Tehran, Iran, Jul. 12 Four men were hanged in public in the south-eastern city of Zabol, Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province, on Wednesday, the official news agency IRNA reported. The four were identified as Mehdi Zori, Houshang Kiani, Jamaloddin Jamali, and Abdol-Rahman Safar-Zehi were accused of instigating trouble and drug-related offences.
Iranian authorities routinely execute dissidents on the bogus charge of drug smuggling.
Any charge will do ...
Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province is home to Baluchis, a predominantly Sunni Muslim ethnic minority. Iran has witnessed escalating unrest since 2006 in areas populated by Baluchis, who complain of discriminatory and repressive policies by the theocratic regime. In recent months, Iranian authorities have stepped up executions in the restive province in what many Baluchis believe is a response to a spate of attacks by dissidents on government and security officials.
A Baluchi group opposed to the government of Iran calling itself Jondollah has claimed responsibility for a string of armed attacks on government officials including an ambush in March on a government convoy, which left twenty-two security and provincial officials dead and at least seven, including the governor of the city of Zahedan, critically wounded.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2006
23:53 ||
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AUSTRALIA must intervene to stop Israel's war against Lebanon and the Palestinians, a Middle Eastern community leader said.
Israeli warplanes yesterday struck the runways of Beirut international airport in the city's Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs, forcing its closure, after Hezbollah guerrillas kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight.
Islamic Friendship Association of Australia Keysar Trad said Australia had a moral obligation to intervene to stop the war against Lebanon and the Palestinian people.
"Australian Muslims, along with the wider community, are greatly disturbed at this escalation and call upon the Australian government to intervene to stop any further acts of war," Mr Trad said in a statement.
"With half a million Lebanese Australians, Australia has a moral obligation to intervene to stop this war."
Several Australians were last night believed to be stranded at Beirut airport as Israeli military forces pounded the Lebanese capital and blockaded the country.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) was trying to contact a group that ABC radio reported had been trapped at the airport when it came under attack.
The Australian embassy in Beirut was also closed as the security situation in the Middle East took a turn for the worse.
DFAT has upgraded its travel warnings, advising Australians against travelling to Lebanon and urging those already there to seek shelter in secure locations and to monitor media reports.
THE latest events in the Middle East are happening because of a Hezbollah incursions, not because of Israeli violations, Prime Minister John Howard said.
Mr Howard said today he was appalled at the loss of life on both sides of the latest conflict but such incidents were fated to continue unless there were some basic understandings.
Israel has blockaded Lebanese ports and struck Beirut airport and two military airbases, expanding reprisals that have killed 53 civilians in Lebanon since Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers a day earlier.
Mr Howard took issue at whether the response to recent incidents was to condemn Israeli actions or not.
"This latest incident started because of the Hezbollah incursion into Israel against all of the resolutions of the United Nations, against all of the understandings now of international law," Mr Howard told ABC radio.
"Do I think it's appalling? Yes. Am I other than totally appalled at the loss of life on both sides? It is terrible.
"Like every other world leader, I would like it to stop.
"But you will never have any kind of lasting settlement in this part of the world until two things are accepted - there is an absolute acceptance of Israel's right to exist in peace and be free of terrorist attacks, and there's an absolute commitment to the emergence of a Palestinian state."
One dead in Katyusha barrage in Nahariya and Safed
Attack on Nahariya kills one; Rockets land inside Haifa for the first time.
IAF attacks Beirut-Damascus highway
Country's main artery closed; extent of damage unknown.
Analysis: Hoping the ripples reach Teheran
By HERB KEINON
On each front Israel is facing one of Iran's proxies - Hamas in the south; Hizbullah in the north.
Analysis: The predicament of the Lebanese government
By PAULA MARGULIES
Beirut must distance itself from the terrorist party, while maintaining its delicate national unity.
'IAF is ready for any operation'
Air force has struck dozens of homes used as cover for Katyusha launchers.
Goldwasser, Regev families await word
Kidnapped reservists Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev are both students.
#2
bombs can take out that electrical supply in 5...4...3...
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 23:06
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#3
Will Egypt supply water to Gaza? Fine. Let Egypt put up with free water to Gaza. And the electricity. And their little dog, too. There is no more Palestine Authority, so no more Oslo Agreement. No more utilities. Israel finishes the fence. Seals the Gaza/Israel border crossings and the Paleos can contemplate their navels and fate.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/13/2006 23:15
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#4
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised overnight Thursday to repair all damages caused by IAF air strikes in Lebanon, Army Radio reported.
In other words: Go ahead and let them kick the $hit out of you. We'll kiss it and make it better after the bad man is gone. We gotta go now!
Pakistan must stop harbouring terrorists to be a true ally
THE seven blasts that ripped through Mumbai's commuter rail system during the Tuesday evening peak hour, killing at least 190 people and wounding countless others, were more than just the worst terrorist atrocity India has suffered in more than a decade. Beyond maiming and killing innocent civilians on the way home from work, the co-ordinated attacks were a dagger aimed at the heart of the world's largest democracy and one of the most open and rapidly growing states in the developing world. The financial hub of a Western-oriented democracy with especially close ties to the English-speaking world, Mumbai should be remembered along with London, Madrid, New York and Washington as a city that has been stricken by the nihilist madness that is 21st-century terrorism. Although no one has yet claimed responsibility, all indicators suggest the attacks were carried out by a Pakistan-based and al-Qa'ida linked group such as Lashkar-e-Taiba (or Army of the Faithful), possibly in conjunction with the local Student Islamic Movement of India. India is home to the world's second-largest Muslim population after Indonesia, and this minority group harbours a series of grievances that range from perceptions of discrimination to anger over India's sovereignty over the northern provinces of Jammu and Kashmir. But regional events may have provided the trigger to the attacks. While the country already has a handful of paramilitary police stationed in Afghanistan, the Government of Manmohan Singh is debating sending troops to that country under the banner of NATO. This possibility infuriates Pakistanis, who are loath to see Indian troops stationed on both its eastern and western fronts. And the prospect of Hindu Indian soldiers fighting fundamentalist Taliban insurgents is anathema to radical Muslims. SIMI and other associated Islamic radicals have carried out a series of attacks in India over the past decade, including last year's bombings in New Delhi, which killed 60 people.
Assuming that Lashkar-e-Taiba or one of its affiliates were responsible, yesterday's bombings highlight the two-faced nature of the Pakistani regime and its relations with the West, particularly Washington. While on the one hand, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf has been a valuable ally in the war on terror, his regime has all too often provided succour to Islamic terrorists. He has done little to smash local terrorist infrastructure such as training camps and madrassas. The Taliban is reasserting itself in Afghanistan now precisely because it was able to regroup in Pakistan. And Osama bin Laden is thought to still be hiding within Pakistan's borders. Yesterday's attacks make it all the more incumbent for the world community, and in particular the US, to take a much firmer line with Pakistan. Australia has a stake in this as well: Lashkar-e-Taiba has made repeated attempts to infiltrate this country and has close links with Southeast Asian jihadi groups. While the group has at its foundations grievances over Kashmir, from the mid-1990s it morphed into a more sinister organisation that sees itself as an arrowhead for al-Qa'ida's worldview determined to take the fight to non-believers wherever they might be including Australia. Australian-born Guantanamo Bay inmate David Hicks joined Lashkar-e-Taiba before taking up arms with the Taliban. Convicted would-be terrorist Faheem Khalid Lodhi is said to have acted as Lashkar-e-Taiba's "quartermaster" for foreign troops at its camps in the mountains of Pakistan, and a Sydney medical student currently faces charges of having trained with the group. And when French terror suspect Willie Brigitte came to Sydney in 2003 to meet Lodhi and activate a sleeper cell, it was allegedly at the behest of a Lashkar-e-Taiba official named Sajid.
As horrific as the scenes of carnage were, yesterday's bombings must not be allowed to derail India's progress as one of the most promising nations in the developing world. Although still desperately poor in many ways, India's economy is growing at 8.1 per cent annually the second-highest rate of any major economy and is home to a thriving middle class. India's vibrant and open political culture is a living rebuke to everyone who says democracy is incompatible with economic development. This fact punches an irreparable hole in the sneakily racist argument mounted by many progressives opposed to toppling Saddam Hussein, namely that democracy cannot take root in non-Western cultures. Economically, India boasts a vast entrepreneurial class that has forced the Government to embrace reform. Besides being "the world's back office" India is home to vast numbers of competitive private enterprises and a modern financial sector. John Howard rightly condemned the attacks as "an attack on the democratic way of life". And Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has pledged intelligence and forensic investigation resources to the Indian Government. This is a good start. But Australia can do more to come to India's aid. For too long, General Musharraf has been allowed to walk both sides of the street in the war on terror and to claim that essentially his country is in such a bad way that any improvement should result in Western reward. In the wake of the Mumbai outrage, that is no longer acceptable. Australia should bring diplomatic weight to bear on Pakistan, both directly and by encouraging the US to do likewise, to clean up its act and crack down on the likes of Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006
19:10 ||
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#4
A meaningless statement at the current level of conflict. Hezbollah is a popular movement of Shiites who live in Lebanon. As long as these people are still there, and can maintain what amounts to an enclave outside of the control of the Lebanese army, Hezbollah will continue to exist.
#5
Maybe ... but there's a big difference between people with feelings and an organized, funded and armed group with state sponsorship and an extensive infrastructure.
Taking out the infrastructure - the camps, the tunnels, the storage bunkers in Bekaa, and the leaders and a good part of the followers, will go a long way to dismantling the attacks on Israel from that particular group. And it serves as a warning to any other groups looking to step in.
Of course, the real issue is Iran for Hizb'allah and Syria for Hamas.
#7
notice how the syrian talking heads on the news shows are saying syria has nothing to do with this... before they explain how they want an exchange of prisoners! why do we deal with these people. treat a snake like a person you are going to get bit
and a moderator.....now that's embarrassing, eh, Rich? Oops? heh heh ...been there as well :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 22:15
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lotp wouldn've typed "Hizb'allah" to be accurate, rich dear. In one of her incarnations she teaches some of our future leaders, so she understands the importance of accuracy.
Iraqi parliament speaker: Jews finance acts of violence in Iraq
By The Associated Press
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's parliament speaker Thursday accused "Jews" of financing acts of violence in Iraq in order to discredit Islamists who control the parliament and government so they can install their "agents" in power.
-- snip --
"Some people say 'we saw you beheading, kidnappings and killing. In the end we even started kidnapping women who are our honor,"' al-Mashhadani said. "These acts are not the work of Iraqis. I am sure that he who does this is a Jew and the son of a Jew."
"I can tell you about these Jewish, Israelis and Zionists who are using Iraqi money and oil to frustrate the Islamic movement in Iraq and come with the agent and cheap project."
"No one deserves to rule Iraq other than Islamists," he said.
#1
This kind of thinking and speaking is common currency throughout the Arab and Muslim world. The only surprise is that a (possibly novice?) AP reporter wrote about it and sent it out into the great big world. Shoot, accusations of being a Jew or descended from Jews have been thrown about in recent Russian and Polish elections, and (if I remember correctly) in French and English elections as well. The rest of the world shrugs at things they consider Americans to be foolishly hypersensitive about.
Just after the Mumbai blasts, a call from Karachi to Dhaka said: "Mubarakan, mubarakan (congratulations)" a clear mission-accomplished message.
Around the same time, a call from PCO near Juhu, Mumbai, went to an anxious "mother" in Karachi.
The caller assured his mother that he was all right (salamat) but could not disclose his location and, saying he could not talk at length, hung up.
An intensive intelligence operation involving central agencies and Mumbai police is on, trawling telecom gateways in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata to track calls which contain "footprints" to Tuesdays serial blasts.
The gateways route calls to Pakistan and Bangladesh, the two places where the terror mastermind could be holed up. The task is daunting but crucial.
Its backbreaking and intensive work. But as communication had to be the key in such a meticulously terror operation, there were bound to be some tell-tale evidence use of codes for bombs that the perpetrators would have used.
Never a simple task, the job of investigators has been made even more difficult because the post-blast chaos at the train stations may well have destroyed precious forensic evidence and the mobile handsets of some of the terrorists who may have been able to alight from the trains on time.
As part of the cat-and mouse game, terrorists, said officials, have been getting wiser. No PCO is used twice. Masterminds always interface through Thruway sat phones, the ability to track which is limited to a few organisations.
Most police forces cannot track these hand-held sat phones, now common in West Asia, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Moreover, the calls are often routed through a third country in a variation of conferencing.
In Kathmandu, the police on Thursday confirmed arresting Pakistanis for dealing with RDX but the connection to the Mumbai blasts was not established.
"There could be some connection ... we are not certain at this point," an officer said. Investigations in Nepal have been joined by an Indian team comprising RAW, Delhi police Special Cell and IB officials.
The tip-off was from India. Two of those held have been identified as Aftab Moiuddin and Ghulam Hussain Cheema. RAW sources said there was, as yet, no definitive link between the Pakistanis and the blasts.
The men were arrested from Kathmandu hotels the same night the blasts took place. The local media had on Thursday reported that two persons were arrested from Hotel Everest and the others from a hotel near Thamel, Kathmandus tourist hub.
A senior police officer said two of the arrested were released after initial investigations, but the other two were still in custody.
Asked why they were taken into custody on the night of the blasts, another officer said anyone who hides and deals with explosives like RDX is considered a terrorist.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006
18:25 ||
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#1
n Kathmandu, the police on Thursday confirmed arresting Pakistanis for dealing with RDX but the connection to the Mumbai blasts was not established.
What interesting commerce these Pakistanis deal in.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 18:36
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#2
wotta surprise...I'm flummoxed
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 18:53
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#3
Dunno, Frank, I think my surprise meter's busted. Not because it didn't register, but because all the digits started flashing and smoke started coming out of the casing. Apparently it couldn't handle such a total lack of surprise.
'Course, the big question is how many of these calls -- and the call chains they started -- ended at the offices of the ISI.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/13/2006 21:08
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#4
nahhhh payphone down the street. "untraceable" according to the ISI
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 21:30
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Israeli aircraft struck the main highway linking Beirut to the Syrian capital Damascus early on Friday, a Lebanese security source said. It was not immediately clear how badly damaged the road was or if there were casualties.
Freebie from Stratfor, no link.
Middle East Crisis: Backgrounder
Israel lives with three realities: geographic, demographic and cultural. Geographically, it is at a permanent disadvantage, lacking strategic depth. It does enjoy the advantage of interior lines -- the ability to move forces rapidly from one front to another. Demographically, it is on the whole outnumbered, although it can achieve local superiority in numbers by choosing the time and place of war. Its greatest advantage is cultural. It has a far greater mastery of the technology and culture of war than its neighbors.
Two of the realities cannot be changed. Nothing can be done about geography or demography. Culture can be changed. It is not inherently the case that Israel will have a technological or operational advantage over its neighbors. The great inherent fear of Israel is that the Arabs will equal or surpass Israeli prowess culturally and therefore militarily. If that were to happen, then all three realities would turn against Israel and Israel might well be at risk.
That is why the capture of Israeli troops, first one in the south, then two in the north, has galvanized Israel. The kidnappings represent a level of Arab tactical prowess that previously was the Israeli domain. They also represent a level of tactical slackness on the Israeli side that was previously the Arab domain. These events hardly represent a fundamental shift in the balance of power. Nevertheless, for a country that depends on its cultural superiority, any tremor in this variable reverberates dramatically. Hamas and Hezbollah have struck the core Israeli nerve. Israel cannot ignore it.
Embedded in Israel's demographic problem is this: Israel has national security requirements that outstrip its manpower base. It can field a sufficient army, but its industrial base cannot supply all of the weapons needed to fight high-intensity conflicts. This means it is always dependent on an outside source for its industrial base and must align its policies with that source. At first this was the Soviets, then France and finally the United States. Israel broke with the Soviets and France when their political demands became too intense. It was after 1967 that it entered into a patron-client relationship with the United States. This relationship is its strength and its weakness. It gives the Israelis the systems they need for national security, but since U.S. and Israeli interests diverge, the relationship constrains Israel's range of action.
During the Cold War, the United States relied on Israel for a critical geopolitical function. The fundamental U.S. interest was Turkey, which controlled the Bosporus and kept the Soviet fleet under control in the Mediterranean. The emergence of Soviet influence in Syria and Iraq -- which was not driven by U.S. support for Israel since the United States did not provide all that much support compared to France -- threatened Turkey with attack from two directions, north and south. Turkey could not survive this. Israel drew Syrian attention away from Turkey by threatening Damascus and drawing forces and Soviet equipment away from the Turkish frontier. Israel helped secure Turkey and turned a Soviet investment into a dry hole.
Once Egypt signed a treaty with Israel and Sinai became a buffer zone, Israel became safe from a full peripheral war -- everyone attacking at the same time. Jordan was not going to launch an attack and Syria by itself could not strike. The danger to Israel became Palestinian operations inside of Israel and the occupied territories and the threat posed from Lebanon by the Syrian-sponsored group Hezbollah.
In 1982, Israel responded to this threat by invading Lebanon. It moved as far north as Beirut and the mountains east and northeast of it. Israel did not invade Beirut proper, since Israeli forces do not like urban warfare as it imposes too high a rate of attrition. But what the Israelis found was low-rate attrition. Throughout their occupation of Lebanon, they were constantly experiencing guerrilla attacks, particularly from Hezbollah.
Hezbollah has two patrons: Syria and Iran. The Syrians have used Hezbollah to pursue their political and business interests in Lebanon. Iran has used Hezbollah for business and ideological reasons. Business interests were the overlapping element. In the interest of business, it became important to Hezbollah, Syria and Iran that an accommodation be reached with Israel. Israel wanted to withdraw from Lebanon in order to end the constant low-level combat and losses.
Israel withdrew in 1988, having reached quiet understandings with Syria that Damascus would take responsibility for Hezbollah, in return for which Israel would not object to Syrian domination of Lebanon. Iran, deep in its war with Iraq, was not in a position to object if it had wanted to. Israel returned to its borders in the north, maintaining a security presence in the south of Lebanon that lasted for several years.
As Lebanon blossomed and Syria's hold on it loosened, Iran also began to increase its regional influence. Its hold on some elements of Hezbollah strengthened, and in recent months, Hezbollah -- aligning itself with Iranian Shiite ideology -- has become more aggressive. Iranian weapons were provided to Hezbollah, and tensions grew along the frontier. This culminated in the capture of two soldiers in the north and the current crisis.
It is difficult to overestimate the impact of the soldier kidnappings on the Israeli psyche. First, while the Israeli military is extremely highly trained, Israel is also a country with mass conscription. Having a soldier kidnapped by Arabs hits every family in the country. The older generation is shocked and outraged that members of the younger generation have been captured and worried that they allowed themselves to be captured; therefore, the younger generation needs to prove it too can defeat the Arabs. This is not a primary driver, but it is a dimension.
The more fundamental issue is this: Israel withdrew from Lebanon in order to escape low-intensity conflict. If Hezbollah is now going to impose low-intensity conflict on Israel's border, the rationale for withdrawal disappears. It is better for Israel to fight deep in Lebanon than inside Israel. If the rockets are going to fall in Israel proper, then moving into a forward posture has no cost to Israel.
From an international standpoint, the Israelis expect to be condemned. These international condemnations, however, are now having the opposite effect of what is intended. The Israeli view is that they will be condemned regardless of what they do. The differential between the condemnation of reprisal attacks and condemnation of a full invasion is not enough to deter more extreme action. If Israel is going to be attacked anyway, it might as well achieve its goals.
Moreover, an invasion of Hezbollah-held territory aligns Israel with the United States. U.S. intelligence has been extremely concerned about the growing activity of Hezbollah, and U.S. relations with Iran are not good. Lebanon is the center of gravity of Hezbollah, and the destruction of Hezbollah capabilities in Lebanon, particularly the command structure, would cripple Hezbollah operations globally in the near future. The United States would very much like to see that happen, but cannot do it itself. Moreover, an Israeli action would enrage the Islamic world, but it would also drive home the limits of Iranian power. Once again, Iran would have dropped Lebanon in the grease, and not been hurt itself. The lesson of Hezbollah would not be lost on the Iraqi Shia -- or so the Bush administration would hope.
Therefore, this is one Israeli action that benefits the United States, and thus helps the immediate situation as well as long-term geopolitical alignments. It realigns the United States and Israel. This also argues that any invasion must be devastating to Hezbollah. It must go deep. It must occupy temporarily. It must shatter Hezbollah.
At this point, the Israelis appear to be unrolling a war plan in this direction. They have blockaded the Lebanese coast. Israeli aircraft are attacking what air power there is in Lebanon, and have attacked Hezbollah and other key command-and-control infrastructure. It would follow that the Israelis will now concentrate on destroying Hezbollah -- and Lebanese -- communications capabilities and attacking munitions dumps, vehicle sites, rocket-storage areas and so forth.
Most important, Israel is calling up its reserves. This is never a symbolic gesture in Israel. All Israelis below middle age are in the reserves and mobilization is costly in every sense of the word. If the Israelis were planning a routine reprisal, they would not be mobilizing. But they are, which means they are planning to do substantially more than retributive airstrikes. The question is what their plan is.
Given the blockade and what appears to be the shape of the airstrikes, it seems to us at the moment the Israelis are planning to go fairly deep into Lebanon. The logical first step is a move to the Litani River in southern Lebanon. But given the missile attacks on Haifa, they will go farther, not only to attack launcher sites, but to get rid of weapons caches. This means a move deep into the Bekaa Valley, the seat of Hezbollah power and the location of plants and facilities. Such a penetration would leave Israeli forces' left flank open, so a move into Bekaa would likely be accompanied by attacks to the west. It would bring the Israelis close to Beirut again.
This leaves Israel's right flank exposed, and that exposure is to Syria. The Israeli doctrine is that leaving Syrian airpower intact while operating in Lebanon is dangerous. Therefore, Israel must at least be considering using its air force to attack Syrian facilities, unless it gets ironclad assurances the Syrians will not intervene in any way. Conversations are going on between Egypt and Syria, and we suspect this is the subject. But Israel would not necessarily object to the opportunity of eliminating Syrian air power as part of its operation, or if Syria chooses, going even further.
At the same time, Israel does not intend to get bogged down in Lebanon again. It will want to go in, wreak havoc, withdraw. That means it will go deeper and faster, and be more devastating, than if it were planning a long-term occupation. It will go in to liquidate Hezbollah and then leave. True, this is no final solution, but for the Israelis, there are no final solutions. Not an ideal choice of words, perhaps.
Israeli forces are already in Lebanon. Its special forces are inside identifying targets for airstrikes. We expect numerous air attacks over the next 48 hours, as well as reports of firefights in southern Lebanon. We also expect more rocket attacks on Israel.
It will take several days to mount a full invasion of Lebanon. We would not expect major operations before the weekend at the earliest. If the rocket attacks are taking place, however, Israel might send several brigades to the Litani River almost immediately in order to move the rockets out of range of Haifa. Therefore, we would expect a rapid operation in the next 24-48 hours followed by a larger force later.
At this point, the only thing that can prevent this would be a major intervention by Syria with real guarantees that it would restrain Hezbollah and indications such operations are under way. Syria is the key to a peaceful resolution. Syria must calculate the relative risks, and we expect them to be unwilling to act decisively.
Therefore:
1. Israel cannot tolerate an insurgency on its northern frontier; if there is one, it wants it farther north.
2. It cannot tolerate attacks on Haifa.
3. It cannot endure a crisis of confidence in its military
4. Hezbollah cannot back off of its engagement with Israel.
5. Syria can stop this, but the cost to it stopping it is higher than the cost of letting it go on.
It would appear Israel will invade Lebanon. The global response will be noisy. There will be no substantial international action against Israel. Beirut's tourism and transportation industry, as well as its financial sectors, are very much at risk.
Send questions or comments on this article to analysis@stratfor.com.
The Israeli air force has dropped leaflets above Beirut, Nabatiye and other areas in Lebanon calling on Lebanese civilians to stay away and evacuate areas that are considered Hizbullah strongholds.
"Following the continued Hizbullah terror acts the IDF is operating in Lebanon. For your safety, in order to prevent hurting civilians, you must not be present in areas where the Hizbullah is operating," said the leaflet. (Roee Nahmias)
#5
Hopefully Hiz-ebola won't be tempted to unearth any of the Wmd's possibly buried in the Bekaa Valley. That could get really nasty and tempt Israel to nuke the idiots. I shudder to think where things would go from there.
Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
07/13/2006 18:19
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#6
Good PR move. Clearly indicates that the IDF is at war with Hizbullah and not with Lebanon in general.
Hopefully indicates that IDF will be going after the Hiz strongholds in a *big* way. Isn't Saddam's WMD's supposed to be in some underground bunkers? (Oh but thats in Syria right?) And Israel has a bunch of bunker-busters.....
#7
More of a reader than a poster, but isn't the IDF running this campaign the way we (the US) should be running our campaign on the WOT. Warn, strike, rinse, repeat.
#8
kilowattkid - good comment - please feel free to continue - exactly so - warn the sheep "there's wolves hiding among them and the hunt's on. Stay at your own peril, cuz the hunt's on and shrapnel doesn't discriminate"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 21:38
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#9
Flyer says, "Duck"
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 21:53
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#10
"Lebanese in the south might wanna check into AFLAC as well"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 22:10
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x-CIA agent claims VP, Bush officials plotted to ruin her career
JULY 13--Claiming that Vice President Dick Cheney conspired with presidential adviser Karl Rove and other Bush administration officials to destroy her CIA career, Valerie Plame today filed a federal lawsuit over the leaking of her identity to reporters.
Plame and her husband Joseph Wilson allege that Cheney & Co. outed here as a CIA agent in retaliation for Wilson's criticism of the White House's rationale for invading Iraq, according to a U.S. District Court complaint (a copy of which you can find below). In addition to Cheney and Rove, the lawsuit names Cheney's former top aide, I Lewis "Scooter" Libby as a defendant.
Libby is currently under indictment for lying to a federal grand jury examining the circumstances of the Plame leak. In the federal complaint, which does not specify monetary damages, but seeks compensatory, exemplary, and punitive awards, Plame and Wilson charge that the defendants's actions have led them to "fear for their safety and for the safety of their children." (23 pages)
#2
I thought Novac already said he read that Wilsons wife was a CIA agent in Who's Who in America. Written by Wilson himself?! Wouldn't that kind of let the cat out of the bag?
#6
Both plame and Wilson (stupid wife and idiot husband)need to be hanged from the gates of the Washington Naval Yard, and left there. What a pair of under-the-covers trotskyites and worthless shills. They deserve no sympathy and no "relief". Perhaps we need to reactivate both of them and make them the Ambassador and Second Secretary to Somalia. That might be fitting.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2006 21:06
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#7
Oohhhh, discovery!!! They can ask Plame on the stand about who sent her hubby and when she lies, sock her a felony perjury conviction.
Never mind what happens on the stand. The document demands that will come LONG before the trial are gonna be amazing. Funding, communications -- it'll either all come out, or the Wilson team's going to be facing a pissed-off judge.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/13/2006 21:23
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#8
OP - nice subtlety :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 21:28
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#9
Assuming the judge isn't a Clintonian asshole...
LOS ANGELES - Red Buttons, the carrot-topped burlesque comedian who became a top star in early television and then in a dramatic role won the 1957 Oscar as supporting actor in "Sayonara," died Thursday. He was 87.Buttons died of vascular disease at his home in the Century City area of Los Angeles, publicist Warren Cowan said. He had been ill for some time, and was with family members when he died, Cowan said.
With his eager manner and rapid-fire wit, Buttons excelled in every phase of show business, from the Borscht Belt of the 1930s to celebrity roasts in the 1990s. His greatest achievement came with his "Sayonara" role as Sgt. Joe Kelly, the soldier in the post-World War II occupation forces in Japan whose romance with a Japanese woman (Myoshi Umeki, who also won an Academy Award) ends in tragedy.
Buttons' Academy Award led to other films, both dramas and comedies. They included "Imitation General," "The Big Circus," "Hatari!" "The Longest Day," "Up From the Beach," "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" "The Poseidon Adventure," "Gable and Lombard" and "Pete's Dragon."
So long, Red. We'll miss you
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006
16:47 ||
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#1
Played role of American paratrooper whose parachute was caught on St. Mary Eglise church steeple in the movie "The Longest Day."
As Lebanon's largest political party and most potent armed force, Hezbollah has long been described as a "state within a state" a Shiite Muslim minigovernment boasting close ties to Iran and Syria.
But Wednesday's move across the border to capture two Israeli soldiers went a step further: Hezbollah acted as the state itself, threatening to drag Lebanon into a war.
The country's elected government was still in meetings Wednesday, arguing over what to say in public, when Hezbollah chief Sheik Hassan Nasrallah went before television cameras with a pointed threat for the ruling elite.
Running like bunny rabbits they are
"Today is a time for solidarity and cooperation, and we can have discussions later. I warn you against committing any error. This is a national responsibility," the cleric said, looking every inch the head of state.
More at link
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006
16:20 ||
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#1
"This is a national responsibility," the cleric said, looking every inch the head of state.
If I can indulge in a fantasy for a minute:
Nasrallah, he's a dead man! Meshaal, dead! Haniyah, dead!
#3
Looks like Iran has decided to offer up Lebanon as a sacrifical goat to Baby Assad. If so, then as many have said earlier...all roads do lead to Damscus. Better now then when Iran goes nuclear. The mullahs may have done us all a favor.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/13/2006 16:44
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#4
The Hezbollah part of Lebanon should be mapped by now. No reason in the world for Israel to not change the political balance of the country by carpet bombing those Shiite areas.
#5
Yea, but next worry, mullahs unlease that puke Sadu in Iraq, and we really got a big, ole mess.
From Andrew Cochran at counterterrorismblog.org today:
I was a lunch with the Israeli Ambassador to the US when he announced that a Hezbollah rocket hit Haifa - the gasp from the crowd was an audible recognition of the major escalation that the attack represents, in part because it wasn't clear beforehand whether the rockets had sufficient range. I would draw a parallel to the 1914 Sarajevo shooting of Archduke Ferdinand, which ultimately led to World War I.
#9
Iran doesn't have much by way of oil refineries. That's why they import much of their gasoline. They have lots and lots of crude, though. Not real advanced, but it mostly pays the bills.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
07/13/2006 22:14
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#10
All the Israelis need to do is send over a sub with a team to take out a couple of refineries. On the way out, drop a gasoline tanker coming into an Iranian port, and that's the last delivery they'd see for a long time.
#11
Kharg Island exports 50% of Iran's oil. There is little there but oil storage tanks, a runway that may or may not be long enough for a Piper Cub, several loading terminals, and sand. If Israel really wants to put a hurt on Iran, hit that island, hard. Leave nothing but twisted pipelines and burning storage tanks. It would also be pretty easy, except for the necessity of several aerial refuelings: fly down the Red Sea at 50 feet, cross Saudi Arabia through the Empty Quarter, and hook up back into Kharg Island, then across the Saudi-Iraq border back to Israel. The last lap will require US air cover, but it would be worth it. Iran would go bankrupt in about three months.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2006 22:45
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#12
Capsu78 - that's pretty damn good - I might steal that :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 22:47
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#13
ixnay on the lanpay, OP
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 22:49
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Wonderful. This does not help Israel. let IDF do their jobs! You've got to suspect these guys want all-out violence as much as Ahmahdinajad, Hamas and Hizb'allah.
Gilad Shalhevet Brigades organization claims it kidnapped two Palestinians, residents of the Jerusalem area. Group says hostages will be released only in exchange for Israeli soldiers abducted in Gaza, Lebanon
Efrat Weiss
An extremist organization called the Gilad Shalhevet Brigades claimed it kidnapped two Palestinians, residents of the Jerusalem area. In a statement issued by the groups it was said that the hostages will be released only in exchange for the Israeli soldiers abducted in Gaza and Lebanon.
Jerusalem District Police said they are looking into the groups claim.
Thursday afternoon the Ynet news desk received a statement reading: For your information, a few minutes ago we kidnapped two Palestinian workers in the Jerusalem area. The two are being held in a hidden location and we will conduct negotiation for their release through the media.
We demand the immediate release of the kidnapped (Israeli) soldiers; if they will not be released within the next 48 hours, the lives of the Palestinians will be in danger.
The announcement has not been confirmed as of yet.
The Shalhevet Gilad Brigades is an extremist organization that has claimed responsibility for past shooting attacks in which Palestinians were murdered in the territories, but until now no proof has surfaced linking the group to the actual incidents, and no arrests have been made.
#2
The problem with this approach is that the Paleos and their fellow travelers don't give a sh*t about other Paleos. I imagine their collective response will be: So?
#3
They will eventually be caught by the israeli security forces and sentenced for that, after having achieved nothing, except making Israel loses a few more points in the PR war, by justifying the moral equivalence theory.
#4
Hamas want's to trade Gilad for bloodthirsty murderers, not honest workers. There isn't any work in the Palestinian Terr. anyway, what the hell would they do with more workers.
#6
Oh, shit. I think Wretchard used to talk about this. I think this is the second of the Three Conjectures. Does that mean that the third has now expired? In which case, we're all up the creek.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/13/2006 16:59
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Conjecture 1: Terrorism has lowered the nuclear threshold
It used to be that just having the nuclear capabiliy to destroy the US was not enough, the Soviet Union had to have the intent to do so as well. They did not have that intent for many reasons, one of which was they were rational actors and were fully aware of MAD. With Islamists, the intention is definitely there, they just don't have the capability, which leads onto...
Conjecture 2: Attaining WMDs will destroy Islam
If Islamists gain reliable and plentiful supplies of weapons, they will use them, and there will be a response.
President Bush's West Point address in 2002 contained deterrence -- the promise of massive retaliation against nations -- means nothing against shadowy terrorist networks with no nation or citizens to defend.
Wretchard's logic is that because there is no one to negotiate with (or even to surrender to), 'tit-for-tat' nuclear strikes will not stop the carnage, so the West (or Russia or China) decides that with the first nuclear attack that the rational response is all-out massive retaliation, and the Islamic world just ceases to be.
Something else Wretchard says; Even if Islam killed every non-Muslim on earth they would almost certainly continue to kill each other with their new-found weaponry. We have seen several years of Shia and Sunni killing each other in every vaster numbers (and today I found out that the Druze are thought of as heretics by both Shia and Sunni).
Conjecture 3: The War on Terror is the 'Golden Hour' -- the final chance
The third conjecture is simply that the survival of the Islamic world depends on the success of the War on Terror.
Whether you agree with all Wretchard's conclusions, there is a horrible inevitability with how these events are unfolding...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/13/2006 17:32
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#9
Darn, where is the 12th imam when you need him? Oh, he is hiding in the well reading a note from the mullas asking him to save their ass. Or was that Osama?
#10
I think this will be seen as a PR victory if Israel can nab these guys and return the hostages unharmed. The contrast in handling will be undeniable.
#11
Well I think it's worth noting that the Jewish extremists are criminals, the Palestinian and Lebanese abductors are agents of their respective governments.
#12
I think #7 may be a speck of moonbat droppings left by someone out to discredit the 'burg.
Newsflash, hotshot- the problem most people around here have with Palestinians is their degenerate political culture which glorifies random pointless violence for its own sake. No way is this sort of stupidity going to get applause because its directed the other way. I think we know better than to sink to such a level.
I just wouldn't want a casual observer to get the wrong idea. The point is to get the other guy to fix his moral compass, not to bust up your own.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
07/13/2006 22:27
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The CIA officer whose identity was leaked to reporters sued Vice President Dick Cheney, his former top aide and presidential adviser Karl Rove on Thursday, accusing them and other White House officials of conspiring to destroy her career. In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court, Valerie Plame and her husband, Joseph Wilson, a former U.S. ambassador, accused Cheney, Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby of revealing Plame's CIA identity in seeking revenge against Wilson for criticizing the Bush administration's motives in Iraq.
Several news organizations wrote about Plame after syndicated columnist Robert Novak named her in a column on July 14, 2003. Novak's column appeared eight days after Wilson alleged in an opinion piece in The New York Times that the administration had twisted prewar intelligence on Iraq to justify going to war.
The CIA had sent Wilson to Niger in early 2002 to determine whether there was any truth to reports that Saddam Hussein's government had tried to buy yellowcake uranium from Niger to make a nuclear weapon. Wilson discounted the reports, but the allegation nevertheless wound up in President Bush's 2003 State of the Union address.
Wilson was proven a lier by the 9-11 Commission
The lawsuit accuses Cheney, Libby, Rove and 10 unnamed administration officials or political operatives of putting the Wilsons and their children's lives at risk by exposing Plame. "This lawsuit concerns the intentional and malicious exposure by senior officials of the federal government of ... (Plame), whose job it was to gather intelligence to make the nation safer and who risked her life for her country," the Wilsons' lawyers said in the lawsuit.
Sounds serious. Now prove it
Libby is the only administration official charged in connection with the leak investigation. He faces trial in January on perjury and obstruction-of-justice charges, accused of lying to FBI agents and a federal grand jury about when he learned Plame's identity and what he subsequently told reporters. Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald told Rove's lawyer last month that he had decided not to seek criminal charges against Rove.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/13/2006
16:10 ||
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#1
Ooooo, a civil suit!
Guess Val has never heard of discovery.
Pass the popcorn. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/13/2006 16:22
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#2
Suing the very rich when you are not one of them is very, very stupid. Doing it when you are the cause of your own troubles more so.
#4
Mrs. and Mr. Plame simply don't recognize the trouble they're courting. In addition to discovery, there's all sorts of interrrogatories and motions that will compel them to release all sorts of information that they would just as soon not want out there.
And the depositions themselves will be devestating. Joe Wilson is finally going to be put in a situation where he has to answer questions about his trip to Niger. He'll have to explain why he was right and the 9/11 Commission was wrong. Valerie Plame will have to explain what her status was at CIA.
Popcorn, goobers and snocaps!
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2006 16:45
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#5
See what happens when you drink too much koolaid! Now they actually believe the crap they have been throwing out there. But I can see where even if the suit is dismissed they will claim a moral victory and just in time for the 2006 elections.
#6
sorry about the above double post -- I searched on Phame in the headings. Anyway
From http://strata-sphere.com/blog/index.php/archives/879
strange coincidence that the Niger Forgeries were possibly made in the 1999-2000 timeframe (before Bush was even elected), which was also coincidental with the Iraqi trade commission trip to Niger, and Joe Wilsons first trip to Niger for the CIA. Joe Wilson had just left the US government and started JCWilson International Ventures, Inc - which specialized in trade with African countries.
All of this past history is gonna have some heavy stuff in it.. probably with more about the JCWilson Ventures. After all, that has to be part of his "knowledge" that made him so ideal for the trip.
#9
Since I had confidently predicted here a few weeks ago that the Wilsons wouldn't do this, I feel compelled to offer a couple of observations:
1- Bad move, guys.
2- It tell you a lot about how concerned the Wilsons are with national security that they would file a suit aginst the vice president of the United States right as the mideast stands on the brink of a precipice. It's all about them, you know.
3- In case anybody here didn't read as far as paragraph 71 of the complaint, that's the kicker paragraph. The Plames allege in paragraph 71 that the defendants "fraudulently concealed" part of the basis for the Wilsons' suit by lying to law enforcement authorities etc. So they're accusing the vice president of the United States of fraud. (Presumably that paragraph is in the suit to head off a contention by the defendants that the Plames waited too long to file the suit.) Paragraph 71 is pled "Upon information and belief" which in English means: "What we're about to say is a wild-ass guess."
4- Note that one of the lawyers whose names appears on the complaint is a Duke University professor. I'm shocked to see that the Wilsons would condone the actions of the Duke lacrosse team.
Posted by: Matt ||
07/13/2006 18:29
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#10
Thanks for plowing through the complaint, Matt.
I didn't have the patience for it.
They're idiots, but they don't have the money (that I'm aware of) to fund $100,000+ (probably more) for lawyer fees.
So who's paying? You know the lawyers ain't donating this.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/13/2006 19:21
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#11
Publicity Whores v3.0
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 22:51
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#12
Discovery is like pumping out a septic tank and putting the contents in the kiddies wading pool. There will be some baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad sh!t exposed to the light of day. You want discovery, you will get discovery! Let the games begin. Damn the CIA! Pass the popcorn, Barbara, no hoggin' the bowl, LOL!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/13/2006 23:00
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#13
"Notice me! Notice me!" Wilson screamed, stamping his tiny feet in impotent rage.
BOMBAY, India - Indian authorities named two suspects Thursday in this week's train bombings, an apparent breakthrough in the frenetic investigations into the well-coordinated attacks that killed at least 200 people. The government's Anti-Terror Squad released photos of young, lightly bearded men identified as Sayyad Zabiuddin and Zulfeqar Fayyaz, said Sunil Mane, an anti-terror official.
Officials did not provide their nationalities, and it wasn't clear where the photos head shots which appeared to have been taken for identification documents originated.
But officials said earlier Thursday that the prime suspect in Tuesday's bombings is Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group that operates in Kashmir, the Himalayan region at the center of the long-running India-Pakistan conflict. "Different indicators are there which hint at their involvement," said D.K. Shankaran, the top bureaucrat in Maharashtra state, where Bombay is the capital city. He refused to elaborate, but said seven teams of investigators were sifting through clues. "The probe into blasts is on track and we should have something substantial soon."
Lashkar has previously carried out near-simultaneous explosions in Indian cities, including a bombing in New Delhi in October that killed more than 60 people. Lashkar was also named in an attack on India's Parliament in 2001.
A spokesman for Lashkar, Abdullah Ghaznavi, has denied the group was involved in the serial train bombings across Bombay that left at least 200 people dead and more than 700 injured.
Also Thursday, a man claiming to represent al-Qaida reportedly said the terror network had set up a wing in Kashmir, where Muslim militants have been fighting for independence or union with overwhelmingly Muslim Pakistan. There was no way to immediately verify the statement, which if true would be the first time Osama bin Laden's network has claimed to have spread to Indian territory.
Kashmir's Current News Service reported that it received a telephone call from a man who identified himself as Abu al-Hadeed, an Arabic name. The man, however, spoke in Urdu, the language of most Muslims on the Indian subcontinent.
The news service, based in Srinagar, the summer capital of the Indian part of Kashmir, reported that the man said, "Today a unit of al-Qaida has been established in Jammu and Kashmir which shall henceforth be called al-Qaida Jammu and Kashmir." The man also praised the Bombay bombings. "Whosoever has carried out the attacks in Bombay we express our gratitude and happiness," the man reportedly said, and also appealed to Indian Muslims to take up the struggle against the Indian government.
The developments came after police conducted raids across this city of 16 million people and detained 350 people for questioning, most of them in Malwani, a northeastern suburb of Bombay, said police Inspector S. Goshal. He said none was formally arrested or charged, and they were rounded up only to help with the investigations.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006
16:06 ||
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Image released by Indian Police today of a man identified as Sayyad Zabiuddin. Indian authorities named two men as the first suspects in this week's train bombings
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 16:13
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UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The United States vetoed a UN draft resolution that would have called for an end to Israeli attacks and "disproportionate use of force" in the Gaza Strip as well as for the release of a kidnapped Israeli soldier. The Security Council resolution received 10 votes, one against from the United States with four abstentions, French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, the council president for July, announced.
Explaining his negative vote, US Ambassador John Bolton described the text as "unbalanced" and was "not only untimely but also outmoded" because of the attacks against Israel by Lebanese Hezbollah militants and UN chief Kof Annan's decision to send a crisis team to the region. He said adoption of the resolution would have exacerbated tensions in the region and would have undermined "our vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security."
The United States, Israel's staunchest ally, last used its veto in the Security Council in October 2004, to block a similar draft demanding that Israel end all military operations in northern Gaza and withdraw from the area. France, a permanent member of the council, voted in favor while Britain, Denmark, Slovakia and Peru abstained.
Earlier versions of the Qatari draft had already been rejected by Western members for being "unbalanced" because they did not mention the abduction of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian militants and repeated rocket firing into Israel.
The latest version calls on Israel to "halt its military operations and its disproportionate use of force that endanger the Palestinian civilian population and to withdraw its forces to their original positions outside the Gaza Strip."
It also calls for the "immediate and unconditional" release of the abducted Israel soldier and urges Israel to immediately and unconditionally release all detained Palestinian ministers.
The Palestinian Authority is meanwhile asked "to take immediate and sustained action to bring an end to violence, including the firing of rockets on Israeli territory."
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006
15:58 ||
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#1
Nice job, Regis.
Posted by: Scott R ||
07/13/2006 16:17
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#2
You get 16 of these resolutions before anybody does anything, and that anybody is us. Don'nt veto it, just let it go, and Israel can ignore it. All's that would happen would be next month the UN would say 'Oh yeah".
New Delhi - Investigators probing the 7/11 attacks in Mumbai are confident that they will be able to crack the bigger conspiracy after obtaining several crucial leads like the pencil timers recovered from three of the seven sites.
Investigators have rounded up over 150 people in Mumbai and prepared identikits of suspects based on eyewitness accounts of passengers behaving strangely before the explosions. They have also recovered timers hidden in pencils in at least three of the seven blast sites. The train bombings in Mumbai preceded by a series of blasts in Srinagar killed more than 200 people and injured over 700.
Both the strikes in Jammu and Kashmir and Mumbai subsequently have been coordinated. We have some pinpointed information of some modules leading to the bigger plot but it will be premature to disclose it at this juncture, highly-placed intelligence sources told IANS. However, we are confident that this conspiracy will be cracked shortly. An operation of this magnitude leaves behind certain footprints, said an investigator refusing to disclose the vital clues that had been obtained.
The meticulousness of the operation, the explosives used and the use of remote control devices has raised the possibility of the Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) being involved, perhaps in collaboration with local groups. Despite the LeTs stout denial, security agencies believe that only this organisation has the wherewithal to organise such an attack because of its widespread network of fund managers who are able to organise money and explosives.
Just this year alone, police in Delhi were able to thwart several attempts to smuggle in arms and explosives. We have intercepts in the past to show where terror has been outsourced. This is a clever strategy to reveal that responsibility does not lie with one single organisation, said one investigator in Mumbai. According to investigators, the nature of the explosions in the trains suggest that over 50 kg of RDX would have been used for assembling the bombs.
Though the needle of suspicion points to the LeT, the several investigating teams formed after the blasts are also looking at the possibility of the involvement of a cadre of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), being trained up outlawed outfits in Bangladesh. After the March 7 twin explosions in Varanasi, it was discovered that the militants who engineered the attack were reportedly trained by the Bangladesh-based Harkat-ul-Jijad-i-Islami (HUJI). Similarly, central security agencies established links between the mastermind of the Dec 28 attack on Bangalores Indian Institute of Science and the LeT. Three persons detained - two in Bangalore and one in Hyderabad - were found to have links with the Al-Hadees group based in Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia. The LeT has cells in both countries, said an intelligence official.
In fact, five months ago, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had prepared a position paper of the camps in Bangladesh and Saudi Arabia that were providing support to terror outfits operating in India.
Bangladesh provides the warm bodies and Saudi provides the cash and 'religious instructors'
Investigators confirmed that most of the bombs were placed in the overhead luggage racks in the first class compartments of the trains. This seemed to concur with reports from the citys hospitals that victims suffered head and chest injuries, probably caused by blasts above them. But without the aid of video surveillance footage, which helped the British police identify suspects after the 7/7 attacks in London last year, the job of the Mumbai police force and the intelligence agencies may not be that easy.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006
15:54 ||
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Iranian arab-parast president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned on Thursday that Tehran could halt UN inspections and quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in retaliation against mounting international pressure on the country.
The threat came the day after world powers referred the crisis over Iran's disputed nuclear drive back to the Security Council -- which could impose sanctions -- after Iran failed to respond to demands it suspend work that could lead to the production of nuclear weapons.
"Up to now the Iranian people have acted within the framework of the NPT and the IAEA," the president played his pathetic 'Theocratic Nationalism', in reference to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency.
"But if they reach the conclusion that Western countries do not have goodwill and sincerity... they (the Iranian people) will revise their policy," he said in comments carried by the website of Iranian state television.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006
15:40 ||
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#1
Love the cartoon of ahmadinejad
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 15:53
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Northrop Grumman has developed the Skyguard laser-based air defense system for U.S. government agencies and allies that require near-term defense against short-range ballistic missiles, short- and long-range rockets, artillery shells, mortars, unmanned aerial vehicles and cruise missiles. Skyguard is derived from the successful Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL) test bed and its predecessors developed by Northrop Grumman for the U.S. Army and the Israel Ministry of Defence. Benefiting from significant technological advancements, Skyguard has higher power than heritage systems and a larger beam, making it a much more capable system, the company said.
"We believe that no other weapon of any kind, or any system being developed today, can offer the kind of protection we've proven Skyguard can provide," said Alexis Livanos, president, Northrop Grumman Space Technology. "Skyguard offers the earliest possible implementation of an operational laser weapon system for defense against a wide range of threats."
Like earlier systems developed by Northrop Grumman, Skyguard is a multi-mission, soldier-operated, compact and transportable laser weapon system designed for field deployment and operations. A single Skyguard system can defend deployed forces, a large military installation, and/or a large civilian population or industrial area. One Skyguard system is capable of generating a protective shield of about 10 kilometers in diameter.
"The THEL Testbed has demonstrated unequivocally that lasers can engage and destroy rocket, artillery and mortar threats in flight," noted Mike McVey, vice president of Northrop Grumman's Directed Energy Systems business area. "This test bed has been remarkably successful. To date, it has shot down dozens of live threats, including long- and short-range rockets, mortars and artillery projectiles, in very realistic attack scenarios, and under simulated operational conditions such as surprise attacks and mixed threats."
In continuous use at the Army's White Sands Missile Range since it was developed between 1996 and 2000, the THEL Testbed has proven that laser weapons could be applied on the battlefield to protect troops on the ground. Like the THEL Testbed, Skyguard is a modular and flexible system that will support future spiral developments and can accommodate improved laser and beam control technologies as they become available.
As long as version 3 isn't named SkyNet, I'm happy
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006
15:17 ||
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#1
Will it work on racoons? I have a real problem with them getting on my roof at night (Wife will not let me shoot them).
#4
Brer Rabbit, get you a slingshot and some half-inch steel ball bearings. Once you get proficient enough, the raccoons will leave "of their own free will", and won't return. Just be careful of your neighbor's house.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2006 19:09
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The Army has slashed the rate at which young soldiers wash out, allowing it to keep more of the recruits it has struggled to find.
That's due largely to changes in how the Army treats enlistees. Gone are the days when trainees run 'til they drop. Soldiers who need counseling get extra attention, not a screaming drill sergeant.
The attrition rate within the soldier's first six months plummeted from 18.1% in May 2005 to today's rate of 7.6%. Last year the Army, which supplies most of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, missed its recruiting goal of 80,000 soldiers; it's on track to meet this year's goal, also 80,000.
It made sense to change basic training, because the Army relies more on technology skills than brute strength, said Michael O'Hanlon, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution. "If you're losing good people with those skills because of lack of physical prowess, that's not a good thing."
Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty, an Army spokesman at the Pentagon, said the approach began in 2003 and was re-emphasized in 2005, after the Army fell behind its recruiting goals. Soldiers who fail tests are often retrained instead of run out of the Army, he said.
"You'll get guys who have never run a mile," Hilferty said of some recruits. "Rather than throw them out, we said, 'Let's change the training so we don't injure them.' "
The Army's also made training more relevant to today's fight, said Harvey Perritt, a spokesman for the Army's Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Va. Young soldiers spend three weeks in the field compared with three days a few years ago. They get issued an M-16 rifle on their second day, not in the third week as in the past. And they carry it everywhere, from the chow hall to the bathroom.
James Martin, an expert on military culture at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania, said the changes make sense but stressed that the Army needs to guard against graduating substandard soldiers.
"Will you have people causing you problems later on?" Martin said. "That would occur if you lowered that standard at the end of training period." We used to joke about the Army "ugly man" program. In peacetime, the Army raises its standards far beyond physical fitness, eliminating many valuable individuals who would otherwise excel at their jobs. In wartime, however, they do not have the luxury of eliminating superior personnel just because they aren't perfect.
#3
James Martin, an expert on military culture at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania
No offence, lotp, tw, db, etc., but why the heck does a girl's school have an expert on military culture on its faculty? Do lot's of the ladies of the Main Line go ROTC?
#4
Martin is a clinical social worker who appears to have done a lot of study of military life issues WRT families and medical care, among other things. He's done a lot a work with DOD on aspects of military training, too.
And don't forget that Bryn Mawr shares classes with Haverford and other mainline schools with male students.
That said, the real surprise isn't that Bryn Mawr has a female student body, but that it's Main Line. ;-)
A retired Army Colonel, Jims military career includes a variety of clinical, research, and management (command), and senior policy assignments. He served three assignments in Europe, including an assignment at Headquarter, 7th Medical Command, and as the Commander of the U.S. Army Medical Research Unit-Europe, an overseas activity of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Jim was the senior social work officer in the Persian Gulf Theater of Operations during the first Gulf War and edited The Gulf War and Mental Health: A Comprehensive Guide (Praeger, 1996). He served in the Pentagon as the Executive Assistant to the Army Deputy Surgeon General for Medical Research and Development and as the medical liaison to the Armys Director of Science and Technology ...
#6
When the need is there, if you are breathing, can walk and talk, you're in. That's Ok for infantry, but for tanks and missile interception, there needs to be some level of cognizance to properly operate systems. Happily, often times those who may not be top rate physically are often more capable from the mental end.
#7
Looks like they may have "lowered" the physical requirements, but three weeks in the field and a rifle after three days -- sounds like they increased the mental/emotional requirements.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/13/2006 16:20
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#8
And don't forget the reason they may be less physically fit -- those video hands are paying off BIG in all the services. Their minds and their hands function extremely well together, better than their minds and feet maybe!
#9
I remember the Army "fat man" and "anti-smoker" programs. Fat man in particular eliminated dozens of guys I knew who were senior NCOs of high skill level. Several such fires crippled their units because they lost individuals who were gifted logicians, master mechanics, computer jocks back when that was a very rare thing, etc.
One fat NCO in particular had been given a high commendation for keeping a big chunk of Ft Lewis's supply system operational during a major training cycle. Then promptly discharged even though nobody else had a clue.
Within a year, he was pulling down $300k working for a major trucking company, and still fat. Not bad for an ex-E7 in the 1980s.
#12
logisticians. I remember the only one they were afraid to sacrifice to the goddess of P.C. was an NCO who had been a POW in Vietnam twice (escaped, recaptured). He was not only fat, but he was surly, and knew he could get away with damn near anything.
It also helped that he was very, very good at his job, and made it a habit to pull officer's ashes out of the fire by "having it done yesterday."
#13
I've always told my Marines that as long as they run a first class PFT I don't give a rat's ass how they look in uniform or how "fat" they are. Also, any senior SNCO or Officer w/half a cranial pulse can see someone's best effort versus sandbagging. OTOH, I've seen some guys who look like their in shape who are physically weak, much of which goes to lack of mental toughness or self discipline to do what it takes to get ahead. I'd rather have fat boys who can pack their gear then some thin-lanky guys who look good in uniform but can't hack it in the field.
I disagree w/this "coach" or let's not hurt their little feelings. This whole approach the Army is going to is not good but this has been long in coming, they are just now putting a name to it. My Dad (prior 101st LRRP, early to mid-60s) hates today's Army because of this type of *new & improved ideas*.
BTW - I reserve most of this rant for leg outfits. The Rangers/SF lads still seem to maintain the standards from what I've observed.
#14
Each generation of soldier is vastly different from the next, the training needs to flex. Today's troops are much smarter than the recruits of the 70's or 80's. They have a much better grasp of technology than we did. And yup, they need to get into shape and also learn to work outdoors and with weapons. But to say they are not as good as the last generation or as tough is just wrong. They are proving themselves as just as capable as any generation of soldiers ever produced in America.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/13/2006 21:41
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#15
One thing that really impresses me is the American military ethic. On one hand, they are capable of imagining the most horrific things, unlike their forefathers in WWII who were not as worldly. That is, soldiers today fully understand genocide, child slavery, torture and brutality in so many of its forms.
And yet, this knowledge has *not* made them evil or brutal. Knowing of monsters does not make you a monster. If anything, the soldiers of today have a keen eye and extraordinary self-control.
In WWII, faced with a murderous and treacherous enemy, the military responded with a fearsome brutality. But today, they somehow retain their equanimity, and never stoop to the level of their enemy.
It is as if they have transcended acting on hatred.
#16
Lowering standards makes sense in wartime, when the "adventure" component of joining the military goes off the charts. You gotta figure that since less people will be volunteering, thanks to the risk to life and limb, fewer candidates, fit or not, are available to fill vacant slots left by exiting personnel. Short of a draft, or a massive increase in starting salaries ($40,000 per year on top of free housing, food and tax bennies might do it)*, there's no way they're going to get enough highly-fit people to sign up during a time when the odds of getting killed or maimed are about 1 in 50. As long as the pay doesn't make up for the risk of death and the gruelling 12-hours-on, 12-hours-off, 7 days-a-week, can't fraternize with the local women (in Muslim countries), can't drink in-country (in Muslim countries) rules, there will always be a shortage of recruits that meet the military's exacting standards. Again, short of a draft, that is.
* Instead of the occasionally-quoted $30,000 number which already factors in the free housing, food and tax bennies. The real pre-tax dollars on this number amount to about $22,000 per year, which is way lower than the $40,000 number I put up.
MUNDY TWP. - Military funeral protesters from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., asked for special police protection for a recent planned visit. Now they're getting something they didn't ask for: a bill.
The controversial group - who say military deaths are God's retribution for the country's failure to condemn homosexuality - planned to demonstrate at the July 1 memorial service for fallen Marine Lance Cpl. Brandon Webb of Swartz Creek. But they didn't show up, and now they'll be charged more than $5,000 for the cost of providing security. Mundy Township's message: You don't show up, you pay up.
Police were ready for the notorious protesters - who demonstrate at military funerals across the country, hurling insults at mourners and spitting on American flags - at Webb's memorial service at Swartz Funeral Home. But the church members, who had told authorities they were coming in a letter dated June 28, never appeared.
Police Chief David Guigear said Westboro's failure to show broke a verbal contract with the township for security services. "They didn't even give me a courtesy call to say they weren't coming," he said. Westboro parishioner and attorney Shirley Phelps-Roper said group members bought airline tickets, but they were told by the Holy Ghost at the last minute to stay home.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006
13:41 ||
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#1
"group members bought airline tickets, but they were told by the Holy Ghost at the last minute to stay home."
-the Ghost must of knew they were in for a good ole mid-western style ass whippin'.
The IDF struck on Thursday the Beirut-Damascus road. The road served as the main access between Lebanon and Syria, along which people and weapons were transferred into Lebanon. Security officials said that contributed to the siege that the IDF was laying on Lebanon by air, sea and ground, Army Radio reported.
Earlier, Israeli warplanes blasted runways at the two main army air bases in eastern and northern Lebanon near Syria's border on Thursday, police said, attacks that could draw the Lebanese army into Israel's war with Hizbullah guerrillas. Israeli jets dropped two bombs on the runway at the Rayak air base in the eastern Beka'a Valley, damaging it, police said. There were no reports of casualties or damage to aircraft.
Being careful to hold down Lebanese military casualties, while ending a message
Rayak, 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Beirut and about 7 kilometers (4 miles) west of the Syrian border, is home to the country's main military air base and is the military headquarters in eastern Lebanon.
Planes later attacked the Qoleiat air base near the Syrian border in the north with four missiles, police said. The strikes on the country's two air bases virtually neutralize Lebanon's air force.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006
13:26 ||
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#1
Is it just me, or are these strikes slowly rolling towards Syria?
#5
Syria's got to be running their AD radars all over the place looking to see if Israel is going to hit them. The longer this goes on the better the target map Israel gets to draw up on the Syria AAD network.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
07/13/2006 14:02
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#6
I wonder if Syria has a variation of "Baghdad Bob" (whom I always I kinda liked!)
[scene]
Damascus Dave: "Our brave Syrian airforce has swept the Zionist pigs from the air."
[on cue Israeli jets streak overhead and destroy Assad's palace]
p.s. ALL TIME great video is Baghdad Bob saying "The Americans are not within 100 miles of Baghdad" as an M1 tank rolls by in the background! Priceless.
#11
ALL TIME great video is Baghdad Bob saying "The Americans are not within 100 miles of Baghdad" as an M1 tank rolls by in the background! Priceless.
I loved that moment...the tanks were chasing Iraqi troops down the riverbank if I recall correctly....priceless moment.
#13
The only way the video with the tank in the background could have been better would have been if a couple marines were in the shot waving at the camera doin' the Hi Mom! thing.
#14
This is a link to some of his famous quotes..and the photo is a screen grab from that scene...over his right shoulder and out of camera range.... are the American tanks..
#15
Is there a video of the US armored column cutting the main Baghdad-Basra highgway ?
Reports at the time mentioned amazed Iraqis getting out of their cars to watch the tank force heading to Baghdad. Iraqi radio was still claiming that no US forces were present in the country.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 15:31
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For the first time ever, a rocket launched from Lebanon landed in Haifa. The launch represented the farthest a rocket had ever reached into Israel.
Five Katyusha rockets struck an apartment building in Nahariya on Thursday evening. Fortunately, there were no people in the apartment at the time, but a cul-de-sac in the road below caught fire as shrapnel and debris hit a nearby electrical pole. Five people were reportedly wounded, Channel 2 reported.
At the same time another rocket hit the old city in Safed. Two women were killed in both Safed and Nahariya earlier in the day. Katyusha rockets landed in the northern Israeli towns of Karmiel, Hatzor, and Majd el-Kurum, as well as several other communities, throughout the north on Thursday afternoon.
At least 28 people were wounded in Majd el-Kurum - two moderately and seven from shrapnel. Others were lightly wounded and suffering from shock. At least 90 Israelis have been wounded since the onset of Operation Just Reward Wednesday afternoon. Residents of Safed, Rosh Pina Hatzor and Karmiel were ordered to enter bomb shelters and fortified rooms on Thursday afternoon, as other residents of the north were ordered to do earlier.
The calls came after Katyushas fell in Safed's immigration center, old marketplace, Safed College and the Amit Center. Some 21 Safed residents were wounded. At least two people were wounded at the immigration center. Two people were seriously wounded from shrapnel, while some were lightly wounded, and many more were in shock.
MDA teams were treating the wounded at the scene and evacuating in ambulances to the city's Ziv Hospital. Hospitals throughout the North were ordered to raise their readiness level to Level Three, the second highest possible. Medical teams were being ordered to remain at their posts in expectation of continued Katyusha strikes.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006
13:19 ||
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#1
Seems hezbollah wants war. Or should I say, iran and syria want war by proxy.
#10
crosspatch - She was on John Gibson's Big Story - a show I usually skip - it will probably be released by Fox as a video on the show's page, but today's show segments haven't been put up, yet - they're still showing links for yesterday's videos.
#11
The truly interesting part of the Haifa attack is that Hezbollah denied they were responsible, LOL. Think about that for a minute...
What it unintentionally reveals is the truth - they didn't fire the missile, the Iranians who accompanied the al-Fajer missile did, because the dumb gunnies of Hezb wouldn't know how.
You can bet that if the Hezb Lions (LOL) had done it, they'd be crowing, not denying.
I sure hope the interview with Harmon is the vid they choose to put up from today's show...
#12
You can also watch for a link confirming it at the MyWay aggregator page. Currently, all of the MSM outlets offered there are going out of their way to mention it, one quoting the Israelis that it is a major escalation, and say it was Hezb a rocket. One story even claims it was two rockets.
Believe me, I pray for many confirmation sources. It would blow the whole Iranian game wide open. I don't know if Harmon "goofed" by spilling this, which just might be the case when you think about it, but I have no doubt it will put the Donks on the defensive and blow away the farce that Iran isn't pulling all the strings. They deserve to be center-stage and for the US take them down - all the way to Hell.
#13
"Flight pattern and refueling from Diego Garcia to Qom, Tehran, Isfahan, et al, plotted?"
"plotted"
"weapons secure?"
"secure"
"this is for the '79 hostages and Beirut Marines"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 20:29
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#14
BTW, the al-Fajer (al-fajr) missiles are also referenced as "Katyusha rockets".
In early 2001 it was reported that Hizbullah had set up a belt of mobile multi-barreled rocket launchers and truck-mounted missiles along Israels northern flank ready to go off the moment Israel launched a large-scale military offensive against Lebanon. The Japanese-made Isuzo truck launchers carry Fajr-3 (Arabic for dawn-3) projectiles, a third generation of Katyusha rockets with a 60-kilometer range manufactured by Iran's air force industry.
#15
thanks flyover. It would be REAL nice to capture an IRG unit....
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 21:27
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#16
Now 2 confirmed dead (both women), 90 injured. Israel is not going to play games: they're going to put some serious hurt on those responsible. I'd love to see them capture a half-dozen Iranians, and send them back on the tops of nuke warheads.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2006 22:52
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(IHC News, 13 July 2006) The terrorist group, Hizbullah fired Katyusha rockets at Israel Thursday morning, hitting Jewish communities across the north. Initial reports said one woman was killed and at least 29 others wounded when a rocket slammed into a home in downtown Naharia.
We immediately understood we were hit by a Katyusha, the husband of City Council member, Elle Merkin-Spector said. The house trembled, and although the blinds were shut, windows shattered due to the shockwave. This is the first time we experienced a Katyusha so close to home. The most frightening part was the baby's unstoppable crying and the fear that another missile is expected to arrive following the first hit, he said.
Katyushas also hit Kfar Nasi, Kibbutz Mahanayim, Rosh Pina, Kibbutz Mishmar Hayarden, Gadot, Kfar Nasi, Beit Hillel, Kibbutz Mahanayim, Kibbutz Kabri, Mount Hermon, Netiv Haasarah, Mount Meron, Shlomi, Zar'it and Kibbutz Hagoshrim.
Also, for the first time several rockets were able to reach 20-25 kilometers south of the Lebanese border. Intelligence sources say the rockets are aimed at Haifa and may even have the ability to reach as far as Netanya.
Breaking news on DRUDGE, Haifa was just hit. Confirmed by Israeli press
Meanwhile, Israeli government Minister, Issac Herzog stressed that a new situation has arisen and the people of Israel need to know that we are going into a period that will require resilience. Hospitals have been put on alert and residents of the north have been ordered to stay close to home and enter shelters immediately after hearing a siren or explosion.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006
13:14 ||
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Israel has information that Hizbullah guerrillas who captured two Israeli soldiers are trying to transfer them to Iran, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said.
"Hot Potato, here, catch!"
Either that or, "Neener, neener, you can't get them."
Regev did not disclose the source of his information.
The IDF released the names of the two soldiers on Thursday. According to the IDF Spokesperson, the two reserve are Ehud Goldwasser, 31, from Nahariya, and Eldad Regev, 26, from Kiryat Motzkin. Hizbullah guerrillas, who are backed by Iran, seized the soldiers Wednesday in a cross-border raid.
OC Northern Command Lt.-Gen. Udi Adam said Thursday evening that the army has hit hundreds of targets in Lebanon since Wednesday night. Adam added that Israel has not ruled out sending ground forces into Lebanon. He told reporters that even Northern Command had come under Katyusha fire during the day. "I imagine over time that we will be able to rid ourselves of this threat entirely," he said.
Not a problem, boss. You want 'em bombed into oblivion today or tomorrow? If we have to leave a few houses standing, it might take another day or so.
Earlier in the day, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz confirmed Thursday that the soldiers who had been kidnapped by Hizbullah a day before were still alive. "We know the soldiers are alive and we hold the Lebanese government completey responsible," he said during a tour of the North. Israel was not at war with Lebanon but at a "high volume crisis," he added. He said that a new reality has been created on the northern border that started yesterday with the deaths of eight soldiers.
The focus of the operation in Lebanon would be to restore Israel's deterrent capability against those in Lebanon, referring to Hizbullah, who thought the IDF was irrelevant, he explained. "The goal is to create a new reality in the north," Halutz told reporters, "Such attacks will not be tolerated."
Advanced Cause/Effect - 201
Halutz said the north was well protected by shelters but he could not guarantee that Israeli civilians would not be harmed during the current campaign in Lebanon. He also revealed that OC Northern Command Maj.-Gen. Udi Adam had set up an investigative committee into Wednesday's kidnapping, which would be headed by a major general.
Iran's foreign ministry on Thursday denied any involvement in an alleged plan to transfer into Iran two Israeli soldiers who were captured by Lebanese Hezbollah militants. "We categorically deny" Israeli information on an alleged plan to transfer into Iran the two soldiers who were snatched on Wednesday, foreign ministry spokeman Hamid Reza Asefi said.
"We may be nuts, but we ain't that crazy"
Asefi was responding to a statement made hours earlier by the Israeli foreign ministry accusing the Shiite militia, which is backed by Iran and Syria, of aiming to move the soldiers into Iran. "Israel is locked in a crisis it has itself created," Asefi told AFP.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006
13:06 ||
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#1
If they end up in Iran it will be seen as an act of war as far as Isreal is concerned. Iran will have entered the fray nad will give Isreal the right to take out Iran. Or at least the nucs.
#2
This recalls a discussion I was having with a liberal about 2 years ago. He insisted that Hezballah was an indigenous Lebanese Shi'ite movement with no ties to Iran.
#4
Israel should immediately counter-kidnap several high ranking buddies of the Iranian president, and also several top mullahs from their mullah bloc.
They should deny any knowledge of the kidnappings, and even if their soldiers are released, don't release all of the Iranians.
If they hold them more than 72 hours, their intel guys should reprogram them.
#6
F**khead in Iran thought stirring shit all around Israel would be a great diversion and take heat off for his refusal to do anything. But , if he's stupid enough (I have great confidence in his judgement) to move these Israeli soldiers to Iran, this really opens the door wide for us. Who's to say whose munitions just fell out of the sky and blew the living shit out of Iran ? I would say it was merely an act by Allan, who was responding to extreme stupidity in conduct of war.
BALTIMORE - Former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani said he is "seriously considering" a run for president in 2008. But he reiterated, as he has in many campaign-style appearances, that he was focused on the 2006 midterm elections. He said he would continue to travel the country to gauge the breadth of his support and his ability to raise the money needed for a presidential bid.
"Eventually, when you make the decision, you have to go through a kind of soul-searching about how much you think you can bring to it," Giuliani said.
Giuliani and Maryland Gov. Robert Ehrlich hailed each other as fellow moderates Wednesday, and Giuliani said Ehrlich has provided the kind of leadership that states around the country need.
Speaking to reporters at a fundraiser for Ehrlich's re-election bid, Giuliani said he has been a longtime supporter of Ehrlich and admires his commitment to fiscal discipline.
"This is the kind of governor we need throughout the country," Giuliani said. "There are a lot of states that need this kind of leadership."
Without specifically addressing Giuliani's presidential ambitions, Ehrlich said the former mayor would be a very strong candidate if he were ever on the ballot in Maryland.
"Philosophically, his views are in the mainstream of where Maryland is," Ehrlich said. "Clearly, there's a lot of compatibility with my views on a variety of issues."
With supporters paying $4,000 a ticket, Wednesday's reception at a downtown Baltimore hotel collected at least $500,000 for Ehrlich's campaign. Donors posed for pictures with Giuliani and the governor.
The event capped a three-day fundraising blitz that also brought Giuliani to Ohio, Arkansas, Illinois and Pennsylvania.
He's following a path typically trod by potential candidates, who often campaign for their party's nominees or make appearances in states critical to a presidential bid. Pennsylvania, Illinois and Ohio are considered key battleground states in 2008.
In Maryland, where Democrats outnumber Republicans 2 to 1, Ehrlich is running what appears to be a tight race against Democrat Martin O'Malley, the popular mayor of Baltimore.
Ehrlich and Giuliani disputed a claim by O'Malley's campaign spokesman that they took different positions on Dubai's aborted bid to run six U.S. ports, including Baltimore's. Both said they thought the deal had the potential to make U.S. ports safer, but that it was handled the wrong way politically by the Bush administration.
Giuliani needled the mayor for bringing up the Dubai ports deal.
"I think that's been over for about six months now," Giuliani said, drawing laughter from the crowd. "I would think for the people of Maryland, what you can do about your schools, what you can do about the kind of crime that's in Baltimore, I would think that maybe a little more focus on that might help."
Giuliani is notable for breaking with GOP orthodoxy on many issues, including abortion rights and gay rights, both of which he supports. Ehrlich also has positioned himself as a moderate on such issues, bolstering his efforts to court Democrats much as Giuliani did in New York.
"You can't get elected in New York City nor in Maryland without doing that," said Bo Harmon, Ehrlich's campaign manager.
Giuliani acknowledged that in a presidential bid, he would have to rally supporters in states where voters have more conservative leanings. He believes, though, that he could have a broad appeal.
"Sure, there are divisions between red states and blue states, but Americans are more similar than they are different," Giuliani said.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/13/2006 14:37
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#2
Not sure Guiliani is gonna win over us social conservatives. He is a serious prospect, however.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 15:04
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#3
Who are the front-runners for the GOP in the 2008 election?
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/13/2006 15:06
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#4
Guiliani has to be considered a front-runner, if he opts to throw his hat in the ring.
Senators John McCain (boo) and George Allen, Governor Mitt Romney (Mass) are front-runners IMHO.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 15:13
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#5
I wonder what the Democrats would do if Condi ran as the veep? A black woman who has made her own way in the world without (as far as I know) calling up the politics of victimhood.
I think they would have a collective aneurism!
I've never been able to figure McCain - am I right in thinking he seems to sway from Republican to Democrat politics and back again?
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/13/2006 15:38
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#6
Tony, he sways like a guy who's had two too many drinks. He really doesn't have much political alliegence, even for an American. Whatever works best for him at the moment. That's why I would be surprised if the got the nomination. Republicans would rather a Dole than a McCain. The independent run with Lieberman or Zell Miller is his best bet.
#7
Thanks for that NS, it's nice to know that I haven't got it completely wrong!
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/13/2006 16:12
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#8
Tony-
For various domestic political reasons I will never vote for Giuliani, but I have to admit that if he runs he will probably win. The man is very sharp.
#9
SM- I'm afraid we won't have the convenience to focus on domestic issues in '08. If that's the case, I'd much rather Giuliani than McCain (a closet press-loving Donk and narcissist). Rudy would kick ass, tell the UN to f*&k off and join with Israel and India in taking down our enemies. He doesn't suffer fools and will not accept less than America's security
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 20:20
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#10
Damn Frank! Tell us how you feel! Like I said, would win by a landslide. My vote would go to him.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/13/2006 20:49
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#11
I'd take Giuliani over McCain. Though I need to learn more about Allen and Romney.
#12
I'm with BH6 on this one. A lot could happen in the next 2 years (heck a lot's happenin' in the next 2 days). Rudy gave Arafish the cold butt-cheek and I'd imagine he'd have even more to say to Hamas and Hezbollah, much less Iran and Syria. The next few weeks could very well swing voting the Repubs way a LOT in November too. What a ticket...Guiliani/Rice in '08.
Posted by: BA ||
07/13/2006 21:21
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#13
I'd still like to see Rudy stiffen up on social issues. We're not NY. Wearing a Yankee hat and pledging gay or illegal alien (a la the current mayor) rights will NOT win us over. Tell us what you'll do to protect America, get on teh hook re: domestic promises to preserve th ebase, and I'll go with Rudy. I'd still like to see some competition from Allen or others on the right to make Rudy commit to our isses domestically... or be a better candidate. I'm not sold on Rudy or Condi. I'd prefer Bolton
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 21:27
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Frank-
I've been reading your posts for years & have a great deal of respect for your views as well as your sense of humor. But unless Giuliani renounces his often repeated support for gun control he will not get my vote. He cant just skirt the issue either - he has to renounce his former actions. Which he wont. So if the Democrats run Bill Richardson or the former governor of Virginia (I cant remember his name off hand) then, under the circumstances, I will vote Democrat for the first time in my life. Ill wager that litterally millions of other Americans will do the same. Ive been down in the 2nd Amendment trenches for way, way to long to do otherwise.
Whats the point of saving America if in the end we cease to be Americans?
A police dog that was left in a pickup with the engine running apparently knocked the vehicle into gear and ran down a woman who was walking to her mailbox. Mary F. Stone, 41, was expected to remain hospitalized with a fractured pelvis and tailbone until at least Friday, said her husband, Paul Stone.
The dog, a German shepherd named Ranger, had been left in the truck while its handler responded to a domestic disturbance call Tuesday, police Lt. Loring Draper said. The truck's engine was on so Ranger would have air conditioning.
Draper said Ranger must have hit the shift on the steering column, putting the automatic transmission into gear. As the truck slowly rolled forward, police officers yelled to Stone, but she couldn't get out of the way in time, he said. A front and rear tire ran over her. "She had tire marks on her clothes," her husband said. The truck then went through the Stones' yard and struck a vehicle in the driveway.
Draper said police were trying to determine if there might have been some malfunction that would have allowed the gear shift to be moved easily.
#3
"...been some malfunction that would have allowed the gear shift to be moved..." Yeah there was, and it was when Barney left the truck running. He actually got off kind of lucky; could have had some yout steal it.
Burning question time: Did Ranger have a license????
#6
I'm sayin' the hound did this intentionally. I remember seeing a clip about a dog somewhere around Reno who could drive a Model T for over a mile. Looked crazy as hell, but he could even turn corners. So, prosecute this dog poste haste.
#8
A real classic happened some years ago in Tampa, some cops on a stakeout noticed an iguana behind the wheel of a car. When they caught up it seemed that the owner of the car realized he had too much to drink,so he let the iguana drive.Note the lizard didn't run anybody over, iguanas make good drivers, hic-up.
Posted by: bruce ||
07/13/2006 18:23
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and continuing a Rantburg tradition, may I present the 2006 Miss Universewebsite. Drop down menu on the left featuring pictures of the lovely ladies of the world. I recomend checking out Sri Lanka, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Germany, Iceland, Kazakstan, Latvia, Mexico, Namibia, Nigeria, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Slovak Republic, Thailand, Trinidad, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, and US Virgin Islands.
As always, the Rantburg staff is hard at work for your reading pleasure.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006
12:16 ||
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It's in LA this year? Was Nigeria all booked up?
#2
For a while they were holding it in the current titlist's hometown. Hence the Nigerian riots. The current Miss U is from that touchy powderkeg, Canada. Hmmm.
#7
That is the most bony bunch of broads I've seen in a long time. Most look like their hip bones are gonna punch through their skin. Thin is good, but damn, they look emaciated.
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/13/2006
12:14 ||
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Thanks, DanNY, this is a wonderful breakthrough.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 15:09
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#2
And pray tell what Islamic country developed this wonderous device?... anyone? .... Bueller? Bueller?
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/13/2006 15:43
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#3
I actually posted it because besides its humanitarian aspects, it is one more harbinger of the world to come. Implants are the next frontier. Can you imagine the military uses?
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/13/2006 22:16
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There's a pretty complicated genesis to Hezbollah's jump into Israel's fight with Hamas in Gaza, but I think I agree in outline with Eyal Zisser's analysis in the Jerusalem Post.
Attacks against Israel, in particular kidnappings of Israelis that could lead to prisoner exchanges, boost Hizbullah's popularity in the Middle East, especially at a time that the militia group is under regional and international pressure to disarm, said Eyal Zisser of Tel Aviv University's Dayan Center.
But in the eyes of many groups, some within Lebanon, who call the group a "danger to stability," Wednesday's activities may just prove them right, Zisser said.
"It's good for their prestige," Zisser said, referring to Hizbullah. Based on previous incidents, the militia group was gambling that Israel's response to Wednesday's attack would be restrained, he said...
But a wide-scale outbreak of violence could backfire for the group, especially if Lebanese citizens feel Hizbullah is to blame.
"These operations reinforce [Nasrallah's] position. It's an matter of image," Zisser said. Nasrallah "is a gambler. He is hoping he will benefit from these actions."
Hizbullah gained much recognition in the Arab world in 2004 when it won the release of hundreds of prisoners from Israeli prisons in exchange for an Israeli businessman and the bodies of three IDF soldiers. It is also widely seen as responsible for Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon after an 18-year presence.
Zisser said that from Hizbullah's perspective, its actions Wednesday did not constitute an escalation, because it had both attempted and carried out similar operations in the past.
Hezbollah's under pressure within Leb due to Resolution 1559. They have to "prove" that they're protecting Leb against Israeli aggression. The way to do that's to keep the pot stirred on the border, get a little aggression going now and then, but to keep it at a level they can handle, thus enhancing their heroic Arab warrior image. As long as Hamas is kidnapping Israeli troops, Hassan figures he might as well join in the fun. The 2004 negotiations and exchange tell him that there's not going to be much of a penalty and it'll make Hezbollah look tough.
I don't think anyone's under any illusions that was a spontaneous decision by Hezbollah. Larijani arrived in Damascus the day before the kidnappings so he could be close at hand for the festivities. We can guess that Teheran has been pressuring Nasrallah even as Ahmadinejad's been howling for the destruction of Israel. Damascus needs a fight so Assad can "prove" that Leb needs Syrian occupation just to stave off civil war. Beirut's been steering a dangerously independent course since the Hariri assassination and the overt Syrian puppets within the country have been looking increasingly shabby.
Nasrallah and possibly the puppeteers in Teheran miscalculated the effect of the kidnappings. Certainly they mistimed them. Leb's getting a thorough thumping -- Beirut airport is under attack as of this morning, expensive and painfully reconstructed infrastructure's being reduced to rubble, and Hezb is blowing off hundreds of Katyushas. There are the usual noises in the International Community about Israeli "overreaction," but the Lebs are left with the distinct problem of an act of war having been committed by an organization that's part of the government but which they don't control.
Siniora's cabinet's stated that the government's not responsible, but the Leb ambassador to Washington said, stupidly, that the government stands behind The Resistance. Parties in Beirut are looking frantically to see which way to jump. Hassan's taken away all the middle ground: the government's either got to condone the actions and enter a state of war with Israel, thereby putting them firmly back in the Syrian/Iranian camp and on the road to another occupation and possibly civil war, or they've got to condemn the actions and shut down Hezbollah, which they aren't able to do.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006
12:02 ||
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#1
Michael Totten is based in Beirut. I hope he's ok, and I would be interested to read his thoughts, if he's able and willing to write.
#2
I would love a veteran Rantburger to explain to me why any of these goverments are "unable to shut down Hezbollah". What exactly is the civil war argument-that the populace supports Hezbollah? Is the basic idea that the populace of Lebanon would be resistant to outside help in drowning the rats? Are they being bribed to either support Hezbollah or else lose their lives? Or is the loss of charity services on the part of Hezbollah enough to keep them on that side?
#3
Hezbollah is swimming in arms and money funded by "charitable groups" and cobelligerent governments throughout the Arab world. I don't think any of the other factions in Lebanese society enjoy any such support from anyone.
Posted by: Phil ||
07/13/2006 13:26
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#4
Some other thoughts...
Hezbol has an active drug trade in several countries.
Resolution 1559 is not worth the paper its printed on if Syria and Iran continue to ignore it. Yet another toothless resolution.
The most prevalent political party today in Leb is Hezbollah.
Israeli's strategic protection requires moving through Leb to Damascus. All roads lead to Damascus and Teheran, the rest is just tactical.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 13:48
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#5
Oh, and despite President Bush's best hope, the Cedar Revolution of 2004 is null and void.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 13:50
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#6
insightful comments all. But I do question this thought, " but the Leb ambassador to Washington said, stupidly, that the government stands behind The Resistance.
I especially agree with Jules while acknowleging Phils comment. But it's time to stop rolling our eyes and pondering if this is all just political grandstanding when they are committing overt acts of war. I don't think so. The fact that they suddenly have better rockets is an indicator that the comment made by the ambassador wasn't stupid but telling. I think what he said was what it was. We are entering a major war. The fact that Arabs(TM) won't win doesn't mean that they aren't deluded into believing that they can.
#7
What if Iran meant Hizbollah to just continue the gradual increase in pressure on Israel? This may have been just a step towards triggering a crisis down the road (gaining the last few months needed for working nuclear weapons) and Israel refused to play by their book and has now jumped several steps ahead?
Iran is now (assuming this theory is correct) with letting Hizbollah get crushed and looking like wimps, or fighting Israel now without having things (nuclear weapons) ready.
The attempt to take these kidnapped men to Iran may be an on-the-fly rush job to slow this down and turn it into another "hostage crisis" in order to gain the time they were expecting. It seems dumb to even try, might make sense if it's an off the cuff ploy.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
07/13/2006 14:13
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#8
I know it would never happen, but Lebanon could invite outside forces, including Israel, to come in and get rid of Hezballah for them. Aside from the fact that it wouldn't be the muslim thing to do, why wouldn't they?
#9
Laurence - good point about the hostages to Iran seeing since Ahammadinjihad got his start in life by using that as his opening play in the Carter years. Like a card or chess player, it's clearly one of his favorite moves and it makes sense that he might believe it would work again.
Nobody is playing this time. This one is for keeps.
#10
I read today that the Israeli soldiers that were grabbed were actually Druze. If so what is that likely to do to the Druze population in Lebanon. Muslims will often back shit against the Jews, or even other Arab groups, that they would never tolerate against their own ethnic group.
#11
One point about the Druze angle #10 : most Shia and Sunnis do NOT consider Druze Muslims, but apostates that need beheading. The Druze believe that the Maahdi came in the 11th century as the Caliphe of Cairo, and they also incorporate reincarnation in their beliefs. Muslims killing Druzes has been almost as popular an activity as Muslim killing Jews, for the past several hundred years.
#12
Druze are notoriously "unaligned". They fight for whoever is in charge. If tomorrow Lebanon were in charge, they would fight for the Lebanese just as well. Probably a survival tendency!
#15
I think I came off as a bit snarky, like I had all the answers, but it was a genuinely posed question. I don't know the answer-I just love poking at every idea to see if it holds up.
Captain America, I didn't realize that was the extent of their political clout.
#16
2b, what Fred might have meant by 'stupidly' is that the rest of the Lebanese government was promulgating the position that the entry into Israel, attacks on IDF and capture of the Israeli soldiers was the work of a private group that has no government support.
By openly aligning his government with Hizb'allah, he gives credence to the Israeli position that the attack was an act of war by Lebanon on Israel, thereby justifying a full-up response.
#18
I'm curious about Gangea's and Jumblatt's position on this. I know Jumblatt is very anti-Syrian but Phalangist Christians were anti-Palestinian aka Sahbra and Shatilla but also were Pro-Syrian, I assume from the stability angle.
#20
Heh, didn't notice Fred wrote it, but I should have realized it was Fred or Strategy Page or someother clear headed thinker cause it made sense! Had I known it was Fred, I would have caught that lopt. But too many others (not rantburgers) think that it's all just poltical grandstanding that will go away in a day or two. Besides, it was stupid for the Ambassador to say that.
#21
The Israeli soldiers captured by Hizbollah were originally said to be Druze, but in a summary article further down this page they are named, and the names are Euro-Jewish. So much for that, although there are Druze and Beduins in the Israeli army -- volunteers, as they aren't drafted like the Jews.
About Lebanon, remember that the society fractures along religious (Muslim-various, Christian, Druze), tribal, class and political lines, and that pretty much all the factions are well armed and live in enclaves for mutual protection against the rest. Hizbollah controls the patch of territory along the Israeli border, are exceedingly well-armed, and like many other groups controls the drugs trade in its area. Presumably the Lebanese ambassador either belonged to a faction that does support Hizbollah's move, was projecting his own belief upon his nation, or hadn't caught up with events and was still parroting the United Ummah v. Israel line. Which is as much as I am capable of understanding the Byzantine maze the Lebanese have created for themselves.
#23
I remember that Lebanon had always (before the arrival of the Arafish during Black September)worked out horsetrading agremments for power sharing. Once things went to sh!t in Lebanon, the delicate balance was forever lost. Now the cancer that is Hizb'Allah is firmly entreched in Lebanon, and Syria has mucked about there, too, there is no stability.
We owe Hizb'Allah a goodly wack for killing 242 marines in Lebanon, if anyone else recalls.
Both the US and Israel got a big problem now because the dirty business of rooting out and killing off Hizb'Allah and the nasties in Syria was not done.
Therefore, it is my belief that Hizb'Allah, especially the leadership needs to be removed by whatever military means are appropriate. Also, Syria is due for some serious hurting. They have been actively supporting terrorism in Iraq, and in Israel, being a client of Iran.
The US and Isreal are perceived to be weak in the eyes of our enemies, and they are 100% right. We both have some catching up to do, or the terrorists will become further emboldened. If these enemies are not dealt with now, in the future, it will go nuclear and then we are talking about serious casualties.
Also, some things have to be quietly done to put the hurt on the MMs in Iran. And the financiers in Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/13/2006 17:38
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"The US and Israel are perceived to be weak in the eyes of our enemies, and they are 100% right. We both have some catching up to do, or the terrorists will become further emboldened."
Islamic terrorists aren't the only ones who'll become further emboldened: the whole world has been watching the sad, miserable show of cowardice our Left has been putting on for the last couple of years, and it wouldn't surprise me one bit if the Islamists, China, North Korea and even Russia have already concluded that all they have to do is bide their time until Bush leaves office, and they will then have a green light to proceed with their plans with complete impunity.
I see hard times ahead.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/13/2006 18:19
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#25
Cluster bombing will help eradicate the pests - the leafletting allows it since "innocents" will flee
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 19:02
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#26
Time to set up Druzistan in south Lebanon and southwest Syria.
#28
I've been wondering for a while why Jumblatt turned so Anti-Syrian. A first I thought it was just fear the Syrians were going to whack him, but there may be more to it. Perhaps he has been talking to the Israelis and there may be a deal leaving him in charge of south Lebanon = Druzistan.
#29
While Walid Jumblatt isn't exactly the kind of guy you want to meet in a dark alley, the BBC has called him the countrys [Lebanons] political weathervane. Jumblatt has always had a knack for changing allegiance at just the right moment - not that he has much choice. If he screws up the Druze will undoubtably get massacred by some faction or the other. There really arent that many Druze compared to nearly any other Middle Eastern ethnic group.
Anyhow, I like the smell of Druzistan in the morning. It smell like victory... for the West
Just last Friday, Iranian President Ahmadinejad warned that Israel's return to Gaza could lead to an "explosion" in the Islamic world that would target Israel and its supporters in the West. "They should not let things reach a point where an explosion occurs in the Islamic world," he said. "If an explosion occurs, then it won't be limited to geographical boundaries. It will also burn all those who created [Israel] over the past 60 years," he said, implicitly referring to America and other Western nations who support Israel.
Years from now, the kidnapping of Corporal Gilad Shalit will be regarded like the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand.
I believe I mentioned something like that yesterday
Against the backdrop of Kassam rocket fire on Israelis living within range of the Gaza Strip, it was the fate of Corporal Shalit that triggered the Israeli return to Gaza, which in turn brought the Hezbollah forces into the game.
Israel is fighting two Iranian proxies on two fronts. It may, or may not, open a third front against a third Iranian proxy, Syria. It is from the Syrian capital that Khaled Meshaal, the exiled leader of Hamas, has been laying down Palestinian Arab negotiating conditions. Why listen to Mr. Meshaal? Because the Hamas troops are loyal to him, rather than to their erstwhile leader, Prime Minister Ismail Haniyah, let alone the increasingly (as if that were possible) hapless Palestinian Arab leader, Mahmoud Abbas.
As one senior Palestinian Arab close to Mr. Abbas told me Mr. Meshaal believes that any resolution of this crisis, and of the wider crisis brought on by the surprising Hamas election win last January and the ensuing isolation of the Palestinian Authority from its European and American funding sources, must await the outcome of the discussions between Iran and the West over its nuclear enrichment program.
Perhaps a grand bargain is in the works, in which Tehran will forgo its nuclear weapons ambitions in exchange for Washington's recognition of its emergence as the new regional power. Every day, Iran grows more powerful; any deal should reflect Iran's growing importance. For example: forcing Israel to bargain for prisoner swaps, cutting the Israeli military advantage down to size, and scuttling both the possibility of unilateral disengagement in the West Bank (the preferred Israeli option) and renewed negotiations with weakened Palestinian Arab moderates (the option preferred by the Europeans).
Even more loyal to Tehran is the Hezbollah leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, whose forces yesterday kidnapped two more Israeli soldiers, opening up the second front. Sheik Nasrallah is warning Israelis that they must not think Lebanon is unprotected as it was in 1981 and 1982 when Israeli forces came pouring across the border to silence Palestinian Arab guns. Sheik Nasrallah's men are the recipients of tens of thousands of rockets longer range and presumably more deadly than their roughly engineered younger Kassam cousins that put central Israel in their range.
Each one of these players Hamas inside Gaza and in Damascus, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Assad dictatorship in Syria are chess pieces on the Iranian board. The pawn moves, drawing in the Israeli bishop; the Lebanese rook challenges; the Syrian queen is in reserve.
Just listen: A few weeks ago, the Swedish government announced that it would label Golan Heights wine as a product from "Israeli Occupied Syria."
The Swedes were oblivious to the little dance played out around a request by the United Nations that Syria demarcate its view of the 1967 border. Turtle Bay was aiming to push Syria to claim the Sheeba farms, a small tract held by Israel and claimed by Hezbollah for Lebanon. The United Nations recognizes Sheeba Farms as belonging to Syria; should Israel and Syria ever negotiate a peace treaty, it is clear the Security Council would expect Sheeba Farms to be returned to Syrian control.
The United Nations wanted Syria to assert its claim, in order to deny Hezbollah its basic raison d'etre "liberating" all Lebanese soil from "the Israeli occupation forces."
Passed in 2004, Security Council resolution 1559 requires the dismantling of all Lebanese militias and their replacement by a Lebanese state army. Thus far, this has been as successful as the requirement by the Quartet (America, the European Union, Russia, and the United Nations) that all independent Palestinian Arab terrorist groups and militias be disarmed.
Guess what? The Syrians refused. Just turned the United Nations down flat. Apparently Sweden is more passionate about asserting Syrian territorial rights than Syria itself.
The reason is simple: Iran does not want to deny Hezbollah the justification for maintaining its armed presence in southern Lebanon, along northern Israel, and Syria does Iran's bidding.
Ephraim Sneh, a former general and Labor Party leader who is the Israeli longest drawing attention to the approaching conflict with Iran, is saying that the current moment reminds him of the Spanish Civil War. The broader global forces are aligned; local actors are committed. It is a bloody test, a macabre dress rehearsal, for what lies over the horizon.
The war with Iran has begun.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006
11:54 ||
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#1
Well, so be it.
I'm sure when the chips are down we will do the right thing and side with Israel. Some journalists have been saying for about a year now the World War III has begun, the sooner we realize that the sooner we can start to win it.
I don't think the Israelis should have to endure daily rocket attacks, murder of their soldiers, and abduction of its citizens and soldiers to keep the peace. That is asking too much, arabs don't understand dimplomacy or reasoned discourse,they understand force and power. They seem to be understanding Israel's counter offer to the prisoner swap just fine, in fact they are getting a little worried that it isn't just going to blow over this time. When you got em on the ropes you don't let them go, you knock them on their ass.
#2
Finally, it's only taken 27 years for us to realize we are at war with Iran and Islam. Lets now get at it.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/13/2006 15:28
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This war will most likely become a ME regional conflict and could engulf Asian/Pac
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 15:28
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Could id a misnomer. Southern Thailand, the Philippines, Malay, Indonesia, Sabah, etc... are already swallowed up by this war.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/13/2006 15:46
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#5
I listened to Praeger (sp) yesterday, he had a missionary on, but I didn't catch the whole segment.
Missionary said after working w/them the missionaries are becoming more -- I'll choose the word "aware" because I can't remember exactly what term he used -- but in short - they're building churches.
#6
I believe that the article's main premise regards Cpl Shalit is absolutely right. That will be seen soon as a watershed moment in history. I am very sorry for Shalit - I'm certain his fate is sealed, but the animals on Israel's borders - and beyond - have jumped the shark and will now pay. All of them.
Despite the wimps and assholes and Tranzi morons in the Congress, when it comes to supporting Israel in conflict, the outcome is (still) never really in doubt. I'm sure it gives them a massive case of heartburn to do it, but even the Tranzi twits in Congress know they must support Israel - or get ripped to shreds in some future November.
Iran's backing of Hezbollah is transparent enough that the US Congress will soon be revisiting the resolutions to smack down Iran. The House version, which was a clear warrant for Bush to proceed against Iran to prevent them from acquiring nukes by all available means, will be resurrected and sent back to the joint committee. And this time, the Senate will have to get tough or feel the wrath of the voters who roundly support Israel. That 20% segment of Paleo-sympathetic morons won't provide enough cover.
Israel's actions (Go Olmert!) will tip the scales and Bush will get his warrant to prosecute Iran and, as their proxy puppet, Syria. I'll bet my next paycheck that a fat resupply list of military hardware and munitions is being worked on at this minute between the Israel MoD and the Pentagon.
With Hezbollah joining the conflict, the door has opened wide to allow, politically, the US to jump in. Thanks, fools. Funny how the asshats always manage to shoot first and think later. The Donks have to be going apeshit about now, wondering how they can triangulate this -- and realizing they can't. Scream and wail and gnash teeth, you fucking assholes.
I hate politics only slightly less than I hate IslamoNazis, the Klepto UN, and Tranzi Tools, but this will happen -- right after the G8 process completes, as "AT" said in another thread.
Gonna be an interesting summer. Bang the drum and saddle up. That very bumpy ride has, indeed, begun.
#7
Oh, I forgot to add that I think the UN "response", which will be a stream of anti-Israel screeching, all vetoed by the US (and, perhaps, others), will help a great deal in making it clear to the US public, that 80% of non-useful tools, that the UN is seriously and (I hope) irreparably broken. The expected Kofi Stupid Statements have already begun - implying both absurd moral equivalency BS and that Israel should not be allowed to defend itself or its people - and his big mouth will help seal the UN's fate.
Americans don't take kindly to kidnappers, no matter what they say to justify it. The end-time of the Middle East Muddle, a State Department Production: from the asinine Camp David games to the various Tranzi Accords and Road Maps, has come, IMO.
#8
Now on FoxNews is confirmation: Jane Harmon (and I'm no fan of hers) is confirming the missile (not a rocket) that hit Haifa was an Iranian al-Fajer missile and most likely fired by Iranians, not Hamas idjits. She says this seriously ups the ante and makes Iran directly culpable.
"This changes the situation considerably."
-Janeypoo
I agree. Thanks, Jane. Glad you spoke before consulting with your triangulators. Now go beat the living shit out of your party's assholes for us. Give Bush the warrant. Now.
#12
With this latest Iranian missle bit thrown in things are going to get really interesting now!
Yikes!
Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
07/13/2006 18:38
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As an aside, a Russian defector who used the name Suvarov, once wrote a very interesting piece on the invasion of Czechoslovakia. He said the Red Army was very puzzled about the invasion, because they had been expecting to invade Yugoslavia.
The Czechs had been one of Russia's best allies, and were always helpful and supportive; but the Yugoslavians, under Tito, were obnoxious, rebellious, and went out of their way to offend and irritate Russia.
So why invade Czechoslovakia?
Whereas the Czechs were loyal, they were liberal. They were allowing a free press and many other civil rights, and were even moving in the direction of democracy. But Yugoslavia was bitterly oppressive to its own people--a true authoritarian dictatorship.
And Russia's prerogatives at the time felt far more threatened by liberal democracy and civil rights. They could live with a brutal dictator who hated them.
Since I read this, I now ask the deeper question about war. What can we tolerate, and what behavior by another country is intolerable to us?
For example, the US invasions of Granada and Panama. They were not obvious at all to the typical American. Why should we invade some unimportant fly-specs?
So now look at the current situation. A big jump indeed from the simplicity of our reasons for Granada. And one that doesn't just apply to us, but to Israel as well.
Is Israel content, as in the past, to fight the proxies in the war, Hamas and Hezbollah? Are the actions serious enough to warrant an attack against Syria? Knowing that Iran has signed a mutual defense agreement with Syria?
If the US enters the fray, will it limit itself to Iran, or will it attack Syria? And what of other nations that wish to play? Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, NATO?
The question goes back to what is tolerable and what is intolerable? Things that may not be as easy to imagine as all that. Not just to us, but to Israel as well.
What if the Israeli soldiers are paraded around Tehran? Large missiles fired effectively at Israeli cities? Is it possible to know what the Israelis will grin and bear, and what will make them go berserker on the Arabs and/or the Iranians?
#14
SR-71 - Sorry Bro, my internet response has gone straight to shit. Make that MegaShit. I have some very choice words I'll withhold...
40K? A Wargamer or Music reference?
I was thinking literally - in the third dimension - and recalling some of those "colorful" and "unauthorized" patches from my youth, LOL. Not the 502nd mind you, as we don't need to put boots on the ground. We just need to stage some TOT waves on the 1500+ aimpoints that Gen McInerny has talked about. Sorry if this reply disappoints. :)
#15
Flyover - That works for me. It's time to inflict some real pain on the asshats. They think that our "decency" will restrain us indefinitely. However I see a hardening of attitudes here, even among the borderline moonbats.
My son and I play the wargame. Assault troops use that motto in the game.
#16
Ah, gotcha. If the Iranian IRG are proven to be behind the Haifa attacks, then you'll find more "entertainment" here, and long overdue it is, I think. If we only knew everything that Bush knows - and exactly who is telling him what... :)
#17
My son starts basic training at Ft Sill Sept 22nd - I hope this shit is finished soon, and in favor of our interests
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 21:32
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Moose,
Whose side will Russia, China and Pakistan take?
It is unfortunate the UN has become a laughing stock, because now is when it could earn its pay. But it will be worse than useless. Good thing there's a G8 coming up. However, I suspect nothing will stop the descent to war because it's what Ahmadinajihad & the MM want. I sure hope those Israelis don't show up in any videos.
#21
Nimble Spemble: What side will Russia, China and Pakistan take? What about Egypt? Will the Norks try to take advantage of the situation?
But that is the other side. Equally important is what Israel and the US will do. And why.
Who would have thought that kidnapping a single soldier would result in an invasion of Gaza, and of kidnapping two, of Lebanon. The US has lost many soldiers to enemies and not invaded or even attacked. But the Israelis have different prerogatives.
If they suspect their soldiers have been moved to Damascus, will they attack Syria?
Will the US let them fight Syria and not get involved, or will we only get involved if Iran joins the side of Syria?
And here's a good question: what about the West Bank? Are they going to try and open a third, or fourth, front against Israel?
#22
I would not be surprised if every body is getting a bit nervous.
I tend to see this as a test for Olmert. He flunked in Gaza. Hezb learned the lesson and pulled the same stuff in Lebanon and then he overreacted. Now we're getting into one of those punk fights where nobody will back down and somebody actually gets badly hurt. I think that's what Iran wants, though they may not like the timing. I think they want enough time to test a nuke before January 2009 so they can jerk the new pres around like this on day 1.
#23
Anonymoose, the US went to war against Greneda because Nicaragua had upped their support of Commie Rebels in El Salvador and was expecting a shipment of Hind helicopters. The US felt we had to draw a line to send a message to the Soviets and invading Nicaragua was not in the cards. That's the way I understood it. The rest was just propaganda and bullshit. Nicaraguan support for Commies in El Salvador slowed as a result.
The invasion of Panama was because Pinapple head declared war on us and that happened so infrequently in those days we couldn't pass up the chance for a live fire training exercise.
#24
Years from now, the kidnapping of Corporal Gilad Shalit will be regarded like the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand
In this version, the role of the Hapsburgs will be played by the Alawites; the role of Germany will be played by Iran, soon to be renamed Persia, Lebanon will play the role of France as host of much of the actual carnage, and the allied US, British and Austrialian forces will reprise their roles as themselves.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
07/13/2006 22:40
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#25
Intel - first assignment after basic: Ft Huachaca, AZ
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 22:43
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#26
I'm not the only one, by far. Dave D has a son just returned. Pray he doesn't have to go back quickly...Let the Air Force earn thir pay from high altitude and accurate firepower. We don't want to occupy Syria, Iran, NK or Hizbollah-land. Just bomb them into the 7th century, as requested.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 22:46
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#27
I believe that the article's main premise regards Cpl Shalit is absolutely right. That will be seen soon as a watershed moment in history. I am very sorry for Shalit - I'm certain his fate is sealed, but the animals on Israel's borders - and beyond - have jumped the shark and will now pay. All of them.
I'm not so sure...
To many times we've seen political and "diplomatic" deals end what should have been decisive conflicts which would have ended the situation in just that - a decisive - manner.
Instead we get diplomacy and politics and end up with both sides growling at each other and nothing decided - and it just goes on and on and on without resolution.
We live in a world where decisive conflict resolution is really the only effective means of dealing with deviant/antisocial/psychopathic behavior, but we keep trying to be reasonable and civilized people and deal civilly with situations which would better off, in many cases, be dealt with through the calculated use of large amounts of high explosives and the unmeasured use of force.
But some bunch of damned fools will refuse to believe that this conflict can (and should) only be resolved by force of arms and will essentially force Israel and the terrorists and their sponsors to "come to the table" and talk things out.
...In recent years, powerful Muslims in Iran, Afghanistan and elsewhere have urged their Sharia courts to restore and enforce traditional penalties for crimes such as apostasy and "blasphemy against the prophet," said Anglican Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali of Rochester, who grew up in a primarily Shiite family in Pakistan.
The bottom line is that penalties other than death are viewed as repugnant to Islam. Judges have little room to maneuver and the whole world is watching.
"The question, of course, is whether in a world such as ours - which is increasingly interconnected - religions have to be accountable not only to themselves and their followers, but to others," said the bishop. "Questions of personal liberty, of life, cannot be left just to circles of believers."
Nevertheless, it may become harder for moderate Muslims and their allies to avoid these questions, even in the safety of the West. Earlier this year, an organization called "Supporters of God's Messenger" sent out an e-mail threatening to kill 30 or more "atheists," "polytheists" and Muslims who cooperate with "worshippers of the cross" and other believers.
Marshall noted that the message called people by name, including Muslims in America, and included information about their home addresses, their children's schools and times when their wives were alone at home.
"Appeasement of such groups will not work," he said. If Western leaders fail to take a stand, "violent Islamists will accept their victory and move on to demand the next part of their agenda - the silencing or death of those who reject or criticize their program, including, especially, Muslims ... If even Western democracies cannot provide the political space for Muslims to debate these critical questions concerning the meaning of Islam, then all hope of an Islamic reform movement will be lost."
#1
Well I guess they are just going to have to show some balls, aren't they? All they have to do is squeal them out and we'll take care of the bad boys anyway. At some point they are going to have to be big boys and flush the potty after they are done.
There are a lot of secular muslims in the west (including many in the US) who realize that the only hope they have for a good life is outside the land-of-submission and away from the religious authorities. However, almost none of them have made the logical jump and admitted to themselves that Islam is the problem.
#3
Exactly #2. There are no moderate Muslims. It's just like the Mafia, if you are "made" you're a life member. The length of your life depends on how you act. These "moderates" say nothing, but continue sending monies, supporting charities "for the children", observing prayers, observing Ramadan, never speaking out, on and on and on. Moderate? Bullshit. Just laying low until their numbers increase. Then they'll be very bellicose and demanding.
#2
Kimmie hears that, but first, his long-range missiles have to make it beyond the launchpad.
Does anyone have news on what happened to NORKY rocket scientists that designed Nork missile that failed? I image that in the spirit of Stalinism, these guys are breathing dirt. Just a theory.
#4
Albuquerque media showed the spectacular pics of contrails and glowing ionized material high in the skies over New Mexico early in the morning. I slept through it all, unfortunately.
#7
Patriot and THAAD are complimentary systems. According to Global Security, Patriot PAC-3 has a max altitude of 15km and a slant range of 15-45km. THAAD has a max altitude of 150km and a slant range of 200km. The THAAD defends a wide area, while the PAC-3 is more of a point defense system.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/13/2006 17:44
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See blog for updates on coverage.
The two soldiers who were kidnapped in Lebanon yesterday have been named by the IDF. Contrary to a post I linked yesterday, neither of them is Druze - they are both apparently Jewish. According to the IDF, the soldiers are Ehud Goldwasser, 31, from Nahariya, and Eldad Regev, 26, from Kiryat Motzkin. I guess you all know now where Nahariya is and I think I mentioned Kiryat Motzkin - just north of Haifa - yesterday as well.
Update 4:46 PM
Al-Jazeera reports that the soldiers were alive at the time of the kidnapping, according to a Hizbullah source.
They were moved to a nearby mosque immediately after the abduction, and were then forced to change clothes and were taken by taxi to another location. Btw, from I've read, 80's french hostages in Lebanon were mostly hidden in a network of mosques. Mosques = more than religious buildings like churches, but centers for the (male) muslim community to socialize and organize, including Jihad(Tm).
An extremist organization called the Gilad Shalhevet Brigades claimed it kidnapped two Palestinians, residents of the Jerusalem area. In a statement issued by the groups it was said that the hostages will be released only in exchange for the Israeli soldiers abducted in Gaza and Lebanon.
#4
CNN: "Israel also said it has information that the guerrillas who captured the soldiers are trying to transfer them to Iran, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said, according to The Associated Press."
I bet it tastes like shiite.
A chicken in a Kazakh village has laid an egg with the word "Allah" inscribed on its shell, state media reported Thursday. "Our mosque confirmed that it says 'Allah' in Arabic," Bites Amantayeva, a farmer from the village of Stepnoi in eastern Kazakhstan, told state news agency Kazinform. "We'll keep this egg and we don't think it'll go bad."
The news agency said the egg was laid just after a powerful hail storm hit the village.
Posted by: Tibor ||
07/13/2006
10:47 ||
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God is telling us to Fry 'Em Up.
Posted by: ed ||
07/13/2006 10:59
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Maybe they should hatch the egg and worship the chicken. Make him the leader of their country. Follow his every command and he will lead you to the worldwide caliphate!
...
US President George W. Bush blamed "terrorists who want to stop the advance of peace", while fellow UN Security Council members Russia and France condemned Israel's "disproportionate" use of force. Russia has some serious stones just opening one of their mouths to condemn ANYBODY for disproportionate force...
"Hezbollah doesn't want there to be peace, the militant arm of Hamas doesn't want there to be peace, and those of us who do want peace will continue to work together to encourage peace," Bush said.
Israeli war planes carried out at least 50 raids across Lebanon on Thursday, including on Beirut airport, a day after the killing of eight Israeli soldiers and the capture of two by Hezbollah guerrillas.
Bush, speaking on a visit to Germany, also urged Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to help pressure Hezbollah to release the Israeli soldiers, adding: "Syria needs to be held to account." Find a DEEP hole, Assad.
...
Russia, France, Britain and Italy criticised Israel for its "disproportionate" use of force.
Moscow, a member of the diplomatic quartet on Middle East peace, also warned against the region slipping back into war.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by the Interfax news agency as warning of a "very dramatic and tragic" outcome to the Middle East violence.
#2
I think so. And I'm all for the disproportionate use of force for Israel. They have had to take so much grief over the years it is time to dish it back out, with intrest.
Posted by: ed ||
07/13/2006 12:07
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#5
I would suggest that Israel start at the border and begin carpet bombing northward until Hezbollah says uncle or nobody is left (either is a positive outcome). This should work in Gaza as well.
#6
Israel has been putting up with this for far too long. They have been under siege for years, when they fight back the EUnicks piss themselves. End their ability to attack.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 14:23
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#8
It may be more dramatic and tragic than you expected. And F*khead in Iran will be on the receiving end. As for France, et al, who the hell gives a shit about your 2 cents worth ?
SRINAGAR, India (AP) -- A man claiming to represent al-Qaida in Kashmir said the terror network had set up a wing in Kashmir and appealed to Indian Muslims to take up jihad, an Indian news agency reported Thursday. An official said the government said it was taking the claim "very seriously." The man, who identified himself as Abu al-Hadeed, told Kashmir's Current News Service that "who so ever has carried out the attacks in Bombay we express our gratitude and happiness."
As word of the announcement spread, a senior intelligence official in Kashmir said the call had been placed from a local landline phone that authorities were trying to trace. "Our immediate effort is to locate the caller and ascertain the authenticity of the claim," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak with the media. "The government is taking it very seriously." It was impossible to independently verify the caller's identity and if he actually represents a new wing of al-Qaida.
There have been allegations that Islamic militants fighting to wrest predominantly Muslim Kashmir from India have ties to al-Qaida, but Thursday's statement is the first time Osama bin Laden's network has claimed to have spread to the Indian territory.
Must have just opened a office
"We appeal to Muslims in India to fight for freedom and Islam and choose jihad as their way to achieve freedom and establishing Islamic ways," al-Hadeed was quoted as saying. He added the Bombay bombings "are a reaction to what is happening to the minorities, especially Muslims in India."
Al-Hadeed identified the network's Kashmir leader as Abu Abdul Rehman al-Ansari. Both names are Arabic, not Urdu, the language spoken by most of Muslims in India and Pakistan. Current News said al-Hadeed spoke in Urdu. But he reportedly said: "Henceforth our statements will be in Arabic."
Cuz it's the Holy Language of the true leaders of islam. Everybody else are just tools to be used. It sounds arrogant enough to be al-Qaida
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006
09:54 ||
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#1
Check for flow of Saudi Riyals ... use SWIFT program, oops, I forgot, NYT blew that one up.
July 13, 2006: Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe, in response to the latest ominous missile rattling coming from "Dear Leader" Kim Jong-il of North Korea, outraged pacifists world-wide in July by declaring that its pre-emptive strikes on Kim's missile bases would be an act of self-defense. Notice how the last part of that sentence is worded...
While Abe appeared to be discussing such a pre-emption in theory rather than as a realistic response to the launch of ballistic missiles by North Korea into the Sea of Japan, his words were heard in every Asian nation. Abe's remarks were later diluted a bit after Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi told the press that Japan would "have to think carefully about whether we can really resort to arms before we are attacked because this is also a constitutional issue." But Y'all should consider the warning given.
On the 4th of July (not a coincidence), North Korea had another tantrum and fired seven ballistic missiles, including a Taepodong-2, a model may be able to reach Hawaii and even the west coast of the US. While the Taepodong appeared to have failed catastrophically less than a minute after launch, it did successfully deliver its message: Kim Jong-il is still mad as a hatter and may take as much of the world with him as he can when his dictatorship finally collapses.
Japan has a stronger military than it advertises. In May, 2003, it quietly launched the first or a series of spy satellites into orbit, the better to keep tabs on potential threats like North Korea. Ignoring North Korean threats of "disastrous consequences," Japan successfully launched a rocket carrying two military spy satellites, giving the island nation its own space-based intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) capability.
Tokyo is also accelerating development of missile defenses, building its commando forces, and working on creating an in-flight refueling capability for its fleet of F-15 aircraft, which would give them the ability to strike North Korea on a large scale.
There is even a suggestion from some in the Japanese government that the country should build nuclear weapons a call that may be heard more loudly now that North Korea is threatening to launch its own nukes at neighboring nations. A second set of satellites was subsequently launched. The four orbit at an average altitude of 500 kilometers, allowing Japan to photograph any part of the world at least once a day. The satellites carry optical- and radar-imaging capabilities, and it would be surprising if they did not also possess at least some electronic-intelligence capabilities.
The Japanese Maritime Self Defense Force has approximately 45,800 sailors, 146 warships, 179 airplanes, and 135 helicopters. Its fleet is divided into four flotillas, each around a 7,200-ton Kongo-class guided missile destroyer with AEGIS-capable surface to air missiles. The Kongos carry the SPY-1D AEGIS radar. The four Escort Flotillas have 2-3 air warfare ships and 5-6 anti-submarine destroyers, plus ASW helicopters. The JMSDF also fields twenty-three other guided missile destroyers, a number of gun-only destroyers and escorts, and 17 modern diesel-electric subs, perfectly suited for warfare in the Sea of Japan.
In possibly confronting North Korea, Japan's Air Self Defense Force has 46,000 airmen and force of over 330 combat aircraft, including F-15J/DJs, F-4E/EJs, F-2A/Bs, and F-1s. That Japan a nation traditionally and strictly limited to a defensive military since 1945 -- has so publicly declared its intention to "get buffed" and not be cowed by a rogue state is an interesting turn of events in an age of asymmetric warfare.
And take it from those who know... Japan can be very effective in preemption when it wants to be. They have probably learnt a few lessons in the past sixty years as well.
Right click on the picture, select properties and copy the address. Paste the adress in the address line of your browser and then increment the numbers pearlharbor_1 to 2, 3, 4... up to 17 to see the pictures.
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/13/2006 9:54
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#3
See what you done Kimmie? Ya pissed Japan off. You gotta be a real asshole to piss off a pacifist nation.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 14:39
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#7
That was a cool video - do they buy *all* their gear from the US? If I hadn't seen the red circle of Japan on the fighters I would have sworn it was a US promo vid!
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/13/2006 15:05
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#8
Not simply 'buy', Tony. The F-15J has japanese avionics and some other systems of their own design, or at least did when I was in the defense business in the late 80s, when the F15-J avionics upgrade was in progress.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 15:18
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#10
Ah thanks for that lotp - very interesting.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/13/2006 16:29
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#11
Remember also that the USs "military industrial complex" has been turning out high-tech gear for over 50 years now. Some parts of the system are "tired", for want of a better word. However, Japan is still fresh as a daisy, and if it went on a serious military build-up, it would be a sight to behold.
Think the Reagan build-up times 10. The stimulus to their economy returned to creating more weapons systems instead of spent on socialistic social programs could have them armed to the teeth in short order.
At least 19 suspected Taleban militants have been killed in clashes in southern Afghanistan, officials say. A Helmand province government spokesman said Taleban fighters attacked the village of Nawzad, targeting a garrison of Afghan and coalition troops. Shopkeepers were surrounded and ordered to leave the centre of the village before the attack began, reports said.
Coalition forces launched air strikes, with reports saying 12 Taleban died in a car, with others killed elsewhere. The fighting, which lasted several hours, broke out on Wednesday morning, US military officials said. "The Taleban surrounded this area, including a nearby bazaar, and told all their shopkeepers to leave before attacking the compound with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades," Afghan spokesman Ghulam Muhiddin told the Associated Press news agency.
Well, that was nice of them.
Seven attackers were killed and two injured in the initial fighting, with another 12 killed when coalition forces bombed a Taleban vehicle trying to leave the area, the officials said.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006
09:11 ||
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Okay, this is good news! But darn, I've noticed the daily numbers of Tali-turbans getting sent off to paradise dropping from 40 to 30 and now to 19.
Hmmmm, are they concealing their positions better or running out of youthful Paki idiots?
#2
Running out of youthful Paki idiots. This is natural selection in action. Unfortunately, leaving any of them alive means that only the smart ones will reproduce. Better to kill off the whole herd of "Taleban militants."
BTW, are there any "Taleban non-militants"? I doubt it.
#3
It's not a bad sign, really. Insurgencies always end in a whimper rather than a bang. Does anyone remember the "New People's Army" of the Philippines or "Sendero Luminoso" of Peru? Those commies were on the rampage 20 years ago, but now they're practically extinct. There aren't enough days in the year to celebrate the defeat of all these dungheads.
Algiers, 13 July (AKI) - Islamic militants killed five guards in an assault on a campsite in the Algerian coastal townof Larhat, near Tipasa, some 130 km west of the capital Algiers, reports said on Thursday. The London Arabic daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat said the militants robbed the tourists at the site. Newspapers El Watan and El Khabar said the five victims were ensuring security for around 50 families at the campsite when the assailants surprised them shortly before midnight on Monday.
"Honey, where do we want to take the family on vaction this year?"
"How about Algeria? I hear they have a lot of interesting local customs."
The rebels set fire to three vehicles and stole the campers' mobile phones and other personal belongings before fleeing.
Reports did not identify the militants but experts usually blame such attacks on the Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda and has rejected an amnesty offered by president Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The government says around 2,200 jailed rebels have been freed under the amnesty, which will expire at the end of next month.
Under the measure, militants were offered a pardon starting February provided they were not involved in massacres, rapes and bombings of public places .
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006
09:03 ||
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"How about Algeria? I hear they have a lot of interesting local customs."
#2
If a couple of dozen "militants" attacked a campsite of 50 families in Louisiana, they'd have had their a$$es handed to them in a paper sack. Everyone down there goes camping with at LEAST a .22 pistol, and most carry .38s. Of course, the United States has a long history of an armed but loyal populace, rather than armed religious fruitcakes. Attacks like these are caused by two things: a lack of basic personal freedoms (mostly due to religion) and armed nutjobs (basically religious idjits). Seems the best way to solve the underlying problem is to get rid of the guiding religion and install personal freedoms.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2006 15:42
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Mumbai, 13 July (AKI) - The Indian police have detained hundreds of people in the Indian financial capital of Mumbai and various parts of Maharashtra state for questining in connection with Tuesday's blasts on Mumbai's railway network which killed at least 185 people and injured hundreds of others. Various wire reports say the numbers detained range from 150 to 350 people. According to a Press Trust of India (PTI) report, most of those detained were suspected activists of the banned Muslim organisation Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI).
The PTI said that the activists were detained by the Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) after an overnight drive by the city's police in which railway stations and hotels were searched and the SIMI activists rounded up. The Reuters news agency said that the police have also prepared three sketches of suspects who were seen at the bomb sites. No group has claimed responsibility for the series of blasts which occured in a span of 20 minutes. Reports say that the police suspect the bombs were placed in leather bags and kept in luggage racks.
Pakistan's foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri has reacted angrily to various suggestions that Pakistan could be behind the blasts. In an interview braodcast on CNN, he said that India should be careful about ant attempt to attribute the attacks to so-called Pakistan-based militants. He repeated Pakistan's condemnation of the blasts but asked "why should there be finger pointing every time?"
Ummm, cause it's true?
India's prime minister Manmohan Singh called for calm in the wake of the attacks. Many fear that the bombings could trigger clashes between Hindus and Muslims in India. Singh commended the police, firefighters and doctors who are involved in the rescue work.
In a television address to the nation on Wednesday he paid "tribute to all those who showed courage and humanism in responding to the cowardice of terrorists." "These elements have not yet understood that we Indians can stand united... that we will stand united. They have not yet understood that we will never let them win," said the Indian prime minister.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/13/2006
08:58 ||
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People need to realise that Pakistan Iran and Syria are the enemy and paid by Saudi.
These are the enmey of the West and needs sorting.Iran must be first as they have the bravado that we are scared of them!
The United States has lifted sanctions on Libyan air transport, says an official, the latest sign of warming ties between the two former foes.
The move was announced during a high-level US visit to Tripoli, headed by senior state department official Paula Dobriansky, who held talks with Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi Mahmudi.
The official said: "Mrs Dobriansky announced during this meeting that her country had lifted all air transport restrictions imposed on Libya, including the sale of aircraft."
The announcement came two weeks after Libya was formally removed from a US list of state sponsors of terrorism, marking another step in its return to the international fold after years of isolation as a pariah state.
The lifting of US economic sanctions on Libya [has] opened a new era in relations - especially since the Libyan government selected US oil companies: Occidental, Chevron and Amerada Hess in January 2005 to prospect for Libyan oil and modernise its oil facilities. Libya had Africa's biggest oil reserves.
Dobriansky, who also met other Libyan officials, said that the US was ready to co-operate with Libyan companies in other economic and trade fields as well as health and training.
#1
Let's see here. Lift the air embargo and watch carefully. The flights from Iran to the Sudan into Libya and onto Lebanon. But since they took the Beirut airport down today I guess there is no cause for that embargo anymore.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/13/2006 21:32
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#2
saves downing Iranian cargo planes "filled with shiite Iranian pilgrims making their hajj to the 5,432nd holiest place, Shebaa Farms"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 21:40
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A bomb has exploded at a busy market in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, killing a soldier. Police say three other troops and three civilians have been taken to hospital with injuries.
The remote-controlled device was hidden in a motorcycle parked near the market in Narathiwat province, one of three southern Thai provinces hit by more than two years of violence. While Muslim militants are blamed, it is believed criminals and corrupt officials may be using the insurgency as a cover to settle disputes.
New record: 70 Israeli citizens expected to convert to Islam this year more than twice the number in previous years. Most are cases of Jewish, Christian women marrying Muslim men
According to statistics from the Population Administration, 2006 will be a record year for Israeli Jews joining the Muslim religion. In the past few years, the number of conversions to Islam was relatively stable at 35 per year, but over 70 conversions were expected this year. In 2003, 40 Jews converted to Islam; in 2004 the number dropped to 27; and last year it stood at 33.
But the trend took a drastic turn this year, and Interior Ministry data showed that in the first half of 2006 alone 42 conversions were recorded, and a comparable number is expected throughout the second half of the year.
The process of converting to Islam is carried out at the Muslim religious court which operates according to Islamic law. In contrast to Jewish conversions, which last months and often years, to become Muslim one must only convince the court that ones intentions are sincere and declare faith in Allah.
Most are Jewish and Christian women who convert after choosing to marry Muslim men. The number of men who convert to Islam is far lower, but has also seen a rise.
Jews say they decided to convert after deepening their knowledge of Islam. Many are disappointed in Judaism, a senior member of the Islamic court said.
In the past, the Religious Affairs and Interior Ministries made it very difficult for Jews to convert to Islam. They are giving me the runaround, sending me back and forth from office to office. They made me see a psychiatrist, to make sure I wasnt brainwashed. They did everything so that I would despair and return to Judaism, one convert related.
The data revealed that the reverse phenomenon of Muslims converting to Judaism is significantly lower. In the first half of this year, there were only seven conversions to Judaism.
#3
Jews say they decided to convert after deepening their knowledge of Islam. Many are disappointed in Judaism, a senior member of the Islamic court said.
Of course. Because islam is so much better than all other religions, it IS the Master Religion, after all. He can't lie, he's a senior member of the Islamic court.
Btw, same thing in France : about 50 000 converts according to police intelligence, but a very large majority (about 3/4 IIUC) due to non-muslim marrying muslims, and of course having to convert to be accepted by the step family. Works every time... isn't islam well thought, every occasion is capitalizd upon.
Villanova, PA - The heavy hand of the Saudi Kingdom is being felt in Villanova, Pennsylvania.
When Villanova's Foundation for Islamic Education [FIE] requested an expansion permit from the Lower Merion Council they were met with protests from concerned residents who were fed up with the group's flaunting of its zoning agreement.
As we noted in a July 10 piece - "Residents of Lower Merion County protesting the expansion of the Foundation for Islamic Education because of zoning violations, recently became aware that the center is planning to hold a Muslim Youth camp with many of the controversial speakers who appeared at a self-described "Jihad Camp" in 2001.
The FIE is funded and owned by the ex-Saudi Minister of Energy and Electricity - Abdullah Taiba and is a satellite campus of the American Open University the American division of al-Azhar University in Cairo, a hotbed of Muslim Brotherhood activity.
A hearing on the expansion permit is scheduled to take place on August 10. Even prior to the news about the camp, Lower Merion councilman Philip Rosenzweig conceded that "it would take time for the FIE to reestablish trust with the neighbors," according to a July 5th article Philadelphia Inquirer..."
The FIE acknowledged they had violated the rules, but what they didn't tell residents is that their Foundation is a satellite campus of the radical Islamist Al-Azhar University [Cairo, Egypt]. More at link
#2
LOD:
Check out some definitive Wahabi statements on the greater/lesser jihad controversy. Saudi media are prohibited from treating the Hadith of reference as reliable (sahih). Again: AOL hates tag-links so much that it erases them, so cut and paste:
http://forums.islamicawakening.com/showthread.php?t=213
Hague insiders have speculated that Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner and Immigration Minister Rita Verdonk will face political problems when the report into the fatal fire at the Schiphol detention centre is published.
Citing sources in The Hague, newspaper 'De Telegraaf' reported on Thursday that the long awaited report, due out in September, is "explosive".
The report by the Dutch Safety Board deals with the fire that killed 11 people at the Schiphol detention centre on 26 October 2005. They were illegal immigrants being held pending deportation.
A draft of the report was circulated within several government departments last week and top Justice Ministry
officials have been shocked by its findings, the newspaper said.
The safety board's reconstruction of events surrounding the fire suggests the Justice Ministry was seriously negligent in several areas. The State construction service (Rijksgebouwendienst) the police and the Fire Brigade also come in for criticism. More at link
IF NEWSPAPERS are the first, the second draft of history on Iraq is in books and broadcast. Two new offerings might well be called the CIA's revenge, so devastating are their accounts of the Bush administration's pre-Iraq War conduct.
One is a ''Frontline'' production titled ''The Dark Side,'' so named for Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that in combating terror, the administration would have to ''work the dark side.'' The other is ''The One Percent Doctrine,'' Ron Suskind's revealing new book about the way the Bush administration has conducted the war on terror.
That, too, takes its title from a Cheney comment, this time from his reported declaration that if there was even a 1 percent chance of a catastrophe occurring, the administration had to treat that possibility as a certainty when formulating a response.
Continued on Page 49
#1
I don't know. I think these campaigns are about as effective as the massive effort to undermine Wal-Mart. They do work. But I'm not sure how well. The end result is that some people won't shop there and these same people will dominate conversations as to why the rest of us should not shop their either.
But in the end, Wal-Mart just keeps on keeping on with parking lots jammed full and lots of people who heard - but blew off the multi-million dollar PR efforts. And even those people who insist we shouldn't shop there go in and shop when its in their interest.
I know its a stupid analogy. But despite the fact that a large segment of the population will parrot anything if you repeat the lie enough times, I'm just not sure how effective getting those people on your side as a long term strategy for success.
#3
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it fascinating that the same generation of journalists who once thought the EEEEEEVVVIIILLLLL CIA was behind all kinds of nefarious deeds now thinks of them as fearless truth tellers, whose efforts to tell Chimpy McBushitler the real deal are being thwarted time and again by the likes of Karl Rove's minions?
I mean, hell, considering how wrong they've been about virtually everything since the Soviet Union collapsed, WTF is up with that?
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/13/2006 9:16
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#5
You know, if they put as much effort into fighting Al Qaeda as they do fighting Bush, they'd ... actually be a usefull intelligence organization.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/13/2006 9:24
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"These two impressive pieces of reporting reveal and reinforce a picture of an administration operating in a world where belief overrode evidence and ideology trumped analysis as it pressed for an ill-conceived war."
Oh but of course reason and prudence prevailed from Jan. 20, 1993 to Jan. 20, 2001. No ideology here, just reasonable assumptions that one could approach the Islamist terror threat via law enforcement efforts and the occasional, empty-gesture Cruise missile strike against empty tents in Afghanistan.
And while we're on the topic of the period of bliss and wisdom (1993-2001), let us not forget that ideology did not guide the foreign policy strategy of Madam Secretary when she feted Kim-Boy and the Norks. Yes sir ree, how we all yearn for a return to the days when terrs were just a nuisance and when a more nuanced approach to terrorism left our embassies, overseas's bases, and a few significant buildings in NYC and DC in peace and security.
#7
Is it just me, or does anyone else find it fascinating that the same generation of journalists who once thought the EEEEEEVVVIIILLLLL CIA was behind all kinds of nefarious deeds now thinks of them as fearless truth tellers, whose efforts to tell Chimpy McBushitler the real deal are being thwarted time and again by the likes of Karl Rove's minions?
The CIA's been infiltrated by that same generation.
#8
"Cheney comment - if there was even a 1 percent chance of a catastrophe occurring, the administration had to treat that possibility as a certainty when formulating a response."
They say it like it's a bad thing. It's likely the right decision under the assumed condition.
#10
Do books like these sell?
Anne Coulter sells the shit out of "Hurray for America" books, I wonder if these assholes will even break even on the "See how we suck" approach.
You'll come closer to finding out what the box office receipts were for "Brokeback Mountain" than you will ever find out what the true sales figures are for this never ending stream of bush bashing wastes of paper.
F@#k Suskind he's a red from way way back
F@#k Frontline they studied journalism at either Pravda or with Goebbels ("tell a lie enough times and it becomes the truth").
The day that The LACrimes and the NYWhines go bankrupt, I will dance in the streets.
Bandits shot hundreds of rounds of automatic gun fire at Hidalgo County Sheriffs deputies and Border Patrol agents Wednesday from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.
The deputies were responding to a call from two brothers who swam across the river after an initial gunfight at a ranch in Mexico, Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Treviño said. Treviño would not identify the two brothers, but said the two U.S. citizens are suspects in other criminal investigations.
The two brothers called 911 around 7:45 p.m. Wednesday and told the operator that they were near the Brewster Ranch south of Donna. They say an unknown number of gunmen burst into their family ranch in Mexico and killed a ranch hand. The two brothers escaped, but the kidnappers took their father, Treviño said. The brothers made it across the Rio Grande and called 911.
At least three deputies and four Border Patrol agents took the two brothers back to the riverbank to see if they might find any evidence or the shooters. Instead, shooters from Mexico fired automatic weapons at the group. The barrage went on for almost 10 minutes, alternating between shots coming from Mexico and the east.
Treviño believes that the shots from the east were most likely on American soil. The heaviest gunfire came after the shots from the east ended, most likely an attempt to divert attention and allow the shooters from the east to cross back.
Border Patrol officials did not respond to phone calls last night.
Treviño plans to search for evidence tomorrow at the sight of the shooting, south of Valley View Road and Military Highway. If authorities find weapons or casings that can be traced, they might be able to charge someone with attempted capital murder of the agents, deputies and two brothers, Treviño said.
Treviño says that his deputies have never been shot at from the Mexican side of the river. "This is one of the reasons that I do not allow my deputies to patrol the riverbanks or levies close to the river," Treviño said, "because we do know there are drug gangs and human trafficking gangs that will not hesitate to shoot in our direction to get us out of the area."
#2
but..but..the ownership and possession of weapons in Mexico, like many US cities, is highly regulated and automatic weapons are illegal. Must be mistaken, otherwise these shots would be coming from the military or police or criminals....but I repeat myself....
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 8:36
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#3
We are on the brink of a World War and this crap is still allowed to go on.
Patrol the damned border.
Return fire if fired upon.
Shoot to kill.
If prisoners are taken, prosecute to the full extent of the law and sentence them to work building a wall/barricade/tank trap/moat along the border.
It's long past time for some SOF/NGuard training in the desert terrain/climate there anyways...
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/13/2006 9:12
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#4
Don't forget Poncho Villa. It's what Mexicans, as paleostinians, like to do.
#5
Sounds like it's time for that Sheriff to set up some concealed sniper blinds with overlapping fields of fire. Then put in some offset speakers with radio receivers in the lanes where smugglers pass.
You order them to halt, and if the dumbasses respond with a spray of weapons fire, your deputies put a round right through their belt buckle.
#9
Time to call in the Mexican ambassador and ask him whether he intends to control his border or give up his sovereignty. U.S. helicopter gunships ought to be blasting these vermin all the way to Mexico City if necessary.
#11
We dick around with this because our pathetic politicians have not yet realized that the American people do intend to take back control of America from the corrupt democrats and their lapping dogs in the MSM.
Keep up the fight. Keep spreading the word.
#12
It's long past time for some SOF/NGuard training in the desert terrain/climate there anyways...
Hey! I just got back from Iraq! Woldn't mind the opportunity for working with the Sooper Friends tho...
Posted by: N guard ||
07/13/2006 10:19
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#13
At least three deputies and four Border Patrol agents took the two brothers back to the riverbank to see if they might find any evidence or the shooters. Instead, shooters from Mexico fired automatic weapons at the group. The barrage went on for almost 10 minutes, alternating between shots coming from Mexico and the east.
They wanted evidence, and they got evidence. Yea, more than they desired...
#14
Welcome back, N Guard, thanks for your service, and still looking for a way to make my thanks to you and your comrades more tangible in some significant way.
#16
Treviño says that his deputies have never been shot at from the Mexican side of the river. "This is one of the reasons that I do not allow my deputies to patrol the riverbanks or levies close to the river," Treviño said, "because we do know there are drug gangs and human trafficking gangs that will not hesitate to shoot in our direction to get us out of the area"
WTF?! Let's hit these guys and hit them hard.
also how come we don't hear about this in the MSM news huh?! Wake up America, time to stop hitting the snooze button
Unf*ckingbelievable. I hate it when the morning news is so crappy, I'm going to go on a long horse ride now.
Posted by: Jan ||
07/13/2006 11:56
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#17
Yep, it's sad and what's even more pathetic is that if an American rancher shoots some wetback coming on to his land it will be all over the msm.
#18
That picture, is that the L.A. school district heads?
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 13:57
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#19
Re #13: this sentence reads very close to a RAB crossfire episode, except they haven't yet found the round of bullet or the shuttergun, or encountered wildly aimed fire from unknown accomplices. Perhaps this is just the 'Pre-RAB Primer' books on tape series being validated.....
#20
Unfortunately, locals in the southwest know that this has been ongoing for 20 years. But it is escalating. The drug cartels have complete control in Mexico. They try to buy off the law. This works for 90% of local and federal agents in Mexico. The last 10% is murdered. They are getting much braver about incursions...fully armed incursions..into US territory. Why not, no one stops them. This area abutting Hidalgo County is one of the main paths. It is far beyond what a local sheriff or cadre of volunteer Minutemen can handle. The governor of Texas should activate his National Guard. This is precisely what a "national guard" was organized for. Bring them out, fully armed . Use 50 cal. on these scumbags. Kill 20, 30 whatever. Don't say shit to Mexico. They'll be yelling their heads off. US State Dept. then gets Fox on the phone and says FU. Either stop this overnight or we pursue into Mexican territory at will as required. We will execute anyone firing on US citizens.
#21
The situation is nonsensical, so it calls for a nonsensical solution. Create flyers for a non-existent vigilante organization that threaten to kill "Any Mexican national carrying an automatic weapon across the border", over a several hundred mile stretch of border.
Of course the US authorities will freak out, but there is as much nothing they could do to stop such killing as there is to stop such Mexicans in the first place.
That is the only solution to stop one is to stop the other.
Subsequent flyers could have faked b&w photos showing "dead armed Mexicans" and their machine guns and maybe some packages of "drugs". This would really freak out the government.
They would have so many people out looking for the vigilantes that they would get into firefights with the Mexicans.
The fun things you can do with Google image, a word processor and a xerox machine.
#22
Not a bad COA 'moose, but I'll do you one better. How about any "illegal" caught coming across the border will be shot on sight. Afterall it is an invasion.
#23
Yep, it's sad and what's even more pathetic is that if an American rancher shoots some wetback coming on to his land it will be all over the msm.
Not only that, but the illegal alien or his family will sue and become the new owners of the ranch. As a bonus, they will also receive permanent residency documents in the process.
Posted by: ed ||
07/13/2006 21:54
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#24
nice... no. The "Friendship Fence" will stop this
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 22:11
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#1
In a television program aired on July 11, 2006, Iranian President Ahmadinejad warned Western countries not to support Israel, because "the rage of the Muslim peoples will not be restricted to the boundaries of our region... The waves of the explosion... will reach the corrupt forces [i.e. the Western countries] which support this fake regime." The following is an excerpt from Ahmadinejad's statement on the program: This dumb b*stard doesn't know when to STFU. He is about to become a grease spot.
Galloway's luxury convertible flooded
MP George Galloway's flashy car was a washout when a heavy storm struck. The downpour came just seconds after Gorgeous George parked the luxury convertible red Mercedes - with its top down. Aides to Dundee-born Galloway, who founded his own Respect party after Labour booted him out, rushed to save the £70,000 car.
But fellow MPs seemed to enjoy the spectacle outside Westminster once they discovered who the owner was. One witness said: "They seemed very concerned that the owner be alerted. "It has to be said that they did seem less worried once they discovered the identity of the owner."
Galloway's aides eventually moved the car from New Palace Yard to safety - but not before the inside had filled with water. A spokesman for Galloway, who was ridiculed for his antics on reality show Celebrity Big Brother, including mimicking a cat, said: "There was no lasting damage."
There were extraordinarily wild scenes in the Commons yesterday as the Liberal Democrats and Tories wrapped themselves in the Union Jack, told America to get lost, gave the Government a kick and went home early to sing Land of Hope and Glory and drink Pimms. It was like a dream, if an extremely noisy one.
The madness of it all surprised everyone, for it had begun soberly with a worthy but dull Lib Dem speech on the inequities of our extradition treaty with the US. It was, as they say in that terrible place called America, Yawnsville. But then Mike OBrien, the Solicitor-General, made a crucial error: he said something interesting.
Mr OBrien did not refer to British bankers at the centre of this debate as the NatWest Three. Instead he called them the Enron Three. The Tory backbenches buzzed with outrage. Boris Johnson shook his head so hard that I thought it would come off.
Continued on Page 49
Comments in bracket by Jan Lamprecht, the site owner. [Oh boo hoo hoo, this idiot on CNNMoney is bemoaning the loss of "Mass culture". Translation: Choice means that the masses can no longer be BRAINWASHED by the FEW AGAINST THEIR WILL THROUGH LACK OF CHOICE! Yes, that's what this jerk is really crying about.
It's actually an argument that runs against the excellent analysis of Professor Adam Smith in 1776. Adam Smith showed, in a long and detailed analysis that the Free Market produced the lowest prices and was the most efficient mechanism. If the Free Market is good for economics, I see no reason why it can't be good for the media and for ideas and for a (supposed) free society.
Radio, TV and the Newspapers were dominated by a few oligopolies for decades and it was a prime instrument in the dissemination of propaganda by ALL countries on Earth.
Now, suddenly, "choice is bad" for politics. No you idiot! "Choice is bad" because it means the whole world isn't being fed a lot of Liberalism or Communism. It means people can actually be Conservative or something else if the hell they want to.
So he whines that the newspaper is closing its Moscow and Johannesburg offices. Well, idiot, I live in Johannesburg, and I think your newspaper is doing a pretty crap job of reporting on what is going on in my city. It is not even coming close to telling Americans what is going on. So I am *GLAD* and utterly delighted that its closing its offices. There will be other, better sources of news of what is going on in Johannesburg - like my own website for example - which is telling all the stories which your "professional organisation" was too damned useless to report on.
Sod the mass media. I will enjoy watching Internet Websites dancing on the graves of CNN, Larry King and all the rest who lied by ommission and who told the twisted stories they wanted to tell. The sooner some of these organisations, like CNN go BANKRUPT, the better.
And what great "mass culture" are we going to miss? A bunch of hippies? Frankly, I see nothing worth missing. Instead I am hoping that people will be more individualistic and will do some thinking about their own views instead of being brain dead.
Let the Internet smash the Mass Media into the ground, because as far as I'm concerned the Mass Media played a major, major role in the destruction of Africa by covering up so much of the truth. You dug a grave for us, and I am delighted that you Liberal bastards are going to fall into it yourself. Jan]
The advent of 300 channels and the Internet has fragmented audiences - and the explosion of choice has left us poorer
By Marc Gunther, Fortune senior writer
#6
In an example of amazingly convoluted logic, Michael Powell, ex-chairman of the FCC and CATO institute member, tried the CATO philosophy that monopolies would self-destruct if allowed to continue.
This is why he opened the flood gates to media consolidation, hoping that big media would destroy itself.
All we got out of the deal is bigger big media. Next time, just use the screwdriver to turn the screw, don't hope the screw screws itself.
#7
Watch carefully. When someone or something enjoys a monopoly for an extended period of time and a competitor comes on the scene, what does the monopoly do? Offer a better product or service? No. It seeks those of power to cripple the competition. Itll be written in fine words. The best interests of the people will be invoked. It is really all about power. It's already started.
#9
Mass media sucks but internet media has own problems.
EG: explosion of conspiracy theories
Because there is so much choice sometimes the masses are fooled by internet 'sources' that are propaganda/outright lies and don't have to adhere to journalist code of ethics ie: cannot be sued in a court of law, hence the company doesn't force it's journos to keep records or try to verify any facts (no matter how flawed at least there were operational demands).
#11
I like rense.com... but for ufo, cattle mutilations, flying entities over Mexico, and the like. For anything else, I must take a mental shower afterward... but who could take that site seriously, except for the fringe left/right?
#13
The second arena where we are worse off is politics. This is related to journalism, as the moderate and responsible (okay, bland) voices of the MSM get drowned out by partisan, opinionated cableheads and bloggers.
"Moderate" and "responsible?" Uh, who told you chuckleheads that you were "moderate and responsible?" In what parallel dimension did THAT occur?
#14
Big media doesn't have to go clear out of business to make me happy. All they have to do is quit fucking us around and report the news. Without the opinion or spin, just the news. They havent done that since the 50's(if ever) and we would probably have to re-learn a good deal of modern history. But it would be worth it. Having said that, I don't for a minute think they will, I don't think they can, they will go down in flames lying and accusing all the way.
#15
This is a load of crap. Quality will get noticed and mass culture will succeed.
If you looked around at movies before tv you would have seen a lot of crap and a few gems (we remember the gems). Movies improved with letterbox formatting, cinescope, and other inventions and survived and in many ways improved.
If you looked around during the 70s and 80s before cable tv you would have seen a lot of cookie-cutter programs on television. Then cable came around and sucked up market share. Now television is pretty high quality from Sopranos on HBO to The Shield and 24 on basic cable. Despite Internet growth.
Choice is good as it forces the media to improve. Of course CNN refuses to improve so they will go the way of disco in time.
#17
I like Jan. Don't know if you all have ever checked out his website, but he was one of the first to convince me that the MSM was hiding a LOT of what's going on in the world. He was stationed in ZimBOBwe at the time and his site had pictures, names, dates and locations of white farmers being run off AND KILLED (execution style) by Bob's goons. Heck, I'd never even heard of Zimbobwe, but he peaked my interest and I began to research and see how quickly a potentially incredible country could be run into the ground by a communist thug...he even had stats on how much grain Zim produced...basically, the "bread basket of Africa.
Posted by: BA ||
07/13/2006 21:07
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The Bush administration should stop repeating that it is fighting the war on terror for truth, justice and the American way. Instead, the president and his staff should be blunt and explain that, since Sept. 11, it has had to choose between options that are bad or far worse.
By all means, the administration should invite critics to suggest constructive alternatives to the way it's handled this war. But it should also point out that those who have honed in on flaws in current U.S. anti-terror policies have so far been bereft of other workable ideas.
Take the uniform-less and stateless terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay. To be sure, there are alternatives to the current U.S. policy, but are they any better? Should we try hundreds of them in American courts like Zacarias Moussaoui or in international tribunals as the Europeans attempted with Slobodan Milosevic? Or send them home to face torture in autocracies like Egypt or Saudi Arabia? Or do we ship the terrorists back to countries that would simply declare them heroes and let them go?
And can the critics offer better ways to track terrorists than through wiretapping and surveillance? How, otherwise, would one have learned in time about those in Miami who plotted to take down the Sears Tower, or the Lebanese cadre who planned to blow up the Holland Tunnel?
The Bush administration can also use history to show that, despite what detractors say, its techniques aren't so unreasonable. It's worth reminding the American public that Lincoln suspended habeas corpus and shut down newspapers; that Woodrow Wilson imprisoned prominent dissenters like Eugene Debs; and that Franklin Roosevelt ordered the internment of Japanese-American citizens and secret military tribunals for German saboteurs (six of whom were executed) and allowed for the cover-up of military catastrophes (such as the hundreds killed during training exercises for the Normandy landings).
In other words, there's an advantage to providing historical perspective by engaging one's critics and answering their charges. The public, for example, should be informed that the accusation that the U.S. went into Iraq for oil ("no blood for oil," as the slogan goes) is not merely inaccurate, but crazy. For starters, gas prices skyrocketed once we induced risky change in the Middle East. How does that benefit the American people? Meanwhile, because of the fall of Saddam Hussein, Iraq's energy sector has been purged of corruption (such as the U.N.'s scandal-plagued oil-for-food program).
In Europe, a poll recently showed that people there view the U.S. as a greater threat than Iran. If this is the case, is it not time to politely suggest to our "allies" that many of our half-century-old military bases in prosperous Belgium, Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain have outlived their usefulness?
The Arab world's perennial grievances against the United States don't hold up either, given that America has saved Muslims in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kuwait and Somalia, and provided billions in aid to Egyptians, Jordanians and Palestinians.
The Bush administration would also be in the right to wonder aloud whether its domestic critics wish to go back to bombing away without consulting the U.S. Congress or the United Nations as we did in the Balkans. And when Americans are butchered, are we to skedaddle, as both Presidents Reagan and Clinton did, from Lebanon and Somalia respectively?
Our present muscular policy - and we also hear this all too infrequently - grew out of just such past bipartisan inaction that led to 3,000 murdered Americans. The truth is that the old way of doing business, rightly or wrongly, was seen by jihadists as encouragement to up the ante with Sept. 11.
Ultimately, the Bush administration needs to do a better job of presenting this current war in a far larger context. Jihadists of the Arab world for decades have been at war not with George Bush alone, but with modernity itself. The radical Middle East street may be fascinated by the Internet, satellite television, ATMs and cell phones - but not by the foreign anathema of democracies, religious tolerance, free markets and gender equality that ultimately accounts for such goodies.
Here at home, we are witnessing the end of the multicultural dogma. Yes, there are really evil people who wish to kill us for who we are, not what we do - and they embrace cultural assumptions that are not just different from our own, but, let us be honest enough to admit it, far worse.
So, there are many fronts in our struggle against Islamic terrorists from the 7th century. The American people must be reminded of our challenges constantly in lieu of platitudes about the inevitable triumph of freedom and democracy. In short, our government should provide much more explanation of this complex war and far less simple declarations about it.
Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and author, most recently, of "A War Like No Other: How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War."
#1
Instead, the president and his staff should be blunt and explain that, since Sept. 11, it has had to choose between options that are bad or far worse. Yeah, like world domination by the islamofascists. And wearing burkas. And forced slavery by the a*shats.
#2
Some good points, but: silence speaks. Something huge and decisive is brewing. The White House has said nothing about Ahmadinejad's archipelago of genocide-against-Israel rallies in Iran, and they are taking a business-like approach to the Hamas-Hizbollah war against the Roadmap to Middle East Peace. Nothing will happen until the G8 process ends. I believe that some surprising US allies will be disclosed, and that Iran's borders will be shrunk before September.
No Dem with an ounce of integrity would suggest continuing the peace process after what has happened in the last week. Israel is talking total war, and the US will join the chorus. The Euros will come on line.
I hope you're correct. Either way, you've put forth an intertesting analysis.
In today's WaPo, Robert Kagan speculates that Bush is practically bending over backwards on the diplomatic front so as to silence critics if and when diplo-options run out and US chooses to reduce part of Iran into an irradiated ash-heap.
#5
This article reminds me of a boss I once had. He made a bad decision that I had argued against at the time it was made. Later, when the ramifications became apparent, he said it was my fault because I couldn't talk him out of it.
Bush has been straightforward in his message. It takes two to communicate, a sender and a receiver. If the receiver is turned off or otherwise screwed up, it is not the sender's fault.
There are a great mass of people who don't believe we need a War on Terror. There are people who believe, and scream, that Bush is worse than the terrorists. Nobody's mind will be changed by more sophisticated arguments; only by events. The only question is how many WTC's, Madrids, Londons and Mumbai's its going to take.
#6
There is a great mass of people outside the Islamic world who don't believe there is such a thing as Islamic fascism, and a big chunk of that mass would prefer Western civilization to go out of existence altogether. Hanson presupposes that this mass doesn't constitute the bulk of the opposition to Bush's war. Better explanations by the Bush administration would have no effect whatsoever on the "opposition", really a fifth column.
#7
"and that Iran's borders will be shrunk before September" Anginens Threreng8133
What does this mean exactly? Dismembering Iran into ethnic groups? Invading and taking chunks of land? Removing Iranian clients and thus shrinking their "virtual border"? It's an odd phrase and I'm not sure I get it.
#10
Don't think it's been commented on here flyover, and I can't remember how I found it, but it's some article isn't it! :)
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/13/2006 17:48
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#11
rjschwartz:
Are you not aware that the government of Iran holds only provisional respect for any borders, anywhere? The Islamists believe that sovereignty belongs to Allah, and man-made laws must conform to Sharia. They don't respect our borders, therefore we shouldn't respect theirs. As for the oil fields in what is currently Iran: local savages had little or nothing to do with creation of that industry. One option Bush has is to demand something like $20 billion compensation for the 1979 hostage taking of US diplomats. And, react to Iranian refusal.
I don't know exactly what is the Bush administration game plan, but I read something into the fact that the IAF work against the Beirut airport, will prevent quick resupply of Iranian missiles, and that is not something that would have been done without US knowledge. In the cases of the US invasions of Grenada and Panama, President Reagan waited until the days of intervention, before giving reasons for the attacks. Why would President Bush throw his cards on the table before tossing out the Ayatollahs. I would advise that the justification be partly on the fact that the Ayatollahs have each created conditions where they have amassed hundreds of millions of dollars (Rafsanjani has $1.4 billion), by manipulating the economy. Besides the fact that there are minorities who are oppressed by the Islamofascist government, many Iranians are ashamed of the emulation of Arabs by the kleptocrats. Ahmadinejad may have some popularity based on his confidence, but when he begins to look like a pathological loser, that will collapse.
#12
Anginens Threreng8133, how hard is it to copy paste my name and spell it correctly? Why add the T? Did you think I forgot how to spell my own name?
Unlike the hysterical reaction of America and Spain, India's restraint under pressure is exemplary
By Anatole Kaletsky
People of goodwill have been unanimous in their denunciation of the Bombay terrorist outrage. For once, the whole civilised world could agree with Tony Blair, speaking yesterday in Parliament: Our message is that we stand in solidarity with the Indian people to defeat this terrorism wherever it exists. When we see human bodies so cruelly ripped apart, not only in such bastions of Western imperialism as New York, Madrid and London, but also in India, Indonesia and Kenya we can all surely agree that the War on Terror is more than just an American or British obsession. This is truly a global war, in which all civilised nations stand united.
United and wrong. For there was one small note of dissent, or at least of nuance, in yesterdays ringing declarations of solidarity and renewed commitment to the war against terror. Manmohan Singh, the famously cerebral Prime Minister of India, denounced the attack as a shocking attempt to spread a feeling of fear and terror among our citizens, but carefully refrained from blaming any specific terrorist group or threatening any particular counter-measures.
Instead of describing this atrocity as an act of war, the Indian authorities were treating it essentially as a criminal act. Instead of succumbing to the populist temptation to blame Pakistan, where many anti-Indian terrorist groups enjoy safe haven, Dr Singh did exactly the opposite. The very first statements from India stressed that dialogue and confidence-building measures with Pakistan would continue, Professor Radha Kumar, one of Indias leading authorities on inter-communal tensions. noted yesterday.
The people of India seemed equally calm. Bombay, instead of panicking or wallowing in self-pity, went on with its daily business. The shops and markets stayed open. The transport services went on running and passengers were not intimidated from using buses and trains. In all these respects, Bombays reaction was similar to Londons and a world apart from the hysteria in New York and Madrid.
This contrast can be tritely explained by clichés about the national character the fatalism of the Hindus, the stoicism of the British, the passion of the Spaniards and so on. There are, however, more instructive political conclusions.
India, even more than Britain or Spain, has a history of terrorist horrors. Starting with the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, moving on through the intercommunal bloodshed after partition to the shooting of Indira Gandhi, the murder of numerous local politicians and the seemingly endless bombings by Kashmiri separatists, Maoists and religious fanatics of all kinds, India probably has more experience of terror than any other nation.
We can draw lessons from Indias cool, self-confident behaviour. The first lesson is that Indians, both politicians and ordinary people, seem to respond much more rationally than Americans to the risks of terrorism. While 170 deaths is a terrible tragedy, the Indians seem to recognise that terrorism remains a negligible risk in the greater scheme of things and need not unduly disrupt their lives.
Even if the bombings in Bombay were repeated weekly, they would represent a smaller risk than crossing an Indian road. Seen as a one-off event, this bombing was a far less destructive tragedy than the earthquakes, typhoons, tsunamis and other natural disasters that regularly afflict southern Asia. This sense of proportion should allow Indians to get on with their lives after the bombings and discourage the overreaction, the inter-communal bloodshed and the Indo- Pakistani confrontation that the terrorists obviously want.
The need to deny terrorists their objectives leads to a second conclusion. To treat terrorist attacks as acts of war, as President Bush has famously done since 9/11, is the most counterproductive policy imaginable, at least if the objective is genuinely to prevent further terrorism, rather than to wage a never-ending war on terror. Equally wrongheaded is to try to draw every country hit by terrorism into an imaginary brotherhood of solidarity against terror, as Tony Blair did in yesterdays parliamentary statement.
The disastrous consequences of confusing terrorism with war are obvious enough. Observe the confusion of US objectives in Iraq, the descent into anarchy in Afghanistan and, just yesterday, the self-destructive decision of Ehud Olmert to respond to the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers as if it were an act of war by the Government of Lebanon. Or note that it is now almost five years since 9/11, yet Osama bin Laden is still at large and the Taleban virus has been transmitted from Afghanistan to nuclear-armed Pakistan. But why has the War on Terror been such a failure? The most plausible explanation was presented last week by Shami Chakrabarti, director of the civil rights group Liberty, at the LSE conference on George Soross book, The Age of Fallibility: Consequences of the War on Terror. Liberals such as Mr Soros have long argued that the War on Terror was a false metaphor because the enemy was not an army or a state, but an abstract concept, implying that the war, with all the attendant restrictions on open civil liberties and political debate, might continue for ever.
But, as Ms Chakrabati pointed out, there is another hawkish argument against the War on Terror metaphor, which is even more powerful: the War on Terror has turned common criminals and mass murderers into soldiers and martyrs. As Ms Chakrabarti noted, the greatest aspiration of Irish terrorist groups was to be recognised as soldiers an aspiration that British governments consistently and rightly denied them. Yet just before the 7/7 attacks in London, the lead bomber was able to write in his testament, without a hint of self-doubt: We are at war and I am a soldier.
This is the glamorous image of terrorism that President Bush and Mr Blair have spent five years promoting. Luckily for India, her leaders have greater intelligence and sang-froid.
This one is wrong in so many ways, it's hard to know where to start.
#1
So let me get this straight in my own mind. This author is glad that the Indians are "taking it like a man"? Would that not signal a victory, beating them into submission, accomplishing the terrorists goal? Give them some credit, it has only been a day. Public rage takes a little while to build to a boiling point, but rest assured they will be pissed when the shock wears off. This peace loving shitbird that is writing this article has a very naive and idealistic outlook on the realities of the world. Enemies kill each other, any way they can, and keep killing until they win.
Refusing to fight, like your mother's advice when you were bullied on the playground is not an option. It will only get your people killed. 9/11 wasn't the first attack we suffered it was the last, because we started busting heads on a truly suprising scale.
#2
Kaletsky's point of view is not "naive and idealistic", but more propaganda designed to strengthen terrorism and weaken everyone else. He explicitly calls civilized nations "united and wrong." He certainly favors "nuance." He explicitly says "terrorism remains a negligible risk." He explicitly says "To treat terrorist attacks as acts of war ... is the most counterproductive policy imaginable" He dedicates most of his article to confusing causes and effects, stating the "descent into anarchy in Afghanistan" is a result of "confusing terrorism with war." Afghan anarchy certainly predated 9/11 by many years. He states "the Taleban virus has been transmitted from Afghanistan to nuclear-armed Pakistan" thus denying the obvious, historical, roots of the Taleban in Pakistan. He holds George Soros up for admiration. spit etc., etc. Kaletsky deserves an honorary degree from the Noam Chomsky School of Rhetoric at MIT.
#3
While 170 deaths is a terrible tragedy, the Indians seem to recognise that terrorism remains a negligible risk in the greater scheme of things and need not unduly disrupt their lives.
Yep. A 100 here, 3000 there, 200 over here, 50 or 60 over there. What's the big deal?
He seems to favor the "Bend Over and Provide the Vaseline" Defense. But maybe I'm just being hysterical?
Undeterred by the failure of Monday's satellite launch, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) will go ahead with its next scheduled launch later this year and also carry on with its space programmes as planned.
"There is no change in our future launch programmes. As scheduled, the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) will be launched by this year-end to deploy Cartosat-2, an Indonesian remote-sensing satellite and a space recovery capsule in lower orbits," a top ISRO official said.
Unlike Monday's aborted Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) mission, the PSLV will take off from the first launch pad at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, off the Andhra coast.
Preparations are under way to assemble the 295-tonne PSLV to carry the three payloads, weighing about 1.3 tonnes collectively.
The second launch pad, from where the GSLV-F02 was launched on Monday to carry the INSAT-4C communications satellite into geosynchronous orbit but veered off-course and exploded 60 seconds after lift-off, will be used only for heavier satellites in the two-tonne and four-tonne class for communications and broadcasting services.
"We are planning to launch the PSLV between October and December this year. The launch schedule will be decided once we receive the payloads and integrate them with the 44-metre rocket," said the official, whose organisation's rules do not permit his being identified.
"While the 610-kg space recovery capsule will be built at Sriharikota and the 660-kg Cartosat-2 at our satellite centre in Bangalore, the 56-kg Indonesian mini-satellite, christened Lapan TubSat, will be shipped from Jakarta," he said.
The space recovery capsule will perform micro-gravity experiments in space and descend into the earth's atmosphere after 10-20 days in orbit to plunge into the Bay of Bengal for recovery by the Indian Navy. The experiments will enable the Indian space agency to master the re-entry technology and re-useable rockets.
Cartosat-2 is an advanced remote-sensing satellite with a resolution of one metre for imageries and a swath of about 10 km. Its cameras can provide scene-specific spot imageries for cartographic and a host of other applications.
"Our plans to launch INSAT-4B, the second satellite in the INSAT-4 series, from Kourou in French Guiana on board the Ariane vehicle during February or March 2007 also remain unchanged," the official said.
As per ISRO's contract with Ariane Space, a Paris-based consortium of the European Space Agency, INSAT-4B will be the last of the satellites to be launched outside the country.
Like INSAT-4A, launched by Ariane from Kourou in December 2005, the three-tonne INSAT-4B will also have 24 transponders, including 12 in Ku band and 12 in C band for communication and broadcasting services, especially the direct-to-home service.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006
07:13 ||
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#1
The failure of INSAT-4C will not affect the future programmes of the ISRO, including the GSLV launch scheduled for September and the moon mission, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre director B N Suresh has said.
Though the flight was allowed to go ahead as no technical lapse was found, from the data we see that there was a small malfunction in one of the regulators, which led to the automatic shutdown of the engine.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 15:20
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#2
Centre gives new life to Agni-III
The Government has given the go-ahead to the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) scientists to conduct at least two tests of the Agni-III intermediate range ballistic missile in late August.
The nod for the two tests, likely to be conducted in quick succession at a gap of two or three days, came on Wednesday when the DRDO brass met Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
The Minister was also apprised of the plausible cause of the snag which afflicted the maiden test firing of the missile on Sunday last, sources said here on Thursday.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 16:20
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"Terrorists can do anything they like, 52-year-old businessman Dilip Khadaria said. We are businessmen, we will be going back to work. It wont hamper our business, it wont stop our work."
While the citys top brass were generous in their praise for the man on the street in the aftermath of Tuesdays bloodbath on the rails, many outsiders were in awe of the resilience that put the city back on its feet in no time.
The way Mumbai came back to life after the initial shock within the first few hours has etched a valiant picture in the minds of thousands in and outside the city.
One thing is very clear. Whenever the city faces any calamity it is the courage of the common man that comes to the fore, said ace Bollywood film director Rakesh Roshan.
An email from Jaydeep Patil is all over the internet:
We are Mumbaikers and we live like brothers in times like this. So, do not dare to threaten us with your crackers. The spirit of Mumbai is very strong and can not be harmed.
Mumbai residents displayed their resilient spirit by returning to work yesterday. But many questioned Indias approach to terrorism. We keep priding ourselves on how we bounce back after these blasts and Mumbais spirit, but havent we got it wrong? asked Anshuman Datta, a vegetable seller. Shouldnt we be priding ourselves on our ability to hit back at those responsible?"
Posted by: Mike ||
07/13/2006
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Glad to see that some people in this world aren't dominated by a fear response.
POLICE in Afghanistan's capital Kabul today arrested a man they said was planting a 10-kilogram bomb outside the Information Ministry.
The arrest came a day after six other men were caught in the capital with bombs and remote-control detonators, police said. "A terrorist was arrested while planting a bomb in front of the Ministry of Information and Culture," Interior Ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai said. "He had some Taliban-related documents on him."
The man was planting the bomb on a side street near the ministry, said police criminal investigation department chief Ali Shah Paktiwal. The explosives were hidden in a shopping bag, he said.
The centre of the capital was hit by four minor bomb blasts over two days last week, with one person killed and about 50 wounded. One of the bombs was outside the Justice Ministry and close to other ministries and the presidential compound.
The Taliban, which is waging a growing insurgency focused on the east and south of the country, claimed responsibility for the blasts. But intelligence sources said a host of disaffected groups could have been responsible.
Kabul has seen relatively little of the insurgency-linked violence gripping areas bordering Pakistan although there have been several suicide attacks on foreign and Afghan soldiers in the war-scarred city.
#1
Bombs in India. Bombs in Afghanistan. What do they have in common. Shared a border with Pakistan.
Why does our government in seeming blindness appear to ignore the Pakistani links with terror all around the world? Making the choice to reward Pakistan's lack of real action against terror and known nuclear proliferation.
#2
SPOD:
Pakistan's links to terrorism are not being ignored, though it may look that way. There are several good reasons for the non-confrontational approach.
1) The official Pakistan government position supports our efforts.
2) We would make more enemies than allies, internationally and within Pakistan, with a more confrontational approach.
3) We don't have the resources, military or political, to 'win' a confrontation with Pakistan.
4) We cannot support the fight in Afghanistan without at least passive cooperation with Pakistan.
5) Pakistan has nukes, and at least so far seems to have been effectively keeping them out of the hands of the Islamofascists.
6) There really is a significant part of the Pakistani population that is pretty reasonable.
We 'pressure' Pakistan in some pretty significant ways - nuclear technology transfer agreements with India and arms sales to India are major. Something is making Mushie expend resources in the NWF - not real effectively, but not totally 'fake' either, and against substantial internal opposition (ISI). And opposition to our forays across the border from Afghanistan have been nothing more than the internally-necessary verbage.
In summary, Bush recognizes the role of segments within Pakistan in the Islamofascist War; they are not being ignored; there are good reasons (one can argue whether they are sufficiently good reasons, but that's a different discussion) why more action is not being taken; and there is almost certainly more 'action' being taken than the NYT has told you about yet.
#3
1) The official Pakistan government position supports our efforts.
In public. Mushy's still dictator of a nation that named itself "Land of the Pure", and after his coup among the bits of the Paki Constitution that were re-instated were the bits declaring sharia the law of the land.
6) There really is a significant part of the Pakistani population that is pretty reasonable.
Uh-huh. Which is why "every store in every market has a collection box for LeT", as a recent story put it.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/13/2006 7:51
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Pakistan has nukes, and at least so far seems to have been effectively keeping them out of the hands of the Islamofascists.
So far. And when they do get their mits on them will we regret not having dealt with them more firmly. They are doing exactly as instructed by the Koran - tell the infidel one thing whilst doing another. Time to take the thumb out of our collective butt and wipe Wazoostan off the map village by village.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
07/13/2006 8:05
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#5
or madrassa by madrassa
Posted by: Howard UK ||
07/13/2006 8:06
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#6
arrested? Strap it to him, take him to an open field and set em off
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 8:37
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Israel is imposing an air and sea blockade on Lebanon as part of a major offensive over two soldiers captured by the militant group Hezbollah.
Israeli ships have entered Lebanese water to block ports, and the country's only international airport is closed after Israeli air strikes on Thursday. Intelligent move.
#3
The jihadis light off big cherry bombs and convince women to strap on explosives. The Israeli army is putting themselves into place for another event that will be recorded in history books for years to come.
Admiral Horatio Nelson may have guided the British naval fleet to a famous victory at the Battle of Trafalgar, but he faced a far tougher foe during celebrations to mark its 200th anniversary. Organizers of a re-enactment of the sea battle in 2005 decided to bill it as between a Red Fleet and a Blue Fleet, rather than Britain and its French and Spanish adversaries, describing it as a re-enactment of an early 19th century sea battle.
Trafalgar, in which the British Royal Navy saw off a combined Franco-Spanish fleet off the southern coast of Spain, marked a crucial defeat for Napoleons sea power. Nelson himself fell during the battle. Apparently, we now live in the age of the Borderless Utopia and the Brotherhood of Man, and shouldnt be too hung up on Spain, England, France or other irrelevant historical details. Its just rude. Maybe soon, we will hear that WW1 or even WW2 was fought between the Yellow Team and the Blue Team. We wouldnt want to insult anybody, would we?
The incident is part of a broader trend of re-writing history. Partly because of immigration, the British government appointed a commission on the future of multiethnic Britain. It concluded that Britishness had systematic, largely unspoken, racial connotations. The report said Britain should be formally recognized as a multicultural society whose history must be revised, rethought, or jettisoned.
In the European Parliament, the German Christian Democrat Hans-Gert Pöttering stated that school textbooks should be reviewed for intolerant depictions of Islam by experts overseen by the European Union and Islamic leaders. He said textbooks should be checked to ensure they promoted European values without propagating religious stereotypes or prejudice. He also suggested that the EU could co-operate with the 56-nation Organisation of the Islamic Conference to create a textbook review committee.
Continued on Page 49
#1
One of the worst things with the multicultism is that it rejects those people born Muslim who want to break from that slavery called Islam. Instead of seeing that local authorities protect apostates and fight repellent usages like burkha they see them unrolling the red carpet not merely for Islma but for the ones who get the better treatemnt are the wahabis and similar.
As an example in a left governed city, an employee lost his job for racism (the official word) in fact for criticizing Islam. He is an Arab.
#2
Has an elite political class of any civilization so hated its own civilization that it paved the way for its own immolation? I submit that it would have been impossible for this to happen at any time in our past. Even the demise of Rome did not occur in quite this way.
What we are witnessing here is unique in human history. Perhaps we as a species cannot handle the level of technology that we now have attained. If we can, then the framework for a society doesn't look anything like Europe.
If the Republicans were smart, they'd be quickly easing awareness of what is being described in this article into the American consciousness. They could then point out that essentially all of the Democrat platform moves us in the direction of a society that would be identical to Europe. Dems who attempted to portray this strategy as "racist" would have a much more difficult time of doing so successfully given America's already multiethnic composition.
This would also hold to the fire the toes of Republicans who are squishy on illegal immigration.
In lieu of that, the blogosphere must continue to hammer away at this issue.
Europe is already all but lost, regrettably. If the same happens here, then it will be proof that humanity is not ready for the level of technology we achieved in the 2oth century.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
07/13/2006 6:26
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#3
I don't think it's tech-related.
It's a post WWII paradigm shift (Nations are bad, people are dangerous, european identities must be erased into a super-State run by theEuropean Enlightened Elites), which was elaborated in the 1920's as a reaction to WWI, and whose spread was facilitated by the subversive work of cultural marxism against western civilization (western civilzation = obstacle to socialist utopia).
Both threads are socialist (soft socialist for the former, "socialist with guns" for the latter).
To, that, add France's Eurabia geopolitical megalomaniacal project, the ideological globalist mvt supported by various think tanks/orgs with similar goals of erasing borders, and the reawakening of islam thanks to deobandism and salafism, fueled by wahabi money, manned by mulsim population growth, and vanguarded by the MB, and you've got IT.
Frankly, I blame "socialism", to be short, the egalitarian utopian project born from french revolution and various Enlightment thinkers like Rousseau.
Europe started dying in 1789, though it was not apparent until very recnetly, when the cancer metastased.
#4
I was about to post a comment which said essentially the same: this is the final destination of Socialism, not a consequence of technology. It is the slow suicide of a culture which no longer has the will to live. It is the "whimper" of which T.S. Elliot spoke.
JFM and A5089, Europe is fucked; get out of there while you still can, and come over here. Really.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/13/2006 6:54
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#5
This, attitude, which he calls oikophobia, is the disposition, in any conflict, to side with them against us, and the felt need to denigrate the customs, culture and institutions that are identifiably ours.
It's also called "ethnomasochism" (on an ethnic basis), a world coined by ultraright neopagan/antimodernist writer Guillaume Faye which has somewhat became accepted in some conservative circles, and I think it's spot on.
#6
JFM and A5089, Europe is fucked; get out of there while you still can, and come over here. Really.
Nope, there's enough fat people in the USA. Besides, I'm a perfect representative of that death culture, somehow I'm asking to be destroyed too.
#10
Here's theory. Let's call it cultural neotony.
It's well established that evolution frequently 'advances' by retaining juvenile characteristics into adulthood. There are many examples. Human hairlessness is one of them.
Let's also say cultural development mimics evolotionary development. So each generation tries to retain it's juvenile social characteristics into adulthood.
PARIS -- A hack of a Luxembourg bank's records is emerging as a key detail of the so-called Clearstream affair here, a national scandal that's pulled top-level politicians, powerful corporate executives and now a white-hat hacking group into its orbit. So that giant sucking sound you hear isn't your toilet, but the French political elite ....
Like a spy novel or a French version of All the President's Men, the scandal has captivated the press, and produced a steady stream of leaks about political vendettas, secret meetings between high-level government officials and anonymous letters penned by a mysterious "Le Corbeau" (the Raven). The Courbeau Code???
The apparent electronic espionage now adds a high-tech angle to what many are calling "the French Watergate." At the heart of the storm is a sophisticated conspiracy to falsely implicate a number of celebrities, high-ranking officials and political candidates in a bribery scandal. WoT, food for oil is breaking in the French press? Sacré bleu!
Among the falsified evidence produced by the conspirators before the fraud unraveled were confidential bank records originating with the Clearstream bank in Luxembourg, which is, honest to God, a real country in Europe.
The records were expertly modified to make it appear that some French politicians had secretly established offshore bank accounts to receive bribes. The falsified records were then sent to investigators, with enough authentic account information left in to make them appear credible. Agent Smith: ... we're willing to wipe the slate clean, give you a fresh start. All that we're asking in return is your cooperation in bringing a known terrorist to justice. Neo: Yeah. Well, that sounds like a pretty good deal. But I think I may have a better one. How about, I give you the finger ...
[He does] Neo: and you give me my phone call.
A French justice department official close to the probe, speaking on condition of anonymity, said prosecutors were still in the early stage of their investigation, but have confirmed that someone hacked into the bank. "It is true that someone did enter the bank's system and altered records -- we do know that," the official told Wired News. "But we still do not know who did exactly what." [Reading from "The Hackers' Manifesto."] Agent Bob: "This is our world now. The world of the electron and the switch; the beauty of the baud. We exist without nationality, skin color, or religious bias. You wage wars, murder, cheat, lie to us and try to make us believe it's for our own good, yet we're the criminals. Yes, I am a criminal. My crime is that of curiosity. I am a hacker, and this is my manifesto." Huh? Right? Manifesto? "You may stop me, but you can't stop us all!!"
The complicated affair has its roots in a 2001 investigation of bribery payments deposited in Clearstream accounts from the sale of French frigates in Taiwan. While the bribes were real enough, the investigation became a platform for a Nixonian dirty-tricks operation. Unavailable for comment ...
One of the targets of the frame-up was presidential hopeful Nicolas Sarkozy, and press reports have linked his rival, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, to the smear campaign. Non! Could not happen on mai watch ...
French President Jacques Chirac defended de Villepin from the charges during a nationally televised interview last month, and de Villepin has filed libel suits against four journalists. Merde! That Armstrong is going to win AGAIN ...
Last month, prosecutors formerly charged Lebanese-born ImadNo jokes, please Lahoud for allegedly creating the falsified bank records. Lahoud previously worked for the French secret service and headed a department of network engineers for Airbus parent European Aeronautic Defense and Space, or EADS. Also known this year as Boeing's biatch ...
Also arrested was Jean-Louis Gergorin, a former vice president for EADS, who allegedly distributed the records ... The rest of Frogistan's follies EFL ...
#3
In that context a corbeau (Raven) is not a code word but slang for someone who writes anonymous letters, for instance telling someone that his wife cheats him or to the wife menacing her to tell the truth to the husband but without asking for money (corbeau not equal blckmailer) just for causing fear and anguish.
Also during the German occupation, sending anonymous letters to the police about neighbours, bosses, relatives was a very popular sport. So popular that the Germans ended throwing them directly in the dustbin since the volume (hundreds of thousands perhaps millions) exceeded by far their capacities of investigation. There were wives reporting to Germabns that hubbie was in the Resistance, husbands reporting lovers, lovers reporting husbands, collabos reporting rival collabos and resistants reporting resistants.
#5
Also during the German occupation, sending anonymous letters to the police about neighbours, bosses, relatives was a very popular sport. So popular that the Germans ended throwing them directly in the dustbin since the volume (hundreds of thousands perhaps millions) exceeded by far their capacities of investigation.
No offense JFM, but that's fucked up.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/13/2006 7:44
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sending anonymous letters
OT : this reminds of a excerpt of a "worst of" of the anonymous letters sent to the french IRS in the 90's, and one sentence was so funny, in a sick, perverted way, it stuck in my mind; it was something like "my neighbor has a big shiny new car, and on top of that, I think he's a jew", YJCMTSU.
Not an excuse, but perhaps it might be some kind of explanation (?) : IIUC, France has been in slow-motion civil war since the early 19th century, still going on. Ours is a very fractured and divisive society.
ISRAELI warplanes today bombed runways at Beirut's Rafiq Hariri International Airport, which was then closed to traffic, a Lebanese aeronautic source said.
Witnesses said there were at least two raids on an eastern runway while Lebanese anti-aircraft batteries frantically fired at the invading planes.
The bombing of the airport, recently named after former premier Hariri who was assassinated in February 2005, came after nearly 24 hours of Israeli bombardments, up to then concentrated on bridges linking south Lebanon with the rest of the country.
The military action started after the capture of two Israeli soldiers by the Lebanese Shiite Hezbollah movement in a border operation.
The Hezbollah raid on an army patrol on the volatile border was branded an "act of war" by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who moved quickly to authorise an "aggressive and harsh" Israeli response.
At least eight Israeli soldiers, along with a Hezbollah fighter, two Lebanese civilians and a Lebanese soldier have been killed in the deadliest 24 hours of fighting since Israel ended its 22-year occupation of south Lebanon six years ago.
Israeli helicopters carried out three successive dawn raids north of the port city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, police said, without immediately mentioning whether there were victims.
A Lebanese soldier was killed overnight when Israeli war planes took out a bridge south of Beirut.
The White House held Syria and Iran responsible for the flare-up, as world powers urgently appealed for restraint.
Hezbollah, or the Party of God, whose militia was instrumental in forcing Israeli troops out of Lebanon in May 2000, said it was demanding the release of Arab prisoners in return for the soldiers.
"They will only return home through indirect negotiations and an exchange of prisoners," Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said, saying the abduction was aimed at drawing international attention to the plight of "thousands of Lebanese, Palestinian and Arab detainees."
But Mr Olmert insisted there would be no negotiations.
"This was an act of war without any provocation on the sovereign territory... of the state of Israel," said Mr Olmert, facing the most serious test of his leadership since his government took office in May.
Israeli fighter jets, gunboats and artillery pounded Lebanon, hitting Hezbollah targets and about 10 bridges, cutting off the highway linking Beirut to the south.
After an emergency meeting, the Israeli cabinet gave the green light to unspecified retaliatory action against Lebanon, which has been mired in its own political crisis since the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri in 2005 and is still rebuilding after the devastating 1975-1990 civil war.
"Israel must respond with the necessary severity to this act of aggression... Israel will respond aggressively and harshly to those who carried out, and are responsible for, today's action," a cabinet statement said.
Army chief Dan Halutz vowed on Israeli television to "take Lebanon back 20 years."
Israel has already called up a rapid-reaction force of 6000 troops headed for the northern border, where many residents were heading for bunkers to escape mortars and Katyusha rockets fired by Hezbollah at the Jewish state.
The Lebanese government - which includes a Hezbollah minister - denied any involvement in the Hezbollah action and demanded an urgent UN Security Council meeting.
Prime Minister Fuad Siniora also called up a host of world leaders "to ask them to help Lebanon in the face of the aggression and in order to contain the situation."
Yemen also called for an emergency meeting of the 22-member Arab League.
The White House, which considers Hezbollah a terrorist outfit, condemned the capture of the soldiers and pointed the finger at Israel's two main foes, Iran and Syria, which both bankroll the fundamentalist Shiite movement.
"We call for the immediate and unconditional release of the two soldiers. We also hold Syria and Iran, which directly support Hezbollah, responsible for this attack and for the ensuing violence," said national security spokesman Frederick Jones.
Washington also defended Israel's ground incursion into Lebanon -- the first since the 2000 pullout, saying its chief Middle East ally was entitled to defend itself against "terrorist" attacks.
UN chief Kofi Annan urged all sides to show restraint and to protect civilians.
Lebanese police said two civilians and a soldier were killed and 26 people wounded in Israeli reprisal attacks.
#1
The islamic hive mind must absolutely be devoid of the concept of cause and effect. Attacks on Isreal are like poking a nest of killer bees but the Arabs and tribalist peoples who are islamic almost to exclusion do not understand this or ever learn it.
If Isreal says it will set Lebanon back 20 years count on it being 40.
Count on the US of A pulling a China in the UNSC as well. It's totally justified.
Baby Asswad better take to sleeping in a different bunker every night too.
- inflict major losses to Hizbullah, and clear -- completely -- a 20km area North of the Lebanese border; bomb anything moving in that area over the next 20 years
- inflict major infrastructure losses to Lebanon -- weekly until they kick Hizbullah out of government and disarm its militia
- topple the Syrian government, because of their support for Hamas and Hizbullah
The USA should actively participate in the 3rd aspect, and veto all UN upcoming pro-Islamist resolutions.
#6
I have been trying to get details of the Hizbollah attack/kidnapping. A Hizbollah supporter from Iraq, posted the following on a forum.
"This morning, Wednesday 12.07.06, Hezbullah ambushed an Israeli military convoy on the Lebanese border killing three Israelis and taken two others as prisoners. When the Israelis rushed with their tanks, huge road-side bombs exploded destroying two tanks and killing an additional four Israeli soldiers. This attack was preceded by at least 30 missiles fired at Israel command and control posts. Hezbullah seems to launch its operation in support of the besieged Palestinians in Gaza whom are being killed, point blank, by Israeli Tank fires. In his news conference this afternoon, Sheikh Nassurallah hinted of the need to exchange prisoners and announced his readiness to confront Israel if Olmert choses to escalate. Many believe that the consequences of Hezbullah attacks may be the fuse to cause the Islamic explosion promised by Ahmedinejad, if the Israelis do not stop their massacres against Palestinians.
Let Condoleeza play her fiddle (Piano) while the Middle East (Rome) is burning. Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Palestine and now Lebanon are united in fighting the USraeli crusaders. Let the USraeli agressors be victims for a change."
-----------------------
I don't like using enemy sources, but this sounds credible. The IDF did lose a tank, and a powerful planted bomb (not an IED) could do it. A co-ordinated attack by overwhelming forces, could halt a convoy and enable attackers to kill or capture soldiers. And use of diversion by the terrorists could have delayed counter-attack concentration.
Folks, stop talking about beating this enemy, piecemeal, and start talking about annihilating them wholesale. Without mullah leadership and jihad ideology, Muslims would abandon Islam when they learn of its utter worthlessness in advancing humanity. It is us v them; now or never. Diplomacy can't trump sharia; total war can remove the Muslims ability to make terror.
#7
Many believe that the consequences of Hezbullah attacks may be the fuse to cause the Islamic explosion promised by Ahmedinejad, if the Israelis do not stop their massacres against Palestinians.
blah, blah - we all know he planned to light the fuse anyway.
#8
I look forward to the eventual dismantlement of Lebanon's infrastructure. Like I said earlier, I had no idea Olmert had it in him. I figured he was a sheep in sheep's clothing.
#9
Not to justify arab actions, but Olmert invited this by acting like such a milquetoast in Gaza. He should have smacked them down harder and then Hezhbollah might not have been so brazen.
#14
Daniel:
Iranian leaders have spoken about "400 critical points" where US global security is vulnerable. You may not know this, but Iranians were caught photographing the Panama Canal, last week. The White House would have a huge database on this Homeland threat. Bush didn't have a Homeland pretext for liberating Iraq. Iran's genocidal tyrants have furnished him with one. He also has the fact of Persian brutalization of Azeris, Kurds, Balochis, Arabs and religious minorities. Now he has Hizbollah (read: Iran) subversion of his Road Map, on which to hang a pretext. After G8, Ahmadinejad will start sending some of his "40,000" registered "martyr" terrorists against Israel. Then, something decisive and of long term effect will happen. As for oil prices, they are set in Dallas and there will be little more than a short spike even if Iranians sabotage their own fields. And if they do that, they can forget about Iranian sovereignty over them
Did you think that the "pre-emptive" war doctrine was just rhetoric?
#15
along with a Hezbollah fighter, two Lebanese civilians and a Lebanese soldier
Oh come now, with the amount of damage Isreal is doing the casualties of Hezbollah HAS to be higher. I think they're just hiding the dead before anyone can add them to the corpse count.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/13/2006 11:40
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#16
AT8133 you are on to an important point. Iran's only hope of victory, and stated goal, is to provoke a global conflagration while they try to destroy Israel.
It's a tenuous hope, but it's their only one given their pathetic ideology (apart from seeing the American people elect traitors to rule both the executive and legislative branches).
I'd say watch Southern Iraq in the next few days. Then watch terrorist attacks on infrastructure points across the world. If they think they can keep the US military busy elsewhere, they'll have an opportunity to go after israel with WMDs. Once they unleash Hamas and Hizbullah, what other levers do they have? a Syrian return to Lebanon, Sadrists in Iraq, and global terrorist attacks. Then all they have left are nukes, if they have them.
Since they've pushed Hizbullah into action, there's no stepping back for Iran. My estimate is that however insane the mullahs are, they do make plans and do love death, the mass-murder kind of death.
Given all of the above, I hope coalition forces are ready and willing. To utterly crush Iran and Syria. We've been in Iraq for 3 years. Time for the next major campaign in WW IV.
#17
From CNN: "Israel also said it has information that the guerrillas who captured the soldiers are trying to transfer them to Iran, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said, according to The Associated Press."
If true, another act of war by the State of Iran. We may well see a nuclear war this year. Islamofascists will be on the receiving end, along with millions of innocents. Guess who will be blamed?
from what info I have the Israeli tank (singular) that was hit when crossed the border about two hours after the initial attack; the land mines were only about 100m from the border
basically, the first few hours Hizb benefitted aided by some pretty careless work by IDF reservists
#19
As for oil prices, they are set in Dallas and there will be little more than a short spike even if Iranians sabotage their own fields. And if they do that, they can forget about Iranian sovereignty over them.
If you believe the bit about oil prices, you're even more into fantasy about Energy Policy than the average American is. We currently import 60% of our oil, and are in no position to set prices in the producing companies, many of which have their oil production facilities run by state-owned oil companies.
Posted by: Phil ||
07/13/2006 14:33
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Death was not punishment enough for Chechen rebel leader Shamil Basayev, the warlord and terrorist killed in an explosion this week, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday. "For him this is too little - to be just destroyed," Putin told the Canadian broadcaster CTV when asked what he felt when he heard that Russia's most-wanted man, a militant who claimed responsibility for the nation's deadliest terror attacks, had been killed Monday. "I think that no matter what belief he adhered to, he will get his due in the next world for the evil deeds he committed," Putin said in a portion of the interview shown on state-run television.
Questions linger about the circumstances of Basayev's death, which came just days before a weekend summit of the Group of Eight major industrialized nations that Putin is hosting. Russian officials say a special operation culminated in Basayev's death when a dynamite-filled truck exploded close to his car in a village in Ingushetia, a region bordering Chechnya. Chechen rebel envoy Akhmed Zakayev insisted the explosion was an accident.
Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov indicated Wednesday that there was no need for further efforts to identify the remains that authorities say are those of the warlord, whose body was blown apart in the blast. "We have not the slightest doubt that Basayev has been destroyed, which raises the question about the need of conducting identification," Ivanov told a news conference in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006
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#1
Czar Putty wants to also lick Shamil's dead tummy.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:37
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#3
this pic of Basayev is most likely not his death pic, as one of his hands are bandaged with 1st aid instruments in the back ground. It may be from a few years ago...
..that is unless the Russkies caught him alive. ^^^
#5
That pic is from somewhere else. Baseyev was reportedly decapitated from the explosion. I suspect a sympathetic explosion of explsives in the car he was riding. He would have been blown to shit.
Posted by: ed ||
07/13/2006 2:01
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#6
My I suggest sewing his remains into pig skins then your Pooty-poot-ness?
Even as the dead are still being counted in India's worst terrorist attack in more than a decade, suspicion has already fallen on Islamic terrorists though not al-Qaeda.
Actually, they're on my Suspicious list, behind Lashkar and Jaish and before the local commies.
India is home to a Muslim insurgency in Kashmir, and earlier in the day militants killed eight people and injured 30 in five separate bomb attacks in the capital, Srinagar. And while no one said those same insurgents carried out Tuesday's rush-hour train attacks in Bombay which police said killed at least 130 people and injured 260 security sources told TIME they suspected a shadowy alliance of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) working with indigenous Indian Muslims from the banned Student Islamic Movemement of India (SIMI).
SIMI's another ISI tool.
SIMI detonated a total of nine bombs in Bombay during the course of 2003, killing close to 80 people and injuring hundreds more. The same loose grouping of Islamic radicals are also suspected of being behind a series of attacks in India in the last year that included three blasts in New Delhi last October that killed 60 and three more in the holy Hindu city of Varanasi in March this year, which killed 20, as well as smaller attacks in Bangalore and Hyderabad.
Ajay Sahni of the Institute for Conflict Management in New Delhi said it was unlikely that there had been any trigger for the attacks. Rather this was an "ongoing war" against Hindu-majority India by South Asian Muslims. "It is a continuous process of preparing for attacks and carrying them out," he said. "When these people are able to bring something to fruition, they do it. The act itself is the objective. It says: 'We're here. And this is what we are going to do to you.'" In a paper published Monday, Institute research fellow Bibhu Prasad Routray warned that SIMI had been stepping up its operations in Bombay and the surrounding state of Maharashtra. He described several "SIMI strongholds" in the state, adding that the "seizure of 30 kilograms of RDX, 17 AK-47s and 50 hand grenades from Aurangabad and Malegaon [two Maharashtran towns] between May 9 and 12 and subsequent arrests of 11 LeT terrorists pointed to linkages between SIMI and the LeT."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006
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#2
During partition a large portion of the muslim elite opted for Pakistan. This included a significant proportion of muslim soldiers and officers, the professionals - doctors, lawyers etc, many businessmen.
This has skewed the socio-economic indicators of today's Indian muslims. They are now under-represented in the professions, the army etc, not because of any discrimination, but perhaps because the poorer muslims have not filled the vacancies left when their richer cousins migrated.
This hasn't stopped muslims from rising in the army (several Generals), or the professions, or business - the second richest Indian is Azam Premji, the founder of the Outsourcing IT company Wipro. The grandson of Jinnah is an Indian citizen, a wealthy industrialist in Bombay.
But it must have affected communities when the positive role models (like Musharraf's family) left.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 6:31
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The lack of muslim interest in conventional education, the reliance on madrassas for boys, the non-education of girls, has severly affected their employment chances.
A school leaving certificate is needed for entry to the army for enlisted men. Indian universities are very competitive - it is easier to get into an Ivy league US college than one of the Indian IITs.
This lack of education is not India specific. Statistics from the UK show that muslims are at the bottom of all educational rankings (right below afro-carribean boys). If third generation muslim immigrants from Pakistan, Bangladesh and India are all failing at school while their classmates from the same parts of India - but Hindu and Sikh - are topping the class then where is the problem?
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 6:39
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Exclusive information available with NDTV indicates that National Security Advisor told Cabinet Ministers that Pakistan's involvement was definite.
Investigators are searching for two men - Zabiuddin and Mohammad Faiyaz believed to be the masterminds in the attacks. The third suspect Rahil, an expert in forging passports was said to be running a travel agency on Grant Road in Mumbai.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 15:00
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Image released by Indian Police today of a man identified as Sayyad Zabiuddin. Indian authorities named two men as the first suspects in this week's train bombings
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 15:08
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(KUNA) -- Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki vowed Wednesday to track down terrorists and sectarian rebels in Iraq. A government statement issued today said that the Iraqi Prime Minister expressed his condolences to families of the 10 victims of terrorist acts yesterday. A group of civilians were attacked on their way back after burying a family member in the Najaf area graveyard. Al-Maliki said that Iraqi security forces will track down all individuals and groups who spark terrorism and sectarian violence in Iraq and hand them over to court for legal action. He condemned yesterday's incidents against individuals in Al-Dawra south Baghdad, as well and describes it as a gruesome crime.
Al-Maliki stressed that the government is focusing on stopping violence of all kinds, and tracking down all those involved in terrorism in Iraq, pointing out that kidnappings, murders, and attempts of invasion of small areas of the country are unacceptable. The Iraqi Parliament had condemned the acts yesterday and the violent incidents that have been taking place, calling upon security ministers of the government to hold talks with MPs on the recent developments.
Meanwhile in a speech before parliament, Al-Maliki today said that Iraq's security is not only the government's responsibility but also the Parliament and the people's collectively, and the MPs should not stand, watch, and criticize the government without action on their part. He also asserted security of the country takes priority over any financial or economic issues. Al-Maliki stressed that the security scheme executed in Iraq now and its success is his priority, expressing his confidence that Iraqi forces are fully capable of controlling the situation.
Al-Maliki said that the government plans to put together an investment law, pointing out that the Ministerial Council is to address the matter in its meeting tomorrow before presenting it to the Parliament. He added that an international conference is to be held in September to address Iraqi debts and the possibilities of aiding Iraq in re-constructing its infra-structure and continue its development projects. Al-Maliki pointed out that agreements have been made with world organizations to be lenient, cooperative, and considerate of the current political and security situation in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006
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He ain't no George Washington (who is?), but he does give a shit about a unified country.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 14:26
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DILI - East Timor prepared on Wednesday for the swearing-in of a new government as the tiny nation looked for a return to political order after deadly violence in May left it in disarray.
The new cabinet is to meet later the same day to discuss the 2006-7 budget. The last financial year ended on June 30 and lawmakers had already drafted a 315 million dollar budget -- the nations largest ever -- before Mari Alkatiri stepped down as premier last month.
Ahead of Wednesdays ceremony, President Xanana Gusmao met with political parties to discuss the agenda for the new government. Opposition lawmaker Antonius Ximenes said they also discussed the rebel troops, known as petitioners, whose desertion and subsequent sacking originally sparked the unrest, as well as a range of issues. We have opinions about important issues such as the 2006-2007 budget, the election laws, the case of the petitioners, and how to look after the refugees, Ximenes told reporters after the meeting.
He said all of East Timors political leaders should accept responsibility for the failure to deal with the rebels. The problem with the petitioners occured because of our arrogance, Ximenes conceded.
That twitched the surprise meter ...
Ahead of the meeting, Fernando de Araujo, leader of the Democratic Party, the largest of the opposition parties, had said he would warn Gusmao that his lawmakers did not want a cabinet dominated by Alkatiris ruling Fretilin party. Ramos-Horta has said the new government would not be substantially different from the outgoing administration. Fretilin holds 55 of the 88 seats in the parliament.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2006
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CHINA has batted the North Korean crisis back to Washington, implying that the US should lift financial sanctions against Kim Jong-il's regime. North Korea has been fuming since the US effectively froze $US24 million ($A32 million) in assets last November at the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao yesterday appeared to back the North Korean stance by saying that the US must first resolve the financial dispute with North Korea. "It's affecting the progress of the six-party talks and we hope it will be clarified and resolved as quickly as possible," Mr Liu said. "Specifically how to resolve it is something you will have to ask the American side."
Now we know exactly what's bothering lil' Kim.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006
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We also know who tugs the strings on little Kimmy
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:41
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Only $24 mil? Bush should have the money transferred to D.C. and hold a bonfire on the Mall...
#4
There are people who seem to believe that China is trying to help Uncle Sam out on North Korea, for one reason or another. One theory is that China doesn't want to be inundated with refugees if North Korea gets into serious trouble. This is really silly. The Chinese approach to refugee relief is minimalist - in fact, it looks a lot like the Chinese approach to domestic unrest - the refugees will have to fend for themselves. Those who make trouble will be shot out of hand. China isn't a tiny country - it can and, throughout history, has absorbed huge numbers of both foreign migrants and conquerors. China already has 2m ethnic Koreans in-country. A few million more won't make much of a difference in a continental-sized nation with a lower population density than Western Europe.
#5
China is only trying to help it's self out and damage the US and Japan if it can along the way. Washington DC needs to wake up to that fact and act accordingly. This crap of looking at China's populaton and seeing consumers of US based goods and services is a pipe dream. It always has been. North Korea's proliferation of missile and nuclear technology is a given if left to the Chinese who will profit by it politically, economiclly, and strategically.
#7
SPOD: This crap of looking at China's populaton and seeing consumers of US based goods and services is a pipe dream. It always has been.
I'm afraid that's wrong. China is a big consumer of American goods. The problem is that much of it doesn't show up in the trade balance. (Where it does show up is in the bottom line of American companies, large and small, that do business in China).
In 2001, Coca Cola racked up $1.2b of sales in China. Its annual sales in 2005 were $23b. And Coke's Chinese sales have grown roughly 20% a year since 2001. Which means its Chinese number is probably 10% of Coke's total 2005 sales. But this is not something that will show up in the trade figures. Because Coca Cola produces its beverages in China.
GM sold 665,000 cars in China in 2005. That's close to 2/3 of all of GM's sales in the Asia Pacific region, which includes Japan, Australia, Thailand, South Korea and Taiwan. This means that for GM, China was bigger than all the other Asian Pacific auto markets combined. Again, this is something that won't show up in the trade figures. Because GM makes its cars in China.
The above is why the relationship with China is going to require some balancing between strategic and commercial interests. On the one hand, it is a large market with huge growth potential, much like pre-war Japan relative to the rest of Asia. On the other hand, it presents a potential strategic threat, just like pre-war Japan, depending on the extent of its territorial ambitions.
#10
$24 Million, that chump change. If ol Kim is hurting to the point that 30 Million means something he is closer to collaps than we thought!I vote NO! Let's use the money to pay for all the wasted plane flights of all the diplomats trying to keep peace with him.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/13/2006 9:48
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It's the principle of the matter. Do you realize how many prostitute-days and bottles of Hennessy X.O. $24,000,000 will buy?
Posted by: Lil Kim ||
07/13/2006 9:58
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I'm sure it isn't the US$24 million that Kim wants, but the ability to use the bank to transfer assets unobserved. Without the Macau bank, he is reduced to barter and large ship-loads of cash.
(KUNA) -- The Lebanese government, which held an extraordinary session called for an urgent UN Security Council session to discuss the Israeli attacks against Lebanon. Minister of Information Ghazi Al-Aridi said that the government had no knowledge of Hezbollah's operation and cannot be held responsible for it or for any incidents on the international borders. The Lebanese government also condemned the Israeli continuous attacks against civilians and vital facilities, calling for holding an urgent Security Council session to discuss and handle such attacks. The government also expressed readiness to negotiate through the UN to handle the incidents on the borders and the reasons behind them.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006
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government ... cannot be held responsible ... for any incidents on the international borders.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Japan's draft UN resolution in response to North Korea's missile test firings contained "unacceptable elements", Interfax news agency reported. "Japan through its official representatives has announced that all countries have to vote as Japan wants, and warns that if this does not happen, they are threatened by some kind of negative consequences," he was quoted by Interfax as saying. "I think this is absolutely unacceptable."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006
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Talk is cheap and Moscow is a way long way from where the action is. Seems the Japanese are genuinely pissed off at the NORKs and not in a mood to be shined. I hope we back them fully.
#2
F*ck the Ruskies and ChiComs, time for a coaltion of the willing
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:38
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They don't call it the Useless Security Council for nothing.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/13/2006 7:00
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These discussions are fundamental in the long term to convincing Japan to build up its armed forces in order to counter the growing power of China as well as the NK threat. Every missile launched is another vote in the Diet.
#6
You know Puty, the last time the Russians pissed off the Japanese without the American's knocking at Tokyo's door [in care of LeMay's B-29s], they kicked your kister. And that was about Korea too. Just a reminder.
#7
Actually, CG, the USSR cleaned Japan's clock at Nomonhan in 1939. It was the most important battle you never heard of, since it convinced Japan not to join in with German in June 1941.
#8
Jackel, it cleaned the KMT [Japanese in composition] Army's clock. The Army was operating independent of the civilian government in Tokyo. In 1905, the Army worked for the government, not the other way around.
#9
I'll correct myself, the KMT was Chinese, but the Japanese Army in Manchuria and Mongolia was operating under the guise of the Manchurian puppet government it had set up to justify their actions in that area.
(KUNA) -- Amidst the ongoing Israeli military assault on Palestinian lands, a number of Palestinian factions retaliated Wednesday by launching rockets on Israeli targets. The military wings of Fatah, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said today in a joint statement that they launched two rockets at an Israeli military camp in Nahel Al-Ouz. The joint statement said that the Palestinian factions heard the rockets' explosions, after which the Israeli army abandoned the camp.
The statement said that "the operation was in retaliation to Zionist terrorism," stressing that they insist on resistance as a strategic option. The military wing of Islamic Jihad Movement said in a statement today that they launched a "Quds 3" missile at Migdal city. The statement cited Israeli military sources saying that the missile hit an Israeli military base in the city without resulting in any casualties.
Hamas military wing also announced responsibility of a Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG) that hit an Israeli tank north of Khan Yunus city. They said that the operation was in retaliation to Israel's aggression against Palestinian people in Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006
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Twenty-three Palestinians were killed, among them seven children from the same family, in multiple Israeli attacks in Gaza Wednesday in which a top Hamas militant leader was reportedly wounded.
Brave, brave Lion of Islam hiding amongst the kiddies again ...
The latest deaths came as Israel pushed a new offensive in the impoverished territory aimed at securing the release of a soldier captured more than two weeks ago and ending rocket attacks on the Jewish state.
They're "impoverished" becausee they spend all their money on arms and ammunition. Most of the able-bodied workforce seems to belong to their confusing gaggle of militias, splitting their time between blowing off rockets and going to funerals.
A total of 75 Palestinians have now been killed since Israel stepped up its massive ground assault into Gaza last Wednesday in a bid to secure the release of the missing teenage soldier and to halt rocket fire.
[Tap! Tap!] Still something wrong with this sympathy meter...
Nine Palestinians, including seven children from the same family, were killed and a Hamas militant leader was reportedly wounded in an air strike that destroyed the Gaza home of a political leader in the Islamist movement.
"Honey! Look who's here!"
"Why, if it isn't Mohammad Deif, the most wanted man in Paleostine! Come on in! Kids, come over here and meet Abu Deif!"
"Mom! Look at that air [KABOOM!] plane..."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006
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Paleos dish it out but can't take it. With any luck, Deif will die on the table
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:30
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This foolishness of splitting the "armed wing" from the "political wing" is a TRANZI invention that does not exist in reality. Hamas is Hamas armed or unarmed. They are all terrorists and clients of Iran and Shyria. IF the "aemed wing attacks" it's the same as the "political wing" attacking they are all fair game.
#5
Hey Paleos - with the exception of Joel Stein and Cindy Sheehan - nobody cares about your "plight" anymore. In fact the world is sick of you. You all got what you voted for: war against Israel.
Since you all seem hell bent on dying in your quest to wipe Israel off the map - go ahead and live out your fantasy....so to speak.
#6
[Tap! Tap!] Still something wrong with this sympathy meter...
No, it's fine. I had mine checked out just last week, and it's actually reading negative for the Palestinians.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/13/2006 7:47
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The Paleos have allowed Iran and Syria to be their biggest supporters. This has really ticked off Egypt and even the Saudi govt is keeping a distance (although a lot of individual skeihks are still donating).
#10
The Lions of Lebanon are getting whacked even as we type.
Unexpectedly (well for me anyway) they are now being bombed as well as the Paleos.
Let me just remember... Lions of Lebanon were the SAME ONES who rioted for 5 days after the Aussie Cronulla Riot. Australia has a healthy Hezbollah subset living in Lakemba-punchbowl (and surrounds) and who like Lakemba mosque a helluva lot.
So it's personal for me. Bomb the bejeebers out of the Hezbollah and then, just for good measure, carpet bomb the paleostonians.
Round them up, take their kalashnikovs away, give them all an identity card without which they travel nowhere and get no benefits.
then kick them out of Gaza - land for peace didn't work, so take the land back and give that nice beachside suburb (now complete with paleo landmines) back to the Israeli settlers.
What are your predictions Rantburgers, for how this will play out?
#11
Burn the Hizb'allah towns and bulldoze the remains. Put up warning signs that, thanks to Hizb'allah, any rebuilding will be destroyed.
Posted by: ed ||
07/13/2006 10:45
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Preceding comment was for the Lebanon thread, but worth applying in Gaza too.
Posted by: ed ||
07/13/2006 10:46
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Yup, terminal stupidity on the part of islamos. You thought you wanted this, now you got it. Sometimes the genie can't be put back in the bottle. Be careful what you wish for.
(KUNA) -- The Mumbai police Wednesday night said they have found a credible Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) link in Tuesday's serial blasts that killed 190 people and injured 625 in the city. "Evidence suggests the LeT has a strong link with the blasts," city police told reporters Wednesday evening, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported. "In January the police had unearthed Lashker's efforts to rebuild its terror network in Mumbai. The matter came to light with the arrest of three Kashmiri men with LeT links and a cleric," the police added.
Naturally there's a holy man involved...
They said: "The LeT module in Mumbai has developed a well-knit network of terror sleepers. In fact the Mumbai network has become the most lethal, with tentacles spread across the subcontinent." The Mumbai module was set up four years ago with the coming together of the LeT and local activists of the banned Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), the police claimed. "We may have had intelligence inputs on terror targets, but it is not always possible to pin down the outfits or learn the exact nature of their plans. Sometimes we are successful, at other times we are not," the police said. "The patterns of the blasts also point out the involvement of the SIMI in the blasts."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006
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DASKA: Five men charged with gang raping a woman nine years ago were hanged early on Wednesday morning at Sialkot jail, a prison official said. Sialkot jail superintendent Intizar Wali Khan identified the five men as: Mushtaq Ahmad alias Pappu, Shehzad Maseeh, Yusaf, Abdul Jabbar and Iftikhar Al.
He said that the men had on August 19, 1997 entered the house of local trader Muhammad Boota Mughal and raped his wife, Sarraya Bibi, at gunpoint before making off with valuables worth hundreds of thousands of rupees. Four of the attackers were residents of Daska city, while one, a Christian, was a Pasrur city resident. Relatives of the convicted men were allowed a final meeting with them at the jail on Tuesday. After the execution, the dead bodies were handed over to family members for burial. Prison officials said that this had been the first time that five people had been executed in one day at Sialkot.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006
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Very long, but good backgrounder. RTWT, if you have the time...
Two Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers were kidnapped and seven others were killed Wednesday in attacks on Israel's northern border by Hezbollah. Hezbollah's Al Manar TV station reported that the abduction occurred just after 9 a.m. and the soldiers were transferred to a safe location.
Just two days before the Hezbollah attacks, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said, while speaking about Israel on Iran News Network TV, It will not be long before this intense fury will lead to a huge explosion. Ahmadinejad has also said Israel should be wiped off the map and that the Holocaust was a myth.
The two soldiers were patrolling Israel's northern border Wednesday morning in armored jeeps when Hezbollah terrorists fired on the vehicles and detonated explosives nearby. Three other soldiers riding in the jeeps were killed in the attack. A senior Hezbollah official said that at least one of the kidnapped soldiers is still alive.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006
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This is all contrived. There's a reason AhMad wanted to delay responding to the Condi and the gang on the proposed "carrots and sticks".
Look for big festivities across region by late-August.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:32
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CA - I don't think Israel will wait until late August. I think they intend to punish Hezbollah (possibly Syria and Iran as well) NOW, and keep pounding them until they're all dead, or they agree to peace with Israel. Israel will NOT tolerate anyone kidnapping their citizens or their soldiers. Expect some heavy wet-works in Damascus, and even Asshat isn't immune. I don't think either the US or Israel will wait until August to get a response from Ahmadinnerjacket. We might see some Tomahawks flying by the end of this month, if Russia and China keep playing games in the UN. Bush has a nasty temper he keeps well in check, but his patience is not inexhaustable.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2006 17:35
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#3
IIRC a senior Israeli leader said back in
Feb. that we had 6 months to stop the Iranian nuclear program.
Feb = month 2. Add 6 = August
And that's not counting the mystical day 8/22 when the Mahdi reappears with a little help from what's-his-face ....
#4
If the IRG are launching missiles from Lebanon, The NKors are trying to hit Hawaii, all of this while the UNSC is talking about Iran and the G8 is meeting in Germany.
This will not wait until August. War is afoot.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 20:31
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#6
Is it confirmed that the IRG has launched missiles from Lebanon? I read flyover quoting Jane Harmon to that effect, but I have seen nothing else. Is this true? Why is there nothing on it anywhere? Seems like a big deal to me.
I wasn't very explicit in my earlier post. The Hamas/Hezbol have been planned for months. AhMad has a timeline that will suck Israel into Syria. He has just today set the marker, saying an Israeli intrusion into Syria will be construed as an invasion of Irant.
Rather than the "limited" response by Israel into Leb, this will eventually evolve into a region wide conflict by mid-August. The US will be compelled to act against Iran due to (1) an escalation of their involvement in Iraq and (2) Iran coming to the aid of Syria.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 21:46
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#9
Jeeze Louise! This is Mordor on the march. And I'm not joking. The US and Israel need to pull from our inner strength. Maybe Australia, too. It is time to confront the aptly named Axis of Evil and bring it down. First stop Hizb'Allah in Lebanon. Then Syria. If they are neutralized, Iran is isolated, and Kimmie, in turn gets on shaky ground.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/13/2006 21:57
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#10
"inner strength" being = to superior firepower and support from the overwhelming true patriots at home
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/13/2006 22:12
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Lebanese Premier Fouad Siniora's Cabinet distanced itself from Hizbullah's cross-border attack against Israel and said the Lebanese government does not condone it. "The government was not aware of and does not take responsibility for, nor endorses what happened on the international border," Siniora said after an emergency Cabinet meeting.
Can't get away from it, Fod. If they're a legal organization within Leb and a part of the government you either condone what they've done or you've got to condemn it and shut them down. They've set it up for you so there's no middle ground.
Siniora, however, condemned Israeli "aggressive" retaliation and said his government would call for a UN Security Council meeting.
Obfuscate as you will, most states will retaliate for acts of war.
He said Lebanon's government, which is dominated by anti-Syrian factions but also contains two Hizbullah ministers, was willing to mediate a solution to the crisis and urged the Security Council to intervene. "We opposed the phrase that said the government does not condone the operation," said Labor Minister Tarrad Hamade, who is close to Hizbullah.
They either condone it or they don't. If they do condone it, they've got to accept the consequences.
#4
They could start by giving Israel back it's soldiers.
That would get the ball rolling.
Instead of going around the UN trying to find someone to feel sorry for them. What's the UN gonna do anyway? Put sanctions on Israel in 5 years, that they wont enforce anyway?
#5
What? Southern Lebanon? Heh?
You mean the new Northern Israel, CA? Take it, cleanse it, and keep it. Line up some 175mm Long Toms and shell Sidon until it's a mile-deep crater. Make sure Ein-el-hellhole is in line to catch the shorts.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2006 21:44
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BAGHDAD - Iraqi security forces said they had found the bodies of 20 bus drivers who had been kidnapped north of Baghdad earlier on Wednesday. Police had put the number of bus drivers kidnapped in Miqdadiya, 100 km (60 miles) northeast of the capital at 12, but Major General Ahmed al-Awad said 20 bodies had been found after gunmen snatched a group of drivers from a station.
Awad told state television that security forces released three kidnap victims during a search operation. The terrorists fled to a nearby village and we found 20 bodies. The bodies were those of the bus drivers, he told Iraqiya.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/13/2006
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What's the beef with bus drivers from kiz sakes.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:20
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#3
From KUNA reports it looks like these were the bodies of most of the men abducted by (presumably) Shia terror squads at a bus stop (rather than drivers at a station), where all the men present were detained, had ID's inspected, and the Shia among them abducted, and later murdered.
Pakistan Muslim League Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Sayed on Wednesday said that the issue of the Hudood Ordinance would be discussed by the parliament next month and that a consensus decision would be made.
Addressing a seminar on the issue of "Repeal Hudood Ordinance", organised by the NGO, Action Aid, Mushahid said that the government wants to take the decision with the cooperation of other political parties. He appreciated the role of NGOs and the media for creating a momentum and hoped that they would continue to contribute positively. Mushahid said that the Council of Islamic Ideology (CII), headed by Dr Khalid Masood, has already looked into it and presented its recommendations.
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Japan remains firmly behind its U.N. Security Council draft resolution to impose sanctions on North Korea, despite France's proposed compromise this week, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said Wednesday. "As far as Japan is concerned, we basically will seek adoption of the resolution," Abe told reporters.
French Ambassador to the U.N. Jean Marc de la Sabliere issued a statement Tuesday saying the Security Council could take a "two-step approach" to North Korea's missile launches last week. France is proposing to first adopt a "very strong" presidential statement and then, depending on developments, discuss a resolution.
France is one of the countries that agreed to the Japan-proposed resolution. Other backers include the U.S., Britain, Greece, Denmark, Slovakia and Peru. France's move appears to be aimed at easing tension between China, which wants a nonbinding U.N. presidential statement on North Korea, and Japan and the U.S., which seek stronger action.
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#1
Ah, yes, the ole weasel "two-step"
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:39
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Six people including two militants were killed in violence in Afghanistan on Wednesday. A market bombing in a southern border town killed two men while a suicide attack on a US military convoy in the east claimed the life of a child in the latest violence to sweep Afghanistan, officials said. Afghan officials also reported heavy fighting on Tuesday after militants attacked a patrol by provincial security forces in eastern Khost province, near the Pakistan border, and that a large number of militants died.
An upsurge in attacks by Taliban forces since the spring has triggered the deadliest fighting since the militias ouster from power in late 2001. The US-led coalition has launched a major offensive in the volatile south, killing hundreds of militants in the past two months, including an estimated 70 militants fighters since Monday.
On Wednesday, a bomb planted in a fruit cart exploded in a crowded market in the Kandahar provincial town of Spin Boldak, about one kilometre from the Pakistani border. Area police chief Haji Abdul Wasay said two male civilians were killed and eight other people wounded.
Meanwhile, a suicide attacker in a car detonated a bomb near a US military convoy 25 kilometres east of Khost city, killing a boy who was playing nearby and wounding three other children, said Khost Governor Merajuddin Pathan. Two American soldiers were slightly wounded in the attack, which occurred at about 10am in Yaqoobi district, he said. The bomber also died.
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MUZAFFARABAD: Unofficial results of the elections to the Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Wednesday showed the AJK Muslim Conference (MC) having emerged victorious, although with several cabinet ministers defeated in the polls, AP reported on Wednesday. The MC won 20 of the 41 contested constituencies, said Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Riaz Akhtar Chaudhry, citing unofficial results from polling stations. The commission still has to verify the results, which will be officially announced on Thursday.
The Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Azad Kashmir was trailing with seven seats, the Peoples Muslim League was set to win four seats, independent candidates won six seats, the Muttahida Qaumi Movement two and the Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Party one seat, Sheikh said. The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) fielded 33 candidates in the elections and all of them lost.
Sheikh said that voting in one constituency (LA-33) had been postponed because of allegations of rigging. PPP AJK President Ishaq Zafar said that there had been some rigging at polling stations outside Muzaffarabad. The results are unclear as there is no clear majority for any party and we could have a hung parliament and a coalition government, he said. The newly elected lawmakers will vote later to fill eight other seats five of them reserved for women in the 49-member Kashmir legislature. The Muslim Conference, which supports Kashmirs merger with Pakistan, currently has 33 seats in the legislature.
Govt rigged AJK elections: MMA
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) on Wednesday claimed that the federal government and agencies have sabotaged the Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) elections. MMA Deputy Secretary General Liaqat Baloch demanded that the government declare the elections null and void and form a government in AJK, representing all political parties.
That way the fundos get some seats even though they didn't win any. Cheeze, they're transparent...
#1
Sarna said the situation in Gilgit and Baltistan was even worse where there was no semblance of representation. Elections are never held in this area and residents dont enjoy the basic right to vote, he said.
'cause the population is shia muslim.
Retired Pak army officers and fuedal punjabis have been granted land in Pak Kashmir and habe changed the demographic character of the state.
It is now finally safe enough for Pak to run elections here, though not yet in Gilgit region.
Pak runs tours for internal media of 'camps' where displced 'kashmiris' live.
During one tour an Indian journalist was present. A woman tearfully related a story of sons being killed, of being raped by Indian soldiers.
She said all this is perfect chaste Urdu. When the journalist questioned her in Kashmiri, she did not understand.
Posted by: john ||
07/13/2006 7:01
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PARIS (AP) - Six former inmates of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, insisted Wednesday on their innocence in closing arguments of their trial in Paris on charges of links to terrorism.
The trial has focused as much on the U.S. prison camp - roundly condemned by France and many other countries - as on the terror charges. Even prosecutor Sonya Djemni-Wagner requested unexpectedly light sentences for the men Tuesday after taking into account their ``arbitrary detention'' at Guantanamo.
You begin to wonder if this is the whole point of the trial ...
``To convict them would be to legitimize Guantanamo,'' defense lawyer Dominique Many said Wednesday. Paul-Albert Iweins, another defense lawyer, called the prison ``a system put in place to attack their dignity and their most sacred values.''
Most sacred values include killing infidels and blowing stuff up ...
Many said the suspects had been attracted to Afghanistan by a religious ``ideal'' well before the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. ``There was not a question of terrorism,'' he said.
"Non, non, certainement pas!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Doesn't matter what this scum is guilty of. It's "the world" v. Gitmo
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:43
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DUBLIN - A young woman was recovering in hospital on Wednesday after being mauled by a tiger at Dublin Zoo.
Tigers -- why do they regard us as food?
Because we're crunchy and taste good with ketchup
The woman and a man, believed to be in their late teens or early 20s, scaled several safety barriers on Tuesday afternoon in an attempt to reach three Siberian tigers in their compound, and finally reached a heavy-mesh fence next to the animals.
"Hey Liam, Kate, hold our ales and watch this!"
She pushed her hand through and the tiger reacted as any tiger would and bit her, a zoo spokeswoman said. After receiving first aid, the woman was rushed to hospital by ambulance and underwent emergency surgery on her arm.
She'll be forever known as 'Lefty Linda' in the Irish drinking ballads ...
I think she was quite lucky to be able to pull back because normally tigers hold on, said zoo director Leo Oosterweghel. The couple were carrying alcohol in soft drink bottles, so we can make the assumption their judgment was impaired, he added.
Leo talks like he's seen this once or twice in his life ...
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normally tigers hold on
Tiger: "This doesn't taste like chicken!!! Phooey!!!"
#3
The woman and a man, believed to be in their late teens or early 20s, scaled several safety barriers on Tuesday afternoon in an attempt to reach three Siberian tigers in their compound, and finally reached a heavy-mesh fence next to the animals.
Probably a follower of Princeton U professor Peter Singer and the Animals Are People Too Movement!
Tigers, why don;t they like us?
A. Global Warming
B. Hunting
C. President Bush
D. American Idol
E. Starbucks
F. All of the Above
BAGHDAD - Iraqi troops plan to take over security in the southern city of Samawa following the withdrawal of Japanese troops on Thursday, a security source said on Wednesday. The Japanese troops were first deployed in February 2004. Except for sporadic protests over high rates of unemployment and lack of basic services, Samawa is a relatively secure zone undisturbed by the sectarian violence that has escalated across the rest of Iraq.
Thank you, Japan.
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The world's largest Viking ship will sail from Denmark to Norway next week, but it's too big to navigate its way into the Oslo Fjord.
"Øøpsië."
The upcoming voyage of the Havhingsten will thus end at Tønsberg, about a 90-minute drive south of the capital but a city rich in its own Viking history.
Norway's two original Viking ships, the Gokstad and Oseberg vessels, were themselves excavated in areas not far from Tønsberg. The Danish vessel, at a length of 30 meters, is bigger than both of them, and needs plenty of room to navigate with its single sail and oarsmen.
"The vessel was supposed to sail to Oslo, but it would have been a terribly long and difficult rowing effort to get it in the fjord," Knut Paasche of the Viking Ships Museum in Oslo told newspaper Aftenposten. "To cross such a large ship with the help of a sail against the wind in narrow waters isn't simple. That's why we opted for Tønsberg."
It took four years to build the Havhingsten in oak, modelled as closely as possible on archaeological findings that the Danes have made in their own Rosekilde fjord. It was built using ancient principles and the types of tools available in the 11th century, and was christened by Denmark's Queen Margrethe in September 2004.
The vessel has room for 60 oarsmen. Its sail is made of linen and measures 118 square meters. It will have a crew of 65 on board when it arrives in Tønsberg on July 21, many of whom will be relieved by other oarsmen for the return voyage to Denmark.
The unique vessel will test the waters of the North Sea on its way home, part of efforts to determine its seaworthiness for a planned expedition to Dublin via the Orkney Islands next year. The ship on which the Havhingsten was modelled was built there in 1042.
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#5
Speaking as a native of the British Isles I find this action deeply insensitive and hurtful. Have they no idea how successful generations of pagan celts suffered under the violent and racist policies of the vikings? This sabre rattling by the Danes and Norweigans will not go unpunished - Oh stand firm you peace-loving celts and the victory day will be yours.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
07/13/2006 5:08
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#6
Yep, we (speaking as an ex-brit) want that Danegeld back with interest.
#9
Somebody once did a contest for an alternate ending to The Immigrant Song, that wasn't so wimpy. They quickly discovered that Norse words are a mother to rhyme.
#10
The 747 of the Viking era? More vikings tourists per passenger load to chase the local gals, pick up the shiny trinkets, and generally make pests of themselves from England, to France, to sunny Sicily. At least they didn't wear Hawaiian shirts, shorts, and sandals.
#12
Howard UK,
Well, if one of us feels badly, then we must all feel badly as all moral authority is seeded in political corectness.
Send the 5 members of the current generation of Pagen Celts to the pitch, and round up 5 members of Viking heritage (boys named Olav,Hoken etc) and settle this thing the civilized way- 5 penalty kicks. If that ends in a tie, we go to sudden death.
We could even televise this thing with all proceeds going to the United Nations.
#15
I wonder how long the one the Danes used to get to their trading camp on the Nene River was? It was about 40 miles from the current Wash, but was supposedly only about 15 miles upriver during the 11th Century.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2006 18:37
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#16
I agree Phil & Howard. We need to demand our reparations!! All Norsemen today should pay for what happened 1100 years ago to our ancestors, it's only fair! Diflin was the slave name for Dublin afterall.
World powers agreed today to send Iran back to the UN Security Council for possible punishment, saying the country has given no sign it means to negotiate seriously over its disputed nuclear programme. The United States and other permanent members of the powerful UN body said Iran has had long enough to say whether it will meet the worlds terms to open bargaining that would give Tehran economic and energy incentives in exchange for giving up suspicious activities. We have no choice but to return to the Security Council and continue the process suspended two months ago, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said after talks in Paris with counterparts from the United States, Britain, Russia, China and Germany.
The meeting came on the day of an informal deadline for Iran to respond to an international package of incentives in exchange for suspending nuclear enrichment. Irans chief negotiator indicated yesterday that his country was in no hurry to respond. The Iranians have given no indication at all that they are prepared to engage seriously on the substance of our proposals, said a statement read by Douste-Blazy. Any real punishment or coercion at the Security Council is a long way off, but the group said it will seek an initial resolution requiring Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment.
Posted by: Fred ||
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And the wheel goes round and round, where it stops, everybody knows (no where)
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:58
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LUXEMBOURG: A top European court on Wednesday threw out challenges by two terror suspects to freezes on their assets imposed in a global clampdown on people linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Chafiq Ayadi, a Tunisian national resident in Ireland, and Faraj Hassan, a Libyan national detained in a British jail, had complained that the freezes on their bank accounts and assets infringed their rights and asked for them to be annulled. But the Luxembourg-based European Court of First Instance ruled that European Union authorities had the competence to impose such a sanction to fight terrorism. "Such a measure does not infringe the universally recognised fundamental rights of the human person," the court said in a statement.
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Amazing. They must have spent the money already.
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A suspected pro-Taliban militant was killed when a grenade he was handling went off at a religious school, a security official said on Wednesday.
Giving a class, was he? I hate it when that happens.
The man identified as Abdul Rahman died and two companions were wounded when the grenade's pin was accidentally removed, the official said requesting anonymity. The incident took place in the town of Jandola which borders the restive South Waziristan tribal district.
"Thou shalt not stoppeth at two, but proceedth directly to three. To three shall thou counteth, and the number to which thou shalt count shall be three. Five is right out ..."
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Is it my imagination or are we seeing more and more "work accidents" lately?
#8
Does this mean the "religious school" will have to order more grenades?
At Catholic school those nuns did enough damage with those steel edged rulers. I shudder to think what they could do with a grenade.
#12
" Brave Lions, this is how we deal with Infidels. These are the latest delivery from China and are 50% more destructive then the older series. You can kill hundreds of infidels with each of these beuatiful grenades. Just approach a crowded market, then pull this pin, like this, and..."
An Israeli air strike destroyed the office of Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar on Thursday in an attack that signaled Israel would pursue its Gaza offensive while fighting along a second front in Lebanon. No one was hurt in the night-time raid on the Foreign Ministry building in Gaza City, Palestinian security officials said. Israel killed at least 24 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including nine members of one family in an air strike that destroyed a house where the army said senior Hamas commanders were meeting.
"This is state terrorism against the Palestinian people," Foreign Ministry spokesman Taher al-Nunu said about the latest attack. An Israeli military spokeswoman in Tel Aviv confirmed the air strike and said the ministry was used by the governing Hamas group to further the movement's activities.
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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert blamed Lebanon for a Hezbollah attack on Israel he said was ``war-like'' and called for a ``painful and far-reaching'' response. Israeli troops entered Lebanon, the daily Haaretz reported, as an army spokeswoman said a call-up of reservists was on the agenda. The military action came after the armed Hezbollah group said on its Web site it captured two Israeli soldiers. The army said there was a ``heavy suspicion'' that two soldiers were abducted. Olmert called an emergency cabinet meeting for later today to decide on further military action in Lebanon. ``The murderous attack this morning was not a terrorist act, it was a war-like act by the state of Lebanon against Israel in its sovereign territory,'' he said at a press conference in Jerusalem.
The escalation in the north threatened wider Mideast military confrontation 15 days into Israel's incursion into the Gaza Strip to win the release of an Israeli soldier abducted on June 25 and to halt Palestinian rocket attacks on southern Israel. Olmert said that the Hezbollah attack would be responded to in ``an unequivocal manner that will be very painful and far- reaching against those who initiated it.''
Israeli aircraft fired missiles into Lebanon after Hezbollah launched rockets that hit northern towns, wounding several soldiers and civilians, the army said. Defense Minister Amir Peretz said Israel was holding Lebanon responsible for the fate of the missing soldiers Hezbollah claimed to hold. ``The Lebanese government must take determined and immediate action to find the soldiers, prevent their being hurt, and ensure their return to Israel,'' he said in a statement issued by phone from his office.
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Posted by: Fred ||
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Might as well chase this dog through Lebanon and into Syria
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:35
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#5
Olmert is making a much better response than I expected. I hope he carries on. If these dupes reinforce from Syria, et al., I think we ought to jump in with materiel or whatever to make certain they can stand their ground.
#6
We have a score or our own to settle with Hizb'allah. 242 Marines killed in Beiruit. The leadership needs to be taken out. It is also time for Syria to feel hurt. They are the ones enabling this madness against Israel.
People like Adminadejad, Pencil Neck, and Kimmie need to be dealt with decisively, otherwise we get in a mess like what is happening to us and Israel now.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/13/2006 11:55
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#7
I don't think withdrawing from Gaza was a mistake. It was an object lesson to Europe and the rest of the whining world that nothing Israel does will ever be enough, and the Palestinians will always miss any opportunity they're given. Now is the time to totally crush them, push them into Egypt or Syria, and say that any further actions against the united state of Israel (from central Lebanon to the Sinai [maybe further, if Egypt starts playing games]and Eilat, from the Jordan to the Med.) will result in a capital or two glowing for a thousand years.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/13/2006 17:39
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#8
OP---This Gaza thing was a strategic withdrawl. You are right. The Paleos failed the Final Exam. If Egypt has it's sh!t together, they better stay the hell out of the conflict, and let the losers lose. The Egyptians have some scores to settle with Al Q, too. The terrorists are determined to wreck the tourist industry in Egypt, one of the few real industries that Egypt has.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/13/2006 22:12
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#9
Gaza was not a mistake. Sharon's stroke was devastating. Olmert flunked his test in responding to Gaza. Now he's overreacting. Hezbollah flunked by misinterpreting Gaza and getting greedy. I wonder how long it will be before the Guns of August II comes out.
ISLAMABAD: Differences between Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal President Qazi Hussain Ahmed and Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman still persist and the formers decision to collect the resignations of Jamaat-e-Islami parliamentarians amounts to distrust in the MMA Supreme Council, an MMA leader said on Wednesday.
Qazi Hussain collected the resignations as JI chief, when he should have taken such a decision as the MMA president, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, MMA deputy secretary general, told reporters here. Qazi Hussain should have asked all MMA legislators to give him their resignations to use against the government, Hafiz Hussain said. During the upcoming meeting of the Supreme Council, we will request both leaders not to make their differences public and resolve them in the Supreme Council.
About the Alliance for the ARDs threat to impeach President Musharraf and move a no-confidence motion against Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, Hafiz Hussain said this decision would strengthen military dictatorship. If the ARD goes only for the impeachment of the president, the MMA will support the ARD, he said. He said the ARD leadership had not taken the MMA into confidence on this issue. The MMAs position on this would be decided in the Supreme Council meeting. He said that the ARD had fixed a July 31 deadline to start a protest campaign against the government but had not announced its strategy. He said the MMA had already announced its schedule of protests in major cities. He said the ARD leadership had been invited to participate in these gatherings.
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Six tourists were wounded on Wednesday in a fresh grenade attack in Indian Kashmir, a day after militants killed nine tourists in the insurgency-racked region. "Three tourists from New Delhi and three others (from Indian Kashmir) have been wounded in a grenade attack" in the resort town of Gulmarg, a police spokesman said.
The grenade was hurled as the tourists boarded a bus, the spokesman said in Srinagar, the scene of five grenade attacks targeting tourist vehicles and holiday areas on Tuesday. "They are being shifted to a Srinagar hospital," the police spokesman said, adding one was in critical condition.
One of the tourists hurt in the Srinagar attacks died in hospital to take the death toll to nine, doctors said. Seven of the dead were from India's West Bengal state while two were from Bihar. Some 39 people were hurt in Tuesday's blasts.
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The U.S. ambassador to Iraq has described sectarian violence as the main threat to stability and, warning of the global risk from an Iraqi civil war, said the government must act to curb it within six months.
Zalmay Khalilzad, in a speech in Washington on Tuesday, also cautioned fellow Americans that a hasty withdrawal could plunge Iraq into civil war and insisted U.S. political leaders must not block offers of amnesty to insurgents who have killed American soldiers if hopes of national reconciliation are to succeed.
"A year ago, terrorism and the insurgency against the Coalition and the Iraqi security forces were the principal sources of instability," he said. "Violent sectarianism is now the main challenge ... It is imperative for the new Iraqi government to make major progress in dealing with this challenge in the next six months."
We'd like to see progress in six months. But we don't dare draw a line in the sand. Six months or six more years, what matters is that the militias are brought under control, the Sunnis figure out that violence isn't going to get them back into power, and that the furriner jahadis are run off. Oh, and Tater gets mashed.
Khalilzad cited as reason for Americans to be "strategically optimistic" about Iraq the increased political engagement of the Sunni Arab minority previously dominant under Saddam Hussein and what he called a significant weakening of al Qaeda in Iraq. "At the same time, the terrorists have adapted to this success by exploiting Iraq's sectarian fault line," he said.
"The central goal," he said, of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's reconciliation plan to bridge that divide was to bring Sunni insurgents into politics -- a process that would require former guerrillas to be given amnesty from prosecution.
"Some in the United States reacted negatively to the concept of granting amnesties," Khalilzad said of strong comments by U.S. senators that killers of Americans must be pursued. "We will work with Iraqi leaders to find the right balance between reconciliation and accountability ... There will not be a double standard that grants amnesty to those who killed soldiers in the Coalition but not to those who killed Iraqis."
That's the problem every time you transition from war to peace. At some point you let go of the small stuff and figure out how to make things work, while ensuring that the people who were the worst are punished for that.
Addressing Americans, the ambassador cautioned against pressure in Washington to bring troops home, saying it risked sparking a Sunni-Shi'ite sectarian war across the Middle East's oilfields and an ethnic separatist war involving the Kurds.
"A precipitous Coalition departure could unleash a sectarian civil war, which inevitably would draw neighbouring states into a regional conflagration that would disrupt oil supplies," he said. "It could also result in al Qaeda taking over part of Iraq ... This would make the past challenge of al Qaeda in Afghanistan look like child's play."
The Afghan-born Khalilzad, whom some majority Shi'ite leaders accuse of favouring his fellow Sunni Muslims as he tries to mediate, also said Iraq should curb "excesses" in the process of de-Baathification. Many Sunnis feel they are unfairly barred from office for having worked under Saddam's Baath party regime. Also important for quelling Sunni unrest, he said, would be making good on promises to review the constitution drawn up last year in a process largely boycotted by Sunni leaders.
Iraq's neighbours should help in the process, he added, while Syria and Iran need to stop destabilising the country.
The Syrian contribution might come to a swift and unexpected end in the near future ...
"If Iran persists in its unhelpful actions, the Iraqi government, as well as the United States and other friends of Iraq, will need to consider necessary measures," Khalilzad said.
#2
I'd encourage the Kurds to apply pressue in the N of Iran AND Syria. And find a way to aid the Arab rebels in coastal Iran. Dictatorships are far less resilient when it comes to dealign with geurilla forces.
#7
Zalmay Khalilzad is just hedging his 'bets' on intuitions he knows "W" won't do! The troops are not going to leave Iraq until "W" leaves office with the next President's 'Decree'. If a coastal clearing city destroying storms like Katrina and Rita and others couldn't pull the troops back home in the recovery effort, then anything short of a nuclear detonation on US soil won't bring our guys home either!!!
#9
Let's see, 40 or so per day per side...carry the 3...minus....ah, I'd say about 185 days or so and we'll be down to eleven year olds as head of household. So, let's put a deadline on it.
Six months.
Four top commanders of Brahamdagh Bugti, the second-in-command of armed Bugti tribesmen, surrendered to the government on Wednesday along with 40 armed men, government sources claimed. "Those who surrendered include the top commanders Jumma Khan, Wadera Ali Gul, Rahim Khan and Ali Murad, and some 40 other tribesmen," the government official said, adding that their weapons had been seized.
However, sources in Nawab Akbar Bugti's Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) rejected the official claims, saying the men were not Bugti loyalists. "They were some miscreants involved in some other crimes. Now the government wants to brand them as Bugti tribesmen in order to defame us," said the JWP source.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Well, let's get it straightened out before I mess up my score card.
Countries like Pakistan and Iraq should pass laws requiring gun registration. Then, when the police or some army finds a gun which is not registered, the holder of that particular weapon sits in the corner for a decade or so. Maybe the UN will adopt such a stance.
What am I smokin ?
Gunmen hunt down civilians in Mosul (KUNA) -- A number of Iraqi civilians were killed on Wednesday in violent acts in Mosul, northern Iraq. An Iraqi Police source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that unknown gunmen killed three Shiite Kurds in Ansar neighborhood. The source added that insurgents also gunned down a medical worker, noting that the gunmen showered the victim with bullets in Zahra neighborhood, killing him and another civilian instantly.
Meanwhile, severe clashes erupted between Iraqi police and army forces on one side and gunmen on the other in Sukkar neighborhood. A gunman was killed and another was wounded, who was detained by Iraqi security forces. The security source said that the Iraqi Police arrested three armed groups this week, noting that the arrested gunmen revealed serious information and admitted committing a number of crimes. The source added that 19 dead bodies were found in several areas in Mosul this week.
Iraqi military kills, arrests 47 armed men in different parts of country
(KUNA) -- Iraqi Ministry of Defense said wednesday that its forces have killed and arrested 47 armed men in the last 24 hours in several parts of the country. A statement from the Iraqi ministry said forces from the eighth and tenth regiments were able to kill two armed men south of Al-forat River in mid Iraq. "Police checkpoints had 683 Iraqi patrolling vehicles who made the arrest of 45 people in cities of Baghdad, Mosul, and Ramadi", statement added.
Iraqi police discovers 20 bodies
(KUNA) -- Iraqi police said Wednesday that the bodies of 20 individuals, out of 25 persons that were kidnapped by insurgents, were found in Dayala province. Speaking to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Iraqi police sources said the individuals were abducted in north-eastern Baghdad's Al-Miqdadiya district. Earlier on Wednesday, insurgents took over a bus stop, sorted through the travelers' identification cards to distinguish Sunnis from the Shiites, and then abducted the Shiite men.
Armed cell's leader arrested W.Iraq
(KUNA) -- Multi National Forces (MNF) announced here on Wednesday that an armed cell's leader was arrested west of Iraq by the Iraqi police. Iraqi forces raided three separate targets out of Abu Ghraib town. The terrorist cell's leader and one of his henchmen were arrestd in a house without getting into armed engagements, MNF statement said. The detainee is responsible for planting explosive devices and training on how to use them, blowing up booby-trapped vehicles and launching RPG attacks.
Insurgents separate travelers by sect, kidnap 25 Shiites
(KUNA) -- Sectarian violence continues in Iraq as armed militants kidnapped at least 25 Shiite citizens in Al-Miqdadiya, north eastern Baghdad. The insurgents besieged a bus stop, sorted through the traveler's identification cards to identify the Sunnis' from the Shiites', and then abducted the Shiite men. This incident happened at 6:15 a.m. this morning.
In other news, Iraqi police freed a kidnapped person and arrested seven of his kidnappers during a routine stop at a checkpoint in eastern Baghdad. The police also confiscated four cars and large amounts of weapons.
A booby-trapped car exploded, Wednesday morning, killing one person and wounding four. The blast happened about 200 meters away from the Iraq Finance Ministry in Al-Waziriya junction, northern Baghdad. The explosion ripped the parked car and caused material damage in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/13/2006
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Just before the killing Monday of the Chechen guerrilla Shamil Basayev, the pro-Kremlin prime minister of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, was ridiculing the strength of the rebel forces that at one time fielded tens of thousands of men to battle Russian forces in two brutal wars. Basayev, said Kadyrov, had only 20 men. Another leader of the guerrillas, Doku Umarov, has 13 fighters. And, Kadyrov said, there are 60 to 70 foreign mercenaries operating in Chechnya.
Even allowing for exaggeration, Kadyrov's mocking of the insurgents reflects an essential truth. The Chechen separatist movement has been severely weakened. Chechen forces loyal to Moscow, many of them former rebels, now control much of the territory in the republic, which tried to break away from Russia in the early 1990s. The Kremlin has turned much of the governance and policing of Chechnya over to Kadyrov, the son of a former rebel and Chechen president who was assassinated on Basayev's order in 2004. And Kadyrov has coaxed hundreds of fighters out of the hills and into his paramilitary formation, which has been blamed by human rights groups for hundreds of murders and disappearances in a ruthless drive to stamp out extremism.
Chechnya, over the last two years, has been the site of less and less serious fighting. "There is no war there today," Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week. "There are outbreaks of terrorism there but no war. All law enforcement issues, 80 to 90 percent, are dealt with primarily by the law enforcement agencies of the Chechen Republic, which are almost 100 percent manned by Chechen residents."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
This is categorically impossible. We've been told so often that fighting terrorists makes more terrorists that we must, must I tell you, believe it. So many well intentioned peaceniks cannot be so very, very wrong. If there is a military solution to jihadism, then Iraq would not necessarily be the hopeless quagmire we all know it to be. If war can end terrorism, then Bush may not be the worst President ever and the Chimpy McDeathiburton character every right thinking person can plainly see he is.
Therefore, Basayev must still be alive and the Chechen resistance stronger than ever. It's the only possible way to avoid a particularly unpleasant bout of cognitive dissonance.
Does anybody know where I can get some industrial gauge tin foil? I need a bigger hat.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
07/13/2006 1:27
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#2
Try the extra heavy duty Reynolds Wrap.......
As for Basayev......I hope Putin puts his head on a pike in his front yard and takes it to the G-8 with him.
I say its all natural selection.......the dumb one die and the smart ones see the dumb ones die and decide that jihad is NOT the growth industry its all cranked up to be.
Just remember this, the only way to defeat terror is terror. The Chechnyans are using terror (human rights violations to you limp wristed lefties out there) to make the separatists very uncomfortable.
AND BTW why do they continue to call a bunch of Muslim extremist goons "separatists" they were trying to establish an AQ base in Russia and put in a Taliban style government/culture. I think the revelations of what the Taliban did in Afghanistan have done a lot to turn some of the more westernized muslim populations OFF to that Gigg.
On a side note, do you suppose that the IDF's kicking a$$ in Gaza and Southwest Iran(Lebanon)will have the same chilling effect on Hezbollah?
Hamas???
AQ?
Wednesday's capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hizbullah and the subsequent explosion of violence triggered a wave of reactions from around the world. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert described the abductions as an "act of war" and warned that his country's retaliation would be "very painful."
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for the release of the two Israeli soldiers, but he also "unreservedly" condemned the Israeli incursion into Lebanese territory that followed. Annan also urged both sides to protect civilians, adding that "the maiming of unarmed civilians is terrorism pure and simple, whatever the cause."
Speaking to reporters following a meeting with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, Annan's personal representative for South Lebanon, Geir Pedersen said that "Hizbullah's action escalates the already tense situation ... and is an act of very dangerous proportions; this is not in Lebanon's interest. It highlights again the need for decisions relating to peace and war to be taken by the government and for it to exercise its monopoly on the use of force from its territory."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Annan also urged both sides to protect civilians, adding that "the maiming of unarmed civilians is terrorism pure and simple, whatever the cause."
Kofi is a useless arse. Civilians are sometimes hurt or killed in war, and that does not make the military terrorists. Without doubt, French civilians were killed on D-Day yet Ike was no terrorist. Civilians died at Vicksburg, yet Grant is not Osama. You would have to actively ignore the entire history of human conflict not to get the difference.
If terrorism is to have any meaning, it is the intentional targeting of non-combatants. That seems a basic notion for such a great statesman to miss. Yet, the larger imperative is always to condemn Israel, or the West generally but mostly Israel, no matter how intellectually vapid one must make oneself appear. The appeal is to prejudice, not reason. It's not like the UN is accountable to anybody anyway.
The UN will remain useless and irrelevent until Kofi Annan is gone. And even then the odds are against it.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
07/13/2006 1:09
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On french teevee there was a clip of kofi speaking at the un, and he said it amounted to "state terrorism"... btw, french teevees are in full eurabian mode IMHO, implicitely blaming Israel as the aggressor, alluding situation was out of controil for Isreal which is under attack on two fronts, giving most of airtime to hizbollah mouthpieces, insisting on lebanese civilian casualties (but glancing on the fact 3 isrealis civilians have been killed in shellings), etc, etc... yesterday, most of the afternoon newsflashes of lci (supposedly a "conservative" channel, by french standards) put the emphasis on the bridge destroyed by the IAF... and yesterday evening a special edition was entirely dedicaced to... you bet it, zinedine zidane's press conference about the WC headbutt... I cringe when I watch that crap.
#3
"the maiming of unarmed civilians is terrorism pure and simple, whatever the cause."
This, from the poster boy of the International Community, which has its heart set on confiscating defensive arms from any and all persons, as this week's reports have exposed.
What a plan for chaos from the Masters of the International Community:
* Remove a citizen's right to bear arms for defense, of country or self, leaving citizens entirely reliant on the good will of their fellow man-and when that fails, reliant on the international agencies like the UN for "protection" in a full-blown war. Ask a few hundred thousand folks in Africa how well the UN has protected them from savagery.
This is a recipe for a lot more dead civilians. Let us not abandon our country's principles.
* Declare that any attack on unarmed civilians is terrorism, thus fuzzing the difference between "insurgents and freedom fighters" who intentionally blow up babies and tourists so they can establish a sharia-based, world-wide caliphate versus the military of an attacked country responding to the attacks, killing known terrorists and incidentally knocking off bystanders and family, who in some cases are innocent, but in some cases are sheltering and protecting monsters in their midst.
Mr. Annan thinks he will stop wars with this approach, but instead, our embrace of such a weakness encourages increased savagery on the part of our enemies. Don't believe it? Watch the predatory behavior of animals.
The shortsightedness of this worldview is stupifying. Mr. Annan is hawking a new plan-if the International Community says that any attack on civilians is terrorism, the shame of it all will decrease attacks on civilians. Does he have even the most minute understanding of human nature?
If humans are attacked, apparently they are not supposed defend themselves, their families or their country-they are instead supposed pray to the Sepulchre of the UN so that they may live to tell the tale.
I don't put my trust in the impulses of such leaders in the International Community. They cannot judge when use of force is necessary and good and when it is wrong. For them it is ALWAYS wrong.
"The whole world will not be able to retrieve the two captured Israeli soldiers except through indirect negotiations that will lead to a swap with our detainees in Israel," Hizbullah's leader declared Wednesday. Speaking at a news conference in Beirut's southern suburbs after the resistance group captured two Israeli soldiers, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said: "It would be a delusion if anyone thinks that they can retrieve the captured Israeli soldiers. These soldiers will not return to Israel until after one means is utilized, which is indirect negotiations, and a swap of the soldiers with the Lebanese and Arab detainees in the Israeli prisons."
They can, however, bomb the living crap out of wherever Nasrallah is...
Nasrallah added: "Of course, Lebanon, our officials ... Syria ... Iran ... are all under heavy pressure from the international community ... to release these soldiers ... But we are used to pressure." He joked: "What do they want us to do? Hand over the soldiers and apologize? What kind of world are they living in?"
Unlike Hassan, we're living in the civilized world.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Lots of black turbans running around, Tater, etc.
Coordinates?
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/13/2006 0:55
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Maybe not, but your entire pseudo-country will burn as their samadh.
#3
They're very smug, aren't they?
Persuaded the gloves will never come off, and that they will be able to continue their one-sided "thousand cuts" war for ever.
I really, really hope they will be given a dose of Reality(Tm) someday, something to make all theses f*ckers eat back their satisfied defiance and macho pretending, their illusions a=of adequacy. Faster, please.
#5
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink ............. but you can also make him wish the hell he had drank.
I think there are a lot of us in this world who would sit munching popcorn while the Paleos held their position to the very last man. Who friggin' cares?
#8
Personally I think Isreal should send the Prisoners across the border en masse. Then when the Hezbollah come out to get them/greet them, carpet bomb everything.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/13/2006 11:52
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Sri Lanka announced the formation of a special unit of 1,000 men on Wednesday to bolster security arrangements in the main city of Colombo amid fears of Tamil Tiger suicide bombings. Defence ministry spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said the army had begun enlisting 1,000 soldiers for the special Colombo security unit from Tuesday and 200 had already signed up.
Posted by: Fred ||
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According to media reports, the chief fundraiser for Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party, has been arrested by police probing allegations state awards had been given in return for cash. The "cash for favors" debacle has dented Blair's standing in opinion polls and the arrest of Lord Levy will make the prime minister's position even more precarious.
The Labor Party came under pressure after some businessmen were nominated for seats in Britain's unelected upper house of parliament after lending about $26 million. However, that goes against a 1925 law that made selling seats in the upper chamber, known as the House of Lords, illegal.
David Davis of the opposing Conservative Party told Sky News said, "The issue here is one of corruption. Has cash or money been paid over in exchange for some sort of benefit? I think it must be pretty worrying for the top ranks of the Labor Party." With the latest arrest and with the investigation of Blair's deputy, there have been calls for him to step down as prime minister sooner than later. John Prescott, Blair's deputy, is under investigation for his links to an American billionaire hoping to open a London casino.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Any call girls involved? Can't have a good Brit scandal without call girls...
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/13/2006
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#1
I don't know. I for one am sick of the UN. I don't care what they write in their strongly worded resolutions. The word games are from an era gone by. I suppose there is still some benefit in placating the geezers of 20th Century diplomacy. Yappity yap yap. No one is listening anymore. Times have changed.
#2
Personally, I regard the pre Camp David Accord period as Israel's Golden Age. Funny thing, more and more of my countrymen seem to feel the same way.
Already forced because of lack of funding to reduce assistance to displaced people from war-torn Chechnya, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today warned it would have to halt its operation in the devastated republic entirely in three months unless fresh pledges are made soon. "From October, we will have absolutely nothing left to distribute," said Koryun Alaverdyan, WFP's Deputy Country Director in the Russian Federation. "The people we seek to assist are the poorest survivors of the Chechen conflict."
The UN agency, which also because of lack of funding has had to cut back on the number of Chechens it can support, has mobilized only 28 per cent of the $22 million it needs to feed 250,000 people this year. These include 130,000 primary school children in Chechnya and 27,000 Chechens displaced by the conflict, living in the neighbouring Republic of Ingushetia.
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President Jacques Chirac of France on Wednesday leads a ceremony in honour of Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish army captain whose dismissal more than a century ago on trumped-up charges of spying triggered a protracted national crisis. To mark the hundred years since Dreyfus' final rehabilitation, Chirac will conduct a service of homage at the "École Militaire" or Military Academy in Paris - the very place where in 1895 the artillery officer was publicly disgraced before a crowd of 20,000. "The president will pay homage to the man, to the soldier, to the patriot who fell victim to an appalling judicial error. He will also explain how via the Dreyfus affair the republic and its values became rooted in French society," an aide said.
Dreyfus - a Jew from the Alsace region of eastern France which was at the time occupied by Germany - was found guilty in 1894 of passing secret information to the German military attache in Paris and sentenced to life imprisonment at the Devil's Island penal colony. But it emerged that the evidence against him was false, and for years a bitter row over the "affair" pitted liberal and left-wing supporters of Dreyfus against opponents on the Catholic right - many of whom made no secret of their anti-Semitism. In 1898 the writer Émile Zola published his famous 'J'accuse' letter attacking the president of the day for siding against Dreyfus, and the next year he was brought back for a second trial and then officially pardoned - though not cleared of the charges. Dreyfus was not fully rehabilitated and restored to his rank in the army until July 12 1906, when the high court of appeal overturned the original verdict.
Chirac has decided not to heed calls for the remains of the officer to be brought to the Panthéon, the former church in central Paris where the nation's heroes - including Zola - are interred.
I thought not.
At the 1895 ceremony - known as a "parade of execution" - Dreyfus' epaulettes were ripped off and his sword was broken in two to the words: "Dreyfus - you are not worthy of bearing arms. In the name of the president, we degrade you." The ritual was witnessed by Theodor Herzl, a young journalist who was later father of the Zionist movement that led to the creation of Israel.
#1
Plenty of sterotypes. There were Jews in the anti-Dreyfus side (ie the nati-Dreyfus were not automatically anti-semite, many of them were simply fearful that this would weken the army) and most of Vichy's ministers had been as young men in teh pro-Dreyfus side (did I mention the strong ant-semitism in the left) so there were anti-semites in the pro-Dreyfus side.
In fact the atheistic left used Dreyfus to come to power and to begin the decade-long process of atheisation of the French society along with the purge of Catholic officers and promotion of agnostic and atheist officers even when mediocre: in the six first months of WWI Joffre was forced to fire half of the French generals for gross incompetence. At least one hundred thousand French soldiers paid in blood the religious purges carried by the left.
Shiraq LOVES WWII dead jews, and by extension all jews victims of western antisemitism (though this is not the case in the Dreyfus case, this was a State affair/cover up in a climate of a culture war which ended in quasi civil war, with antisemitism in the background), since he and his ilk have based their "legiticimaty" on the whole rejection of "the darkest days in our History" (IE everything the tranzis reject, nationalism, self-identity, christian heritage,...).
So, this is not paradoxal at all. The Dreyfus affair is a corner stone of the republican myths, with the good republicans, and the evil "rightwingers" (while antisemitism was a staple of the republican left).
French Republic is built in opposition to France, and has been founded on rejection of it from the start, substituting a new patriotism, a new identity,... and has been drenched in blood from the Vendée genocide (whose perpretators names are engraved on the Arc de Triomphe) and the Terror.
Shiraq may actually excuse and facilitate muslim antisemitism on french soil and enable would-be genociders abroad with all his influence and France's money and foreign policy (french Arab Policy = Eurabia), BUT he thrives on denouncing western antisemitism BECAUSE it helps culpabilizing the french people... and remember, either we are ruled by our Betters, the Enlightened Elites, or we fall back into our own perverse ways, and we become nazis again.
So, it's for our own good if we're being dissolved into a new socialist utopia, 'coz we're GUILTY and we're not worth living anymore as a Nation.
#3
I might add that in his first mandate, shiraq paid hommage to the Vél d'Hiv jewish deportees, and said guilt was on France itself (while the socilaist president Mitterrand always said, rightly IMHO, it was a crime of the Vichy collaborator gvt).
True, France collaborated, and went beyond the nazi calls with its law on jews, deporting children, etc,... but it was official France, with most high-level collaborators being LEFTWING, with the "french hitler" Doriot being n°3 of the french communist party (PCF being the first and main collaborator party before Barbarrossa btw), with true ideological collaborator PM Laval being a socialist, with Pétain having been nominated by the 1936 leftist Popular front parliament, after France had been military defeated (it DID NOT "surrender", it was beaten fair and square, and so were the british btw...).
French people collaborated, denounced jews, resistants, and all, but many more also protected jews, hid them, helped them pass to spain, or simply stayed silent and let them merge into the population... this was the common people's doing
BUT the major success of post WWII communist propaganda was to associate the Right with collaboration (in the brilliant "nazism and fascism are rightwing" genius stroke).
So, when "conservative" shiraq denounces the Vél d'Hiv as a spot on France's History, he is simply using the holocaust as a tool in the culture war : you are guilty, you must pay, you must attone,...
Anyway, Pétain's National Revolution was an attempt at "restoring" french identity over "republican identity", and given the collaboration context, it was in fact its deathblow. Thus, anything remotly linked with France (patriotism, nationalism, loving its history, its heritage,...) is suspect, or even downright evil. This is today's France, still held hostage by WWII, by the heirs of the gaullist-communist takeover of the country after liberation, and shiraq ids a wonderful example of that french symbiosis between these two statist ideologies, with the addition of the leftist cultural subversion since the 60's.
In that regard, dead jews killed by the "rightwingers" are a God-given gift. And this doesn't prevent him from pursuing Eurabia, propping up the hizbollah, preventing Israel (with 1/3rd of french speaking citizens IIRC) from entering the french speaking organization, while letting in sudan (I think),...
#4
Thank you for your commentary, JFM and A5089. I always appreciate your insight. This article surprised me, but now I see that it fits into the Greater Arabian Co-Prosperity Sphere (ie Eurabia) narrative quite nicely.
I'll be sending a courrier électronique to both of you on a different matter sometime this week.
#8
In the 60's Batman, Batgirl was a college graduate with a degree in Library Science. Never saw the third batman movie. IMHO "Batman Returns" is the best batman movie, while the 60's batman show takes the Oscar for Contemporary Campiness...
Radio Polonia is reporting reporting that Polish Intelligence agents have captured an Iraqi terrorist wanted for a number of terrorist attacks, including the fatal attack on a Polish public televsion war correspondant and his assistant.
The background of that wanted terrorist, Salas Khabbas, is what is most interesting. Polish reports suggest that Khabbas, who has "a long record of killings and kidnappings" and is "a former member of the Baath party and closely linked with al-Qaeda, specialized in attacking convoys and kidnapping."
Khabbas may reveal his exact role in the former regime to his captors as well as how and when he became "closely linked" with al-Qaeda. In the meantime, his name has been added to the ever-growing list of former regime officials caught fighting as al Qaeda agents in Iraq.
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.
Tehran, Iran, Jul. 12 Four men were hanged in public in the south-eastern city of Zabol, Sistan-va-Baluchistan Province, on Wednesday, the official news agency IRNA reported. The four were identified as Mehdi Zori, Houshang Kiani, Jamaloddin Jamali, and Abdol-Rahman Safar-Zehi were accused of instigating trouble and drug-related offences. 
UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - The United States vetoed a UN draft resolution that would have called for an end to Israeli attacks and "disproportionate use of force" in the Gaza Strip as well as for the release of a kidnapped Israeli soldier. The Security Council resolution received 10 votes, one against from the United States with four abstentions, French Ambassador Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, the council president for July, announced.
MUNDY TWP. - Military funeral protesters from Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., asked for special police protection for a recent planned visit. Now they're getting something they didn't ask for: a bill. 
A bomb has exploded at a busy market in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, killing a soldier. Police say three other troops and three civilians have been taken to hospital with injuries.
Bandits shot hundreds of rounds of automatic gun fire at Hidalgo County Sheriffs deputies and Border Patrol agents Wednesday from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande.
POLICE in Afghanistan's capital Kabul today arrested a man they said was planting a 10-kilogram bomb outside the Information Ministry.
Death was not punishment enough for Chechen rebel leader 
Even as the dead are still being counted in India's worst terrorist attack in more than a decade, suspicion has already fallen on Islamic terrorists though not al-Qaeda. 
(KUNA) -- Iraqi Prime Minister 
CHINA has batted the North Korean crisis back to Washington, implying that the US should lift financial sanctions against Kim Jong-il's regime. North Korea has been fuming since the US effectively froze $US24 million ($A32 million) in assets last November at the Macau-based Banco Delta Asia.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday that Japan's draft UN resolution in response to North Korea's missile test firings contained "unacceptable elements", Interfax news agency reported. "Japan through its official representatives has announced that all countries have to vote as Japan wants, and warns that if this does not happen, they are threatened by some kind of negative consequences," he was quoted by Interfax as saying. "I think this is absolutely unacceptable."
(KUNA) -- Amidst the ongoing Israeli military assault on Palestinian lands, a number of Palestinian factions retaliated Wednesday by launching rockets on Israeli targets. The military wings of Fatah, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine said today in a joint statement that they launched two rockets at an Israeli military camp in Nahel Al-Ouz. The joint statement said that the Palestinian factions heard the rockets' explosions, after which the Israeli army abandoned the camp.
Twenty-three Palestinians were killed, among them seven children from the same family, in multiple Israeli attacks in Gaza Wednesday in which a top Hamas militant leader was reportedly wounded. 
(KUNA) -- The Mumbai police Wednesday night said they have found a credible Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) link in Tuesday's serial blasts that killed 190 people and injured 625 in the city. "Evidence suggests the LeT has a strong link with the blasts," city police told reporters Wednesday evening, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported. "In January the police had unearthed Lashker's efforts to rebuild its terror network in Mumbai. The matter came to light with the arrest of three Kashmiri men with LeT links and a cleric," the police added.
Two Israel Defense Force (IDF) soldiers were kidnapped and seven others were killed Wednesday in attacks on Israel's northern border by Hezbollah. Hezbollah's 
Lebanese Premier 
BAGHDAD - Iraqi security forces said they had found the bodies of 20 bus drivers who had been kidnapped north of Baghdad earlier on Wednesday. Police had put the number of bus drivers kidnapped in Miqdadiya, 100 km (60 miles) northeast of the capital at 12, but Major General Ahmed al-Awad said 20 bodies had been found after gunmen snatched a group of drivers from a station.
Pakistan Muslim League Secretary General Mushahid Hussain Sayed on Wednesday said that the issue of the Hudood Ordinance would be discussed by the parliament next month and that a consensus decision would be made. 
Japan remains firmly behind its U.N. Security Council draft resolution to impose sanctions on North Korea, despite France's proposed compromise this week, Chief Cabinet Secretary Shinzo Abe said Wednesday. "As far as Japan is concerned, we basically will seek adoption of the resolution," Abe told reporters.
Six people including two militants were killed in violence in Afghanistan on Wednesday. A market bombing in a southern border town killed two men while a suicide attack on a US military convoy in the east claimed the life of a child in the latest violence to sweep Afghanistan, officials said. Afghan officials also reported heavy fighting on Tuesday after militants attacked a patrol by provincial security forces in eastern Khost province, near the Pakistan border, and that a large number of militants died.
MUZAFFARABAD: Unofficial results of the elections to the Kashmir Legislative Assembly on Wednesday showed the AJK Muslim Conference (MC) having emerged victorious, although with several cabinet ministers defeated in the polls, AP reported on Wednesday. The MC won 20 of the 41 contested constituencies, said Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Riaz Akhtar Chaudhry, citing unofficial results from polling stations. The commission still has to verify the results, which will be officially announced on Thursday.
DUBLIN - A young woman was recovering in hospital on Wednesday after being mauled by a tiger at Dublin Zoo.
The world's largest Viking ship will sail from Denmark to Norway next week, but it's too big to navigate its way into the Oslo Fjord. 
World powers agreed today to send Iran back to the UN Security Council for possible punishment, saying the country has given no sign it means to negotiate seriously over its disputed nuclear programme. The United States and other permanent members of the powerful UN body said Iran has had long enough to say whether it will meet the worlds terms to open bargaining that would give Tehran economic and energy incentives in exchange for giving up suspicious activities. We have no choice but to return to the Security Council and continue the process suspended two months ago, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said after talks in Paris with counterparts from the United States, Britain, Russia, China and Germany.
LUXEMBOURG: A top European court on Wednesday threw out challenges by two terror suspects to freezes on their assets imposed in a global clampdown on people linked to Al Qaeda and the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Chafiq Ayadi, a Tunisian national resident in Ireland, and Faraj Hassan, a Libyan national detained in a British jail, had complained that the freezes on their bank accounts and assets infringed their rights and asked for them to be annulled. But the Luxembourg-based European Court of First Instance ruled that European Union authorities had the competence to impose such a sanction to fight terrorism. "Such a measure does not infringe the universally recognised fundamental rights of the human person," the court said in a statement.
DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A suspected pro-Taliban militant was killed when a grenade he was handling went off at a religious school, a security official said on Wednesday. 
An Israeli air strike destroyed the office of Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud al-Zahar on Thursday in an attack that signaled Israel would pursue its Gaza offensive while fighting along a second front in Lebanon. No one was hurt in the night-time raid on the Foreign Ministry building in Gaza City, Palestinian security officials said. Israel killed at least 24 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, including nine members of one family in an air strike that destroyed a house where the army said senior Hamas commanders were meeting. 
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert blamed Lebanon for a Hezbollah attack on Israel he said was ``war-like'' and called for a ``painful and far-reaching'' response. Israeli troops entered Lebanon, the daily Haaretz reported, as an army spokeswoman said a call-up of reservists was on the agenda. The military action came after the armed Hezbollah group said on its Web site it captured two Israeli soldiers. The army said there was a ``heavy suspicion'' that two soldiers were abducted. Olmert called an emergency cabinet meeting for later today to decide on further military action in Lebanon. ``The murderous attack this morning was not a terrorist act, it was a war-like act by the state of Lebanon against Israel in its sovereign territory,'' he said at a press conference in Jerusalem. 
ISLAMABAD: Differences between 
Six tourists were wounded on Wednesday in a fresh grenade attack in Indian Kashmir, a day after militants killed nine tourists in the insurgency-racked region. "Three tourists from New Delhi and three others (from Indian Kashmir) have been wounded in a grenade attack" in the resort town of Gulmarg, a police spokesman said.
The U.S. ambassador to Iraq has described sectarian violence as the main threat to stability and, warning of the global risk from an Iraqi civil war, said the government must act to curb it within six months.
Four top commanders of Brahamdagh Bugti, the second-in-command of armed Bugti tribesmen, surrendered to the government on Wednesday along with 40 armed men, government sources claimed. "Those who surrendered include the top commanders Jumma Khan, Wadera Ali Gul, Rahim Khan and Ali Murad, and some 40 other tribesmen," the government official said, adding that their weapons had been seized.
(KUNA) -- A number of Iraqi civilians were killed on Wednesday in violent acts in Mosul, northern Iraq. An Iraqi Police source told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that unknown gunmen killed three Shiite Kurds in Ansar neighborhood. The source added that insurgents also gunned down a medical worker, noting that the gunmen showered the victim with bullets in Zahra neighborhood, killing him and another civilian instantly.
Just before the killing Monday of the Chechen guerrilla 
"The whole world will not be able to retrieve the two captured Israeli soldiers except through indirect negotiations that will lead to a swap with our detainees in Israel," 
According to media reports, the chief fundraiser for Prime Minister Tony Blair's Labor Party, has been arrested by police probing allegations state awards had been given in return for cash. The "cash for favors" debacle has dented Blair's standing in opinion polls and the arrest of Lord Levy will make the prime minister's position even more precarious. 
Already forced because of lack of funding to reduce assistance to displaced people from war-torn Chechnya, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today warned it would have to halt its operation in the devastated republic entirely in three months unless fresh pledges are made soon. "From October, we will have absolutely nothing left to distribute," said Koryun Alaverdyan, WFP's Deputy Country Director in the Russian Federation. "The people we seek to assist are the poorest survivors of the Chechen conflict."
President Jacques Chirac of France on Wednesday leads a ceremony in honour of Alfred Dreyfus, the Jewish army captain whose dismissal more than a century ago on trumped-up charges of spying triggered a protracted national crisis. To mark the hundred years since Dreyfus' final rehabilitation, Chirac will conduct a service of homage at the "École Militaire" or Military Academy in Paris - the very place where in 1895 the artillery officer was publicly disgraced before a crowd of 20,000. "The president will pay homage to the man, to the soldier, to the patriot who fell victim to an appalling judicial error. He will also explain how via the Dreyfus affair the republic and its values became rooted in French society," an aide said.
