The peace process between India and Pakistan appeared to be in danger yesterday as the Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, publicly accused "elements" in Pakistan of being involved in the Bombay bombings. Speaking in Bombay after meeting with victims of Tuesday' s serial bombings, Dr Singh said India would not continue with the peace process unless Pakistan acted against Islamic militants based on its territory.
Any threat of a return to hostility across one of the most dangerous nuclear faultlines in the world will cause international concern. India has already called off the next round of peace talks, scheduled for 20 July, in reaction to the bombings, in which at least 179 people were killed. "If the acts of terrorism are not controlled, it is exceedingly difficult for any government to carry forward what may be called the normalisation and the peace process," Dr Singh said.
Indian intelligence believes the bombings were a joint operation between Lashkar-e Taiba, a Pakistan-based militant group, and the homegrown Students' Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Dr Singh said yesterday that India was "certain" that the bombers were "instigated, inspired and supported by elements across the border".
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
23:06 ||
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Japan and the United States have insisted on a UN Security Council resolution that would enact mandatory sanctions on North Korea's missile programme as negotiators sought to prevent a veto from China. Talks at the United Nations in New York have narrowed some differences on the sanctions, which would prevent a transfer of materials or funds for North Korea's missile or nuclear programmes. But other problems remained, diplomats said. Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, France's UN ambassador and this month's council president, said he hoped for agreement on Friday on the basis of a modified text that Japan drafted. But he acknowledged that talks could spill into Saturday. France is among the eight sponsors of the resolution.
In Tokyo, Shinzo Abe, the cabinet secretary in charge of coordinating government policy told Reuters in an interview that Japan would "insist on a binding resolution with sanctions." And Junichiro Koizumi, the Japanese prime minister, during a visit to Jordan, said he wanted a vote on the resolution on Friday, a day before the Group of Eight industrial nations meet in St Petersburg, Russia. Acknowledging that compromises would have to be made, Taro Aso, Japan's foreign minister, told a news conference that "it is common sense that both sides cannot achieve a perfect grade so both sides have to compromise so they can be satisfied."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
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SYRIA is bracing itself for "any eventuality" as the regime nervously eyes a relentless Israeli operation over the border in Lebanon and faces up to increasingly hostile US rhetoric.
"Syria is in confrontation with Israel. It is watching the situation and is ready to defend itself against any eventuality," said Elias Murad, editor of the ruling Baath party newspaper Al-Baath.
He expressed fear of an "extension of the Israeli operation in the south of Lebanon or towards Syria," a move that would open a third front on top of Israel's continuing operations in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.
An irate Israel has lumped Damascus together in an "axis of terror" with Iran over their backing for Hezbollah, whose capture of two Israeli soldiers sparked the Lebanon offensive that has already left more than 60 people dead.
The sabre rattling from Israel has been matched by comments from US President George W. Bush, already at odds with Damascus over its alleged role in the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
"Syria needs to be held to account" over the dramatic escalation of violence in the Middle East, Bush said in Germany on Thursday. "President (Bashar al-) Assad needs to show some leadership towards peace."
The Syrian newspaper ath-Thawra wrote that the only way to resolve the crisis was for Israel "to accept the conditions posed by the resistance", referring to a prisoner exchange steadfastly rejected by the Jewish state.
The dramatic escalation in Lebanon has sparked fears of an even wider conflict and fellow US arch-foe Iran lost no time in saying it would stand behind its under-fire Arab ally in the event of any attack.
"If Israel commits another act of idiocy and aggresses Syria, this will be the same as an aggression against the entire Islamic world and it will receive a stinging response," said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
"The Israeli aggressions are a result of the weakness of a puppet regime that is on its way towards disappearing," he told Mr Assad in a telephone conversation.
Israel has vowed to break Hezbollah and is also in open conflict in the Gaza Strip with Palestinian militant group Hamas, many of whose key leaders, like political supremo Khaled Meshaal, have found sanctuary in Syrian exile.
"The Hezbollah would not be able to operate in Lebanon without clear Syrian sponsorship," fumed Israeli foreign ministry official Gideon Meir, branding Iran the militia's "main benefactor".
"Consequently, Israel views Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran as primary elements in the axis of terror and hate, threatening not only Israel but the entire world," Meir added.
If Hezbollah has long-range rockets and "tries to hit Haifa with projectiles developed with Syria's help, Israel has no choice but to hit Damascus," Yuval Steinitz, the hawkish former chairman of the parliamentary defence and foreign affairs committee said.
Last month, Israeli warplanes overflew Assad's palace in northern Syria while the president was inside, an operation Syrian state television called an "aggressive act and an unacceptable provocation".
Israeli General Ido Nehushtan said that while Israel "cannot allow Hezbollah to continue to benefit from Syrian and Iranian support... for the moment we are concentrating on Lebanon because we were attacked from Lebanon."
US Syria expert Joshua Landis said that for all the US frustration with Syria, Damascus is feeling more confident than it has for years with the United States bogged down in Iraq and apparently failing to make headway with Iran.
"Syria is feeling strong. It can now go on the offensive. Damascus feels confident that Washington cannot counter-attack at this time. It has few arrows left in its quiver," said the University of Oklahoma professor on his website.
#1
Pencil Neck better rethink his position. It would not take long to take his terrorist-supporting government out and into rubble. He feels his oats because both the US and Israel have been exercising restraint above and beyond the norm.
If he is stupid enough to provoke Israel, he just signed his death warrant.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/14/2006 21:48
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#2
How does Iran propose getting to Israel? Overflying Iraq doesn't seem prudent at this juncture...
#3
Damascus is feeling more confident than it has for years with the United States bogged down in Iraq
Hmmmmmmm ....... I can't recall hearing about the US expending large numbers of Cruise missiles in Iran and Afghanistan. How many TLAM's do you figure it would take to reduce Syria's C&C infrastructure to rubble?
#4
Flying pigs are invisible to radar. Iran probably has a squadron or two of those. What they can attempt to do is airlift to Syria using commercial airliners pretending to be on regular passenger or freight routes to Damascus. It would take a while but it could be done. They wouldn't be able to move any heavy units this way but they could get leg infantry, ammunition, weapons, some small artillery, etc. over that way. Not much they could do in the way of airpower, though, without running a gauntlet.
#5
anybody know where the IDF tank and infantry are? splendid forces that so far seem to be sitting this one out. I cannot imagine this being the case much longer!
Lebanon's Prime Minister Fuad Siniora has accused Israel of cutting his country to pieces, demanding an immediate ceasefire in its operation against Hezbollah.
In an interview with CNN, Mr Siniora said Lebanon was being punished for something in which it had no hand - the kidnap of two Israeli soldiers and the killing of eight more by Hezbollah fighters.
"Lebanon is continuing its aggression against Lebanon and the Lebanese," he said.
"It's sparing nobody, in no area of Lebanon.
"Actually it is cutting the country into pieces, whereby more than 20 bridges in the country have been destroyed."
Mr Siniora also accused Israel of being careless about civilian lives and of trying to cripple his recovering country's economy.
"Lebanon has been penalised ... the Lebanese Government has made it very clear that it had no information about this operation and it takes no responsibility, and in fact, it is disavowing (it)."
"I believe that we should try to arrive at an immediate ceasefire."
"Does it really pay Israel to really cripple, finally, a democracy like Lebanon?"
Israel has demanded the Lebanese Government implement UN Security Council resolution 1559, which calls for the disarmament of Hezbollah, which it says is backed by Syria and Iran.
#5
Lebanon has a great big-assed Muzzie Hizb'Allah tumor metasticizing right in the middle of the body politic. The govt has ignored it while it set up shop. Now it is being taken out. PM Siniora better hope that Israel does not have to use radiation treatment to kill the tumor.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/14/2006 21:23
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ISRAEL bombed the home of Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut today in what the Israeli media said was an assassination attempt on the third day of relentless attacks on Lebanon that have killed 60 people and ignited fears of all-out war in the region.
Nasrallah escaped "alive and well" after Israel launched air strikes on his home and office in Hizbollah's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the Shi'ite militia group's television station Al-Manar said.
The action came as the UN Security Council was holding an emergency meeting on the conflict that has left Lebanon virtually cut off from the outside world after Israel imposed an air and sea blockade, attacked the only international airport and bombed the main highway to neighbouring Syria.
Hezbollah forces claimed a rare victory overnight, with an explosives-laden drone hitting an Israeli warship. The Israeli military said only that the ship had been 'lightly hit'.
Israel had earlier issued a direct threat against the Hezbollah chief after blaming the group's main backers, Iran and Syria, over the crisis unleashed after Nasrallah's militants captured two Israeli soldiers on Wednesday.
An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed an attack on the "Hezbollah terror organisation headquarters in southern Beirut" but would not elaborate on whether it was an assassination attempt.
"Nasrallah decided his own fate," Interior Minister Roni Bar-On said earlier. "We will settle our accounts with him when the time comes."
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had earlier given the green light to further raids in Lebanon, following a blitz of Hezbollah rocket attacks across the border that left another two people dead.
The international community has issued urgent appeals for calm and is sending envoys in a bid to avoid another full-scale Middle East war, with Israel under fire in some quarters for using "disproportionate force".
Israel, apparently taken aback by the extent of the criticism, said Mr Olmert has set three conditions for a ceasefire called for by Lebanon: the release of soldiers, a halt to rocket fire and the disarmament of Hizbollah.
"If these conditions are met, we are ready to cooperate with a delegation from the United Nations," a spokeswoman said.
In a wave of strikes today, Israeli jets hit the main highway linking Beirut and Damascus and an airport hangar and fuel tanks, pounded Hezbollah's command headquarters in Beirut and a Palestinian guerrilla base in eastern Lebanon, as well as bridges and other roads.
Latest reports suggest that nine people were killed by the bombardment today in Beirut, bringing to 88 the death toll in Lebanon since Israel unleashed what the military has called "Operation Just Reward".
In one of the strongest statements from a world leader on the conflict, President Jacques Chirac of France, the former colonial power in Lebanon, said Israel appeared to "wish to destroy" Lebanon.
Lebanon said US President George W Bush had called Prime Minister Fuad Siniora to voice support for his government and pledged to "exert pressure on Israel to limit damage inflicted on Lebanon".
Prime Minister Siniora, interviewed on CNN, accused Israel of destroying his country. "It's sparing nobody, in no area of Lebanon. Actually it is cutting the country into pieces, whereby more than 20 bridges in the country have been destroyed," said Mr Siniora overnight.
World powers are due to discuss the crisis at the Group of Eight meeting starting tomorrow in Moscow after the deadliest violence between Israel and Lebanon in a decade opened up a dangerous new front in the Middle East conflict following the massive Israeli onslaught against Gaza.
The latest crisis was triggered when Hezbollah guerrillas seized two Israeli servicemen in a deadly attack on the volatile Lebanon-Israel border on Wednesday, leading to Israel's first ground incursion since it withdrew in 2000.
The abduction came less than three weeks after a similar raid by Palestinian militants, including members of the ruling Islamist movement Hamas, on the Gaza border that resulted in the capture of an Israeli corporal.
Washington - which regards Hezbollah as a terror group - said Israel, its closest Middle East ally, had the right to defend itself but urged restraint, while several European powers openly criticised the scale of the Israeli offensive as disproportionate.
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud called on Arab League ministers, due to meet tomorrow, to help avoid Israel's "systematic destruction" of the country.
UN chief Kofi Annan has said he was "profoundly worried" by the conflict, while the Vatican said it "deplores the attack on Lebanon, a free and sovereign nation".
In northern Israel, where the army ordered about half a million Israelis in northern towns into bomb shelters, scores of rockets were fired on more than a dozen towns today.
Another two people were killed, bringing the toll over two days to four dead. Two rockets fired from south Lebanon also penetrated deeper than ever inside Israel yesterday, hitting its third largest city of Haifa.
Israel has pointed the finger of blame at Syria and Iran, saying its two arch-foes form an "axis of terror" along with Hizbollah and Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Bush also said yesterday that Syria's President Bashar al-Assad, who was forced to end 29 years of military domination in Lebanon last year, should be held to account over the escalation of violence.
With Lebanon's airport shut and Israel blockading its ports, thousands of tourists, mostly Gulf Arab nationals, fled across the border to Syria and a number of foreign governments issued travel warnings.
Lebanon 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.
The Lebanese government - which includes two Hezbollah ministers but is led by anti-Syrian politicians - denied any involvement in the Hizbollah action and demanded a "complete and immediate ceasefire".
Israel also pressed on with its air assault on Gaza but withdrew ground troops from the centre of the territory after the United States vetoed a UN resolution calling on Israel to halt its military operations there.
The air force carried out at least two overnight raids, hitting the house of a Hamas MP, while ground artillery and naval gunboats pounded the territory.
At least 76 Palestinians and one Israeli soldier have been killed.
It ain't that tough. Hobby shops all over the world stock everything you need to build, say, a 1/6 F-16, complete with a ducted-fan motor - this beast could move fast and carry enough explosives to hurt somebody or something.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/14/2006 20:11
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A Hizbullah strike on an IDF warship off the Lebanese coast damaged the ship severely, The IDF confirmed to The Jerusalem Post late Friday.
Earlier reports disagreed regarding the extent of the damage, with the IDF initially reporting that the ship was largely unharmed.
According to security officials, the ship was struck by an unmanned aerial vehicle packed with explosives, a new tactic for Hizbullah.
Shortly before the strike, Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah said in a telephone call to Hizbullah media outlets that Israel's ongoing operations in Lebanon were a campaign of revenge over its "defeat," as he referred to the Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000.
Nasrallah was responding to growing criticism over the Hizbullah cross-border attack on Wednesday that spurred the Israeli response.
He also promised that IDF naval ships maintaining a sea blockade on Lebanese ports would be destroyed and called on the Lebanese people to join forces against Israel.
The comments came after Hizbullah threatened to strike Haifa and beyond with improved Katyusha rockets in response to the destruction of Hizbullah headquarters in southern Beirut and Nasrallah's private residence.
In an urgent flash, the organization's al-Manar TV station said the building housing Hizbullah's leadership was destroyed. It did not elaborate, nor say whether there were any casualties.
The report on the destruction of Nasrallah's home was announced by official Hizbullah media outlets.
It is generally known that Nasrallah, whose movements are treated with a high level of secrecy, moves from one place to another, particularly during the Israeli offensive.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's meeting with the "Group of Seven" security-related cabinet advisors ended a short time earlier on Friday evening. At the meeting, the prime minister approved a new list of targets for ongoing IDF operations in Lebanon.
On Friday afternoon, IDF warplanes renewed attacks on the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiya, targeting a radio station belonging to the Hizbullah terror organization, Hizbullah said.
The organization's Al-Manar TV reported that Israeli warplanes fired a missile in the vicinity of the Al-Nour station in the Haret Hreik neighborhood south of Beirut but missed the facility and struck an apartment in a residential building instead. There was no immediate word on casualties, and the station remained on the air.
It was the second time Friday that IAF planes targeted residential neighborhoods in south Beirut, a stronghold of the Shi'ite Muslim Hizbullah's leadership. Israeli planes earlier rained missiles on roads in the suburbs, knocking down an overpass and damaging another.
The IDF also continued its bombardment of southern Lebanon on Friday afternoon, bombing two bridges over the Hazharani river as well as a Hizbullah anti-aircraft missile base and a fuel depot in Talusia.
Earlier on Friday, IDF forces foiled an infiltration attempt by Hizbullah operatives near an IDF post close to Zar'it on the northern border on Friday.
Troops opened fire towards the infiltrators and clashes erupted in the area.
Meanwhile, IAF fighter-bombers blasted Beirut International Airport in the third attack on the nation's sole international facility since the military offensive was launched against Lebanon three days ago.
Airport officials said one of the three runways was hit with two missiles and Lebanese eyewitnesses reported that a nearby residential building was struck in the raid. No casualties were reported.
About an hour before Friday's raid, the five remaining Airbus jets belonging to the national carrier Middle East Airlines flew to Amman for safety reasons, officials said.
Early Friday, an Israeli plane also fired a missile at a fuel storage tank for the power station at Jiye on the Mediterranean coast in central Lebanon, just north of the port city of Sidon, witnesses said.
The attack started a huge fire in the area, about 20 miles south of the Lebanese capital, but the power station itself was not hit. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/14/2006
17:34 ||
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#1
I was just over at Daily Kos, lookin at those drooling mongoloids' posts, I don't they even know there is a war breaking out in the ME.
#2
Okay then, 60+ years AFTER the West started using anti-ship missiles/drones, the Arabs catch on to the idea. Wonder if that UAV is the one South Africa under the ANC has been selling to Iran?
#3
Its real easy to strap some explosives on a UAV and ram it into a ship, but causing severe damage to ship with a UAV is a major step militarily. I wonder who gave it to them (eye cast toward Iran/Syria).
#5
I suspect that most of the speculation and theories I see posted about the net are wrong at worst and hopefully optimisitic best. This is gonna get out of hand.
But then wars always do.
Why is it that the freakin world just cannot seem to notice that if left alone and to their own devices the Israelies just want to have fun and leave everyone else alone? Heck, they'd probably even be happy to show the arabs how to do something else besides whine and end up being their best friends.
Are they really that sick? And by sick I mean in the worst sense of the mental term.
And that's not even counting the arabs.
Posted by: kelly ||
07/14/2006 18:32
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#7
Sounds like the Izzie Navy airwatch wasn't paying attention. Hizb'allah had flown the Iranian Mheger 4 ("Mirsad 1" Hizb name) UAV over Israel last year. The concern was that they could be loaded with explosives or CW and crash into packed crowds like a stadium.
"Mirsad 1" It likely has only a 10-15Kg payload which is enough to heavily damage a small Patrol Boat, but would only scratch a larger metal boat. Of course Hizb could have received even larger Iranian UAVs.
Posted by: ed ||
07/14/2006 19:19
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#8
"Are they really that sick?"
Yes. They are that sick.
Sick enough to buy the whiney-ass Arab bullshit that six million Jews (barely enough to populate the city and county of Philadelphia) occupying a nearly worthless chunk of real estate barely the size of New Jersey, are somehow magically causing ALL the problems of over a billion Muslims.
Fuck it. FRY 'EM UP. As far as I'm concerned, Israel is more than welcome to do whatever it wants to secure its safety. And I mean WHATEVER.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/14/2006 19:41
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#9
I agree with Dave. In the end someday the final acts will be mushrooms over Qom, Mecca, Mediana, Damascus etc. Cause, Effect and Sanity are missing in that sick culture.
#10
Sooner or later, probably sooner, we will be drawn into this thing. Probably to keep Iran at bay. Fine. Let's have it out and be done with it before the MMs get nukes.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/14/2006 20:42
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#11
My worst fear is that this whole damn thing fizzles out over the next few days, to yet another damned inconclusive conclusion, without the Iranians giving us the perfect excuse to go absolutely flat-out, totally bugshit MEDIEVAL on their skanky ho' asses.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/14/2006 20:46
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#12
LGF linking to reports the idiots hit an Egyptian ship with one of their toys.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/14/2006 20:52
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#13
Dave nails it.
Posted by: j. D. Lux ||
07/14/2006 20:52
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#14
Fox says Hezbola hit a civilian boat. No other information at this time.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/14/2006 20:59
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#15
About an hour before Friday's raid, the five remaining Airbus jets belonging to the national carrier Middle East Airlines flew to Amman for safety reasons, officials said.
#17
Dave D.---You may not have to worry about things fizzling out after a few days. This just came up on Belmont Club :
Haaretz has details on the attack which damaged an Israeli naval vessel, by an UAV, in the dark and while operating 16 km from the Lebanese coast.
An explosives-laden drone, apparently launched by Hezbollah, hit an Israel Navy warship off the coast of Beirut, causing serious damage to its steering capability, Israel Defense Forces confirmed Friday night. The incident occurred at around 8:30 P.M., as the ship was some 16 kilometers from the Lebanese coast. The blast caused a fire close to the helicopter landing pad onboard. The ship's steering mechanism also sustained some damage. Several hours after the vessel was hit, an Israel Defense Forces spokeswoman said the damage was worse than originally thought. She added that the ship, still burning, was being towed back to Israel. There were some 80 people on board the ship when it was hit.
This is a major warship operating in line of sight, but beyond normal nighttime visual range. According to the Security Watchtower, the drone was probably a Mirsad-1.
A Hezbollah unmanned aerial drone crashed into an Israeli warship off the Mediterranean coast on Friday, damaging the steering of the vessel. Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah claimed the ship had been sunk. The UAV was likely a Mirsad-1, built by the Iranian state owned Qods Aviation Industry. On previous occasions, Nasrallah has boasted that "you can load the Mirsad plane with a quantity of explosive ranging from 40 to 50 kilos and send it to its target."
In 2005, U.S. and Israeli intelligence noted that Iranian soldiers were stationed in southern Lebanon where they operated the Mirsad-1, eight of which are believed to have been given by Iran to Hezbollah. Reports indicate that an estimated 30 Hezbollah operatives have completed training in Isfahan, Iran. Asked about the threat of the UAV's, Joseph Cirincione, a weapons expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said "the danger is that Hezbollah will now have the capability to inflict greater damage on Israel by more precise targeting."
Commentary
An attack at this distance, by night on a warship indicates a very high level of targeting skill. A capability beyond Hezbollah's own limited resources. This suggests that Iranian technical assistance to its client has been extensive and thorough. In some ways, this incident is reminiscent of the use of Saggers and integrated air defense by the Egyptian Army during the Yom Kippur War. Iran had anticipated what Israel would do and prepared for it. It is now not out of the question that Hezbollah may have MANPADs or very long range, perhaps even guided rockets. With what warheads we can only guess, but chemical is not out of the question. The stricken Israeli warship is major combatant on the scale of navies in the area. Although not sunk, it has been mission killed. This is a spectacular naval victory for Hezbollah.
But it also brings Israel and Iran closer to direct combat. With proof that advanced weapons are now in the hands of Hezbollah, it becomes absolutely impossible for Israel to consider Hezbollah in isolation from its armorers. The diplomatic efforts to date are now imperiled by this grave development.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/14/2006 21:59
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#18
My prediction is that the U.S. Navy will expend 639 man-years explaining to congress critters and journalists how the US does things different.
From what I know so far, this is a major fuck up for the Israelies, even if the Iranians are helping.
#19
Article: This is a major warship operating in line of sight, but beyond normal nighttime visual range.
This is key. I don't think the battleship USS New Jersey operated within line of sight when it pounded Lebanon in the 1980's after the Marine barracks bombing. The Israelis obviously want to get as close as possible so they can use shells instead of more expensive missiles. I think they're done with using shells until they learn how to jam enemy UAV frequencies.
#20
Looks like Iran upgraded Hizb to the "Ababil" with 40Kg payload and 300Km/h cruise speed. With those specs, it could easily be used as a small TV guided antiship missile. It would play havoc with loaded tankers. I hope the US Navy is paying attention.
Posted by: ed ||
07/14/2006 23:20
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#21
The Hizo's hit another ship while targeting additional Israeli Navy vessels. The Hizo's does score another hit but...but...but, it ends being a civilian merchant ship that belongs to ""drum roll please"" Egypt. Muslim GPS needs some more fine tuning.
#22
The merchant ship hit was by a (un)lucky hit from a barrage of unguided Katushyas.
Posted by: ed ||
07/14/2006 23:27
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#23
I have no expertise regarding naval matters, but have read that helicopters have attacked targets in Beirut. I assume these were launched from naval vessels, hence the "line of sight" proximity of Israeli ships to the Lebanese coast.
The New York Times on Friday received a letter containing a suspicious white powder and a copy of a recent editorial in which the paper defended its coverage of the Bush administration's anti-terrorism programs.
The incident, which helped push U.S. stocks lower, raised fears of a possible recurrence of anthrax-tainted letters sent to newsrooms and other offices in late 2001.
"At about 12:30 p.m. (1630 GMT) this afternoon ... an employee opened an envelope that contained a white powdery substance. The envelope was handwritten and addressed to the New York Times, not to any individual. The postmark was from Philadelphia with no return address," said Times spokeswoman Catherine Mathis.
Emergency vehicles and an ambulance responded to the newspaper's offices on 43rd Street and Mathis said the man who opened the envelope was taken to hospital for precautionary tests and treatment.
Conservatives have criticized the Times in recent weeks for writing about the Bush administration's covert anti-terrorism programs. This week protesters rallied outside the newspaper to object to its decision to publish details about terrorism financing and secret government programs to monitor phone conversations of U.S. citizens.
Mathis confirmed that the envelope included a copy of a June 28 editorial entitled "Patriotism and the Press" with an "X" marked through it.
#3
The incident, which helped push U.S. stocks lower,...
WTF? What makes Reuters think this incident pushed stocks lower? Like there's nothing going on anywhere else that might explain it? If they know the market this well they should get out of the news business and get into securities.
#1
A priority right now for Israel should be a major disaster in Teheran. Some act of sabotage that would perhaps kill hundreds, hopefully that would look like it was caused by government incompetence.
The caller to an Indian news agency who praised Tuesday's bombings of Mumbai commuter trains in the name of an Al Qaeda branch in Kashmir might have been an impostor. But there is no denying that elements of Tuesday's bombings of commuter trains in Mumbai bear a disturbing resemblance to past attacks mounted or inspired by the Al Qaeda network.
For India, it is crucial to determine if Mumbai was hit in the same way as New York, Madrid, and London, in pursuance of the same grandiose goals, or by a more parochial local group, perhaps one of the Kashmir-oriented terrorist outfits originating in Pakistan. The planning and operational sophistication needed to detonate seven bombs within 11 minutes at the height of rush hour suggest a Qaeda-type operation. Even the date, 7/11, echoes earlier jihadi bombings associated with Al Qaeda, as does the selection of a target at the nexus of a commercial and transportation system in a great city. Mumbai, formerly Bombay, is India's center for finance and movie-making. The timing of the Mumbai attack also coincides with two significant developments in India's foreign policy. One is the recent nuclear deal with the Bush administration. that is meant to become the cornerstone of a strategic partnership between the world's two biggest pluralistic democracies It would be consistent with Osama bin Laden's concept of a global war against non-Muslim "crusader" powers if he were to punish India for entering into a strategic alliance with the United States. The other development that may have provoked the Mumbai atrocity is an imminent renewal of India-Pakistan peace talks. Based on their past performances, e Extremist groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba or the Students Islamic Movement of India might well have planted the explosives in the Mumbai commuter trains to derail those talks. Thus far, Indians and their government have reacted to the bombings with admirable resiliency and sangfroid. Within hours, the trains were running again in Mumbai, and Mumbai had resumed its vibrant life. India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for calm, sagely avoiding any temptation to point fingers before the perpetrators could be identified. And Pakistan's foreign ministry issued an emphatic denunciation of the train bombing and of all terrorism. But both nations are engaged in stoking separatist or oppositional movements in each other's backyard. These operations are pursued in shadow by their security services. They extend not only to Kashmir but also to Afghanistan and the region of Pakistan known as Baluchistan. These practices destabilize a large swath of south Asia, and they nourish terrorism. The best antidote to this syndrome would be a comprehensive peace accord between India and Pakistan. Should it turn out that Al Qaeda was behind the Mumbai bombing, the geopolitical effect could be to accelerate movement toward a resolution of the 60-year quarrel between India and Pakistan. Qaeda leaders have called for the assassination of President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and have tried to kill him at least twice. The two nations share a profound interest in resisting the tide of jihadi terrorism.
The caller to an Indian news agency who praised Tuesday's bombings of Mumbai commuter trains in the name of an Al Qaeda branch in Kashmir might have been an impostor. But there is no denying that elements of Tuesday's bombings of commuter trains in Mumbai bear a disturbing resemblance to past attacks mounted or inspired by the Al Qaeda network.
For India, it is crucial to determine if Mumbai was hit in the same way as New York, Madrid, and London, in pursuance of the same grandiose goals, or by a more parochial local group, perhaps one of the Kashmir-oriented terrorist outfits originating in Pakistan. The planning and operational sophistication needed to detonate seven bombs within 11 minutes at the height of rush hour suggest a Qaeda-type operation. Even the date, 7/11, echoes earlier jihadi bombings associated with Al Qaeda, as does the selection of a target at the nexus of a commercial and transportation system in a great city. Mumbai, formerly Bombay, is India's center for finance and movie-making. The timing of the Mumbai attack also coincides with two significant developments in India's foreign policy. One is the recent nuclear deal with the Bush administration. that is meant to become the cornerstone of a strategic partnership between the world's two biggest pluralistic democracies It would be consistent with Osama bin Laden's concept of a global war against non-Muslim "crusader" powers if he were to punish India for entering into a strategic alliance with the United States. The other development that may have provoked the Mumbai atrocity is an imminent renewal of India-Pakistan peace talks. Based on their past performances, e Extremist groups such as Lashkar-e-Toiba or the Students Islamic Movement of India might well have planted the explosives in the Mumbai commuter trains to derail those talks. Thus far, Indians and their government have reacted to the bombings with admirable resiliency and sangfroid. Within hours, the trains were running again in Mumbai, and Mumbai had resumed its vibrant life. India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called for calm, sagely avoiding any temptation to point fingers before the perpetrators could be identified. And Pakistan's foreign ministry issued an emphatic denunciation of the train bombing and of all terrorism. But both nations are engaged in stoking separatist or oppositional movements in each other's backyard. These operations are pursued in shadow by their security services. They extend not only to Kashmir but also to Afghanistan and the region of Pakistan known as Baluchistan. These practices destabilize a large swath of south Asia, and they nourish terrorism. The best antidote to this syndrome would be a comprehensive peace accord between India and Pakistan. Should it turn out that Al Qaeda was behind the Mumbai bombing, the geopolitical effect could be to accelerate movement toward a resolution of the 60-year quarrel between India and Pakistan. Qaeda leaders have called for the assassination of President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan and have tried to kill him at least twice. The two nations share a profound interest in resisting the tide of jihadi terrorism.
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2006
15:34 ||
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WND. Use appropriate caution. But I sure hope they did.
While Israeli military sources in the Golan Heights are reporting Syrian military gunfire directed inside the Jewish state, Lebanese political sources are telling WND they expect a provocation of some kind from Damascus. Israeli Defense Forces are attempting to determine the exact source of the gunfire. If the source cannot be determined, sources say, Israel may choose to ignore or officially deny it occurred in an effort to avoid widening what is rapidly becoming a regional conflict.
Meanwhile, Lebanese sources predict a small, limited provocation against Israel perhaps a small skirmish or the use of Palestinian groups on the Syrian side of the border firing mortars under the direction of the Syrian army. It would not be a major attack, the sources say, just a minor provocation in conjunction with Iran to show Syria is in solidarity with Hezbollah and the Palestinians, who launched the original attacks against Israel on two fronts Gaza and southern Lebanon.
Yesterday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said an Israeli strike on Syria would be considered an attack on the whole Islamic world that would bring a "fierce response." "If the Zionist regime commits another stupid move and attacks Syria, this will be considered like attacking the whole Islamic world and this regime will receive a very fierce response," Ahmadinejad was quoted by Iranian state television as saying in a telephone conversation with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
#1
Oh Boy,
Pass the popcorn
The IDF will smash Syria's army like a bug much less the Hezbollah goons who have no discipline or sense of tactics except frontal assault and suicide.
As for Iran, F@#k em, Iran wants this and Iran wants trouble throughout the middle east. Given the large numbers of Iranians that have been killed and captured in Iraq since the fall of Saddam, this is a long time coming and I think Those islamofascists in Teheran are gonna get up close and personal with a cruise missile pretty soon.
On a side bar, there has been a LOT of activity at the AFB near my home, the C-17's are loading up every day and flying out every other night and coming back about a day later. Lots of equipment......something is going on.
NOTE: this commenter is NOT Rantburg regular Sock Puppet of Doom. Please do not use the established 'nyms of regulars. Continuing to do so will result in comments being deleted and possibly IPs being banned.
#4
meh. Syria aint gonna do squat but run their mouth, just like Iran.
Syria has about 20,000 US Marines on their eastern border, the minute those guys start to crowd the broder and look interested, Syria will heel.
This is all proxie. Iran and Syria want to buy for time and change the subject, last thing they want to do is give George a valid reason to boost his poll numbers.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/14/2006 15:31
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#6
Anyone else get a feeling this whole thing is going to end up with Israel whacking Iran with our assistance. Something along the lines of Syria attacks Israel, Israel hits back, Iran hits Israel in defense of Syria, then USA/Israel wipe out Iran's nuclear/military complex? I wonder how many of the US carriers/naval resoursces are in the ME or headed there now and how much else is going on behind the scenes that we don't know about.
#9
IJ does requuire the caution sign, but sucking the US into this is a prerequisite for a wide-scale regional conflict. Which IMHO is where AhMad wants to take us
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/14/2006 15:45
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#10
I doubt Syria would be that stupid, but you never know.
#12
That was not posted by me. Someone doesn't get it you don't use others names apperently. You all should have noticed they are coherent and can spell.
WND. Use appropriate caution. But I sure hope they did. That is no lie.
#14
Don't count Syria out yet. This thing is just gettnig started, and they don't call the shots - the mullahs do. I think the turbans finally caught on to the fact they're gonna lose in Iraq and that their nukes won't come in time to blackmail the coalition. This is their plan B, to provoke Israel into taking action - an action that just as in AhMad's words "...would be an attack on the entire Muslim world". The real goal is to drive a permanent wedge between Iraq and the US, which will have to back Israel. It will take something quite distasteful to bring such an Isreali response - and that's where Syria comes in.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/14/2006 16:53
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#15
Iran is very comfortable with using proxies, however, such a gambit would probably mean they would either tell Sadr to launch another Mehdi revolt, or announce that the Strait of Hormuz is being shut down (just the threat will do, shipping underwriters are skittish).
Either of these things would put Iran's butt on the line, and that is a whole 'nother ball game.
In a heartbeat, the guys on Diego Garcia would be in the air and fully loaded.
#16
Ever the optimist, if these events continue to unfold along this path, we end up with the desirable scenario of Israel striking out directly at Iran and crippling - or at a minimum impeding - their march toward the nuclear dance.
Which makes the conspirist in me stir - is it possible these events are unfolding exactly the way we would want them to? hmmmm
Posted by: Hal Chalikeakick ||
07/14/2006 17:14
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#17
HC, There are still some unknown variables, but in essence, that is my opinion as well, with the exception that Israel may not be required to strike mullahs.
Ahmadinutjob thought that he's setting a trap for Israel/US. His miscalculation was simple: Sunnis do not subscribe to his Mahdi mythology, nor would like to see shi'as geting more leverage in ME. That was reflected in Egypt and SA responses. In fact, they are all excited that Ahmadinutjob will have his ass handed to him. IOW, he did set the chess board, but did not notice that the table has been turned.
#18
. I think the turbans finally caught on to the fact they're gonna lose in Iraq and that their nukes won't come in time to blackmail the coalition. This is their plan B, to provoke Israel into taking action - an action that just as in AhMad's words "...would be an attack on the entire Muslim world".
I likee, makes good Muzzie sense, maybe this is why SA is getting the yips.
HEZBOLLAH chief Hassan Nasrallah declared "open war" against the Jewish state overnight after emerging unscathed from an Israeli air strike on his home and office in the Lebanese capital. "You wanted an open war, you will get an open war," the Shiite militant leader said in a defiant audio message after the evening raid, the latest salvo in an escalating Israeli air campaign against Lebanon over Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers on Wednesday. "It will be war at all levels... to Haifa, and beyond Haifa," Nasrallah said, referring to Israel's third largest city which commanders there said came under unprecedented rocket fire from Lebanon overnight.
An Israeli military spokeswoman declined to describe the evening air strike as an assassination attempt against the 45-year-old Hezbollah chief. She would confirm only that a "Hezbollah terror organisation headquarters was targeted". But Israeli television said that it was a calculated attempt against Nasrallah's life carried out in response to specific intelligence on his whereabouts.
Hezbollah television said the strikes "destroyed the building that hosts Hezbollah's secretariat general" and that Nasrallah's house was hit. It was not immediately clear whether he had been in the targeted area.
Israeli government ministers had made no bones about their desire to see the Hezbollah leader eliminated. "Nasrallah decided his own fate," Israeli Interior Minister Roni Bar-On told public radio ahead of the strikes. "We will settle our accounts with him when the time comes."
The Hezbollah leader's predecessor Abbas al-Musawi was killed in a 1992 Israeli air strike along with his wife and three-year-old daughter. But Nasrallah refused to be fazed by the raid on his home, promising Israeli commanders "surprises" in the movement's resistance to its three-day-old onslaught.
The Hezbollah chief hailed a rocket attack launched from the Shiite southern suburbs of Beirut against an Israeli naval vessel patrolling offshore Friday evening as a first example. "Now, off the coast of the sea, the warship which attacked... the southern suburbs... watch it burning and drowning," Nasrallah said. An Israeli military spokeswoman confirmed only that "there was a navy ship that was lightly hit along the Lebanese shore," and declined to talk about casualties.
The attack on Nasrallah's home and office, which Hezbollah television said his family and bodyguards also survived, was the latest barrage in an escalating Israeli campaign against the movement's political and military infrastructure. The group's command headquarters in the southern suburbs had already come under repeated Israeli air attack, as had the transmitters of its radio and television channels.
Hezbollah is widely credited in Lebanon with having been instrumental in Israel's 2000 pullout from the south after a 22-year occupation. By the same token, it has long been one of Israel's foremost foes.
"The Target: Nasrallah," the morning's edition of Israel's top-selling newspaper Yediot Aharonot had screamed in a front-page headline. Another newspaper, Maariv, charged that Nasrallah, along with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Damascus-based Hamas political chief Khaled Meshaal were "perhaps even more dangerous" than Hitler, responsible for exterminating six million Jews.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert insisted overnight that the offensive in Lebanon would go on until Hezbollah released the two captured soldiers, halted rocket attacks against northern Israel and disarmed. Hezbollah insists there can be no question of releasing the two Israelis unless Palestinian and Arab prisoners held in Israeli jails are freed in return.
#5
Any news on if Patriots work against the kind of rockets Hezbollah is firing? Or if Israel is even using Patriots there (might save them up to defend against any Iranian missiles).
#7
U.S. and Israel have tested a laser based missle defense system that is capable of taking down multiple targets, including katyushas - however I don't think it's close to deployment.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
07/14/2006 15:54
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#8
"My way? What's my way?"
"You wait until he comes around the corner, then smash his head with a rock."
Posted by: J. D. Lux ||
07/14/2006 19:03
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#13
Re: #11.....turning Palestine into glass would be/could be a desireable thing; however, that might bring into play the Iranians, Syrians, Egyptians, et al, and that could be costly to Israel as well as others who would support and defend Israel. I much prefer #12's solution.....turn them, their culture and country into rubble. Carpet bomb them back to the stone age.
HEZBOLLAH chief Hassan Nasrallah said overnight that his Shiite movement's guerrillas had destroyed the Israeli warship which had struck his headquarters in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
"Surprises will start from now. Now, off the coast of the sea, the warship which attacked... the southern suburbs... watch it burning and drowning," he said.
Israeli police said two missiles fired from the southern suburbs of Beirut had targeted an Israeli warship off the coast of the Lebanese capital.
#9
"The military has the helicopter carrier USS Iwo Jima heading a seven-ship group taking part in an exercise off the coast of Jordan, officials said."- Link
Posted by: Tibor ||
07/14/2006
14:42 ||
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#1
Phoenix (sometimes pronounced Pee-nis), generally has something going on, but the police and local news are very careful to keep it under wraps.
For example, there is a kill zone west of town, a stretch of desert known for perhaps 25-35 bodies, all Hispanics killed execution style in the course of a year or two, then dumped there. Because drugs were most likely involved, they didn't treat the cases as if they were related.
Serial crimes are only publicized if they are middle class anglo. Too rich or poor or ethnic and they are ignored.
The most prolific serial criminals around here are burglars and indecent exposures.
#2
Don't forget how tight they both are with the Chamber of Commerce. Can't have anything revealed that would make Phoenix look anything less than spiffy. It might keep some corporation from moving in, goshdarnit, and there go the property values!
I don't think most of the victims (at least of the Baseline Rapist guy) have been white, though. He's just been too brazen and they can't ignore it for long. But Anonymoose is right....as long as they stay outta North Phoenix and don't bother the rich white people, they don't make too much noise about killers on the loose.
So what do we do? We can certainly try to support the democracy movement and dissidents in Iran more aggressively. But this is going to be an enormously difficult task even under the best of circumstances. Detest the ruling clergy as they may, Irans young men still appear unwilling in any significant number to meet the regime on the streets.
Although Irans growing democratic culture is unlikely to be stopped, and its pro-American disposition is unlikely to change unless Washington goes Scowcroftian and seeks to placate Tehran, a militant, dictatorial Islam remains strong among the countrys ruling elite. And the circumstances in Washington arent propitious. The CIA hates pro-democracy covert action (its difficult, requires a level of knowledge and linguistic skill which is beyond todays clandestine service, and is always politically problematic in Washington). The State Department doesnt like it either, and doesnt trust the CIA to undertake such action (an astute judgment call on States part). And many European officials are equally queasy about such things, seeing them as counterproductive to the spirit of dialogue and the undying European hope that the US will make some grand bargain--which means any serious democracy-promotion inside Iran is verboten. The Bush administration ought to begin a crash course in covert and overt Iranian democracy-promotion, firing all those in the bureaucracies who seek to sabotage the mission.
But this isnt going to happen. Although a sense of urgency about Iran is growing in Washington, the administration has not--despite occasional rhetoric from the President, Vice President, and Secretary of State--been shocked into much action. As with so many other major foreign-policy issues, the Bush administration, worn out by Iraq, is operating on momentum, capable only of continuing the logic of policies from the first term. It does not want to see the Iranian train wreck ahead of it. The administration is pushing an approach that it really doesnt believe will work, but it doesnt want to break from the process since that, among other things, will inevitably force the administration to have the great Iran debate: Is it better to preventively bomb the clerics nuclear facilities or allow the mullahs to have nuclear weapons? And if the administration were to acquiesce to the clerical bomb, it would, of course, empower its worst enemies in Tehran and spiritually invigorate all Muslim radicals who live on American weakness. The United States and the Europeans have now aligned the West against the regime in Tehran. Acquiesce and the revolutionary hard core triumphs. We will whet their appetites, externally and internally. As Iranian society continues to sheer away from the ruling elite, that elite has kept its radicalism, especially among the diehards raised in the Revolutionary Guards, like Ahmadinejad.
Continued on Page 49
#3
CA, Bush said that US will not let mullahs have it. I think he meant it.
The apparent inaction may have some good reasons.
1. Bush knows that there is no way Iran can be convinced to forget about the nukes. The diplomacy is, to a large degree, a sideshow, from the POV of US administration. It may net allies in the military sense, but US is not counting on it. What Bush is essentially seeking is a tacit agreement from Uropeons, so that when the time comes, they won't go apeshit. By now, it has to be clear to Uros that the diplomacy avenue has been an abyssmal failure. And that has been the primary goal of this whole exercise.
2. There is no need to advertise what course of action US will take, specifically, to denny nukes to mullahnazis. Remember NYT. I think I don't need to elaborate on this point.
#4
Whatever their failings, the Bush administration (Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice) is NOT stupid, and certainly does not lack confidence. If they are not 'doing something' in Iran, that is not why. Either they don't think it is the right thing to do right now, or they are doing something but you don't see it, or they CAN'T do something because existing politics and law don't support it. Americans don't want a war, and won't support one unless and until they get another Pearl Harbor or 9-11 (or worse).
#5
Iran is a tough nut to crack, and the US wants to get all of our ducks in a row before we give it a go. We are using this interlude to make all kinds of diplomatic preparations, and to rebuild our depleted stocks of weapons, and to procure ASAP the new defensive and offensive weapons we will be needing.
This just plain takes time, even at full steam.
The White House and Pentagon have been quiet as heck because they are so busy. Clinton's White House produced daily hubbub, because it wasn't doing anything important or useful.
Notice you haven't heard anything out of Condi Rice for the longest time? Even with her IQ, she must be pushed to the limit calculating out what's next.
Remember also that if we attack Iran, we are going to try damn hard to keep our own casualties to a bare minimum. That raises degree of difficulty in planning by a factor of 10.
Ideally, Bush is creating a situation in which the Iranians will defeat themselves by doing something incredibly stupid and weak, right when we are ready to pounce.
#7
Let's try an analogy here. Iran is a zit. A big old nasty puss filled pimple. Now I realize it may have been awhile since your average Rantburger has had to contend with one of these, but I know you've all been there.
When excising a zit, you don't just rush in and try and pop the thing. Odds are you'll displace most of the puss further under the unbroken skin and end up with an even nastier mess. What you need to do is carefully lance the bastard with a sterile implement, selectively determine the best vantage points, then slowly apply increasing pressure until until the infected material is forcibly removed.
Gerecht is a smart guy, but he doesn't know what he's talking about on this one. Regarding Iran, the administration has all the focus and concentration of a teenager getting ready to remove a major blemish.
On July 13, CBC News aired an interview with a paid police informant who said he infiltrated a group of men and youths arrested on June 2, 2006, in connection with an alleged plot to bomb targets in southern Ontario. The informant, who spoke to Linden McIntyre of CBC's The Fifth Estate, is 29-year-old Mubin Shaikh, a prominent member of Toronto's Indo-Canadian Muslim community. He was born in Canada to immigrant parents. Shaikh is expected to testify at the trials of the 12 men and five youths who have been charged in the case. The following is a transcript of the interview: The rest is at the link, for anyone who's interested. Good work CSIS!
#1
"Shaikh is expected to testify"
I hope he has good protection working - I wouldn't want to be him, with who knows how many Muslims looking to kill me as a traitorous apostate. Especially in Canada, where I can't even legally have weapons to defend myself.
About three miles from the nearest town, Brian Lehman's popcorn factory near Berne has somehow ended up on the federal government's list of potential terrorist targets. "I don't have a clue why we're on the list. We're on a gravel road, not even blacktop. We're nowhere," said Lehman, owner of Amish Country Popcorn, which employs five people.
Nevertheless, Amish Country Popcorn is one of 8,591 places or events in Indiana that the Department of Homeland Security regards as serious potential terrorist targets, according to an inspector general's report that raised questions about the accuracy and relevance of what's known as the National Asset Database.
Obviously, someone at Homeland Security reads Rantburg and understands popcorn is a critical asset in the War on Terror.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2006
14:06 ||
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#1
That's because each little kernel is like a tiny little bomb that explodes. What if one of those kernels found it's way onto a tiny little train or a tiny little airplane. Oh the humanity!
#2
The Amish are stuck in the middle. We're in the 21st century, The Amish are fixed in the 15th century, and al-Q is fixed in the 7th. Note how the Amish woman's outfit is nearly a burka. All they are missing is the hajib. All the Amish men have beards, even if they do shave their moustaches. And those black hats are pretty close to turbans. And the horse drawn carriages are perfect for smuggling WMD through the US. I think it's pretty clear what happens when these fundamentalist, word of the book types get together.
#5
Ah yes.... Bastille Day.... the day the french people stormed the Bastille Prison and freed all the prisoners (see I was paying attention in European History class!). Isn't this kind of a french Independance day?
#6
There are many places on the list that don't make sense at first, because they seem to be small backwaters doing unimportant things. But either they have some hidden value, such as being near the headwaters that flow into a major reservoir, for example, or they have been identified already as of being of some interest to bad guyz. Maybe some al-Qaeda operative thought working in a popcorn plant was a great cover.
Some might be targets like in the movie Telefon, that were targets many years before but are now unimportant.
#7
I think it was on Instapundit where I read that Indiana has submitted more site for protection under the Homeland security program than any other State. The ammount of money a State receives is directly proportional to the number of sites. A really good scam.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/14/2006 20:01
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Militants forced open a border gate between Egypt and Gaza on Friday, wounding an Egyptian officer and letting hundreds of Palestinians who had been trapped on the Egyptian side of the border to get into Gaza.
Curiously going the wrong way ...
Armed militants stood by as people carrying suitcases crossed into Gaza. Some walked through on crutches while others walked or ran through the gate.
Suitcases full of money, plaster casts full of mortar rounds, crutches full of small caliber ammo ...
Egyptian police Capt. Mohammed Abdel Hadi said masked Palestinian militants firing guns broke into the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing, clearing the way for the trapped Gazans. One Egyptian border policeman was wounded when the militants stormed the frontier, said Abdel Hadi, who heads police on the Egyptian side of Rafah.
How many Paleos did the Egyptian border guards shoot dead? None? Hmmmm, doesn't sound like much resistance to me ...
The crossing, Gaza's main gateway to the outside world, has largely been closed since June 25, when Palestinian militants carried out a raid on a military outpost, killing two Israeli soldiers and capturing one. Hundreds of people have been stranded on the Egyptian side, unable to get to their homes in Gaza.
Rafah's closure left hundreds of Palestinians who work and study in Egypt stranded, while preventing hundreds of others from leaving the coastal area to receive medical treatment abroad.
Sympathy meter hasn't twitched a bit, surprise meter says "0.000000000", and my patience meter is pegged on "empty".
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2006
14:05 ||
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#1
This is that crap I was talking about yesterday. They are not Paleos! They are Iranians, the Brigade that went into the Sudan two months ago. Good to hear Israel shot the Beiruit airpot up. Now they are going to infiltrate as people wanting to go home. Be aware, these are troops on the march.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/14/2006 14:46
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#2
I'm thinking lemmings for some reason. Are y'all thinking lemmings?
Posted by: N guard ||
07/14/2006 14:54
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#3
There was an article here just after the Shalit kidnapping about a large number of Palestinians caught in No Man's Land between Egypt and Gaza. The story told of whole families sitting in the sun, locked out of Gaza and not permitted back into Egypt. Lots of them were on the way to visit relatives for their summer vacation from the salt mines of Dubai and such, as I recall. No mention of armed men in that article, though. Ah well, I s'pose by now they've lost the jobs they were vacationing from.
#4
Jobs? Salt mines? Palestinians doing work? You must be making thsi up. Paloes don't "work" - they "whine" - and they wear masks, seethe a lot, and shoot bullets into the air.
No - I can certinly gree that paleos may have been practising their characteristic "idlenesss" at the beach - being professsionl "loiterers". But syaing that they are returning to "jobs" is a real stretch.
THE nation's Islamic leader, Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali, has dismissed the Holocaust as a "Zionist lie" in a series of fiery sermons in which he also lashed out at the West and the US-led occupation of Iraq. And Sheik Hilali -- the Mufti of Australia and a member of John Howard's Muslim Community Reference Group -- also accuses the Government of being dishonest for claiming the anti-terrorism laws were not designed specifically for Muslims. "These laws are tailored to target us precisely," he said in a sermon recorded at Sydney's Lakemba Mosque in November - one of a number of recordings The Weekend Australian has of Sheik Hilali's religious addresses delivered in Arabic over the past eight months.
Revelations that the nation's most senior Islamic cleric has been openly preaching extreme messages to his mainstream followers will be a major setback for the Howard Government. Sheik Hilali is a senior member of the Prime Minister's Muslim advisory board. Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs Andrew Robb will tomorrow unveil details of federal funding for national projects to help address problems within the Islamic community. Mr Robb, who oversees the advisory group, told The Weekend Australian Sheik Hilali's reported comments were "inflammatory and unacceptable".
Last night, the mufti stood by his sermons: "We are always saddened and always remember with great sorrow what Nazism did to the Jewish people," he said in a statement. However, we do not wish to see these crimes repeated by other hands. Some who see themselves as supporters of Israel do abuse the Holocaust whenever Israel is engaged in its indefensible wars and crimes against humanity. People, myself included, are within their legitimate right to question the morality of exploiting the memory of the Holocaust."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
13:44 ||
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#1
And Sheik Hilali -- the Mufti of Australia and a member of John Howard's Muslim Community Reference Group And part time headwear model. Maybe he should of met the guy we just buried from the home. Still had his tattoo
#5
The human head is a virtual radiator, pumping mass quantities of blood through the brain and dissipating heat through the skull. The turbans cause this heat to be retained in the brain, causing the blood to boil and synapses to misfire.
This also explains why bald men are so much more intelligent and wise.
The Afghan government is considering the re-establishment of the Taleban's Department for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. The move has been recommended by the Ministry for Religious Affairs.
I'll bet they're quite enthusiastic about this.
Under the Taleban, the department was notorious for its sometimes brutal enforcement of Islamic norms.
To the extent that shooting women in the head in a soccer stadium was sometimes considered brutal.
A government minister said the department would help to prevent corruption. The Afghan parliament is due to debate the issue soon. Correspondents say that under the Taleban, the department's enforcers struck fear into the population by such actions as beating women who did not observe the strict dress code.
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2006
13:43 ||
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#1
Can President Karzai veto such things if they pass?
#3
gotta love the graphic. Reminds me of the video a few days ago of the 2 chattle women trying to figure out how to eat spaghetti with their masks on.
Posted by: BA ||
07/14/2006 14:20
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#4
They reinstate Vice-n-Virtue, we uninstate all aid $$$. I ain't paying for morality cops, other than the ninnies at FCC.
#5
I'd let them go ahead with it, keeping in mind the fly paper approach, but never actually letting them go too far. What a wealth of intelligence this would be. A who's who of Talibania.
#7
Aye, Sea. No monies to wifebeaters and woman killers.
Meanwhile, silence from our leaders on this, all while our troops are there, our money is there, helping that new government-that bastion of democracy in South Asia, Afghanistan. Almost makes you reminisce about how we ignored the good ol "vice and virture" days leading up to 9/11, too... We can file this right alongside that classic, "Why The Government Under Pres. Bush Won't Call Talibanis Terrorists."
Two alleged criminals were killed yesterday in two separate incidents of 'crossfire' with Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Dhaka and Naogaon.
Both turn out to be no-goodnik commies ...
Mohammad Jasim alias 'Kana' Jasim was killed in crossfire with RAB at Demra in the city, while Shahidul Islam, 38, son of Hazi Ahmed Ali of village Ratowal in Kaligram under Raninagar upazila of Naogaon district was killed in Naogaon.
RAB claimed Shahidul Islam was an alleged regional leader of banned extremist outfit Purba Banglar Communist Party as well as a listed terrorist. He was also a UP chairman.
Aren't they all?
Mohammad Jasim alias 'Kana' Jasim, an alleged criminal was killed in 'crossfire' between RAB and a gang of terrorists early yesterday beside the staff quarter area under Demra police station in the capital.
It's like watching an old episode of "Bonanza". We know Little Joe's new girlfriend is going to die, but we watch anyway.
RAB said, acting on a tip off, a team of RAB-10 arrested Jasim conducting a raid into the Ramna Chinese Restaurant inside Ramna Park area Wednesday night.
"Evening, Kana. Finish your noodles, we're taking a ride"
According to his confessions,
"The number three vicegrips, please"
Jasim was taken to Demra in the early hours of yesterday to arrest allegedly his accomplices and unearth their hidden arms dens.
This is where Little Joe's girlfriend catches a 'cold'
RAB claimed that when they reached beside the staff quarter area, the accomplices of Jasim opened fire on them from their hideouts to snatch their comrade from the clutches of the elite forces.
"Da RAB got Kana! Open random aimless fire!"
RAB also retaliated.
(See next sentance)
At one stage, RAB claimed that Jasim tried to escape and received several bullet injuries and died on the spot.
"See, there's a hole behind his left ear, another behind his right and one in each kneecap"
The accomplices of the alleged terrorist, according to RAB who opened fire on them, managed to flee the scene leaving two foreign revolvers and four rounds of bullets in the spot.
And no other traces they exist
RAB said Jasim was accused of several cases including murder and arms charges.
Our Naogaon correspondent reported that an UP chairman, who was also an alleged extremist leader was killed in 'crossfire' between the members of RAB and a gang of extremists early yesterday beside the Eidgah of Kaligram under Raninagar upazila in Naogaon.
Second story, same as the first
RAB sources said, acting on a tip off, a team of RAB-5 conducted a raid Tuesday at Gaganpur village under Patnitala upazila and arrested Shahidul Islam.
Tip off - check, raid - check, arrest - check
Following his confessions,
Check
RAB members carried out another raid along with the nabbed UP chairman Wednesday night at about 4.30 am to detain his accomplices and recover arms.
Check
RAB said when they reached beside the Kaligram Eidgah, the accomplices of the extremist leader opened fire on them. RAB also retaliated.
Double check
At one stage of crossfire, Shahidul tried to escape and died on the spot.
See what I mean?
RAB recovered a foreign pistol and five rounds bullets from the spot. RAB and police sources said Shahidul Islam was accused of seven cases including five murder charges. They said he was also a convict who has been absconding since 2.5 years.
That sentence makes my brain hurt ...
Police recovered the body Thursday morning and sent to Naogaon Sadar Hospital mortuary for autopsy.
"Paging Doctor Quincy!"
A case was filed with Raninagar thana in this connection.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2006
13:41 ||
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#1
Somehow, I don't think we'll be seeing reruns of The Crossfire Gazette on TVLand any time soon...
#3
"beside the Eidgah of Kaligram"..or is it Kaligram Eidgah... this is so confusing. And what's with the alledged absconding extremist bit?
...and notice the bullets were recovered first inthe spot and nextonthe spot. hmmmmm
#5
2 revolvers and 4 rounds of ammo.
Not exactly packin' heavy were they?
WTF are they going to do with 2 rounds of ammo each?
Shoot one at the good guys and kill themselves with the 2nd.
July 14, 2006: With the end of North Korea's series of missile tests, who won and who lost, given what happened? The answers to this question might be somewhat surprising in one sense, but obvious in another. The seven missile launches, the most critical being the Taepo-Dong 2 missile that failed within a minute of launching, will have consequences.
Winners: The United States By launching seven missiles, North Korea has given the United States a lot more freedom in terms of acting decisively than it had earlier. This is largely due to the fact that the untrustworthiness of Kim Jong-Il in any form of negotiation, and the country's provocative behavior, has been made pretty obvious. The failure of the Taepo-Dong 2 missile also shows that the United States still has time to mount pressure on North Korea through various avenues (largely economic, diplomatic, and political arenas) while increasing American missile defenses. Political opposition to missile defense will decline as a result of the attempted launch of the Taepo-Dong 2, which was reportedly aimed at Hawaiian waters.
Japan If the United States has regained some freedom, Japan has gained a lot, both in the international arena, as well as domestic politics. For the first time since 1945, Japan is facing a credible threat to its home territory. The massive tests by North Korea have reinforces the perception that started to gel after the 1998 test flight ( in which a missile flew over Japan). Japan has traditionally limited its defense spending to one percent of GDP. Like America, Japan sees itself as having time. The Japanese-American alliance will get stronger and closer.
Taiwan The strengthening American-Japanese alliance will benefit Taiwan. America and Japan have already declared Taiwan to be an area where they have already agreed to pursue the same objectives with Taiwan. The Americans are going to assist Japan with a missile defense system. As a result, Japan is going to owe the United States a favor and that could redound to Taiwan's benefit if things with China go hot. One of the big-ticket items in the 2001 package of military assistance the United States promised Taiwan was eight modern diesel-electric submarines. America doesn't build modern diesel-electric submarines, but Japan does.
Losers: North Korea If Kim Jong-Il was a laughingstock after the 2004 release of the movie " Team America: World Police" and the song "I'm So Lonely", he's definitely become a major laughingstock with the failure of the Taepo-Dong 2. Already, crude jokes featuring a double entendre about Kim Jong-Il are circulating around the internet. Also, there are going to be questions about the quality of North Korean missiles and that's probably North Korea's biggest and most legitimate export product.
South Korea The nonchalance and neglect of the situation with regards to North Korea is now looking like a bad idea. The anti-American attitudes are going to result in a quicker re-deployment of American forces away from the DMZ.
China Not quite an obvious loser, but they have lost big-time. China now appears to have no ability or inclination to control North Korea, which is a blow to its diplomatic and political prestige. This is also going to send relations with the U.S. into a bit of a tailspin. But the not-so-obvious penalty is the fact that America and Japan are growing closer. China now faces the prospect of not just facing the Seventh Fleet should the situation with Taiwan degenerate into a war, but the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force as well. China might have an outside chance against one of those maritime forces, but against both, the chances are virtually zero. Actions and events often have consequences, which often can be far-reaching and in some cases, unexpected. The North Korean tests are one event that will have consequences that ripple beyond the Korean Peninsula.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2006
13:29 ||
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#1
I just have one question. How does Montenegro fit into all this?
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/14/2006 13:04
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#2
That's how we made sure Zarky Boy got his. Two GBUs, not one. And even then, it took Zark Boy 58 painful minutes to expire ... and in full view of US SF.
Hopefully, this second bombing was designed to make sure HEADS-A-ROLLINGS leader is very dead ...
#3
We'll see ... somehow it's hard to believe that Nasrallah would be brave/stupid enough to stay in the hqtrs after the Israeli leaflets but stranger things have happened.
In remarks made before the UN Security Council today, Ambassador Dan Gillerman claimed that Lebanon was willing to work with Iran to hide weapons of mass destruction. An official statement from the delegation on the subject is expected shortly. The Ambassador went on to point to Syria as another member of a "club" of terror-supporting nations.
A partial transcript of his remarks follow:
#
It is very important for the international community to understand that while Hezbollah executes this vicious terrorism, it is merely the finger on the bloodstained, long-reaching arms of Syria and Iran. Hezbollah, together with Hamas, Syria and Iran, comprise the world's new and ominous axis of terror, an infamous club -- infamous club, the entry fee to which is the blood of innocents and the terrorizing of the entire world.
Membership to this club requires an unfathomable capacity for evil. The president of Iran has repeatedly denied the Holocaust, while gleefully preparing the next one. Many of the long-range missiles fired into Israel in recent days were Iranian missiles, made by the same regime that is now trying to possess nuclear weapons, the same region that is funding Hezbollah to the sum of $100 million a year.
Do we dare to ask ourselves how many families in Lebanon today are being prepared to house dirty bombs and other weapons of mass destruction courtesy of Iran?
Syria, another member of this club, is a well-known protector and financier of terrorist organizations, playing host to them in its capital, Damascus. The Syrian government, which still regards Lebanon as "southern Syria," works ceaselessly to undermine all efforts towards a peaceful future in the region...
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2006
12:55 ||
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#4
Sounds more to me like he is saying "Tehran or Damascus is next, to be followed by the other" "We're not saying which one will be last." "Maybe they can both be first, we have to check with the U.S. first to make sure they have enough inventory on hand for us."
Posted by: Mike N. ||
07/14/2006 14:23
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#5
Mike N - Iran is the "BIG DOG"...
If they put their mind to it, Baby-I-Doc would be fairly straightforward take out, I think rather "easy pickins'", and there is a logistical issue with Iran which does not exist with Syria...
Fox News is reporting that IAF hit Hezbollah's headquarters, causing the building to collapse. Nasrallah is believed to have been in it. More as we get it...
Haaretz confirms the strike, no word yet there on Nasrallah.
DRUDGE reporting: Israeli warplanes destroyed the building housing the headquarters of Hezbollah guerrillas in south Beirut Friday, the group's TV station reported.
In an urgent flash, the station said the building housing Hezbollah's leadership was destroyed.
It did not elaborate, nor say whether there were any casualties. But it is generally known that Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, whose movements are treated with high level of secrecy, moves from one place to another, particularly during the Israeli offensive.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
12:45 ||
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#1
YAHOO!!!!! Next?
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/14/2006 12:52
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AP:Hezbollah said the home and office of its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, were destroyed by an Israeli airstrike but that he and his family were safe.
Should have figured he'd be in a deep hole somewhere safe.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2006 13:23
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#15
That's OK. It would be expected that Nasrallah would not be at home or at his HQ. The main thing is to keep systematically destroying his Command and Control capability, hence the destruction of the HQs, Cell towers, power, etc. Developments are moving quickly and a degraded C&C capability will put Hizb'Allah that much further behind the power curve. I wonder if Israel is cutting sat and fiber optic comm capabilities in Lebanon, too. They should.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/14/2006 13:45
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#16
Heres an interesting dimension to the Hassan story, I just read on an AP story that the Hassan message was a prerecorded- generic type message, so they havent actually proved him alive yet.
#17
Seems to me the Lions of Islam are proving to be somewhat less than effective against the Lions of Juda (somewhere around here I've got a cool cartoon of the situation, but I don;t know how to load it up in a comment).
#18
Hmmm. Hit his home & hdqtrs too. But..he escaped this time since he was out trying to find a fresh supply of underwear. Shit his pants one too many times.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (AP) _ Witnesses say militants blew a hole in the wall at the Egypt-Gaza border, and a stream of Palestinians have begun entering Gaza from Egypt.
#3
Seems to me the opposite is more likely. Still, I'm sure the Egyptians are doing their best to shove them through as fast as they can and ready to seal the breach the second the last Pal has gone through.
#6
This is the equivalent of what we in Alaska call the Salt Chuck. In a deep valley, a stream flows with fresh water into a tidal basin. At low tide, the tidal basin is fresh water. Then at high tide, the basin fills with sea water and the basin becomes saline. This ebb and flow works the same with the Paleos.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/14/2006 13:59
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VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican on Friday strongly deplored Israel's strikes on Lebanon, saying they were "an attack" on a sovereign and free nation. [that is free except for that pesky Islamo fascist militia that crossed an international border to carry out a military operation]
Vatican Secretary of State Cardinal Angelo Sodano said Pope Benedict and his aides were very worried that the developments in the Middle East risked degenerating into "a conflict with international repercussions."
But Sodano reserved his harshest words for Israel. "The right of defence on the part of a state does not exempt it from its responsibility to respect international law [although islamofascist militias are exempt apparently], particularly regarding the safeguarding of civilian populations," he said.
#2
"The right of defence on the part of a state does not exempt it from its responsibility to respect international law."
Sorry, but you couldn't be more wrong. The right of defense is God-given and not subject to anything other than personal responsibility. You'd think a man of God would understand that.
#5
I'll have to respectfully disagree with you on that one Omating. Demographic changes in Germany of the last few decades are creating an anti-semitic climate that would be envied by Goebels, Goering, and Hitler. I suspect they're headed back to the future.
#7
#5 - unfortunately I think you're probably right.
I'd love for all the anti-semites in the world to explain to me exactly how their lives would be better if there were no Jews anywhere.
I realize they think they'd get everything the Jews possessed (though why they'd want something touched by someone they hate so much goes unexplained), but after they squandered all the loot - and it wouldn't take clowns of that mindset long - how exactly would their lives be better?
And who would they hate then? They obviously have a desperate, visceral need to hate someone.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/14/2006 12:35
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This is one time the VAT needs to shut the hell up!!
#9
Where was the vatican's response deploring the killing and kidnapping of the 18yr old Israeli boy?
Israel - Don't listen to old men in dresses wearing funny hats.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
07/14/2006 12:59
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Chill.
al-Reuters hates the Roman Catholic Church almost as much as it does Israel.
Here is the Vatican statement (and the Vatican's headline) :
HOLY SEE CONDEMNS VIOLENCE IN MIDDLE EAST
VATICAN CITY, JUL 14, 2006 (VIS) - Cardinal Secretary of State Angelo Sodano today made the following declaration on Vatican Radio:
"The news we are receiving from the Middle East is certainly worrying.
"The Holy Father Benedict XVI and all his collaborators are following with great attention the latest dramatic episodes, which risk degenerating into a conflict with international repercussions.
"As in the past, the Holy See also condemns both the terrorist attacks on the one side and the military reprisals on the other. Indeed, a State's right to self-defense does not exempt it from respecting the norms of international law, especially as regards the protection of civilian populations.
"In particular, the Holy See deplores the attack on Lebanon, a free and sovereign nation, and gives assurances of its closeness to those people who have suffered so much in the defense of their own independence.
"Once again, it appears obvious that the only path worthy of our civilization is that of sincere dialogue between the contending parties."
SS/MIDDLE EAST VIOLENCE/SODANO VIS 060714 (180)
That's it. Reuters hypes it up with it's own patented twist.
Items to note:
1) Lebanon has a large Maronite Christion minority that has suffered since the violence of the 1970s.
2) In its statement, the Holy See has NOT called for an immediate cease-fire, nor for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon.
TIsreal is entitled to fulll defense as a soverign nation since by all parts of international law, they were attacked in a burtal act of war, followed by shelling of civilians from a soverign state by part of its government (HEzbollah).
SO oISrael is acting within its rights and within law.
Sodano had his head up his ass,a nd the Vatican had better stop this dipshit knee-jerk Wuroweenism in terms of foregin policy.
Under they CATHOLIC theaory of Just War, Israel is OBLIGED to go after the bastards who are shelling women and children in civilian areas indiscriminately (Hezbollah), with the maximum force neccesary to keep casualites low and end the conflict quickly. That means overhwleming force apllied in an overhwleming fasion.
Fr Sodano and the other doddering Vatican state-departement idiots seem to have overlooked basic Catholic theology in favore of being screeching eurotrash.
And NO, I will not leave God's Church - I and others will clean it up from the bottom up if needs be. For one, I'd have no trouble throwing Sosano out the window of his cushy office, and putting him to work helping missionaries out in West Papua who are trying to keep Catholics there from being slaugheted by the Muslims. At gunpoint, if Fr Sodano needs that sort of persuasion.
And yes, he is a Cardinal, but a bullshit one - I use "Father" to remind him and all others that they are supposed to be Priests when you get down to the coer of it, and they are supposed to be subservient to God and protective of God's Church, not their own liberal/leftist politics and wrldy goods.
#12
The Israeli Govt has dropped leaflets warning innocents to Get the hell out of the way. So Israel is safeguarding civilian pop. If there is such a thing where Islamist are concerned. By my read of just war policy (public politics not withstanding). Israel is good to go!
Posted by: AmeRICan ||
07/14/2006 13:24
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#13
No slamming meant on Catholics, but is it only me who finds this rich that it comes from a group who's admitted turning the other "eye" when Hitler gassed the Joooooooos? We're not that far from current day Hitlers wanting/doing the same thing, albeit more "efficiently" with today's weapons. Like the Hollyweird freaks, some people should just STFU and sit down. You're not helping matters.
ANd, BTW, "international law" (I assume) would say that kidnapping soldiers (much less attacking them cross-border or kidnapping civilians) is LEGALLY an act of war. Israel is fully within it's rights to respond in kind.
Posted by: BA ||
07/14/2006 13:26
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#14
The Holy Father Benedict XVI a former member of the Hitler Youth condemns Israel for defending itself an attack on a sovereign and free nation (he means Lebanon).
#15
Right on O.S. I too share your take on the leftist in collars. The gates of the nether world will not prevail against her.
Posted by: AmeRICan ||
07/14/2006 13:29
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#16
No slamming meant on Catholics, but is it only me who finds this rich that it comes from a group who's admitted turning the other "eye" when Hitler gassed the Joooooooos?
#17
i'm a Catholic & this reminds me right before OIF started the priest at my church says in his sermon that is wrong to go into Iraq, blah, blah, blah. I got up in the middle of church and walked down the aisle and left. You should have seen the looks I got, but I just couldn't sit there and listen to that leftist crap. IMHO, God would smile upon Saddam's demise and he would thank the US for doing it. The old testament is full of war. Why doesn ever time anyone goes to war, the church gets their panties in a wad? No matter what the cause...
another slant to this is that the Islamists would LOVE to destroy the Vatican too. Will the Swiss Guards defned the Pope with their lances? Maybe one day when the Vatican gets shelled it will wake up.
Posted by: NOLA "Victim" ||
07/14/2006 13:40
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#18
I'm catholic to, and I find this condemnation of ISrael a bit rich. The only explanation I can find is they are concerned about the threat of reprisals against the Maronite community.
On the turning the other eye: Not true. The Catholics were the only major Christian denomination that helped the Jews, and got on the Nazi fun list for their pains. Goebbels makes it clear the catholics were next after the Jews and Gypsies. The only thing that saved us was that the Jews were a "work in progress" when the war ended.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/14/2006 14:11
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I stand corrected and do apologize then, my fellow brothers. No harm meant, but good grief how far does the liberalism creep into the Church? I mean, first the Priest "abuse" cases, then we find out the homos had infiltrated, and now views on war like this.
Again, like our national "leadership," I recognize the need to separate the laity (ground troops) in the church from the "enlightened" ones in charge. I just gotta wonder what J.C. Himself would think of these statements, especially in light of literally hundreds of rockets being launched against N. Israel.
Posted by: BA ||
07/14/2006 14:17
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#20
This Pope should just stick to normal Pope duties like protecting child molesters, and waving to the camera.
#23
I don't have much use for the Vatican getting involved in geo-politics either. I'm not sure if the Vat *gets* how truly evil the islamoloonies are. I'd appreciate if the Vat stuck w/Sympathizing & helping the innocent of any faith as they can but please stay out of the pollyanna-ish quote business when dealing w/islamonutz and their proxies - they just make themselves look silly.
#24
Classical "not wanting to offend anyone" statement. Well this fight is good vs evil. Maybe the best thing for the Vatican to do is to STFU, sorry to be crude. Hizb'Allah would take the Vatican out in a heartbeat if it furthered their cause. Isreal would not.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/14/2006 14:48
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#25
The queer thing is that this pope does understand. He was recently quoted as saying that Islam as it currently exists is incapable of living in peace with the rest of the world, without attempting to conquer it. This kind of statement, though, is pouring oil on a troubled bonfire.
#26
Oh, and the Catholic Church being made up of humans, there were those who acted to protect Jews and those who acted to betray them... and those who only protected Jews who agreed to be baptized. Some were martyred in the concentration camps for it. After the war, the same array of options with regard to Nazis and related miscreants.
#27
Under they CATHOLIC theaory of Just War, Israel is OBLIGED to go after the bastards who are shelling women and children in civilian areas indiscriminately (Hezbollah), with the maximum force neccesary to keep casualites low and end the conflict quickly. That means overhwleming force apllied in an overhwleming fasion.
Fr Sodano and the other doddering Vatican state-departement idiots seem to have overlooked basic Catholic theology in favore of being screeching eurotrash.
And your source for that is? Catholic theory of just war? Where did you get this from?
#28
I believe the theory of "just war" is a Catholic doctrine that basically states You can smack them if they smack you first. Probably wouldn't (officially) agree with "first strike" theories, but do note again....."International Law" considers kidnapping of State soldiers an official act of war, and, thus, Israel is fully "legal" in calling for war back at 'em. Finally, I'm not Catholic (actually, Protestant), but I'd imagine that the Catholics around these parts are a lot more "individualistic" and don't necessarily see everything the Holy Father does as "gospel truth". I'd also add, they're probably a lot more devout than your average Catholic and with a sense of reality, to boot. The enemy is at the gates, and Israel is surrounded by enemies, so they have every right to respond the way they did, in my book.
Posted by: BA ||
07/14/2006 15:27
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#29
I really would not call the Vatican leftist. Also for it being involved in a feo politics in my view it is a must. I find it is not ocvered here as much as I would like but the new developing policy toward ISlam and particually radical ISlam by this Pope is something to watch. THe upcoming trip to Turkey could result in something huge as the Pope is trying to get the orthodox Christians to join in a common front.
Also go read the whole statement. I am sure what the Vatican is doing is trying to ratchet this down a tad. Plus does anyone disagree with this
" State's right to self-defense does not exempt it from respecting the norms of international law, especially as regards the protection of civilian populations"
I am focusing on the civilian population part here. I think we can all agree on that. That is our philosophy, I think. Of course these terrorist are in Cilvian areas which makes it worse.
Again, I support Israel and what it is doing but I do not want to see Beirut turned into what it was in 82 and 83. Does that make me a Leftist. People need to go listen to the Lebaonese bloggers. Right now many are wondering why they are bearing the brunt of this and Syria is not which is the true enemy of both to Israel and Lebanon.
Furthermore I shouldn't have to say this but when the Pope speaks like this he is not infalliable as we Catholics call it. However he should be speaking out. I suspect the Vatican Diplomacy is a tad more complex than this article is stating.
#30
The best 21st century commentary on Thomistic "Just War" theory was made by Catholic theologian Michael Novak in the weeks prior to OIF (2003).
Mr. Novak states his position in his National Review commentary Asymmetrical Warfare & Just War". For what it's worth, I agree with his 2003 assessment, and with Israel's decision to attack Hezbullah's positions in Lebanon.
#33
With a family surname and history as keepers of Thor's HOLY GROVE I would have to say THOR would support the Israeli's right to provide thunderbolts from the sky against their enemies but must admit to some trouble with this unitary god thingy as THOR has family.
Aesir sense Fimbular approachings come winter.
We need to watch the MitGard Serpent and Fenris.
#34
Lebanon is bearing the brunt of this because the kidnappers and the rockets/missiles (the count now at somewhere around 700 shot at Israel since kidnapping, 200,000 Israelis in bomb shelters) are actions of the terror organization Hizb'Allah, actions taken from Lebanese soil. Remember also, that while the rest of the Lebanese may not like them, Hizb'Allah is the single largest party elected to the Lebanese parliament. Unfortunately, being a nation means living with the results of actions taken by your citizens -- either by disowning and punishing them (which Lebanon has not done) or by accepting whatever results. Agreed that Lebanon has only recently escaped Syrian hegemony, and her freedom may not last long; nevertheless, the reality is that war has been declared on Israel by an armed and organized group of Lebanese citizens sanctioned by a portion of the legitimate government, and the rest of the country have fluttered their hands ineffectually while doing nothing to assure Israel that they will take action to remove the threat.
" State's right to self-defense does not exempt it from respecting the norms of international law, especially as regards the protection of civilian populations"
I disagree with the unspoken assumption, which is that asymmetrical war against terror groups that embed themselves within civilian populations can be covered by blanket statements of this kind.
#36
I suspect that about as many people in the Vatican understand asymetrical warfare (with its goal being to tire or weaken its enemy through a war of exhaustion) as folks in Congress and the MSM do -- not many. People work off of the templates that they build throughout life. Few have the flexibility to change those templates quickly.
We all knew that something was radically wrong after 9/11. Look how long it has taken us to learn the vocabulary, the schemas, the structure, etc. of the new reality. Which once again points out that if we lose this war, it will because we lost the informational battle.
#38
In all due defense of my Church, keep in mind that there are about a billion members of it. It would truly be one of God's miracles if there wasn't a gang of idiots in your average congregation, much less at the top (sorry to say). There will be, on occasion, an amazingly dumb remark made now and then.
However, consider the source (Reuters) and consider the actual statement made by Cardinal Sodano. Reuters turned it from a statement of concern about the innocent people caught in the crossfire to an anti-Israel rant. This isn't the first time that they have done something like this, and it surely won't be the last.
Whenever Reuters says anything about what my Church leaders have said, they have rarely, if ever, reported it accurately. Before you get agitated about what Reuters says (well, about virtually anyone, for that matter), check on the internet to see if you can find the actual statement. I swear those bastards take pride in misreporting the truth.
#39
The current Secretary of State, Cardinal Sodano, is on the way out. His successor, Cardinal Bertone, was appointed last week and he is a protege of Pope Benedict XVI. Sodano is said to have strongly opposed Ratzinger's election to the papacy.
#40
"I stand corrected and do apologize then, my fellow brothers. No harm meant, but good grief how far does the liberalism creep into the Church?"
Think for a sec on how many cardinals there are in the Vatican and how many are from Europe in particular, then count how many archbishops are from Europe, then go on down the list. You'll see theres a heavy dominance of a leftist ideology at the upper ranks vs the lay clergy.
#43
I think my fellow Catholics should exercise a tiny amount of humility when it comes to matters of faith and the Pope's statements. Pope Benedict has spent his entire life in the business, so to speak, and I for one will give him the benefit of the doubt (when he's not speaking ex cathedra). He is by no means a liberal, having rejected liberalism a long time ago, much to the chagrin of the many liberals in the Church. Are people here seriously claiming that they are better than the Pope? I hope not.
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) -- A suicide car bomber killed a prominent Shiite Muslim cleric and one of his relatives in this southern Pakistan city on Friday, police said. Allama Hassan Turabi had narrowly escaped an attempt on his life in April, and his killing will raise sectarian tensions in Karachi, which has often been the site of clashes between rival Shiite and Sunni Muslims.
Turabi was the leader of a Shiite party, Islami Tehreek Pakistan. He also was chief of the southern province of Sindh for Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal or United Action Forum, a hard-line opposition religious coalition. One of Turabi's guards also was seriously hurt in the blast that shook downtown Karachi, said Manzoor Mughal, a senior police investigator. The attacker was also killed, he said. Turabi died of his injuries at Patel Hospital, Mughal said. Dr. Abdul Rashid at the private hospital confirmed the cleric's death.
"He's dead, Jim"
One of the cleric's relatives also was killed, according to Turabi's son, Murtaza, who spoke to The Associated Press by telephone.
"What the Doc said"
Pakistan has been beset for years by sectarian attacks of extremist elements among the majority Sunni and minority Shiite sects.
What we refer to here as "Popcorn time"
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2006
10:02 ||
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#1
After reading this I don't feel anything. Nothing.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- An Islamic religious leader convicted of concealing ties to terrorist groups remains jailed in Michigan seven months after he reached a deal with the U.S. government to be deported. The agreement called for Fawaz Damra's deportation to Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Sudan, Egypt or the Palestinian territories. But so far, no one has been willing to take the former imam of the Islamic Center of Cleveland, officials said.
There is no definitive rule on how long Damra can be held in jail, according to his attorney, Robert Birach. "If there was progress, he'd be gone by now," said Birach, who declined comment on whether any other countries were being asked to take Damra. "We haven't gotten a country yet to say yes." A spokesman with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately return a call seeking comment Friday.
Damra, 44, was convicted in June 2004 of concealing ties to three groups that the U.S. government classifies as terrorist organizations when he applied for U.S. citizenship in 1994. That conviction was upheld in March 2005, clearing the way for the U.S. to begin deportation proceedings. In Damra's trial, prosecutors showed video footage of him and other Islamic leaders raising money for an arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has been listed as a terrorist group by the State Department since 1989. The Palestinian-born Damra immigrated to the United States in the mid-1980s.
Damra is having a difficult time in jail and misses his wife and three children, who still live in the Cleveland area, friend Haider Alawan said. "He's a man without a country," Alawan said.
My heart bleeds. [Urp!]
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2006
09:57 ||
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#1
I hear Gitmo is nice this time of year. And they have some vacancies, too.
Damra is having a difficult time in jail and misses his wife and three children, who still live in the Cleveland area, friend Haider Alawan said.
#3
He is such a rabid supporter of Paleos. Dump him there. They need good Lions (cannon fodder) for the battle right now. Why are we still feeding this SOB ?
#5
ARMYGUY, sharks are gettin picky these days, suggest gators
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/14/2006 15:23
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#6
Rough and cuff his ass, put some serious lumps on his head with a stick, fly him to Israel and kick his butt through the Erez crossing gate. Give him a good swift kick to the nuts for a last present and tell him "Let's see how well you like the good life in Gaza. AMF."
Posted by: mac ||
07/14/2006 19:31
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#7
Don't forget the press release announcing his medal and congratulating and thanking him for his assistance to the CIA and Shin Beit.
JERUSALEM, - Israel threatened Friday to eliminate Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese Hezbollah leader who has long been a thorn in the side of the Jewish state, after the latest crisis over the seizure of two Israeli soldiers. Nasrallah decided his own fate, Interior Minister Roni Bar-On announced on public radio. We will settle our accounts with him when the time comes.
The threat came as Israeli forces intensified attacks on Lebanon in pre-dawn raids, striking at the heart of Hezbollahs command headquarters in Beiruts suburbs, amid world concern that the escalation could spark a regional war.
Hezbollah, a fundamentalist Shiite Muslim movement whose name means Party of God, has retaliated against what it has branded massacres with a wave of rocket attacks against northern towns in Israel.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/14/2006 12:17
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#8
Not a threat, a promise. Guess they followed through, Hassan is worm food.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/14/2006 12:54
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#9
Justice Minister Hamon Ramon told army radio Israel would fight Hezbollah with the same means used by the Americans against Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, or employed by the Russians against Chechen terrorists.
So, they're gonna carpet bomb Beirut (like Tora Bora) or bury 'em in pig skins (a'la Pooty Poot's suggestion after Beslan). Me? I'd prefer both. Mr. Cause is meeting Mr. Effect head on and it's scheduled to be held in Beirut/Damascus.
Posted by: BA ||
07/14/2006 13:20
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#10
They need to whack Damascus, a few specific residences in mind - Hezbullah's guy, Assad's house, head of the Syrian Intelligence appartus, Hamas HQ.
A Sri Lankan navy sailor has been killed in sniper fire by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in the north-east, a naval spokesman says. "[Tamil Tiger] snipers in the morning shot at two sailors. One died in hospital," the spokesman, DKP Dassanayake, said. The navy responded by firing mortar shells on Tamil Tiger positions. Violence has spiralled in Sri Lanka in recent months claiming about 700 lives and undermining a 2002 truce.
The sailors were said to be guarding a small naval base near the town of Trincomalee. The latest violence comes a day after three soldiers were killed in the northern district of Vavuniya.
The rebels and the government say they still stand by the truce deal - but with rising unrest, the peace exists only on paper, correspondents say.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2006
09:43 ||
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...That's right. Oregon, where only one of eight statewide elected officials, Sen. Gordon Smith, is a Republican. Oregon, where Democrats have controlled the governor's mansion since 1986 and where every Democratic presidential candidate since then has carried the state.
First state with a bottle bill, first with an all-public coastline, first with an urban growth boundary, first with vote-by-mail, first with physician-assisted suicidethat Oregon is unmistakably losing its Democratic majority, Looper says.
As seismic as such a shift would be, it is a well-kept secret. Reed College political science chairman Paul Gronke was unaware of Democrats' dwindling power. "I'm stunned," Gronke says. "I find that very surprising and something that has not been highlighted by the press at all."
Former state senator and Oregon Republican Party vice-chairwoman Marylin Shannon says Republicans' gathering strength is little recognized even among her party's leaders.
"When I show the data at [Republican] Central Committee meetings, people say, 'I didn't know this,'" says Shannon.
"This" is the fact that, absent major demographic shifts, Republicans are on track to soon outnumber Democrats in Oregon.
In the liberal Portland echo chamber, such a notion might seem absurd. But a Republican-controlled Oregon would probably be an entirely different place on issues ranging from abortion, school funding and the environment to the judiciary and the Legislature...
#1
What's the bottle bill, I've never heard of this one?
My Dad retired out there a couple years back but I've never made the trip. Being fairly libertarian I don't care about the rest of their social policies. Anybody here know what taxes are like up there?
#3
Maybe the construction of the wing-nut bureaucracy exposed waste. It is obvious that he public is sick of something. All bad ideas in Oregon, come out of Eugene.
#4
Broadhead6, I think it means the deposit you pay on bottled beverages. It's something like 5 cents per, in order to cut down on the amount of them tossed on the highways. Pay it when you get your Coke, then get it back when you bring the bottle in to the store.
#5
Oregon USED TO be the "Leave me the hell alone" state. Even old hippies tired of the in-your-face holier-than-thou crowd in California went north to get way from that crap.
#8
Just how the heck did we wind up with the Red/Blue disignations we have. The first thought I had was that the Stalinist wing of the local CPUSA was on the verge of taking over
#10
I've always felt that the Republicans deserved the color "Red" due to the fact that Reagan was the main man responsible for the bring-down of the Soviet Union (the "Reds"), even though they hit the ground during Bush I.
They'll have a solid lock on the color when they take out Red China.
#11
Oregon has horrible taxes to pay for all of the great services they offer. The liberal Portland folks may be getting sick of their taxes, though I don't know. May also be California people sick of liberal policies moving north.
Idaho is getting an influx of liberal types. Those that don't get out of Boise think that it's fair game for Democrat influence. Hillary is going (or already went) because the new McKlatchy (spelling?) newspapers give the liberals the idea that they have more power than they do. But that's cause they don't leave Boise or Sun Valley or the three other resort areas in the state echo chambers. The whole Eastern half of the state is Mormon, most of the folks are still conservative and the rural areas might think the hunting accident of a fellow attempting to change their independent ways wasn't really all that sad.
In general - I think lots of people are sick of the failed liberal ideas and are looking to move to areas where they can raise a family in a wholesome environment.
#12
Guys, I've lived in Oregon since 1998. This article is from the Willamette Week, the local "who's in town this week and 'bash-the-fascist-republicans'" rag.
I'd love Oregon to become a Red state, but until proven at the polls, my reaction is snort-chortle-guffaw.
Mogadishu, 14 July (AKI) - The president of the Somali provisional government, Abdullah Yusuf, said on Friday that "even if the Islamists now control the whole of Mogadishu and the city of Jowhar, this does not mean that we will allow them to rule over Somalia." "I am not the weak president of a weak government. At first I welcomed the Union of the Islamic Courts' (UIC) victory which wiped away the warlords, but now they are undertaking a path which is negative for the country," he added in an interview with the Arab London-based daily al-Sharq al-Awsat.
Following the seizing of Mogadishu's harbour by the UIC earlier this week, a key infrastructure for the commercial exchanges with and within Somalia, Yusuf stressed how his government is the only institution legitimised to rule over the country. He said he fears that the UIC want to become a parallel government and added that his cabinet "is the only government which is recognised by the Somali people and the international community." "They [the UIC] fought against the warlords with the support of the population, but they do not have statesmen among their leaders and cannot control a city such as Mogadishu," he explained.
Yusuf concluded that he will be ready to cooperate with the UIC only if they should accept the presence of international troops in the country. However, he said he will fight the UIC if they tried to conquer the town of Baidoa, where the headquarters of the Somali provisional government and parliament are situated.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2006
09:13 ||
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#1
At first I welcomed the Union of the Islamic Courts' (UIC) victory which wiped away the warlords, but now they are undertaking a path which is negative for the country,"
FRENCH President Jacques Chirac has said there appeared to be a "wish to destroy Lebanon" in reference to Israel's bombardments following the abduction of two soldiers.
"One may well ask if there isn't today a kind of wish to destroy Lebanon - its infrastructure, its roads, its communications, its energy, its airport. And for what?
"I find honestly - as all Europeans do - that the current reactions are totally disproportionate," he said in a live television interview to mark France's July 14 national day.
"In the Middle East we are currently in a situation of great fragility and instability. We are in a dangerous situation, a very dangerous situation. We must be very, very careful," he said.
The President welcomed the dispatch of a UN mission to the Middle East, whose aim he said should be to secure the release of the Israeli prisoners - including one held in Gaza - establish a ceasefire and study new security arrangements along the Israeli-Lebanese border.
#2
Rich, given France created the Lebanon problem in the first place by adding the Bekka valley to an otherwise viable christian arab state (circa 1920).
#8
What a lying piece of frog crap. Israel dropped leaflets asking Lebanese to move out of harm's way. Israel hardly has strategic aims of occupying Lebanon. In fact, most locals would like to see Hizbollah liquidated.
Like the status quo, Chiraq? Hizb'Allah, a terrorist organization thriving in Lebanon. Thousands of long range rockets pointed at Israeli civilians, Syria meddling in Lebanon's affairs. Permanent Ein-el-hellhole camp in southern Lebanon. Etc etc. Yes, Chiraq, you have heaven on earth in Lebanon. You do not even defend your country from hoodlums and terrorists, so why should Israel listen to you? Better look at Brazil for retirement, where they cannot extradite you for your own crimes against France.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/14/2006 10:15
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#10
Siddown and STFU, Jacques. We'll let you know if we need help from corrupt lame ducks.
#14
Chirac has played close to the Arabs for decades and views France as the natural overseer protector of Lebanon, although they haven't exactly protected them from either Syria or Iran.
#18
As if he is doing such a good job at slowing the radical Islam movement in France. He had a good spring with a 600 car per night torching. What's good for France just might not be acceptable in Israel.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/14/2006 12:51
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#19
coffee alert, Besoeker! I just can't get over how freakin' naive some of these idjits are. We all know if Israel wanted to really destroy Leb, they'd do it, by gum, and not look back.
Posted by: BA ||
07/14/2006 12:52
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#20
Sad to think that this kind of idjit is actually running a country. Doesn't he get some kind of briefing on why these things are happening? He doesn't have any more understanding of the situation than the average Joe! Perhaps he should keep his mouth shut until he actually consults with some experts, because he's going to have to back away from those words if he ever manages to comprehend what's going on.
#22
a5089 said some time back that President Chiraq is suffering from senility.
At least, supposedly, remember he had two strokes in 2005; hosts at an independent rightwing radio (not a Coast to Coast type) mentioned it a couple of time, reporting anecdoctes about him confusing peoples or getting angry over childish matters, being incoherent,... and one guest who was a member of an official trip to China noted how shiraq looked more "tired" than the late socialist president mitterrand while his hidden cancer was terminal.
Still, this speech is not because he's senile or decrepit, it's because he's the embodiment of the french Arab Policy.
Remember, he was the only western head of State to go to the funeral of his pal hafez el assad (pencil neck's daddy), arafat called him "uncle shiraq", he's got *very* close ties to the moroccan royal family (his 1995 successful presidential campaign was made to spin doctors paid by the late king hassan II, he's got maybe three castles there, and his grandson's father *supposedly* is moroccan), his bankroller and close friend was rafik hariri, he played the syrian card in Lebanon to the hilt before rafik turned coat and was killed... in 2000 he had a private meeting with nasrallah during a reunion of the french speakers organization, and as Lotp noted, he and his ilk see Lebanon as his/their private turf.
#25
Somebody needs to terminate this silly piece of fecal matter. I'll chip in a fin. Any others? B TW, taking out the entire French "cabinet" would be worth an extra $50.
Yeah, I know I'm cheap. I'm also broke!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/14/2006 18:48
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A BOMB planted in the street has killed at least seven people and wounded five as they left a Sunni mosque in northern Baghdad after Friday prayers, police said.
Further details of the incident at the Ismail al-Qubaisi mosque were not immediately available.
Scores of people have been killed in tit-for-tat sectarian violence beteen Shi'ite and minority Sunni Muslims over the past week in the capital.
#1
Muslims who kill bad Muslims are themselves bad Muslims who need to be killed by the good Muslims, and that makes them bad Muslims which means they need to be killed by the good Muslims who now become the bad Muslims. Is that it?
WASHINGTON - Republicans are in jeopardy of losing their grip on Congress in November. With less than four months to the midterm elections, the latest Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that Americans by an almost 3-to-1 margin hold the GOP-controlled Congress in low regard and profess a desire to see Democrats wrest control after a dozen years of Republican rule.
Further complicating the GOP outlook to turn things around is a solid percentage of liberals, moderates and even conservatives who say they'll vote Democratic. The party out of power also holds the edge among persuadable voters, a prospect that doesn't bode well for the Republicans.
The election ultimately will be decided in 435 House districts and 33 Senate contests, in which incumbents typically hold the upper hand. But the survey underscored the difficulty Republicans face in trying to persuade a skeptical public to return them to Washington.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/14/2006
07:31 ||
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#1
AP/IPSOS is leftist fantasy polling. I even wonder if they made any phone calls at all. Why waste money when you know what results you are going to have ahead of time.
#3
Well, there's really no point in actually holding the elections, is there?
I looked yesterday on the official John Kerry website to see what his plan was for "handling" the current crisis in the Mideast. * crickets *
Posted by: Matt ||
07/14/2006 10:10
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#4
3 to 1 margin? This is getting stupid. Do people really believe this bullshit? It's the ol Jeddi Mind Trick, some people will vote not on who they would like to win, but on who they think will win anyway. But that's not enough to win anything.
Look, I might *prefer* to vote Dem in a perfect world. However, I'm going to look at the candidates that I actually have presented to me. If I think the Dem personifies the party mascot, no freakin' way will I vote for him or her.
Very, very few voters actually think about whether or not they are "punishing" or "rewarding" the current President when they vote. It's more along the lines of "what have you done for me lately?" no matter what high, noble ideal they tell some goofy pollster.
"There's only one poll that matters, and that one comes in November."
I'd also note this was before Israel/Lebanon heated up. The more we get reminded about the fanatics we face, the more the vote heads Repub. I'ma just sayin' is'all.
Posted by: BA ||
07/14/2006 11:26
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#10
Not according to what I read. The Aspen Institute also did a poll, very, very interesting.
People don't want dems, they actually want more conservative policies and 2/3 wanted more religion in politics.
Oh, and the Senate overwhelmingly voted AGAINST funding said fence down the South way.
#12
So they surveyed 1,000 folks. So what! They probably went to Berkley or the NY Times cafeteria to get the data. This is just planting data to try to turn those that want to be able to say they voted for the winner toward the Dems. Won't help.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/14/2006 13:03
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#13
They are just plowing the field for the kook-squads. Just like those famous exit polls of 2004, if they have a poll of 1,000 people it must be the gospel. I work with both liberals and conservatives in the VERY red state of California. While I am sure there are a few conservatives that have converted to liberalism, I have found that most often people turn in the other direction. I was very liberal when I was young (and stupid) but the older I got the more conservative I became. I highly doubt that the Liberals will get a great many conservatives to vote for say Hillary, Gore, Biden, or Kerry. Truth is told you can always piss off a liberal by making them defend a moonbat position by one of the fore mentioned political leaders. they get extememly mad if you ask what the Democratic plan is for ______ (fill inthe blank).
#2
Fjordman is right both about the threat and the reaction to it. The Euro governments are keeping their native citizenry cowed by threat of legal sanction while the Muzzy immigrants use violence without concern for those sanctions. The Muzzies can do so because they see the Euro governments are afraid of them. It's a situation that cannot continue because the people the governments depend on to enforce the laws will, sooner or later, refuse to do so and will most likely be leading the nativist revolt against the Muzzy invaders. The only question then will be the severity of the pogrom/ethnic cleansing program. I have no doubt that when the gloves come off in Europe, as they will, that it's going to be real ugly and the Muzzies are going to end up dead or expelled. It's just a matter of time.
Posted by: mac ||
07/14/2006 10:29
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#3
When they have a majority in European cities, then the cities will look and function just like the middle east shitholes they emulate. The Paris suburbs already do, jobless, crime ridden,oppresive to women. But with welfare!!
#4
#3 When they have a majority in European cities, then the cities will look and function just like the middle east shitholes they emulate. The Paris suburbs already do, jobless, crime ridden,oppresive to women. But with welfare!!
Posted by: bigjim-ky 2006-07-14 10:40
Jim, may I add to the list, Atlanta, New Orleans, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Durban, Cape Town, Johannesburg.......
By headbutting opponents and missing penalty kicks, France showed the world how not to win the World Cup. But with the G8 leaders about to gather in St. Petersburg for their annual meetings, France does have one important thing to show the world, and thats how to guarantee a measure of national energy independence.
...
Meanwhile, the country generates nearly 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear power, and even exports significant amounts to its neighbors. Most important, France has insulated itself from the possibility of a natural gas shock brought about by anything Vladimir Putin might do, intended or not.
Posted by: ed ||
07/14/2006
07:19 ||
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#1
But at the end of the day they are still French.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/14/2006 8:27
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#2
But they are certainly right about nukes. Perhaps it's the stopped clock phenomenon.
#4
This is the one thing I will give the Frogs credit for. The smart thing they did was use only one and then two reactor designs. Helps control costs and IMO increas safety because if a problem does show up the fix is known for all off the other plants. Plus France reprocesses fuel rods, Thanks Jimmy.
#5
Well, I'm always of the opinion that, no matter how much you can't stand them, you need to give credit where credit's due.
Viva la' France.
Now, back to reality. I don't really know how this'll help when Paris starts to burn again, unless France grows a spine and begins to start bucking the Muslim overpopulation. My guess is (like all "liberal" countries), France will be open to these goons, until things get really hairy, and then (and only then) we they lash back like never before. Things will be VERY ugly for the Muslims if my hunch is true (think Bastille Day and guillotines, since the muslims are so fond of beheadings). Instead of solving the problem from the get-go, France will wait until they're cornered, then lash back like a cornered/scared animal and it won't be pretty.
Posted by: BA ||
07/14/2006 11:32
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#6
BA:
My assessment as well. During the not-so-cold war, the French nuclear defence strategy.... had it ever been initiated, or launched, etc, would have depopulated about 60 percent of the planet.
#7
And, note Chirac's recent comments about unleashing nukes if France is ever attacked. I know he's passive-agressive, but even to say that shocked the he!! outta me. I guess the "french culture" thing may be to their benefit in this case...I can't imagine Paris just letting the muzzies take over w/o a fight. Of course, WWII and other instances have proved me wrong in that arena before.
Posted by: BA ||
07/14/2006 11:41
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#8
Plus France reprocesses fuel rods
And THAT is essential.
Jimmy Carter stopped all planned US reprocessing, leading to the build up of spent fuel rods.
This is incredibly wasteful. More than 95 percent of the extractable energy is still present in the spent fuel.
Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors, like the Canadian CANDU units, can be used to burn fuel fabricated from the spent fuel rods from the Light Water Reactors.
Fast Neutron Reactors will burn up all the heavy actinides (the nasty stuff with long half lives) giving you waste that (a) occupies much less volume (b) will lose much of its radioactivity in decades.
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2006 13:00
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#9
But at the end of the day they are still French.
Yeah, but they still have France. Doesn't seem FAIR!
I wonder if the nuts even believe what they are saying. Because if something like 9/11 happened in Canada, and I believed with all my heart that, say, Stephen Harper was involved, I don't think I could still live here. I'm not sure I could stop myself from ripping up my passport and ID and running screaming to another country.
How can you believe that your President killed 2,000 people and in between bitching about this, just carry on buying your vente latte and so forth? I would have to be literally locked up, as a danger to myself and others. That's why I think a lot of this is just adolescent style posturing on the part of conspirazoids. They want to bitch about their dad but still want to use the pool and borrow the car.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/14/2006
06:58 ||
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#1
Great question. The leftist-Islamofascist 9-11 deniers, despise the national-security consensus with such hate, that they cannot accept any official position on anything. A John Bircher once wrote a book, stocked with hundreds of nominal support quotes, on which he sought to "prove" that President Eisenhower was a Communist agent for the Soviet Union. Crackpot pseudo-science in action.
#2
Living in Boulder, CO, it's easy to encounter these 9-11 conspiracy freaks. And have no illusions, they totally believe this crap.
Was a time when I'd debate the fools and direct them to proof contrary to their beliefs. Did no good. Whether they're stupid or insane or both, in the end they'll believe what they want, and that's that. So rather than debate them anymore, I just mock them and laugh at their faces. Doesn't change their tiny, demented, pathetic, little minds, but watching them turn red with anger sure is fun!
The real danger is in coddling these idiots, whether on the street or in Universities, with the all-opinions-are-equal bullsh!t.
#3
I ask the conspiracy theorists out there this:
If our government is demented enough to slaughter 3,000 of our own for some nefarious purpose, why haven't they come to your home and made you disappear yet?
If it was some big secret conspiracy - surely your pissant existence means nothing to right wing death machine - I'd start moving around - alot!
Malaysia's opposition Islamic party on Friday accused a top judge of insulting Islam by ruling that a Muslim boy need not wear a turban _ as the Prophet Muhammad did _ to prove his faith. The Federal Court on Wednesday dismissed an appeal by three Muslim boys who unsuccessfully sued the government after their state school expelled them for refusing to remove their turbans.
Federal Court Judge Abdul Hamid Mohamed said in the ruling that it isn't necessary for Muslims to do exactly as the Prophet Muhammad did. "Islam is not about turbans and beards. The pagan Arabs wore turbans and kept beards. It was quite natural for the Prophet, born into the community, to do the same," Abdul Hamid said. Even in Malaysia, very few religious clerics and hardly any Shariah Court judges wear a turban, he said, adding that the Prophet also rode a camel but "does that make riding a camel a more pious deed than traveling in an airplane?"
The Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party, or PAS, said Friday that Abdul Hamid should have been more restrained in his comments as he is not an Islamic expert. "We regret his ruling that wearing a turban is not a big thing in Islam, especially for young boys. Parts of what he said insult and belittle Islamic teachings," PAS youth chief Salahuddin Ayub told The Associated Press. "We want the Federal Court judgment to be reviewed. According to our religious teaching, wearing a turban is part of the Islamic way of life," he said, adding they would lodge a police report against the judge soon.
Abdul Hamid and court officials were not available to comment Friday. Malaysia's civil and criminal codes are based on secular laws, but its Muslim majority also must adhere to a separate set of Islamic laws covering issues such as inheritance, births and deaths, marriage and divorce.
#2
I posted a story on the ruling a couple of days ago. Muslims are required to emulate the self-appointed "prophet." How far they take it is an issue that can't be settled, because Islam doesn't have a Pope with binding Encyclical authority. The fact that the judge made sense to us, means that it won't make sense to the warped Muslim mind.
Israel's military invasion and naval blockade of Lebanon is being denounced in European capitals and at the United Nations as a "disproportionate" response to the kidnapping this week of two of its soldiers by Hezbollah. Israel's decision late last month to invade Gaza in retaliation for the kidnapping of another soldier by Hamas was also condemned as lacking in proportion. So here's a question for our global solons: Since hostage-taking is universally regarded as an act of war, what "proportionate" action do they propose for Israel?
In the case of Hamas, perhaps Israel could rain indiscriminate artillery fire on Gaza City, surely a proportionate response to the 800 rockets Hamas has fired at Israeli towns in the last year alone. In the case of Hezbollah, it might mean carpet bombing a section of south Beirut, another equally proportionate response to Hezbollah's attacks on civilian Jewish and Israeli targets in Buenos Aires in the early 1990s.
We aren't being serious, but neither is a feckless international community that refuses to proportionately denounce the outrages to which Israel is being subjected. That goes also for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who says "all sides must act with restraint." But Israel's current problems result in part from an excess of restraint in responding to previous Hamas and Hezbollah provocations. . . .
Posted by: Mike ||
07/14/2006
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#1
Israel's current problems result in part from an excess of restraint in responding to previous Hamas and Hezbollah provocations Time to tell the Euros to "Gay red tsu der vant."
#3
"Disproportionate" response strikes me as the best way to minimize the total (long-term) cost of a war - at least if it is clear which side should win militarily. It establishes that those who have the means to achieve victory also have the will to do so - at that point only the insane or suicidal would continue to fight (of course that makes this whole discussion moot in regards to the Islamist war.)
#4
TW. Have a mixed marriage--old testament and new testament. Wife has relatives in Tel Aviv. The wife's parents are holocaust survivors--despite that some don't believe it ever happened. Some Yiddish picked up through my wife and the in-laws--enough to appreciate some of the humor of Yiddish.
#5
Lots of that going around, JohnQC; I'm the Old Testamenter, and my grandmother's memoir is archived in the Holocaust Museum in DC, among other places. Only my parents never spoke in Yiddish, so I took a course at Hebrew School one quarter -- at the same time as I was studying Hebrew and German, so it didn't stick. "Go right through the wall"?
#6
Very good TW. "Go talk to the wall" as best as I can determine. Like so many phrases, they are often rich in meaning and have several similar meanings. Yiddish and Hebrew gives rise to some funny stories. An aunt on my wife's side was talking in Hebrew about a nephew "complaining too much." What came out was "Why does Charley play with himself so much?" Apparently the phrases are very similar.
A woman who risked 20 cents on the Superfecta at a Michigan track ended up with $21,584. Chris Locking, the general manager of the Sports Creek Raceway, told the Detroit News the woman made two 10-cent bets and one paid off. Both were on a race simulcast from the Hollywood Park track in California.
The woman's name has not been released.
"Pretty good return for 10 cents, isn't it?" Locking said.
To win a Superfecta bet, the gambler must pick the first four horses in a race in the winning order. Many tracks have introduced exotic bets, sometimes known as "sucker bets," and allowed very low wagers to draw in more money.
Locking said the dime bets have been very successful at Sports Creek. "Twenty-thousand doesn't happen every day but on a regular basis you'll see people winning $70, $200, $500 on a dime bet," he said. Takes a heap of losers to make those payoffs and leave a profit...
#3
I can't see how the tracks can afford the transactions costs.
Coin operated machines. I remember when you could make a phone call for a nickle. And an article like this is worth a lot more than $21K in marketing expense.
U.S. voters oppose war with N. Korea
A Gallup poll finds that U.S. voters overwhelmingly favor a diplomatic solution to the North Korean nuclear standoff.
The survey gave respondents four choices. More respondents favored doing nothing (10 percent) than launching airstrikes (9 percent) or a ground invasion (3 percent).
The popular choice, from 72 percent of respondents, was a combination of diplomatic pressure and economic sanctions.
The poll also found that North Korea's failed test of a long-range missile had little effect on attitudes in the United States.
While 20 percent of respondents said ey believe North Korea is an immediate threat, 59 percent said it is a long-term threat, and 15 percent said they do not believe it will be a threat.
Just under half said they see North Korea as an enemy, while 34 percent said it is unfriendly.
Iran a divided society
A Zogby poll finds that more Iranians are interested in a strong economy than nuclear capability.
The polling company surveyed 810 adults in Iran for Reader's Digest. The results showed a society divided on most issues, including whether Iran should be more religious - 36 percent -- or more secular - 31 percent.
While 41 percent favored a strong economy as the top priority, 27 percent said the nuclear program should be No. 1, and 23 percent cited increasing freedom.
There were some generational differences. Younger Iranians distrust the United States more than older ones, and those ages 30 to 49 are the most likely to want Iran to be a secular society, while the young and old favor a religious one.
"The poll illustrates the impact of 25 years of separation," said pollster John Zogby. "The attitudes of younger Iranians toward the government, people and policies of the United States have been shaped by years of isolation, largely conservative religious leadership and anti-U.S. rhetoric."
Two issues unite Iranians -- more than half think their country should be the leader in the region, and 67 percent say the state of Israel is illegitimate.
#1
Well, yeah, most Americans are not too concerned with Kimmie, because we can depend on Japan. What is worrisome is the apparent attitudes of the younger generation in Iran. We have continually been told that they are friendly toward the West. This seems to dispel that gibberish completely, and makes addressing the Iran problem ever more pertinent. The longer we allow it to continue, the worse it will get. I recall an earlier poll showing the younger generation favoring development of nuclear weapons capacity by 85%.
#2
I love these multiple guess polls where the least stupid alternative is selected and hailed as the wish of the public. These guys would be better off perusing the Rantburg Defender-Scimitar & Times-Picayune for 10 minutes.
Less than two months after voting overwhelmingly to build 370 miles of new fencing along the border with Mexico, the Senate yesterday voted against providing funds to build it.
"We do a lot of talking. We do a lot of legislating," said Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Alabama Republican whose amendment to fund the fence was killed on a 71-29 vote. "The things we do often sound very good, but we never quite get there."
Mr. Sessions offered his amendment to authorize $1.8 billion to pay for the fencing that the Senate voted 83-16 to build along high-traffic areas of the border with Mexico. In the same vote on May 17, the Senate also directed 500 miles of vehicle barriers to be built along the border.
Continued on Page 49
#1
throw every one of the bastards out and start over
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2006 9:19
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"one of the most unusual aspects of the Senate bill is a provision - slipped in before the final vote would require the United States to consult with the Mexican government before constructing the fencing."
-I'm glad that failed then, nice catch whoever caught it. However, I'd really like to know the name of the motherf*cker who tried adding that treasonous dog sh*t into that bill. He or she should be tarred and feathered and kicked out of the city limits. Looks like a total sabotage effort at least.
Yes, the senate is choking again as usual. Bunch of out of touch elitists. I do applaud Sen. Sessions' effort though. Anybody who would like to write their senators via email can do so at www.congress.org - I've done this a bunch of times. I'd like to believe I'm doing my small little part to tell these pricks what I think - makes me feel better at least.
(b) CONSULTATION REQUIREMENT.--Consultations between United States and Mexican authorities at the federal, state, and local levels concerning the construction of additional fencing and related border security structures along the United States-Mexico border shall be undertaken prior to commencing any new construction, in order to solicit the views of affected communities, lessen tensions and foster greater understanding and stronger cooperation on this and other important issues of mutual concern.
Republicans who voted for the Mexican consultation requirement:
Bennett, Bond, Brownback, Chafee, Coleman, Collins, Craig, Graham, Hagel, Lugar, Feingold, Collins, McCain, Specter, Stevens, Warner, Martinez, Murkowski, Snowe and Voinovich
Dems who voted against:
Lincoln
Posted by: ed ||
07/14/2006 9:40
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WTF. Consultation agreement? Who in the hell cares what the Mexicans think? It is our sovereignty that is at stake. The Senate is sounding a lot like the UN--they just talk and stand for nothing.
#7
"...the Senate yesterday voted against providing funds to build it". The senate is tasked with writing the law. Congress is supposed to fund the law.
#8
This is farkin' ridiculous. You 'overwhelmingly' vote to allow the fence, but then don't fund it? Anyone with me to withhold your portion of Federal taxes this year (whatever $1.8 billion divided by 300 million is, roughly $6/person) because of this freakin' nonsense. I'm glad to see my 2 GA Senators were not on the list.
Posted by: BA ||
07/14/2006 12:48
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This is the same stupid shit they pulled back in 1986.
Scotland Yard has taken possession of a policemans memoirs which names the serial killer.
Private handwritten notes by the man who led the hunt for Jack the Ripper naming the chief suspect were given to Scotland Yards Black Museum yesterday.
Chief Inspector Donald Swanson kept quiet for years but in retirement, frustrated that the murderer had escaped justice, could not resist scribbling notes in the margin of his bosss memoirs, naming the man that they both believed had become the worlds most famous serial killer.
The man he named was Aaron Kosminski, a Polish-Jewish hairdresser living in Whitechapel, East London, who was eventually committed to a lunatic asylum, where he died.
According to Swanson the police were so convinced that Kosminski was the killer of at least five prostitutes in the 1880s that they organised a secret identity parade at a police rest home. The witness was a Jew who was said to have refused to give evidence.
Swanson made his notes in a book called The Lighter Side of My Official Life by Sir Robert Anderson, who was an assistant commissioner, for whom Swanson became staff officer.
Sir Robert said as a definitely ascertainable fact that the killer was a Polish Jew. He said that the only person who ever had a good view of the killer unhesitantly identified the suspect the instant he was confronted but refused to give evidence.
Mr Swanson wrote: Because the suspect was also a Jew and also because his evidence would convict the suspect and witness would be the means of murderer being hanged which he did not wish to be left on his mind.
He said that the suspect had been taken by police to the rest home for the identification and that Kosminski knew he had been identified. He was taken back to his brothers home in Whitechapel and police kept a secret watch.
Eventually he had to be taken, bound, to a workhouse and then to an asylum where he died shortly afterwards. Swanson wrote: Kosminski was the suspect.
Yesterday as the Swanson family handed over the book with its margin notes to the Yards refurbished Crime Museum, Detective Chief Superintendent Steve Lovelock, who heads detective training and the museum, said that the identification was very interesting.
Mr Lovelock said that the name had been mentioned before and the margin notes were revealed some years ago but he believed that they were significant.
Nevill Swanson, the Victorian detectives grandson, said; My grandfather thought he had got his man but never nailed him.
Yard researches suggested that Kosminski was arrested by police after he threatened his sister with a knife and they were struck by his resemblance to descriptions of the Ripper.
But he was considered too mentally ill to be questioned, He was taken in the care of his brother to a Yard police rest home in Brighton and the identity parade was held there.
#1
Jack the Ripper is remembered solely because he was the first media sensation serial killer. It was one of the first times newspapers realized their power to cause public panic.
A small test version of an inflatable space hotel has reached orbit and filled with air. Bigelow Aerospace made contact with its Genesis I spacecraft for the first time on Wednesday. Then, just after midnight GMT on Thursday, the spacecraft passed over the company's control centre in Las Vegas, Nevada, US.
Information received from the spacecraft indicates that it has inflated successfully to 3 metres long and 2.4 metres wide and that its solar panels have deployed. The temperature inside the spacecraft was measured at a cosy 26° Celsius.
The Genesis I craft lifted off on Wednesday at 1453 GMT from a site in Yasny, Russia. The Dnepr rocket, a converted intercontinental ballistic missile, "flawlessly delivered the Genesis I into the target orbit", company founder Robert Bigelow said on the firm's website. The spacecraft is orbiting 550 kilometres above Earth, with a 64° inclination to the equator.
Cameras onboard the spacecraft were to automatically take pictures of Earth and the spacecraft. The company has not released any imagery so far. It is expected to remain in orbit for two to five years, gradually falling in altitude as friction with the upper atmosphere causes it to lose momentum. It will eventually burn up in the atmosphere.
The spacecraft is the first in a series of test craft designed to prove the feasibility of inflatable space stations which could be used as space hotels. Genesis I is 3 metres across at its widest, one-third the length of a future habitable space station envisioned by the company.
The company hopes to launch a similar spacecraft called Genesis II later in 2006. They plan to send a total of six to 10 inflatable test craft into orbit, culminating with the launch of the space station as early as 2012. But a launch vehicle suitable for carrying people to a Bigelow space station still needs to be developed.
#3
The Dnepr rocket, a converted intercontinental ballistic missile
RS-20 (SS-18)
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2006 11:04
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That's a great idea. Offload all further detainees to space orbit. When it's time for release, give them a scuba tank and a piece of tin foil to protect their ass from overheating on the way down.
At least 14 of Iran's parasitic cleric class are each worth over $100,000,000. They are happy to get their rake off of an efficient economy that has to import almost half of its refined oil products. Oil export gains will give the Arabist leaches even more plunder possibilities. However, regime change would end the blood-sucking tyranny.
Teheran (AsiaNews) --- "A gift of God for the Iranian people": this is how Ayatollah Khomeini described oil, and in Iran, a litre of fuel still costs less than a litre of drinking water: eight euro cents. Fuel is not only tax free, it is subsidized by the state: this scenario generates border trafficking and allows many Iranians to own a car and to be "private" taxi drivers in the absence of efficient means of public transport.
Iran lays claim to independence in the entire production cycle of nuclear energy, but it is incapable of refining its own oil: 30 out of 70 million litres consumed per day must be imported. Each litre that is re-imported costs the Iranian state 40 euro cents per litre: 20% more than in 2005, as Hojjatollah Ghanimi Fard, international affairs director of the National Iranian Oil Company, confirmed yesterday. Due to price increases, the 2.5 billion dollars allocated by the annual budget to these imports will only last until mid-August.
On the other hand, oil price hikes, fuelled by instability and by Iranian provocations, should lead to gains of 54 billion dollars for Iran this year, continued Ghanimi Fard. This automatic income will certainly help to finance many things in Iran, but it will also weaken the economy and feed inflation. Oil production, increasingly expensive on the market, is becoming more and more costly and difficult: in the Iranian GDP (Gross Domestic Product), oil is no longer a motor of economic growth: only +0.6% last year (compared to +5.4% of the Iranian GDP). Iranian oil production is decreasing.
In this scenario, Iran's domestic "free" petrol policy is irrational, especially if considers that 250,000 litres are wasted by gas st ation clerks alone! In Iran, cars, mostly very old and not catalyzed, have a very high consumption and they create huge ecological problems. Nearly 10,000 people die in Teheran each year because of air pollution. For Iran, the badly managed manna of oil is not only a curse for the economy in the medium-term; it is one of the roots of a human and social problem.
#1
I've been saying for a couple of years, ever since the first story of a shortage of refined products first came out that thats how we can hurt them. Don't bomb their squalid little enrichment facilities, destroy a refinery everytime they commit some dispicable act. After about 2 or 3 they will be in a real pickle. People in Iran riot at the slightest anomoly in the gasoline supply. Refineries are easy to hit, they have no proteciton, no anti-aircraft batteries, very flammable, and would make a dazzling display. A couple of pipelines added to that and I think we would have their attention.
#2
The Iranians make money from oil exports. Shut down the exports, and you shut down the flow of money. It wouldn't take much to totally destroy Iran's export capability. I'm sure Israel could do it with their diesel subs and sub-launched cruise missiles. They have a reason: Iran supports Hezbollah. We ought to let them do it, and see what happens.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/14/2006 20:01
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We think alike OP. Shut off the exports. We don't have to take out a single refinery.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/14/2006 20:06
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And I could have a 15-ounce sirloin steak for lunch.
But probably not.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/14/2006 10:10
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O.K. I guess it's time to go down swinging then.
Nuke everyone that we consider an enemy, embark on a vicious campaign of colonization and plunder, ripping natural resources and treasure from the burned out ruins of our once powerfull enemies.
Yeah! Let's party.
#5
On a serious note, if the Medicare and Social Security program needs more money to sustain its payouts in the future, then taxes should be raised in the future,not now. There is a federal law that any excess funds from social security go into the common fund to be spent by congress on whatever. So essentially we have been overpaying for every year the program has been in existence. The excess goes to the general fund every year! So if the fund needs more money in the future, don't start paying it now, because that's not how the program works, it's not how it is set up to work.
#6
The budget deficit in the US is not massive. The Bush administration this week cut its forecasts for the fiscal shortfall this year by almost a third, saying it will come in at 2.3pc of gross domestic product. This is smaller than most European countries - including the UK - which have deficits north of 3pc of GDP.
The U.S. pension system is also in much better shape because there are substantially more funded private plans then there are in Europe and because there is a growing population.
The really interesting thing is why they are publishing these articles on the U.S. when European finances are in far worse shape.
It was initially patterned aftere German and Euro models, but only Washington could design a ponzi scheme that hitches everyone to a costly, mandetory insurance policy that allows irresponsible bureaucrats to at will for until it is nearly depleted. Any doubt in anyone's mind why amnesty for illegal aliens is being suggested?
#9
I sent this to The Skeptical Optimist (love his site) and this is his response:
"Kotlikoff has decades of his personal reputation invested in doomsaying. So far, he hasn't explained to anyone why we'll eventually have to pay off the debt, instead of just continuing to roll it over. Those T-bonds apparently scare him to death. :
IIRC, this is the jerk who wants to keep raising rates.
He's learned NOTHING from Greenspan's manoeuver 2 times, now, we're hitting the wall again.
#12
O.K. I guess it's time to go down swinging then.
Nuke everyone that we consider an enemy, embark on a vicious campaign of colonization and plunder, ripping natural resources and treasure from the burned out ruins of our once powerfull enemies.
I like the cut of your jib Big Jim! Let's quit our jobs, sell our homes, buy a surplus frigate and get to work. Were Americans dammit! Lets make our own navy!
#13
Okay, let's see. US defecit comes in at 2.3% of all spending (including capital outlays), figure inflation at 3.5%. Hummmm.... I will leave the concluder for the audience.
#17
A ballooning budget deficit and a pensions and welfare timebomb could send the economic superpower into insolvency
The budget deficit isn't ballooning it's shrinking. The welfare rolls have been shrinking since the '90's (i.e. Welfare Reform). As for pensions (Social Security) - there's always Soylent Green.
(KUNA) -- Police in Western Indian city of Mumbai Thursday released sketches of four suspects based on eyewitness accounts of the serial train blasts in the city that killed 198 and injured 714 Tuesday. Mumbai police have also detained more than 150 people for questioning, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported.
On Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the Anti-Terrorism Squad of Mumbai Police that been assigned the task of investigating the blasts conducted a series of raids in several parts of Mumbai. "We have detained some people for questioning and raids are being conducted in many places. However, no one has been formally arrested," city police told reporters Thursday. "Sketches of four suspects seen at some of the bomb sites have been prepared and we are working on several leads," Mumbai Police Commissioner A N Roy told the news agency Thursday.
He said that there had been widespread search operations and many people have been detained from several pockets of the city and its suburbs.He said he was not in a position to disclose anything about the investigation at the moment. To strengthen its investigation, the city police has asked former crime branch officers who investigated the 1993 Mumbai blasts that killed 250 people to join in, the news agency reported. "We are sure that the perpetrators of the blast have at some stage taken the aid of the underworld and this could be vital clue in the probe," Police Commissioner Roy said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
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(KUNA) -- A clash between Taliban fighters and coalition and Afghan forces and air strikes left at least 19 militants dead in southern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said on Thursday. Coalition officials confirmed the clashes and air strikes but did not give the exact number of casualties. Spokeswoman for the coalition Capt Julie Roberge told journalists there was a clash in the Nauzad district of the southern Helmand province. However, they did not have the casualty figure at the moment. But a provincial government spokesman said seven fighters, who attacked the district of Nauzad, were killed in exchange of fire while 12 others were killed in air strike. Mohyuddin, spokesman for the provincial governor in Helmand, said the insurgents, armed with heavy and light weapons, attacked the centre of the district last night. He said they were trying to occupy headquarters of the district.
The coalition and Afghan forces retaliated and their attack was repulsed, said the spokesman. He added seven militants were killed in the clash while the rest fled the area. As they were retreating, the coalition war-planes targeted one of their vehicles resulting in the killing of 12 more fighters and the wounding of two others said the spokesman. He said the fighting continued for several hours. Security situation in the southern provinces is slipping from bad to worse at a time when the NATO forces are about to take command from the US-led coalition forces in the troubled parts of the country. Two days back, the US Defence Secretary, during a brief visit to Kabul, admitted the insurgency was on rise in the south but vowed they would not let Taliban succeed. The British had stationed 3,300 troops in Helmand province. In face of the rising insurgency, the British government recently announced sending 900 more troops along with helicopters to the troubled region.
Posted by: Fred ||
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If the insurgency keeps "rising", there won't be a living insurgent within 500 miles. In a contest of whether they will run out, or we will run out of bullets and bombs, I am betting on us.
#4
Just a few days ago I remember reading an article about the Taliwhacker command being unhappy that the media always printed the coalition side of the story. Now, all of a sudden the stories are being told from the Taliwhacker viewpoint. Curious,no?
(KUNA) -- Lebanese security forces announced that 48 people were killed and 75 others injured as a result of the Israeli military operations that targeted Lebanese towns and villages on Thursday. The security forces said in a statement that these numbers were registered at 4:00 PM. Meanwhile, the Lebanese Red Cross said in a statement that its field teams are on high alert and deployed in different Lebanese areas, setting "fully equipped" blood transfusion centers to meet injured people's need. Beirut province has also set an emergency plan to deal with the Israeli aggression.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
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#2
Only 123 ? And how many Israeli's have been killed over the last decade ? decades ? Lebanon keeps bitching that Israel has targeted suburban area's... Well the lebs wanna keep launching rockets at Israel what the hell do they expect ? And besides, these scum bag terrorist lebanese thugs and other Islamic shit bags have been killing innocent ppl since the days of crack smoking camel humpin' mohammad.
#4
It's hard impossible to feel sorry for people that start a war, dance in the streets to celebrate kidnappings, and use a terrorist quasi-government proxy to do their dirty work. Then when check comes to the table, everyone there claims they have forgotten their wallet at home. Forget the 123 dead, that's nothing, look at your infrastructure you dumb bastards! You should be wondering how you are going to carry on with day to day life when you have no bridges, roads,airports or shipping lanes open.
#5
LOL. You're absolutely right on BigJim. The rampant ongoing utter stupidity of these fools continues to amaze. Nothing there worth saving. This group definitely needs to be eliminated from the gene pool.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/14/2006 15:46
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Big JIm and Sop35, I think their end of the gene pool is a mite shallow. Nothing some chlorine (read: carpet bombing from the Israeli's) couln't cure.
Er, perhaps KUNA meant "excluded" in that headline.
(KUNA) -- Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said on Thursday that the Jewish state will not "hesitate" in striking any possible Hezbollah locations, regardless of civilian casualties. In a session for the security and foreign affairs committee in the Israeli parliament (Knesset), Peretz said that Hezbollah's recent attacks that resulted in the killing of eight Israeli soldiers and the abducting of two others resembled "an opportunity to change the balance of power between Israel and Lebanon.
"Hezbollah will not be allowed to draw back to its previous locations in southern Lebanon," Peretz added. The Israeli government has formed during its meeting last night a "war council" that included Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Peretz Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni and Minister of Internal Security Avraham Dichter.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
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Senate leaders announced a bipartisan deal Wednesday to open much of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas exploration, while providing significant protections for Florida's west coast over the next two decades. The compromise would create a 125-mile no-drilling zone off the Florida Panhandle, while the waters off Tampa Bay would be off-limits to drilling for 234 miles. The protections would last through 2022. Energy companies, meanwhile, would gain access to reserves of oil and natural gas in waters that are now off-limits, and states that allow offshore drilling would earn a larger share of royalties that companies pay for federal drilling rights.
Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., helped broker the deal and said he supports it, though passage by the full Congress is not assured. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., joined the news conference where the deal was announced but stopped short of endorsing it. "The devil is in the details, and both Sen. Martinez and I want to see it in writing," Nelson said. "If it is as described to me, it is very promising."
The new deal shows that although political pressure to drill off the nation's coasts is rising with energy prices, the Senate is not ready to adopt the sweeping measure the U.S. House passed last month, which called for opening to drilling all U.S. waters past 50 miles, unless states opted to restrict it up to 100 miles.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
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#1
It's a start. Let's set-up a rig right next to the ChiCom's
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/14/2006 1:27
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#2
What the hell is wrong with the senate?
They dont approve the judges.
They run roughshod over border defense.
They support amnesty.
They refuse to fix earmearks.
They allow antiquated filibuster rules to clog up the function of government.
The Senate is broken. Time to shoot them all and reset the rules.
#3
The senate isn't being held accountable is the problem. People are to addicted to their Pork to think of the larger picture and throw the bums out.
Perhaps shooting (figurtivly) them all and resetting the rules is a good idea.
The ban on drilling is not to protect the environment (since it doesn't stop China or Cuba - both of whom don't give a shit how dirty their wells are - from drilling right in out own backyard).
#4
My proposition would be to drill anywhere in the Gulf up to the line of sight (horizon) from Florida. What's the horizon, something like 12 miles offshore?
That way, you don't "disturb" the tourists (they can't see the rigs) AND you get a lot more territory to drill in. And, I'm one who actually vacations in the panhandle of FL every year! Much like drilling in ANWR while the LARGE majority of Alaskans want it (jobs and such), the Senate continues to whine about prices while ignoring domestic resources we could tap ASAP. Let them eat cake, I guess is their attitude. Time to throw them out.
Posted by: BA ||
07/14/2006 11:39
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Not good enough, we in Florida get nauseous at the sight of rig support boats and swoon at heavy machinery. It's no go, we must save our (whee minimum wage increase alert) $6.30/hr less tips jobs.
#6
The problem is the 17th Amendment, allowing for the direct election of senators. Up until then, all senators were appointed by the governor of the state they were supposed to support, and were supposed to represent the STATES against the federal government. With the passing of the 17th Amendment, senators are purchased by the highest bidder, to do that person's or group's wishes. We need to repeal the 17th Amendment. That and the passing of the 16th Amendment authorizing an Income Tax were two of the worst pieces of governing the United States has ever been subjected to.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/14/2006 19:44
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#8
Yep, sales tax and appointed Senators, that'll solve most problems. And going back to the GOLD STANDARD! Destroying the FEDERAL RESERVE with their nest of INTERNATIONAL BETTY CROCKERCRATS! Hell, why not, let's give it a try.
Tehran, Iran, Jul. 13 Radical Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned the European Union on Thursday that it would stand to suffer if it increased pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear program. We have moved in the path of our rights and the law but unfortunately, they [the West] want to use this proposal as a pretext to increase pressure on us. We advise them to be patient Ahmadinejad told a crowd in the north-western town of Miyaneh. His comments were reported by the state-run news agency ISNA.
If you create a conflict, it will be you who will suffer the consequences, he said in comments directed at the West. Until now, we have moved in the framework of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and agreements, but they must know that if the Iranian nation reaches the conclusion that they are not sincere in their actions and proposals it will reconsider its policies, Ahmadinejad said.
The Europeans will be the ones that suffer from any problem that arises. We do not seek a conflict but they must know that they cannot hurt the Iranian nation, he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2006
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#8
We advise them to be patient Ahmadinejad told a crowd
1. This means wait until we have a nuclear capability with which we can destroy you.
2. Adolph Hitler got a pass early on. Those wanting to appease Hitler are on the dust heap of history--considered naively dangerous (much like the LLL today).
3. The end game for these islamofacists is to destroy the West from within and from without. They have been at war with us for many years whether we [the West] have realized it or not.
4. Diplomacy will not work. Diplomacy is viewed as weakness by the Islamofacists. Diplomacy is viewed as an opportunity to gain advantage not meet in good faith.
5. These facists think of us [the West] as morally and culturally inferior to them--a peoples to be used for their benefit; otherwise to be destroyed.
6. They believe they are destined to rule the world. All that is going on right now is a part of the "grand plan."
7. It is not clear to me how the West is awakened to this danger. One of the problems of a democracy is that there is a tolerance for other peoples and cultures. Democracies tend to have open door policies regarding immigration creating a danger from within for those bent on destroying our way of life.
8. War appears to be at hand. Iran and Syria are fighting Israel and the United States through proxies; i.e. hezbollah and hamas. These skirmishes are just buying time for Syria and Iran--these are distractions from the ultimate main game.
The question is, what is to be done? Destroy the proxies now or go after the sources of the problems, Iran and Syria? It seems to me we pay now or we pay more later.
#9
"7. It is not clear to me how the West is awakened to this danger."
My guess: about 1 person in 20 is fully aware of the menace we face, and is clear that it simply MUST be dealt with if we are to survive.
The rest are either confused, or indifferent, or too busy watching sitcoms and "reality TV" shows to care, or so blinded by Bush-hatred they don't want to face the danger.
Frankly, I'm not optimistic.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/14/2006 8:54
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#10
Expect an Israeli attack on Iran in the next 48 hours. I'm sure subs are positioning right now.
#11
phil_b - Iran that soon? I've been thinking Israel will start hitting Syria any day now first, thus forcing Iran to either defend their proxy or look chicken.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
07/14/2006 9:14
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#12
Just try it, fancypantsboy. We'll show you the true meaning of pain.
I don't think Israel will hit Syria unless they have a full act of agression from the Syrians (not counting it out, BabyA is a moron) but will sure make the supply roads from Syraia roads leading only to death.
#13
I think you may be right, the time has come for Iran to prove that they have the machismo to be a regional power. I havent seen shit yet, just a bunch of windy bullshit. I wonder how shiites in Iran would feel about going to war over Alawites in Syria? But if it was to fight Israel,I guess any excuse would do.
#14
Ahmadinejad says (a lot of crap) an attack against Syria is an attack against the muslim world. Not certain that's a big whoop. I wonder what the shites in Iraq would think about any attacks on either Iran or Syria.
#17
Tie this in with the topic above about the Mad Mullahs needing to import gasoline already, maybe the MM's are closer to overthrow than we think. Keep up the pressure, and Israel will smack 'em and hard. I'm still not optimistic of the "Iranian Street uprising"(tm) to overthrow the MM's, but signs are that this is for domestic consumption to blame the Joooooooss.
Posted by: BA ||
07/14/2006 12:42
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#18
If teachers were more vigilant and stopped the little guys from getting their heads flushed in the school toilets, then maybe these things wouldn't happen.
#19
You are so, so correct Kratos, swirlies are the worst.
Posted by: Dr N Crane ||
07/14/2006 17:22
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#20
We do not seek a conflict but they must know that they cannot hurt the Iranian nation.
Maybe the Europeans can't hurt the Persians, but Kurds can. After all, HPG blew one of their military helicopters out of the sky the day before yesterday.
Hehehe. . . stupid Ecems.
Posted by: Azad ||
07/14/2006 18:44
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QUETTA: Suspected tribal militants fired 18 rockets at security check posts in the Pirkoh area of Dera Bugti district on Thursday. Security forces retaliated and the militants fled. No casualties were reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
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Forty-eight hours after bombs ripped through Mumbai, the needle pointed to Pakistan. Intelligence agencies on Thursday confirmed that Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was the mastermind of the blasts that killed about 200 people.
Have we had enough yet?
The Mumbai Police, meanwhile, identified the trio who planned and executed 11/7: Rahil, Zahibuddin Ansari and Faiyaz, linked to the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT) and the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI). Of them, Rahil had reportedly made an abortive bid to trigger a blast at Byculla railway station on March 11 the eve of the anniversary of the 1993 Bombay blasts.
The agencies, which briefed National Security Adviser MK Narayanan and Cabinet Secretary BK Chaturvedi, said the blueprint for Tuesdays blasts was made by the ISI while the plan was executed by local Indian operatives.
A senior intelligence officer said the synchronised explosions had the hallmark of an ISI operation. Militants operating in Kashmir were not capable of such meticulous planning and could only carry out fidayeen attacks or plant bombs in crowded places like markets.
A lot of planning went into the blasts. This is typical of an ISI operation, as was revealed during the 1993 Bombay blasts, said an officer.
"Look at these blast points. Only Imperial Storm ISI Troopers are so precise."
Rahil, Ansari and Faiyaz could be the local operatives the intelligence agencies hinted at. Mumbai Police Commissioner AN Roy told HT: Were looking for Rahil, Ansari and Faiyaz who orchestrated the seven blasts. Roy said Rahil, a SIMI old-timer, had been leading a LeT module, while Ansari and Faiyaz were wanted in the Aurangabad explosives-seizure case.
KP Raghuvanshi, chief of the Mumbai Polices Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS), said Ansari and Faiyaz had brought in the RDX from Pakistan. Though the ATS arrested 16 operatives from Ansaris module, he and Faiyaz gave the police the slip. Apparently, the module was receiving instructions from Junaid, reportedly ISIs operations chief for India.
The police said the blasts could have been in retaliation of Gujarat riots.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/14/2006
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#1
A senior intelligence officer said the synchronised explosions had the hallmark of an ISI operation.
#2
plenty of examples in Kashmir, India proper, and Afghanistan...
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2006 0:47
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plenty of examples in Kashmir, India proper, and Afghanistan...
Britain, Spain, the US, Iraq...
BTW, guys -- my surprise meter melted on this one. According to an FAQ on the manufacturer's site, that can only happen when the news merits a reading of -100,000,000 flabbergasts.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/14/2006 7:05
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#4
Hey! Nice Medals!
Did he get those for his humanitarian campaign in East Pakistan? circa 1971
#5
Intelligence agencies on Thursday confirmed that Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was the mastermind of the blasts that killed about 200 people.
In Mumbai, the man arrested wearing a burqa at the airport was questioned. "When we asked Ahmed the reason for wearing a burqa at the airport, he said that he was waiting for his girlfriend, who was supposed to arrive on a British Airways flight. But when his girlfriend, who arrived at 12 am on Friday, was questioned, she said that Ahmed was her neighbour in Surat. She denied being his girlfriend," said inspector Chavan. Ahmed said that since he did not want her to see him he wore a burqa, but as he was in love with her, he wanted to see her.
Ahmed hails from Navsari in Surat and has lived in Mumbra for the past 20 years. He had recently moved into a guest house on Chakla Street near Dongri, the police said. Police sources added that Ahmed frequently changed his profession during interrogation. "At times he said he was a commercial pilot, while at other times he spoke of running a stock-trading business at L.T. Marg," a police official said on condition of anonymity. Ahmed was produced before a metropolitan magistrate court in Andheri on Friday and was remanded to police custody till July 21. When asked whether Ahmed had any links to Tuesdays serial blasts, inspector Chavan said, "It is too early to comment. We are still investigating Ahmeds records."
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2006 18:21
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(RIA Novosti)-A total of 13 militants have been killed during an operation on the border of Chechnya and Daghestan in southern Russia, Chechnya's Interior Ministry official said Thursday. He said another two had been arrested. The ministry representative said reports that a militant group was trying to break through from Daghestan into Chechnya had arrived Wednesday night and police had set ambushes in the mountainous areas in Chechnya where the gunmen were most likely to appear.
"As a result, the group of about 20 bandits was discovered in the [southeastern] mountainous Nozhai Yurt district of Chechnya at 4:30 a.m. Moscow time (12:30 a.m. GMT)," the source said. "Thirteen militants were killed and two captured. A great number of small arms and grenade launchers were seized at the scene." He said no law enforcers had been killed or injured.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
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so...15 dead, eventually
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2006 0:10
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BEIRUT: Political and religious powers lashed out Thursday at the "unjustified" Israeli offensive against Lebanese civilians and infrastructure, demanding a comprehensive cease-fire and an end to Israel's siege. MP Walid Jumblatt said that "the government's stand is clear: It cannot assume responsibility for an act about which it was not consulted."
The Progressive Socialist Party leader added Israel's aggression against Lebanon cannot be "justified, is useless and can only increase the destruction."
In an interview with TeleLiban, Jumblatt, a leading member of the March 14 Forces, urged the United Nations to sponsor a cease-fire between the two countries. "We can discuss with [Hizbullah leader] Sayyed Hassan [Nasrallah] the best way to defend Lebanon later so that the decision to make peace or wage war will be in the hands of the Lebanese government," he said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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Lebanon = Hezbolistan
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/14/2006 1:11
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MP Walid Jumblatt said that "the government's stand is clear: It cannot assume responsibility for an act about which it was not consulted."
Sorry, Kumquat, it don't work that way.
Do you claim sovereignty over the territory Hezbollah is using to stage its attacks? Yes, you do, right? Well, that makes you responsible. If an organization used US territory to stage attacks on Canada, then the US would be responsible; in fact, it would be the right of Canada to use its military to destroy that group, and the US would either have to buck up and take it, or come to the group's defense and effectively admit it approved the attacks.
This in fact happened in the early days of the US; a group was attacking British interests in Canada from US soil (New York state, I believe). The Brits attacked the group, and the US took the option of ignoring the attack. The US had failed to maintain the monopoly on force projected from its territory, and so the British were entitled to defend themselves.
So keep bleating about "not being consulted" and all that crap, and admit to the world that Lebanon's just a rump state, unable to actually govern itself. Or buck up, shut up, and let the Israelis clean up the mess you let get out of hand.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/14/2006 7:01
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"Do you claim sovereignty over the territory Hezbollah is using to stage its attacks?... Well, that makes you responsible."
Exactly, which is why the claim of both a political wing and a military wing is a reckless coward's claim.
#6
Jumblatt may become jamsplatt before this is over, especially if he keeps pouring gas on the fire. Isreal won't put up with him or anyone else telling them what to do.
Jumblatt, my advise is to shut up, find a deep cave, sit down and stay there. Look out every once in awhile to see if the sun's still shining, and if smoke is rising from Beirut. If it is, go back in. If it isn't, better hope Israel has pulled back to their side of the border, or you're toast.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/14/2006 20:13
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Diplomatic efforts to defuse the North Korean missile crisis collapsed Thursday, as a Chinese mission to Pyongyang failed to produce a breakthrough and talks between the two Koreas ended in acrimony. The failure set the stage for a showdown at the United Nations, where the United States and Japan are pushing for tough action against the secretive state after it launched seven missiles in Japan's direction last week.
The top US negotiator on North Korea, Christopher Hill, said during a visit to Beijing that the regime could now expect a "very strong" message after China's efforts to lower tensions in the region failed. "I have talked as much as I can with the Chinese to see what's going on with their mission in Pyongyang. From what I understand, we don't have any breakthroughs in Pyongyang," Hill said before departing for Washington. "So far (the North Koreans) don't seem interested in listening, much less in doing anything to address the situation," said the American diplomat, who has been shuttling among Asian capitals since the tests rattled the region. "I'm confident there will be a very strong, very clear message for the DPRK (North Korea)," Hill said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
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Who cares whether this is in the script, or not?
"The air force is ready for any operation that will be necessary during the current military campaign against Lebanon," Brig.-Gen. Yohanan Locker, Commander of the IAF's Air Division, told The Jerusalem Post Thursday night. The officer revealed that IAF fighter jets, helicopters, and AWACs had participated in hundreds of airborne operations over Lebanon since two soldiers were kidnapped and eight others killed in a Hizbullah attack along the northern border on Wednesday. He said that the IAF F-15Is, F-16s, Apache helicopters, and other surveillance aircraft were participating in Operation Just Reward against Lebanon.
The air force, he said, has struck dozens of homes in southern Lebanon that were also used as cover for Katyusha launchers as well as other strategic sites, including the Beirut International Airport, a fuel depot in Beirut, and two other airports in Lebanon. Regarding the homes, the officer said the roofs were sometimes removed and the Katyushas were fired from inside, landing in Nahariya, Safed, and other communities in northern Israel. In other cases, he said, the Katyusha rockets were leaned against the walls of the homes and fired from there. The officer stressed that there was no distinction between Hizbullah and Lebanese targets. "Lebanon is responsible for what has happened," the officer said. "The air force is prepared to continue operating around the clock over Lebanon during this operation."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Gotta love the name: "Operation Just Reward." Kinda sums it all up nice and tidy-like. Almost brings tears to my eyes.
#4
I would like to think that the IAF is supressing Hezbollah's command and control intrastructure and taking out as much of it's tactical and operational mobility (by taking down bridges) as it can in preparation for something bigger. With the Saudis and Egyptians apparently declaring their neutrality (you never know with Arabic... they might have actually said they were going out to the kebab shop) and the Americans sitting on top of Iraq, the Israelis might be able launch something decisive. Now if we can convince the Soddies that Hamas has secretly converted to Shiism as the price for all that Iranian aid, we'll be golden.
#7
Is it just me, or is Iran using Hamas and Hizballah to deliberately provoke Israel, drawing them out so as to have an excuse to test a nuke on Tel Aviv?
On one hand, it seems a tad premature. On the other hand, I don't see the utility of kidnapping 3 Israeli soldiers without some larger objective in mind. Saudi and Egypt seem to sense something larger they want nothing to do with as well. Or am I just being paranoid?
Posted by: ST ||
07/14/2006 2:21
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#8
I wonder if the IAF has got that long range autonomous bomber operational yet.
Sorry, couldn't find a link, but we discussed it a while back.
#9
ST, yes, this are deliberate moves of chess pieces on the board by Iranians.
I doubt that Iran has nukes ready, but they may try some other nasties, chemical and/or biological. Of course, one wonders what Ahmadinutjob has on his mind for August 22.
Not necessarily atacking Israel, I think. Perhaps a test detonation somewhere in uninhabited area in Iran, to announce that Iran as nuke power is 'fait accompli'. The actual test may happen several days earlier, say about 18th, he just wants enough buffer if something fizzles first so there is enough time to recalibrate and try again.
Ahmadinutjob calculated that the Arab world would line up against Israelis when they would respond to Hizbollah provocation, and that he would use them as proxies in his war with Israel. Then becoming a nuke power would provide a leverage, prestige and power to become a leader in the war against Israel, but still rather pulling the strings from the distance.
He miscalculated. Soddies and Egyptians smell a rat and the stench is so overwhelming that they keep as much distance as possible. Syrians are wetting themselves and feeling like a pawn that they are.
What's next? Ahmadinutjob cannot risk losing face. Iran would be drawn prematurely into the conflict, once Syria is the next stage of the war in maybe 10 days or so.
That would scramble his carefull choreography and the table would turn.
Meanwhile... One of the missiles fired agains Israel by Hizbollah was long range. I have no doubt it was a test. There is probably a warhead, C/B, that is waiting to be unleashed on Iran's command. That means Israelis don't have much time and need to go first for possible locations of WMDs, rather than clean the border area first and push northward, meaning they have to sustain some katyusha barrages.
When the WMD missile(s) is/are destroyed within Lebanon, Iran would ask Syria to fire one from the proximity of Lebanese border. Two possibilities... either it would hit Israel, or it would be shot down. In either case, it would be the casus belli for Israel to get medieval on Pencilneck and settle the score.
For a long time, we were stuck at 1938. It is now mid-summer of 1939. My crystal ball says so.
#10
Two things to consider: Iran has to be looking over its shoulder at the US forces that will almost certainly stomp them flat if they mess with Israel. They have to be nuts or just talking trash. And what if Saddam handed its CB weapons to Syria just before the US stomped them flat? If they existed, could those weapons have ended up in Iran's hands, and possibly be contributing to their current behavior?
#11
Thx, 2x4. Gorb raises an interesting point too.
Already, multiple casus belli exist for Israel to get medieval on Iran. And the US, for that matter (backing Shi'a insurgents in Iraq, to take only the most recent example).
I've heard about the Aug 22 thing -- the date Saladin entered Jerusalem, Mahdi climbs out of the well etc etc. So just what will it take for the Israelis and/or us to finish this shit -- I mean really finish it?
Posted by: ST ||
07/14/2006 4:59
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#12
If I were a betting woman I'd place a month of Mr. Wife's salary on Saddam's CB weapons being buried in Lebanon's Bekaa Valley. We watched the trucks go back and forth just before the invasion, and that Iraqi general who's been on the talk show circuit selling his book (I saw him talk to poor Jon Stewart on Comedy Central's "Daily Show") asserted that he saw the loaded trucks and airplanes with his own eyes. Surely we've given Israel the satellite photos...
#13
TW, I'm smelling Quid pro Ro: Israel is allowed by the US to smack down Hezbollah, and eventually Syria, in exchange for getting to the Bekka Valley and uncovering Saddam's WMD. Iraq gets justified immediately, Liberals and Democrats get the equivalent of a broadsword thrust up their ass to the hilt, the Iraqui western front gets pacified, AND Hezbollah gets flushed.
#14
I predict Iran and Syria will get smacked simultaneously later this month. The only difference is that Iran will lose nuclear and missile facilities overnight but the entire Syrian government and military will be pounded to dust over a period of weeks. Assad will not live to read about the Iran destruction in his morning newspaper.
#15
This can only get in a worse mess, although I think the Israelis have no choice. Cleaning out nests of vipers is necessary but will bog IDF down in Lebanon, just like the US in Iraq, NATO in Afghanistan, India in Kashmir, Russia in Chechnia, Japan in North Korea. See any patterns here?
I suspect the response from the Dems in Washington will be that it is all GWB fault: if he had not invaded Iraq, Saddam would have had no excuse to ship his WMD to Syria. and thus make them available to Hezbollah and Iran.
Posted by: john ||
07/14/2006 9:37
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I did a back of the envelope calculation a few years ago that under ideal conditions (90% launch and detonation rate, low winds, inversion layer over all targets, no warning launch) the Syrians could kill 500,000 Israelis with their CW and missile arsenals. This is not a trivial threat.
#18
Interesting links, 11A5S. I note that the high voltage substation is vulnerable, which if even damaged should make life inside the bunkers highly interesting, however briefly.
What anti missle defense does the IDF have - Phalanx CIWS, Patriot, Arrow ???? Help me with the names and spellings.
Are any or all of these available or in use? Going from a mortar round up to an ICBM, which of these work against which threat, and how well?
Are any of these of any use?
Given the strategic analyses, or at least the regional views expressed here, how can the IDF push its defenses out along with the offensive actions underway?
#20
One thing to consider when thinking about these things, TW, is target effects. The Army has a whole set of doctrinal terminology to describe this: supress, neutralize, destroy, etc. While taking out the substation throws a spanner in the works of the chemical program, it doesn't degrade the overall program much. If our efforts with SCUD hunting during the Kuwait war are a benchmark, Israel would probably be lucky to degrade Syria's overall retaliatory capability 10-20% with a first strike.
The chemical retaliatory arsenal is good insurance for Syria since if Israel attacks Syria, Syria can retaliate against Israel's civilian population which forces Israel to go nuclear. This is the end state that Iran is aiming for both with respect to us and with respect to Israel.
#21
If our efforts with SCUD hunting during the Kuwait war are a benchmark, Israel would probably be lucky to degrade Syria's overall retaliatory capability 10-20% with a first strike.
Key for the IDF would be to cut off the head of the snake, ie, take out the leadership (Command & Control - C2) in first strike(s). Except for it's dealings with the paleos, the IDF has never been much for the "long game."
12 October 2005
IDF deploys a sophisticated new radar system near the Gaza Strip, which it hopes will give early warning to Israeli residents of incoming Katyusha missiles, Kassam rockets and possibly mortar rounds. The system is the prototype for a state-of-the-art wider missile defense system the Nautilus also known by the acronym THEL for Theatre High- Energy Laser, which has been in joint development by Israel and the United States for almost a decade and is ultimately intended to be able to intercept such incoming fire with a high-energy laser beam.
2 December 2005
The Israeli Air Force successfully tests the Arrow 2 anti-ballistic missile system against a Black Sparrow test missile. The Black Sparrow was designed to simulate the Iranian Shahab-3 missile.
2 March 2006
A high-ranking Israeli Defense Force official states that the Arrow 2 anti-ballistic missile system is capable of intercepting and destroying Iranian missiles carrying nuclear warheads. The official went on to explain that new developments in the Arrow system have made it possible to detect missiles carrying a split warhead armed with decoys. He also asserted that any "incoming missile would be destroyed at such a high altitude that it would disperse and destroy its payload without causing any casualties."
17 March 2006
In order to improve its missile defense capabilities the Israeli Air Force (IAF) is working to upgrade its MIM-104 Patriot low- to high-altitude air-defense system to the Patriot Advanced Capability 3 (PAC-3) system. According to a senior defense source, "The PAC-3 will complement our layered missile defense structure and will enable us to close a gap in our ability to intercept incoming missiles in the lower tier. It will also substantially increase our capabilities to intercept incoming cruise missiles and aircraft." One of Israel's primary motivations for upgrading to the PAC-3 system is the emerging cruise missile threat in the region, especially with allegations that Iran recently obtained the Russian designed Kh-55 (AS-15, 'Kent') cruise missiles which have a range of up to 3,000km.
14 April 2006
Arrow anti-ballistic missile batteries in Israel are upgraded to enable them to intercept Iran's long-range missiles. This upgrade has been carried out in the event that Tehran should decide to attack Israel as a response to a U.S. attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. Israel estimates that Iran already has the capability of attacking Israel with accurate long-range missiles.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2006 12:55
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#23
(i) Iran's involvement. In my view there's an aspect you'll missing. Right now, Ahmi is getting a message "Nobody is going to hunt for your hidden nuke labs, buba, we'll [1] just bomb you into stone age."
(ii) The best defense against WMD's is the certainty of retaliation---disproportionate one, to use our Tranzi friends favorite term.
(KUNA) -- Air marshals have been deployed on selected flights in India for passenger safety following threat reports from the country's intelligence agencies after Tuesday's serial blasts in Mumbai and Srinagar. "We have deployed air marshals today. Some more security systems are already in place," Indian Civil Aviation Secretary Ajay Prasad told reporters in Delhi Thursday, adding that intelligence reports warn of threats at some tourist destinations in India.
He said while most flights to Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir and certain sectors in India's Northeast will have these commandoes. The Aviation Ministry had also decided to set up some new security procedures at airports and instructions issued to the concerned agencies, Prasad said. "There would be significant changes in security measures at airports. We have deployed dog and bomb disposal squads. Emphasis will be on using more equipment and technology rather than manual searching," Prasad said. "The measures are being taken up because some reports have been received by the security agencies that some important airports and tourist destinations in the country are under threat," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
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I guess we'll have the Air India-El Al air marshal rugby match next.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
07/14/2006 22:32
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Jamiat Ahle Hadith chief Ibtasam Elahi Zaheer gave an application to Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed on Thursday to join the religious alliance. Zaheer gave the application to Qazi at a meeting in Mansoora. Qazi said the issue would be taken up by the Supreme Council meeting schedule for July 16 in Peshawar.
Qazi also urged all political and religious parties to unite with the MMA to start an anti-government movement in September. "We don't have any other option, but to launch an organised mass movement to drive the current civilian and military rulers out of power. We are not against the army, but want to relieve them of the political burden so that they can focus their attention on the defence of the country," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Hat tip: Drudge
No comments needed. The Donks speak for themselves. (There's a reason they have an ass as a symbol.)
In today's intense Democratic politics in Connecticut, "The Kiss" does not refer to great works of art. Speak of "The Kiss" and you conjure up an embrace immediately after the President's State of the Union address in January 2005. The embrace was between George Bush and the state's junior senator, Joe Lieberman. A better name for it would be the kiss of Judas - or the kiss of death.
Mr Lieberman is one of the Democratic Party's grandees, a vice-presidential candidate in 2000 who, two years later, ran for President. Today, however, he is in the fight of his life; a senator of 18 years standing who must endure the ignominy of a primary against a dangerous challenger who has built his campaign on his opposition to the war in Iraq.
The candidate himself remembers his brush with Bush slightly differently. "I don't think he kissed me," he told Time magazine. "He leaned over, gave me a hug, and said, 'Thank you for being a patriotic American.'"
But in anti-Bush and anti-war Connecticut, the dispute is academic. Bush's alleged words only remind voters of Mr Leiberman's still unwavering support for the invasion of 2003. "He's a Republican mole in the Democratic party," says Pravil Banker, director of a financial company and a man who in other circumstances might be a natural Lieberman supporter. "He's the guy who goes on [Republican-supporting] Fox News. He's the tame Democrat that even conservatives can stomach.
We do like him, don't we.
The Lamont-Lieberman struggle is a battlefield in the civil war within his party. The race will set the tone for the mid-term election campaign this autumn, and have a large bearing on the contest for the Democratic nomination for the White House in 2008.
If all that sounds oddly familiar, it is. In 2004, a similar conflict played out, as the populist Howard Dean, a previously little known governor of Vermont became the darling of the activists. Propelled by internet-raised millions and the enthusiasm of his volunteer supporters from across the country, the governor briefly seemed a sure thing for his party's nomination. Moderates were horrified. A vote for Mr Dean, warned Mr Lieberman, would be "a ticket for nowhere", that could sent the party "back to the political wilderness for a long time".
Turned out Joe was wrong, voting for either Dean or Kerry had the same result because the nutroots are the same regardless.
Today the roles are reversed. The bloggers and activists have rallied behind Mr Lamont, making him the symbol of what Markos Moulitsas, founder of the Daily Kos, current king of the liberal blogs, calls "the people-powered movement".
Daily Kos, and organisations like Moveon.org, have thrown all their energies into toppling Mr Lieberman. The primary outcome will thus also be a measure of the true influence of the blogs, held by some to be the new arbiters of American politics. Alas however, even the vote count on the evening of 8 August may not settle things. More at the link. More proof (if you need it) that the Dems are f#@*ing NUTS.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/14/2006
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The candidate himself remembers his brush with Bush slightly differently. "I don't think he kissed me," he told Time magazine. "He leaned over, gave me a hug, and said, 'Thank you for being a patriotic American.'"
That's what really tics off the Donks -- Lieberman's a patriot.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/14/2006 6:55
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We do like him, don't we.
I can remember when we didn't like him. Guys like him and Tax and Spend Hubert Humphrey, Scoop Jackson (D-Boeing, Jack Kennedy, et al. But we didn't hate them, either. It was a respectable two party system full of patriots, not today's circus.
#3
He lost me big time back when Bush first proposed the tax breaks. He was qouted as saying (paraphrased) "He can't do that, that's our money". Typical socialist.
(KUNA) -- Up to three members of a local council were killed and three others wounded Thursday in the northeastern Abu Seida village in Baghdad. A source in the Iraqi Interior Ministry told KUNA that unidentified men entered the courtyard of the council driving a motorcycle that contains a bag carrying an explosive device. The explosion killed three members and wounded three others, including the chairman of the council, where also parts of the council were destroyed, the source added. Meanwhile, about 22 people were wounded during two separate attacks across Baghdad.
Posted by: Fred ||
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GUADALAJARA, Mexico - Tequila may have blurred the memory of many a drinker, but the Agave fields that produce it wont soon be forgotten after UNESCO put them on its list of World Heritage sites.
Residents of Mexicos mountainous Jalisco state on Wednesday toasted the addition of their blue-tinged, Tequila-producing Agave landscape to the list of places considered to be of outstanding value to humanity, in the words of the UN cultural agencys Web site. We are very emotional, said Yadira Gaytan, the assistant mayor of the town of Tequila in Jalisco state. There is a lot of joy among people here because we have been waiting for this for a long time.
The cactus-like Agave plant, which is native to the area, is grown in abundance around Tequila to meet the worlds thirst for the fiery liquor. The sprawling blue fields make for an impressive spectacle, even from overflying passenger jets. Located about 70 kilometers (45 miles) northeast of the city of Guadalajara, the town of Tequila is packed with breweries and cantinas, and most of its 60,000 residents work in the spirits industry or in its spillover tourism sector.
Gaytan predicted that being a World Heritage site would bring more visitors and investment to the region.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2006
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I'm pretty sure that to become a World Heritage Site, all you gotta do is donate $100K to the Kojo Annan college fund.
#2
This has been a growing concern of mine., since I was 21 18
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2006 0:55
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I haven't spent much time in Jalisco, but stills are everywhere in Colima. Mexicans often scold you for buying Tequila from liquor stores. Locals like to drink it while eating salted sugar beets, doused with lemon juice. I like it with a squirt of lemon and Grenadine.
From the Dept. of Be Careful What You Wish For:
The government's efforts to meet the Kyoto Protocol climate change agreements are to cost up to EUR 3 billion, it was reported on Thursday. The bill between 2008-2012 will reach EUR 3 billion, but even then the country may not cut down greenhouse gases enough to meet the agreement, the environment ministry said. The Spanish daily El Pais reported Spanish greenhouse gas emissions have risen by 53 percent since it signed the Kyoto agreement. Under that accord, it could only increase CO2 emissions by 15 percent above 1990 levels. The Spanish government now admits it will probably only be able to cut its emissions down to 37 percent above the 1990 levels by 2012. Spain will have to buy up emission rights paying cash to pump CO2 and other harmful gases into the atmosphere. The bill for doing this is could reach EUR 3 billion.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2006 0:37
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Who gets the loot? Whoever it is has my vote as among the greatest scam artist(s) of all time. Kyoto was the 'magic bullet' that would destroy the U.S. economy, but (so far!) we saw through the scam and didn't play along. Now the Tranzi fools find themselves holding the bag. What I think will actually happen is that faced with these bogus bills, one government after another will treat the payments like their UN dues, i.e. just never quite get around to cutting the check.
#5
And the rest will go bogus 'carbon capture' projects. My favourites are those that 'capture' methane from pig shit etc and then burn it producing - you guessed it - CO2.
#6
It's all a bunch of hot CO2. When it starts to hurt economically, seriously affected countries will quietly ignore payments. If threatened (Heaven forbid) with a strongly worded message of sanctions of some other crap, the countries will get out of the treaty. The Kyoto Treaty will fall like a deck of cards. Heh heh, the bureaucrats answer to the threats of junk science. So how is the Minister of Climate Change doing these days? What's his CO2 output figures?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/14/2006 10:39
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Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers is a trademark gambit of the group's secretary general Hasan Nasrallah, according to Middle East online observers. Nasrallah, who will be 46 years old on Friday,
Happy Birthday, Nasty! The IAF has a nice gift all picked out for you. They may even deliver it in person!
"Candygram."
is seen by friend and foe alike as an experienced religious leader who combines a hard-line strategic vision of confronting Israel with the tactical flexibility learned in the intrigues of Lebanese domestic politics.
"Nasrallah's gamble," as Yoav Appel of the Jerusalem Post called it, is that the violence will die down and Israel will enter in negotiations over a prisoner swap. The Shiite political party and militia says the two Israeli soldiers captured on Wednesday will only be released in exchange for prisoners held in Israeli jails. (Palestinians are seeking the same deal for the release of Cpl. Gilad Shalit, captured by Hamas militants last month). Whether or not Nasrallah secures an exchange, the attacks on Israel already "boost Hizbullah's popularity throughout the Middle East, especially at a time when the group is under regional and international pressure to disarm."
Nasrallah's standing among Arabs is high because he is seen as a leader who can negotiate with the Jewish state on an equal basis. In 2004, notes Islam Online, he arranged a massive prisoner exchange in which Israel released two high profile Lebanese leaders and 28 other Lebanese detained by Israel, as well as 400 Palestinian prisoners and the bodies of 59 Lebanese fighters. In return, Hezbollah handed over an Israeli businessman lured to Beirut and kidnapped, and caskets containing the bodies of three Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon. "Nasrallah will try to be the one responsible for negotiations and will try to combine the two kidnappings into one event," Israeli rofessor Shaul Mishal told Ynet News. He will "leverage the whole process to improve his standing in the Lebanese political system. Now he seems like the mover and shaker of Tehran and Damascus against Israel, and as a main player regionally, not just against Israel but facing Hamas as well."
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Posted by: Fred ||
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perhaps an Israeli execution-per-day of Hezbollah terrorists til the Israelis are released, might change "George Washinton" Nasrallah's image as power-in-charge? Sure saves on food costs if nothing else
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2006 0:53
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Moderate Arab governments reacted with relative restraint to Israel's offensive in Lebanon, condemning attacks on civilians and infrastructure, but also implicitly criticizing Hizbullah. The relative silence appeared to reflect a sentiment in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia that the Shi'ite Lebanese guerrilla group had dragged Lebanon into a needless fight by snatching two Israeli soldiers - a fight that would only benefit the hard-line regimes in Syria and Iran.
Picked right up on that, did they?
Egypt warned that the violence could engulf the whole region in conflict and called on all sides to avoid "being dragged into a new cycle of violence and counterviolence."
That's the intention, isn't it?
"Targeting civilians under the pretext of fighting terrorism is unacceptable and unjustified. Israeli practices violate international law," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said.
No, they don't...
But he condemned attacks on civilians by both sides - a comment that could apply to Hizbullah's rocket attacks on northern Israel. "We condemn any military action that targets civilians. We consider it a terrorist act, regardless of who the civilians are or its source," he said.
Damn. The old surprise meter still works...
In Jordan, the second Arab country after Egypt to have a signed peace treaty with Israel, the government issued a statement condemning "Israel's use of force against unarmed civilians and the outcome in terms of the human loss and destruction of civil institutions." But it clearly criticized the Iran- and Syrian-backed Hizbullah, saying, "Jordan stands against whoever exposes the Palestinian people and their cause, Lebanon and its sovereignty to unexpected dangers."
Iran's pushing for a new war with Israel, and Syria's leadership's too stoopid not to go along with it...
Egypt has launched a diplomatic push with Syria in a bid to resolve the crisis. Syria is a top ally of Hizbullah and the Hamas, whose fighters snatched an Israeli soldier two weeks ago, sparking a similar Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip. Aboul Gheit made a swift visit to Damascus on Wednesday to deliver a message from Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to Syria's Bashar Assad. Mubarak met Thursday at Alexandria with Saad Al-Hariri, leader of Lebanon's largest parliamentary bloc and a top opponent of Syria. The Cairo-based Arab League announced it would hold an emergency meeting of foreign ministers on Saturday to discuss the situation in Lebanon and Palestinian territories.
The Arab League's always holding emergency meetings for one reason or another.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Well, this simplifies things a little. Now all Israel has to do is deal with Iran,Syria,Leb and Pal. I wonder if this isn't a power check on Iran from these other muslim countries.
(KUNA) -- Three Iraqis were killed and eight others were injured on Thursday by a booby trapped car blast near a gas station on Baghdad. Iraqi police said the blast took place 100-meters away from the station that had scores of cars waiting in line to refuel. They noted that these casualties are only preliminary. Earlier, five cleaning workers were killed by a bomb while performing their regular tasks in south-eastern Baghdad's Al-Ghadeer quarter.
Posted by: Fred ||
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(KUNA) -- Gunmen killed five people in two separate incidents early Thursday in continued violence in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. Four people, including two children, were killed in Magnar village in the border district of Poonch, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported. A woman and her daughter were also injured in the attack.
In another incident, militants slit the throat of a young woman in Chendriyal village in the border district of Rajouri of Jammu and Kashmir early Thursday, the news agency reported. No group has claimed responsibility for both incidents. However, Kashmir police suspect the Lashker-e-Taiba to be behind the killings. Indian security forces have started massive search operations to trace the terrorists responsible for the killings.
Posted by: Fred ||
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President Bush has agreed conditionally to a court review of his antiterror eavesdropping operations under a deal that, for the first time, would open an important part of his once-secret surveillance to a constitutional test.
The disclosure of the agreement on Thursday came as the White House sought to end an impasse over a six-month-old dispute with Congress on the National Security Agency's program. It monitors the international calls and e-mails of Americans when terrorism is suspected.
Under a deal with the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Bush has agreed to support a bill that could submit the program to the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court for a constitutional review. ``You have here a recognition by the president that he does not have a blank check,'' said Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. As a leading critic of the program, he had broken ranks with his party.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
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After hearing some of the recently retired FISA judges testimonies before congress a few months back, I would find it hard to believe they wouldn't accept the program in its entirety.
Specter is an asshole. Bush is taking an unnecessary gamble from which we could all lose.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/14/2006 1:03
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George, George, George...
Where did my President go? Who's gotten to you for you to go all wishy-washy in your last coupla' years in office?
#3
George's balls have turned to putty. In the past 18 months he has diminished Presidential powers and war making authority to a new and unprecedented level.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/14/2006 16:19
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#14
I dunno, guys. I look at that pic, and can't help what would happen if the scaffolding gave out. Would they just shift around, or would they trip her?
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/14/2006 7:03
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#15
If the scaffolding shifted, there would be a wardrobe malfunction--and you know the rest of the story.
#18
I must be allergic to women's underwear. Every time I see a pictur of a woman in her underwear my heart starts beating faster, I feel all tingly all ove, and I have real short, quick breaths. same thing happens when I go in a Victoria's Secret.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/14/2006 8:44
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#19
It's like they want to break free.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/14/2006 8:44
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Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2006 9:22
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#22
Better than an engineer with a pet frog in his pocket.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/14/2006 9:56
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#23
Godiva was a lady who through Coventry did ride,
To show off to the villagers her lily white hide.
The only man who noticed was an engineer of course,
was the only man who noticed that Godiva rode a horse.
#28
I don't do structural engineering. I do chemical process engineering and my chemical processes are undergoing an exothermic reaction to that picture. I LOVE cheesecake!
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/14/2006 19:09
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#29
Actually, 2Ducks, the articles weren't very good, but I kept buying in hopes that they would get better.
Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa denied his country had a role in either the Hamas or Hezbollah abductions. "It's up to the resistance - both the Lebanese and the Palestinian - to decide what they are doing and why are they fighting," al-Sharaa told reporters in Damascus. But he put ultimate blame on Israel for the seizures of the soldiers, saying, "For sure, the occupation (of the Palestinian territories) is the cause provoking both Lebanese and Palestinian people, and that's why there is Lebanese and Palestinian resistance."
Posted by: Fred ||
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The United States is considering separating its forces from South Korea's and establishing an independent command to support the South's troops on the Korean peninsula, the commander of US Forces Korea said on Thursday. South Korea gave the United States command of its troops during the 1950-1953 Korean War. It later regained their peacetime control but US forces would still command South Korean forces in the event of a war. "While no final decisions have been made, we are considering creating two independent commands - one ROK (South Korean) and one US, with US forces in a supporting role to take advantage of US air and naval warfare capabilities," General B.B. Bell told a security forum in South Korea's parliament. He said Washington and Seoul have been studying ways to change the command structure for months.
Posted by: Fred ||
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But a pullback is fine. Give them the Chinese hegemony they are begging for, and let them enjoy being caught between the Japanese hammer and the Chinese anvil.
#7
Take Murtha's advice. Support them from Okinawa. Errr..that's Guam now I guess. Who cares ? Just get our people out of there. The Japanese can and will provide all the support required.
#8
Pull back to Pusan, put up the bases and perimeter there. Suffucient theater depth where we can resuce the SKors liek we did before, port facility, room for airbases and exercises, and a natural set of defensive terrain forcing the Norks to operate at the LONG end of a logistical tether that they couldn't operate or protect any better than they did back in the first Korean war.
KARACHI: A top leader of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) said on Thursday that the six-party religious alliance would launch a campaign to protect the Hudood Ordinance and foil the government's attempt to repeal or amend the law that was enacted during the regime of military dictator General Ziaul Haq as part of his Islamization process. "The presidential ordinance giving relief to women prisoners is based on mala fide intentions and if we remain idle and do nothing to protect the Hudood Ordinance the government would encourage a repeal or amendment to other Islamic laws as well," Maulana Asadullah Bhutto, provincial president of the MMA, said at an 'Ulema Convention' held at the Jamaat-e-Islami's Karachi headquarters Idara Noor-e-Haq. He said all the religious leaders and pesh imams of mosques would raise their voice against the government.
Posted by: Fred ||
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TEHRAN: Iran accused the European Union on Thursday of "meddling" in its internal affairs by demanding that a detained intellectual accused of trying to undermine the government be given access to a lawyer. "The incoherent views and unusual sensitivity over the arrest of an Iranian is surprising and questionable," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi said in response to EU pressure over the case of Ramin Jahanbegloo. Asefi said a statement issued on Monday by Finland, the current holder of the rotating EU presidency, amounts to "meddling in Iran's domestic affairs."
"We advise the Europeans to focus their concerns on the violation of human rights in Europe and the crisis in Palestine," he added. Jahanbegloo, a prominent thinker and writer on democracy and non-violence who has a doctorate from the Sorbonne in Paris, was arrested in early May while trying to leave Iran to attend a conference in Brussels. "The EU is particularly alarmed about the continuing detention of ... Ramin Jahanbegloo, who is well known for his commitment to philosophical and moral principles, non-violence and dialogue," the EU's statement said. It also pointed to "the inherent unreliability of confessions made in prison without adequate legal safeguards," and called on the Iranian authorities to allow Jahanbegloo "immediate access to legal counsel."
Posted by: Fred ||
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I thought it was "questionable and suprising" (tm)
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/14/2006 1:17
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Aha! I get it now! We'll paralyze them by infiltrating them with a Western-style legal system! :-)
KHAR: Wanted local Taliban leader Maulana Faqir Muhammad offered peace to the government on Thursday in exchange for the release of tribal militants. The offer came during a public meeting in Mamoond Tanari, which was addressed by Faqir Muhammad. Tribal elders welcomed the move and urged the government to seize the opportunity.
"Yup. Yup. Sounds good to us."
The wanted Tehrik-e-Nifaz Shariah Muhammad (TNSM) leader survived a deadly US missile attack in Damadola, in which 13 tribesmen were killed earlier this year.
That was the "dinner with Ayman" strike, so we know where their sympathies lie...
"Our aim is to fight the international terrorist America. We do not want bloodshed in our home country," he told hundreds of tribesmen at the meeting. He said that all issues could be negotiated if the government accepted his offer. "The tribal elders and paramilitary force are our brothers. We do not want to confront them," he said. "For the sake of peace, we are ready for any kind of negotiations." But he warned that he would retaliate if the government attempted to "harm" him. "I will harm anyone who harms me," he said.
TNSM were the dipschitz who loaded up their pickup trucks with young turbans waving AKs and drove off to help the Taliban defeat the evil Merkins. The young turbans who weren't wiped out were later ransomed. Tribal attention spans being marvelously short, the TNSM leadership hasn't been tarred and feathered, though the organization is officially banned by the gummint — which is obviously just as effective as can be.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Our aim is to fight the international terrorist America.
I think he's going to get his wish, and wish the he$$ he never opened his mouth. Time to carpet-bomb the NWFP.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/14/2006 15:21
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A group of Lebanese political dissenters, including MP Walid Jumblatt criticized on Thursday the role of Hizbullah and Syria in the recent escalation in Israeli-Lebanese tension. Speaking live on Lebanese television a Lebanese parliament member raised the question of whether the driving force behind the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers on Wednesday was not actually a Syrian initiative. He admitted that release of prisoners was a Lebanese demand, but asked whether the military move on Wednesday was for the sake of releasing prisoners or in response to the IAF flyover above [Syrian President Bashar] Assad's palace [two weeks ago]." He suggested that Assad may also have been trying to evade the conclusions of a United Nations' probe investigating Syria's role in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Harir. The dissenters asserted their consternation at one organization - Hizbullah - controlling all of the occurrences in Lebanon, Channel 2 reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Here ya go, Wally, have a drum of botox on me.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/14/2006 2:18
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Sri Lankan troops on Thursday found the bodies of two suspected Tamil Tiger rebels believed killed in a shootout the night before, the military said, as soaring violence threatened the return of a full-scale civil war. The latest fighting broke out on Wednesday night when rebels attacked a patrol near Trincomalee, northeast of the capital, Colombo, the militarys Web site said. Troops recovered two suspected rebels bodies, two assault rifles and a grenade launcher, the military said. The statement could not be independently verified. There was no immediate comment from the rebels.
Four other people, two policemen, a soldier and a politician, died on Wednesday in separate attacks by suspected Tamil Tigers in northern Sri Lankas Jaffna peninsula. The politician killed was R Skandarajah Dhavan, a leader of minority Tamil party PLOTE - which fought the state alongside the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) before turning to the political mainstream in the late 1980s. He had been kidnapped late on Wednesday. Dhavans body was found beside a reservoir. It was surely the LTTE, said a military spokesman. Rising violence in the country since last December has killed more than 700 people, half of them civilians, pushing a 2002 Norway-brokered cease-fire to the verge of collapse.
Posted by: Fred ||
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(KUNA) -- An insurgent was killed and 17 others were injured after a joint unit from Iraqi security and the Multi-National Force (MNF) stormed the insurgents' hideout in Al-Ameria western Baghdad, the US army said Thursday. A statement by the US army said that according to military intelligence, the insurgents, who are involved in the killing of four Iraqi policemen, were seen near the Muluki mosque in Al-America. The Joint forces launched an attack on the hideout and managed to kill an insurgent while the others fled the scene. The forces then stormed houses near the hideout and captured 17 insurgents.
Posted by: Fred ||
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British and Australian forces handed over security responsibility for relatively peaceful Muthanna province to Iraqi forces on Thursday in the first such transfer of an entire province.
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki hailed the security transfer as an important step toward the goal of full Iraqi responsibility for all 18 provinces by the end of next year. "It is a great national day that will be registered in the history of Iraq. This step will bring happiness to all Iraqis," al-Maliki said during a handover ceremony in the provincial capital of Samawah. "Be sure that the terrorists want to destroy and foil the process of taking over the security issue and to hamper the political process and the national unity government."
U.S. Gen. George Casey, the top American commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad welcomed the handover in a joint statement. "The handover represents a milestone in the successful development of Iraq's capability to govern and protect itself as a sovereign and democratic nation," they said.
The international troops plan to maintain a presence nearby and be prepared to help the Iraqis if needed. That fits in with the overall U.S. strategy of having coalition forces hand over security control for specific regions and redeploy to larger bases -- where they can act in a support or reserve role. A final future stage would involve the drawdown of troops from those bases.
(KUNA) -- Israeli war planes on Thursday launched several missiles targeting the transmission aerial of Hezbollah's television station Al-Manar and a Shiite meeting hall (Husainiya) in eastern Lebanon used by Hezbollah for medical purposes. Al-Manar issued a statement confirming that three of its employees were wounded during the Israeli attack against the television earlier today Meanwhile, a security source told KUNA that Israeli fighters launched two missiles against the husainiya, which was completely demolished.
This is the first raid targeting the eastern Bekaa area since the Israeli aggression erupted against Lebanon in retaliation of Hezbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers yesterday. The southern areas, the coast and Beirut are under an air and costal siege, where Israeli planes are hovering over the Lebanese airspace and Israeli ships are positioned along the coast. Israeli ground force unit tried to penetrate into Lebanese territory but resistance fighters' forced them to retreat, Hezbollah said in a statement. The Shiite Islamic group also launched long-range Raad missiles against Israeli settlements and military sites in northern Israel, Al-Manar television reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Any leftovers at mission conclusion, pls add this addy to your ATO:
#2
I saw something yesterday that Iran had given Hizb'allah 10,000 Katyusha rockets plus the thingies they are mounted in, all long since pointed at Israel. I wonder how many are left today?
As of a few hours ago, the IDF estimated that about 700 rockets (not all Katyushas) had been fired into Israel.
If we see calls from Lebanon (and maybe even Syria) for Hezb Allah to cease firing we can reasonably conclude that the other 9000+ rockets aren't readily launchable.
#4
Interesting, they must have a finite shelf life. And under less than optimal conditions that life is probably greatly diminished. I wonder why we don't hear any world leaders bitching about all these unguided rockets being randomly shot into civilian areas?
#6
It'll stop when Hiz runs out of launchers. Figuring 10 reloads of 10 figure 100 launchers? I assume Hiz is using launchers with multiple rockets, but who knows.
#7
I saw a picture on the jpost.com site of a multiple launcher, 6. I don't remember how many it held (6?8?10? Two rows, anyway) or of what, but it didn't look friendly.
ROME, Ga. - The same federal judge who threw out Georgia's voter ID law last year has blocked the state from enforcing its revised law in this year's elections. The Wednesday ruling came less than two hours after the Georgia Supreme Court denied the state's request to overrule a state court order that blocked enforcement of the new photo ID law during next week's primary elections and any runoffs.
U.S. District Judge Harold Murphy's ruling, which he delivered verbally from the bench, was much broader, also including the Nov. 7 general elections and any runoffs. If the rulings stand, Georgia voters will not have to show a government-issued photo ID to cast a ballot this year. The state's primary election is scheduled for Tuesday.
That means they can bus ringers in from all over the country, vote half a dozen times in a half dozen districts, or, if they're Dem districts, a half dozen times in the same district. Hizzoner seems to like his politix dirty in the traditional manner.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Mexicans need voter ID to vote. So free ID's in GA are 'scriminatory James Crow problem? Recalling the learned judge would be imposible?
#2
let me guess where Judge Murphy's patriotism lies? Oh yeah, with his so-called "American" political party. Not with American citizens (especially the living), that's for sure. But, of course, I'm sure he's apolitical
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2006 0:36
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Oops, my bad: Murphy, 78, obtained his law degree from he University of Georgia in 1949. A highly regarded trial lawyer, Murphy also served in the state Legislature from 1951 to 1961 as a Democrat.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2006 0:46
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#4
As someone looking to flee Blairistan this is very worrying.
How can a judge make the law?
Don't Americans have The Common Law and The Constitution?
In theory he's not making the law, but rather reviewing it to ensure it's compatible with more basic laws, namely the Constitution.
In reality, we've had rule by judges pretty much my entire life. The best anyone's figured out how to get around them is by amending the constitution they're citing (state or federal), but that's difficult and, frankly, the judges have started citing foreign and imaginary laws in an effort to maintain their power.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
07/14/2006 6:54
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#6
Very true, RC. In fact, the GA State Supreme Court threw out a case just last week (or earlier this week) brought by our Former Govrnor (Donk) Roy Barnes on behalf of 2 GA citizens who would supposedly NOT be allowed to vote. Ended up both of those citizens already had one of the forms of ID required by the law, so the judges correctly threw it out for lack of "standing."
How they can turn around and not overrule the lower court is beyond me. The Federal judge is another issue. He's been against this law from the get-go, but the Federal Dept. of Justice has ALREADY approved this law. Basically, all laws changing how voting has to take place in Jim Crow States has to be "approved" by DOJ. This has already happened in this case (basically the DOJ agrees it passes the Constitutionality test), so how can a Fed. judge overrule that?
Now, for the basics of the law (Neal Boortz has been all over this). The law allows for something like SEVENTEEN different forms of ID to be used. The 2 citizens mentioned above already had these (one of them was an out of state College ID). PLUS, you have the "free" State-issued IDs, as well as allowing you to vote absentee WITHOUT an ID! How in the world is this harming anyone? When I can use an (old) out of state college ID to vote (or any of the other 16 forms of ID), this ruling has cow-towing to the amigos written ALL over it!
Posted by: BA ||
07/14/2006 11:09
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#7
Harold Murphy's a Clinton appointee. Another gift that keeps on giving.
Late Thursday night, the Home Front Command instructed residents of Acre, Haifa, Tirat Hacarmel, and Nesher to sleep in fortified rooms. Anyone without access to a fortified room was advised to sleep in an inside room, with the windows closed, Army Radio reported. Residents along the northern border were instructed to spend the night in bomb shelters. The revised instructions came after two rockets launched from Lebanon landed in Haifa in the neighborhood of Stella Maris, the first time missiles have penetrated so far into Israel. Sappers came to the scene to neutralize the rocket that landed in the middle of a road. One person suffered from shock. The launch represented the farthest a rocket had ever reached into Israel.
Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah warned earlier that his organization would strike Haifa if Israel attacked Beirut. There were no reports as yet that Israel had struck Beirut. Before the attack on Haifa, CNN reported that the US Navy ordered one of their ships that was docked at the Haifa Bay to be moved to a safer location.
Shortly before the attack, a rocket hit the old city in Safed, followed by another strike about an hour later. One of thirteen wounded people, who was initially listed in critical condition, later died of his wounds. Two others were seriously wounded, one moderately, and the rest were lightly wounded. A boy was reported missing, and was feared to be trapped in a building that was struck. Following the strike, power supply was cut in parts of the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
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This article implies to me that THEL is not deployed in an operational mode on the Leb border.
Nepalese police have arrested four Pakistanis on charges of possessing powerful explosives, police officials said on Thursday. Two men were arrested from a downtown Kathmandu hotel on Wednesday and another two from the popular Thamel tourist area on Thursday, police said. Police Superintendent Dhak Bahadur Karki said the two men detained at the Everest Hotel on Wednesday were arrested "in connection with possessing explosives five years ago".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
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(KUNA) -- Five dead bodies of Pakistani nomads, killed by Afghan security forces, were brought back home on Thursday, said an official. Five nomads of Lora Lai district, about 94 miles east of Quetta, the province of Southwestern Baluchistan province, went to Afghan eastern province of Zabul through Pakistani-Afghan Chaman border, District Mayor of Lora Lai, Sardar Jahanzeb, told KUNA by telephone. He said under unknown circumstances Afghan forces gunned them down, adding that there bodies were sent back home today (Thursday).
Is 'nomad' the PC word-of-the-day for 'Taliban'?
Following the incident, locals in Lora Lai district held protest demonstrations and observed shutter-down strike. Afghan forces last month killed four nomads of the same district in the same fashion.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
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Yep, that be a Pakinomad
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/14/2006 0:21
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*shrug* It's always been dangerous to wander through a war zone. That's why I try not to do so.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/14/2006 15:19
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Nomads? A relatively new film, "Road To Gitmo," portrays three British-born Pakis who just decide to take a trip, "just a little trip" to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan shortly after September 11, 2001.
We are of course supposed to sniff, tear-up and well-up as well in full-blown pity for the three hapless idiots.
With Iran's bloody fingerprints all over these actions, the Soddies are stuck on the sidelines watching a straight-up naked display of Shia power and influence. The Custodian of the Two Mosques, Head Cheese of the Sunni Empire, and Putative Grand Poohbah of the Forthcoming Caliphate (any day now!) surely recognizes the challenge to his authority and influence. Somehow Ahmanutbar has managed to steal the spotlight and the blood-stained banner of jihad right out from under the hennaed beards of Allan's Chosen. Much Revenge®, most of it Dire, is prolly being vowed even as we speak blog.
In a significant move, Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's political heavyweight and economic powerhouse, accused Hizbullah guerrillas - without naming them - of "uncalculated adventures" that could precipitate a new Middle East crisis. "no shit"
"Youse apostate maroons -- we're the Keepers of the Big Black Stone, we decide when to drive the Joooz into the sea!"
A Saudi official quoted by the state Saudi Press Agency said the Lebanese Hizbullah's brazen capture of two Israeli soldiers was not legitimate. "they were out of season..."
The kingdom "clearly announces that there has to be a differentiation between legitimate resistance (to Israel) and uncalculated adventures." The Saudi official said Hizbullah's actions could lead to "an extremely serious situation which could subject all Arab nations and its achievements to destruction." "you're going to send us ALL in the tank, idiots!"
"The kingdom sees that it is time for those elements to alone shoulder the full responsibility for this irresponsible behavior and that the burden of ending the crisis falls on them alone."
"Youse mokes are on your own. We're sitting this one out."
Saudi Arabia's comments on the crisis came after most moderate Arab governments reacted with relative restraint to Israel's offensive in Lebanon, condemning attacks on civilians and infrastructure but also implicitly criticizing Hizbullah.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2006
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LOL ty Mods - I stand in awe....
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2006 0:03
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That's what I like about this joint. It only took Wretchard's crew about 40 comments to come to the same conclusion as Rantburg does in the in-line comments!
#5
Next $3.00 plus gasoline fill-up, make mine Saudi oil with creme
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/14/2006 1:15
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Seems as though it pins the blame on the acts of individuals, who happen to belong to an organization, who happens to be a subset of a state. Pay no attention to the men behind the curtain.
#9
The Arab achievement that the Saudis may be proud of is that, although they have taken hits from the local AlQ, they have prevented kidnapping of Saudi officials.
Hamas and Hizb Allah have put kidnapping back on the menu.
The Arabs have invented "achieved" at least two things in the last 1000 years.
The homicide bomb belt and the buzzing prayer rug.
Now aren't you ashamed of yourselves for doubting them?
;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/14/2006 9:55
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I'll be interested to see this play out. Israel has a chance to end the usefullness of kidnapping once and for all. They have always traded prisoners for kidnapped Israelis before, and I don't think the arabs thought that would ever change. Now all of a sudden they are changing the rules and the mooks dont know what the hell to do. Havent heard much out of Gaza lately either have you? I think they are starting to regret the day they ever heard the name Gilad Shalit. But you have to mask that with bullshit arab machismo so your buddies will think you are still the winner out of all this. Over 1 soldier they are going to get their whole country destroyed, it will take them years to rebuild what Israel has destroyed.
#14
Kidnapping was the trigger that started the process to clean out the rats nests. Even Olmert could see that Israel was being surrounded by well-financed and supplied VERY hostile forces, not the usual Paleo seething morons. They had to act and go on the offensive before their enemies could mount a real combined offensive.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/14/2006 10:27
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Don't forget Ahmadinajad and friends. They really do intend to wipe out Israel if they can, and the Israelis know it even if some in Europe and here would like to pretend it's just rhetoric.
#16
The only reason the Saudis are criticizing Hezbollah is because this whole business is a Persian power play.
Posted by: Azad ||
07/14/2006 11:56
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In a significant move, Saudi Arabia, the Arab world's political heavyweight and economic powerhouse, accused Hizbullah guerrillas - without naming them - of "uncalculated adventures" that could precipitate a new Middle East crisis.
I know it says "Arab" economic powerhouse, but good grief, this is ridiculous. Even with all the oil monies they're raking in, I'ma sure they're still behind the top 5 economic powerhouses in the world, with California by itself being #5 or #6. And, I agree with'n all the comments above...hear, hear, mods on the inline comments.
Posted by: BA ||
07/14/2006 12:32
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"...even if some in Europe and here would like to pretend it's just rhetoric."
This might sound terrible, but I am starting to beleave that some in Europe hope Iran nukes Israel. Beyond the anti-Semitic reasons, this would remove the mideast peace Problems forever (at least as some see it) as Jews died or fled to America and it would shift the Holocaust burden away from Europe.
#20
Actually, #12, the homicide belt bomb and homicide bra bomb were invented by the LTTE {Tamil Tigers}. Since Tamil girls tend towards the top heavy, the bra bomb has be very popular with the LTTE as a way for kamikazee attacks on market places, movie theatres, and the like. Especially since when they were first used, the Sri Lankans tended not to check out the "endowment" of the Tamil girls. Since then, SL Police now have a lot of women cops just for those searches.
I would just like to note that *this* is what actual victory looks like: your enemies standing in line to give you their weapons. I despise Somalia's new Islamobot overlords, but I must note that everybody is clear that they defeated the warlords and now give orders with the expectation that they will be obeyed.
Remnants of forces loyal to a Somali warlord alliance surrendered their weapons to Muslim militia here Thursday, cementing Islamist control of the capital, witnesses said. Gunmen affiliated with two warlords, Bashir Raghe Shirar and Abdel-Qader Bebe, turned in arms caches to representatives of Mogadishu's Islamic courts and agreed to work with them to restore order to the lawless city, they said. "The weapons have been given to the Islamic courts in peaceful manner," said Sheikh Farah Ali Hussein, chief of the Al-Irshad Sharia tribunal that has control over northern Mogadishu where the weapons transfer took place. "This is a victory for Islam, for Mogadishu and for the people of Somalia," he said after a handover ceremony. "The era of working in peace is starting and we are grateful to Allah."
The surrender came a day after the Islamists took control of Mogadishu's main port and demanded that all public property and facilities in the capital be turned over to them, warning that any resistance would be crushed. Earlier in the week, Islamist gunmen routed forces loyal to the last holdout warlord in fierce fighting that ended months of bloody battles for the people of Mogadishu.
A spokesman for Shirar, who once controlled much of northern Mogadishu, said the warlords conceded total defeat. "The Islamic courts won the battle for Mogadishu and it is their responsibility to bring peace," Omar Ali Adow told reporters. "Let us stop the continuation of bloodshed and accept that there are new realities on the ground. "If they need our help, we will offer them help for the well-being of the Somali people," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
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wait til they outlaw Qhat under Sharia....
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2006 0:09
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I thought Allah chewed qhat? Go figure
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/14/2006 0:23
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psst - the green drool wasn't Qhat in Mo's case. Less-than-ideal dental care.....
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2006 0:39
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(KUNA) -- Three Iraqi soldiers were killed, three others were wounded on Thursday when a military checkpoint came under attack in Kirkuk, northern Iraq. Chief of Aqdhiya Police in Kirkuk Brigadier Sarhad Qader told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that unknown gunmen opened fire on a checkpoint in western Kirkuk, killing three Iraqi soldiers and wounding three others.
In another attack, unknown gunmen assassinated Chief of Police Mahmoud Abdulaziz in Al-Wasiti neighborhood. The source added that another policeman was wounded when he came under gunmen fire and was transported to hospital for treatment.
Iraqi Police in Azadi found an unidentified women's dead body in the area of Barod Khanah, noting that the body was shot and burned.
Meanwhile, four Iraqis were killed, among them was a policeman, and seven others were wounded in two separate bomb attacks in Kirkuk. An Iraqi Police source told KUNA that an explosive device went off targeting an Iraqi police patrol in the area of Arafah in central Kirkuk, killing two Iraqis and wounding seven civilians. After the blast, the source added, an explosive-laden car parked on the side of the road exploded after policemen and civilians gathered at the site. The blast killed one policeman and a civilian, and damaged three cars and a police vehicle. The Iraqi Police and the Multi-National Force executed a burst and search campaign in eastern Kirkuk and arrested a number of gunmen.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
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I thought we were being told the north end was peaceful. Is this the normal condition of existence to be expected ? Why should we worry about killing these fools ?
Ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and three of his co-defendants on trial for crimes against humanity have launched a new hunger strike, the US military said Thursday. "Saddam Hussein and his three co-defendants have now refused meals since their evening meal on July 7," said US spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Keir Kevin Curry. "All are apparently protesting the Iraqi High Tribunal procedures and security for the Defence attorneys," added Curry. "Saddam Hussein is drinking coffee with sugar and water with nutrients," he said.
Issam al-Ghazzawi, one of Saddam's lawyers, told AFP from Amman that the hunger strike was because "the demands of the defence committee for the protection of the lawyers and the guarantees for a fair trial had not been met."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/14/2006
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No one's even inquiring about it. Thanks, Hezbollah, your timing was perfect. Even without the competing news buzz, the defendants' antics have never drawn as much media attention as many expected. I've always thought we should pump Doritos aroma into his quarters non-stop at times like this - but McCain and our other moral guides might get upset, maybe.
#11
Tell the bastard that we've decided to give in to his demands. We're going to free him. We're going to drop him off in Erbil after giving the Kurds a 12-hour notice of the impending arrival of their new guest. Let's see how he likes that one.
Posted by: mac ||
07/14/2006 21:01
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Begging your pardon, Junichiro, but this isn't the best time to be standing next to a Paleo leader of any kind.
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi arrived in the Ramallah on Thursday for talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the full glare of an escalating Middle East crisis.
Koizumis talks with Abbas following a welcome ceremony, comes one day after he met Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in Jerusalem and urged the Jewish state to take rational action to the escalating regional crisis. Koizumi, conducting his first Middle East tour and the first by a Japanese leader in a decade, will use his meeting with Abbas to announce a fresh package of assistance to the cash-strapped Palestinians, a Japanese source said.
Tokyo, the third largest donor for the Palestinians after the United States and the European Union, insists it will not be used to finance the Hamas-led administration, which is politically and financially boycotted by the West. I told Prime Minister (Ehud) Olmert that Japans assistance to the Palestinians will be made in the form of support for Abbas, Koizumi said during a joint news conference with the Israeli leader on Thursday.
Japanese officials said the premier had no plan to meet any leaders from Hamas which took the helm of the Palestinian government in March but continues to advocate the destruction of the Jewish state. Japanese assistance to the Middle East is different from that of the United States or EU, Koizumi said. We are going to support the basis of livelihood of both Israeli and Palestinian people.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/14/2006
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Hello Mamoood. Have you heard of Elvis Presley ? One of my favorites was his song Heartbbeak Hotel. That's where I see you headed.
IAF aircraft struck early Friday targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut where Hizbullah has its political headquarters, Lebanese security officials said. The impact of at least four missiles were heard. Anti-aircraft fire from the ground echoed in other suburbs of Beirut as the planes roared over the Lebanese capital. Hizbullah's al-Manar TV and other local stations said a bridge in the area was targeted. There was no immediate word on casualties.
The IDF has said that south Beirut, a densely populated neighborhood of Shi'ite Muslims where Hizbullah has its political headquarters, could be targeted. Leaflets dropped in the evening warned people to stay away from Hizbullah offices.
Posted by: Fred ||
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BUSAN, South Korea - South Korea raised the prospect on Thursday that high-level talks with North Korea could end without any agreement if the two sides fail to narrow differences in the wake of the communist nations internationally condemned missile launches.
At the talks that run through Friday, the North has renewed a demand for rice aid. However, the South has previously said it would suspend such shipments in the wake of last weeks missile launches. There is something that North Korea wants, such as rice aid, said South Korean delegation spokesman Yang Chang-seok. But weve made clear our position on that before the talks. If North Korea judges it has nothing to gain ... we could imagine a scenario where the two sides fail to narrow differences.
The NKors want the rice but won't give anything useful in return. Show's over, drop your popcorn containers in the trash can at the door.
On Wednesday, the North even argued at the talks that its songun, or army-first, policy of strengthening its military gives protection to South Korea too - a claim immediately rejected by the South.
Even the SKors are smart enough to realize that juche should stay home in the north.
The South also warned the North against additional missile launches, saying if it conducts more that regional tensions would spike in an uncontrollable way and inter-Korean relations would be hurt further, Lee said.
Sounds like an enabling spouse -- "clean up or I'll go home to Mother!" But they never do.
Without responding to South Koreas appeals, the North repeated a request for 500,000 tons of rice, proposed meetings of families separated by the heavily armed border and renewed a demand that the South stop military drills with the US, officials said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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Stupid SKors. They've played the fools for decades - I give even odds they'll fold, yet again.
#2
remove our troops - they're on their own. F&*k em
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/14/2006 0:42
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Given the noises we're making about totally separating the command in S. Korea to allow US forces to concentrate on "naval and air power" we might just be moving a few steps in that direction.
#5
The South told them straight out before the launches that they would stop rice and fertilizer shipments if they launched the BigDong. The north is like a spoiled child that kicks and screams at the grocery store until you buy him the damned candybar at the checkout counter just to shut him up.
(KUNA) -- Al-Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of Fatah, launched Thursday five rockets at the Jewish settlement of Sdeort. The brigades said in a statement that the attacks came to avenge the death of 24 civilians in the Gaza strip. The brigades called up all militant groups to intensify their attacks and operations on Israeli targets.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has stopped the Higher Education Commission (HEC) from executing the decision of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to offer scholarships to Thai Muslims teachers and students at a cost of Rs 100 million and also chided HEC Chairman Dr Attaur Rehman for overstepping his mandate. "This is not your mandate, Mr Rehman, to offer scholarships to foreign students from HEC resources meant for Pakistani students," read the CDWP decision seen by Daily Times.
Mr Aziz announced the scholarships for 25 Thai Muslim teachers and 50 students at the signing of a joint declaration with his Thai counterpart during a recent visit to Singapore. The CDWP, which met here recently to take up 52 development projects, dismissed the project on the grounds that it was not in the HEC's mandate to offer scholarships to foreign students. After a long and heated discussion, Mr Rehman was made to withdraw the project.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Just execute Prime Minister Aziz. You'll be muuuch further ahead.
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.
Japan and the United States have insisted on a UN Security Council resolution that would enact mandatory sanctions on North Korea's missile programme as negotiators sought to prevent a veto from China. Talks at the United Nations in New York have narrowed some differences on the sanctions, which would prevent a transfer of materials or funds for North Korea's missile or nuclear programmes. But other problems remained, diplomats said. Jean-Marc de la Sabliere, France's UN ambassador and this month's council president, said he hoped for agreement on Friday on the basis of a modified text that Japan drafted. But he acknowledged that talks could spill into Saturday. France is among the eight sponsors of the resolution. 
The New York Times on Friday received a letter containing a suspicious white powder and a copy of a recent editorial in which the paper defended its coverage of the Bush administration's anti-terrorism programs.
About three miles from the nearest town, Brian Lehman's popcorn factory near Berne has somehow ended up on the federal government's list of potential terrorist targets. "I don't have a clue why we're on the list. We're on a gravel road, not even blacktop. We're nowhere," said Lehman, owner of Amish Country Popcorn, which employs five people. 
THE nation's Islamic leader, 
The Afghan government is considering the re-establishment of the Taleban's Department for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. The move has been recommended by the Ministry for Religious Affairs.
Two alleged criminals were killed yesterday in two separate incidents of 'crossfire' with Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in Dhaka and Naogaon.
Fox News is reporting that IAF hit Hezbollah's headquarters, causing the building to collapse. Nasrallah is believed to have been in it. More as we get it... 
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - The Vatican on Friday strongly deplored Israel's strikes on Lebanon, saying they were "an attack" on a sovereign and free nation.
KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) -- A suicide car bomber killed a prominent Shiite Muslim cleric and one of his relatives in this southern Pakistan city on Friday, police said. 
CLEVELAND (AP) -- An Islamic religious leader convicted of concealing ties to terrorist groups remains jailed in Michigan seven months after he reached a deal with the U.S. government to be deported. The agreement called for 
JERUSALEM, - Israel threatened Friday to eliminate Hassan Nasrallah, the Lebanese Hezbollah leader who has long been a thorn in the side of the Jewish state, after the latest crisis over the seizure of two Israeli soldiers. Nasrallah decided his own fate, Interior Minister Roni Bar-On announced on public radio. We will settle our accounts with him when the time comes.
...That's right. Oregon, where only one of eight statewide elected officials, Sen. Gordon Smith, is a Republican. Oregon, where Democrats have controlled the governor's mansion since 1986 and where every Democratic presidential candidate since then has carried the state.
Mogadishu, 14 July (AKI) - The president of the Somali provisional government, Abdullah Yusuf, said on Friday that "even if the Islamists now control the whole of Mogadishu and the city of Jowhar, this does not mean that we will allow them to rule over Somalia." "I am not the weak president of a weak government. At first I welcomed the Union of the Islamic Courts' (UIC) victory which wiped away the warlords, but now they are undertaking a path which is negative for the country," he added in an interview with the Arab London-based daily al-Sharq al-Awsat.
FRENCH President Jacques Chirac has said there appeared to be a "wish to destroy Lebanon" in reference to Israel's bombardments following the abduction of two soldiers.
A woman who risked 20 cents on the Superfecta at a Michigan track ended up with $21,584. Chris Locking, the general manager of the Sports Creek Raceway, told the Detroit News the woman made two 10-cent bets and one paid off. Both were on a race simulcast from the Hollywood Park track in California. 
(KUNA) -- Police in Western Indian city of Mumbai Thursday released sketches of four suspects based on eyewitness accounts of the serial train blasts in the city that killed 198 and injured 714 Tuesday. Mumbai police have also detained more than 150 people for questioning, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported.
(KUNA) -- A clash between Taliban fighters and coalition and Afghan forces and air strikes left at least 19 militants dead in southern Afghanistan, Afghan officials said on Thursday. Coalition officials confirmed the clashes and air strikes but did not give the exact number of casualties. Spokeswoman for the coalition Capt Julie Roberge told journalists there was a clash in the Nauzad district of the southern Helmand province. However, they did not have the casualty figure at the moment. But a provincial government spokesman said seven fighters, who attacked the district of Nauzad, were killed in exchange of fire while 12 others were killed in air strike. Mohyuddin, spokesman for the provincial governor in Helmand, said the insurgents, armed with heavy and light weapons, attacked the centre of the district last night. He said they were trying to occupy headquarters of the district.
Senate leaders announced a bipartisan deal Wednesday to open much of the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and gas exploration, while providing significant protections for Florida's west coast over the next two decades. The compromise would create a 125-mile no-drilling zone off the Florida Panhandle, while the waters off Tampa Bay would be off-limits to drilling for 234 miles. The protections would last through 2022. Energy companies, meanwhile, would gain access to reserves of oil and natural gas in waters that are now off-limits, and states that allow offshore drilling would earn a larger share of royalties that companies pay for federal drilling rights.
Tehran, Iran, Jul. 13 Radical Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned the European Union on Thursday that it would stand to suffer if it increased pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear program. We have moved in the path of our rights and the law but unfortunately, they [the West] want to use this proposal as a pretext to increase pressure on us. We advise them to be patient Ahmadinejad told a crowd in the north-western town of Miyaneh. His comments were reported by the state-run news agency ISNA.
Forty-eight hours after bombs ripped through Mumbai, the needle pointed to Pakistan. Intelligence agencies on Thursday confirmed that Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) was the mastermind of the blasts that killed about 200 people.
(RIA Novosti)-A total of 13 militants have been killed during an operation on the border of Chechnya and Daghestan in southern Russia, Chechnya's Interior Ministry official said Thursday. He said another two had been arrested. The ministry representative said reports that a militant group was trying to break through from Daghestan into Chechnya had arrived Wednesday night and police had set ambushes in the mountainous areas in Chechnya where the gunmen were most likely to appear.
Diplomatic efforts to defuse the North Korean missile crisis collapsed Thursday, as a Chinese mission to Pyongyang failed to produce a breakthrough and talks between the two Koreas ended in acrimony. The failure set the stage for a showdown at the United Nations, where the United States and Japan are pushing for tough action against the secretive state after it launched seven missiles in Japan's direction last week.
"The air force is ready for any operation that will be necessary during the current military campaign against Lebanon," Brig.-Gen. 
(KUNA) -- Air marshals have been deployed on selected flights in India for passenger safety following threat reports from the country's intelligence agencies after Tuesday's serial blasts in Mumbai and Srinagar. "We have deployed air marshals today. Some more security systems are already in place," Indian Civil Aviation Secretary Ajay Prasad told reporters in Delhi Thursday, adding that intelligence reports warn of threats at some tourist destinations in India.
(KUNA) -- Up to three members of a local council were killed and three others wounded Thursday in the northeastern Abu Seida village in Baghdad. A source in the Iraqi Interior Ministry told KUNA that unidentified men entered the courtyard of the council driving a motorcycle that contains a bag carrying an explosive device. The explosion killed three members and wounded three others, including the chairman of the council, where also parts of the council were destroyed, the source added. Meanwhile, about 22 people were wounded during two separate attacks across Baghdad.
(KUNA) -- Three Iraqis were killed and eight others were injured on Thursday by a booby trapped car blast near a gas station on Baghdad. Iraqi police said the blast took place 100-meters away from the station that had scores of cars waiting in line to refuel. They noted that these casualties are only preliminary. Earlier, five cleaning workers were killed by a bomb while performing their regular tasks in south-eastern Baghdad's Al-Ghadeer quarter.
(KUNA) -- Gunmen killed five people in two separate incidents early Thursday in continued violence in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. Four people, including two children, were killed in Magnar village in the border district of Poonch, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported. A woman and her daughter were also injured in the attack.
President Bush has agreed conditionally to a court review of his antiterror eavesdropping operations under a deal that, for the first time, would open an important part of his once-secret surveillance to a constitutional test.
Syrian Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa denied his country had a role in either the Hamas or Hezbollah abductions. "It's up to the resistance - both the Lebanese and the Palestinian - to decide what they are doing and why are they fighting," al-Sharaa told reporters in Damascus. But he put ultimate blame on Israel for the seizures of the soldiers, saying, "For sure, the occupation (of the Palestinian territories) is the cause provoking both Lebanese and Palestinian people, and that's why there is Lebanese and Palestinian resistance."
KHAR: Wanted local Taliban leader 
A group of Lebanese political dissenters, including MP 
Sri Lankan troops on Thursday found the bodies of two suspected Tamil Tiger rebels believed killed in a shootout the night before, the military said, as soaring violence threatened the return of a full-scale civil war. The latest fighting broke out on Wednesday night when rebels attacked a patrol near Trincomalee, northeast of the capital, Colombo, the militarys Web site said. Troops recovered two suspected rebels bodies, two assault rifles and a grenade launcher, the military said. The statement could not be independently verified. There was no immediate comment from the rebels. 
(KUNA) -- An insurgent was killed and 17 others were injured after a joint unit from Iraqi security and the Multi-National Force (MNF) stormed the insurgents' hideout in Al-Ameria western Baghdad, the US army said Thursday. A statement by the US army said that according to military intelligence, the insurgents, who are involved in the killing of four Iraqi policemen, were seen near the Muluki mosque in Al-America. The Joint forces launched an attack on the hideout and managed to kill an insurgent while the others fled the scene. The forces then stormed houses near the hideout and captured 17 insurgents.
(KUNA) -- Israeli war planes on Thursday launched several missiles targeting the transmission aerial of Hezbollah's television station Al-Manar and a Shiite meeting hall (Husainiya) in eastern Lebanon used by Hezbollah for medical purposes. Al-Manar issued a statement confirming that three of its employees were wounded during the Israeli attack against the television earlier today Meanwhile, a security source told KUNA that Israeli fighters launched two missiles against the husainiya, which was completely demolished.
ROME, Ga. - The same federal judge who threw out Georgia's voter ID law last year has blocked the state from enforcing its revised law in this year's elections. The Wednesday ruling came less than two hours after the Georgia Supreme Court denied the state's request to overrule a state court order that blocked enforcement of the new photo ID law during next week's primary elections and any runoffs.
Late Thursday night, the Home Front Command instructed residents of Acre, Haifa, Tirat Hacarmel, and Nesher to sleep in fortified rooms. Anyone without access to a fortified room was advised to sleep in an inside room, with the windows closed, Army Radio reported. Residents along the northern border were instructed to spend the night in bomb shelters. The revised instructions came after two rockets launched from Lebanon landed in Haifa in the neighborhood of Stella Maris, the first time missiles have penetrated so far into Israel. Sappers came to the scene to neutralize the rocket that landed in the middle of a road. One person suffered from shock. The launch represented the farthest a rocket had ever reached into Israel. 
Nepalese police have arrested four Pakistanis on charges of possessing powerful explosives, police officials said on Thursday. Two men were arrested from a downtown Kathmandu hotel on Wednesday and another two from the popular Thamel tourist area on Thursday, police said. Police Superintendent Dhak Bahadur Karki said the two men detained at the Everest Hotel on Wednesday were arrested "in connection with possessing explosives five years ago".
(KUNA) -- Five dead bodies of Pakistani nomads, killed by Afghan security forces, were brought back home on Thursday, said an official. Five nomads of Lora Lai district, about 94 miles east of Quetta, the province of Southwestern Baluchistan province, went to Afghan eastern province of Zabul through Pakistani-Afghan Chaman border, District Mayor of Lora Lai, Sardar Jahanzeb, told KUNA by telephone. He said under unknown circumstances Afghan forces gunned them down, adding that there bodies were sent back home today (Thursday).
Remnants of forces loyal to a Somali warlord alliance surrendered their weapons to Muslim militia here Thursday, cementing Islamist control of the capital, witnesses said. Gunmen affiliated with two warlords, Bashir Raghe Shirar and Abdel-Qader Bebe, turned in arms caches to representatives of Mogadishu's Islamic courts and agreed to work with them to restore order to the lawless city, they said. "The weapons have been given to the Islamic courts in peaceful manner," said Sheikh Farah Ali Hussein, chief of the Al-Irshad Sharia tribunal that has control over northern Mogadishu where the weapons transfer took place. "This is a victory for Islam, for Mogadishu and for the people of Somalia," he said after a handover ceremony. "The era of working in peace is starting and we are grateful to Allah."
(KUNA) -- Three Iraqi soldiers were killed, three others were wounded on Thursday when a military checkpoint came under attack in Kirkuk, northern Iraq. Chief of Aqdhiya Police in Kirkuk Brigadier Sarhad Qader told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that unknown gunmen opened fire on a checkpoint in western Kirkuk, killing three Iraqi soldiers and wounding three others.
Ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and three of his co-defendants on trial for crimes against humanity have launched a new hunger strike, the US military said Thursday. "Saddam Hussein and his three co-defendants have now refused meals since their evening meal on July 7," said US spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Keir Kevin Curry. "All are apparently protesting the Iraqi High Tribunal procedures and security for the Defence attorneys," added Curry. "Saddam Hussein is drinking coffee with sugar and water with nutrients," he said. 
IAF aircraft struck early Friday targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut where Hizbullah has its political headquarters, Lebanese security officials said. The impact of at least four missiles were heard. Anti-aircraft fire from the ground echoed in other suburbs of Beirut as the planes roared over the Lebanese capital. Hizbullah's al-Manar TV and other local stations said a bridge in the area was targeted. There was no immediate word on casualties. 
BUSAN, South Korea - South Korea raised the prospect on Thursday that high-level talks with North Korea could end without any agreement if the two sides fail to narrow differences in the wake of the communist nations internationally condemned missile launches.
(KUNA) -- Al-Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of Fatah, launched Thursday five rockets at the Jewish settlement of Sdeort. The brigades said in a statement that the attacks came to avenge the death of 24 civilians in the Gaza strip. The brigades called up all militant groups to intensify their attacks and operations on Israeli targets.
The Central Development Working Party (CDWP) has stopped the Higher Education Commission (HEC) from executing the decision of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to offer scholarships to Thai Muslims teachers and students at a cost of Rs 100 million and also chided HEC Chairman Dr Attaur Rehman for overstepping his mandate. "This is not your mandate, Mr Rehman, to offer scholarships to foreign students from HEC resources meant for Pakistani students," read the CDWP decision seen by Daily Times. 
