metre (six-foot) deep "floating fence". A military official said the barrier was being built in part to compensate for Israel's future loss of surveillance posts and would involve a system of electronic sensors and radar. "It is (a system) to ... prevent infiltrations of terrorists via the sea," a security source said. Israeli forces have foiled attempted seaborne attacks on the Israeli coast and Gaza settlements during a 4-1/2-year-old Palestinian uprising.
Israel has demarcated its tense northern border with Lebanon with a buoys that stretch 4.2 km (2.6 miles) out to sea.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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build it high build it wide
really barriers are the great answer here. Hope that other "apharteid wall" is coming along well. It had great success in stopping the murderers. Haven't heard much about that wall lately, what's going on? Is there a holdup? Finish it, electrify it!
Saudis arrest 40 Pakistani Christians
According to the daily Pakistan, Saudi police arrested 40 men, women and children from a house in Riyadh while they were in the process of praying. The Saudi police took the position that one priest was actually preaching Christianity, which is banned in the Kingdom. Nawa-e-Waqt editorialised that Christians must have got into Riyadh by using false Muslim names. There was a trend in Pakistan that Christians were using Muslim names. That is why it was important to declare religion in the passport, so that Christians and Qadianis would not be able to get into Saudi Arabia by deceit.
Woman stoned in Badakhshan
Writing in the daily Pakistan, Tanvir Qaiser Shahid stated that in President Karzai's Afghanistan, a judge in the province of Badakhshan had awarded the sentence of being stoned to death, to a woman accused of fornication. The woman was seen entering the house of a man, after which another man locked the house from the outside and called in witnesses. The judge awarded death to the woman and 100 lashes to the man. The woman was duly stoned and killed.
Is a test tube baby an act of 'zina'?
According to the Nawa-e-Waqt, the Lahore High Court acquired the services of the famous pro-blasphemy law lawyer Ismail Qureshi to resolve the issue of test tube babies. The matter before the court was: is a test tube baby Islamic? Another question was that when two unrelated persons produce a test tube baby, is it zina punishable by death in Islam?
Muslims and electric shocks from God
Columnist Hamid Sultan wrote in the Nawa-e-Waqt that Pakistan's economy was being run on rules made in America. Zakat was being taken from the poor but there was no zakat on property, and therefore the rich who did not keep savings accounts were exempted from zakat. He stated that the Holy Quran had clear rules about the rise and fall of nations, but God was not in despair about Muslims. He was simply administering shocks to them, just as patients who are expected to live are given electric shocks.
Islamic Council on Basant and St Valentine's Day
According to the Nawa-e-Waqt, the Council for Islamic Ideology recommended that the government should not take part in two festivals: Basant because it was a Hindu festival, and Valentine's Day because it was a non-Islamic festival. The Council said that some members of the Council were of the opinion that Basant was a seasonal festival and not a Hindu festival, but the majority called it a Hindu festival. The Council rejected Basant on the analogy of Jewish rejection of the fast of 10th Muharram. Only two festivals were allowed in Islam: the two Eids.
Slaves of English!
Reported by the Nawa-e-Waqt, an ex-vice chancellor of the University of the Punjab said that Pakistanis used to be slaves of 'the English,' now they were slaves of English. He added that Urdu should be made a compulsory language, after which English could be learned as a second language. He said religious seminaries were being neglected.
Second marriage shouldn't be punished
According to Khabrain, lawyers were divided on the recent judicial opinion that those who marry again without the consent of the first wife should be punished with a fine and ten years in jail. The Islamists said that a second marriage was a right, and permission from the first wife was not needed. Other lawyers thought that the consent of the first wife was already a law and should be obeyed. They said 80 per cent of all second marriages were unsuccessful. Lady lawyers said that polygamy had become a fashion.
Rao Sikandar versus the Punjab government
According to the Nawa-e-Waqt, federal defence minister Rao Sikandar lost his cool when at Okara, the Punjab government tried to prevent him from going close to President Musharraf. He felt insulted and punched an SSP on the stage. Later the Punjab government held an inquiry against the SSP but found the defence minister culpable of bad behaviour.
Sectarian violence in Gilgit
Writing in Khabrain, Sohail Zafar stated that federal education minister General (Retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi had put an end to a year-long violent fight in Gilgit by getting both parties (Shia and Sunni ulema) to agree that a different syllabus would be taught in Gilgit. The trouble started when in 1996, the government changed the separate syllabi for the two sects and forced them to read the same books. Gilgit went sect-crazy in the 1980s when jihadis entered the agency. They entered Sinkiang in China and caused bloodshed there, in addition to starting the sectarian war in Gilgit. Before the 2002 elections, the MMA sent its ulema to Gilgit where they aroused sectarian passions.
Ikhwan rising in Egypt
Writing in the Nawa-e-Waqt, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Hafiz Idrees stated that Ikhwan al Muslimun was banned from taking part in elections in Egypt but it was making headway into elective institutions through anonymity. In the present parliament, there were at least 36 Ikhwan members without a party label. In recent elections to Cairo's bar council, the group of lawyers representing Ikhwan dominates, led by the son of the great Ikhwan founder, Hassan Al Banna, Saiful Islam Al Banna. Hafiz Idrees was perplexed by the Ikhwan leader Muhammad Habib, when he approved of Hosni Mubarak's son taking part in elections. America was now considering contacting the Ikhwan.
'I will destroy theatre!'
Leader of the MMA in Gujranwala Qazi Hamidullah was quoted in Khabrain as saying that if a cinema was converted into theatre in Okara, he would personally go there and destroy the theatre. He had just come out of prison after being bailed out in a case of attacking a marathon race in Gujranwala. He said he would go on struggling till all fahashi was finished. He said the PMLN could join the MMA. He added that PPPP and PML were old rivals (saukan) and Musharraf should choose to cohabit with one out of the two.
Destroyer of all marathons!
Quoted in the Nawa-e-Waqt, JUI MNA Gujranwala Qazi Hamidullah said that he was a destroyer of marathons and would go anywhere to disrupt them in the name of Islam. He said that the MMA was to become the strongest force in Pakistan next year or 2007, when the next elections are held.
George Fulton and Samiul Haq
Columnist Irfan Siddiqi wrote in the Nawa-e-Waqt that after Maulana Samiul Haq was maltreated in Belgium and the EU as part of Pakistan's parliamentary delegation, UK citizen George Fulton was given full citizenship of Pakistan by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on the basis of 66 per cent public endorsement. The writer said that Samiul Haq should now invite Fulton to his seminary in Akora Khattak and show the EU that he was more enlightened (roshan khayal).
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Kinda' like an assorted box of nuts, each with a creamy lunacy center.
Posted by: billy hank ||
06/18/2005 13:37
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#2
Another question was that when two unrelated persons produce a test tube baby, is it zina punishable by death in Islam?
ummm. thisn meen like em father-dawter thing okay? how bowt ifn ones notta pursun?
#3
Qazi said that he was a destroyer of marathons and would go anywhere to disrupt them in the name of Islam.
Let me be the first to formally invite Qazi to come to Washington DC on October 30, where he can demonstrate his mad marathon destroying skillz at the Marine Corps Marathon. Hooah!
#6
What a weak friggin religion that it has to be so intolerant of others. Cowards, thugs who hide behind women and children - that's our Religion of Peaceâ¢
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/18/2005 16:59
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#7
Frank, when the feminine ideal weighs 100 kilos, that's a lot of woman to hide behind. ;-)
EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) - Egyptian security forces in the Sinai mountains clashed Friday with suspects in deadly attacks last year on Red Sea resorts. Security officials said a soldier and a fugitive were killed and four other soldiers were wounded. They said the slain fugitive was suspected of helping to plot the October attacks in the Red Sea resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan.
The clashes occurred as hundreds of security forces, backed up by tanks, fanned out in the Halal mountains of central Sinai. The forces have pursuing suspects in the Sinai hills for months. In February, three suspects were killed in gunbattles. At least one wanted militant is still at large.
Last week, Israel posted a travel warning that cautioned its citizens not to visit Egypt, particularly the Sinai peninsula. It said there was an increased threat of terror attacks.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Travel recommended only in battalion strength. See below.
Posted by: billy hank ||
06/18/2005 13:43
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Voters snubbed a dissident-led boycott and filled polling sites yesterday in a tight presidential race to decide who will inherit Iran's many challenges — including reform pressures at home and crucial nuclear talks with the West. But the count — expected today — also could end without a clear winner. If no candidate clears the 50 percent mark, the contest shrinks to a two-man showdown on June 24 and reopens the Western-style campaigns that have reshaped Iranian politics. A run-off scenario is almost certain to include political veteran Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a leader of the 1979 revolution.
Posted by: Fred ||
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"The steady stream of these disclosures shows the pressing need for regulation of the industry both in terms of limitation in the amount of personal information that companies collect and also liability when these kinds of disclosures occur," Sobel said.
Spoken in true lawyer speak. That is what we need. More government rules.
It is not like we already must kowtow just to abide by the Patriot Act in banking, this mook wants more rules. You can't even, under the PA rules take a check from a deadbeat business cusomer, haul it over to his bank and cash it.
I know this will irritate more than a few in Rantburg, allowing me to vent my frustration when I talk to an 'IT' guy about maybe he ought to hedge his bets some in the areas of servers and no be so cocksure his brand new Win2003 server won't hose him at some point, and I will mention it only once in this thread, but gee, I wonder what kind of script it was.
#5
As someone that works in the credit card processing industry, let me point out that virtually every instance of this sort of thing involves someone working for the company helping them get the information. I don't care how good your security is, if someone's using inside information, it can be extremely hard to stop.
#8
As SB points out - most breaches are inside jobs.
The "lost tapes" (tapes, lol!), FedEx was it?, a few weeks ago was the dumbest of the lot, so far: the data wasn't encrypted. That's just so phreaking easy and fundamental that heads should roll, without a doubt.
There is no absolute fix for bad people on the inside of the security fences. It's too bad that commercial firms can't require job applicants for the potential "insider" jobs to sign a waiver allowing them to be summarily shot in the head if it is discovered they've imperiled the millions of people who depend upon them being honest. I wouldn't miss 'em.
3dc - Private / VPN / PPTP / etc "networks" are so easy to establish, with any level of encryption you desire, over the net that a separate net, a huge expense, seems unnecessary. I could be wrong, of course - I've never had a competent Tiger Team try to break into a 1024 (or higher) bit encrypted PPTP session by smurfing, spoofing, etc.
#9
3DC, the reason why that doesn't happen is because merchants demand to be able to process through the internet. Restricting credit card transactions to a 'banknet' kills the entire internet economy. Even smaller storefronts now are buying credit card machines that instead of dialing into our secure host, instead use their store's internet connection to reach the host. Merchants also like to be able to see their transaction and deposit information online as well.
So as long as the merchants demand this capability, those sorts of vulnerabilities are going to exist.
Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan has been declared healthy after a heart scare, the government said on Friday. Khan, 69, suffered minor chest pains on Tuesday and was taken to hospital earlier Friday to undergo an angioplasty, which checks arteries for blockages, before returning home. "Khan is absolutely fine and stable. He is healthy," President General Pervez Musharraf's press secretary and the country's military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said.
Sultan denied press reports that Khan had suffered a cardiac arrest. "He did not have any heart attack. He is back at his home," he added. The scientist's angioplasty took place at Pakistan's Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology and he was under observation by doctors from the clinic and from his own Khan Research Laboratories Hospital, Sultan said. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid told AFP late on Thursday that "Qadeer Khan felt pain in his chest two days ago."
Posted by: Fred ||
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Woops! Broccoli overdone, was it? Limp and rubbery? Khaaan's fine, eh?
GENEVA - The international Red Thingy Cross said on Friday that the US government was cooperating to improve its treatment of terror suspects in Guantanamo and elsewhere, even if some American critics were hostile to the organization. Jakob Kellenberger, president of the International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross, said a critical paper by the Republican Policy Committee in the US Senate reflected the views of only one organization, not the US government.
The paper titled "Are American Interests Being Disserved by the International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross?" was published Monday by the Republican panel, accusing the committee of departing from its neutral traditions to criticize the United States. "The US government and the ICRTC have good and trustful relations," Kellenberger said, noting that he had "quite a long meeting" in February with US President George W. Bush and two meetings this year with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "The quality of the dialogue up the highest level enables both sides to discuss openly all issues, including those where there are differences of view, and there are," Kellenberger told reporters. As is the case with other countries, "some of our recommendations are being taken into account, and some are not," he said. "We have to check what is not taken into account ... and then we have to insist again."
The international Red Thingy Cross is the only independent group that been allowed to visit terror suspects detained in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It also is the only independent international organization able to visit detainees in Iraq. Kellenberger rejected the Republican paper, which said that "when it comes to non-emergency relief operations, the ICRTC is no longer an impartial and trustworthy guardian: it has become yet another clamoring interest group like Amnesty International."
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Considering they have an office right there, they will be damned if the place will be compared with a Gulag, a Nazi concentration camp or Pol Pot's Killing Fields. After all, all that would be happening right under their noses.
#2
As is the case with other countries, âsome of our recommendations are being taken into account, and some are not,â he said. âWe have to check what is not taken into account ... and then we have to insist again.â
Ever stop to think that you aren't the masters of countries you have "dialogue" with??
Kellenberger said the ICRTC was open to criticism and âconstructive dialogue with those who have different opinions. However, dialogue does not appear to be the primary objectiveâ in the Republican senatorsâ report.
Probably because they don't give a hoot about "dialogue". What's wanted is for the Amnesty International mimicking to STOP.
American tanks and aircraft obliterated targets today in and around Karabila, a town close to the Syrian border, as about 1,000 marines swept into the area and began the third major offensive over the last two months in Iraq's western desert frontier, military officials said. Karabila, like other towns along the meandering reaches of the Euphrates River in the desert of western Anbar Province, is suspected of being a link in insurgent supply and infiltration routes, the Iraqi equivalent of the Ho Chi Minh Trail.
Obligatory NYT Vietnam reference.
There have also been sporadic hints that Iraq's most-wanted fugitive, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, could be hiding in the area. The military said that American aircraft used precision-guided weapons to bomb buildings occupied by insurgents who were firing on marines and the Iraqi soldiers who accompanied them in the operation. An Abrams tank fired one round at a vehicle believed to be rigged with explosives and destroyed it.
The action, nicknamed Operation Spear, began early today, the military said. Late this afternoon, a spokesman for the 2nd Marine Division, Capt. Jeffrey S. Pool, forwarded a statement saying that the Marines had evacuated four civilian casualties, including two women, to a military medical center for treatment. "There are no other reports of civilian casualties," the statement said. It made no mention of wounded or dead among the insurgents or the American and Iraqi military forces. Karabila, the center of the new offensive, surfaced in press reports on June 11 and 12 after a disputed claim by the American military that precision bombs had destroyed an insurgent checkpoint, purportedly killing 40 of the insurgents. Despite that claim, Reuters quoted local residents who said after the strike that there were no fighters in the area at the time.
"Lies! All lies! Now go away!"
The latest action, nicknamed Operation Spear, involves the First Tank Battalion, the Second Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion and the Second and Fourth Assault Amphibian Battalion, the military said, as well as American aircraft.
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There have also been sporadic hints that Iraq's most-wanted fugitive, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, could be hiding in the area.
WASHINGTON -- A metal gate blocked the walkway to the Myanmar Embassy, so the congressman left his delivery _ a cardboard box crammed with birthday greetings for Myanmar political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi _ on a pillar of the concrete fence. Nobody came out of the building.
"I have dealt with dictatorial regimes all of my life," Rep. Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever to serve in Congress, said Friday. "I don't expect any warm reception from them."
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.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice met Saturday with Palestinian Interior Minister Gen. Nasr Yousef in the West Bank town of Ramallah. An Interior Ministry statement said the two sides discussed efforts to implement Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas' decision to unify the Palestinian security services and to develop their work. The minister also briefed Rice on Palestinian preparations to take control of the territories from which Israel says it will withdraw. 
Iran's presidential election will go to a second round for the first time ever, with former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani facing former Tehran Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who opposes detente with the U.S. Rafsanjani gained 21.01 percent of the vote held yesterday, Ahmadinejad 19.48 percent and former parliamentary speaker Mehdi Karroubi 17.28 percent, according to the nation's interior ministry today. The two highest vote-getters in the seven-candidate field advanced to the second round, to be held June 24 or July 1. Karroubi said today that the vote had been ``rigged'' by supporters of Ahmadinejad and called for an investigation. 
U.S. Marines along with Iraqi troops have opened anther anti-insurgent campaign, this one near Baghdad. Operation Dagger includes about 1,000 Marines and Iraqi troops, backed by fighter jets and tanks. And this one is targeting weapons cache and training sites. Meantime, Operation Spear, continues near the border with Syria. The military says so far that offensive has resulted in the killing of about 50 insurgents. 
Al Jazeera television on Friday aired a new videotape of Al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahri in which he called for more "jihad," and criticised assaults on women protesters in Egypt last month. Al Jazeera said the Egyptian-born Zawahri also slammed the Pakistani, Saudi and Egyptian governments. In the tape, in which he was shown with an assault rifle next to him, Zawahri said "invading (US) forces" would not be expelled from Muslim lands by peaceful demonstrations but by "fighting for the sake of God." Zawahri also urged the Palestinians "not to give up their jihad and not to be dragged into the game of secular elections."
"Assalamall- aykum," a man said after introducing himself as 
Mian Abdul Ghaffar, a local magistrate and civil judge, on Friday turned down a plea filed by police asking for a 14-days physical remand of the seven people who had allegedly paraded a woman naked in Chak No 41EB. The judge gave police the accused on a two-day remand instead. 
Police said on Friday they had released eight Shia Muslims who were arrested last week for an arson attack on an outlet of US fast-food chain KFC which left six employees dead. Police failed to collect sufficient evidence against the detainees, who are linked to the outlawed Shia militant group Tehreek-e-Jafaria Pakistan, Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil told AFP. "They were arrested on suspicion of involvement (in the blast). However, no direct evidence was found against any of them and they were freed," he said. Police will now launch a fresh search for those people responsible for the deadly attack, he said. "The case has not been closed."
The estranged wife of former Bangladesh dictator Hussain Mohammad Ershad, arrested earlier this month on charges including threatening to kill her husband, remained behind bars yesterday after a fresh allegation of money laundering was filed against her. "She was granted bail on Thursday but when I went to the jail with the court order I was told there was another charge of money laundering against her," Sayed Quamrujjaman Mahbub, her lawyer, told AFP. Money laundering is a non-bailable offence in Bangladesh.
Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) gave military training to Kashmiri rebels battling security forces in Indian-held Kashmir, a separatist leader has said. While India has long accused Pakistan of training and arming the rebels, a charge Islamabad denies, this is the first confirmation by a separatist leader in the state. The revelation comes in a new book by 
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday prodded Israel to curb its military sales to China while acknowledging the allies have had "very difficult" talks on the matter. In her first full-fledged Washington news conference since taking over as chief US diplomat in January, Rice reiterated the "rising concern here about military modernization in China." But on the eve of a Middle East trip, she gave no sign of progress in efforts to rein in Israel's transfer of military equipment and technology to China which prompted the Pentagon to restrict sales to Israel. "We have had some very difficult discussions with the Israelis about this," Rice said. "And I think they understand now the seriousness of the matter and we'll continue to have those discussions." She said the goal of the world community was to integrate China as a positive force but "it is also entirely appropriate to be concerned that that happen before there is a major military escalation of China's capability."
Security forces in Jizan conducted a major cleanup operation in an area along the country's border with Yemen and arrested 2,500 infiltrators as well as nine people involved in drug and human trafficking, press reports said yesterday. Al-Watan newspaper reported that police had arrested the leader of the smuggling racket. The paper said the man, known as "Ghazanfar" (the lion), was wanted by police in connection with a number of crimes, including the sale of alcohol. As many as 35 units from the patrol police, border guards and special security forces took part in the largest such operation ever in the region, according to Maj. Gen. Ahmed Gazzaz, director of Jizan police. "We have arrested all criminals and illegal residents in the area and destroyed their hideouts," he said.
Pakistan President Gen. Pervez Musharraf said Friday he has proposed nuclear disarmament with India to ensure peace and stability between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Gen Musharraf said Pakistan had gone "much further" than proposing a no first-strike nuclear policy in order to build confidence between the South Asian rivals. "We have suggested (nuclear) disarmament and reduction of forces," he said. Pakistan also opposes nuclear proliferation and was "against any other country acquiring nuclear weapons," he told reporters after talks with New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark in the northern city of Auckland.
SRINAGAR, India - Fourteen people have died in a wave of violence in revolt-hit Indian-administered Kashmir, police said on Friday, a day after moderate separatists returned home from a two-week trip to Pakistan.
The Senate has begun to examine legislation that could halt U.S. arms sale to Saudi Arabia. Sen. Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, has introduced the Saudi Arabia Accountability Act of 2005 into the Senate. The co-sponsors of the bill, designated Senate bill 1171, are Senators Evan Bayh, Susan Collins, Russ Feingold, Tim Johnson, Patty Murray and Ron Wyden.
SAVANNAH, Ga. The first government search in decades for a nuclear bomb lost off the Georgia (search) coast in 1958 found no trace of the sunken weapon, the Air Force said in a report Friday. The report, released nine months after scientists tested radiation levels off Tybee Island (search), concluded the 7,600-pound bomb cannot explode and should be left at sea. "We still think it's irretrievably lost. We don't know where to look for it," Dr. Billy Mullins, an Air Force (search) nuclear weapons adviser who led the search, told a news conference.
BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro (AP) - A Belgrade court on Friday found a former Serb paramilitary guilty of a 1999 massacre in Kosovo in a retrial that confirmed the original 20-year sentence handed down last year.
SEOUL - North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il said on Friday the communist country was willing to return to nuclear disarmament talks in July if the United States "recognises and respects" his country. North Korea "could rejoin six-party talks as early as July if the US recognizes and respects the country as a (dialogue) partner," Kim was quoted as saying by South Korean Unification Minister Chung Dong-Young.
The head of a UN probe into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri indicated yesterday his team would investigate Syrian officials who were in charge of security. "We will of course investigate everyone who was in one way or another responsible for security in Lebanon at the time of the crime," Detlev Mehlis told a news conference when asked if his team would be able to question Syrian officials and intelligence.
t will screw up the nameplate, but Ima working on it.
Saudis arrest 40 Pakistani Christians
EL-ARISH, Egypt (AP) - Egyptian security forces in the Sinai mountains clashed Friday with suspects in deadly attacks last year on Red Sea resorts. Security officials said a soldier and a fugitive were killed and four other soldiers were wounded. They said the slain fugitive was suspected of helping to plot the October attacks in the Red Sea resorts of Taba and Ras Shitan.
Dr 
American tanks and aircraft obliterated targets today in and around Karabila, a town close to the Syrian border, as about 1,000 marines swept into the area and began the third major offensive over the last two months in Iraq's western desert frontier, military officials said. Karabila, like other towns along the meandering reaches of the Euphrates River in the desert of western Anbar Province, is suspected of being a link in insurgent supply and infiltration routes, the Iraqi equivalent of the Ho Chi Minh Trail. 
