ISRAELI air strikes on Lebanon killed 58 civilians and a Hezbollah fighter, the deadliest toll of the eight-day-old war, as thousands of villagers fled north and more foreigners were evacuated.
Hezbollah rockets killed two children in the northern city of Nazareth, medics said. More Hezbollah rockets fell on the city of Haifa and one hit an empty seafront restaurant.
Israeli troops crossed the border to raid Hezbollah posts and the Israeli army said two of its soldiers were killed and nine injured in fighting with Hezbollah guerillas.
The two children were Israeli Arabs, killed as they played outside a house.
"We heard a very large explosion and then windows shattered," resident Salah Hushaf told Israel's Channel 2 Television. "We saw two children killed."
Panicked but also curious, residents poured into the streets after several rockets slammed into the city, 45km south of the Lebanese border. One hit a house.
"Leave the area, more attacks are expected!" police shouted as firefighters fought a blaze caused by one missile. "Go home and take your children!"
The killing of the children, aged three and seven, raised Israel's civilian death toll from Hezbollah rocket attacks to 15. At least 14 Israeli troops have also been killed since Hezbollah launched a cross-border raid a week ago.
Israeli military strikes against Hezbollah and Lebanese targets have killed at least 297 people in Lebanon.
"After the rockets killed the two children, the situation is tense and people are tense. We are trying to calm them down," said an emotional Ali Salaam, deputy mayor of Nazareth.
"We appeal to the entire world to intervene to stop this war."
Nazareth is home to the Church of the Annunciation, built above a sunken grotto where, according to Roman Catholic tradition, the angel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary she was to bear Jesus. It is one of the farthest towns hit by Hezbollah.
About 20 per cent of Israel's population are Arab.
Despite international concern, there was no sign Israel or its Lebanese Shi'ite foes were ready to heed the Beirut Government's pleas for an immediate halt to a war that has killed at least 294 people in Lebanon and 29 in Israel.
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said more than 500,000 people had been displaced and appealed for international help.
"I call on you to respond immediately and without reservation to our call for a ceasefire and to provide urgent international humanitarian aid," he said in a televised address.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the bombardment would last "as long as necessary" to free two soldiers captured by Hezbollah on July 12 and ensure its militants are disarmed.
Hezbollah, backed by Syria and Iran, wants to swap the two Israeli soldiers for Lebanese and Palestinians in Israeli jails.
At least 17 Lebanese, including several children, were killed and 30 wounded in an Israeli air strike that destroyed houses in the southern village of Srifa, residents said.
"There was a massacre in Srifa," said the village's mayor, Afif Najdi. Rescuers were still looking for bodies.
At least 41 other civilians were killed in air strikes that hammered other parts of south and east Lebanon, security sources said. Hezbollah said one of its fighters was killed.
Israel also bombed the runway at Beirut international airport, which has been closed since last week. The runway and fuel tanks have been hit several times.
Israeli planes also bombed a base of the Syrian-backed Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in the Bekaa, the PFLP said. The guerilla group gave no word on casualties.
Many villagers in southern Lebanon said food, water and medical supplies were dwindling after roads and bridges were cut in the south, restricting movement of aid.
The United Nations Children's Fund appealed for $US7.3 million ($9.79 million) to meet the immediate needs of women and children.
#1
ISRAELI air strikes on Lebanon killed 58 civilians and a Hezbollah fighter, the deadliest toll of the eight-day-old war, as thousands of villagers fled north and more foreigners were evacuated.
Flip the numbers and you'll be closer to the truth.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/19/2006 21:43
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#2
re: Hezzy tunnels, spider holes and trenches just north of the Israel Leb border used for firing rockets and resupply.
#3
Interestingly, NPR this evening reported that Arab Israelis are united with the rest of the country in wanting the IDF to destroy Hizb'Allah. Not interesting because that's how they feel, but interesting that NPR reported it -- and without attempting to slant it. Perhaps someone over there is catching up with reality.
#4
It is a testament to the dumbing down of American education that none of the press has any concept of the level of "civilian casualties" during WWII air raids. The Israelis have been very restrained in their conduct of precise bombardment. If Israel were conducting the type of unrestricted air war that the press is implying, the toll would be in the hundreds of thousands. Twits.
JOHN Howard last night rang his Canadian counterpart in an effort to negotiate passage for hundreds of Australians fleeing Lebanon after a vessel booked by the Australian Government was double-booked by Canada.
The Prime Minister rang Canada's Stephen Harper early yesterday evening.
"The Canadian PM has offered to try and get a berth for Australians if Canada manages to get any ships into the port tomorrow," a spokesman said. "Given the current circumstances, there can be no guarantees."
The Department of Foreign Affairs last night described chaotic scenes at Beirut port, with just a few ferries able to berth as dozens of nations fought to get their citizens out of the strife-torn country.
Other chartered ferries had failed to arrive because of deteriorating security, while others were hit by price-gouging by greedy operators who had dishonoured their contracts.
"A lot of ferries have been double-booked," a DFAT spokesman said. "It has happened frequently over the past few days - not just to Australia but to a number of other governments.
"We (DFAT) are working to ensure Australians who we had scheduled to leave can be evacuated by friendly governments."
High-level talks are being held between Australian and Israeli officials in Tel Aviv in an effort to secure safe passage for an estimated 400 Australian families in southern Lebanon.
DFAT warned Australians to stay away from embarkation areas until their departure had been confirmed. The decrepit state of Lebanon's telephone system was causing further problems and hindering attempts by embassy officials to alert Australians of evacuation plans.
However, the department confirmed a total of 170 Australians had been evacuated in two bus convoys from Beirut.
And Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the Government had contracted several ferry companies to begin evacuating hundreds of Australians to either Cyprus or Turkey. He said hundreds more would be able to leave soon on US and Canadian ships.
The US Embassy in Canberra confirmed the offer, saying final details on numbers were being worked out.
More than 25,000 Australians live or work in Lebanon, with most holding dual citizenship.
Mr Howard rejected criticism by the Lebanese community that the Government had been too slow in providing help for Australians to escape the violence.
"You have to understand, it is a chaotic situation and it is easy to criticise a limited number of Foreign Affairs personnel who are operating in very stressful circumstances," he said.
"The other point I would make is that we prefer not to give a running commentary on what might happen in the evacuation of people. We would prefer rather to actually make arrangements and have people out or on their way out before talking about it."
He also strongly defended the Israeli military action.
Australians wanting more information should contact the DFAT emergency hotline on 1300555135.
A few days ago we mentioned that we tend to believe that this ongoing war in Lebanon is not only about Hizbollah and Israel; that it is probably the first stage of a wider regional conflict that is going to extend far beyond the borders of Lebanon and Israel.
What I want to add today is that it is not wise to try to deal with it in the same way previous conflicts were dealt with, why?
Because this conflict is not like any of the previous ones.
What we must realize here is the involvement of the theological (mythological) element in this particular conflict which is also the reason why this conflict has the potential to expand into full-scale regional war.
It is true that religion had always been playing a central role in the numerous chapters of the conflict between the Muslims and the West but this time there's a totally different theological belief that is being used by Iran to provoke and direct this war; I think the best way to say it is that we are about to see Iran launch the mullahs' version of an 'Armageddon'.
I know this may sound absurd and maybe some of you are thinking no one could possibly be thinking that way but remember, I am telling you what extremist theocrats seem to be planning for and logic has very little space in the mullahs' way of thinking.
I'm not going to claim I know exactly what Hizbollah's or Hamas's hidden motives are because I don't live there but I know about those of the regime in Iran and its arm in Iraq; both Ahmedinejad and Sadr are devout believers in the 'Savior Imam' of Shia Islam who is the 12th grandson of prophet Mohammed, also known by the name 'Imam Mehdi' hence the name of Sadr's militias 'the Mehdi Army'.
I must point out though that some factions of Sunni Islam also believe in the rise of the Imam but they have their own different version of the story.
Both Ahmedinejad and Sadr believe it is their duty to pave the way and prepare the ground for the rise of the Imam whose rise, according to their branch of Shia Islam, requires certain conditions and a sequence of certain events; the story is too long to discuss in one post so I'll just move on to offer my observations
We are seeing some signs here that make us think that Iran and its tools in Iraq are trying to provoke the rise of the imam through forcing the signs they believe should be associated with that rise. One of the things that do not feel right is the sudden appearance of new banners and writings on the walls carrying religious messages talking specifically of imam Mehdi. These messages are getting abundant in Baghdad and in particular in the eastern part of the capital where Sadr militias are dominant and a special number can be seen in the area of the interior ministry complex.
The interesting part is that these banners appeared within less than 24 hours after Hizbollah kidnapped the Israeli soldiers. Coincidence?
I don't think so.
The messages on the banners are sort of new too and sound different from the ones we're used to read, I've took photos of two of them that read as follows:
"By renouncing sin and by integration for the sake of afterlife we become the best soldiers to our leader and savior the Mehdi"
and;,
"Everyone gets power from weapons and money but the loyal to the savior get their pride from almighty God"
These are written on white cloth instead of the traditional black, red or green of religious banners.
We pointed out in an earlier post about the organic connections between the tools of Iran in Iraq and Lebanon and how Sadr was following Nesrallah's steps and I won't be exaggerating if I said that Sadr is even using the same structural pattern of Hizbollah for his militia, not to mention that Sadr's "foreign relations bureau" is based in Beirut!
What I'm interested in finding is whether Sadr is going to jump in and join this war and whether Iran's agenda is going to include creating more chaos in the "Arab" depth to keep Tehran safe
Threatening with such wide-spread chaos is embarrassing to the world and especially to America and Europe and will probably move the latter powers to try to contain the crisis and prevent it from taking a wider scope than it occupies now and I'm afraid this could make the world look for symptomatic treatments instead of cures.
Those banners above represent an ominous sign and I'd like to say again that one should prepare for the worst from the very unstable mixture of religion and policy.
I went to a guy who knows quite a lot about this salvation war so to speak and asked him if the texts mention anything about the timing of the war and whether it's supposed to begin before or after the rise of the Imam and the answer was "After" but he added that chaos and rampant violence in the region are supposed to be among the signs and that the main battle would be "lead by the Imam himself".
The thing is that we can't be sure that they are going to play by book because throughout the Islamic history rulers employed what people consider divine texts to remain in power and make people obey them; and they did this either by twisting the texts through slanted interpretations or by making up the text as in adding thousands of texts that were claimed to be the sayings of the prophet.
Here we're most likely going to see a new maneuver and I expect that the "imminent" arrival of the Imam is going to be announced through the Mumahidoon (those who pave the way for the Imam) and that's what Sadr and followers describe themselves and that's the word they use for a title of their website. That's if they didn't claim they were receiving messages from the Imam via a messenger.
All previous wars between Israel and Arabs were of a pan-nationalist nature and used feelings of Arabism to push the people to war. Of course religion had a role too but now religion is going to push Arabism aside and be the dominant element in Iran's planned war because of the failure of pan-nationalism to retain its influence in the region after a long history of failures.
Iran's dreams in exporting the Islamic revolution were stopped by the once strong pan-nationalism in last quarter of the 20th century but today we're facing a renewed project of exporting the Islamic revolution in an attempt to fill (and take advantage of) the vacuum left by the fading pan Arab nationalism
And with liberalism still not strong enough to face such a challenge, I think the future of the region is in big danger.
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/19/2006
19:24 ||
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#1
No suprise that Sadr is in on this. We made a huge mistake leaving that goat f-cker alive.
But if Iran's Mr. Apocalypse wants to start a regional war he's going to have to hurry. In 2 weeks there won't be much of Hizballah left.
#2
Goodness, gorb, you ask a little question about Ahmedinejab's beliefs and get the answer all the way from Iraq (via NY, but who are we to question the ways of Providence). ;-)
#3
There is a reason why AhMad wanted to put off his final answer on the nuke proposal until 22 August.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/19/2006 21:23
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#4
Been many years, but maybe, a new reading of Revelations might need to go on the reading list.
That August 22 date keeps arising -- Note: that August 22 of this year corresponds with the Islamic date of Rajab 28, the day Saladin conquered and entered Jerusalem.
Iraq the Model's troubling signs, well, he knows more than I do. Troubling. But I trust those 135,000 guys and gals and their leaders, that are standing watch nearby. I've even convinced a couple of folks, this is the real reason we are in Iraq.
Reading between the lines of some military folks, Balad is a great depot and launching post. Ready to handle major combat.
That saying of revenge is best served cold, well, I know my Marine that has a permanent corner he guards in Heaven, thinks that 1979 and 1983, would consider dinners prepared in those days, as now "cold."
My point? Interesting days ahead. Phones at my office have been extremely quiet this week. Maybe it's the summer vacations, but then, maybe folks' attention directed elsewhere.
Posted by: J. D. Lux ||
07/19/2006 22:51
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#6
Sherry...I had an OCS buddy die in the rubble there in Beirut. I want to see major pain inflicted on the Hezzies...all the way back to their pimps in Tehran. I want payback to be a majo b***h.
I say again...all we have to do to Iran is destroy their gasoline terminals, and refineries. The Iranian people will take care of the black hats and their whores.
#7
Come on Guys dont act dum everybody here at Rantburg or any seasoning knew damm well Sadr/Badr are Iranian Proxies admitidly so even. We all know the Iranians are 12th Mehdi believers ring him in and all. Put two and two together and you get Sadr/Badgr must be handled Pernamentley. If Sadr/Badgr is dum enough to jump first the easier justification will be.
UNITED Nations human rights chief Louise Arbour said today the scale of killing in Lebanon, Israel and the Palestinian territories could involve war crimes.
Expressing grave concern at the killing and maiming of civilians in the region, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said international humanitarian law was clear on the need to protect non-combatants.
"This obligation is also expressed in international criminal law, which defines war crimes and crimes against humanity," she said in a statement.
"The scale of the killings in the region, and their predictability, could engage the personal criminal responsibility of those involved, particularly those in a position of command and control," she said without pointing the finger at anyone in particular.
Ms Arbour, a former Canadian Supreme Court judge and war crimes prosecutor, said the "indiscriminate shelling" of cities and the bombing of sites where innocent civilians would inevitably suffer were both unacceptable.
#1
Ms Arbour, a former Canadian Supreme Court judge and war crimes prosecutor, said the "indiscriminate shelling" of cities and the bombing of sites where innocent civilians would inevitably suffer were both unacceptable.
Note they only start talking about war crimes when the Israelis start shooting back. So long as indiscriminate fire is headed towards the Israelis, these assholes don't care.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/19/2006 19:06
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#2
Don't forget:
To the U.N. All Terrorists are Peaceloving Civilians...
#3
The UN suspects that the Israelis may actually be intending to *hurt* Hezbollah people, which is in contravention of UN rule #347593473-A, that clearly states "No hurting people."
#4
Weezie again. Oy. I never heard of "international humanitarian law, and I was an international law adviser. Law of war, yes, LOAC, yes, MOOTW, yes, but never this IHL business. I finally figured out that "muzzbats" (LOL, credit to Whineter Gloger7385) use the term as code for whatever they *would like* int'l law to prohibit, i.e., harm to their side. As y'all correctly observe, they only start whining when Israel starts shooting back.
Israel is, of course, following all the rules, just like we do: hitting miitary objectives, using proportionate force, and doing their damndest to discriminate between combatants and civilians. The fact that civilians happen to die as the result of their being used as human shields, or in collateral damage despite every effort to avoid it, is *not* a war crime. It is war, war is hell, and war is what Hizb'allah wanted.
On the contrary, it's evidence of one more of the many war crimes committed by Hizb'allah (using civilians as human shields). In fact, I have difficulty pointing to something they've done that isn't a war crime.
#10
As far as I've been able to determine, "international humanitarian law" means
1. the Hague and Geneva Conventions (which are the meat & potatoes of what is properly called the law of war);
2. a bunch of UN treaties that either (a) the US is not a signatory to or (b) have not been ratified by enough countries to enter into force; and
3. anything else on the tranzi wish list that promotes leftist/Islamist goals, usually prejudicial to the lives of Americans and Israelis.
The very concept of "IHL" is propaganda, because it suggests that states are legally bound to never kill civilians under any circumstances, so if they do it's a war crime. Terrorists are not state actors, of course, so they're exempt. It also implies that certain treaties that would empower terrorists, such as GC Protocol I, are binding law, when they are no more than a diplomat's fart.
#12
And 3 million dead Sudanese don't raise a whisper because they are not Arab muslims. Indict Ms. Arbour for complicity in genocide.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2006 20:17
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#13
I assume they're talking about the UN forces guarding the Blue zone between Lebanon and Israel which allowed the initial attacks and the kidnapping of soldiers. Well I can dream.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006 23:58
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#16
How about shooting hundreds of unguided rockets into civilian areas? That also is a war crime,how about kidnapping civilians,war crime too, but the UN isn't interested in that. Every death from those rockets has been a civilian. They are full of shit at the UN and it does my heart good to see them marginalized to the point of being invisible.
#17
""indiscriminate shelling" of cities and the bombing of sites where innocent civilians would inevitably suffer were both unacceptable."
Hizballah is guilty of the above statement, not Israel, therefore no realistic case. Surely, the former judge meant Hizballah in the above statement. Riiiight!
Also, exJAG brings puts the nail in the coffin with the statement "US is not a signatory", neither is Israel. The UN Human Rights Commission is just a cover for anti-West hatred.
JERUSALEM Israeli warplanes dropped bombs late Wednesday on a bunker in south Beirut where senior Hezbollah leaders were thought to be, the military said.
Military officials said a wave of aircraft dropped 23 tons of explosives on the bunker. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to reporters, said top Hezbollah figures were thought to be there, possibly including Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. The officials said the bunker was in the Bourj al-Barajneh section of southern Beirut.
The military said the attack occurred about 11 p.m., but reporters in Beirut said the last loud explosion heard there was 2 1/2 hours earlier.
Israel has said that one of the objects of its offensive in Lebanon is to eliminate Hezbollah leaders.
[..]
Posted by: Mike ||
07/19/2006 18:22
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#2
Sounds to me like they are testing the theory that if you drop one bunker busting bomb after another on the same spot you will drill down and penetrate the bunker.
#4
The IDF has bunker busters. If they were only going after one bunker, it seems odd. Maybe they were going after a bunch of tunnel mouths and got lucky. In any case, I hope the soldiers weren't being held there. Even if they weren't, I'm sure they'll say they were if the IDF got a bunch of their leadership. Might this explain the "tunnel" battle and all the ferocious fighting?
#10
Fox is reporting that the bunker or bunker complex is 100 feet deep and has several entrances. It was reportedly built by the Iranians, who probably have schooling from the world's best bunker builders, the NorKs.
Iran is a major oil exporter. They bring in a ton-o-money. They are obviously not using it for domestic infrastructure as Tehran looks nothing like Dubai. That bunker is probably world class and the best that money can possibly buy with no expense spared in the materials and craftsmanship.
I just heard, but have seen no reports, that there were two bunkers, one in Beirut, and one down near the border. Please resuscitate comment #4 for now!.
I thought the IDF had a bunch of bunker busters. Either they didn't know it was there and got lucky [sorry Levant, Luck in this case is a relative thing], or they were out because they used them to seal off tunnels perhaps. In any case, I heard the IDF is thinking they either got their man or close to it. And probably a bunch of munitions, too.
#13
crosspatch: I'll bet the gov't had no idea that was there, right? Well, they only have to screw up the entrances to turn that bunker into a tomb for the bad guys I hope. Was that thing right near the airport?
I hope for several reasons they find those guys in the Iranian embassy.
#16
Israel is not a primitive country, and bunker buster technology doesn't have to be extraordinary. Remember that not too long ago, the US used bunker busters that were basically 8" artillery tubes filled with delicious cream filling, as it were.
They worked rather well, in a pinch, and I'm sure the Israelis could fab up something real sweet and real quick.
Under any circumstance, I believe the max penetration rule is three times the length of the bomb.
Amusingly enough, in a situation like this, the Israelis might grab a piece of land ON TOP of the bunker. Things get a lot easier that way, being able to drill through at your leisure.
#17
crosspatch, they have GOT to send these reporters to Explosion Reporting Training.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
07/19/2006 19:13
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#18
Israel is not a primitive country, and bunker buster technology doesn't have to be extraordinary. Remember that not too long ago, the US used bunker busters that were basically 8" artillery tubes filled with delicious cream filling, as it were.
They worked rather well, in a pinch, and I'm sure the Israelis could fab up something real sweet and real quick.
If we could put those things together in a month or so, it would probably take them a week! :-)
Under any circumstance, I believe the max penetration rule is three times the length of the bomb.
Depends on how well you tenderized the material it travels through, probably.
Amusingly enough, in a situation like this, the Israelis might grab a piece of land ON TOP of the bunker. Things get a lot easier that way, being able to drill through at your leisure.
1st bomb (or set of bombs) collapses the above ground building. (Heavy bombs)
2nd clears away the debris from the first. (Lighter bombs).
3rd bomb cracks the roof (big mutha designed to dig a big surface crater).
Subsequent penetrators go in after that to take the deep shelter. One per layer of defense. JDAM types with penetrators best so as to hit the same hole.
And if you want to do it right, FAE to finish the job (works VERY well in enclosed spaces and amongst rubble). Whatever the penetrators didn't get, the FAE will wipe out with internal overpressures.
#20
"Depends on how well you tenderized the material it travels through, probably."
Actually, tenderizing the material can be a bad thing and make it harder to take it out. Imagine one of those corporate desk toys with the 5 steel balls in a row. When you pull one back and it hits the row of balls, the ball on the end flys out. The shock was transfered to the final ball which took flight, swings back and repeats the process in the other direction.
Now replace the middle ball with a beanbag. It doesn't work anymore and the shock isn't transmitted. A well engineered bunker would be set on something that acts as springs to absorb shock and would be covered with alternating layers of hard material such as steel reinforced concrete to prevent penetration as well as "crushable" materials such as a steel honeycomb structure to absorb shock from detonation resulting in the penetration of the layer above. In other words, the area above the bunker would be a "Dagwood sandwich" and prevent a single bomb from damaging the bunker. It would require several direct hits in exactly the same spot to bore through the protective layers.
#21
"Whatever the penetrators didn't get, the FAE will wipe out with internal overpressures."
Or once you have opened up enough cracks you simply saturate the area with raw fuel such as kerosene, give it a little bit to soak in and then light it with an incendiary. This starts a fire that oxygen depletes any remaining spaces inside. Then you pick off anyone making it to the exits with UAV mounted weapons.
#28
Oooooh, thermite! I loves me some thermite. Imagine a giant thermite grenade set gently on the top of the bunker by heavy lift helicopter. It is also quite impossible to put out because it makes its own oxygen. Nothing but a big plug of slag when all is said and done.
#29
But Hezbollah denied the claim, saying the strike hit a mosque that was under construction...
Wouldn't surprise me a bit if that was actually true. How many mosques have been used as weapons depots? Putting a bunker beneath one makes perfect muzzy sense.
#35
Well, for we non-military folks (who love our military!) reading and listening to 23 tons of explosives means nothing to me. Until, I heard Jennifer Griffith on Fox say she had seen a three story building completely demolished with 1000 pounds or tons. I prolly got the lbs-tons thing wrong, but either way, WOW.
That kinda gave me a more graphic image of what to expect. The world is gonna go crazy tomorrow, when pictures of this get shown.
Come on folks, the Israelis generals are wanting more bunker busters. Maybe we can pass the hat and give them a few more?
#36
Glenmore, the max iron bomb loadout on a BUFF was on the B-52D with the Big Belly mod. It could carry 84 500 pounders in the belly (21 short tons) + 24 750s on the wings (9 short tons). The H's never got the big belly mod and are restricted to 27 1000 pounders in the belly and 24 750s on the wing for a 22.5 ton load. At least, that's how I remember it.
#38
See what I'm talking about folks? "the max iron bomb loadout on a BUFF was on the B-52D with the Big Belly mod"
Thanks guys..... this is why I'm here, Rantburg University at its best. Actually makes me feel much safer and gives me lots of confidence when you guys talk like this. Thank you.
I didn't mean the BB's or HE but, FAE (Napalm). FAE such as Napalm is banned. But the work around it to use benzene or ethylene oxide. All of a sudden, it's legal again. The BLU-118/B uses ethylene oxide. It would be an excellent choice in Old Spook's shopping list. Bottomline, you are correct. I was just having fun with OS.
For anyone interested, here is a quick run down. Warheads
KETCHUM, Idaho - It took surgery to save a 12-foot Burmese python after it swallowed an entire queen-size electric blanket with the electrical cord and control box. The blanket must have gotten tangled up in the snake's rabbit dinner, owner Karl Beznoska said. He kept the blanket in the cage to keep the 60-pound reptile, named Houdini, warm. "Somehow, he was able to unplug the electric cord," Beznoska said Wednesday. "He at least wasn't hooked up to the power. It might have been pretty warm there."
Veterinarian Karsten Fostvedt conducted a two-hour operation on the python Tuesday, and said afterward, "The prognosis is great." Neither Fostvedt nor fellow veterinarian Barry Rathfon had operated on a snake before. "We just basically called a couple of specialists and they told us where to go in," Fostvedt said. X-rays showed the tangle of the blanket's wiring extending through about 8 feet of the python's digestive tract. The surgery to remove it took an 18-inch incision. Specialists at the University of California-Davis School of Veterinary Medicine told them it probably would have taken Houdini six hours to swallow the blanket and the snake probably would have died without the operation.
Beznoska, a retired ski instructor who now works as a draftsman and carpenter, is from Austria and moved to the resort area in 1965. He has had Houdini for 16 years and takes him to local schools for show-and-tell.
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/19/2006 19:23
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#3
Damn Bush and his obstinate refusal to recognize man-made Global Cooling. Why else would this poor snake feel the urge to swallow a heating blanket?
A convicted member of Greece's November 17 terrorist group was paroled from a maximum-security prison Wednesday after serving half of his eight-year sentence, authorities said.
Divide by 2, that's 4 years
Nikos Papanastasiou was allegedly one of the founding members of the far-left militant group blamed for killing 23 people in shootings and bombings between 1975 and 2000.
Victims included U.S., British and Turkish diplomats and military officers. The group's first action was the 1975 assassination of CIA station chief Richard Welch.
He's still dead, I believe
Fifteen convicted members of the group are appealing sentences ranging from eight years to multiple life terms, following their conviction in 2003. Two suspects acquitted earlier are also on trial at the special appeals court after a prosecutor challenged that ruling, as allowed under Greek law.
Papanastasiou, 53, was found guilty on charges of participation in a terrorist group. He was jailed in 2002, and granted parole after serving half his sentence and enrolling in prison employment. His early release was not related to the appeals trial.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
17:11 ||
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#2
"Victims included U.S., British and Turkish diplomats and military officers. The group's first action was the 1975 assassination of CIA station chief Richard Welch."
I am surprised he got eight years. He must have killed a Greek in the process. And four years off in lieu of a medal.
Ethiopia is prepared to invade neighboring Somalia to defend its U.N.-backed government against what appeared to be an imminent attack by Islamic militiamen, a government spokesman said Wednesday. The militiamen, who hold most of southern Somalia, deployed hundreds of fighters outside the town where the largely powerless government is based and said they planned to seize it.
'We have the responsibility to defend the border and the Somali government. We will crush them,' Ethiopia's Minister of Information, Berhan Hailu, told The Associated Press. Seizing the town of Baidoa would give the Islamic militia - which the United States has linked to al-Qaida - the uncontested authority over most of Somalia.
Somali transitional President Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed is allied with Ethiopia, and has asked for its support. Ethiopia has intervened militarily in Somalia in the past, and hundreds of Ethiopian troops have been spotted along the countries' border in recent weeks. The Somali Islamist militants are allied with Muslim separatists in the Oromo region of Ethiopia.
Which explains Ethiopia's desire to "nip it in the bud"
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
17:01 ||
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#1
If you're ever going to do it, I guess it's best to do it when it seems like the rest of the world isn't paying attention to Somalia.
"It should be noted that Ethiopia was one of only two African countries, which managed to avoid being taken by a colonial power during the Scramble for Africa."
#4
I highly doubt that the Ethiopians are going to be overly gentle with them, both regarding Somalis as dogs in the first place, and Moslems as eaters of dogs in the second.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/19/2006 18:24
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#3
pressure alone in air ducts to the bunker...yikes! Howz that hearing, Nas? I SAID HOWZ THAT HEARING?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/19/2006 19:21
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#4
Grrr FOX. There were reports that the US sold Israel 100 5,000 pound GBU-28 is laser-guided bunker busters and 500 BLU-109 2000 pounders. 3 = 7.5 tons max. The GBU-28 will penetrate 100 ft of dirt, 20 ft reenforced concrete.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2006 20:11
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#5
From the other stories, sounds like 3 waves of bombs.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2006 20:34
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Hmmm, gee, Gaza blows up, Lebanon blows up, Shi'a kick up trouble in Iraq, PKK yowls in Turkey, North Korea screams for attention, trains blow up in Mumbai --
-- you'd think this was all coordinated or something. So keep an eye on Bosnia and Kosovo. The left-progessives won't believe it until Halliburton is invoked.
#1
You forgot about the Ethiopians invading Somalia and Venezuela rebuilding Gran Columbia . Im not sure about it all being coordinated though. More like If you see a chance, take it!
A kitten born last week with two faces has disappeared from its Grove City home, the family said last night.
The male kitten, which was born along with two normal kittens, has been missing since early Saturday morning, said Rick Hickman, who lives at the home.
His wife, Michelle, had fed the kitten after she arrived home from work just after midnight Friday and had left him in a box with the other kittens. Mrs. Hickman had been bottle-feeding the cat because it wasnt able to nurse from its mother.
But at 4 a.m. Saturday, Mr. Hickman went to check on the kitten and it was gone.
"Its just amazing, that thing just magically disappeared," Mr. Hickman said last night.
"Right before I went to bed I said, Hey, Im going to see if its still alive, and he was gone. We searched everywhere."
Mr. Hickman said the family wonders whether someone might have come into the house to steal the unusual cat. One of the homes two doors had been left unlocked, he said, although a Chihuahua the family owns didnt bark at any intruder.
The family had scheduled a Saturday veterinarian appointment for the kitten, which was born last Wednesday.
Mr. Hickman said last night that the family intends to file a report with Grove City police about the missing kitten. Isn't the hizbollah feared to resort to hostage tactics? Just thinking out loud.
The current conflict in the Middle East may appear to be limited to Israel, Lebanon, and Gaza, but as FSM Contributing Editor Tahbih Sayyed argues, it is also a war between two visions of Islam and two ways of life in the world.
There are currently two wars pulling the world apart. The first is the global jihad in which radical Islamists are confronting the rest of the world. The second is the intra-religious struggle between Shiite Islam, led by Iran, and Sunni Islam, represented by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, in a fight for regional domination. It is this conflict that has pushed the Middle East into the latest crisis.
Iran, which is an integral part of the global jihad, is determined to establish itself as the regional superpower but its Shiite government in a Sunni region is a major obstacle. But there is one major factor working in Irans favor: whereas the masses of the region are anti-west, anti-Semitic, and totally committed to the destruction of the Jewish state, their Sunni governments have not shown the same zeal and commitment. In all the wars that the Arab governments launched against Israel, the Jewish state defeated them decisively.
As a result that Muslim masses long for leaders who have the courage to stand up to the Judeo-Christian powers. They are waiting for another Saladin, who defeated the crusaders in Jerusalem in 1187 C.E. Irans President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wants to be that leader. He knows his Muslim history and its numerous examples where otherwise incompetent leaders like Gemal Abdul Nasser of Egypt won the love and loyalty of the masses just by defying the West and challenging the U.S.
#1
The writer sounds like an apostate to my untutored ear.
He knows his Muslim history and its numerous examples where otherwise incompetent leaders like Gemal Abdul Nasser of Egypt won the love and loyalty of the masses just by defying the West and challenging the U.S.
And what happened to Mr. Nasser afterwards? Did he actually get the houris he so craved?
#3
He was a Muslim-world male, gromgoru. Just because he didn't believe in them didn't mean he didn't want them. For that matter, I seem to have grown up to be a Western realistic idealist; but I still dream of "Peace on Earth/ Goodwill to Men."
#2
When police arrived, the family said the officers ordered Candelaria to step away from Mack. But before she stood up, the housewife gave him a final sock in the face. Police took him away.
#4
When the balance goes to zero, respiration must cease.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2006 16:07
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#5
I don't remember - when exactly did Britain become suicidal?
It's been going on a while now. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/19/2006 20:18
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#6
Not too long ago, an MIT professor, after doing some research, came up with a common algae that consumes huge amounts of CO2 which it turns to mostly biodiesel and some ethanol.
A brilliant idea, that most CO2-producing companies would love: with a small capital investment in water tanks, even in marginal sunlight, 60% or more of their waste CO2 would be turned into profits! in the first run through of the gas.
The stuff works well even in the weak Massachusetts light. And the biodiesel it produced cost a fraction of agriculturally produced biodiesel from plant matter--with no massive energy imput needed to grow the plants in the first place.
Of course, when the biodiesel is burned, the CO2 is released, but by using the "same" CO2 twice, you reduce the total CO2 used by 50%.
The value of biodiesel is so great, that this may ironically result in industrial plants discontinuing much of their CO2 reduction measures impremented over the last decades, so that they can produce more of this waste product to convert.
#8
Yeah, yeah, biodiesel, hydrogen, ethanol, blah, blah, blah.
I don't see anyone doing dick with alternative fuels. There are 1001 ways to make them, but people are sitting on their asses waiting for a government grant to start production. I wanted my wife to buy her Ford Escape set up for CNG, but after a quick search gave up on it because there was only one station in all of the Greater Cincinnati Tri-State area to fill the damned thing. Forget about taking it on a trip, you'd be lucky to keep fuel in it to go to the grocery store. If they want to switch over to alternative fuels, they arent showing me sh*t.
Should've tossed a grenade in that hole...
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein is receiving psychiatric counseling to convince him to start eating again after 12 days on hunger strike in a U.S. military prison. Are we fighting a war over there or is this turning into "Oprah Goes To Iraq"?
Saying that the 69-year-old ousted Iraqi president was still refusing food but taking liquid nourishment, a U.S. spokesman said such counseling was part of additional daily medical care for inmates who risked damaging their health by their actions. And we want him nice and healthy for his execution...
"Medical and mental health professionals counsel the detainees on the dangers," Lieutenant Colonel Keir-Kevin Curry said. "They try to convince the detainees to end their fast." Why don't you convince them to hang themselves?
Saddam and three co-defendants who last ate on July 7 are all healthy, Curry said. Oh, good.
A lawyer for Saddam, who is due back in court on Monday, has said his client's health has suffered but that he is determined to pursue the protest until U.S. officials improve protection for defense attorneys and meet other demands on the trial. Saddam. Look. Doritos! The big bag!
U.S. officials involved with the Iraqi court trying Saddam and seven others for crimes against humanity have said that a defense lawyer killed last month, the third since the trial began, had refused U.S. offers of protection. Hmmmmmmm? Maybe should've "counseled" him...
The defense team responded to a letter in English from a foreign legal adviser to the court urging them to end a boycott of the proceedings by publishing the letter, describing it as a threat and complaining it should have been written in Arabic. Can we just shoot the bastard and get this over with?
#4
I don't want my tax dollars to go towards this! Stick a barbequed steak under his nose and he'll eat! Better yet, put the steak outside his cell just beyond his reach.
#5
He stays out of court, OK. He comes into court just after having the IV removed, OK. The final phase will be completed, whatever he does. Stunts like this don't gain much traction when the person is universally regarded as a monstrous criminal. Still, a healthy prisoner sitting and seeing the evidence in the Anfal trial would still be best. Ceaucescu treatment would be satisfying, but we'd be hungry a few hours later. Documenting the former regime's crimes will be satisfying and non-fattening, too .....
#6
Ahh Just lie to him. Tell him that if he eats a whole lot maybe when they put the noose on him it wont catch on his neck it will be too fat and just slip off like trying to hang your forehead.
Customs officials have detained two people, a man and a woman, who had attempted to board a mid-morning flight bound for Toronto from Greater Rochester International Airport this morning. The two individuals, believed to be Sri Lankans, had obtained forged or stolen documents and were not allowed to board the flight, said David Damelio, acting director of aviation for Monroe County. The flight took off, but came back so that U.S. Customs could obtain and evaluate the detained individuals' luggage.
R News Investigators say customs agents detained two passengers who tried to board the plane before takeoff using suspicious passports. Shortly after the plane left, it was discovered that a bag belonging to one of those detainees was on board. When one of the people made a questionable remark about the bag, authorities ordered the plane to return to Rochester.
Once back at the airport, Monroe County Sheriff's deputies provided perimeter security as customs and border agents investigated the incident.
#1
Trying to sneak out through one of the smaller airports, hmm? Rochester folk look to Buffalo, NY as their big city, and Buffalo's airport can be walked in ten minutes, end to end. (Of course, the arrestees detainees could have stolen information from Xerox or Kodak -- Kodak has a large division dealing just with Dept. of Defence contracts.)
#2
Latest info is that they are Sri Lanken. I wonder about Tamil connections.
During a routine check of passenger information, Customs and Border Protection officers apparently identified two Sri Lankans carrying Canadian passports that were suspected to be fake, Homeland Security Department spokesman Russ Knocke said.
Authorities placed the pair in custody for questioning, during which the woman became upset, began complaining of chest pains and indicated she needed her bag, which had already been loaded onto the flight, Knocke said.
There was a significant language barrier with the passengers, and the male is believed to have made a confusing remark about a possible suicide bomb, Knocke said.
PARIS (CP) - Prime Minister Stephen Harper is flying to Cyprus where he intends to take up to 120 evacuees from Lebanon home to Canada on his Canadian Forces plane. It's a start. Apparently there are over 40,000 dual Canadian Lebanese citizens travelling/living in Lebanon. Who knew? Not known is how many of those are also card carrying Hezbollah
Harper announced the surprise side trip on his week-long European diplomatic tour after a meeting with French President Jacques Chirac at the Elysee Palace on Wednesday afternoon.
"Because of the seriousness of the situation and our relative proximity to Cyprus, we have decided to take the Canadian Forces aircraft we have been travelling on to help airlift evacuees back home," Harper said in a statement. "The aircraft will be stripped down to a skeleton staff."
Media travelling with the prime minister have been bumped to commercial flights for their return home to Canada. Reporters booted for refugees! WTF.
Only Harper's wife, Laureen, a couple of his communications staff and his official photographer, will join him on the 3 1/2-hour flight to Cyprus where the first boatload of Canadian evacuees from Beirut was expected to arrive in the port of Larnaca sometime on Wednesday.
Posted by: john ||
07/19/2006
14:22 ||
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#1
Oh, this is gonna open up a can of worms! Forget that he is still in the area, (the MSM will) but I give it maybe 5 hours before there are cries of why Bush hasn't already been there, and not landing in Beirut even if the runways were bombed to pieces. And getting those refugees on board Air Force One and besides, we even have a backup for Air Force One.
Which reporter will be the first with the screams?
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (AP) - A British man was indicted Wednesday on charges he helped run terrorism fundraising Web sites, set up terrorists with temporary housing in England and possessed a classified U.S. Navy document revealing troop movements. Syed Talha Ahsan was arrested at his home in London on a federal indictment in Connecticut charging him with conspiracy to support terrorists and conspiracy to kill or injure people abroad.
Ahsan is accused in the same case as Babar Ahmad, a British computer specialist who was indicted in Connecticut in October 2004. Both are accused of running several Web sites including Azzam.com, which investigators say was used to recruit members for the al-Qaida network, Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime and Chechen rebels. Prosecutors allege that from 1998 until at least 2002, Ahsan and Ahmad operated Web sites encouraging people to donate money or equipment. The sites allegedly operated in Connecticut, Nevada, Britain, Ireland and Malaysia. U.S. prosecutors said Ahsan helped terrorists find temporary residence in London and shuttled them into Afghanistan and Chechnya to participate in ``jihad.''
A few months before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Ahsan allegedly possessed classified documents discussing a U.S. Navy battle group's movements and vulnerability to attack. The existence of that document became public with Ahmad's arrest in 2004 but authorities have not said how it was obtained. The battle group was not attacked.
A spokesman for Connecticut U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor said Ahsan was being held without bail in England. Extradition papers were being prepared, officials said. Ahmad has been fighting extradition to the United States for nearly two years.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
13:49 ||
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#4
"Prosecutors allege that from 1998 until at least 2002, Ahsan and Ahmad operated Web sites encouraging people to donate money or equipment. The sites allegedly operated in Connecticut, Nevada, Britain, Ireland and Malaysia."
Two Israeli troops killed in fierce battle with Hizballah in S. Lebanon Wednesday. One is identified as 1st Sgt. Yonatan Hadasi, 21, Kibbutz Merhavia. The combat between Israeli special forces and Hizballah focused on secret Hizballah tunnels at Maroun er Ras. DEBKAfiles military sources report the epic battle evolved from a small Israeli special forces operation just inside Lebanon at noon Wednesday, July 19, to blow up Hizballah positions and destroy small fortified tunnels riddling the hills around Maroun er Ras opposite the Israeli town of Safed. Hizballah suffered an unknown number of losses. Reinforcements and medical teams crossed the border and the fighting spreads.
DEBKAfiles military sources report the epic battle evolved from a small Israeli special forces operation just inside Lebanon at noon Wednesday, July 19, to blow up Hizballah positions and destroy small fortified tunnels riddling the hills around Maroun er Ras opposite the Israeli town of Safed. The tunnels were assumed to be unoccupied. The Israel force were horrified to find the first packed with Hizballah fighters heavily armed with automatic and anti-tank weapons. The force took casualties in the first blast of fire. At least one tank was blown up. The combat quickly spread to additional sectors of the warfront, joined by Hizballah fighters who sprang out of more secret tunnels which the Israeli force had not known were there.
After several hours of heavy exchanges, Israels top brass and northern command were forced to look at a number of painful facts:
1. Hizballah had pulled the wool over their eyes. While pretending to be forced back by massive Israeli air attacks, its fighters went underground. When chief of staff Dan Halutz and other generals announced the Hizballahs first line of fortifications had been flattened, the line had simply dropped out of sight. Building small tunnels over large areas to conceal small fighter squads was a favorite Vietcong ruse against the Americans in the 1960s and 1970s.
2. Hizballah was not fighting a static war out of the tunnels but working to an organized mobile battle plan. As the fighting grew fierce, and the IDF pumped reinforcements into the battle arena, so too did Hizballah, moving them nimbly from tunnel to tunnel in defensive and offensive roles.
3. By afternoon, the engagement had escalated from a contest over the Maroun er Ras tunnels to a decisive battle between Hizballah and the IDF for control of the Lebanese-Israeli border.
4. The two sides were locked in such close combat that the Israelis were constrained from bringing their helicopter gunships into play for decisive strikes against Hizballah fighters. The same difficulty confronted IDF tank guns.
5. In addition to engaging Israeli special forces at three points in south Lebanon from Maroun er Ras in the east to Rosh Hanikra in the west, Hizballah commandos staged incursions of their own. They made repeated attempts to breach the Israeli border and capture stretches of land in Western Galilee. Israeli forces engaged them in heavy battle Wednesday afternoon at Rosh Hanikra. Hizballah commandos are still battering Israeli posts and forces.
6. True to its usual tactics, Hizballah accompanied its ground action with a massive barrage of some 80 rockets in the space of an hour Wednesday afternoon, July 19 against the towns of Nahariya, Haifa, Upper Galilee, the Hula Valley, Tiberias, Safed and Carmiel.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
13:32 ||
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#3
There are ways of clearing tunnels - mostly involving highly explosive liquids and gasses. The key is gaining access to openings, which can be costly if the tunnel complexes are well-engineered with interlocking defenses (as the Japanese built so often.) The question is, how good are the HezbAllah engineers?
#6
Reasons why we don't fight from tunnels:
1. few exits.
2. air quality fragile.
3. food, water, and supplies are delivered on a 'top down' basis.
4. the stink of the dead bodies is unforgiving.
5. heavy things and explosions can cause ceiling
collapse.
6. just one gun can close the exit indefinitely.
7. digging machines like back hoes and track hoes can bite your head off.
8. exits can be sealed from outside.
9. can't see or breath.
10. no showers.
#9
Find one entrance and rig up a smoke generator to it. Instead of fog oil, rig it to pump chlorine gas. Nobody can hang through chlorine, and just a whiff will get you hopping. It's also readily available.
One 55 gallon drum, three tubs of pool chlorine powder and water.
#10
The nice thing about tunnels is that by definition everyone in them is a combatant -- or at any rate not an innocent civilian. Don't hold back, IDF!
#12
"Epic battle in Hizballah tunnel...two Israeli troops killed in fierce battle..." Let's get the facts straight kiddies-7 Israeli soldiers killed, 16 wounded, three Israeli main battle tanks destroyed. There are no "Hizballah tunnels", for your information. That's propoganda to make you feel good by your brainwashers. The "Israelis" were killed in one of their four repelled and failed incursions into Lebanon. It's strange that the only way the "Israelis" can do any significant damage is from 25,000 feet up in the air-and then they only end up killing innocents as seen on T.V. They think they can win a war like that? Everytime they get into a fight with our Hizbullah the "Israeli" pseudo-soldiers either end up getting kidnapped or killed. And this is now happening everytime the "Israelis" dare to clash with our Hizbullah and Hamas. And the next Middle-East war will be very different from the past one. Muslims have a new zeal and fervour to strike terror in the hearts of the enemy. The "Israelis" had better go back to Europe and America and do what they are best at doing-making baggels.
Posted by: the Levant ||
07/19/2006 15:12
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#19
Ladies and gentlemen of Rantburg, I vote we keep the Levant as a pet for the duration, at least so long as he can access the web from Syria. His every post demonstrates the understanding of his compatriots on both sides of the Lebanon/Syria border, and the borders of his ability to grasp reality. Oddly enough, his return here today reminds me of Arab behaviour in all their previous wars with Israel, when they turned to Israeli radio for the truth of the war's progress after tiring of the content-free boasting on the Arab stations.
#20
Muslims have a new zeal and fervour to strike terror in the hearts of the enemy. The "Israelis" had better go back to Europe and America and do what they are best at doing-making baggels.
Levant baby I have a nice .223 with your name on it - you AND your sympathizers & facilitators here in the US. Bring it, bring it, bring it.
#21
Anonymoose -
'No' to the chlorine gas - it is a clearcut war crime. Plain old tear gas has been claimed a violation too, but strangely enough, smoke is not, nor is fire to either burn the occupants or consume their air and suffocate them. Oh well.
The hard part is identifying hidden tunnel openings and getting access to them. If they are independent tunnels you have to access each one of them against protection from the others - but they have no flexibility. If they are linked, they can move from pressure points, but if you get one you usually get a whole lot.
#22
Getting nervous Assad boy? Have you received your Iranian passport yet? It's gonna be real ugly for you when Alawites are overthrown. It's looking 1982 all over again, only over/on/in/through Syria this time.
Bombs from 30,000 ft, artillery from 30 km or bullets from 39 meters. It's all good when it kills muslim fanatics. Have you ever ranged a 175mm Long Tom artillery? It was made to chew up cities and Damascus is well within range. We won't even mention the 203mm's. It's brutal.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2006 15:30
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#23
Hizballah suffered an unknown number of losses.
Levant, usually when militant/terrorist/your buddies losses are not reported or unknown that does not mean that there werent any. In fact it is usually quite the contrary.
Lets not forget the Patron Saint of D9's - St. Pancake. Rachel Corrie, an american and jew hating person, just like her parents, went to 'Palistine' to protest the Israli's defending themselves from murders and terrorists.
She was standing in front of a house which was used to shuttle weapons so her peace loving palistinians can murder Jews when a D9 came along and demolished the building and literally gave her the title 'St. Pancake'.
Personally I think the driver truely didn't see her.
#30
OK, TW. We'll let his hang around. But we should call him Oscar because he was so funny. I loved it when he was on the Jack Parr show. But, I forgot, that was before your time.
#31
Thermobaric rifle grenades are extremely useful in a situation like this : they have the reach advantage over the old flamethrowers and overpressure plus heat/flame for damage. Also, propane pumped from canisters under pressure into tunnels is a nasty little surprise. All the Israelis need to do for that one, is raid all the local stores selling BBQ supplies. Then add a few yards of flexible hosing and a remote detonator.
If you are a strict traditionalist, old working Soviet flamethrowers are still available on the world arms market.
#32
The US has all sorts of thermobaric rockets, some with thermal sights to easily pick out tunnel openings. One of the more interesting is a 40mm thermobaric grenade round for use with M203. So every squad has a cave buster.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2006 15:57
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#33
My favorite Oscar Levant line: "I knwe Doris Day *before* she was a virgin."
#35
Levant kinda reminds me of the kind of critter we had back on 7/8/04 on rantburg-desperate to insult us and frighten us. It gives it a sense of power.
***
"Hizballah had pulled the wool over their eyes" should be the first clause of any international settlement, should it come to that. :)
#37
Holey Moley! it's a lot bigger than I thought!
Back in college, Caterpillar helped pony up some money for a new building on campus. Said building was to be built on top of the dorm I was in. Woke up one morning to see a D8 parked outside. I was on the fourth floor, and I swear I coulda stepped out onto the cage.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/19/2006 19:19
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#40
and withhold the Hostess Dingdongs and bags of chips? You inhumane bastard, Muck!
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/19/2006 21:45
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#41
I know, I missed out on all the good stuff 'cause I was born too late, Nimble Spemble. But what's a girl to do? I promise, I'm catching up with y'all as fast as I can! ;-)
Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
07/19/2006 22:01
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#44
Anyone remember the tunnel complex underneath the 25th Inf (Tropical Lightning) at Cu Chi?
We're also finding a lot more tunnels along the Mexican border.
Is naplam still legal?
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/19/2006 22:39
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#46
"The "Israelis" had better go back to Europe and America and do what they are best at doing-making baggels."
-Sounds to me like they are doing what they do best; & how exactly would "Israelis" go back to Europe & America? "Israelis" are from Israel - sheesh, what a maroon.
#47
To Levant - any time you want to step up and play against the Varsity, bring the Islamic Zeal bullshit on over to Iraq - all it does is get Islamofascists like you killed in large numbers.
But I doubt you'd last 5 minutes against the Druze, much less the IAF or the US Military or eventhe nascent Iraqi Army (some of them are pretty competent now).
And you guys have it wrong - Napalm is not the weapon of choice.
Not naplam. But fine aerosol of flammables is just fine. Fills into places that arent normally acessable to a blast, the sudden ignition sucks all the air inward in an implosion (and uses up all the oxygen), then generates huge overpressures as the void is filled. So either you are crushed by the overpressures or killed by suffocation. And even if you manage to live through it, you will be burned severely, deafened, possibly blinded, have smoke damage to your lungs, and yo will be trapped by the collapsed tunnels and rooms that are between you and the entry point.
Thermobarics are a tunnelers worst nightmare.
Other than that, its DEBKA, so very large grain of salt - they exaggerate things nearly as bad as an Arab.
#48
Indeed, Broadhead6. And more than half of them were expelled from the various Arab countries and Iran after 1948. They would not enjoy the results if the dhimmis they kicked out returned as trained and armed Israelis. ;-)
Hundreds of Iranian Revolutionary Guard personnel are on the ground in Lebanon fighting Israel, security sources say. "I have no doubt whatsoever that they are there and operating some of the equipment," an Arab diplomatic source told The New York Sun yesterday.
Another foreign source, based in Washington, said the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps contingent in Lebanon is based in Beirut and in the Bekaa Valley. He said the troops usually number a few dozen, but that the size of the force increased in connection with the hostilities that have broken out between Israel and Iran's proxy, Hezbollah, over the past week.
The sources said the Iranians had directly operated a radar-guided C802 missile that Iran acquired from Communist China and that hit an Israeli navy missile boat off the coast of Lebanon on Friday, killing four Israeli seamen.
"This was a direct message to the Israelis that we are fighting the Iranians here," the Arab diplomatic source said.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard's mission in Lebanon includes keeping custody of Zalzal missiles and drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles. A report by an Israel-based research group, the Intelligence & Terrorism Information Center, identifies the units of Iran's Revolutionary Guard "deployed and active in Lebanon" as the "Al-Quds Force." The Lebanon-based Iranian force "provides military guidance and support for terrorist attacks against Israel," the report says.
They'd be the one's handling the advanced hardware, leaving the simple stuff to Hizballah
President Bush has openly blamed Iran, along with Syria, for sponsoring Hezbollah, but he has stopped short of identifying the presence of Iranian troops in Lebanon. Tomorrow, a senior National Security aide to Mr. Bush, Elliott Abrams, and the undersecretary of state, Nicholas Burns, will chair a meeting at the White House for at least 10 Iranian opposition organizations. The White House has hinted to those invited that President Bush may stop by.
The Iranian government has cheered Hezbollah's actions while at the same time publicly denying the presence of Revolutionary Guards in Iran. Clearing the Iranian Revolutionary Guard from Lebanon has emerged as an unstated, but significant, Israeli war aim. Israelis also are hoping for tougher American and international sanctions on Iran and Syria as punishment for the Iranian and Syrian roles in Hezbollah's kidnapping of Israeli soldiers and raining of missiles on Israeli cities.
The Arab diplomatic source described the leader of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, as "totally subservient" to Iran. "How more forceful can I put it?" he said.
In New York on Monday, Senator McCain, a Republican of Arizona who sits on the Armed Services Committee, said the Iranians had supplied Hezbollah with arms, equipment, training, and 10,000 rockets. He said he did not see how Hezbollah would have captured Israeli soldiers without "the tacit agreement and maybe support of the Iranians." And Mr. McCain said Iranians have "very heavily penetrated" southern Iraq, "including sending in terrorists" and equipment for the bombs known as improvised explosive devices.
The Hezbollah offensive against Israel followed a summit in Damascus. Reports vary on whether the meeting was attended by Sheik Nasrallah himself or by one of his top political aides, Sheik Hussein Khalil. Others said to be present include the head of Syrian military intelligence, Assef Shawkat, and the Iranian national security adviser, Ali Larijani, who is one of the many high-ranking Iranian officials who have been shuttling between Damascus and Tehran.
The president of the Reform Party of Syria, Farid Ghadry, who opposes the regime in Damascus, said there are indications that Hezbollah and the Iranians and Syrians recently attacked a Lebanese army base, signaling they are expanding their campaign beyond Israeli targets.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
13:27 ||
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#1
Since Iran has disavowed them, they don't exist, and if the Israelis capture them, they are under no obligation to declare them.
Of course, if their family receives a picture postcard of their favorite son covered in honey and staked out in a pig pen, well at least they will know what happened to him.
#3
Curious how "Arab diplomatic" and "foreign" sources are spreading this. If I were conspiracy minded I'd almost believe some Arab countries are interested in keeping this pot well stirred.
#6
'What's with the "we"? Shouldn't it read "...they are fighting Iranians..." '
unless its a dead giveaway that the arab diplo is Lebanese, and considers himself part of the Israeli fight. ( I suppose an Iraqi could consider himself fighting the Iranians, but then the "here" doesnt make any sense)
#7
Put a half dozen Popeyes on an Israeli KC-135 and blow up a few Iranian refineries. That also sends a message.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2006 15:11
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#8
Here = now, at this moment.
We = today it's Israelis, tomorrow it may be Jordanians. We, Non-Iraninas.
That's my understanding.
He verbalizes what seems to be taking place on the ground in ME--the realization of Arab elites that by a strange chain of events, the Israelis are fighting not only for themselves, but also for other ME states.
Hence lies the gargantuan miscalculation on Ahmadinutjob's part. He relied on the presumption that their hate for Israelis is bigger than their hate for Iranians.
Depends if Ahmadinutjob is still convinced that he has to pull off the Mahdi option. I think he is. Than would likely mean his goose is cooked by the end of summer as there would be a lot of fireworks that would get him in short order.
If he backs off, then probably some analysis ensues, but his goose would be cooked too, although it may take a bit of time when the mullah oligarchs decide that he is a dangerous nut that may break their gold nest eggs and has to go.
Is Ahmadinahijab really a loose cannon that has nekkid pics of the MMs all together in the same bed, or is he some sort of MM experiment that might allow them to distance themselves from his actions and avoid prosecution?
#12
My understanding, gorb, is that Iran's ruling mullahs divide between those who believe in lying to the West to keep us fat, stupid and happy a bit longer (aka "Moderates") and those who agree with Ahmadenijad (former mayor of Baghdad, leader of the 1979 embassy hostage holders, trainer of minefield-clearing youth battalians during the Iran-Iraq war, etc) that Shiite Iran is destined to re-establish the Caliphate and conquer the world. Understand, the ruling mullahs vet every candidate for election, so the peepul are permitted to choose amongst those who toe the Mullah line. Ahmadinajed personally believes he has been chosen to bring forth the hidden 12th Imam (the Shiite "Returned Messiah" figure), who, like Allah, will be brought into the fight by the violence of his followers, just as Osama bin Laden believed Allah would be forced to join the fight against us non-believers as a result of the 9/11 attacks and our response. Poor Mr. bin Laden must be very puzzled at Allah's tardy response...
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The FBI is trying to ferret out possible Hizbollah agents in the United States amid concerns that rising U.S.-Iranian tensions could trigger attacks on American soil, FBI officials said.
Relations between Washington and Tehran, which soured after the 1979 Islamic revolution, have deteriorated further recently over Iran's nuclear program and its support for Hizbollah, the militant Islamic group whose capture of two Israeli soldiers last week prompted Israel to launch retaliatory strikes in Lebanon.
American law enforcement officials are concerned the Lebanon-based Hizbollah, which has so far focused on fund-raising and other support activities inside the United States, could turn to violence in solidarity with Iran.
"If the situation escalates, will Hizbollah take the gloves off, so to speak, and attack here in the United States, which they've been reluctant to do until now?" said William Kowalski, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI in Detroit.
Detroit is home to one of the largest Muslim communities in the United States.
"Because of the heightened difficulties surrounding U.S.-Iranian relations, the FBI has increased its focus on Hizbollah," said FBI spokesman Paul Bresson in Washington.
"Those investigations relate particularly to the potential presence of Hizbollah members on U.S. soil."
There is no specific or credible intelligence pointing to an imminent U.S. attack by Hizbollah, which the United States considers a terrorist group, Bresson added.
But Iran's Hizbollah -- which claims links to the Lebanese group -- said on Tuesday it stood ready to attack U.S. and Israeli interests worldwide.
FBI Director Robert Mueller told reporters in Toronto that agents were keeping a close eye on Hizbollah, especially "when the international situation heats up."
#1
FBI Director Robert Mueller told reporters in Toronto that agents were keeping a close eye on Hizbollah, especially "when the international situation heats up."
Tehran, 19 July (AKI) - The Farsi-language leftist website Peyknet has claimed in an unconfirmed report that US aircrafts flew over Tehran at dawn on Tuesday, citing anonymous Western sources.
Wasn't me, I was washing my hair.
Edited by former members of the Iranian Communist party, the online paper alleged that the Iranian government kept the news a secret so as not to alarm the population. The website also quoted the same unnamed sources as claiming that some European embassies were studying plans to evacuate their citizens from Tehran in case of a US attack.
Heh heh
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
12:33 ||
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#1
Nah, really freak them out. Tell 'em it was the Israelis. ;)
#6
Edited by former members of the Iranian Communist party, the online paper alleged that the Iranian government kept the news a secret so as not to alarm the population because the Iranians cannot shoot our planes down.
#11
please note these are Iranian commies, and so probably hostile to the mullahs, unlike our local far lefties. When youre sitting in Teheran, not everything is about George Bush.
#13
They should ask the Iraqis. They know all about those "black djinns" that come by night to suck the flesh off of your bones and leave nothing behind but a small puddle of melted fat and feces.
Looks like those Idiotic Stem $ells are working already
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/19/2006 21:39
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#22
They should ask the Iraqis. They know all about those "black djinns" that come by night to suck the flesh off of your bones and leave nothing behind but a small puddle of melted fat and feces.
Or in AhmadinaHijab's case, a large puddle of feces.
MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- The Islamic militiamen holding most of southern Somalia deployed hundreds of fighters outside the base of the U.N.-backed interim government Wednesday and said they planned to seize it. Seizing Baidoa would make the Islamic militia - which the United States has linked to al-Qaida - the uncontested authority over most of the country. The interim government was on high alert and ready to defend itself from an attack, Deputy Information Minister Salad Ali Jelle told The Associated Press.
"Nothing will stop us from going into Baidoa," said Sheik Muqtar Robow, deputy defense chief for the Islamic group. He said more than 130 fighters who were loyal to President Abdullahi Yusuf had defected to the Islamists' side.
The interim government already was virtually powerless and barely able to control Baidoa, 150 miles northwest of the capital. "It could be the beginning of a full-out war," said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul, Minn. A Cabinet minister in the interim government was reported Tuesday to be recruiting militiamen to bolster the government and the deployment outside Baidoa appeared to be a pre-emptive strike.
Relations between the government and the Islamic militiamen already were strained after the government accused the Islamic group of planning to attack Baidoa, receiving help from foreign terrorists and massacring government supporters during recent fighting in Mogadishu. The government had refused to meet the Islamic group in peace talks set for July 15 in neighboring Sudan, although it appeared to reverse course Monday under pressure from foreign governments pushing for a unified Somali administration. The status of the talks was thrown into uncertainty by Wednesday's deployment.
A recent recruiting video issued by militia members shows foreign militants fighting alongside the local extremists in Mogadishu, and invites Muslims from around the world to join in their "holy jihad." Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed, a leader of the group, claimed the tape was fabricated by the United States. Somalia has had no real government since the overthrow of a dictator in 1991.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
12:22 ||
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"We believe that they also prevented the native British genes getting into the Anglo-Saxon population by restricting intermarriage in a system of apartheid that left the country culturally and genetically Germanised.
And the downside was?
#1
Pooh. The Vikings may have prevented British genes from getting into their population, but I have no doubt they equally ensured -- individually if not deliberately -- that Germanic genes got into the British population.
A senior Northern Command officer told Ynet Wednesday that IDF ground forces are operating deep inside Lebanese territory and against the 15-20 Hizbullah positions along the border with Israel. AL-Jazeera reported that the Israeli Air Force struck two trucks in Beiruts al-Ashrafiyeh quarter, marking the first time the IDF has operating against targets located in the capitals center.
Military sources said warplanes attacked structures in which Hizbullah stores its money; among the targets hit were the four el-Mal (Money house) buildings in Bint Jbeil, Nabatiyeh, Baalbek and the Tyre area. In addition, the Shahid Fund financial office in Beirut was also attacked by IAF jets, as were buildings used for Hizbullah financial operations in the capital.
Follow the money, then bomb it
The attacks are aimed at hindering Hizbullahs ability to recuperate following the conclusion of the IDF operation in Lebanon.
Overnight ground forces also entered west Lebanon, north of Shlomi and Rosh Hanikra, to clear the area of Hizbullah outposts and create a new security situation along the border. Earlier this week IDF forces destroyed two outposts in the northern part of the Rajar village. Officers said that the army aims at weakening Hizbullah by dealing a blow to his military capability. "Hizbullah is amazed by the amount of information Israel has, which has led to great destruction of his capabilities," an officer said.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
11:47 ||
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#1
Joooos are after the money. Go figure.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
07/19/2006 12:00
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#2
Why do I see angry, seething Soodies as I read this.
#6
1. regarding the money, a lot of Hizb's money comes from extorting Shia businessmen in the US and Europe; they may get as much this way as they do from Iran. Also, Hizb has several lucrative smuggling operations in Lebanon (drugs, medicine)
2. It may be that some of the IDF intel was provided by Shia prisoner's released to Lebanon in 2004. If so, that would be a nice irony.
The Qatar-based newspaper Al-Watan reported Wednesday that Syria and Iran will cooperate with each other in order to prevent the dissolution of Hizbullah and to preserve its struggle with Israel. According to credible Syrian sources, the newspaper reported, there is an agreement between Damascus and Tehran stating the prevention of either military or political defeat of Hizbullah as paramount, creating a joint Syrian-Iranian stance based on the clear vision that any defeat of Hizbullah is a red line for the both countries.
Both Syria and Iran thoroughly understand that the measure of Hizbullahs strength against Israel gives precedent to strategic changes in the whole region. The influence of the military confrontation being conducted now, claim the same Syrian sources, extend beyond all geographic borders and have implications for the entire Middle East, from Gaza to Iraq. As such, protecting the resistance in Lebanon and the territories is at the center of Damascus and Tehrans strategic decisions.
The sources also added that Hizbullahs stance against Israeli aggression has already resulted in the moral, political, and even strategic defeat of Israels security complex, which is currently facing a dangerous crisis. This crisis, they claim, stems from the fact that the IDF has not succeeded to destroy or liquidate Hizbullah, a reality likely to push Israels army commanders to widen the circle of confrontation to include Syria and Lebanon as part of their attempts to avoid a political crisis within Israel and criticism of the government and army.
Other Syrian sources claim that if IDF commanders dare to widen the confrontation, Israel will suffer a widened front from Tehran to Damascus, necessitating a regional, and perhaps even international, confrontation. The consequences of such a confrontation will not be to the advantage of Israel or the United States. According to the sources, there is the possibility that the region will become a boundless hell.
Damascus and Tehran are closely following the developments in Lebanon and are prepared to get involved, if needed, to protect Hizbullah or to prevent the imposition of suspicious political agreements or conditions on them. The sources added that there are regional attempts, international and even Lebanese, to accept Israels conditions and to implement Security Council Resolution 1559, which entails disarmament of Hizbullah and extricating the organization from the conflict. The sources emphasized that this will never happen especially because, from their perspective, any agreement or deal needs to protect Hizbullah and to preserve its legitimate right to resist Israel, be it in Lebanon or in the territories.
It should be noted that todays reports are in accordance with a report published yesterday in London-based al-Sharq al-Awsat. They also reinforce estimations in Israel that Iran is willing to do anything to keep Hizbullah on its feet after the current confrontation, just as Iran has done in past years, with the goal of rehabilitating the organization of the Judgment Day against Israel.
This morning, a diplomatic source in Tel Aviv confirmed to ynet that Jordan passed a harsh Israeli warning on to Syria in regards to its involvement in the fighting in Lebanon, namely its aid to Hizbullah. The source mentioned that Israel has also asked the Egyptians to send a similar message to Syria, but it is unclear if it did so. Israel pointed out in their warning that the Syrians are arming Hizbullah and acting as middlemen between them and the Iranians. It was also notified the Syrians that Israel has located a number of weapon convoys on their way from Syria to Lebanon and that meetings between Hizbullah and Iranian representatives continue to take place in Damascus.
The source could not say if the Israeli warning was accompanied by an explicit threat of military action against Syria, but it is known that Israel also warned them about turning a blind eye to the activities of other organizations, mainly Palestinian, in the Golan Heights.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
11:44 ||
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#1
Um, hurry up guys.
Not that I don't enjoy bravely hiding in ny bunker.
#2
Shit, this is great news, if true. The M.E. crap can finally, after 60 years of half-measures and grief for Israel, come to a head.
If Iranian complicity becomes public enough for even the willful idjits to finally acknowledge what we all know is going on, then it will be inescapable: time to deal a death blow to Achmedjihadi and Khameni. Assad's just a gopher and Tehran tool.
A strong earthquake caused tall buildings to sway in the Indonesian capital Wednesday, sending panicked residents fleeing to the streets just days after a deadly tsunami struck main island of Java. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The 6.0-magnitude quake was centered 25 miles beneath the Sunda strait, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site, and struck 90 miles southwest of Jakarta.
Suharjono, head of the earthquake division at Jakarta's meteorological agency, told Metro TV that based on the initial estimate of Wednesday's quake strength, it was not strong enough to trigger a tsunami. But he urged people to be on guard.
On Monday, a tsunami triggered by a magnitude 7.7-earthquake slammed into Java's southern coast, killing more than 530 people. A series of strong aftershocks have rattled the region since then.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
11:19 ||
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CALGARY - Some of the world's biggest energy companies, among them Calgary-based EnCana Corp., have gathered in a tiny town on Greenland's west coast to consider developing one of the last untapped offshore oil frontiers. Greenland is auctioning exploration rights to eight blocks covering 92,000 square kilometres in the Davis Strait between the huge island's west coast and Canada's Baffin Island.
The 13 oil producers invited to Ilulissat include the largest from Europe, the United States and several from Canada in addition to EnCana, Jrn Skov Nielsen, the top bureaucrat with Greenland's Bureau of Minerals and Petroleum, said yesterday. He would not give specific names. The climate is harsh, the work window short and no exploration wells have been drilled in the region since the 1970s and '80s, when companies' attempts to find commercial-sized, onshore oilfields on Disko Island were unsuccessful.
The forces driving the world's oil industry have changed significantly since then but Greenland's potential to become a large oil producer has not, Mr. Skov Nielsen said. "Many thought the costs of coming here were a little too high but they've discovered now, compared to other places in the world, that they aren't so high," Mr. Skov Nielsen said from Ilulissat. "Ice isn't the trouble companies thought it was, oil prices are sky high and companies badly need to replace their reserves with new finds."
Firms have three days, starting yesterday, to pore over seismic data collected by the Greenland government over the past five years. The bidding round closes on Dec. 15.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
11:14 ||
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Police discovered guns, ammunition, electrical components and books on terrorism and jihad during a raid on the Ottawa home of accused terrorist Momin Khawaja, a British court was told Tuesday. The prosecution evidence emerged at the London trial of seven British men charged with conspiring to bomb sites in and around London, including nightclubs, trains and a major shopping centre.
British authorities allege Khawaja, 27, played a "vital role" in the suspected plot by making remote-controlled detonators to be used to explode bombs constructed from 600 kilograms of ammonium nitrate fertilizer the group allegedly acquired. Though he is named as a conspirator in the case, Khawaja has not been charged by British authorities with any crime. Instead, he is to stand trial in Ottawa in January as the first person charged under Canada's Anti-terrorism Act.
The London trial, which began in February, is offering a preview of the federal government's case against Khawaja, in custody in an Ottawa jail since his March 2004 arrest. He denies any involvement in the alleged terror plot, as do the seven London defendants. Crown prosecutor Mark Heywood told the Old Bailey trial Tuesday that when RCMP officers raided the home of Khawaja and his family on March 29, 2004, they found three rifles under Khawaja's bed along with dozens of rounds of ammunition. It is unclear whether the rifles were registered.
Police seized several books, he said, including: Terrorism and Self Sufficiency, Defence of The Muslim Lands, The Religion And Doctrine of Jihad, CIA Special Operations and Equipment, The Art of War, On Guerrilla Warfare and an unspecified military manual. Also seized was a combat knife, several boxes of electronic equipment Khawaja is a computer and software expert and some hobby rocket equipment, including a small launcher.
Earlier in the trial, prosecutor David Waters told the 12-member jury RCMP officers also found a cellphone jammer in Khawaja's home, a lawful and commercially available device that prevents cellphones from working in the immediate area in a hospital, for example. "Khawaja had it no doubt as part of his development of a more sophisticated and portable jamming device which could be carried by the bomber," to prevent a stray cellphone signal from prematurely triggering a bomb, Waters testified.
He said Khawaja visited some of the defendants in London for a few days in February 2004, allegedly to inform them of his progress in Canada with making the remote-controlled detonators. Previous e-mails from Khawaja, court heard, expressed his concern at smuggling the devices with him on his flight to London.
Instead, prosecutors say Khawaja took some of the men to an Internet cafe in Crawley, about an hour south of London, and showed them an image of one of his remote-controlled detonators, which he supposedly told them had a two-kilometre range.
British police alerted Canadian authorities, who started watching Khawaja as he stepped off an Air Canada flight in Toronto on Feb. 22, 2004.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
10:59 ||
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(IsraelNN.com) Israeli air force planes bombed a Hizbullah bunker in Beirut this afternoon. The bunker is located in the Dahiya neighborhood of the city, a Shi'ite area known to be housing the headquarters and offices of Hizbullah. Two routes used by Hizbullah terrorists for transport of men and material to the south were also hit. IAF planes also attacked a vehicle into which Hizbullah terrorists retreated after launching several rockets at Israeli territory.
Hizbullah Hits Western Galilee Again
(IsraelNN.com) Another barrage of Katyusha rockets was unleashed against communities in the western Galilee by Hizbullah terrorists a short time ago.
There are no reports of injuries at this time.
Two Children Killed in Katyusha Attack in Nazareth
(IsraelNN.com) Two children, ages eight and ten years old, were killed in the Katyusha rocket attacks on the city of Nazareth a short time ago. Twelve people suffered light injuries. The injured were evacuated to the English and Italian hospitals located in the city.
(IsraelNN.com) Hizbullah terrorists fired a series of Katyusha barrages at targets in Israel over the last half-hour. The areas hit were Tiberias, Kiryat Shemona, Yesod Hamaalah, Nazareth and Upper Nazareth, Tel Hai, and Afula.
In Nazareth, police report that there were several injuries. In the area of Kiryat Shemona, 12 rockets fell, with two others striking the area of Yesod Hamaalah. Cases of shock were reported by local emergency services.
Intelligence Sources: Hizbullah Directing Some PA Terror Attacks
(IsraelNN.com) According to Israeli intelligence agencies, the Lebanese Hizbullah organization is helping to direct and fund some planned Islamic Jihad and Fatah terrorist attacks inside Israeli cities, in the hope of opening a third front in the current Arab assault on the Jewish State. Security services have many warnings of efforts by the two Palestinian Authority-based groups to carry out terrorist attacks in Jewish population centers at this time.
The Islamic Jihad, like Hizbullah, is known to be supported by Iran; while Fatah is headed by PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).
Just this afternoon, a bomber was pursued and captured in the populous Sharon region, north of Tel Aviv. More than 200 wanted terrorists were captured when IDF forces demolished PA offices in Shechem and overnight, IDF forces captured five wanted terrorists in Judea and Samaria.
Over 200 Terrorists Arrested in Shechem PA Headquarters
(IsraelNN.com) IDF forces arrested more than 200 wanted terrorists today in Shechem. The terrorists were driven out of their hiding places when Israeli armored corps troops surrounded and demolished the Palestinian Authority offices in the city. The captured men have been transferred to General Security Services custody for questioning.
During the operation, which began in the early morning, terrorist gunmen opened fire on the IDF troops. There were no injuries among Israeli forces, who returned fire. In addition, IDF forces surrounded the Shechem prison, located next to PA militia headquarters for the city.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
10:52 ||
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The San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to make the city the nation's first to provide all residents with health care, approving a plan that would give adults access to medical services regardless of their immigration or employment status.
Financed by local government, mandatory contributions from employers and income-adjusted premiums, the universal care plan would cover the cost of everything from checkups, prescription drugs and X-rays to ambulance rides, blood tests and operations.
Unlike health insurance, however, it would not pay for any services participants seek outside San Francisco. Instead, residents would receive care at existing clinics and public hospitals and from doctors who already participate in an HMO for low- and middle-income clients.
With backing from both Mayor Gavin Newsom and all 11 supervisors, the so-called Health Access Plan proved to be a politically popular concept in liberal San Francisco despite unmitigated opposition from the business community.
"What feels very good is the full board and the mayor getting on board," said Supervisor Tom Ammiano, who first championed the idea of making employers pay for some part of their workers' medical costs. "That says the political will is there to make it happen."
To offset the estimated annual price tag of $200 million, firms with 20 or more workers would be required to spend $1.06 for each hour worked by an employee, and those with more than 100 workers would have to pay $1.60 per hour up to a monthly maximum of $180 per worker. Companies that already offer health coverage would still have to pay if their insurance contributions did not meet the city's funding levels.
The Board of Supervisors still needs to vote on the plan once more for it to become final. The ordinance adopted Tuesday calls for businesses with more than 50 employees to start participating starting next July, while it would take effect for enterprises with 20 or more workers in April 2008.
Michael O'Connor, a nightclub owner who serves on the San Francisco Small Business Commission, predicted that the "noble burden" of the mandate would keep businesses from locating in the city and make goods and services here more expensive as employers pass on the costs to customers.
O'Connor said many business owners were disappointed by Newsom's backing of the plan since the mayor got his start in business as the owner of a wine shop and several restaurants.
"One would think that someone who has owned and opened restaurants would be pretty clear on what the profit margin is, and how hard it is to get them open. A $5,000 licensing fee is difficult. A new $60,000 (health care) fee is disabling," he said.
Before the board vote, Newsom defended the proposal as a creative solution to the problem of securing decent health care for uninsured residents, noting that businesses would not be alone in defraying the costs. Of the $200 million, the city would provide $104 million and participants would contribute about $56 million.
"This is a moral debate as much as a political debate," Newsom said.
The initiative adopted Tuesday developed as a compromise between Newsom and Ammiano, who last year introduced legislation that would have required businesses to create health savings accounts for uninsured workers. In a nod to concerns from business, the final plan requires employees to work at least 12 hours a week to be eligible and has an opt-out provision for workers who are insured through their spouses.
Because fees would be adjusted on a sliding scale, city officials did not expect to see a rush of residents canceling their existing health insurance to take part in the city program.
#3
This won't cause people to move, only employers. San Francisco is really an amusement park for adults, esciting cable car rides & all. But even with all its natural assets it is going to price itself out of the market.
#4
...businesses would not be alone in defraying the costs. Of the $200 million, the city would provide $104 million and participants would contribute about $56 million.
And where did the city get the money it contributes? Pixies in the garden? It got that from taxing businesses in the city.
Is there some idiot gas coming out of the sewers in that city?
#6
Unlike health insurance, however, it would not pay for any services participants seek outside San Francisco. Instead, residents would receive care at existing clinics and public hospitals and from doctors who already participate in an HMO for low- and middle-income clients.
My office door just slammed. I think it was a gust of wind caused by that sigh of relief by non-San Francisco healthcare providers.
San Francisco is an extraordinarily wealthy city. It consists of just the tip of the penninsula, and with just under 800,000 residents it is only the third largest city in the Bay Area.
Poor people cannot afford to live in the City. They live in Richmond and Oakland, across the bay, and in South San Francisco. Most of the people living in the city are employed and there are very few children. The vast majority of people are already covered by health insurance.
The City is home to much of the area's high income financial and legal businesses, which generates lots of tax dollars. Further, many of those apparently required to contribute are commuters who do not live in the city.
The mayor is obviously of the opinion that San Francisco is such a great location that businesses will continue to maintain operations in the city. Its not apparent that the additional cost is so great that companies will be willing to accept an Oakland address.
#10
Big organized crime presence in SF. And organized crime has their fingers in that big pot of money for health care. I remember back in the mid 90's in San Diego, that one of the big health care players was doing mergers and it was between the lines that the mob was getting involved.
It's like construction, it's lots of money, difficult prove actual worth of services and products offered and now it will be easy pickings with less oversight.
#13
Decrease in new HIV infections smaller than expected Based on nine surveys, the health department estimates that the number of gay men living in San Francisco is 58,000, a 25 percent increase from 47,000 in 2001.
...
The city's epidemiological portrait estimates that 18,735 residents are infected with HIV, including 14,000 gay men -- 1 in 4 of those living in the city today.
Since AIDS was first detected in 1981, it has taken the lives of 17,917 San Franciscans.
Lifetime cost of anti-HIV treatment estimated at more than $400,000 the researchers predict that adults who begin antiretroviral treatment when their CD4-cell counts drop below 350 cells can be expected to live 24.1 years and will run up a medical tab of between $405,000 with drug discounts to as high as $648,000 without them.
Adults starting anti-HIV drugs with a CD4-cell count below 200the AIDS-defining thresholdwere predicted to live an average of 22.4 years and to spend from $370,000 to $589,000 for their care.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2006 12:16
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#14
If I had HIV, no matter where in the world I am from, I would pack my bags and head to SF.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2006 12:18
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See "...regardless of their immigration or employment status." means that all those po' folk over in Oakland only have to get across the bridge and they're immediately eligible, likewise, Richmond, South San Fran, Detroit, etc.
RE HIV: Ed...I just did a back of the envelope calculation and find that using the conservative end of your numbers, HIV ALONE will account for almost $250,000,000 (yes million) / year for SF. Can you refine the numbers a bit?
400K total / 25 yr = 16,000 /yr / patient, times 15K patients = 240,000,000.
#20
Can you refine the numbers a bit?
Not sure what you mean. Do you mean how many of those are w/o insurance? I don't know, but at the terminal stage, almost all of them will be w/o. At that point Medicaid takes over. I don't know how SF splits costs w/ Medicaid (e.g. 20/80%). What is more worrying is legal and illegal aliens moving to SF for the free treatment. Then the full burden is on SF taxpayers. If I was HIV positive and poor, my goal would be get to SF so I could live another 20+ years.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2006 14:54
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#21
Who wrote this? Financed by local government...
And their money comes from... what exactly?
#22
ed, what I meant about refining the numbers was mainly what portion of the 15 - 20k patients will be wracking up a half mil in costs. What you bring up is important too. How will this effect medicare / medicare payments? Will it be like private insurance? And, why would anyone in SF buy private insurance?
As far as immigrants, is there going to be a residency requirement (hee, hee,) will someone showing up at a hospital or clinic have to prove that they live in SF?? I bet there will be a lot of 2 hour immigrants that immigrate over and over.
#23
Why do the poor and illegals "deserve" health care at my expense, a man who is not illegal, and worked his ASS off to not be poor? I ask merely for information.
Arab press sources close to the Hizbullah say that residents of Tel Aviv will be given one hour to flee before the terrorist group launches a barrage of missiles at the city. The unnamed sources are quoted by the Palestinian Authority-based news agency Ma'an as saying:
"The Lebanese resistance is preparing a retaliation parallel to Israel's military actions. Hassan Nasrallah will address the people of Tel Aviv and warn them to evacuate the city within one hour. As soon as the delay ends, hundreds of heavy missiles will start landing in the city, which has been divided into squares in order to let damage reach every inch of the city. An estimated 500 missiles are expected to land in Tel Aviv in a short period of time."
The Arab sources further said that the Hizbullah has been very careful in cultivating its public image, in order to increase the surprise effect of the planned barrage on Tel Aviv.
Ain't much of a surprise if you announce it a hour ahead of time. If he does announce it, and it doesn't happen, he'll look pretty foolish.
The war, from the perspective of Nasrallah, has not yet begun, the sources said, adding that other "surprises" planned by the Hizbullah include more kidnappings of Israeli soldiers from along the Lebanese border.
Also claiming to have "surprises" in store for Israel is the Gaza-based Islamic Jihad. On Tuesday night, the terrorist organization claimed to have fired a Katyusha rocket at Sderot. The Katyusha is a more deadly rocket than the Kassam, and is being deployed against Israel in the north of the country by the Hizbullah.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
10:31 ||
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#1
flash
per Jerusalem Post, Hezb rockets have hit Nazereth, where 3 arabs, including 2 children were killed.
Presumably they were aiming for the nearby Jewish town of Upper Nazareth.
#3
Israel needs to ask it's allies for help and declare war on Syria and Iran so long as they support Hezbollah with weapons, money, or safe passage. We need to get in this fight if we are serious about our war against radical Islam.
It is already clear that other Arab countries will not join Hezbollah in this renagade war.
Israel, India, Thailand, UK, USA, Australia, Nigeria, and many other, mostly Islamic countries should make it clear who the enemy is and why. Those clinging to Islam who believe they can escape this warfare will have to make adjustments to avoid be dragged into certain destruction.
Why doesn't this alliance form immediately ?
Previous attacks during the recent rocket barrage have hit the nearby Jewish town of Upper Nazareth, but the wave fired Wednesday was the first to hit a holy city. I think it's past time that all communities in Israel be labelled holy, too.
Nazareth is (not surprisingly) heavily Christian, but it has a large (and vocal) muslim minority. Some big to do about land for a mosque, or church, or something, some years ago, that got the national Israeli authorities involved, and was quite embarassing all around.
AFAIK most if not all of the muslims there would be Sunni. Though there are plenty of Druze in the region.
"Two brothers, three year-old Muhammad Taluzi and nine-year-old Rabiya Taluzi, were killed on Wednesday evening when several Katyusha rockets fell on the Arab Israeli town of Nazareth. "
#12
I would sure like to see a squadron of BUFFS from Diego Garcia head for Syria and take the Syrians out of the fight. Then Hizb'Allah would be cut off from their backers and resupply. They would fold fast. [/wishful thinking and common sense]
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Nikolaevsk, Alaska ||
07/19/2006 15:08
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#13
Muslims, then
Yeah but Arab Muslims. No concern of Iran
#15
On topic, NPR is telling the world tonight (or at least that part that still listens to them) that it was a Hizb'Allah bomb that killed the little Palestinian children. *snicker*
MOSUL, Iraq Task Force Band of Brothers will turn over control of the former Saddam Hussein presidential compound here to Iraqi government officials in a ceremony in Mosul July 20.
The Mosul VIP Residence site, built over 2.2 square kilometers and completed in 1994, contained Saddam Hussein's northernmost presidential site and includes several palaces and VIP residences, three lakes, and man-made waterfalls. According to the complexs pre-war caretaker, it was built for Saddam Husseins son, Qusay. Apparently, neither Hussein nor his sons actually stayed there.
The main palace has been home to the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Division Main Command Post, Task Force Olympia CP, and Task Force Freedom CP, situated in one of the former regime's palace buildings overlooking the Tigris. The compound has also served as headquarters during some of its greatest successes in Iraq. Notable among those many successes was the May 5, 2003 Mosul city and Ninewa provincial council elections, the first post-Saddam Hussein election in Iraq.
While serving as northern headquarters, it played host to many VIPs and dignitaries, among them: Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld; Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice; Secretary of Army Francis J. Harvey; nearly every U.S. Senator; comedian Robin Williams; and actor Bruce Willis.
Since the departure of Task Force Freedom in December 2005, the compound has been home to elements of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team and other coalition forces. Earlier this year, they began the task of vacating and restoring the compound in order to hand it over.
July 19, 2006: Israel reported it's aircraft have destroyed an Iranian Zelzal ballistic missile in southern Lebanon. The Zelzal is a 610mm, 50 foot long, 3.5 ton missile with a range of 160 kilometers, and carrying a 1,300 pound high explosive warhead. The missile can also carry chemical or biological weapons in its warhead, but there was no evidence of this in the Zelzal that Israel destroyed. The Zelzal does uses a crude guidance system, which would be adequate against large urban areas. The missile is carried, and launched from, a special heavy truck. Development on the Zelzal began in the mid-1990s.
The Zelzal has a solid fuel rocket motor, and thus creates a characteristic smoke and light show when the rocket motor is set off by a nearby explosion. Lebanese photos of a Zelzal missile crashing to the ground (after the rocket motor partially ignited after a missile from an Israeli F-15 hit it), were mistakenly labeled by Arab media as an Israeli F-16 crashing, after being hit by Lebanese anti-aircraft fire. But a close examination of the photo shows it is not a jet fighter coming down. There were reports of Hizbollah receiving Iranian missiles, via Syria, in 2004. There has also been evidence of Syrian, Russian made, BM-27 rockets being fired into northern Israel.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
10:29 ||
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#1
Syrian, Russian made, BM-27 rockets being fired into northern Israel - how much is this piece of info effecting the admin position Tony Snow just got done with saying it was a total waste of time to ever talk to Assad or when alive his dad.
July 19, 2006: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is still investigating a recent incident in which a large pipe bomb was found floating in Lake Pontchartrain, north of New Orleans. The device was examined, it was definitely a floating bomb, and was detonated while still on the water. While not a large explosive device, it reminded everyone at DHS that a major terrorist threat is the destruction of one of the railroad bridges over the Mississippi river. These bridges carry a major amount of freight traffic, and the loss of even one of them (if only for a few weeks, while being repaired) would have a noticeable effect on the economy. Al Qaeda knows about this, thus counter-terrorism officials are trying to found out who made the Lake Pontchartrain bomb. That's because this device had all the hallmarks of a test, for a larger bomb capable of dropping one of the nearby Mississippi river bridges.
I searched Google and Ask news and couldn't find any mention of this incident. Anyone else have any details?
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
10:24 ||
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#1
Haven't seen anything here. Could have been just a piece of July 4 fireworks that didn't go off maybe.
#7
Carbide and dynamite fishing are popular among certain groups - saves on the time involved. Of course, it is illegal as all hell.
And when da game warden was through saying that, Boudreaux went and lit another stick of dynamite, handed it to the game warden and said "Do you wanna talk or do you wanna fish?"
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Nikolaevsk, Alaska ||
07/19/2006 15:04
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#12
My nephew, who works in a national chain store in Mandeville, reported to his dad that a man of Middle Eastern descent recently purchased 25 prepaid, disposable, cell phones , for cash. He thought it fairly odd and reported it to the local sheriff's office; they treated him as if he was a nut. Seems fishy to me.
#13
Suggest that your nephew call the FBI and Homeland Security, too, Fantod. The local guys aren't necessarily as aware of these things as we are here.
Most of them are Shi'ite Muslims, many of whom hold dual U.S. and Lebanese citizenship. Many are anchor babies born here to Muslims in the U.S. illegally. Some are illegal aliens who became citizens through rubber-stamping Citizenship and Immigration Services (and its INS predecessor) coupled with political pressure by spineless politicians.
Of the 25,000 American citizens and green-card holders in Lebanon, at least 7,000 are from Dearborn, Michigan, the heart of Islamic America, and especially Shia Islam America. These 7,000 are mostly Shi'ite Muslims who openly and strongly support Hezbollah. Ditto for many of the rest of the 25,000 that are there.
Many of the 7,000 plus Detroiters in Lebanon are active in Dearborn's Bint Jbeil cultural center (the Lebanese American Heritage Club also features mostly Hezbollah fans). Bint Jbeil is a Hezbollah-dominated city in the South of Lebanon, a frequent destination of Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, who is very at home there. Bint Jbeil is a frequent source of shellings on Northern Israel.
Bint Jbeil natives now living in our country so strongly support Hezbollah that they got Republican Congressman Joe Knollenberg (and his then top staffer, Paul Welday) and then-U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham to give Hezbollah forces in Southern Lebanon about $86 million of our tax money, no strings.
Given this information, and the fact--as I've detailed numerous times on this site--that several Shi'ite Muslim Lebanese U.S. citizens from Dearborn have been indicted and/or convicted of laundering money to Hezbollah, is it a good idea to rush to bring 25,000 such persons back to the U.S. at a time when Hezbollah is at war against the strongest U.S. ally?
Does the fact, that Hezbollah numerous times--and especially now--has announced veiled and not-so-veiled intentions to attack Americans on U.S. soil, necessitate urgently bringing these terror-sympathizing Americans back to U.S. soil? Many are individuals whose activity should have mandated prosecution and jail-time. But they are free because of a spineless U.S. Attorney (and, incredibly, Bush Federal Court of Appeals nominee), Stephen Murphy III a/k/a "Abu Porno," and equally weak federal law enforcement chiefs of Michigan FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who pander to them.
These are people who hold U.S. citizenship but support a group that murdered over 300 U.S. Marines and civilians, some through torture; a group that is part of the Al-Qaeda network; a group that trains insurgent terrorists against our troops in Iraq, giving them IEDs to blow our soldiers up; a group that worked with Qaeda to bomb the Khobar Towers. Americans who support this group are not American. They merely possess the proper paperwork.
And they are very dangerous. One of them, Lola Elzein--a student at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and an officer of the Hezbollah-supporting Arab American PAC--threatened my life and that of my family members because I've written about the group's Detroit-area extremist Hezbollah sympathizers. Hezbollah's violence has already arrived in America, and we don't need to pay to transport 25,000 of its sympathizers back to our shores from their chosen vacation destination.
While the government has announced it will charge these individuals for the expensive transport out of Lebanon via Cyprus back to the U.S., the feds say they will accept IOUs for that transport. Think we'll get the money back? Just ask the Katrina aid administrators.
**** UPDATE, 11:08 p.m.: Even more outrageous, our government has now relented and will not charge these people for exorbitant, tax-paid transport back to the U.S. $3,000 per person on the U.S. taxpayer dime. This is ABSURD! And unprecedented (in other airlifts/evacuations, Americans must pay). Who told them to visit Lebanon? Not us (State Dept. warned against travel to Lebanon). Just Sheikh Nasrallah. Let him and his Iranian/Syrian patrons pay. ****
Do you want your tax dollars to subsidize Hezbollah supporters' return to America? Are these the kind of U.S. citizens we badly need back in our country at this time?
Should Hezbollah supporters be transported on a ship named for one of the most heroic events in U.S. history, the U.S.S Iwo Jima? Should U.S. tax dollars fund the charter of commercial ships to transport the rest of these terror-sympathizers?
The instant answer from all freedom-loving Americans to these questions should be a loud "NO."
These people went to Hezbollah-dominated Lebanon of their own accord. And they were safe there because they support the terrorist group. Now, their fortune has changed. Tough.
It is not the responsibility of U.S. taxpayers to rescue terrorist-supporters who voluntarily went to a dangerous area...just because their whines are loud and annoying.
We are picking up the tab for this unfortunate rescue. U.S. funds used to rescue terrorist-sympathizers--YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK.
So, is America too slow to get these undesirable U.S. citizens out of Lebanon? On the contrary, not slow enough.
#2
Those who are not loyal to Americans are not themselves Americans. FBI eyes Hizbollah in US as tensions with Iran rise American law enforcement officials are concerned the Lebanon-based Hizbollah, which has so far focused on fund-raising and other support activities inside the United States, could turn to violence in solidarity with Iran. "If the situation escalates, will Hizbollah take the gloves off, so to speak, and attack here in the United States, which they've been reluctant to do until now?" said William Kowalski, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI in Detroit.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2006 12:55
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#3
I have the same reservations about the 40,000 "Canadians" in Lebanon. That is one wack-load for a country with our population. I'm not happy about a mass evacuation without some very pointed questions and vetting.
#6
Internment camps? If US citizen Muslims started blowing up stuff in the US the libs would just blame Bush for inciting them. Only thing they could do to upset the left in this country is drive SUVs or smoke cigarettes.
July 19, 2006: The Chinese-designed C-802 missile that damaged an Israeli Saar 5-class corvette recently has implications beyond the present conflict in Lebanon. It shows that the threat of a transfer of weapons technology, from a state sponsor of terrorism like Iran, to a terrorist group, is very real.
Transferring an anti-ship missile like the C-802 is very difficult. Anti-ship missiles are big (the C-802 weighs 1500 pounds and is 21 feet long), and the launch vehicles are going to be about as big as a tractor-trailer rig. This is a system that is conspicuous, and hard to hide. The other thing to consider is that other stuff could be transferred as well. China has provided Iran at least 75 of these missiles, which have been installed on a variety of Iranian vessels (including newly-acquired missile boats from China, as well as older Sa'am-class frigates and Kaman-class patrol craft). China, of course, has received missile technology transfers from Israel (albeit this technology was for the Patriot surface-to-air missile, and had nothing to do with Chinese anti-ship missiles an Israeli sale of its Phalcon AEW system was aborted). Israel also turned over data from the Lavi project, which later was used in the J-10 program.
Iran's transfer of C-802 missiles (along with the training to use them) is not the only such threat that has been worried about. One of the reasons that the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq was the possibility of the transference of chemical or biological weapons. The amount of these weapons needed to cause mass casualties are small and artillery shells full of sarin nerve gas or mustard gas are much smaller than a C-802. Vials of anthrax, ricin, or smallpox are even smaller. The thought of weapons of mass destruction possibly getting into the hands of terrorists who are willing to die to complete their mission warranted removal of Saddam Hussein's regime, which had not shown the ability to transfer weaponry to terrorists (although Saddam Hussein was willing to cut $25,000 checks to the families of murder-suicide bombers).
Iran, though, now has been known to provide Hezbollah with anti-ship missiles. In a very real sense, the Iranian transfer of at least two such missiles has highlighted the threat posed by state sponsors of terrorism. If something like an anti-ship missile can be transferred, with all the inherent transportation difficulties moving one entails, what else has Iran given Hezbollah? And what else would Iran be willing to transfer if they were to have the opportunity? These are questions that will make world leaders very nervous.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
10:10 ||
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#1
China, of course, has received missile technology transfers from Israel (albeit this technology was for the Patriot surface-to-air missile... Israel also turned over data from the Lavi project (An F-16 derivative development paid for with US tax dollars. Including handing over the very tricky avionics source code.), which later was used in the J-10 program.
Thanks Israel. May we get the chance you screw you back some day. In the mean time, America will keep the checks coming.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2006 13:30
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(via anti-Mullah blog, salt to taste)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad has declared he will make an announcement - earliest on Wednesday July 19th, 2006 or in the next few days which:
"WILL LET THE MOSLEM WORLD AROUND THE GLOBE KNOW THAT AFTER THE ANNOUNCEMENT THEY WILL NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT ISRAEL'S NUCLEAR ARMS OR NUCLEAR CAPABILITY EVER AGAIN"
This provides three possible scenarios:
1. Iran is about to nuke Israel.
2. Iran will declare they have nuclear capability with at least four missiles with NUCLEAR warheads (common knowledge in intelligence circles) that can easily reach all of Israel and threaten to use these against Israel if that country does not immediately cease attacks on the Hezbollah and Lebanon.
3. In the event that Israel does not immediately comply, Iran will declare war on Israel and fire nuclear missiles, which would not leave much of a country over which any more fighting is logical.
HOPED FOR RESULT: Depending on the extent of damage to Israel and the ability of that country to continue as a nation in a radioactively polluted environment, already weak-kneed Western powers will call for creating non-aggression pacts with nuclear Iran.
He has already told a group of Arabs meeting in Tehran around the time the Hezbollah/Hamas attacks began a similar general concept:
RIA Novosti reported that just before the attacks by Hamas and Hezbollah on Israel. Ahmadinejad addressed a high-profile Muslim forum held in Tehran saying "the main issue faced by the Islamic world is Israel's existence. The Islamic countries should mobilize their efforts to do away with this issue," and that "all the conditions for eliminating the Zionist regime" are "currently in place."
#2
the main issue faced by the Islamic world is Israel's existence.
Leaving aside the ugly implications, this is totally hilarious. Your governments suck, your people are uneducated, your economies unproductive, your science non-existant and you are worried about 6 million Israelies. Them evil Jooz is certainly influential sumbitches! I don't know whether to laugh or weep.
#3
I think, no, I know Israel would have their missiles in the air before the Iranian missiles hit. There would be no Iran left either. What the U.S. would do is a mystery to me , but I'm sure it would include some very strong language in a UN draft.
#4
Heh, SteveS. Reminds me of the BrilliantMoronBusHitler...
It seems to be a fact that moonbats and muzzies (muzzbats) are unique in that they have a special "ability" to hold multiple contradictory "beliefs" simultaneously, apparently without the pesky migraines it causes the rest of humanity.
As a magnetic "bottle" can contain plasma, the muzzbat mind can contain cognitive dissonance.
#5
bigjim-ky: I disagree. Both the US and Israel have spent a fortune on building layered anti-missile defenses against Iran. We will defend Israel, so they won't have to use their nukes to do so.
The Israelis have 3 Patriot batteries in Haifa against any Syrian missiles, and the Arrow ABM system against Iran. The US has Patriots, PAC-3s, maybe THAAD, which is under "emergency" production, and indeterminate airborne assets.
The best the Iranians have is a recent Chinese MIRV arrival that might be good enough to evade Arrow, but everything else is 1960s technology.
I will also note that a big concern of mine, that Iran might attack one of our carrier fleets, seems to be moot, as there hasn't been a US carrier in the Persian Gulf or Arabian Sea for weeks now.
We do have a Command ship in the Red Sea, along with its escorts. And, of course, we aren't saying diddly about our bases in Iraq or Bagram in Afghanistan.
And, on the plus side, if Iran does launch anything, assuming a shoot down, Iran will be our bitch. That will invoke all sorts of Cold War protocols which will mean that Russia and China and France *have* to back off and let us do anything we want to.
#6
And the other reason that the Arabs won't have to worry about Israeli nuclear arms ever again? They will used in their entirety during the Israeli retaliation, known as the Sampson Option. The sudden loss of say 30% of the Arab population will be balanced by the loss of all major urban centers in the Arab world. No worries about a collapsing real estate market there.
#7
Neither Israel nor the United States would suffer a nuclear Iran.
If Iran fires missiles at Israel from Iranian territory, that's effectively a declaration of war against Israel and the United States. An invitation to all-out war against Iran.
If Iran announces that it has nuclear capabilities, but does not torch one off, it invites attack by the United States which says it will not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. It also invites attack by Israel which absolutely cannot tolerate even the potential of a nuncear-armed Iran.
Either way, Iran ends up on the business end of a very large smoking gun.
Iran and Ahmaneedastraightjacket is inviting not only war, but courting national extinction with its rhetoric.
#8
Neither Israel nor the United States would suffer a nuclear Iran.
If Iran fires missiles at Israel from Iranian territory, that's effectively a declaration of war against Israel and the United States. An invitation to all-out war against Iran.
If Iran announces that it has nuclear capabilities, but does not torch one off, it invites attack by the United States which says it will not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. It also invites attack by Israel which absolutely cannot tolerate even the potential of a nuncear-armed Iran.
Either way, Iran ends up on the business end of a very large smoking gun.
Iran and Ahmaneedastraightjacket is inviting not only war, but courting national extinction with its rhetoric.
#9
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad would not be any less sane on LSD!
Fricking mental cases!
The main problem with muslims is that the make their insane raving lunatics into leaders instead of instutionalizing them and dosing them with at the minimum thorazine!
#10
The dumbasses in charge think they can weather a US and Israeli attack, then rebuild their nukes. The counter to that, which I've long advocated, will be to partition Iran. Doing so will solve several problems.
First of all, Persia will no longer dominate the region, it will be on more of a par with all the other countries in the area. Second, they will no longer have the oil to pay for nuke tech, nor the uranium mines to get the ore.
Second, the US won't have to invade Persia, which is the tough nut. It can carve up the rest of Iran by blasting hell out of their army and revolutionary guard. Since those parts will all be incorporated into other countries, they will be hard to win back.
Kurdish Iran to Kurdistan. SW Arab Iran to Iraq. Northwest Iran to Azerbaijan, and Baluchistan to Pakistan. Azerbaijan is the only weak nation in the bunch, so US forces will have to stay in their new territories for a long time.
Persia itself will evolve in an odd direction, hopefully to give up on the mullahtocracy and become more cosmopolitan centered.
#11
Having salted to taste, I
followed the links back to
http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20060715/51404951.html
This is a Russian news analysis, I especially like the irony in paragraph #3 and the overt suggestion that Putin thinks AmmadandIneedajihad lied to him personally.
Posted by: J. D. Lux ||
07/19/2006 14:15
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#12
On his belmont blog Wretchard had this statement to make about rocketing Hafia which applies here too:
At a meeting between RAND and the Airforce in the 1950s, one analyst sketched out the logic behind counterforce. It went thus: if you strike a country's weapons with nukes without touching his cities, your deterrence does not diminish, because despite the fact that he has been stricken, you have your hostages still. When Hezbollah struck Haifa, it did a very subtle thing. It killed the hostage.
This destroyed any Israeli incentive for restraint. Now it knows that Hezbollah is only limited by capability. Hezbollah's intentions have already been revealed. It is worse if the trigger were pulled from Teheran. In that case, there is even less of case for restraint.
These events put the IDF on the road they are on. All paths now lead lead to dark places.
#13
"All paths now lead lead to dark places." Well, that summs it all up very nicely. My question to everybody on the home front is this: when the Iranians light the candle will the North Koreans do the same? If so, where? California? Hawaii?
#16
It seems to be a fact that moonbats and muzzies (muzzbats) are unique in that they have a special "ability" to hold multiple contradictory "beliefs" simultaneously, apparently without the pesky migraines it causes the rest of humanity.
KARACHI -Pakistani police arrested an activist from a banned Sunni Muslim group in connection with a suicide attack in Karachi last week that killed a rival Shiite cleric, police said on Wednesday. Arshad Khan, from the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi extremist outfit, was seized on Tuesday in a raid in Hyderabad, 170 kilometers (105 miles) north of Karachi, officials said. A Kalashnikov rifle and a hand grenade were also found. We are interrogating him to know whether he has links or involvement in the killing of Hassan Turabi, Mazhar Mashwani, an investigator in the criminal investigation department, told AFP.
Shiite religious leader Turabi and his young nephew were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up outside the clerics house in Karachi on July 14, sparking riots by enraged supporters. Turabi was the Sindh province president of Shiite party Islami Tehrik. His party is a member of the countrys main alliance of religious parties, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, with suspected links to Osama bin Ladens Al-Qaeda network, is among the fiercest militant groups in Pakistan and has been blamed for dozens of attacks on Shiites. The group has also been linked to the 2002 murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl and two failed attempts in 2003 on the life of President Pervez Musharraf, who is a key ally in the US-led war on terror.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
09:28 ||
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Kyrgyz security forces have arrested five men accused of participating in organizing unrest in the Uzbek town of Andizhan last year, officials said on Wednesday. According to the Reuters news agency, Uzbekistan has already pressured impoverished neighbor Kyrgyzstan to extradite refugees who it says are Islamic terrorists responsible for the Andizhan violence. Human rights groups say Uzbekistan uses the threat of militant Islam as an excuse to clamp down on dissent.
On Wednesday, Kyrgyzstans SNB security service said the five men had confessed to being members of a group that the Uzbek authorities blame for the unrest. Five Uzbek citizens have been detained in (Kyrgyzstans southern town of) Osh. They confessed that they are members of Akromiya and that they were linked to the Andizhan events, said an SNB officer responsible for media contacts.
In May 2005, witnesses in Andizhan estimated troops killed hundreds when they fired on a large crowd of people who had gathered in the center of town near a government building that had been seized by armed men. The unrest was prompted by the jailbreak of 23 Muslim businessmen who were on trial in Andizhan for religious extremism and accused of creating Akromiya, which the authorities say is an extremist sect.
Uzbekistan denies its troops killed civilians in Andizhan. It claims that 187 people died there when security forces moved against foreign-financed terrorists whose aim was to overthrow the government and establish an Islamic caliphate.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
09:11 ||
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US-led and Afghan forces say they have retaken two Taleban-held towns in the southern Afghan province of Helmand. Taleban fighters had seized the areas of Garmser and Naway-i-Barakazayi earlier in the week. Two Afghan soldiers were slightly hurt in the operation, the US-led coalition said. There have also been reports that many locals have fled the area.
General Rahmatullah Roufi, an Afghan army commander, told the Associated Press that hundreds of troops had battled Taleban fighters before entering Garmser on Tuesday. "Our troops launched an attack on Garmser and thank God we captured it," he said. The operation in Garmser followed a similar operation to retake the town of Naway-i-Barakazayi.
US military spokesman Lt Col Paul Fitzpatrick said Afghan and coalition forces "skirmished" with Taleban fighters outside Garmser but met no resistance once inside. "The Taleban appears to be bullying their way around some of the smaller towns in remote areas, but they have no capability to lay claim to any piece of ground," he said. The two towns are both a few miles west of Lashkar Gah, where the British military operation centre is based.
The US-led coalition has said a massive military operation has seriously disrupted Taleban fighters in southern Afghanistan, particularly in the districts of Sangin, Musa Qala and Baghran in Helmand province. "Afghan and coalition forces in the last week have killed numerous lower and mid-level commanders that the senior Taleban leadership rely on to intimidate villages, threaten elders and lead small bands of extremists to conduct attacks on Afghan and coalition forces," a statement on Tuesday said.
The statement also confirmed that a coalition soldier had died on Monday in neighbouring Uruzgan province. The nationality of the dead soldier has not yet been released. The troops came under fire after destroying a truck that militants were loading in Tarin Kowt district. Eleven other soldiers were wounded, the coalition said.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
08:57 ||
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#1
so much for the "Summer Offensive"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/19/2006 9:53
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#2
You can bet that the Taliban will be temporarily seizing other towns as much as they can. This is the closest thing they have ever done to having a success, if not a victory.
Beirut, 19 July (AKI) - Lebanese Interior Minister Hamad Fatfat on Wednesday warned truckdrivers to keep their vehicles off the country's roads to avoid becoming targets of Israeli bombings. Israeli aircraft which Wednesday strafed Lebanese territory for the sixth straight day have recently been concentrating their attacks on trucks which Israel says could be used to transport rockets and other weapons used by Hezbollah guerrillas. On Wednesday morning Israeli fire hit two trucks in Beirut's Christian Ashrafiyye district. The trucks were however not carrying weapons but irrigation and drilling equipment instead.
Meanwhile Syria has denied Israeli claims that it is sending weapons and supplies to Hezbollah under the guise of convoys carrying humanitarian aid for lebanon. A Syrian government source also accused the Israelis of targeting a convoy carrying medical supplies from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which, it said was traveling under the banner of the Red Crescent relief organisation.
The Red Crescent in the UAE also condemned the incident, saying that the attack on iits convoy in Lebanon was a violation by the Israelis of international norms governing humanitarian aid distribution.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006
08:55 ||
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#1
This is quickly turning into a CHARLIE FOXTROT.
How smart would it be to carry long cylindrical materials in your truck bed on a Lebavese road right now?
(Assuming it wasn't Hezb rockets, and I'm betting it was)
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/19/2006 9:55
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#3
The trucks were however not carrying weapons but irrigation and drilling equipment instead.
A truck carrying long cylindrical objects and the framework to set them upright? Unfortunate, but an easy mistake to make in a war zone. Assuming this is true. Were they on their way to a wedding party?
As for the ambulances, how about a peek inside? Given the arab fondness for deceit and treachery, color me sceptical.
BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 19 (UPI) -- As many as 500 Hezbollah missiles will target Tel Aviv soon, but residents will be given one hour's notice to flee, a Palestinian news agency reports.
"Hassan Nasrallah will address the people of Tel Aviv and warn them to evacuate the city within one hour," the Ma'an report said. "As soon as the delay ends, hundreds of heavy missiles will start landing in the city, which has been divided into squares in order to let damage reach every inch of the city. An estimated 500 missiles are expected to land in Tel Aviv in a short period of time."
Sources told the news agency other "surprises" planned by Hezbollah include more kidnappings of Israeli soldiers... When Hezb threatens like this, you know Israel is winning.
#1
And a 1 hour notice will give IDF enough time for some blanket bombing. But it's the thought that counts - oh, and the TeeWee appearance. Pls do "address" the people of Tel Aviv. Live please. And with location-identifying background shots.
#2
I love that they verbally prove Israel right every time they open thier mouth. What country in thier right mind would let one party of a country have weapons like this on thier border? Would we allow a Mexican gang on our southern border with weapons like this?
#3
Just heard that Hezbollah attacked and killed two people in Nazareth. On top of that, the deaths were supposedly in the reputed boy-hood home of Jesus.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/19/2006 10:21
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#5
doesn't Israel have anything larger to throw at these animals than 155mm cannon rounds? Don't they have rockets too, big ones? Why the hell don't they burn that dump? I don't understand.
#6
bigjim-ky, they do, but the ROE is not to waste ammo on uncertain targets. They want to be sure that when they deploy something bigger, it wouldn't be just for sound effects.
Debka attempts to become the New York Times of Israel
DEBKAfile Exclusive: Israels ground operations in Lebanon and strikes against Syria are clandestine and go well beyond official statements. Israeli spokesmen speak only of small ground crossings into the south and air strikes against several war material trucks crossing in from Syria. However, according to DEBKAfiles military sources, those ground incursions extend to central and eastern Lebanon as well as the south, targeting Hizballah strongholds and launching sites, and include several cross-border raids into Syria in pursuit of fleeing Hizballah terrorists and for the interception of incoming groups. Weapons convoys destined for Hizballah are also being struck on the Syrian side of the border. To conceal the extent of their losses, Hizballah has instructed its people not to hold burials.
Well, it's not like Hizballah doesn't already know there's a Jooooo plotting behind every tree. It's just now they've got guns and laser targeting gear.
#1
Well, the msm cable channels reported yesterday or perhaps the day before that Israeli wartime censorship was in effect for the media. At the time, the newscasters were simply focused on showing damage in Israel, but I suppose operations like this would be subject to censorship, too. Wel'll see if this is confirmed.
#2
You guys are obsessed with salting Debka, obsessed I tell ya. No wonder the dead sea has 6 times the salt content of sea water, what with all the run off from the Rantburg salting.
You just make sure you keep that salt away from my fried peanut butter and nanner sammiches tho.
Posted by: Evil Elvis ||
07/19/2006 9:07
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#3
Wouldn't surprise me a bit if the IDF was doing air-mobile assaults to destroy isolated pockets of HA. It's what I'd do if I were me - air to kill the launchers and stop movement and resupply, air-assault against whatever presents itself, and finally ground forces to clean up.
Remember that Hezballah *wants* and is ready for the glory of a big battle againsts Israeli 'invaders'. Like Sun Tzu says, never box with boxers or wrestle with wrestlers.
#5
My rule for Debka is that they usually are pretty close for local military actions, unless politics is involved. Their accuracy takes a dive the further they are away from Israel/Palestine. They have no grasp whatsoever of US politics or military affairs.
I wish that Mossad would set up a front website like Debka, to get out the Mossad take on things, that is, to publicize info they wanted to get out but the MSM didn't. Such a site would have all sorts of uses.
#6
The more missles that hit Israel, the more pissed off Israel is going to be. I don't believe Hezbollah is on a suicide mission, so I'm of the belief that Iran is giving the orders and the weapons. Israel is doing the world a favor by targeting Hezbollah and eliminating them.
These are happy times.
DEBKAfile Exclusive: Following strenuous morning workouts, Tiger Woods is eating Swedish Pancakes, Lingonberries and powdered sugar are also said to be potentially involved.
I love these stories. They drive the Greenies nuts. EVERY cloud has a silver lining. A contaminated lake designated hazardous is turning out to be a source of novel chemicals that could help fight migraines and cancer.
"It's exciting to know that something toxic and dangerous might contain something of value," says Andrea Stierle, a chemist at the University of Montana in Butte.
Berkeley Pit Lake, also in Butte, filled with groundwater after the copper mine closed in 1982. Dissolved metal compounds such as iron pyrites give the lake a pH of 2.5 that makes it impossible for most aquatic life to survive. In 1995 Stierle discovered novel forms of fungi and bacteria in the lake. More recently her team has found a strain of the pithomyces fungi producing a compound that binds to a receptor that causes migraines and could block headaches, while a strain of penicillium fungi makes a different compound that inhibits the growth of lung cancer cells.
This week they reveal that a novel compound called berkelic acid from another new strain of penicillium fungus reduces the rate of ovarian cancer cell growth by 50 per cent (Journal of Organic Chemistry, vol 71, p 5357).
Stierle is rushing to identify more of these extremophile creatures before the toxic site is cleaned up.
The explosion in bioinformatics and high-speed screening techniques is allowing companies to survey greater numbers of microorganisms for desired biocatalytic activity, she says. Advances in "directed evolution" methods for tailoring these organisms also play a role.
Such techniques, de Brabander says, allow companies to survey more potential biocatalysts faster than ever before.
You'll find it about halfway down in the link. Seems some of these extremophile bugs have been identified as particularly useful as biocatalysts.
#3
2b, this is not my area, but I understand they have machines that profile compounds to see if they have potential in certain areas. The biotech companies use them so I assume they work.
#4
2b, you don't need a lung cancer patient to test fungi if they have an effect on lung cancer cells. All you need is a culture in a petri dish (or more of them thereof to get some statistical correlations).
Cancer cells, due to their chemistry that differs from normal cells, are susceptible to certain toxins. For instance, hydrocyanic acid in dosages that are relatively safe for normal cells kills off cancer cells like there's no tomorrow. Of course, you need at least healthy liver to process the resulting waste.
#5
2b, there is a long, proud history in medicinal chemistry of looking for new compounds in the strangest places. A fair number of medicinal chemists have made their careers poking around in strange plants, sponges, fungi, etc. There are numerous biomedical journals devoted completely to the topic.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/19/2006 10:54
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#6
Does anyone else find it ironic that a polluted lake is named Berkeley. Talk about driving the greenies nuts...
For as long as one can remember, the Chhattisgarh region of Bastar - divided since 1999 into the three districts of Bastar, Kanker and Dantewada - has been a living museum of human history. At one time among India's largest districts - at 39,000 square km old Bastar was bigger than Israel; even today Dantewada covers more territory than Nagaland - Bastar is home to India's most enchanting aboriginal civilisation. For years, it was a university as it were for anthropologists studying tribal life, culture and craft.
Life here wasn't always an idyll - tribal human development indices are consistently below the national average - but there was a quaintness and charm to tribal society. In recent times, the Maoists have attempted to throttle it, local residents said. The reaction this caused was the trigger for salwa judum.
How did the Maoists seek to "violate tribal life"? A district official explained, "The weekly haat (barter market) is the lifeline of the tribals. It is the place they come to, from miles and miles away, to exchange livestock and food and other utility items. It is like a mini-fair, where they meet and gossip."
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Posted by: john ||
07/19/2006
07:28 ||
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#1
Life here wasn't always an idyll - tribal human development indices are consistently below the national average - but there was a quaintness and charm to tribal society. In recent times, the Maoists have attempted to throttle it, local residents said.
This reminds me so much of the opening scenes of "2001"- but where is the monolith?
A UN official said Tuesday a state of emergency imposed on three insurgency-wracked south Thailand provinces was a license for police and military to "get away with murder." Earlier Tuesday, Thailand's Cabinet approved a three-month extension of the state of emergency in the Muslim-majority provinces of Yala, Narathiwat and Pattani. Emergency rule lets the government impose curfews, prohibit public gatherings, censor and ban publications, detain suspects without charge, confiscate property and tap telephones. It also affords officials legal immunity for acts, including killings, carried out under its provisions.
"The emergency decree makes it possible for soldiers and police officers get away with murder," said Philip Alston, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. He said this in a statement by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland.
Alston said parts of the decree violate international human rights law and ignore the right to life, and urged the government to repeal those parts. "Impunity for violence committed by the security forces has been an ongoing problem in Thailand, but the emergency decree has gone even further and makes impunity look like the official policy," Alston said in the statement.
The state of emergency was first imposed in July last year and must be renewed every three months. "The state of emergency is still needed for the administration in the three southern provinces, so the Cabinet has approved the proposal to extend the decree of a state of emergency for another three months," Deputy Prime Minister Chitchai Wannasathit said.
Human rights activists say the emergency rule has failed to contain growing violence in the area, and has worsened the situation by allowing violations of constitutional rights. The government's efforts to end the violence, focusing on tighter security, have met with little success, and some critics suggest more emphasis be given to economic development to win the support of southern Muslims. Many Muslims resent the central government and feel they are treated like second-class citizens in the predominantly Buddhist country.
#1
Sitting in his plush Geneva UN office generously provide by Other People's Money, Phillip Alston, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions - appointed by the Holy High Commissioner of UN Rapporteurs, wagged his perfectly manicured finger at Thailand's Democratically Elected Government for FINALLY taking its duty to protect its citizens seriously - and SPECULATED that the decree, lawfully promulgated by said Democratically Elected Government, might perhaps maybe possibly potentially be abused.
Then the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, appointed by the Holy High Commissioner of UN Rapporteurs, went to a sumptuous lunch, generously provided for such Holy High Rapporteurs by Other People's Money, in a perfectly safe secure lavish setting on the shores of Lake Geneve, confident he had properly executed the powers vested in him, satisfied in his position and his place, and especially pleased with the Dom vintage offered.
#3
Many Muslims resent the central government and feel they are treated like second-class citizens in the predominantly Buddhist country.
Yea, and government is trampling over their right to engage in their cultural activities such as headlopping and booming. In fact, they should be the first class citizens!
#8
Thailand should have done this years ago. Muzzies are not 2nd class citizens...no way in hell they could ever rate that high. They are invaders, wherever they park their useless asses. They intend to move in and take over. They have a RIGHT to do so. Some camel fu**ker told them so.
#9
Many Muslims resent the central government and feel they are treated like second-class citizens in the predominantly Buddhist country.
Unlike Buddhists in say, Saudi Arabia, who are treated as first-class citizens?
The sheer impudence of this UN drone parasite is disgusting. Who the friggin' hell does he think he is, telling a democratically elected government, that is trying to hold their country together, to start respecting 'human rights' of murderers.
Where was he when the teachers were being beheaded?
Swine.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/19/2006 15:00
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Suspected Islamist militants fired at a police patrol near Kashmir's holiest Muslim shrine on Wednesday, killing a policeman. "The shootout took place outside the Hazratbal shrine premises where security forces have cordoned off the area and a search operation is going on," a police official said.
Hazratbal, on the shores of Dal lake in the heart of Srinagar, the troubled Himalayan region's summer capital, houses what many in the Muslim-majority community believe to be a hair from the beard of the Prophet Mohammad.
Israel declared Tuesday it was ready to fight Hezbollah guerrillas for several more weeks, raising doubts about international efforts to broker an immediate cease-fire in the fighting that has killed more than 260 people and displaced 500,000. The military said early Wednesday it sent some troops into southern Lebanon in search of tunnels and weapons.
Despite the diplomatic activity, Israel is in no hurry to end its offensive, which it sees as a unique opportunity to crush Hezbollah. The Islamic militants appear to have steadily built up their military strength after Israel pulled its troops out of southern Lebanon in 2000.
Israeli warplanes struck an army base outside Beirut and other areas in south Lebanon on Tuesday, killing 27 people, and Hezbollah rockets battered Israeli towns, killing one Israeli. Five big explosions reverberated over Beirut early Wednesday, and missiles hit towns to the east and south of the capital.
At daybreak Wednesday, a small number of Israeli troops were operating just across the border inside southern Lebanon, looking for tunnels and weapons, the Israeli military said without providing any more details.
The incursion came a day after Israel indicated that it might send large numbers of ground troops into the southern Lebanon, but Israel's U.N. Ambassador Dan Gillerman denied Wednesday's operation was part of any such operation.
"What is going on at the moment is a number of Israeli ground troops very near to the border on the Lebanese side, trying to destroy some Hezbollah outposts," he told CNN.
"This is an operation which is very measured, very local," he said. "This is no way an invasion of Lebanon. This is no way the beginning of any kind of occupation of Lebanon." More
#3
The Israelis should take their time and be extra careful about civilian casualties. It would only take one major error to bring this to a premature end. Any ceasefire deal will have the release of the captured soldiers on the first line and the Hezzies aren't going to do that in a hurry, so there's plenty of time.
#6
Debka: Lebanese sources report first Israeli air strike in central Beiruts Ashrafiya district against a suspected heavy missile truck. They claim it was a municipal vehicle for clearing sewers.
I didn't know they used heavy missiles to clean their sewers! :-)
#8
Israel's response to the HezbAllah incursions, kidnappings, and rocket attacks is totally understandable. And predictable. And quite possibly wrong. One should be at least a little worrried about doing that which your enemy expects and even incites you to do (like head butting in response to a taunt in a World Cup game.)
The problem is that Israel cannot kill ALL of HezbAllah. Nor 'convert' them to peaceful practices. Nor are they likely to seriously impact Hezb'Allah's long-term weapons supply. What they may be doing is creating more future HezbAllah - people who might have been merely passive supporters becoming dedicated after having their kin killed and homes blown up. And reducing support within the rest of the Lebanese community. Sure, the Hezb are embedded among them, and sure, the non-Hezb aren't doing anything about it, but I figure it's like that psychological hostage syndrome, where they bond with their captors and reject their rescuers (probably out of some kind of guilt about not fighting their captors themselves.) Anyway, it strikes me as what the Israelis are facing in Lebanon.
So what IS the answer? I don't know. Killing everyone won't work (unacceptable to the civilized world.) Too late to just sit still and talk, but that wasn't likely to do any good either. Nuking Iran wouldn't be acceptable (until after Iran nukes them, which would be too late.) In the mid-term the approach taken seems likely to return to nearly the previous condition, with more but weaker enemies. Is there a way to use the weakened status of those enemies to 'convert' (revert) them? That's a political task, not a military one.
#9
Killing every Hesb is OK with me. Even if there is a lot of collateral damage. It's actually a lot nicer than what's going to happen later if we don't take care of this problem now.
And we don't need to kill every one. We didn't kill every Nazi or every Japanese Emperor worshipper. We just need to kill so many that the rest say "I'd rather change my mind and live than keep the faith and die." If it ends up meaning we do kill them all, it was by their own choice. They started this war and the question is who will finish it.
#10
wow, that is such a stretch for an analogy. A head butt for a taunt v/s rocket launches and kidnappings. Now perhaps if you had said that someone who is being stalked by someone who wants to rape and killt them should should be at least a little worrried about doing that which your enemy expects and even incites you to do it makes a bit more sense, though not in the same context.
Besides Gilmore, I bet that guy won't be taunting him anymore, now will he? And I suspect that in the context of survival, that's a result that Israel can live with.
#11
NS - you may well be right that killing them ALL now is not as bad as what would otherwise happen later (nuke Japan vs. invade.) But that's not going to happen. And it would be more like Japan than Germany - Germans were not fighting for a centuries-old, ingrained-from-birth religion like the Japanese. And of course Islam is even worse. And 'the world' is not ready to really face the problem yet - by the time they are it will, as you point out, be a lot worse.
#12
Glenmore, my mother used to tell me things are not good or bad. They are just better or worse than the alternatives.
And, democracy's great strength is that they try stuff and then discard what doesn't work (sure the process is often slow and painful).
Israel is trying the military route, because there isn't a better option on offer. Maybe it will work, maybe it will work for a while or maybe it won't work at all. We shall see.
Maybe next year or the year after there will be a better alternative, but right now they are doing the best thing possible - taking down as much of Hezbollah as they can until the people who matter say enough.
BTW, I hear Condi will be washing her hair for the next few days, so they still have time.
#13
2b - I am not disagreeing at all IN PRINCIPLE. Just concerned it may not be the most pragmatic path.
Adressing your stalker analogy - I'd be cautious trying to kill that stalker if it was clear he wanted me to try. Not saying I wouldn't do it, just that I would be real concerned about WHY he wanted me to try. I'm thinking along the lines of Custer and Little Big Horn here.
#14
Phil b
I concur. From the beginning the path taken may have been the best available. My real point is - what is the NEXT step? I don't believe a 'final solution' is it. And THIS phase won't last too much longer (how long can she wash her hair.) I hope people smarter than I (and maybe Kofi too) are gaming some longer-term political approaches.
#16
Debka: Lebanese sources report first Israeli air strike in central Beiruts Ashrafiya district against a suspected heavy missile truck. They claim it was a municipal vehicle for clearing sewers
The Yahoo news story on this strike has someone claiming the truck carried a drill for water. I think the vehicle was a fluffy bunny rescue van. Others think it was yellow duckie transport. Nobody really knows for sure.
#17
They are a death cult Glenmore, of course they will flock to whoever will get them killed the fastest. You cannot reason with them, you cannot bargain with them, you cannot give them the slightest bit of compassion or they mistake it for weakness and begin to foam at the mouth. All you can do with zealots is kill them, and keep killing them until you have rooted out the nest. Look at Afghanastan, we are annihilating the Taliwhackers left and right, only now is their appeal waning. Why? Because nobody wants to play for a losing team.
#19
We keep hearing the same argument for the Iraqi terrorists and the Taliban. The point is, both are weakening and only focused on a local struggle rather than a regional/global one. Tribal leaders in Afganistan and Pakland are asking the Americans to take prisoners instead of using smart bombs, since so many young men aren't returning home. Iraqi terrorists are scraping the bottom of the manpower barrel. Young arabs are wearning copies of American uniforms and acknowledge our military power. You don't have to kill everyone, just the fanatics and enough of the people that are swayed by them that the rest stay home and the people that oppose the fanatics start moving against them. A generation of young arab men are being wiped out. It is nessisary to clean out the death cult that their culture is obsessed with and start change. A large butcher's bill will have to be paid for the sins of the arab fathers. Change is now happening. We can't back off simply because we are weasy about the large death toll. It has to happen, or they will kill us.
#20
To get an idea of why Lebanon is where it is today read this thread. Skip to the third post and start reading about Syria's slaughter of many thousands of Lebanese.
#21
Glenmore: NS - you may well be right that killing them ALL now is not as bad as what would otherwise happen later (nuke Japan vs. invade.) But that's not going to happen. And it would be more like Japan than Germany - Germans were not fighting for a centuries-old, ingrained-from-birth religion like the Japanese. And of course Islam is even worse.
I'm afraid you have been misled about the fighting spirit of the Japanese. The Japanese lost a third of the dead suffered by the Germans during WWII. The Germans fought until their capital was overrun. The Japanese gave up well short of that. The Germans fought for four years against 80% of the US effort (20% was devoted to fighting the Japanese, against MacArthur's strenuous objections) and 100% of the British and Soviet efforts. The Japanese surrendered 3 months after 100% of the US effort was devoted to crushing them. The Germans lost four times the number of civilian deaths as the Japanese to Allied bombings. In terms of fighting spirit, the Germans beat the Japanese hands down - the numbers don't lie. Sure, the Japanese were Shintoists, but this did not make them fearless - they were certainly much more concerned about annihilation than the Germans who lost 10% of their population during WWII, as compared to only 2.5% of the Japanese population.
#22
Israeli bombers, which had been focusing on Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut, also hit a Christian suburb on the eastern side of the capital for the first time. The target was a truck-mounted machine that was used to drill for water but could have been mistaken for a missile launcher. The vehicle was destroyed, but nobody was hurt in that attack.
A truck-mounted well drilling rig, with the drill folded down over the cab for transport, would look exactly like a missile launcher from a distance. I'd have hit it myself.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006 10:10
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#23
ZF-
You just taught me something. I was basing my asssessment on the killed vs surrendered ratio on the islands like Okinawa, where I think surrenders were on the order of 1% and extrapolating.
#24
Steve - I made almost exactly the same comment in another thread :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/19/2006 10:24
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#25
Agree re: Islamic fanatics --
"You cannot reason with them,
you cannot bargain with them,
you cannot give them the slightest bit of compassion or they
mistake it for weakness."
In general, the Arab population will go a long with the perceived "winner" -- so it's important to clear the nest and target the important players--the ones who are organizers, leaders. But I don't see this ending any time soon. As I've said before, the motivation on the part of Islamics has a lot more to do with complex psychosexual issues, identity, developmental gaps, and issues of dysfunctional culture and family/community relationships, than it does with religion or politics. These guys each have a personal score to settle and have selected a scapegoat (the Jews/ the West) because, for various reasons, they cannot confront, and their society does not allow them to confront, the real enemy, nor does their society allow them to build in a direction away from the consequence of the negative influences that have been damaging to them. So all they're left with is fighting as an end-all "remedy" to their "problems." And, of course, there are others (the leaders, organizers) who, in addition to having their own driving issues, play on those same drives in the other young men, for reasons of personal enrichment and/or social recognition/power.
I love the US because there are actual avenues of redress which are supported by society, even for those who have endured the worst abuse, and there is opportunity to build in a prosocial way, in a different direction, so as to create a new future at the individual level. Compared to Arab fatalism, we have an almost polar-opposite view on life, and we'd all really like these guys to quit it so we can get on with things.
#27
#26, A more accurate question would be how many major cities were decimated.
We produced nearly the same amount of destruction when firebombing Dresden. I think we also produced more IMMEDIATE kills in Dresden than in either of the Nuked japanese cities.
You win a war by making your enemy incapable or unwilling to wage war.
#29
Dresden bombing death estimates vary wildly. From Wikipedia:
Civilian death estimates vary wildly largely as a result of propaganda figures which received widespread publicity at the time, however the most recently available evidence from Friedrich Reichart of Dresden City Museum points to 25,000 deaths, which is less than the number that died in Hamburg, but Dresden was a smaller city. Numbers between 25,000 140,000 have been used in official statistics with the communist authorities of Dresden increasing their estimates across time; estimates in Nazi Germany by the Ministry of Propaganda varied between 350,000 and 400,000. At that time, Dresden's population was 600,000, but up to 200,000 refugees were living in cramped apartments and passing through Dresden as the Russians were now only fifty miles away. The entire inner city (15 square kilometres) was utterly devastated, and other quarters were damaged to some degree, the many villa quarters, however, on average much less than others.
Many of the higher estimates are based on a fake TB47 report (which has been visibly altered by the simple expedient of adding a zero to the end of the totals). However the West German Federal Archive in Koblenz discovered a genuine copy of TB47. The official "Final Report and Situation (TB47)" produced by Reich Commander of the Order Police a month after the bombings. "TB47" is probably a reasonable guide to the order of casualty numbers. It states definite figures of between 18,000 and 22,000 with estimates of final numbers of 25,000 and includes the interesting sentence "Since rumours far exceed the reality, open use can be made of the actual figures."
The bombing of Hamburg likely killed more people:
On the night of July 27, shortly before midnight, 739 aircraft attacked Hamburg. A number of factors combined to give the enormous destruction that followed; the unusually dry and warm weather, the concentration of the bombing in one area and that the city's firefighters were unable to reach the initial fires - the high explosive "Cookies" used in the early part of the raid had prevented them getting into the center of the city from the periphery where they were working on the results of the 24th. The bombings culminated in the spawning of the so-called "Feuersturm" (firestorm). Quite literally a tornado of fire, this phenomenon created a huge outdoor blast furnace, containing winds of up to 240 km/h (150 mph) and reaching temperatures of 800°C (1,500°F). It caused asphalt on the streets to burst into flame, cooked people to death in air-raid shelters, sucked pedestrians off the sidewalks like leaves into a vacuum cleaner and incinerated some eight square miles (21 km²) of the city. Most of the casualties (40,000) caused by Operation Gomorrah happened on this single night.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/19/2006 12:18
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#30
The Jew haters at CNN just reported the EXACT town where the Israeli SF entered. There is big difference between reporting along a tank crew and pin pointing locations of SF. CNN called IDF to confirm, CNN said the IDF denied it but CNN reported that, even though IDF denied it, I saw ISF being dropped into this town. I won't repeat the town here for obvious reasons.
I don't why Israel won't kick out CNN. As student of the Bible, I don't want to use the words that I want use against CNN. I will say that, I have flames coming out of my ears. Man!! I can't believe it. The truth is, I do believe it.
#31
Phil_b, I strongly agree with your mother's "best alternative" view. You have to move based on the facts and alternatives at hand. The situation is the same in Iraq. Going in and taking down Saddam was, IMO, the best alternative that we faced at the time. Will our efforts succeed? Who knows! one scenario is that once we leave the Shiites and the Sunnis will likely slide into a civil war that will be extremely bloody. Pundits will say our effort was a total failure. But perhaps they will kill one another to an extent that they become exhausted and return to the roots of democracy that we provided them. We went through a civil war that killed over half a million soldiers and came out on the other side a stronger nation than when we went in. Perhaps they need the heat of that same crucible. Perhaps the Shiite Lebanese need it too. You can only play what if for so long when your people are being killed by someone. Your reaction may not be perfect, but it is the one you choose.
#32
"How many atomic bombs did the Germans get dropped on them?"
It was supposed to be a simultaneous nuclear strike on both Japan and Germany
Alas poor Adolph blew his brains out and Germany surrendered too soon.
Posted by: kelly ||
07/19/2006 15:26
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#33
kelly: Alas poor Adolph blew his brains out and Germany surrendered too soon.
There's a key distinction to be made here. Germany "surrendered" when it was overrun. The Japanese surrendered before the home islands were invaded, let alone overrun.
Of course he was justifying the large scale destruction of property. Not deliberate killing of civilians. AFAIK, the Army of the Tennessee, under Sherman, was no less respectful of civilian life than any other civil war army - IE not perfect, but certainly respecting the distinction between soldiers and civilians. And Sherman also advocated a "hard war" in the belief that victory could be achieved soon - he advocated a "soft peace". Clearly Sherman understood that tactics needed to be fitted to political realities.
The reality is that Israel is a nation of 5 million or so people. It CANNOT occupy populated portions of the arab middle east. It is dependent on foreign trade, and, (to a much lesser extent) on outside support. It CANNOT commit largescale destruction of civilian populations, even were it willing to.
These constraints are reality.
AFAICT Israels goals in the current war is to weaken Hezbollah, by destroying a large portion of its missile supply and other weapons, of its leadership and financial and organizational assets, and some portion of its personnel. All of these of course Hezb can, in theory, make good over time. However in the meanwhile Hezb will have lost both prestige and material power, weakening it in the byzantine political struggle in Lebanon. Further, Israel will have shown that Syria and Iran are unable to protect their protege, thereby weakening the prestige of Syria and Iran in the region. Ideally this might lead to regime change in one or both of those countries- but even if it does not, it shifts the political and diplomatic balance in the region. KSA, others, are more likely to look to the strong horse, esp when said horse has weakened the power they most fear.
If you know your life depends on the outcome of a game of chess, you play a careful game of positional chess. If youre playing for fun, you can send all your pieces to try to take the king immediately.
Israel knows how much is at stake. Their game is cautious. They will be happy if they can knock off a few pawns, and open up some lines of future attack. Some folks here will be screaming that theyve left their enemies rooks and bishops alive.
Note - positional chess is historically NOT the American way of war. It sure changes things when you have a GDP equal to a forth or more of the worlds total economy. Israel isnt in that position, and never will be. Even the US is moving away from that position. Positional chess is our destiny.
#36
Actually, the fire-bombing of Tokyo on the night of Mar 9-10 killed and injured more people than either of the atomic bombs dropped on Japan, and more than any single raid on any German city. A total of 334 B-29s dropped more than 2000 tons of incindiary bombs, destroyed almost 16 sqare miles of the city, and left 100,000 dead and almost a million injured. Source.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/19/2006 16:46
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#37
Patriot:
And we've not had a hostile Japanese round fired at us in over 60 years, probably never will again. I find Narita International very civilized. I smile when I see the words "Make in Japan." I enjoy Sushi now and then, and I'd shoot anyone who tries to touch my Nikon digital.
#38
You can also think of this war as an experiment. Can we convince Muslims to abandon Jihad (at least for a time) by hitting them hard enough? Or is the Shiva option is the only route to our own survival?
#39
hit a Christian suburb on the eastern side of the capital for the first time. The target was a truck-mounted machine that was used to drill for water but could have been mistaken for a missile launcher. The vehicle was destroyed, but nobody was hurt in that attack.
The Israeli's dodged a bomb. They need to confine strikes to the Hizballah and Shiite areas (raize it for all I care) and work out agreements w/ the Christians, Druze, and Sunnis that there will be no Hizb, Iranians or their weapons allowed in those areas. For an understanding that their will be no strikes in those areas, the Israelis receive assurances that any suspicious activity will be dealt with. The last thing the Israelis need is to have this turn into a Israel vs. Lebanon war. Apologize, offer cooperation to void such mistakes and offer compensation for the drilling truck and any collateral damage.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2006 19:29
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...or just sweeping excess clutter out of the attic before their move?
Our "public editor" Irwin Chusid sends along this remarkable account of yet another way the "Pinch" Sulzberger regime is destroying the New York Times franchise. Irwin says, "A friend at the New York Times emailed this note today. She gave permission to circulate it, though I deleted identifying names and modified job titles."
The old Times Building is now owned by Tishman-Speyer Realty Corp. Being the new owners, they sent a fire inspector about four months ago to check out the nooks and crannies of their building. On the 14th or 15th floor there is a quite large room that NO ONE ever enters. About two months ago I'm riding in the freight elevator with a few custodial gents. They're poring over an old payroll book. I ask them where they got it, and they tell me that they've been dumping shelves and shelves of them dating back to the turn of the last century (1900). The fire inspector and Tishman said "they're a hazard." I'm stumped. Didn't the NYT want ANY of them? For a historian they're the raw material of history. For example: what did that elevator operator and reporter earn in 1904? How many hours did they work?
The real compelling facts would be the roster of reporters. Before the 1920's stories rarely had bylines. Here were the lists of reporters whose names have been lost to history. Why not donate them to the Museum of the City of NY? Or the NY Historical Society? Out of hundreds, only two were salvaged -- one from 1906 with Adolph Ochs' signature signing off every week on the pay of these unknown men who made the paper the Great Gray Lady.
As I was looking at the payroll books I saw a bound volume of the Times from September 1963, and a bound volume of the "Western Edition" that spanned about two years. One of the men working on the removal noted that "there were hundreds of them." (Remember it took 3 to 4 months to clean out the room.) I opened the Sept 63 volume and laughed ... a hearty blackly humorous chuckle. On most pages where there was no byline, someone had inked in and revealed the names of the writers. "Special to the NYT ..." Mysteries uncovered. The writer of each editorial was also noted. (Herbert Matthews, Abe Raskin, on and on...) Of course!!! These were the bound REFERENCE copies FOR THE RECORD. All dumped in the year 2006. I don't know if there was a complete run of the paper. I doubt it. But even 50 years of them would have been valuable.
So who's to blame? Certainly not the janitors. They were following orders from above. Upper level management was asked and they passed it on down to (I think) Corporate Records (different than the Family and Company Archives), who also passed. No one with any, as they say in Yiddish, "saychil," historical understanding, ever bothered to look at them. They would have known right away that these volumes were priceless. I told [a colleague] about the loss, and he said, "Why didn't they ask me?" Because that would have meant more work.
It's a dangerous time here on W. 43rd St. We're moving into smaller digs so the emphasis is to dump, and since "everything is on the Internet," who needs this &*?!*%? I hold the Philistines controlling the Temple to blame for this disheartening wound.
The irony is that I heard several times that these bound volumes (of the daily) had been dumped years ago. A very cruel joke. Long gone, then they reappear for an instant, and then gone again ... forever.
I laughed quite a bit -- and then I was heartsick.
Posted by: The Ghost of Walter Duranty ||
07/19/2006 9:14
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#4
I have seen it in the corporate world before too... complete corporate histories tossed in the dumpster post mergers.
Usually happens when the manager over the facilities person gets RIFed. New "change management" team, usually young bucks, say "We are paying $110 a Sq ft to keep this stuff in downtown corporate HQ... Dump it, and any of the corporate knowledge that went with it.
I looked around one such room and found payroll documents with SS numbers all over the place, being thrown into open dumpsters.
I pointed it out to a manager (I was a consultant), he shrugged and said "..it's what the new guys wanted done".
Rep. Cynthia McKinney acknowledged about 12:50 a.m. that she is headed for a runoff election to see if she will represent the 4th District in Congress for a seventh term. With 98 percent of precincts reporting, McKinney had 46.9 percent of the vote, compared with 44.5 percent for Henry C. Hank Johnson Jr., a former DeKalb County commissioner. A third candidate, Alpharetta businessman John F. Coyne III, received 8.6 percent of the vote. A candidate must receive more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff. She pledged in a speech to fight for her seat. The battle is now engaged and we intend to win, she said. It is impossible to keep a good woman down. She also touted her opposition to the Iraq war and her ability to bring money to the district. I dont mind speaking truth to power and I intend to speak truth to empower, she said. The district encompasses most of DeKalb, half of Rockdale County and a sliver of Gwinnett County. A runoff will be held Aug. 8.
#5
djohn: Alpharetta is the VERY affluent, majority white, portion of Northern Fulton County (right next to North DeKalb County), so he actually doesn't even live in the District(?). That guy's votes, by and large, will go to Hank Johnson. Heavily Republican in the Northern parts of those 2 counties (DeKalb and Fulton). In fact, North DeKalb County has been completely embarassed by her (it's also very affluent) and they were the ones who switched parties 4 years ago and voted in the Donk Primaries to get Denisse Majette on the Donk ticket (instead of McKinney). She doesn't really show her face in North DeKalb. A buddy I work with lives in N. DeKalb (Dunwoody area) and says there are TONS of "Defeat McKinney" signs everywhere there.
Posted by: BA ||
07/19/2006 11:04
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#6
Of course, unless those same Repubs (in N. DeKalb) "switch" parties again to vote in the runoff, McKinney could win. Having seen them in action 4 years ago, though, I don't imagine that's the case. Of course, she could "get out the vote" in south DeKalb and still win too.
Posted by: BA ||
07/19/2006 11:06
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#7
#1 how brain-dead crushingly stupid do you have to be to vote for Cynthia McKinney?
Posted by: 2b 2006-07-19 08:33
I'm sorry 2b, even in Georgia, voter literacy tests were unfortunately outlawed many years ago.
#3
New Mexico is a poor place, with one of the highest proportion of people living on food stamps Its political tradition also long had a Latin American feel, based around a padrón system of clients and bosses. The bosses ran grocery stores, gave you credit, helped you if you needed a job. And all you had to do was vote for the Democrats New Mexican politics is still about jobs, contracts and personal loyalty, not ideology. And Mr. Richardson personifies this
True on face value, but...
New Mexico has the highest population of natives living mostly on tribal/reservation federal land in the lower 48 and the state can do nothing about the decades of what former Reagan Interior Secretary James Watts called the BIA, the model of failed welfare state. The pooling of the natives on federal reservations and everyone else into a single state average throws the statistics into a very suspect category. Those few tribes which discovered gambling and the former, native friendly, Republican governor Gary Johnson, are actually plowing their gains back into the community for vast improvements in the quality of life and opportunity. The comparison between what BIA wrought and what a few tribes themselves have done is as different as day and night. Once the tribes got some money, they discovered the incredible world of 'lobbyists. If you don't think that is important, then check the federal legislation on 'campaign reform' and look for the little exemption for tribal monies. Heh.
However, one of the nice sides to the whole situation is the animosity between the Natives and the Hispanics. The Natives still remember the oppression of their long past former Spanish masters and book no pandering to their egos by diversity proponents.
KABUL , Afghanistan Three extremists, who were visiting the compound of Mullah Zeino Bodeen, prematurely detonated an improvised explosive device on July 16 while they were working on the device. The explosion killed the Mullah and injured the three extremists. They should have used more explosives, being such dedicated followers of the Religion of Pieces.
The compound is located seven kilometers north of Salerno in Khowst Province.
Afghan National Police and Afghan Border Patrol searched the compound and are continuing to search the surrounding area for the three injured extremists. These extremists place no value on human life and continue to threaten the safety of the Afghan people, said Col. Thomas Collins, Coalition spokesman.
#5
These extremists place no value on human life and continue to threaten the safety of the Afghan people, said Col. Thomas Collins, Coalition spokesman.
Posted by:Glenmore
I'll drink to that! What will you have Helen? Oh just get me a Tom Collins.
#7
You know, there is no rule that only the extremists have suicide bombers. Maybe we have moderate suicide bombers going after the extremist. Maybe these guys got thier target. At least make them think about it.
#9
One more mess up like this and al-OSHA will close this place down.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/19/2006 9:44
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#10
The best part about this post is that the 3 numbskulls got away with only injuries... hopefully to repeat their same mistake with the next Mullah with a help wanted ad.
July 16 2006 at 0225 LT at Luanda anchorage, Angola. Four robbers armed with knives in a wooden boat boarded a container ship at forecastle. They threatened duty a/b with knives and broke open paint store padlock. Duty A/B escaped and raised alarm and crew mustered. Robbers jumped into their boat and left empty handed. Local authorities informed.
July 15 2006 at 1200 LT in posn: 05:16.00S - 106:07.80E, enroute to Batam from Merak, Indonesia. Six pirates armed with pistols approached a tug towing a barge. Four pirates boarded and assaulted crew causing injuries. They stole crew belongings and ship's equipment and escaped in a speedboat.
July 13 2006 at 1020 UTC in posn: 10:12S - 112:15E, south of Java island, Indonesia/Indian Ocean. Six boats (2 boats - white hull, 4 four boats - black hull) approached a bulk carrier from stern. Each boat had five masked persons dressed in black clothes. Boats came close to stern and alert crew mustered and ship altered course. Boats aborted attempt and moved away.
And from the Better Late than Never Desk:
July 07 2006 at 2345 LT at Punta Guanta anchorage, Venezuela. Robbers boarded a container ship and stole cargo from two containers. Master informed authorities.
June 21 2006 at 0300 LT at Berth BL, Godau Port, Vietnam.
Three robbers in an unlit boat boarded a chemical tanker at stern. Duty a/b raised alarm and crew mustered. Robbers stole ship's stores and safety equipment and escaped.
If I was to tell you that another French public figure is calling for 'action' against the Joos Israel, you would probably shrug and mumble "right, just another of those anti-globalization morons, or one of those preposterous National Front fossils, or one of those losers belonging to one of the 1656 Communist flavor you have over there..." Mais ce fou est different. But this moonbat is different.
Every other day, you would be right and to be honest, these types are opening their big full mouths on their big empty brains over that topic so frequently nowadays that I can't even be bothered to report about it anymore.
But this time, Ladies and Gentlemen I give you Jacques Myard, a full blown member of the French Parliament, elected by the people (from the Paris suburb of les Yvelines) to his very own seat at the Assemblée Nationale, publishing on his website a communiqué where he calls for France to undertake military action against Israel.
#1
Given the state of French conventional Army and the fact that most of it is busy patrolling the Paris metro against precisely those Muslim terrorists this guy loves so much, I were him I wouldn't be so eager to pick a fight against Israel.
Unless he wants to watch the Star of David flating on the Eiffel Tower.
Letâs say that the relations between France and its
neighbors are not very good.
Letâs also say that the Belgium government
doesnât recognize Franceâs right to exist.
Letâs also say that every day, someone from
Belgium fires 5 rockets to the city of Lille,
and 70% of the Belgiums are happy about it,
and their government is doing nothing to stop it.
Now letâs assume that a group of people from Belgium crosses the border, attacks French troops, kills some of them and captures a French soldier and brings it back to Belgium.
What should France do?
PART B
In the mean time, there is a party in the Italian parliament that has its own army and does whatever it wants. The Italian government says or does nothing to this party.
Letâs say that in a certain morning this party decides to start bombing the French Riviera.
While doing that, they also penetrate the French-Italian border, attacks a border patrol, kills 3 French soldiers and captures another 2.
Again, in this case,
What should France do?
For those who are not familiar with the current events â this is the exact situation Israel is standing against these days, and only retaliates to them.
Would you negotiate for these soldiers knowing youâre legitimizing the next kidnappings? Will your government allow these attacks on its own land?
Hopefully, the saner voices will rise and the fighting will stop. The majority in Israel wants peace and is willing to give up land for it, but not without the insurance of the safety of the citizens. Would you?
Posted by: dana ||
07/19/2006 4:21
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#4
Dana! Futures for white handkerchiefs in France just went through the roof! We can use this!
#7
JFM - your country was instrumental in the success of our revolution. We thank you for that and hope your present day countrymen rise to their former wisdom and courage.
#10
"#2 Given that Fwance has never won a war, perhaps we should encourage them to shoot higher and fight alongside NorK and Iran!"
Don't forget they won the Hundred Years War when England forfeited.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
07/19/2006 7:01
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#11
Ah, that explains it! As I've said before, sorry if I've offended you or yours. Often my remarks are meant for American consumption and I don't have to explain the details of what I say. Yes, I know France has contributed its share of what I consider to be great assists, the American Revolution included, of course! :-) I and most other Americans think about it every Independence and Memorial day. Like most Americans, France siding so heavily with governments that dabble or marinate themselves in terrorism these days "irritates" me enough that I don't feel too much compuction about irritating back and hoping they slow down enough to figure it out somehow. That was what I was getting at when I mentioned Iran and NorK. Anyway, I don't want you to infer something that I never intended to imply about France's soldiers. The president who got us into the Vietnam war knew we would lose, but did it anyway. I'll never think badly of the soldiers who fought there because they fought in good faith thinking they were doing something good. But I do have serious problems with the US government choosing to fight that war, because it was never going to be won the way they chose to fight it. In this hopefully worst case I still think well of the soldiers. The same goes for any soldier anywhere in the world, France included. If you have opinions that run contrary to what seems to be the prevailing attitude there, then I'll even thank you for being so clear headed! If I'm thinking wrong, just let me know because I would rather see things right than trudge down the road thinking the wrong things. What is France's view on this war? How does her citizens feel? What are the demographics there that make up these opinions? Is France afraid of the muslim population there, or would her decisions be the same regardless?
#14
Too bad Monsieur Myard of the French Parliament couldn't have gotten as outraged against Hamas for seizing Gilad Shalit, who happens to have dual Israeli and French citizenship.....
#15
I am at times very, (overly?) sensitive. I am ashamed each time France sides with evil and opression.
Also I could understand governments fearing riots if they sided with Israel but thye could just shut up instead of siding with so repugnant movements as Hamas, PLO or Hezbollah. Also, in order to have immigrants integrating teh first step is making thm think that being French is better than being Arab, and ever siding with Arabs, hiding their crimes and infamies is exactly the wrong thing to do. 40 years of pro-Arab alignment and of telling them that French tortured peole during Algerian war (1) and not telling of FLN atrocities have succeeded in having people displaying Algerian flags at plays involving France national football team.
I am afraid however that France's attitude has less to do with fear of riots and more with raw lust for power from its elites and with positive hate towards America in most of them.
(1) FLN din't have qualms about massacring whole (native) villages or placing bombs in school busses. You have all proofs the guy is guilty. But you don't know where the next bomb is going to detonate. A number of French officers (often previously victims of German torture) thought it was better to torture than to let things happen.
#17
JFM, can you help us ? Where does the positive hate come from ?
Some thing that by saving France's bacon in the 1940s, we Americans are a constant reminder of their lack of capability. Therefore, the French hate America and all things American.
#20
Instead of thinking of us as Melting Pot Americans, think of us as rebellious Anglo Saxons who are even more obnoxious than our forebearers across the pond, which is what we are culturally.
#21
JFM: Looks like the start of an interesting thread! Lots of interesting stuff there. How about the attitude of French citizens? Do they agree with the government line because of propaganda? Do they actually understand things and don't agree with it? Do they actually understand things but still agree with it? :-) Who is more likely to agree/not agree with the government line?
I had never really considered the "power" thing. But I don't know that France is a big or populous enough nation to ever be a superpower. The EU could, but not one nation in the EU. One of those "united we stand" things again! :-)
#22
I'd pick one nit, gorb - the Monarchy of France helpd us out during our revolution, mostly because it was at war with the British crown at the time.
But to the best of my reccolection, the French Fifth Republic hasn't done squat except be a pain in the ass. To pretty much everybody.
Also, y'all need to remember that France has a long statist streak (often masonic/socialist, same thing here unlike traditional anglosaxon FM dubbed conservative), despite being home of Tocqueville or Bastiat, and that the current "french model" our Enlightened Elites/ruling oligarchy is defending was born in 1945, from the marriage between gaullism (rightwing statism) and communism (and french communism was a particular vicious one, ideologically speaking, the french commies teached Ho chi minh and Pol Pot, literally).
And the Vth is the reign of the technocracy...
De Gaulle really was a disaster for France, with hindsight, jacketed us with a structurally socialist model, set up the "french Arab Policy", and delivered Algeria to the national-islmaists of the fln, the true start of all that, for all the wrong reasons. Shiraq is his true heir.
#24
Btw, Myard is a gaullist, and a "sovereignty type" (souverainiste), he's considered rightwing (he's a somewhat frequent guest at the "oeucumenical" conservative/rightwing radio Radio-Courtoisie), and he's probably soemwhat free-market oriented (he was invited by a corresponding show host, IIRC).
He became known in 2005 when he attacked a racist rapper who compared France to a "slut one had to f*ck into exhaustion", has made non-idiotarian comments about the riots, etc, etc...
Still, when he's invited at RC, listeners recall he's still in shiraq's party, yet he talks like he was in the opposotion... clearly, his actions don't follow his words.
And he's also a french "Arab Policy" guy.
there is worse in that popular french political niche (sovereignty, gallic model vs anglosaxon model,...), I think for example of Paul-Marie Couteaux, a De Villiers follower who suggested "giving the atom bomb to the arabs", to counterbalance Israel's, and give a counterweight to the US influence in the region. No comments.
That's why I have so much difficulties finding a pol I'm confortable here. Except for a few very minor (but worthy) persons like Claude Reichman or Bruno Megret (this one is real rightwing), I'm stuck with "better than nothing alternatives", like De Villiers or pépé Le Pen, whom I like, but whose politics I do not trust.
Bummer.
Nooo chance, we can turn a beautiful fishing village in Spain into a den of fish-n-chips and warm beer virtually overnight Nimble me old mucker. And to cap it all, we have ... 'The Birdie Song'
Fear us...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/19/2006 15:05
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#27
Haven't been on the Small World ride at Disneyland yet, Tony?
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/19/2006 15:13
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#29
#28 Tony - re #27: Fear us. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/19/2006 16:38
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#30
I'd pick one nit, gorb - the Monarchy of France helpd us out during our revolution, mostly because it was at war with the British crown at the time.
It entered the war at a great risk to France and it damn near bankrupted them. We didn't pay them back either.
#31
6, that's not quite true. We did repay almost all the undisputed portion of the principal debt though not interst on late payments. As part of the edd of the war with France in the late 1790's and the Louisiana Purchase, the remaining disputes were settled.
All Debts contracted and Engagements entered into, before the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be as valid against the United States under this Constitution, as under the Confederation.
-----
They're still pissy they didn't have much influence w/us after the Revolution. Some in Congress were promoting that - like they'd be our patron.
#34
I can highly recommend the book JFM suggested. It made a lot of things said to me when we lived over there sensible, because the discussions at the time most certainly weren't.
#35
We did repay almost all the undisputed portion
I belive the privy purse loans prior to the treaty are part of the disputed portion. That's a fair chunk of change. Otherwise I do stand corrected.
(SomaliNet) The powerful Islamic courts continue to disarm the remaining militias in the capital in peaceful means and they officially confiscated on Tuesday the weapons of militia loyal to already Islamic court in Waberi district of Banadir province. The chairman of Maka Al-Mukarama Islamic court Sheikh Mohamud Jimale told today the local media they decided that 24 militiamen of the court with their weapons should be handed over council of Islamic courts after talks with top leaders of Islamists. We have accepted let our militia with their weapons join the united Islamic court and we did that for serving the public, Sheikh Jimcale said referring to the sole rule of Islamic courts.
Maka Al-Mukarama Islamic court has been operating the Parmuda village in Waberi district to prevent the crimes and it was the Islamic court which ruled the execution of a man who was alleged to murder a Koranic school teacher May 2, 2006. He was stabbed to death in Public Square. That was very shocking story in the capital for several days.
Sheikh Mukhtar Robow known as Abu-Mansur, the deputy security official of the Islamic courts who addressed the occasion of handing over the weapons of Maka Al-Mukarama Islamic court said this is an appreciable step forward and thanked the local official as leading men. The militiamen joined the Islamic court will be offered a rehabilitation training sooner, Islamic officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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Jordan's State Security Court (SSC) is due to start the trial next Sunday of three Islamist lawmakers on charges of 'incitement and harming national unity,' judicial sources said Tuesday. The three deputies, Mohammad Abu Fares, Ali Abul Sukkar and Jaafar Hourani-- belong to the Islamic Action Front (IAF), Jordan's largest political party. They were arrested on June 11 after extending condolences to the family of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist leader who was killed in a US airstrike on June 7 in Iraq.
A fourth detained lawmaker, Ibrahim Mashwaki, was released last week and the SSC's public prosecutor said Tuesday he would not be tried because he did not make any comments during his visit to the tent that was set up by al-Zarqawi's family in his home city of Zarqa, 30 kilometres East of Amman, on June 8.
Abu Fares delivered a speech at the tent praising the slain al- Qaeda leader as a 'martyr', a remark that angered the families of 60 people who were killed in Amman's triple hotel bombings on November 9 and prompted them to file a suit against the three MPs. The blasts were claimed by al-Zarqawi's group, the Jihad and Tawhid Brigades, which is reportedly affiliated with al-Qaeda organization of Osama Bin Laden. Abu Fares is currently in the intensive care unit at an Amman medical centre after his health condition deteriorated over the past couple of days, according to medical sources.
"'Morning, Abu! How're y'feeling today?"
"Ow... Ow... Ow... Aaaaaiiiieee!"
"Aw, shucks. That's too bad... Okay, Mahmoud. You can let go now."
"My tongue! He thtomped on my tongue!... Ow!... Ow... Ow... Aaaaiiiieee!"
Posted by: Fred ||
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BEIRUT: Israeli warplanes battered Lebanon on Tuesday, killing 28 people, and more Hezbollah rockets hit the Israeli city of Haifa, with no sign that diplomacy would halt the week-old conflict any time soon. Israel rejected calls for a ceasefire as it pounded a Lebanese army barracks and flattened homes on the seventh day of an assault that has killed at least 240 people and sent tens of thousands fleeing for their lives.
Helicopters, ferries and cruise liners were being chartered to pick up foreign nationals trapped in the violence between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas. Across the border in northern Israel, a civilian was killed when a rocket hit a park in the resort of Nahariya in the latest of hundreds of rocket attacks by Hezbollah.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert accused Hezbollah of coordinating its abduction of two Israeli soldiers last week with Iran, enabling Tehran to divert attention away from its nuclear programme. Olmert told visiting UN envoys trying to broker a ceasefire that Israel will continue the battle against Hezbollah and will continue to strike targets belonging to the group until it obtains the release of its captured soldiers and restores the security of Israeli citizens.
Continued on Page 49
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Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan dropped out of the race for governor on Thursday, saying he has been diagnosed with depression.
"I'm so depressed. I ain't gonna be governor!"
His withdrawal leaves Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley as the only major Democrat seeking the party nomination to run in November against Republican Gov. Robert Ehrlich, who is seeking a second term.
Duncan, a 50-year-old Democrat, said he had struggled with symptoms for more than a year but until recently believed they resulted from the pressures of being a candidate. "This is more than the usual stress of campaigning," Duncan said. Duncan said he will support O'Malley's campaign against Ehrlich. Ehrlich said Duncan's decision would focus attention on O'Malley's record in Baltimore but would have "very little effect" on his own campaign.
O'Malley's record in Baltimore is impressive only in comparison with that of his predecessor, but Maryland's a machine state, so he stands a good chance of unseating Ehrlich.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Crown Prince Sultan, deputy prime minister and minister of defense and aviation, will leave today on a four-day state visit to France on an invitation from President Jacques Chirac, according to a Royal Court statement yesterday.
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#1
He just wants to see a Saudi American on the podium in Paris...
In what appeared to be renewed violence between Hamas fighters and President Mahmoud Abbas' loyalists, gunmen yesterday stormed the home of a senior Palestinian security officer in Gaza, killing his bodyguard. However, the governing Hamas movement said it had no part in the attack on the home of Nabil Tammous. He is a senior member of the Preventive Security Service, loyal to Abbas, and known to be at odds with Hamas. Despite the Hamas denial, security sources from Abbas' camp said they still suspected attackers were linked to Hamas that defeated the president's Fatah movement in January elections. The security sources said gunmen stormed Tammous' house and shot one guard, then blew up the house. They said the gunmen captured three other guards and had taken them away.
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#1
Rodent on rodent crime
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/19/2006 0:27
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#2
Don't they have better things to worry about right now?
#3
Nope, the Louses of Islam cannot be expected to behave like rational people. Between the heat, the propaganda on Paleo TV, and their twisted death cult, not more than 1 in 10 seems to be able to function in a reasonable fashion. So killing each other while in the middle of a battle with the Israelis seems like the logical thing to do to them.
#6
1 in 10 is an optimistic number.
One in ten "palestinians" is under the age of two, and not yet fully robotized. As they grow up, they receive so much indoctrination they can no longer function in a rational world.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/19/2006 16:55
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Lashkar-e-Qahar, the terrorist group that claimed responsibility for the Mumbai train bombings, warned on Tuesday that it was planning attacks against government and historic sites in India in an e-mail to a news television station. Lashkar-e-Qahar said in the e-mail that 16 people took part in the July 11 attacks in Mumbai, and that one of them was killed. But "all the remaining 15 mujahideens are totally safe, and celebrating the success of this mission and also preparing for the next mission," the e-mail said.
"We also request all the Muslim brothers and sisters not to go near the main historical, governmental and the monumental places of India (especially in Delhi and Mumbai) in future," the e-mail said. "Otherwise, they get hurt too."
The train bombings killed 207 people and injured hundreds more. Investigators believe the group may be a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba.
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QUETTA: A homemade bomb exploded near a police officer's home in Balochistan early on Tuesday, wounding the officer's wife and a daughter, an official said. The police wireless control officer, whose home was targeted by the bomb, escaped unhurt in the explosion in Mastung, a town about 50 kilometres south of Quetta, area police officer Hamid Shakil said. The explosion toppled the gate of the policeman's home and his wife and a 9-year-old daughter were hit and wounded by debris and shrapnel from the bomb. There was no word on the condition of the victims. Shakil blamed renegade Baloch tribesmen for the bombing, but he did not offer any evidence.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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Two big explosions reverberated over Beirut early Wednesday, and missiles hit towns to the east and south of the capital in new overnight strikes. The explosions appeared to be from hits in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hizbullah stronghold badly devastated since Israel launched its military blitz against Lebanon last week. There was no immediate word on what was hit or casualties.
In separate attacks, missiles also hit Chuweifat - a coastal town where several factories are located, just south of the capital, near the airport - and Hadath, a mainly Christian town just east of Beirut, local television said. Israeli warplanes also struck a bridge in the southern city of Sidon and houses in two other southern villages, local media reported. There was no immediate word on casualties in any of the airstrikes.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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Another source for the article 'Moose posted; this has the words straight from the Foreign Ministry. They can't be this stupid, can they?
While new measures to be taken against terrorism were being discussed at yesterdays Cabinet meeting, US Ambassador to Turkey Ross Wilson and Iraqi Ambassador to Turkey Sabah Umran were summoned to the Foreign Ministry. The message If you dont organize an operation against the PKK presence in northern Iraq, we will was conveyed to the ambassadors.
Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ali Tuygan stated that the military option was on the table. In the wake of stepped-up deadly terrorist attacks, Turkey is preparing to take measures about northern Iraq, where most of the terrorist PKKs members are based. After the meeting with the ambassadors, Tuygan told a press conference, I told the two ambassadors that more determined steps should be taken on this issue, and added, I emphasized that the current situation was unacceptable for Turkey. I declared to them that we were expecting steps to change the current situation to be taken in the shortest possible time.
In related news, US Ambassador Wilson said that Turkey shouldnt act unilaterally in northern Iraq, adding, The next step should be the continuation of trilateral meetings. Meetings between Turkey, the US and Iraq should be continued. After his visit to the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), Wilson told reporters that he felt sorrow over Turkish security forces losing their lives to PKK terrorism.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/19/2006
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#4
This is the EU's fault : the EU pressured Turkey's military into accepting an unacceptably Islamic party as the new government. Since that point, Turkey's decisions regarding Iraq, the US, and its best interests have been tainted by the Islamist views brought into the government by the ruling party. And yes, at this point, the Turks might actually be that stupid.
#5
Yup. The PKK will stop just like Hamas or Hizballa would stop. A terrorist is a terrorist & should be delt with as such. Don't confuse fighting terrorism and Turkey's actions w/r to allowing the 4th ID on their ground. I don't agree with Turkey's actions but that is no excuse to give PKK a pass.
#7
If Turkey can restrain its actions to short, breif missions accurately targetted against Kurds behaving as terrorists, I don't see that the US has a grievance, since neither the US nor Iraqi authorities are dealing with the situation. In fact, within limits, it MAY be better for all if it is Turkey taking the action.
That said, it would be even better if Turkey could do something about the conditions that are fostering their 'Kurdish problem', but that's not likely to happen.
#8
it always amazes me how everyone continues to underestimate Turkey's intentions. Get a clue. They are aggressive and Erdogan is a little Hitler wanting to expand his empire. Like Hezbollah, the fact that it's an irrational desire won't stop him from continually pushing and pushing and pushing until he is stopped.
Yes, the PKK should be dealt with as terrorists. But Erdogan has his delusions of grandeur set on those oil fields. Go and and scoff. I'll say I told you so later.
#9
Jim Geraghty, who lives in Ankara, posts at NRO:
I have to dissent from Michael Rubin's assessment that it is "fever pitch" in Ankara right now. Sure, there's a lot of table-pounding rhetoric. Maybe I'm growing cynical, but the Turkish government has been threatening to take additional action to eliminate PKK terrorists in Iraq since I arrived here 16 months ago. I'll believe it when I see it.
The ruling AKP party likes saying this, because they get to look tough on PKK terrorists, and also look like they're standing up to the United States. Today's latest example:
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan rapped the United States on Tuesday for tolerating Israel's attacks on its enemies in Lebanon while refusing to allow Ankara to crush Kurdish rebels hiding in northern Iraq.
Erdogan is under mounting domestic pressure to get tough with the rebels, who have killed 16 Turkish security personnel in separate attacks over the past week.
"The way they look at terror there (in Israel) and in Turkey is not the same. They show tolerance towards country A (fighting terrorism) and show a different approach to country B. This is unacceptable," Erdogan said.
He did not mention the United States or Israel by name but it was clear to whom he was referring. Erdogan, whose roots are in political Islam, has previously criticised Israel's actions.
Erdogan also repeated hints that Turkey might send troops across the border into Iraq to tackle the rebels if U.S. and Iraqi troops continued to ignore Ankara's demands to act.
Whatever the inclinations of Turkey's political leadership, the Turkish military is not foolish, and no one wants a rerun of the infamous incident on July 4, 2003, where Turkish soldiers were mistaken for insurgents, captured and detained by U.S. soldiers (outraging Turkish opinion). The Turkish military has had stronger and more stable relations with their U.S. counterparts than the political leaders, and I would be shocked if the Pentagon didn't get a warning that the Turks were going to cross the border.
My guess of the most likely scenario is that nothing happens - or more specifically, that no Turkish military forces cross over into Iraq. The next most likely would be some sort of quick in-and-out strike on a suspected PKK camp or base in Northern Iraq, with U.S. and Iraqi support. I would be supremely surprised if the Turkish military decided to cross the border without warning, or concern for the consequences.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/19/2006 16:06
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#10
That said, it would be even better if Turkey could do something about the conditions that are fostering their 'Kurdish problem', but that's not likely to happen.
Exactly the entire point behind Kurdish resistance in North Kurdistan. People in the West have no idea how bad the situation has been for 8 decades.
If Israel had committed a nanofraction of the atrocities against the Palestinians that the Turkish state has committed, and continues to commit, against Kurds, then there might be some justification for the media's obsession with Israel/Palestine.
Israel has also sat down to negotiations with the Arabs, something that Turkey has never done with Kurds, not even with legal Kurdish political parties in North Kurdistan. Instead, the Turkish state has shut down every single Kurdish party that has ever existed, and is in the process of shutting down the current legal party. So there is no open political avenue that Kurds can take in order to make changes.
For these reasons, not even going into detail about the gross human rights abuses that Turkey has inflicted on Kurds, the PKK enjoys the support of the majority of Kurds living under Turkish oppression. PKK will continue to enjoy this support.
As for AKP, they are now being backed by all the opposition parties, a result of the big meeting with the pashas on Monday. Turkey is a military state, not a democracy, and nothing happens that the pashas do not approve.
That is also why you see the Islamists out protesting Israel/Lebanon. It is permitted by the pashas. Meanwhile, anyone with a legitimate grievance against the state will be arrested, tortured and imprisoned.
But South Kurdistan will not be invaded until after August, when Buyukanit Pasha assumes the throne, unless the current outcry against him becomes too great and he does not accept the position, something which would be a first in Turkish history.
A Wan court today pointed once again in Buyukanit's direction over the Semdinli bombing.
Posted by: Azad ||
07/19/2006 17:37
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#11
Azad, can you please explain last 2 paragraphs? I admit I have no idea what you are saying there. Thx.
#12
Personal experience: the Kurds "feel like" Americans in terms of their desire for Liberty, open market economy, etc. They are our natural allies in the region, and damn solid fighters. They are who we shoudl be helping inside of Iran, and we should be pushing Turkey HARD to allow full civil rights to the Kurds in Eastern Turkey. Thats my opinion based on experience with them and their areas.
Noew on to the article:
The reason the Turks have a problem with the Kurds is that they treat them like shit, like the Nazis did the populations whose territory the occupied (think Balkans WW2). They are abusive of them, ban their culture, destroy their political parties, and smash any attempts by the Kurds to stand up to the dictatorship in Ankara.
The Turks stop the human rights violations and violent supression of the Kurds, and support for the PKK will melt.
If they don't? Well then the Turks deserve the rebellion they get (not to excuse the Terrorist acts of the PKK though - they need to really chose only military and political targets).
The Turks had an opportunity to help us and act as an ally - allow the 4th ID thru, and join the attack, which would have put Turkish troops guarding large areas of Northern Iraqi border on both sides of it. Golden opportunity to clean the area up, but the Turkish government thought it was better to play Islamist Asshole
Now they pay the price for their dishonest and disloyal behavior.
Screw the Turks. - they come over the border, we should back up one of the regional Kurdish brigades with US air power to smash the Turkish incursion and hand them their asses as they limp back across the border.
Mark my words: the Turks make border incursions in any real way, they will be hit HARD with the local Peshmerga units holding them in place until the Iraqi Army (the best units are in the North anyway) roll up and defeat them in detail.
I hope the Turkish government is ready to deal with having their troops be killed and the survivors become POWs held in Iraq. Because that will be the outcome - we've rearmed the Kurds and they are HIGHLY effective militarily in their own region, with solid command and control, and inherent logistic advantages of being on thier home territory with a supportive population. Even the non-Kurd Arabs in the region would rally to the defense.
Turkey better watch out - the answer they get may be "Bring It" from the Kurds (and the Iraqi government) and a silent cold stare from the US.
Yaşar Büyükanıt (Kemalist hardliner) is the current Land Forces commander, scheduled to takeover as chief of the general staff (Currently: Hilmi Özkök--friendly with AKP, hence moderate as pashas/generals go) in August. This has been the plan for some time, but there have been recent cracks in the plan.
Büyükanıt Pasha was indicted for involvement with the Şemdinli bombing (Nov. 2005), after which the Wan (Van) prosecutor was sacked from his job. Today, the final verdict on the convictions of two of the bombers (TSK soldiers who were close to Büyükanıt) was released to the public. You can read something of that here.
This means involvement in the whole Deep State thing (google "Susurluk" "Semdinli" and "Council of State attack" for more info). There was also the recent resignation of the pasha that Büyükanıt had appointed to head the TSK's Land War Academy because the Jandarma/Police taped his cell phone conversations with some floozy, who most likely is also involved with the Deep State. More on that here.
They're starting the rumors that Büyükanıt Pasha will resign because he can't take the heat of all the recent scandals. Check this. By the way, that's a nice piece of open source intel for the upcoming changing of the guard.
I just pulled all of those articles from one source and from today, but you could do a search engine on any key terms and find similar information.
I say that the resignation of Büyükanıt would be a first in Turkish history because it's true. They say that the chief of staff is "nominated" by the government, but who tells the government who to nominate? The pashas.
Hope that helps.
Posted by: Azad ||
07/19/2006 19:42
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#14
We needed Turkey during the Cold War. What exactly do they bring to the table these days?
#15
Iblis -
They control the straits to the Black Sea and the new pipeline crossing to the Caspian Sea. In other words, access to the very substantial oil fields of Central Asia.
They are also another border with Iran - better to have airfields and access in Turkey, as an unworthy and inadequate ally than have them forced into some kind of alliance with Iran.
That's two things they bring to the table. You can probably think of more. Bad as Turkey may seem, it can get a whole lot worse.
#16
"but the Turkish government thought it was better to play Islamist Asshole"
You can thank the U.S. State Department for encouraging that with their manipulative actions, like leaking negotiation issues with Turkey to the media.
#17
The reason the Turks have a problem with the Kurds is that they treat them like shit, like the Nazis did the populations whose territory the occupied (think Balkans WW2). They are abusive of them, ban their culture, destroy their political parties, and smash any attempts by the Kurds to stand up to the dictatorship in Ankara.
The Turks stop the human rights violations and violent supression of the Kurds, and support for the PKK will melt.
You are absolutely correct, Oldspook. I might add, that if the atrocities you mention had never occured, there would never have been a need for PKK.
The situation is not moving in the direction you suggest here, but is moving quickly in the opposite direction. There is a de facto state of emergency (OHAL--if you remember anything about the dirty war before) already imposed in "The Region" and discussions in Ankara have already brought up the idea of calling an actual OHAL. This is confirmed by people I know personally in "The Region" and by my friends who are from "The Region" but outside of it, through the people they know. When I was there last year, it was clear to me that everything was moving in this direction as well.
Since last year, HPG has had an enormous increase in the number of recruits which they have had to turn away because of lack of facilities. After the uprising in Amed (Diyarbakir) at the end of March, many more have gone to the mountains.
HPG has been targeting military targets, a carryover from PKK, January, 1995, when the PKK declared its targeting intentions publicly. Last year, at least, HPG began using landmines as remote-controlled bombs and over the weekend an HPG representative at Qandîl and KONGRA-GEL head, Zubeyir Aydar, in Geneva signed the Anti-personnel Mine Deed of Commitment, a non-state actor's version of the Ottawa Treaty.
I will not explain the details of why it makes sense for a guerrilla force to use remote-controlled bombs as opposed to landmines, because the benefits are obvious. Obvious too is the avoidance of "poisoning" the land of your own people.
If Turkey invades South Kurdistan, they will not only meet hostile pêşmerge, but an entire hostile civilian population, many of whom told me last year that they would go off with the pêşmerge to fight Turks. Also, since Cemal Bayik recently stated that if there were a fight for Kerkuk, HPG would join with pêşmerge to fight, one should expect that an invasion of the South will see pêşmerge AND HPG fighting Turks. And the Turks remember how PKK dogged them in the 90's when they invaded the South.
A Turk does not know why he fights; A Kurd knows very well.
May the TSK have plenty of body bags.
Posted by: Azad ||
07/19/2006 22:10
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#18
Azad, I was "active" in that region when we were supporitng the no-fly zone before I retired the last time. I know the people you talk of, I trained some. I feel closer to them than I do just about any Arab I have ever met. Of all the peopel in SW Asia, Persia and Arabia, the Kurds are where I felt most at home.
And they are also the people whose story has been least told here in the west - at least the Armenians had good PR here in the US, which means good global reach. The Kurds really need to get the word out about thier success economically under the no-fly umbrealla, and thier big jumps in Iraq since liberation. And yes, for thhe Kurds the US take-down of the Baathists/Tikiritis was a true liberation. All one needs to do is cross the bridge from Turkey to Kurdistani-Iraq, and it is like a flower blooms. the rods are paved well, peopel are fed, business is good, and people actually smile!
In an ideal world, the Kurds woudl have us helping them liberate Kurdistan from the Persians (NW of the Pars plateau), Syrians (NE of the Euphrates) and, yes, the Turks (SE Turkey almost to the Caspian).
God willing, you will get your nation one day. And thank God your peopel are smart enough to realize that you can only get it yourself. Almost everyone sells out the Kurds for political expediency. Even, regretfully, the US.
Once Iran is removed as a threat, then the time will be right.
All that aside, the Turkish FM is, as we way in the US, "talking out his ass". Turkey cannot afford the politcal and military damage they would take if they were to operate cross-border against the Kurds in Iraq.
RB - you know me, Im never soft on terrs, and the PKK has some bloody bastards in it that need to be killed. But the grievences that power the PKK are not self-inflicted like those of the Fatah, Hamas and Hezbollah.
All the Kurds want are rights anyone else has: to be left alone to worship work and raise a family, to be able to vote freely for the party or candidates of their choice, to make thier own democratic laws, and to maintain their culture as they have in the region for a millenium or more.
The Turks have crushed this at every turn, uch of the time brutally. They have brought this insurgency on themselves by trying to suppress democracy of the Kurds.
Thats my opinion. Feel free to differ. Bur realize that the US Government has in many areas covered for Turkey because they are of more use to us than the Kurds. Our historical behavior in this area has not been sterling - go back and look at the Hmong in Laos, Camobdia and Vietnam and how they got screwed by us after being staunch allies.
So no, the PKK shoudl nto be doing the htings they are doing, but Turkey is sadly mistaken if they think they will be able to insert a military force into Norther Iraq to any extent - they will get manhandled by the Peshmerga and the Iraq Army units in the region: units that are mainly Kurdish, well trained, well led, well equipped, well supplied and defending their homes form a historical supressor; not the sort of force an army as mediocre as the Turks can engage without taking large casualties.
North Korea has launched a wartime alert, putting its armed forces and nationals in a state of a war mobilization, an unconfirmed news report said here Wednesday. Kim Jong-Il, head of the communist country, issued an order to that effect hours before the United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned North Korea's missile tests last week, said the Joongang daily, quoting an unnamed government source. North Korean soldiers on leave were told to return to their barracks, camouflage nettings were being draped on military vehicles and weapons, and people were prohibited from entering the countryside, the source said.
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/19/2006
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#3
What is it with these tinhorn dictators? The moment we shift our view to someone else, they throw a hissy fit, demanding to be the center of our attention. Also, Kimmy Boy better be careful : we may have 140000 or so troops committed to the ME, but that still leaves most of the US Army, Marines, Navy, and Air Force free to inflict grevious bodily injury when and where necessary.
#4
I recently read an assesment of estimated casualties from an invasion by NKOR. It was something like 500,000 in just a few days. Would that not warrant a nuclear deterrent of our own? Our nukes are proven and our missiles are very reliable, their guidance systems super accurate. If we launched, it would hit and explode. He hasn't even proved he has nukes, just the shit to make them.
#9
Sounds like he's creating the fiction of an outside threat in order to keep everyone in his little fifedom in line.
You gotta wonder what some of the soldiers think when they hear how propserous S. Korea is. I mean they have FOOD! They have [non-militant] music! TV! iPods! Internet!
They can't block all the news from outside. Wasn't there a bit about smuggled phones, CD players, etc.. awhile back?
#10
The worst source of outside news is the Chinese-Korean trade along the border with China. Lots of cheap junk from NorKor gets taken north to China and traded for food, medicine, clothing, and the like. Plus when people come back, they talk about what China is like. Also the NorKors are having problems keeping Chinese cellphones out of North Korea, and people are able to get info using them especially the ones with Chinese Internet access.
Former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani said he is "seriously considering" a run for president in 2008. But he reiterated, as he has in many campaign-style appearances, that he was focused on the 2006 midterm elections. He said he would continue to travel the country to gauge the breadth of his support and his ability to raise the money needed for a presidential bid. "Eventually, when you make the decision, you have to go through a kind of soul-searching about how much you think you can bring to it," Giuliani said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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#1
In other surprising developmens, the sun rose in the east today, birds sang, water ran downhill, and the guests on today's Jerry Springer were idiots.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/19/2006 9:34
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the guests on today's Jerry Springer were idiots
WOW, YOU GOTTA BE SH!TT*N' ME!!!
11 Russian kafirs (infidels) were annihilated by Mujahideen on July 15 in diversion attacks and shootings on invaders' positions in Jokhar, the Chechen capital, and Nozhai Yurt district in the south of Chechnya, told a spokesman of Military Council of CRI Majlisul Shura State Defense Committee to Kavkaz Center. 2 kafirs were gunned down in Zavodsky district of Jokhar. The Mujahideen ambushed an invaders' patrol in the industrial area of the city, reports the spokesman. 4 kafirs were exterminated in a short firefight in the area of village Beti Mokhck. 1 kafir was killed in a diversion attack near village Dargo. The Russian from a "reconnnaissance unit" was blasted on a mine, reports the spokesman. 4 other kafirs were terminated in a shooting on foreign military convoy on the Dagestan border, several miles fron village Ghilyany. The spokesman gave no detals about the firefight. It is only known that one Mujahid was wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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#1
Fred,
You should probably use the salt picture (the one we use for Debka) with this "source" since the salafis are even less reliable than Debka.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/19/2006 16:55
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BEIRUT: Ibrahim Moussawi, the editor of Hizbullah's Al-Intiqad (The Criticism) weekly newspaper and Al-Manar television said Tuesday that the "open war which the Israelis launched against Lebanon to release its two captured soldiers is a false excuse." In an interview with The Daily Star, Moussawi said: "The Israelis know that Hizbullah was trying to capture Israeli soldiers to swap them with the Lebanese detainees in Israel. Hizbullah had announced it was going to do so over the past year. Besides, this is not the fist time that Hizbullah tries to capture Israeli soldiers. Hizbullah tried to do so four months ago but weren't successful and three Hizbullah martyrs fell in battle then." Moussawi added: "What happened is that Israel, which considers itself the invincible army, is trying to save face and accomplish some sort of victory because they have already gone into war and cannot back out without an accomplishment.
So they're going to save face by grinding Hezbollah to dust? Sounds pretty good to me...
"The international community is giving the Israelis a grace period to accomplish their goal before they implement a cease-fire," he added. "Meanwhile, the Lebanese have nothing to lose. They've been hit, killed, injured, the infrastructure demolished. The only thing that can be said to the Israelis is that it is not bravery to attack and kill civilians."
Hezbollah seems to be doing a pretty good job of indiscriminately shelling northern Israel...
Analyst and university professor Talal Atrisi agreed with Moussawi, saying: "Israel isn't trying to save its two captured soldiers, but to prevent itself from losing face." In a telephone interview with The Daily Star Tuesday, Atrisi said that Israel's image as a military giant has "fallen" because it "has not been able to achieve victory, neither in Lebanon nor in Palestine."
It wasn't at war with Leb...
"The main question now," he said, is "'has Israel been able to accomplish its goal in weakening Hizbullah?'" So far, he noted, "the losses ... have not affected Hizbullah's capability to respond to Israeli attacks with rocket salvos against northern Israel."
Been pretty hard on the Leb in the street, but they don't appear to be very important to Hezbollah...
Hizbullah's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, warned in a recorded message broadcast Sunday that his group refrained from hitting the petrochemical plants in Haifa and decided to hit targets near them to "spare a catastrophe among civilians [but] if the Israelis continue to hit our civilians and disregard all the red lines then we will not disregard red lines the next time."
Ummm... The targets near them are apartment buildings...
"Eliminating Hizbullah now would be facilitation for the Israeli-American vision for the entire Middle East, which means an easier strike could be made on Syria and Iran," Atrisi said. "Thus I believe that the negotiations that would happen would be larger than Lebanon and would be on a regional base." But, he added: "I also believe that Israeli public opinion cannot sustain a long war, and it will pressure its government to end this war on Lebanon."
I doubt it. But I don't think a long war will be called for, either.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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#1
"The Israelis know that Hizbullah was trying to capture Israeli soldiers to swap them with the Lebanese detainees in Israel.
Oh, so in your eyes that makes it OK then. You'll have to forgive me, I graduated from preschool so I don't see things that way. But wait a minute, Hezballah knew they would be risking war if they actually succeeded in kidnapping a soldier.
Man, things are getting complicated all of a sudden. Damn that pretzel logic!
Well then, you are formally invited to try giving back the soldiers in good health (as you stated they were in after you captured them), to stop firing missiles etc. at Israel, and see what happens.
#2
This argument is theoretical at best. The Lebanese have no country left. No major roads, airports, utilities, nothing. Not even electricity or water.
How can they even suggest that they are winning when they are sitting in their squalid, unlit, bomb shelters and can't even come outside to take a piss. YOU HAVE NO COUNTRY LEFT! Quit being dumbasses and give those two Israeli pukes back to the Jews before they really start f*cking your sh*t up bad! Is it worth it? What have you gained?
At best you may exchange them for a couple of murderers, at worst there will be nothing left when you come out of your rat holes.
(translation: "Hudnatime! we didn't think Israel would react this way and our proxies are getting their ass handed to them. We look bad and may get dragged in or look like pussies for letting hezbollah die")
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/19/2006 10:13
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#4
"Israel isn't trying to save its two captured soldiers, but to prevent itself from losing face."
Very true, I think. It seems perfectly rational to them because that's the way they think. I personally think this honor/macho thing they keep worrying about is half of the problem.
GAZA CITY - The Gaza Strip border with Egypt reopened on Tuesday for the first time in three weeks to allow people to cross into the Palestinian territory on humanitarian basis only, officials said. The Rafah passenger terminal, which has been closed since June 25 when an Israeli soldier was abducted near the Gaza border, opened at 9:00 am (0700 GMT) and was scheduled to stay open until 7:00 pm, a EU spokeswoman said.
The head of Rafah terminal, Gazas sole gateway to the world that bypasses Israel, confirmed that five buses had already entered from Egypt. It is only open to humanitarian cases and only one way Egypt to Gaza, and in principle the border will only remain open 11 hours today, spokeswoman for the EU monitors Maria Telleria told AFP.
"That should be enough to clear the riff-raff we've accumulated," he noted.
Hundreds of people considered humanitarian cases have been stranded on the Egyptian side of the terminal would be allowed to cross into the Gaza Strip during the day. Telleria said more than 1,000 people may be allowed to cross.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/19/2006
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#1
this would be the official opening, to clear out the sweet little mothers with multiple multiply-handicapped offspring. The Boys w/Guns streamed through the hole blown in the wall a few days ago, on their way to glorious martyrdom. (I don't recall reading that the hole was repaired by the Egyptians, are BwGs still streaming through?)
QUETTA: Two of Nawab Akbar Bugti's commanders and some 280 of their supporters surrendered to the government on Tuesday and promised to aid government efforts to develop the province. "Ghulam Hussain Hijrani Bugti, one of the top commanders of Nawab Bugti's army, laid down his arms before the Dera Bugti district coordination officer, Abdul Samad Lasi, at Kalpar House" an official told Daily Times, adding that Ghulam Hussain now believed Nawab Bugti was waging a war against the state for his own vested interests. Hijrani said that he would support the government in its plans to develop the infrastructure of the backward tribal areas of Balochistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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#1
Looking for Ferd Merkel Bughti to sow up any second.
Jerusalem police on Tuesday arrested 13 Arab teens who allegedly threatened Arab merchants of the Old City to shut their shops in solidarity with the Lebanese, police said. The suspects, who were apprehended in two police sweeps in the late morning, are all residents of east Jerusalem.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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#1
Now they can be residents of Lebanon.
Posted by: ed ||
07/19/2006 0:30
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#2
Exile to the PA territories after imprisonment. With no clan ties there, it's a true Man Without A Country experience. At least, that was the complaint of those exiled to Gaza from the West Bank after the Bethleham church siege.
HAMIRPUR: Indian police said they were looking for the parents of a two-day-old girl who was buried alive because of her gender but survived the ordeal. "We are investigating the case. The hunt for the parents is on," senior superintendent of police HS Aparna told AFP on Tuesday. The girl was found in a ditch when her shrill cries caught the attention of a farm helper at Hamirpur, a northern district in impoverished Uttar Pradesh state.
"She is a small little angel. I was lucky to reach that spot and hear the cries of this baby. Otherwise she would have died within hours," said Lakshmi Rani, who now wants to adopt the child. Rani calls the baby Mili, which is Hindi for "found". She already has three children, including a girl and said her construction-worker husband was initially reluctant to adopt the abandoned child but had eventually relented. Residents of Gaura village, where the child was discovered, said that it was the seventh such incident in the past fortnight.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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WTF is it with these people? That was their daughter! Ever heard of an education? Putting in laws and incentives to stop this $hit? What is so F-ing attractive about having sons over daughters? Can't women get gainful employment or something and it will cut into their lifestyle when they retire? My keyboard and my head are both taking a beating over this subject!
#2
There are already laws and incentives but when some of the most highly educated women - female gynaecologists - are sometimes complicit in selective abortion - changing cultural practices will not be easy.
The skewed gender ratios have already produced severe shortages of marriagiable women. This - the law of supply and demand - will be far more effective than any law passed by the Indian parliament in changing things.
Posted by: john ||
07/19/2006 7:07
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I recall reading dowery practices are also responding to the supply problem.
India is a bit like South America and Africa. You have modernization and the very very primitive We always hear about the modernization of India, but for example, in certain parts of India, there are backward primitative people that live of and in the jungle. There are also many tiny villages that exist today that still soley depend on witch doctors, sometimes the witch doctors give evil advice and no one in the village is educated enough challenge them.
The MSM used mind control for so many years. America have been sleeping for a long time. The internet (blogs), alternative media, and streaming talk radio have changed all that. Now, everybody is trying to fair and balanced.
In the end, although laws against these despicable acts are necessary, but will only help in tiny percentages. There needs to be a massive influx of re-education that needs to spread to these villages. India just recently sent an distance learning satellite that can stream educational material, real time, anywhere throughtout India. It's called Universal literacy through satellite. Unlike, the countries in Africa and South America, India is doing something about their uneducated population. So hopefully, in about in the next 20 to 30 years there won't be any reports such as this. Well, let me put it this way, at least un-education won't be an excuse.
Four Indian Navy warships will dock at Beirut on Wednesday morning to help, if required, in the evacuation of the estimated 12,000 Indians living in the country, facing the brunt of Israeli ground and air strikes after the Shia Islamic Hezbollah movement abducted two Israeli soldiers on July 12.
The four warships - destroyer INS Mumbai, guided missile frigates INS Brahmaputra and INS Betwa, and auxiliary fleet tanker INS Shakti - were "exiting" the Suez Canal after a successful overseas deployment mission when they were asked to "turn back" and head for the Lebanese coast.
"Evacuation, of course, is voluntary. It will depend on the people (many of whom work in olive plantations) who want to leave Lebanon. If the number is around 800-1,000, then our warships can bring them all the way back to India," said the officer.
"But if the numbers are large, then the warships will run shuttle services to nearby ports like Larnaca in Cyprus," he added.
Posted by: john ||
07/19/2006
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12,000 Indians?? I can understand that most of the 25,000 US passport holders are really Lebanese, but what are so many Indians doing there? Surely Lebanon can provide its own doctors and computer programmers, and unskilled labourers!
#5
Cheap labor, sending remittences home. There are Indians all over Saudi and the Gulf States, and the sheikhs go to Lebanon to play, so I'm not too surprised some Indians found their way here, too.
#6
Lol, sludge, I was just funnin' with you - you're probably correct in your speculation as they do export almost anyone who's 98.6 and, more or less, willing to work abroad.
I wouldn't be surprised if there was one very lonely Esquimeaux somewhere in there, too. :)
#9
As a result of the trouble that Lebanon has been experiencing since the early 90's, there is a tremendous amount of expatriot Lebanese, professional and business, spread throughtout the West and have aquired dual citizenship . Many of these folks or their families have returned over recent years as temporary residents or visitors. All of a sudden thousands want to leave.
Canada alone is looking at 25000 to 40000 human shieldsevacuees. the scope of this evacuation will overshadow war talk in the next few days. Beruit's Dunkirk.
Posted by: john ||
07/19/2006 14:52
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Wonder if they'll load those Indian naval vessels the way they do trains.
The IDF attacked 12 access routes connecting Lebanon and Syria throughout Tuesday in order to prevent the transfer of war materiel to Hizbullah fighters in southern Lebanon, the army said. In addition, IAF fighters bombed a vehicle carrying a Katyusha launcher. In all, 52 targets were struck by aircraft on Tuesday.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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A hard-hitting radio commentator was gunned down in the southern Philippines yesterday, the latest victim in a series of killings of journalists. Armando Pace, who worked with Radyo Ukay (Radio DXDS) in the southern Digos city, 980 kilometers southeast of Manila, was shot repeatedly as he was driving home on a motorcycle at around 1 p.m., police and local media said.
Senior Inspector Cesar Cabuhat, the city police chief, said Pace was hit in the back of the head and chest and was declared dead on the spot. Police quoted witnesses as saying the assailants, who were tailing Pace after he left the radio station, drove alongside his motorcycle and fired at him on a main road in full view of many people. The two men escaped and no one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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#1
Another clean Sparrow team kill. This is a no brainer.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/19/2006 17:26
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The hats are all in the political ring. Vermont's filing deadline passed Monday for major party primaries this fall, and topping the list is the unusual jockeying in the U.S. Senate race. U.S. Rep. Bernard Sanders, an Independent, is running in the Democratic primary this fall in his bid to be the state's next senator, where, according to filings due Monday in the Secretary of State's Office, he will face four other lesser-known members of the party.
But Sanders has vowed not to accept the Democratic nomination if, as expected, he wins it. That move will cut short the senatorial aspirations of Democrats Peter Moss, Louis Thabault, Larry Drown and Craig Hill, who will find themselves unable to run as the party standard bearer. It is Sanders' first direct run as a Democrat, a label he has never previously endorsed, as he girds for a general election fight against businessman Richard Tarrant for the right to succeed Sen. James Jeffords, the three-term incumbent who is retiring this year. Before Tarrant can face Sanders, he has to beat back Greg Parke of Rutland and Cris Ericson of Chester.
The race for the Senate may have the highest profile this election season, but incumbents, perennial candidates and novices alike have signed up for all the major party primaries that will determine who will square off for the eight statewide offices and 180 legislative seats up for grabs in November. In the race for U.S. House one of the closest and most volatile this election cycle Peter Welch is the sole Democrat. His Republican opponent will either be Martha Rainville or state Sen. Mark Shepard.
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Posted by: Fred ||
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KHAR: Suspected militants killed a tribal policeman who had been involved in a gun battle that killed a senior Al Qaeda operative earlier this year, officials said. "Unidentified terrorists" opened fire on the officer, Mohammed Tariq, as he boarded a minibus, killing him, according to Tariq Hassan, a government official in Khar, the main town in Bajaur Agency where the attack happened. The assailants fled.
In April, Tariq had taken part in a shootout near Khar, when security forces killed Marwan Hadid al-Suri, 38, who was suspected to be a close aide to Ayman al-Zawahri. Al-Suri was also believed to be a leader of the terror group's operations in Waziristan and across the border in eastern Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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The Arab prisoner that Hizballah wants Israel to release in exchange for two abducted Israeli soldiers, is serving multiple life sentences for killing a four-year-old girl with a rifle butt. Samir Kuntar is one of only two or three Lebanese prisoners still held by Israel, and Hizballah said its July 12 assault is aimed at winning his freedom. The terrorists killed eight Israeli soldiers and seized Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, taking them back over the border. Their whereabouts and condition remain unknown.
The Shi'ite group dubbed the raid Operation True Promise (Al-Wa'ad Al-Sadeq), saying it was making good on an earlier pledge to continue to capture Israeli soldiers and use them to obtain the release of the remaining Lebanese in Israeli jails. Since the raid, the conflict has escalated, with Israel launching an air assault on Lebanese infrastructure and Hizballah targets and Hizballah firing hundreds of missiles into Israel.
The fighting and loss of life have swung some attention away from the hostage issue, and Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in an address late last week that "the battle today is no longer a battle over prisoners or the exchange of prisoners." Nonetheless, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said during a televised address to the nation Monday night that he kept photographs of Goldwasser and Regev - along with one of another soldier, Gilad Shalit, kidnapped by Hamas in a June raid across the Gaza-Israel frontier - on his desk as a daily reminder of his mission. "We will do everything in our power to ensure their safe release and bring them back home," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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I guess it comes down to this: If Israel released anybody, how long would it take before two Israelis would die as a consequence?
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday promised a "rejoicing" for Muslims in the Middle East "soon," the Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Speaking to university officials in the town of Mashhad, Ahmadinejad said the "volcano of rage" at the "arrogant powers" was "on the verge of eruption." Referring to escalating violence in Lebanon and northern Israel, he was quoted as saying, "The Zionists themselves have realized that they have launched a risky move and are aware that the flame of the fury of the regional states will set them ablaze."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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#1
What's the Farsi for "rat-faced little nazi freak with serious personal hygiene issues"?
#2
This man is going down in history. His words, like those of Hitler's, will be a published part of the short history of this current time. He seemingly, wants to be the guiding light to steer the folks of his faith.
I so wanted to believe that he is just crazed, but, I'm beginning to think, like Hitler, he truly believes, deep down in his heart, the words that he speaks.
He's been saying these words, since the first day of those 444 days lots of us remember, deep down in our hearts. I remember those 444 flags that waved in the winds, till they came home.
Yes, he will have a short snippet in our history books, as he is leading in a path to a brutal fight. And I think, he is beginning to wake America up, and the mood doesn't seem to be the same, pleasant, what can we do to help you, that our sleeping mode presents around the world. Oh, we did some sleepwalking, rescuing tsunami folks, hurricane and typhoon folks around the world, earthquake folks, and our military stayed awake and freed 50 millions folks.
But this guy has led a sheltered life. He's never met a Texas cowboy and his posse who stand behind him, drinking that stiff, strong coffee, blinking the sleep from their eyes. Those standing guard on the perimeter, on watch, are stepping into the campfire, giving a sitrep report.
Any of the tradespots on line taking bets on this? We may have a major historical event occurring before us, and this guy's name will be associated with it. A brief comment, but associated. Too bad, that doesn't earn him an eternal bliss.
#3
"fury of the regional states will set them ablaze.""
What regional states? Do you mean Egypt, Jordan, Baharain, Quatar, UAE, Saudia Arabia, Turkey, or Iraq? Actually, the regional states disagree with your actions.
#7
Another veiled threat. If long-range missiles are launched at Tel Aviv from mobile platforms from north Lebanon, Israeil leaders will assume that these launches - with immediate pullbacks into Syria - will present a permanent threat against Tel Aviv. The only counter would involve area destruction, that would include Syrian territory. As that would ensure escalation, Israel would have to attack the missile suppliers at the source, and along the path.
#14
Ya gotta admit that his speeches over the last 6 months have made up for the piss poor stuff coming from Kimmie. Clearly, the Iranians imported more than just missile stuff from NorK, they stole the whole Sea of Fire gig.
#15
when he starts with the "Islamic Army First" policies you'll really know he's been hitting the juche
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/19/2006 10:05
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Ahmadinejad said the "volcano of rage" at the "arrogant powers" was "on the verge of eruption." Referring to escalating violence in Lebanon and northern Israel, he was quoted as saying, "The Zionists themselves have realized that they have launched a risky move and are aware that the flame of the fury of the regional states will set them ablaze."
Sigh . . . for those who can read it, this is illustrates the "pay back" mentality that Islamic phsical/sexual abuse victims fall into. It's sad on the face of it (in an abstract way), but he's still got to be stopped, because he cannot/will not stop himself. And yeah, he really DOES believe his own bullshit. (He also likes the money and the prestige his position/views provide. Follow the money . . . )
#18
Yup. It's extremely prevalent in the Islamic world (upwards of 60%). Not only that, but oftimes Mullahs consider pedophilic access a professional perk. Sick stuff. Explains the seemingly irrational rage. Young men are trying (and failing) to reclaim their identity, or standing with those who have lost it. Unfortunately, they have to identify with the aggressor when they enter into the world of jihad.
As an aside, I went to see United 93 with someone who was totally unaware of the prolific sexual abuse of Islamic boys and after they saw the movie they said how interesting it was that the Arab actors had played sexual abuse victims so well.
So you see, it really ain't about the politics. Just some FYI. In the pragmatic sense though, we have to win decisively because any and all aggression against Islamics is an experiential reintroduction of the original victimization(s), and so fans the flames of outrage. Building bridges of affirmation among the non-fighting population is also an important primary stategy because change can happen from within. It just takes time.
Based on your experience, do the muslims you know consider certain pedophilic acts (e.g., caressing, hugging) to be not homosexual (and thus halal) but other acts (e.g., anal sex) to be homosexual (and thus harem).
#20
ex-lib, very interesting take, thanks! It jibs very well with that Frontpagemag article I (?) posted here (or I discovered here, can't remember, lol) : The Psychoanalytic Roots of Islamic Terrorism
#21
mhw: Well, from what I've seen--the more healthy families are very affectionate (normal hugs, kisses, verbal affirmation). And the grown men also are more demonstrably affectionate with each other as compared to Americans and Europeans, while not leaning toward homosexuality, or sexual predation. So, technically, the cultural norm of expressed affection falls within the bounds.
That said, sexual predation on young Moslem boys by relatives, strangers, or clerics, ( as seperate from adult-to-adult homosexuality, per se) is what creates a lot of the rage, as does the favoritism of older sons and the often detached father-son relationships within many families. A lethal combination to say the least.
Some of the Mullahs consider non-heterosexuality a viable "undertaking" (pun intended) and consider themselves to have the right to do whatever they want with whoever they can in terms of the younger boys they have access to. It's not unlike the abuse noted among some Roman Catholic "priests," youth leaders, etc., but exceptionally prevalent in the Arab countries. Sad.
anon: That's a great link. I've read it before, and it's a good one to copy and file.
IMO, it gets to the point where the reasons behind what's going on don't really matter. Like criminals, the Islamofacists pretty much just need to be stopped.
#22
And when I'm talking about sexual predation, I'm talking about the aggressor seeing or considering the victim to be a SEXUAL object, whose body exists for their own sexual gratification--this view is what would dictate the inappropriateness of certain physical expressions, which yes, are "homosexual" in the technical sense, but not in the sense most people in the West would understand.
#23
To build on what ex-lib posted so eruditely, it's my understanding that in that part of the world only the male on the receiving end is engaging in a homosexual act -- the aggressor is just doing what men do (to boys, to girls, to babies, to sheep, to camels...)
#24
One of the guys in my coffee club came up with a solution (satirical at best) of setting himself up outside the Dome of the Rock (or wherever the 12th Imam is supposed to come down) during their Friday prayers. Then, they come out of the mosskkk and see my buddy standing there, with a "I'm the 12th Mahdi/Imam" t-shirt on and direct them to convert to Judaism and/or Christianity. Are we too far off the mark? It'd take all of Ahmandinejad's steam off too of thinking of himself as the "12th Mahdi/Imam".
Posted by: BA ||
07/19/2006 15:53
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#25
Oh, and btw, the rest of us would stand beside him with "I'm with stupid" t-shirts on, lol!
Posted by: BA ||
07/19/2006 15:54
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LONDON - The first of six British navy ships was arriving off Lebanon on Tuesday in order to carry out the first large-scale evacuation of Britons, Prime Minister Tony Blair said Tuesday. We have acted as quickly as we possibly can, Blair told reporters in London as the ships moved into the region to whisk away those among the 10,000 British nationals and 12,000 dual nationals who wanted to escape.
We have taken out of Lebanon (by helicopter) the first 60 people and that was done yesterday. The first ship will come today so obviously we can take far larger numbers out. We have round about six ships now in the region, he said. We have a rapid deployment team there in Beirut. We will do everything we can to get people out as quickly as we can.
This has been a big logistical operation -- weve also had to put reinforcements into (British bases in) Cyprus as well where people will be taken to.
We are doing absolutely everything we can to make sure the evacuation happens as swiftly and as properly as possible, he stressed.
Foreign Office minister Kim Howells said Monday that Britain was preparing for the biggest evacuation carried out by its military since World War II.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/19/2006
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12,000 dual nationals
Difficult for me to understand. Can anyone tell me why this dual cit thing is permitted?
#2
We are having some issues with dual citizenship here in Australia. People are calling for the Australians to be evacuated first, while those Lebanese-Australians who hold dual-citizenship passports and who have been living in Lebanon, should be second on the list.
But first we need to find some form of transport where we can get the Aussies on and out of that shit hole known as Lebanon. The Govt. has tried, is trying and will continue to try to evacuate citizens, but nothing is going right for the stranded Aussies at the moment.
#3
I'm about ready to kick the shit out of any more whining Americans (especially dual citizenship) who act like we owe them evacuation RIGHT NOW when they visited the freaking war zone and the country that's belligerent (in the south for sure) against a US ally. If I hear another "the water's cold and my pillow's hard, and the cruise ship was late" I'm gonna beat somebody with a cluebat
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/19/2006 21:44
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#4
We don't recognize dual citizenship.
When you become a citizen of the United States one of the requisites is that you give up all allegience to any other country.
However, and here's the sweet part, other countries do recognize dual citizenship. It would cost me $75,000.00 to become a foreign national. I don't have to renounce my US citizenship. And yet I can become a citizen of another country. That allows me to take funds earned as a citizen of that country and pay the going tax rate of that country for funds received as a citizen of that country.
And if you look at the tax code, there are exceptions for earnings overseas.
Sweet.
But back to the point. Since, as a condition of US citizenship, you must renounce your citizenship of another country, ipso facto, you're not a dual national.
Get it? I do believe that carrying a passport as a national of another nation is due cause for revocation of your US citizenship. But what bureacracy is enforcing this distinction? Can you guess?
It's State. And they don't have the funding to deal with it.(And have you asked the reasonable question yet:"Are Mexicans granted US citizenship allowed dual status by the Mexican government?"
On Friday, the residents of the mainly Druse town of Peki'in were getting ready to celebrate the marriage of one of their sons to a young woman from nearby Beit Jann. The wedding was to be held in a hall in a neighborhood located three kilometers from the Old Town, where men who had served in the army had been given plots of land to build their homes.
Three hours before the feast, two Katyusha rockets fell on the neighborhood as the guests began to gather. One rocket scored a direct hit on the roof of the home where Salman and Dina Ali live with their children Hussein, Rana and Sari. The rocket exploded on the roof, boring a large hole and landing in a bathroom on the top floor of the two-story house, where it created another large hole in the floor. The warhead released tiny metal balls that ripped through everything in their path, destroying a water tank, an air conditioner and a pergola of vines. The explosion also blew out the wall of a staircase leading from the second floor to the roof. A few minutes earlier, another rocket had exploded immediately in front of a neighbor's house a few meters away. Altogether, seven houses sustained damage from the two blasts.
According to Ali's nephews, Anan and Alan Kheir, their aunt and uncle had been lucky. A few minutes before the rocket hit their home, they had debated whether to eat upstairs or downstairs. In the end, they chose downstairs, a decision which may have saved their lives. Galib Kheir, head of the town's tourism department, wanted to know why no members of the media had came to see the damage that Peki'in had suffered over the past six days. It is a question also asked by town engineer Halim Muhana.
Underlying the question, which is asked with obvious resentment or hurt, is the unspoken accusation that no one cares about Peki'in because it isn't Jewish. The leaders of Peki'in stress that Hizbullah does not distinguish between Jews and Druse. "As far as Nasrallah is concerned, we are all Israelis," said Galib Kheir. "He doesn't care who he hits just as long as he hits."
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07/19/2006
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is the unspoken accusation that no one cares about Peki'in because it isn't Jewish.
silly boy. Ya got that confused. The media doesn't care because you aren't a Muslim or any other group who wishes for the destruction of western civilization.
John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator whose movie-star looks overshadowed his merely workmanlike performance as John Kerry's vice-presidential running mate two years ago, has been carefully fashioning a presidential run of his own for 2008. He gives speeches, floats ideas, and tests themes. This is a good idea for any hopeful presidential candidate, of course, but particularly for Edwards. He needs it more than most.
After the self-immolation of Howard Dean in the early 2004 campaign season, Edwards emerged unexpectedly as Kerry's only plausible opposition in the Democratic primaries. For much of that period of sudden fame, he looked like he didn't know what hit him. His campaign became a series of shifting rationales, a textbook instance of the chameleon candidacy. First, Edwards billed himself as a policy wonk, issuing detailed position papers on every conceivable national issue. This scattered approach, however, never congealed into a personal identity that could fasten itself in voters' minds, so Edwards soon abandoned talk of allocation formulas for post- secondary student loans in favor of stressing his own life story: the horny-handed son of a South Carolina mill worker who clawed his way up the entrepreneurial heap to become a self-made millionaire.
That touching narrative lost much of its pathos on examination. Edwards's father, though never wealthy, was in fact a member in good standing of the textile industry's managerial class. John's entrepreneurial energy, moreover, had been consumed by his work as a personal-injury lawyer, a profession even less attractive than the textile executives who shut down mills and, as Democrats say, ``ship the jobs overseas.''
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What pukes
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/19/2006 0:40
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He is too whiny and his prior career as an ambulance chasing lawyer, will kill any Presidential run.
How about "his work suing OB/GYN's because babies were born with CP, claiming the complications of labor could some how have been averted by these doctors, and prevented the CP? Oh, and later his state Medical Board, as well as the AMA, released a study which shows there is no link between the two". So a man made his millions telling bold-faced lies and getting juries to buy it. Just what this country needs.
#10
We live, Edwards announced, in ``two Americas'' -- ``one for the privileged and powerful, who get everything they need, and one for the rest of us, who have to struggle for everything we get.'' And he pledged to rectify this state of affairs, by means unspecified (although I believe tax increases were involved). By ``rest of us,'' incidentally, he was not referring exclusively to trial attorneys with a net worth of $50 million.
I love it when Democratic pols spit out that "the rich" phrase, like they've never met any. Shit, they see one in the mirror every morning.
And I'm with Spot. What the hell is horny-handed?
LANSING, Mich. (AP) The Michigan Democratic Party, the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus and the Democratic caucuses in the state House and Senate filed a friend-of-the-court brief Tuesday in a case that could decide whether Michigan can require voters to show photo identification at the polls. The Michigan Supreme Court in April voted 5-2 to issue an advisory opinion on the constitutionality of a 1997 state law requiring voters to show photo identification to get a ballot. A court spokeswoman said the ruling will be binding, although it could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Former Attorney General Frank Kelley, a Democrat, issued an opinion nine years ago that the law violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees U.S. citizens the right to vote. Opponents of the law say the requirement would keep poor people, non-drivers and others away from the polls. They cite figures showing that about 370,000 of the state's registered voters do not have a driver's license or state ID card.
But supporters say the law is needed to prevent election fraud. The U.S. Justice Department, for example, has been investigating allegations that Detroit votes were cast last year in the names of dead people. Michigan Republican Party Chairman Saul Anuzis supports the requirement, noting that Indiana recently began requiring photo ID. Although Democrats in that state are challenging the law and say they received hundreds of complaints about the new requirement, Anuzis said that can largely be chalked up to the learning curve. "From the things that I read, apparently things went very well. There weren't any hitches," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
that's our democratic party that we all know and love. Making sure that they voters can cheat.
#2
I don't know that it will matter. Areas of Detroit are known for 100.0% voter turnout at the last minute, with long lists of identical signatures. If the people running the precinct are corrupt, what difference does an ID law make?
#4
Whereas I is representin us folks who is of votin age and lawfully registered democraps. And whereas I is not willin to be photographed cause of past entanglement wif da law. I sez dat photographs isn't right for voters of da democrap persuasion.
SHARAN/ GHAZNI CITY, July 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): A high school was set ablaze overnight while two people were killed in separate incidents in south and southeastern province, security officials said on Monday.
Unidentified gunmen overnight torched Marjan High School in Wazakhwa district of the southeastern Paktika province. Provincial Governor Dr Akram Khpalwak told Pajhwok Afghan News two classrooms, stationary and furniture were gutted in the overnight attack. He blamed enemies of the country, a euphemism used for Taliban for the incident. He said militants had lost sting to encounter government forces and were thus carrying such assaults. Security officials had launched massive operations to hunt down the culprits but had arrested none so far.
In Sabri district of the southeastern Khost province, one man was killed and 13 more injured, when unidentified gunmen overnight hurled a hand grenade at a wedding ceremony. Crimes branch chief of Khost police headquarters Col Yaqub told this news agency that one civilian was killed and 13 others suffered injuries in the attack.
However, Mohammad Wali, a doctor at Khost civil hospital said they had received 22 injured and some others were shifted to private clinics. He said two of the wounded were in critical condition. Razi Khan, an injured, said: "We were present at the ceremony and it was about 9:30pm when the incident occurred." He said perhaps Taliban were involved in the incident as they had much influence in the area.
Separately, a tribal elder was gunned down and a civilian sustained injuries when a group of tribal elders and civilians came under attack in Aabband district of the southern Ghazni province.
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07/19/2006
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A doctor and two nurses who labored at a sweltering, flooded-out hospital in Hurricane Katrina's chaotic aftermath were arrested and accused Tuesday of murdering four trapped and desperately ill patients with injections of morphine and sedatives.
"We're talking about people that pretended that maybe they were God," Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti said. "And they made that decision."
The defendants were booked on charges of being "principals to second-degree murder," which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
The three were the first medical professionals charged in a monthslong criminal investigation into whether many of New Orleans' sick and elderly were abandoned or put out of their misery in the days after the storm.
Dr. Anna Pou, a cancer and ear, nose and throat specialist, and the two nurses were accused of deliberately killing four patients, ages 62 to 90, at Memorial Medical Center with a "lethal cocktail" of morphine and Versed. The patients' names were not released.
"There may be more arrests and victims that cannot be mentioned at this time," Foti said. "This case is not over yet." He planned to turn the case over to the New Orleans district attorney, who will decide whether to ask a grand jury to bring charges.
Memorial Medical had been cut off by flooding after the Aug. 29 hurricane swamped New Orleans. Power was knocked out in the 317-bed hospital and the temperature inside rose over 100 degrees as the staff tried to tend to patients who waited four days to be evacuated.
In court papers, state investigators said Pou told a nurse executive three days after the hurricane that the patients still awaiting evacuation would probably not survive and that a "decision had been made to administer lethal doses" to them. Overdoses of morphine or Versed can stop the heart and lungs.
Foti, however, said he believed the patients would have lived through the storm's aftermath.
"This is not euthanasia. This is homicide," the attorney general said...
#3
Here's a CNN transcript of an interview with a doctor who witnessed it.
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/19/2006 6:41
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Unfortunately, there are far too many (and one is too many, mind you) in the medical profession who seem to be more interested in euthenizing their patients in the name of "eficiency" and "cost effectiveness" and "quality of life" than in treating them. The Mrs. had the SeeBS news on last week, and there was this "medical ethics expert" decrying the high cost of treating premature babies and talking about how the resources could be better used elsewhere. My immediate reaction was, "Oh, in other words, you want to kill them off."
Posted by: Mike ||
07/19/2006 8:39
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#5
Katrina claims three more victims. They may well be guilty of a crime, but they are also three more people whose lives are destroyed by the storm. I don't know why they would have killed patients while rescue was underway, though there were situations prior to that where I might have found it the lesser of two evils (no power meant manually operating breathing machines - and watching people essentially strangle to death over a period of hours after you just couldn't physically go on pumping; a terminal sedative just doesn't seem like such a bad thing then.) I forget who said it, but 'if you tie your dog up in the yard and let him starve to death you go to jail, but if you take him to the vet to be put to sleep it's ok; if you take out the feeding tube and starve a person to death it's ok, but if you give them a terminal sedative you go to jail.
#6
Mike, There's a finite amount of medical resources. It's insufficient to keep everybody alive as long as possible. Right now, the decision of who to treat and who to leave untreated is decided by who has the most money available to fund the medical business. Whether that is the correct basis on which to make the decision is debatable. To take active steps to end life is another entirely.
#7
"Oh, in other words, you want to kill them off."
Oh, in other words you want to kill off other people. Resources are finite. Decisions have to be made as to where to expend them. I have no time for people who characterize situations as absolutes and as a result condemn people who can be saved and contribute to society to death.
#9
Sorry folks, I'm a doc (as some of you know) and I do critical care. I also take care of patients with ALS, terminal lung cancer and other end-stage diseases.
Never, never, ever would I consider euthanasia, nor would I counsel same, nor would I do anything that would actively shorten the life of a patient. It's immoral.
I distinguish between euthanasia and 'comfort care', in which, together with a patient, we stop trying to cure what is a hopeless situation and instead help a person be comfortable. Hospice care is noble and honorable, and it's not euthanasia. Hospice care is where we go when we recognize that all the resources in the world won't fix the underlying medical problem.
Euthanasia is murder, pure and simple.
And let me add this: what happened in the article wasn't even euthanasia. The patients didn't ask to be given these drugs, the doc and nurses made this decision on their own. They weren't looking to make the patients comfortable or to relieve suffering, they were just tired of taking care of them.
I know two docs who stayed in New Orleans after Katrina. One was at Tulane, the other at Oschner. They and their compatriot docs, nurses and staff were heroes; they provided great medical care despite the extraordinary circumstances. Not a single one of them committed murder.
The people cited in this story dishonored my profession, and I spit on them. There.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/19/2006 10:43
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#10
Hear, Hear, AoS! I applaud your stance. Truly what the Hypocratic Oath (sp?) is all about. Do NO harm, first and foremost.
I draw the line too. Now, if you were manually operating the breathing machines (like glenmore stated) and you give out, that's one thing. But, to make the decision yourself, without telling/consulting the patient that you're about to OD them is murder in my mind. No one knew for sure what was happening, and a rescue 'copter could've shown up 5 mins. later.
Posted by: BA ||
07/19/2006 10:57
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I wonder if the medical folks panicked because they were watching the news on the networks and figured it was a holocaust. Maybe they didn't realize it wasn't as out of control as that.
Up to seven people have been killed by gunmen during a rally ahead of elections at the end of this month in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Unidentified gunmen opened fire on the rally near Rutshuru in the North Kivu province of the country reviving fears that the polls could be disrupted by violence. The central African country will hold its first free multi-party election in four decades on July 30, but rebels and militias continue to terrorise the civilian population despite the presence of the world's biggest United Nations peacekeeping force.
Jean-Luc Mutokambale, the independent parliamentary candidate who staged the rally, fled to Uganda in fear for his life after the shooting. Other local candidates have asked for UN protection. Officials said on Tuesday that several people were also wounded in the worst violence so far. Jacqueline Chenard, a UN spokeswoman in North Kivu, said a team had been sent to investigate the attack.
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07/19/2006
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#1
For an accurate definition of the term "quagmire", I direct your attention to the article above.
One week after the humiliation it suffered in a Hezbollah cross-border raid in which eight soldiers were killed and two captured, Israel senses one of its major military and political victories is within reach. The stunning campaign it has waged against Hezbollah has reportedly brought the militia to a point where it is willing to discuss Israel's major demand - that it pull back several kilometres from the Israeli border, perhaps to the Litani River. Reports from Beirut yesterday said that Hezbollah officials had declared readiness to discuss the pullback proposal as well as a ceasefire with Israel but were not willing to discuss Israel's demand that it disarm.
For six years, since its hasty pullback from Lebanon after an 18-year occupation, Israel has been harassed by Hezbollah, which set up posts flying the organisation's yellow flag a few score metres from Israeli military posts all along the border. What made Hezbollah more than a nuisance was the fact that it was a forward outpost for Iran, which armed and trained its fighters and used them as a strategic threat against Israel. The huge missile arsenal Tehran sent to Hezbollah - 13,000 missiles, according to Israel - was intended primarily as a deterrent against Israel should it contemplate an airstrike against its nuclear facilities.
To respond heavily to a Hezbollah provocation could bring down a rain of missiles on Israel's cities. Surprisingly, it was an Israeli leader without a significant military background, Ehud Olmert, who decided to take on Hezbollah and pay the price. More than 1000 missiles have struck Israel in the past week but the Israeli public overwhelmingly calls on the Government to continue pressing Hezbollah.
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#1
The huge missile arsenal Tehran sent to Hezbollah - 13,000 missiles, according to Israel - was intended primarily as a deterrent against Israel should it contemplate an airstrike against its nuclear facilities.
interesting. so by taking out hezbollah, Israel is freer to strike Iran's nuclear facilities? hmmmmm
#2
More likely the US is. One of Iran's threats is that if the US attacked its nuclear facilities, it would attack Israel. The missiles that Hezballah posesses were probably designated for this and were probably the most reliably "accurate" asset it had. The home-based missiles may be able to hit their target, but they have to be considering what would happen if they missed and landed one in Iraq, Egypt, Jordan, etc.. Well, I guess considering could be a pretty loose term here! :-)
The US is giving Israel a window of a week to inflict maximum damage on Hizbullah before weighing in behind international calls for a ceasefire in Lebanon, according to British, European and Israeli sources. The Bush administration, backed by Britain, has blocked efforts for an immediate halt to the fighting initiated at the UN security council, the G8 summit in St Petersburg and the European foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels. "It's clear the Americans have given the Israelis the green light. They [the Israeli attacks] will be allowed to go on longer, perhaps for another week," a senior European official said yesterday. Diplomatic sources said there was a clear time limit, partly dictated by fears that a prolonged conflict could spin out of control.
US strategy in allowing Israel this freedom for a limited period has several objectives, one of which is delivering a slap to Iran and Syria, who Washington claims are directing Hizbullah and Hamas militants from behind the scenes.
I'd think our objective would be to see Hezbollah wiped out. But if they Israelis have another week, and they've taken out 40 percent of Hezbollah's command structure, maybe another week's all they need.
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#1
I understood that the 40% referred to assets such as missiles, launchers, etc. throughout the country. Am I wrong here? I also thought that Israel was going to launch a ground offensive after they had pushed out all the "civilians" and pinched off the major routes for retreat, and that this offensive was aimed at wiping out Hezballah fighters. One week would then be too little time to accomplish this with anything like a minimum of casualties.
#7
Al Guardian, Heaping pile of Salt. And it contradicts what the WH has been saying so far.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/19/2006 9:46
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today in Haaretz Israelis say it will take 10 to 14 days more. Ground troops have crossed the border in the south, but i very much doubt Israeli ground troops will go all the way to south Beirut, which is what it would take to hunt down every last Hezb terrorist. They are not going to eliminate Hezb with this operation. The material and political costs would be too high. They are going to weaken it severely however. This will make it harder for Hezb to attack across the border for some time, but more important it will weaken Hezb in Leb politics, since their power is based so much on force. It will also, as a bonus, humiliate Syria and Iran.
#9
as for the dance, by which US diplos delay a ceasefire while Israel achieves its military objectives, that wasnt invented by Bush or Rice. It was done by the Johnson admin in June of '67, and by the Nixon admin in October 1973.
#11
If and when this conflict spins out of control, it benefits us, not Hezbollah, not Syria or Iran.
Further, I assume that spinning out of control means a broader war involving Hezbollah's supporters. What's not to like ?
There was a rally for Israel in Freedom Plaza, Penn Ave and 13th St NW, at noon today. Speakers included Israeli Amb Daniel Ayalon, Senator Sam Brownback (R- Kansas), Gov Robert Erlich (R-Md) and several congressmen of both parties, Rev Jim Hagee of Christians for Israel (or something) and various local Jewish leaders.
Organizers estimated the crowd at four to five thousand. Looked like a bit less to me, but Im not experienced at estimating crowds.
As Amb Ayalon said, the goal of the current operation is to restore a free Lebanon, to free the hostages, to break Hezbollah, and to keep Syria and Iran "at bay".
Reminder, that one quarter of the population of Israel is living in bomb shelters.
Children and elderly from the north have beeen relocated to central Israel. To provide humanitarian aid, check out Shalomdc.org
Thanks were expressed to President Bush and to Congress, and to the American people, for their support.
#14
That would be really helpful---though I don't expect it to happen, is for US Congress to pass a law saying Lebanon gets zero US aid intil compliance with 1559 is achieved (and verified).
Pirates in Somalia who kidnapped about 20 seamen in March have released them, according to official reports. The kidnapped Filipinos were on their way home, officials for the Philippines said Monday. Roy Cimatu, the government's special envoy to the Middle East, said that the men had been freed on Saturday. He said that it was not clear whether any ransom had been paid. The men were seized after their oil tanker, the United Arab Emirates-registered MT LIN1, unloaded its cargo at a port in southern Somalia on March 29, the Philippine foreign affairs department said. Cimatu said the owners of the ship, who were not identified, negotiated for the release of the men. No other details were provided.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Sindh police have arrested two landowners for forcing a peasant to give two infant daughters in marriage as repayment for a loan, a police official said.
Police arrested Ali Nawaz Rind and Mohammad Ramazan Rind this week after they held a jirga (council of village elders) that ordered one-year old Moora and two-year old Marvi, the daughters of Bhongar Khoso, be given in marriage to the infant sons of Nawaz. "We have made pre-emptive arrests after we learnt that this jirga was held in Sanghar," said senior police official Ajmal Magsi. Police said Khoso had taken a loan of Rs 25,000 from Nawaz Rind. When he could not repay it, a village council was convened to decide the matter, and invoked the custom of sang-chati, whereby girls are used as bartering chips to settle disputes. The practice has been made illegal, but it is still prevalent in rural areas where feudal and tribal ways hold sway.
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At least they were married to someone about their own age. Nawaz must have ugly babies.
Although Hizbullah has suffered a harsh blow from Israeli air force strikes which took out a good percentage of their available weapons, Syria was continuing to smuggle arms into Lebanon to rearm the group, IDF Operations Branch Head Major General Gadi Eisenkot said during a press briefing Tuesday. Thus far, the IAF managed to intercept a number of trucks transporting rockets from Syria to Hizbullah, including trucks laden with the 220mm-diameter rockets with warheads like the one that hit the Haifa train depot Monday, claiming eight lives. Maj.-Gen. Eisenkot said he would be very surprised if official elements in Syria were unaware of these transports.
"Very surprised," prob'ly, to the point of clasping his chest and keeling over...
These are rockets that belong to the Syrian army. You cant find them in the Damascus market, and the Syrian government is responsible for this smuggling, Eisenkot said, but stressed, We are not operating against Syria or the Lebanese army.
At least not yet. When Hezbollah's about to go under and Syrian "volunteers" come to offer "fraternal assistance," maybe so...
During the briefing, Maj.-Gen. Eisenkot said the IDF has hit over 1,000 targets, 180 of them Katyusha and rocket storage sites and 350 launch sites. Over 250 missile strikes were carried out with the aim of blocking traffic arteries, and 200 buildings used by Hizbullah were hit. According to Eisenkot, Israels offensive would continue without time limitations. With that, we always operate under the principle of a short fighting period. In the short term, this is a complicated reality for civilians too, but in the long term this operation holds great importance for all of us, he noted. He added that senior Hizbullah leaders were hiding out in underground bunkers. We struck a number of mid-level operatives in the organization, and not in the numbers we wished, but our energies have been aimed at taking out weapons stores and rocket launchers, he said.
Since Hassan and company are approximately 42 feet from the center of the earth...
At the briefing, IAF Commander Brig. Gen. Amir Eshel presented footage of an army aircraft scoring a direct hit on a truck laden with rockets, and noted that the truck was disguised as a civilian vehicle in order not to be identified. We are faced with very complex operations here, which demand excellent intelligence information. To thwart this, we are blocking the Lebanon-Syria border, and warplanes are constantly flying over the area, he said. He noted that as time passes, the air force was becoming familiar with the enemy and its operations were therefore becoming more sophisticated and efficient. The IDF was continuing to destroy Hizbullah bases within one kilometer of the border that were built over the past six years since the army withdrew from Lebanon. Residents of southern Lebanese villages, where rockets were being fired from, had been asked to leave the area, officials noted at the briefing.
Just out of curiosity, I wonder how the PFLP-GC is faring. And whether Ein el-Hellhole's been struck.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
For Christ f*cking sakes, please stop calling artillery rockets Katyushkas. Katyushka are a relic of WWII and are not made anymore.
Likely the Grad 122mm, and now the Urugan 220mm artillery rockets are being used by Hezbollah.
#4
Bad, this is the same media that calls AK-74s "submachine guns" and any APC with a cupola-mounted grenade launcher "a tank". They are lucky to be able to identify aircraft as not being submarines, and that is on a good day.
#5
You would think they would gain some familiarity and knowledge of weapons that have taken so many of their colleagues lives. But I suppose when it comes to military matters, ignorance remains bliss.
#6
Beosoker-
And therein lies the rub...to acknowledge these things is to acknowledge that there is a need in the world for people with competence in such things.
And they'd sooner die.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/19/2006 6:54
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Heh, indeed. Far be it from me to excuse or defend the abysmal media ignorance of matters military, but I think we are seeing one of those linguistic constructs where the name of a specific product or brand, like Kleenex or Band-Aid, becomes a generic term for the whole category. Katyusha is becoming a generic term for any big-ass rail-launched bottle rocket.
That, and the media ignorance thing somebody mentioned.
#13
You cant find them in the Damascus market,
Gotta disagree with that. If there is such a thing as a For Sale Nuke the Damascus market is where I'd look.
KABUL: Afghanistans deputy interior minister accused Pakistani militants of overrunning a southern Afghan town, which hundreds of Afghan troops, backed by coalition forces, are readying to wrest back. Helmand provinces deputy governor said 300 to 400 Afghan soldiers were heading to the southern town of Garmser, near the Pakistani border, which officials said was taken by Taliban forces on Sunday. Our soldiers are going to Garmser with the support of the coalition to take it back from the Taliban, said Amir Mohammed Akhunzada, the deputy governor.
In Kabul, Deputy Interior Minister Abdul Malik Sidiqi accused Pakistan-based Islamic groups Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam of taking over Garmser. Sidiqi said a second Helmand town that had been overrun by militants - Naway-i-Barakzayi - was reclaimed by government forces late on Monday. Meanwhile, Taliban militants vowed to intensify their insurgency with fresh attacks and suicide bombings. During these operations which will begin today or tomorrow, well take most of the districts in southern and south-central Afghanistan, purported Taliban spokesman Mohammad Hanif said.
Earlier on Tuesday, the US military said a massive anti-insurgent operation being waged in southern Afghanistan has seriously disrupted the Taliban network there, particularly in the northern Helmand districts of Sangin, Musa Qala and Baghran.
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BEIRUT - Israeli warplanes on Tuesday bombarded the main road linking Lebanon and Syria, cutting off the route which has been the main passage used by thousands trying to flee Lebanon, police said.
Israeli jets have repeatedly bombed the road since starting the offensive against Lebanon last week, but up to now traffic had been able to navigate around the damage. Israel is saying it was targeting roads and bridges to prevent movement by Hezbollah.
Thousands of Lebanese and foreigners have been using the road to escape Lebanon. Spain, Greece and other countries have been busing their nationals to Damascus to be flown out of the region. A convoy of ambulances carrying rockets and ammo donated by the United Arab Emirates which had been travelling from Syria to Beirut was forced to turn around, the craters in the road making further travel impossible.
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#1
22 IDF IR Gun camera vids, some with multiple targets.
see Hezbollah Beirut buildings go down..bridges..rocket sites [hezzies run but can't hide!]...IDF MLRS.. etc. etc.
these five stand out.
katyusha_130..
shidur384k...
avir256k_str
mlrs_16...
ramat_david
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AKTAACN4
or
http://www.sendspace.com/file/56ko9g
#2
Lebanese honcho is demanding Israel pay to fix all the stuff they broke. Funny thing is Israel might actually do it if Lebanon is 'clean', and behaves politely - but not if you're get all demanding and bitchy about it.
The US secretary of state said Tuesday any cease-fire in Lebanon ought to be based on fundamental changes, publicly disagreeing with her Egyptian counterpart, who called for an immediate halt to fighting. As part of international efforts to end the violence, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for a bigger, better-armed and more robust international force to stabilize Southern Lebanon and buy time for the government to disarm Hizbullah guerrillas. Rice, at a joint news conference in Washington with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit, said she was primed to visit the region when it will be "helpful and necessary."
Asked about calls for an immediate cease-fire in the region, Abu al-Gheit said: "A cease-fire is imperative, and we have to keep working to reach that objective. It is impera-tive. We have to bring it to an end as soon as possible ... We should do it now." Rice immediately stated the US position, that a cease-fire was only advisable once the root cause of the fighting - including, in the US view, Hizbullah's attacks - was addressed. "We all agree it should happen as soon as possible, when conditions are conducive to do so," Rice said.
That, she said, would involve implementation of a standing UN Security Council resolution and the deployment of the Lebanese Army to the borders, as well as the introduction of a strong peacekeeping operation. "We all want a cessation of violence. We all want the protection of civilians. We have to make certain that anything that we do is going to be of lasting value," Rice said.
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This article contradicts the Al Guardian article. US Gives Israel One Week. I guess salt to taste or time will tell.
(SomaliNet) Islamic militiamen raided tonight a cinema in Sinai village of eastern Mogadishu, arresting several people who were watching film following earlier warning from Islamists on seeing movies a step that Islamic courts to banning all public entertainments in the capital. The chairman of the Sinai Islamic court which is in the council of Islamic courts Sheikh Dahir Sheikh Farah confirmed on late Tuesday that they have arrested nine people who were in act of viewing very taboo film that is forbidden according to Sharia law. Our troops have stormed a cinema where young people watching emotionally a sexy film and they were all taken to prison, Sheikh Farah said adding we have already issued a warning on seeing movies in this district. "
All the detained people were young including one woman and they are in the custody. Sheikh Farah said we had told all the residents that we could not tolerate all evil actions and sins like watching movies, songs in the wedding parts and so on.
Posted by: Fred ||
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But nope, they're not like al-Qaeda, anyone can see that, nope, nope ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/19/2006 1:03
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Diane Feinstein wants Bush to send Bill Clinton as a peace negotiator to the Middle East. I recommend sending him to Mogadishu to finish the job he started and screwed up.
"could not tolerate all evil actions sins like watching movies [sic] and so on."
I learned something new, Sharia Law is open ended and subject to change at a moments notice.
One person was killed on Tuesday afternoon in Nahariya following a rocket barrage on the city. According to reports, the rocket hit the man as he left the bomb shelter he had sought refuge in. Another man was reportedly wounded in the northern city. For a Jerusalem Online video of events click here All-in-all 125 rockets fell on northern Israel on Tuesday, Israel Radio reported. 3 people were wounded in Safed by rocket fire on Tuesday. Eli Dayari, a Nahariya resident interviewed by Channel 10, said the rocket hit a two-story building and an apartment there was on fire.
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THOUGHTFUL Democrats living in the 1st Congressional District must have cringed upon reading their candidates' positions on Iraq in yesterday's Union Leader. The position of the left-wing candidate, Carol Shea-Porter, was to flee and let what happens in Iraq happen. The establishment candidate, Rep. Jim Craig, did not even have a position. The only candidate who made any sense was David Jarvis of Londonderry, a virtual unknown who opposes the war but said immediate pullout would mean going back on our commitments to the Iraqi people.
Democrats who live in the 2nd District have it better. Their only candidate, Paul Hodes, gave a sensible response opposing immediate withdrawal for fear of leaving a failed state behind.
All of this comes up as New Hampshire Democrats prepare for the arrival next Sunday of Rep. John Murtha, D-Penn., the decorated former Marine. Murtha favors immediate withdrawal. But the more he speaks the crazier his position becomes. Last month he said he favored pulling troops out of Iraq and redeploying them to Okinawa. He said the South Pacific island more than 6,000 miles from Iraq could be the launching point whenever the United States needed to deploy quickly to the Middle East.
Continued on Page 49
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The others have more shrewdly opted to keep their distance.
Hey, for the average extremist liberal, this is pretty shrewd, indeed!
Methinks Murtha has outgrown his usefulness because he is living in the past.
(SomaliNet) Some six youths who were playing cards were yesterday rounded up by a mob, battered to death and set their bodies ablaze, Nation Media reported Tuesday.
"There they are! Hand me my bludgeon, Ngoro!"
According to the mob, the dead men were robbers who were behind a wave of crime in Nakuru Town. The residents armed themselves with weapons and launched a manhunt for the suspects, who were cornered while playing cards in Heshima Estate.
"Get 'em!"
However, the youths attempted to flee,
"Feet, don't fail me — aaaaiiiieeee!"
but were apprehended and beaten before being frog marched to an open field where they were doused with petrol and set on fire. The Kenyan Police arrived moments later and took away the bodies. Two of the suspects still had signs of life, but police said they died shortly after their arrival.
"Dr. Quincy!"
"What is it, Sam?"
"This one's still twitching!"
"Just ignore it. He'll stop soon."
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Canasta is an evil card game left over from colonial times, DO NOT play it here in Nakuru or we will light you up!
#2
Yet another example of progressive conduct on the part of the inhabitants of Rootsland. See also Somalia, COngo, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, etc., etc., etc.
#4
Years ago, I watched an incredible documentary, showing a police "investigation" in Ivory Coast, supposedly an advanced country by african standards.
Procedure followed the death by hijacking of a police officer, and *all* the detective work consisted of waiting for tips by informants, and BEATING SENSESSLY suspects until they "confessed". Wash, rince, repeat as necessary. All this in front of the camera, a real snuff movie, except for a prolonged beating during a whole night which left suspects with broken bones and everything, and had them confess to the crime : false lead, start all over again.
Finally, perps were caught, and one was badly injured in a car accident; he was "interrogated" on the spot, despite being all broken up already, then taken to the hopital.
Next morning, he had disappeared. Escape? Nope, he died in the meantime, and the body was put in a tool house in the hospital's garden and forgotten. Case closed.
Japan has confirmed reports it is preparing further economic sanctions against North Korea, after a UN security council resolution demanded suspension of Pyongyang's missile programme. Finance minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said: "Japan is eyeing limiting transfers of financial assets and will work hard so that we can start it as soon as possible. "We have already started the work to specify what would become the targets of rules to limit the transfer of financial assets."
Shinzo Abe, the chief cabinet secretary, said Japan would co-ordinate with the international community on the expected sanctions. The statements confirm Japanese media reports on Monday that Tokyo was preparing to take action. The main ferry link and charter flights from North Korea have been suspended indefinitely, and visits by North Korean diplomats have already been banned by Japan after the test-firing of seven missiles on July 5.
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Well, look at them!
I didn't think they had it in them, but it looks like they want to play hardball.
BOSTON --Gov. Mitt Romney supplied the head of Boston's Big Dig with written allegations of mismanagement and moved forward Tuesday in his efforts to oust him, while crews worked to repair a tunnel network where tons of ceiling panels fell, crushing a motorist. Romney has for years been a critic of Matthew Amorello, the chairman and chief executive of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority, which oversees the massive $14.6 billion highway project, and has repeatedly failed in his effort to get Amorello to step down. However, Romney said the fatal accident July 10 bolsters his argument the project has been mismanaged and Amorello should be removed as chief executive. A hearing was scheduled for July 27 on Amorello's dismissal. Romney refused to release the specific allegations and said the hearing would be private.
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Romney was on the news last night, on a cherry picker right at the mounting plates. He explained how to recognize the signs of bolt failure, and how they were going to solve the problem by backing up the epoxied bolts with expansion bolts. He came across as competent and in charge.
The idea of gluing bolts into an oversize hole, with the epoxy mixed in the hole as the bolt is inserted, seems ludicrous especially if you expect it to last a century. The new design involves a bolt which expands into an oversized pocket at the bottom of the hole. I would have thought they would have used that obvious approach in the beginning, but apparently there are a lot of tunnel ceilings in Boston and elsewhere that use epoxied bolts. The unusual part of the Big Dig design was the weight of the ceiling panels.
Israeli tanks began moving into the Mughazi refugee camp in central Gaza early Wednesday under cover of machine gun fire from troops. The IDF confirmed that an operation was in progress. The camp, with 22,000 residents, is near the Gaza-Israel fence and across from the Palestinian town of Deir al-Balah. IDF forces operated in the region late last week before withdrawing. Israeli troops have also swept through southern Gaza and carried out two invasions of northern Gaza, trying to stop terrorists from firing rockets at Israel.
The incursion was preceded by several hours of tank movements on the Israeli side, as well as exchanges of fire between soldiers and Palestinian gunmen. No casualties were reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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Whoops, I thought this link may have had something to do with Hezballah. I'll be leaving now. Carry on with whatever it was you were doing, IDF.
Police arrested around 100 Afghan nationals on Tuesday during a campaign against Afghans living in Balochistan illegally. Most of the Afghans were arrested from seminaries. A police source told Daily Times that the police had gleaned information about Afghans living illegally in Balochistan from Taliban leader Hamidullah who was arrested on Monday. He said the police had registered cases against the Afghans under the Foreigners Act and moved them to an undisclosed place for investigation.
"The police conducted raids in Kuchlak, Pashtoonabad, Khurotabad, Nawan Qili, Almu Chowak and Sariab areas. More than 200 Afghans living in Balochistan illegally have been arrested so far," said another source. On the other hand, Afghan settlers in Quetta have criticised the raids and accused the government of causing problems to people who had come to Pakistan because of unavoidable circumstances in their country. "It is wrong to arrest every Afghan citizen and register a case under the Foreigners Act," said an Afghan national. However, government officials say that the campaign against people living illegally in Balochistan would continue because they were the main source of terrorism in the province.
Something going on. From KUNA:
Over 188 Afghan refugees, Taliban guerillas arrested in Pakistan
(KUNA) -- Pakistani security forces in a crackdown, launched last week, have nabbed over 188 Afghan refugees and Taliban guerillas including four wanted commanders, said an official on Tuesday. Forces acting on credible intelligence reports conducted raids in Nuwann Kulli and Pushtun Abad areas of Quetta, the capital of Southwest Baluchistan province, said Salman Syed, the city police chief, while talking to KUNA. He said four wanted former Taliban commanders were also arrested in the crack down. He added that important documents and satellite telephones were also recovered from them.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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Perv takin heat from India
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/19/2006 0:23
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He's cleaning out Baluchistan, which is adjacent to Iran, on the other side. The Pak army has apparently gotten strong enough to take over that enclave and make it fully Pak government controlled. This in turn gives Pak the full control of the Baluch mineral wealth, and security for their new deep water port.
The remaining bad Baluchs are probably fleeing to Iranian Baluchistan, and will cut up rough there.
A suicide bomber killed 59 people in a crowded Iraqi market on Tuesday after luring Shi'ite day labourers aboard his minivan with an offer of casual work. The blast in Kufa, near Najaf, was one of the bloodiest attacks of the year and followed a gun and grenade attack on another market on Monday that killed a similar number. Clashes broke out between police and angry crowds demanding better security after the Kufa bomb, which also wounded 132 people in the city south of Baghdad. Police in Kufa were pelted with rocks by angry crowds, many of whom demanded that militias loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr take over security there.
The explosion, some 50-100 metres from a golden-domed Shi'ite shrine, tore through the minibus shortly after it had pulled out of the market with a group of labourers aboard. "A man driving a KIA van with an Iraqi accent came and said: 'I need labourers'. After the labourers got on and packed the vehicle he blew it up," said witness Nasir Faisal. "Four of my cousins were killed. They were standing beside the van. Their bodies were scattered far and wide by the blast."
Protesters gathered around the blackened mangle of vehicles. Blood-stained clothes lay amid the debris. "We want the Mehdi Army to protect us. We want Moqtada's army to protect us," screamed a woman dressed in a black abaya gown. Others chanted to the police: "You are traitors!" "You are not doing your job!" "American agents!" Police then fired automatic rifles into the air to disperse the crowds and confused scenes ensued. Some civilians, who appeared to be Sadr followers, were seen carrying weapons. A man with a bandage on his head in a Kufa hospital said: "Where are our human rights?"
Continued on Page 49
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A very different view as you might expect by a Syrian writer in Damascus. It's very long and I haven't snipped it, instead putting it on page 49, because he develops an interesting idea. I think he's seriously wrong, but it's worth reading if only to see what's wrong with it. The thesis: a Shi'a state in southern Lebanon, with Hezbollah forced to be responsible, would lead to peace, and Israel must talk with Hezbollah to achieve this. I think that's as likely as Hamas becoming responsible for Gaza. The writer also thinks that Israel must moderate it's demands. I think this is precisely the time for Israel to create 'new facts on the ground' by taking out Syria. But that's just me.
By Sami Moubayed
DAMASCUS - The decision by Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah, to bomb the northern Israeli town of Haifa was received with mixed emotions in Lebanon and the Arab world. Those who wanted to see pain inflicted on Israel organized massive parades in his favor in Damascus, Amman, Baghdad and Cairo.
Others, however, claimed that Nasrallah was leading the Arabs to where Egyptian president Gamal Abdul Nasser had led them in 1967 - to unforgivable defeat. Because of Nasser's adventurism, the Arabs lost the Golan Heights, the Sinai Peninsula, Jerusalem and the West Bank. Like Nasser, they claim, Nasrallah is a true patriot, but both leaders were greatly misinformed about the might of the enemy, and the power of their own armies.
They also underestimated Israel's standing and friends in the international community, which since 1967 have exceeded those of the Arabs - at least in quantity. Many in the Arab world, including the regimes of Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, see Nasrallah as the new Nasser who will lead his people to certain defeat. Saudi Arabia even issued an official statement warning against "irresponsible adventurism adopted by certain elements within the state" in Lebanon.
The Saudis did not, however, mention Hezbollah by name. It would be only natural for the Saudis, who are historically at odds with Iran, and tactical allies of Saad al-Hariri, the current leader of Lebanon's Sunni community and a member of parliament, to oppose the adventurism of Nasrallah. Too much Saudi money and investment, from the days of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, is at stake in Lebanon.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/19/2006
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Yeesh. Kind of makes you wonder where to start with these guys if this guy is among the cream of the crop.
City Clerk Janice Winfrey is set in less than a month to eliminate from voting rolls the names of nearly 55,000 dead people and those who no longer live in Detroit, as she undertakes a blitzkrieg aimed at restoring integrity and respect to Detroit elections. Winfrey, a political novice and former math teacher, was able to do in six months something her predecessor, Jackie Currie, didn't do for years. "It was very easy," Winfrey said, explaining she bought "death lists" from the state and city Health Department so the names of the deceased could be purged. Then she moved to eliminate the names of people who hadn't cast a ballot since before the 2002 election and who had been mailed voter card registration renewal forms that were returned by the U.S. Postal Service as undeliverable. Already the names of about 33,000 deceased voters have been removed. The rest can be removed after the August primary. Winfrey estimates another 40,000 names can be removed under a similar process in 2008.
Currie said she didn't have the power to clean up the voter rolls, which she claimed could be done only by state officials. Winfrey beat Currie last year amid a growing drumbeat for an overhaul of city elections. Before the election, The Detroit News found that Currie's assistants had improperly distributed ballots and coaxed legally incapacitated people into filling out absentee ballots and that absentee ballot applications were being sent to vacant lots, abandoned nursing homes and in one case even a facility used to house juveniles in trouble with the law.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/19/2006
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This is obviously racist and a civil rights violation.
Heart failure and a lung problem were the actual cause of Allama Hassan Turabi's death in a suicide attack in Karachi on July 14, Aaj television reported on Tuesday. According to a death certificate issued by a local hospital in Karachi, Turabi didn't receive lethal wounds in the suicide bomb attack and "it was actually heart failure and slow working of the lungs that caused his death".
Scared him to death, they they?
Posted by: Fred ||
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Ultimately, the cause of all deaths is heart failure. If your heart is beating, you are alive. If it fails to beat, you are dead.
Indonesia pledged to build a nationwide tsunami alert system as soldiers pulled bodies from ravaged beaches, homes and hotels Tuesday. Parents searched tearfully for their children and the death toll hit at least 341, with nearly 230 people missing.
Bodies covered in white sheets piled up at makeshift morgues, while others lay beneath the blazing sun in the tourist resort of Pangandaran, a 6-month-old baby among them. The search for survivors continued Tuesday, with parents among the last to give up. "The water was too strong," said Irah as she dug through a pile of rubble with her bare hands, close to the spot where she last saw her 6-year-old son. "Oh God. Eki, where are you?"
The magnitude 7.7 undersea quake on Monday triggered walls of water more than six feet high that crashed into a 110-mile stretch of beach on Java island, an area spared by the devastating 2004 Asian tsunami. The waves destroyed houses, restaurants and hotels and tossed boats, cars and motorbikes far inland. The death toll rose Tuesday to at least 341, according to Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie, and, with 229 more missing, the number was expected to climb. "We are still finding many bodies. Many are stuck in the ruins of the houses," said police chief Syamsuddin Janieb.
Posted by: Fred ||
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What is this, the fourth or fifth natural disaster of some significance to level a Muslim area? Allan is not pleased.
One Kassam rocket was fired from Gaza and hit Ashkelon on Tuesday evening while another rocket fired from Gaza hit near Sderot. No-one was reported wounded in the incidents.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Hezbollah wouldn't know anyway. They use the "fire and forget" weapons systems.
Saudi Arabia would support a UN-backed stabilization force in Lebanon if approved by the Lebanese government, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said yesterday. "We support the Lebanese government affirming control over all of its territory," said Prince Saud at a press conference at the ministry's offices in Jeddah. "The decision of war and peace belongs to the legitimate authorities, not any other party otherwise there would be chaos," the prince added.
The minister warned the international community of the critical situation in the Middle East, saying that inaction in dealing with Israel's attack on Lebanon would result in new cycles of violence and a war with an unpredictable outcome. "The priority now is to establish a cease-fire because there is no excuse for the continuation of hostilities if the purpose of the hostilities is to secure the release of the two soldiers. If that is going to happen, it will happen after the cease-fire," said Prince Saud, referring to the two captured Israeli soldiers held by Hezbollah at an unknown location.
Posted by: Fred ||
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(Interfax) - Militants from the Doku Umarov criminal armed group are ready to lay down their arms, Chechen Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov told the Chechen Interior Ministry's senior officials. "As a result of the work we have done, 13 militants taking direct orders from Umarov have announced they are ready to surrender," he said. "Doku Umarov is known as the militants' devil," said Kadyrov.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The little known Islamist group Lashkar-e-Qahhar said it would provide audio and visual proof that it carried out the Mumbai train bombings, which killed 207 people. In an email to an Indian TV station yesterday, the group also warned that it was planning attacks against government sites in India.
Lashkar-e-Qahhar said 16 people took part in the attacks and one of them was killed. Indian police were trying to establish the credibility of the email. Investigators believe the group may be a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, an Islamist group based in Pakistan that has fought Indian rule in Kashmir.
A front? Ya think?
Indian Police Say Group's E-Mail a Hoax
Indian police said Wednesday that an e-mail claiming responsibility for the Bombay train bombings was a hoax. A little-known Islamic militant group had purported to take credit for the July 11 attacks on the city's commuter rail network, which killed 207 people.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/19/2006
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Turkish officials signaled Tuesday they are prepared to send the army into northern Iraq if U.S. and Iraqi forces do not take steps to combat Turkish Kurdish guerrillas there a move that could put Turkey on a collision course with the United States.
Turkey is facing increasing domestic pressure to act after 15 soldiers, police and guards were killed fighting the guerrillas in southeastern Turkey in the past week. "The government is really in a bind," said Seyfi Tashan, director of the Foreign Policy Institute at Bilkent University in Ankara. "On the one hand, they don't want things to break down with the United States. On the other hand, the public is crying for action."
Diplomats and experts cautioned the increasingly aggressive Turkish statements were likely aimed at calming public anger and pressing the U.S. and Iraq to act against the Turkish Kurdish guerrillas. But they also said Turkish politicians and military officers could act if nothing is done.
U.S. officials in Turkey and Washington were in contact with Turkish officials and military commanders to press them to work with Washington to combat the guerrillas and not to act alone, a Western diplomat said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject.
Turkey's NTV television and Hurriyet newspaper reported the government has told the military to draw up plans for a push into northern Iraq and to advise on the possibilities such an incursion could lead to a clash with Iraqi Kurds or U.S. troops. Any operation was unlikely before the end of August, when the current military chief of staff is replaced by an officer widely regarded as a hard-liner, NTV said.
The Western diplomat said the Turkish military long has had plans for fighting guerrillas in northern Iraq. These range from limited artillery and airstrikes on guerrilla bases, to attacks by commando forces and a broader ground offensive.
American officials, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, have repeatedly warned Turkey against entering northern Iraq, one of the few stable areas of the country. U.S. Ambassador Ross Wilson said Turkish, Iraqi and U.S. cooperation is a "more sensible way to go forward than perhaps to ... try to do it unilaterally."
Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdistan regional government in northern Iraq, appeared to be addressing Turkish concerns when he said Tuesday that Iraqi Kurds "won't allow anyone to harm our neighbors by using our territory."
But he also said the problem with the guerrillas "cannot be solved through military means alone," Turkey's DHA news agency reported. Turkey considers the guerrillas terrorists and has refused to talk with them.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared to confirm reports that the military was ordered to draft plans when he said Tuesday: "We know how to take care of (terrorism) on our own... Our competent units are making preparations and will continue to do so."
Erdogan's spokesman, Akif Beki, refused to comment, but referred to a statement Monday by government spokesman Cemil Cicek. Cicek called on Iraqi and U.S. forces to take stronger action against the rebels and warned that if they did not, "Turkey is going to use its international rights until the very end."
Officials reported no unusual military activity in the border regions.
A Turkish push into northern Iraq could also threaten relations with European Union countries, which have been pressing Turkey to improve rights for minority Kurds.
The Turkish Kurdish guerrillas are mostly based in the Qandil mountains, an area 50 miles from the Turkish border with Iran. From Iraq, the guerrillas infiltrate southeastern Turkey to stage attacks.
Turkey has long had some 2,000 troops in northern Iraq near the border monitoring the area. But if Turkey sent in military units they would have to travel through territory controlled by Iraqi Kurds. "I don't think it is Turkey's desire to stage an intervention in northern Iraq," said Ilter Turan, professor of international relations at Istanbul Bilgi University. Turkey "is simply trying to draw attention to the fact that it is an untenable position." attn: Turkey subj: Why don't you blow off the EU, who will never let you in, and join with Iraq as a trading partner? You could become the core to a Middle East Common Market.
#1
Partner with the Kurds?!
That would mean working with them, instead of fighting over centuries old religious and ethnic slights. That would put an end to almost all the fighting and maybe even put some coin in their pockets.
Nah, couldn't happen in a million years.
The present situation in the Middle East shows the desperate need for the UN to include state terrorism within any international convention on terrorism. Israel's unleashing of its military might against the Palestinian Authority and Palestinian people and against the hapless Lebanese state shows most starkly the terrorism a state with massive military resources can unleash.
With US President Bush and his faithful sidekick Tony Blair, continuing to declare their absurd refrain of Israel's "right to defend itself", the international community has been reduced to a frustrated spectator to this latest act of Israeli terrorism. If ever there was a true reflection of unilateralism, it is this ability of the US to undermine all efforts at multilateral diplomacy and international peace and security.
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Posted by: john ||
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The Lions of Islam vs. the Kosher American Delhi
#2
"Apart from the historic record of Israel to kill Arabs at will -- after all who can forget the massacres of Sabra and Shatila and the almost daily target killings by the Israelis of Palestinians"
As opposed to the attempted daily, random mass killings of Jewish citizens. BTW, you can't use the word "massacre" and "targeted killings" in the same sentence. The blatant rhetoric loses the desired effect.
#3
As for the Arab World, their sheer helplessness, despite their economic power, is a disgrace. They have failed to translate their economic strength into political and military prowess, and so remain subject to the political, psychological and military terrorism from the West and Israel. Is it any wonder the Arab street continues to become more radicalised? And the anger and frustration is spreading to Muslim civil societies beyond. In the final analysis, state terrorism has to be condemned, irrespective of the power of the perpetrating state.
Interesting article - written on Mars was it? hmmm? Oh Islamabad - same thing really.
Economic power? Take away their oil and countries like Spain have more economic clout than all of them combined! - ie they're a one trick pony.
Military prowess? (snigger) That won't happen until you get rid of the Arab mindset of nepotism and blame-shifting.
The much vaunted Arab street They never seem to answer the phone do they?
Great, start with Syria and Iran and go onto the Soddies and I might be interested in what you have to say.
Nitwit.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/19/2006 1:48
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after all who can forget the massacres of Sabra and Shatila
#5
G'ah! that didn't come out right, last bit should be...
In the final analysis, state terrorism has to be condemned, irrespective of the power of the perpetrating state. - Great, start with Syria and Iran and go onto the Soddies and I might be interested in what you have to say.
Preview is your friend.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/19/2006 1:56
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Shabra and Shaktila? Seeems this guty has forgotten that it was not Israel but Lebanese Christians, seems he has also forgotten that it was a vengeance not only for the assassination of Bashir Gemayel but also for the many massacres perpetrated by the PLO.
And by the way an answer to #4 Lenan on is an Arab speaking country but it is the only one who doesn't define itself as Arab and the Maronites tend to tell they are descndents of Phenicians no Arabs. I don't know if same holds true for Lebanese Muslims.
#7
only a muslim -- at a time when virtually ALL the terror atrocities around the globe are perpetrated by muslims -- could claim that Hindus and Jews are terrorists.
#9
Man, what I love about RB! Who knew the Indians were running Afghanistan too? I, for one, just thought it was all those tribal warlords and/or drug (poppies) runners. I've been lied to all this time? Dadgum, the only thing s/he didn't mention was Skull & Bones and the Bilderbergers
*ducks*
Posted by: BA ||
07/19/2006 11:16
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Well the actual Bilderbergers, as opposed to the fanciful scaremongering version of the Bilderbergers, are, IMO a bit scary since their aim is to create a one-world government in order to increase commerce beneficial to themselves . . . but that's another story.
The article above is a terrific illustration of HOW the whole Arab propaganda machine works. Reads like a comic book in terms of "bad" guys, "good" guys, and is chock-full of the kind of fantasy and soap opera feel that greatly appleals to general Arab culture. Totally ignores the truth and the political/social complexities involved--which would NOT be a big sell in Arab lands. Sure is annoying how some people like to play on the stupidity of others for profit. Mazari got paid, but what was the real price? More knucklehead Arab teenagers joining "jihad"?
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.
KETCHUM, Idaho - It took surgery to save a 12-foot Burmese python after it swallowed an entire queen-size electric blanket with the electrical cord and control box. The blanket must have gotten tangled up in the snake's rabbit dinner, owner Karl Beznoska said. He kept the blanket in the cage to keep the 60-pound reptile, named Houdini, warm. "Somehow, he was able to unplug the electric cord," Beznoska said Wednesday. "He at least wasn't hooked up to the power. It might have been pretty warm there."
A strong earthquake caused tall buildings to sway in the Indonesian capital Wednesday, sending panicked residents fleeing to the streets just days after a deadly tsunami struck main island of Java. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. The 6.0-magnitude quake was centered 25 miles beneath the Sunda strait, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site, and struck 90 miles southwest of Jakarta.
Rep. Cynthia McKinney acknowledged about 12:50 a.m. that she is headed for a runoff election to see if she will represent the 4th District in Congress for a seventh term. With 98 percent of precincts reporting, McKinney had 46.9 percent of the vote, compared with 44.5 percent for Henry C. Hank Johnson Jr., a former DeKalb County commissioner. A third candidate, Alpharetta businessman John F. Coyne III, received 8.6 percent of the vote. A candidate must receive more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff. She pledged in a speech to fight for her seat. The battle is now engaged and we intend to win, she said. It is impossible to keep a good woman down. She also touted her opposition to the Iraq war and her ability to bring money to the district. I dont mind speaking truth to power and I intend to speak truth to empower, she said. The district encompasses most of DeKalb, half of Rockdale County and a sliver of Gwinnett County. A runoff will be held Aug. 8.
July 16 2006 at 0225 LT at Luanda anchorage, Angola. Four robbers armed with knives in a wooden boat boarded a container ship at forecastle. They threatened duty a/b with knives and broke open paint store padlock. Duty A/B escaped and raised alarm and crew mustered. Robbers jumped into their boat and left empty handed. Local authorities informed.
(SomaliNet) The powerful Islamic courts continue to disarm the remaining militias in the capital in peaceful means and they officially confiscated on Tuesday the weapons of militia loyal to already Islamic court in Waberi district of Banadir province. The chairman of Maka Al-Mukarama Islamic court Sheikh Mohamud Jimale told today the local media they decided that 24 militiamen of the court with their weapons should be handed over council of Islamic courts after talks with top leaders of Islamists. We have accepted let our militia with their weapons join the united Islamic court and we did that for serving the public, Sheikh Jimcale said referring to the sole rule of Islamic courts. 
Jordan's State Security Court (SSC) is due to start the trial next Sunday of three Islamist lawmakers on charges of 'incitement and harming national unity,' judicial sources said Tuesday. The three deputies, 
Montgomery County Executive 
QUETTA: A homemade bomb exploded near a police officer's home in Balochistan early on Tuesday, wounding the officer's wife and a daughter, an official said. The police wireless control officer, whose home was targeted by the bomb, escaped unhurt in the explosion in Mastung, a town about 50 kilometres south of Quetta, area police officer Hamid Shakil said. The explosion toppled the gate of the policeman's home and his wife and a 9-year-old daughter were hit and wounded by debris and shrapnel from the bomb. There was no word on the condition of the victims. Shakil blamed renegade Baloch tribesmen for the bombing, but he did not offer any evidence.
Two big explosions reverberated over Beirut early Wednesday, and missiles hit towns to the east and south of the capital in new overnight strikes. The explosions appeared to be from hits in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hizbullah stronghold badly devastated since Israel launched its military blitz against Lebanon last week. There was no immediate word on what was hit or casualties. 
North Korea has launched a wartime alert, putting its armed forces and nationals in a state of a war mobilization, an unconfirmed news report said here Wednesday. Kim Jong-Il, head of the communist country, issued an order to that effect hours before the United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned North Korea's missile tests last week, said the Joongang daily, quoting an unnamed government source. North Korean soldiers on leave were told to return to their barracks, camouflage nettings were being draped on military vehicles and weapons, and people were prohibited from entering the countryside, the source said.
11 Russian kafirs (infidels) were annihilated by Mujahideen on July 15 in diversion attacks and shootings on invaders' positions in Jokhar, the Chechen capital, and Nozhai Yurt district in the south of Chechnya, told a spokesman of Military Council of CRI Majlisul Shura State Defense Committee to Kavkaz Center. 2 kafirs were gunned down in Zavodsky district of Jokhar. The Mujahideen ambushed an invaders' patrol in the industrial area of the city, reports the spokesman. 4 kafirs were exterminated in a short firefight in the area of village Beti Mokhck. 1 kafir was killed in a diversion attack near village Dargo. The Russian from a "reconnnaissance unit" was blasted on a mine, reports the spokesman. 4 other kafirs were terminated in a shooting on foreign military convoy on the Dagestan border, several miles fron village Ghilyany. The spokesman gave no detals about the firefight. It is only known that one Mujahid was wounded.
GAZA CITY - The Gaza Strip border with Egypt reopened on Tuesday for the first time in three weeks to allow people to cross into the Palestinian territory on humanitarian basis only, officials said. The Rafah passenger terminal, which has been closed since June 25 when an Israeli soldier was abducted near the Gaza border, opened at 9:00 am (0700 GMT) and was scheduled to stay open until 7:00 pm, a EU spokeswoman said.
QUETTA: Two of Nawab Akbar Bugti's commanders and some 280 of their supporters surrendered to the government on Tuesday and promised to aid government efforts to develop the province. "Ghulam Hussain Hijrani Bugti, one of the top commanders of Nawab Bugti's army, laid down his arms before the Dera Bugti district coordination officer, Abdul Samad Lasi, at Kalpar House" an official told Daily Times, adding that Ghulam Hussain now believed Nawab Bugti was waging a war against the state for his own vested interests. Hijrani said that he would support the government in its plans to develop the infrastructure of the backward tribal areas of Balochistan.
Jerusalem police on Tuesday arrested 13 Arab teens who allegedly threatened Arab merchants of the Old City to shut their shops in solidarity with the Lebanese, police said. The suspects, who were apprehended in two police sweeps in the late morning, are all residents of east Jerusalem.
A hard-hitting radio commentator was gunned down in the southern Philippines yesterday, the latest victim in a series of killings of journalists. Armando Pace, who worked with Radyo Ukay (Radio DXDS) in the southern Digos city, 980 kilometers southeast of Manila, was shot repeatedly as he was driving home on a motorcycle at around 1 p.m., police and local media said.
The hats are all in the political ring. Vermont's filing deadline passed Monday for major party primaries this fall, and topping the list is the unusual jockeying in the U.S. Senate race. U.S. Rep. 
KHAR: Suspected militants killed a tribal policeman who had been involved in a gun battle that killed a senior Al Qaeda operative earlier this year, officials said. "Unidentified terrorists" opened fire on the officer, Mohammed Tariq, as he boarded a minibus, killing him, according to Tariq Hassan, a government official in Khar, the main town in Bajaur Agency where the attack happened. The assailants fled.
The Arab prisoner that 
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday promised a "rejoicing" for Muslims in the Middle East "soon," the Islamic Republic News Agency reported. Speaking to university officials in the town of Mashhad, Ahmadinejad said the "volcano of rage" at the "arrogant powers" was "on the verge of eruption." Referring to escalating violence in Lebanon and northern Israel, he was quoted as saying, "The Zionists themselves have realized that they have launched a risky move and are aware that the flame of the fury of the regional states will set them ablaze."
LANSING, Mich. (AP) The Michigan Democratic Party, the Michigan Legislative Black Caucus and the Democratic caucuses in the state House and Senate filed a friend-of-the-court brief Tuesday in a case that could decide whether Michigan can require voters to show photo identification at the polls. The Michigan Supreme Court in April voted 5-2 to issue an advisory opinion on the constitutionality of a 1997 state law requiring voters to show photo identification to get a ballot. A court spokeswoman said the ruling will be binding, although it could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Up to seven people have been killed by gunmen during a rally ahead of elections at the end of this month in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Unidentified gunmen opened fire on the rally near Rutshuru in the North Kivu province of the country reviving fears that the polls could be disrupted by violence. The central African country will hold its first free multi-party election in four decades on July 30, but rebels and militias continue to terrorise the civilian population despite the presence of the world's biggest United Nations peacekeeping force. 
One week after the humiliation it suffered in a 
Pirates in Somalia who kidnapped about 20 seamen in March have released them, according to official reports. The kidnapped Filipinos were on their way home, officials for the Philippines said Monday. Roy Cimatu, the government's special envoy to the Middle East, said that the men had been freed on Saturday. He said that it was not clear whether any ransom had been paid. The men were seized after their oil tanker, the United Arab Emirates-registered MT LIN1, unloaded its cargo at a port in southern Somalia on March 29, the Philippine foreign affairs department said. Cimatu said the owners of the ship, who were not identified, negotiated for the release of the men. No other details were provided.
Sindh police have arrested two landowners for forcing a peasant to give two infant daughters in marriage as repayment for a loan, a police official said.
Although 
KABUL: Afghanistans deputy interior minister accused Pakistani militants of overrunning a southern Afghan town, which hundreds of Afghan troops, backed by coalition forces, are readying to wrest back. Helmand provinces deputy governor said 300 to 400 Afghan soldiers were heading to the southern town of Garmser, near the Pakistani border, which officials said was taken by Taliban forces on Sunday. Our soldiers are going to Garmser with the support of the coalition to take it back from the Taliban, said Amir Mohammed Akhunzada, the deputy governor. 
(SomaliNet) Islamic militiamen raided tonight a cinema in Sinai village of eastern Mogadishu, arresting several people who were watching film following earlier warning from Islamists on seeing movies a step that Islamic courts to banning all public entertainments in the capital. The chairman of the Sinai Islamic court which is in the council of Islamic courts Sheikh Dahir Sheikh Farah confirmed on late Tuesday that they have arrested nine people who were in act of viewing very taboo film that is forbidden according to Sharia law. Our troops have stormed a cinema where young people watching emotionally a sexy film and they were all taken to prison, Sheikh Farah said adding we have already issued a warning on seeing movies in this district. "
One person was killed on Tuesday afternoon in Nahariya following a rocket barrage on the city. According to reports, the rocket hit the man as he left the bomb shelter he had sought refuge in. Another man was reportedly wounded in the northern city. For a Jerusalem Online video of events click here All-in-all 125 rockets fell on northern Israel on Tuesday, Israel Radio reported. 3 people were wounded in Safed by rocket fire on Tuesday. Eli Dayari, a Nahariya resident interviewed by Channel 10, said the rocket hit a two-story building and an apartment there was on fire.
THOUGHTFUL Democrats living in the 1st Congressional District must have cringed upon reading their candidates' positions on Iraq in yesterday's Union Leader. The position of the left-wing candidate, 
Japan has confirmed reports it is preparing further economic sanctions against North Korea, after a UN security council resolution demanded suspension of Pyongyang's missile programme. Finance minister Sadakazu Tanigaki said: "Japan is eyeing limiting transfers of financial assets and will work hard so that we can start it as soon as possible. "We have already started the work to specify what would become the targets of rules to limit the transfer of financial assets." 
Israeli tanks began moving into the Mughazi refugee camp in central Gaza early Wednesday under cover of machine gun fire from troops. The IDF confirmed that an operation was in progress. The camp, with 22,000 residents, is near the Gaza-Israel fence and across from the Palestinian town of Deir al-Balah. IDF forces operated in the region late last week before withdrawing. Israeli troops have also swept through southern Gaza and carried out two invasions of northern Gaza, trying to stop terrorists from firing rockets at Israel. 
Police arrested around 100 Afghan nationals on Tuesday during a campaign against Afghans living in Balochistan illegally. Most of the Afghans were arrested from seminaries. A police source told Daily Times that the police had gleaned information about Afghans living illegally in Balochistan from Taliban leader Hamidullah who was arrested on Monday. He said the police had registered cases against the Afghans under the Foreigners Act and moved them to an undisclosed place for investigation. 
A suicide bomber killed 59 people in a crowded Iraqi market on Tuesday after luring Shi'ite day labourers aboard his minivan with an offer of casual work. The blast in Kufa, near Najaf, was one of the bloodiest attacks of the year and followed a gun and grenade attack on another market on Monday that killed a similar number. Clashes broke out between police and angry crowds demanding better security after the Kufa bomb, which also wounded 132 people in the city south of Baghdad. Police in Kufa were pelted with rocks by angry crowds, many of whom demanded that militias loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr take over security there. 
City Clerk 
Heart failure and a lung problem were the actual cause of 
Indonesia pledged to build a nationwide tsunami alert system as soldiers pulled bodies from ravaged beaches, homes and hotels Tuesday. Parents searched tearfully for their children and the death toll hit at least 341, with nearly 230 people missing.
Saudi Arabia would support a UN-backed stabilization force in Lebanon if approved by the Lebanese government, Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said yesterday. "We support the Lebanese government affirming control over all of its territory," said Prince Saud at a press conference at the ministry's offices in Jeddah. "The decision of war and peace belongs to the legitimate authorities, not any other party otherwise there would be chaos," the prince added.
The little known Islamist group 
Turkish officials signaled Tuesday they are prepared to send the army into northern Iraq if U.S. and Iraqi forces do not take steps to combat Turkish Kurdish guerrillas there a move that could put Turkey on a collision course with the United States.
