Posted by: ed ||
07/29/2006
20:38 ||
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#1
Excellent column. Suggest it be carried over until tomorrow.
"Not only is this analysis wrong - if the Israelis are such imperialists, why did they withdraw from Lebanon for six years, only returning when threatened once again? How many genocidal regimes do you know that have a free press and free elections? - it is also morally imbecilic."
No kidding. Nice to see a European so plainspoken, logical and knowledgeable of history.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/29/2006 22:11
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I agree, this column is very good.
When I read or hear or watch the frecnh and british media, nowadays, I notice with amazement that they continue to blame it all on Israel, as they have done for years. Those people really refuse to think and understand obvious facts. So, it seems that antisemitism's roots in Europe are still deeply rooted in its soil.
After this, reading or watching American media is like breathing oxygen after almost drawning. Even if I dont agree with all American analysis, I usually dont find in them those gentle (and less gentle) slanders that European put in their narratives concerning Israel.
#3
Article: Part of the same attitude-striking is the attack on Tony Blair for being the "poodle" of America, instead of pursuing an independent foreign policy.
I can never figure out why it's better to be a poodle of the Muslim world than a "poodle of America". On one side, Britain's former heathen subjects and on the other, Albion's seed and Britain's kinsmen. It should be a no brainer.
U.S.-led coalition forces detained four suspected al-Qaida operatives in eastern Afghanistan on Saturday, while a major operation to crush Taliban fighters in the south moved to a close, officials said. The al-Qaida suspects, accused of planning attacks on coalition and Afghan forces, were nabbed near Sal Kalay, a village in Khost province, along with assault rifles and a briefcase containing "extremist-related documents," a coalition statement said. The coalition did not give the suspects' names, nationalities or indicate their seniority within the terror group.
The commander of the NATO-led security force in Afghanistan said a massive U.S.-led offensive that has killed more than 600 suspected Taliban in the south will end when NATO takes over command from the coalition in the volatile region on Monday. ??? The 8,000-strong NATO force of mostly British, Canadian and Dutch troops formally takes over in the south from the U.S.-led coalition Monday.
Meanwhile, officials said U.S.-led coalition forces and Afghan police killed or wounded 18 suspected Taliban militants in fighting that also left two policemen dead. Fourteen militants were killed or injured by airstrikes and artillery in Garmser district of the southern Helmand province on Thursday, said provincial police chief Ghulam Nabi Malakhel.
...
Operation Mountain Thrust will wrap up as NATO steps in, though it will "keep up the tempo" of operations against the insurgents, said British Lt. Gen. David Richards, commander of NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
Since June 10, more than 10,000 Afghan and coalition forces have fanned out across the south in response to an upsurge in Taliban attacks. The coalition said it has killed 600 insurgents, while at least 19 coalition troops have died during the same period, according to an Associated Press count of coalition figures.
Richards said he did not expect the coalition whose primary goal was to fight global Islamic militants like al-Qaida that are active in eastern Afghanistan to operate for much longer in the south, where the insurgency is led by the Taliban. NATO brings a new strategy for dealing with the Taliban rebellion, establishing bases rather than adopting the coalition tactic of chasing down militants. It wants to bolster the weak government of President Hamid Karzai and win the support of local people by promoting much-needed development.
Richards said he hoped that within three to six months there would be signs of progress, creating secure zones in which aid workers could operate in a region mired in the drug trade and poverty. Reconstruction would help people see "the fighting is worth something," Richards told a news conference in Kabul. "I hope people who now are often being intimidated into supporting the Taliban" would have the extra resolve to reject them.
He said NATO forces would be "really, really careful" to avoid civilian losses, but would be as tough in defending themselves as the coalition had been. Civilian deaths during coalition military action often involving air power and heavy weaponry has complicated the NATO force's task of winning over a skeptical Pashtun tribal populace.
Posted by: ed ||
07/29/2006
19:48 ||
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#1
Huh. If you define 'defending yourself' as making sure your little castles are safe you'll cede the rest of the land to the Taliban.
Oh well I suppose Unka Sam can come back and scare the bad men away for you
#2
Taliban indigenous resistance bleeds U.S.-led troops to a halt. While Taliban fighters celebrate NATO and Rumsfeld confer to plan likely pull out of all Afghanistan forces.
Posted by: AP Rapporteur ||
07/29/2006 21:58
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It is a tactical evolution from a dynamic pursuit to consolidating gains.
There is a law of diminishing returns for the former, where enemy contacts drop off so much that it just isn't worth it to continue. So at that point, you advance the civilian authority to take charge over the land you've cleared.
In other words, it takes a lot of police to sweep a bad neighborhood, but once it's swept, it just takes a few police to keep it reasonably crime free. So the emphasis can change to solving the underlying problems, like development, so that the neighborhood will *want* to stay crime free.
The following items are required for a competent hanging.
1. A Gallows should be utilized having the following basic characteristics.
A. A floor height of at least nine (9) feet to allow for a minimum clearance of about one (1) foot on the drop.
B. A crossbeam height of nine (9) feet giving an approximate clearance of three (3) feet above the executee.
C. An opening and trap door of at least three (3) feet square to allow proper clearance for the executee.
D. Means of releasing the trap door. This is normally accomplished by utilizing two bolts under one side of the door which are actuated by a common mechanism, either linkage rods or cable.
E. Means for stopping the trap door swing after it has fallen. This is normally accomplished utilizing a mechanical metal spring catch or a counterweight and a "rope grabber".
F. An eyelet or fastening mechanism for the rope containing the Hangman's Noose.
2. Body Restraint. This is a waist strap containing two (2) wrist restraints. It is fabricated from 3000 lb. test nylon aircraft webbing two (2) inches wide and is fifty (50) inches long. It contains three (3) quick release fasteners (one [1] for the waist and one [1] for each wrist) all of which are adjustable from each side. The color is black with chrome fasteners.
3. Leg Restraint. This is an ankle strap which binds both ankles together. It is fabricated from 3000 lb. test nylon aircraft webbing two (2) inches wide and is thirty-six (36) inches long. It contains one (1) quick release fastener which is adjustable from both sides. The color is black with chrome fasteners.
4. Collapse Frame. This is a six by thirty (6 X 30) inch frame fabricated of square steel tubing. It contains three (3) body restraints measuring fifty (50) inches long by two (2) inches wide which are made from 3000 lb. test nylon aircraft webbing and contain three (3) quick release fasteners adjustable from both sides. (One [1] for each restraint.) The color of the frame and webbing is black and the fasteners are chrome. This is used in the event of a physical collapse by the executee and enables the personnel conducting the execution to transport him to the scaffold.
5. Hood. The hood is fabricated of black denim and has split sides enabling it to extend onto the chest and back. It is generally used, optionally, to cover the face of the executee. A similar hood is available for the executioner but has a hole for the eyes.
6. Mechanical Hangman's Knot. This is fabricated from a delrin cylinder and has two (2) longitudinal holes and a steel U-clamp to fasten the rope. It comes with a black denim cover which is fastened with velcro. It is a replacement for the Conventional Hangman's Knot to eliminate the problems in tying the knot. It, unlike the Conventional Hangman's Knot, never binds in operation.
7. Noose Sleeve. This is fabricated of denim and fastened with velcro. It is utilized to prevent tissue damage at the neck.
8. Rope. Standard hangman's rope of three-quarter (3/4) inch Manila hemp is available in thirty (30) foot lengths. This rope has been boiled and stretched in drying to eliminate all spring, stiffness or tendency to coil. The rope is also available in six-hundred (600) foot coils but cannot be treated when supplied thus.
9. Knot Lubricant. Knot lubricant must be used whether utilizing the Mechanical or Conventional Hangman's knot. With the Mechanical Hangman's Knot, silicone spray is recommended. With the Conventional Hangman's Knot, melted paraffin is recommended.
Saturday afternoon, Hizballahs Hassan Nasrallah threatened to send more rockets into central Israeli cities after Afula was hit Friday night. Playing it safe, Israel also adjusted the orbits of its military satellites to allow them to track any Hizballah missiles at the moment they are launched from Lebanon. Military experts believe that the Israeli air force, supported by these hi tech systems, will be able to intercept an Iran-made Zilzal-2 long-range missile, whose 250-km range puts Tel Aviv within reach, before it enters Israeli air space.
DEBKAfiles military experts add: If one of those missiles is intercepted only after it shoots across Israeli skies, Hizballah will count it a success, because of the potential damage falling debris from the intruding missile and its interceptor can cause on the ground below.
This lesson was learned in the 1991 Gulf War, when Patriot anti-missile interceptions caught up too late with Saddam Husseins Scud missile as they homed into Israel towns.
Our sources add that from Saturday, July 29, the tempo of the American munitions airlift to Israel, begun last Wednesday, as DEBKAfile revealed exclusively, has speeded up. During Saturday, giant US Air Force C-114 cargo transports en route for Israel touched down in Scotland for refueling every few hours.
#1
Israel also adjusted the orbits of its military satellites to allow them to track any Hizballah missiles at the moment they are launched from Lebanon...... or Iran
#2
More reasons why the 20-mile "buffer zone" is insuffic or obsolete before it is even established - 9-11 > THE WOT > THE "STATUS QUO" IS NO LONGER ACCEPTABLE/TOLERABLE TO THE ENEMIES OF AMERICA = WESTERN DEMOCRACIES-CAPITALISM. E.g the Spetzies want the USA-West out from Spain to Iraq = "the enitire/whole world" in Camel-kaze speak. Israel = USA > any per se military defeat or unilateral withdrawal unto national isolationism = enemy armies will show up in the back yards and mainstreets of AnyTown, AnyCity, AnyPlace, ...............Any-Kibbutz in CONUS + the Western world. THE WOT IS A DE FACTO NATIONAL AND WORLD-GLOBAL WAR TO THE DEATH, THE DEATH OF ONE SIDE + -ISM(S) VS ANY AND ALL OTHERS - ARMISTICE ONLY MEANS THE ENEMY IS GONNA KILL YOU AND YOURS, ETAL. SLOWLY THAN USUAL = WILL WAR AND ATTACK AGAIN AND AGAIN ONCE STRENGTH IS REGAINED. WIll say again the irony for mostly Muslim Lebanon and Syria is that any destruction of Israel does not mean their own nations and Moderate-Sunni = non-Shia Islam is safe from Radical Iran. THEIR ALLIES OR FELLOW MUSLIMS ARE NOT THEIR FRIENDS.
#7
DEBKA didn't just transpose the numbers; they got the designation wrong. As someone pointed out the other day the C-141s went to Starlifter heaven at Davis-Monthan. The last C-141 went to the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio on May 9, 2006. I agree with #4. Debka must have meant the C-17 Globemaster III.
Israeli troops killed two Islamic Jihad militants on Saturday, including the man the group described as the leader of its militant wing in the West Bank city of Nablus. The group initially said in an announcement over mosque loudspeakers that the slain militant, Hani Awijan, 29, was the leader of its military wing in the West Bank. However, other members of the group later said Awijan headed gunmen in Nablus only.
Initial reports said Awijan was shot by Israeli undercover troops trying to arrest him while he played soccer with friends and relatives. The army confirmed soldiers operated in Nablus and said a militant was killed in an exchange of gunfire. Israel Radio said Awijan was responsible for a series of attacks on Israelis.
Posted by: ed ||
07/29/2006
19:03 ||
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You should be dancin yeah, you should be......
Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
07/29/2006 19:09
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Playing soccer with friends and relatives, ya say? Asleep at the switch, sez I.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/29/2006 22:53
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HAIFA, Israel - Now that Israel has pulled back the elite paratroopers who had seized the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, soldiers are beginning to tell their stories. They are harrowing tales of a five-day-long battle, in which eight Israeli soldiers died and 22 more were wounded in a deadly Hezbollah ambush.
Maj. Ro'i Klein, 31, was deputy commander of Battalion 51 of the famed Golani Brigades. He jumped on a grenade in order to save his men.
"First he said the Shema' prayer and then he jumped on a grenade," a family friend from his hometown in Israel told the Jerusalem Post.
"That's why some of the soldiers who were with him survived." On Tuesday, Israel troops secured the outskirts of the Lebanese town, which the Israeli high command has called the "capital of Hezbollah." It was in Bint Jbeil in 2000 that Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah gave a victory speech when Israel withdrew its forces after 18 years of occupying a buffer zone in southern Lebanon.
In the predawn hours on Wednesday, Lt. Col. Yaniv Asor, commander of Battalion 51, received the orders to move into the town itself.
At first, the going was easy. Then, at 5 a.m., Hezbollah fighters ambushed the Israelis in a narrow alleyway between houses with a massive wave of gunfire and rocket-propelled grenades. Eight Israeli soldiers were killed almost instantly.
"For the first three days, there was almost constant firing," said 1st Sgt. Shahar S., 21. "No more than 15 seconds went by between Hezbollah missile launches, rocket-propelled grenades, or gunfire," he told NewsMax while on R&R north of Haifa.
The Israel Defense Force pulled the troops out of Bint Jbeil at half past midnight on Saturday morning, and brought them to a secure location north of Haifa where they could rest and meet their families.
The Israel Defense Force asked NewsMax not to reveal the precise location where the Golani soldiers were now staying, or to publish their family names.
Shahar said that when he and his men first went into Lebanon on Monday, they had planned on an operation lasting 48 to 72 hours.
They brought everything in on their backs for more than 15 kilometers -- food, water, and ammunition - and wound up staying five and a half days.
"All the houses were abandoned," he said. "The only ones who stayed behind were terrorists."
Shahar and his men took up position in an abandoned house and moved only at night. During the day they waited for the Hezbollah fighters to reveal themselves.
"The first two we saw were carrying [rocket-propelled grenades] directly below the window of the house where we were staying, but couldn't see us. We killed them."
Shahar said it was only this morning, after eating and sleeping at the R&R facility that he realized the effect of the operation in Bint Jbeil. "We killed more than 100 terrorists. Just to be part of that makes everything worth it - not just the past five and a half days, the not eating and not drinking, but the past two and a half years.
"This was what I was trained to do," he said. "I can't wait to go back in."
Omer, 20, is a private. "You don't have time to feel," he said, when asked what he had felt during the battle. "I know that I have to continue to fight to save my mother, to save my country."
Seeing a British reporter, he said, "Imagine how you would feel in the U.K. if someone was shooting missiles on London? We have to stop the terrorists."
Israeli military commentators have fretted over this new generation of soldiers. Some have suggested that Israel has become soft over the past 25 years, since its last major war, which was also in Lebanon.
But these troops have more than proven on the battlefield that they are a match for the generation who preceded them, many of whom are now serving in reserve units that have been called back to active duty.
"We were face to face," another soldier said, describing his encounter with a Hezbollah fighter during the battle. "It was him or me. That type of thing has never happened to me before."
He shot the Hezbollah fighter at point-blank range.
Dr. Ariel A., 27, is a doctor with the 51st Brigade. He wanted to talk about his friend, Cpl. Asaf Namer, a 27-year-old Australian citizen who moved to Israel several years ago.
Asaf Namer completed his compulsory military service last, but volunteered to rejoin the troops when the current crisis erupted. "Essentially, he volunteered," Ariel said.
"Asaf came here with the values of the Jew who had to serve his country, the land of the Jews," he added.
"He was brave, he was strong. He did what he believed was right." By the time Ariel managed to reach Namer, he had already died of his wounds. "There was nothing I could do for him," he said.
In the underground shelter beneath the main hospital in Nahariya, a coastal city that has been under constant rocket attack for the past two weeks, 22-year old Adam Wolfson is recovering from wounds he received from a Hezbollah rocket.
"I was lucky," Wolfson told NewsMax. "The shrapnel hit between my legs, but only wounded my thighs, nothing else."
Wolfson was with an artillery unit on the Israeli side of the border, shelling Hezbollah positions, when a Hezbollah rocket landed nearby and hit an ammo dump.
His mother, Diana Anderson, 46, of Denver, Colo., was at his side in the hospital. "I have another son who is a paratrooper, as well," she said.
Like Namer, Wolfson completed his compulsory military service last year, and volunteered to rejoin his artillery unit when the fighting began.
"We'll get them," Wolfson said from his hospital bed. "We'll win."
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/29/2006
18:24 ||
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#1
May the God of Israel be with these young men as he was with their fathers!
Posted by: mac ||
07/29/2006 18:56
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#2
What mac said.
If anyone wants to help boost that high morale even more, consider sending some pizza & sodas to the IDF.
I just did.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/29/2006 19:55
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#3
"[sic]have fretted over this new generation of soldiers. Some have suggested that Israel has become soft over the past 25 years"
Oooooh! The classic, blame the soldiers syndrome. The civilian leadership has become soft, not the soldiers. Whether its Clinton or Bush, no one would call the Marines, soft.
#5
I can't understand why the Israeli government is acting so slowly in this war, and so weakly, as if there were not 100 rockets and missiles fired on Israel each day by Hezbo terrorists.
They should have bombed and burnt to the ground Bint Jbeil and Majnoun al-Ras, a long time ago.
This strange Israeli government doesn't seem to want to win this war, and I don't understand why.
#6
Sorry, the post #5 is mine (I am posting from an Internet shop, and the computer had recordered the name of the precedent person who accessed rantburg from it).
#7
Article: They brought everything in on their backs for more than 15 kilometers -- food, water, and ammunition - and wound up staying five and a half days.
If this is true, it's nuts. Whatever happened to tanks and infantry fighting vehicles? Sounds a lot like Black Hawk Down, except the Israelis got into it by choice.
As reported in a DNC press release, Howard Dean, chairman of the Democrat Party, is campaigning today with Rep. John Murtha in Greensburg, PA:
[EXCERPTS:]
Saturday, July 29, Democrats across the country will participate in "Democratic Reunion" events marking 100 days to Election Day 2006.
...Chairman Dean will canvass in Pittsburgh with the Westmoreland County Democrats and attend a Christmas in July event with Governor Rendell and Congressman Murtha in Greensburg, Pa.
Why would supposedly pro-military, anti-abortion John Murtha campaign with Howard Dean -- renown for his anti-military, pro-abortion, fanatic positions? Murtha represents PA Congressional District 12, with its conservative, Catholic base. What are they to think about this?
There is only one thing to think, District 12: Murtha doesn't care.
What is even more inconsistent is the fact that Murtha is openly disdainful of fellow politicians who have not served in the military. So why would legendary Marine Vietnam war hero John Murtha embrace draft dodging Howard Dean? ... the same Howard Dean who got a Vietnam deferment for a bad back, but spent time skiing in Aspen. [Meet The Press, June 22, 2004]
The simple reason is this: John Murtha has purposefully changed. This shows Murtha is no longer like-minded with the people of his District. He no longer shares their beliefs and concerns. He is no longer content to just be their Congressman. Murtha's eyes are on the Majority Leader prizeThe sad fact is that he's selling-out his District 12 to get it.
So how does Howard Dean fit into Murtha's plans? Let's look at Howard Dean's own rise to power.
2003... Dean declares candidacy for president, takes extreme anti-war & liberal positions
2004... Dean screams on camera in Iowa, loses bid for presidency
2005... Dean declares candidacy for chairmanship of Democrat National Committee
2005... Rep. John Murtha lobbies for Howard Dean to win DNC chair
The fact is Howard Dean is chairman of the DNC because John Murtha pushed hard for him to win. Below are some excerpts from an article in TheHill, dated Jan. 5, 2005:
Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) is actively lobbying Democratic National Committee (DNC) delegates to select former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean as their next chairman.
Several lawmakers said support by the hardscrabble, old-school Vietnam veteran, who endorsed former Rep. Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) in the presidential primaries, would compel the DNC to take a second look at the firebrand governor and not simply write him off as an extreme avatar of the partys antiwar wing.
So what does this show to the folks in Murtha's District 12 the ones who actually vote for or against Murtha's re-election this Nov. 7th? It shows that their Congressman has strayed far from their beliefs, concerns and needs. It shows that their Congressman is aligned with one of the most liberal socialist Democrats in America.
Murtha's campaigning with Howard Dean in Pennsylvania is a slap in the faces of his own constituents. His alignment with Dean and with 'San Francisco' Nancy Pelosi is designed to take him to higher places... Majority Leader. And, none of that has anything to do with the beliefs, concerns and needs of PA's congressional District 12.
The question is whether the God fearing patriotic Democrats of Pennsylvania's 12th District will continue to support a Congressman who no longer represents their values.
#2
The question is whether the God fearing patriotic Democrats of Pennsylvania's 12th District will continue to support a Congressman who no longer represents their values.
They're waiting it out till the other two horsemen show up, War and Famine. Given these two, Pestilence, and Death, keep pushing us closer to Civil War Part Deux, it shouldn't be too long.
Calling conditions in Iraq "an absolute replay of Vietnam," Sen. Chuck Hagel said Friday that the Pentagon is making a mistake by beefing up American forces in Iraq. U.S. soldiers have become "easy targets" in a country that has descended into "absolute anarchy," the Nebraska Republican and Vietnam combat veteran said in an interview with The World-Herald.
Hagel previously has likened the war in Iraq to Vietnam, but Friday's comments drew a stronger connection. They followed a speech on the Middle East that Hagel delivered at the Brookings Institution.
#2
Hagel finished growing a long time ago. How he keeps getting re-elected is the mystery. A donk could probably run to his right and still be acceptable to Kos.
#4
Memo to Hagel: the number of Americans killed each year so far in Iraq is about the same as the number of Americans killed each year in recreational boating accidents.
If you can't grow a brain, you useless twit, at least grow a goddamn spine and quit bitching about "Vietnam"!
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/29/2006 15:22
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#5
DD: Memo to Hagel: the number of Americans killed each year so far in Iraq is about the same as the number of Americans killed each year in recreational boating accidents.
Actually, the total number of Americans killed in Iraq so far is also less than the number of Americans killed in a single day one sunny September morning. On 9/11.
#6
Yup. And the Iraq casualties each year are about the same as one week's worth of U.S. highway fatalities.
And roughly 2X the number of people who die in slip 'n fall accidents.
Yet useless idiots like Hagel feed the panic.
Someday, the cowardice and stupidity of people like Hagel is going to get one-- or several-- of our cities nuked.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/29/2006 16:12
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#7
"an absolute replay of Vietnam"
The media and the Dems are sure trying to make it so.
Big lie, etc....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/29/2006 16:46
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#8
"Justified" Motherly Communism, Totalitarianism, Dialecticism, Governmentism, OWG and Anti-SOvereignty, etc. = "STATUS QUO" FOR AMERICA = AMERIKA, FRRE AMERICA = UNITED SOCIALIST REPUBLICS ala OIL STORM. Move along, boyz, obviously no Global Communism-Socialism here - just becuz IRAN overtly-publicly proclaims to give support to anti-Israeli terror groups based in Lebanon doesn't mean they mean to hurt Israel, thus Israel is the cause and de facto raison d' etre of the "terror attacks" in its northern areas, becuz Israel is shelling and rocketing and suicidin' itself, killing and maiming its own citizens to deceive the world, like America on 9-11 to its own city!? IFF "MEGADISASTERS" ON HISTOY CHANNEL DOESN'T CONVINCE AMERICANS = AMERIKKANS, USA = USR = USSA OF THE NEED FOR OWG AND SOCIALISM, HYPER-REGULATION AND ANTI-SOVEREIGNTY, ETC. WHAT WILL, D*** IT??? HOW CAN AMERICA = AMERIKKA SAVE OR PRTECT OR DEFEND ITSELF WID OUT UNIVERSAL GOVT INTERVENTION - you know, the OWG Americans have to have, must to must, but without our leaders or the Demoleft having to explain why!? Just becuz America =Amerika is a representative democracy [for now]doesn't mean our elected leaders have to tell us = voters anything. GEEZ WHIZ, WHAT NEXT, NEXT THING YOU YOU KNOW POLS WILL BE DEMANDED TO KEEP THEIR ELEX ELECTION PROMISES-AGENDAS TO THE VOTERS. - THE HORROR, THE HORROR!
Israel will not demand the immediate disarming of Hizbollah as part of a deal to end the current fighting in Lebanon, a senior Israeli foreign ministry official said on Saturday. Lebanon-Israel Rocket Wars Ver 2.0 available on your TV in 2012.
Israel's stance could make it easier to reach an agreement with major powers and the Lebanese government on the deployment of a peacekeeping force in south Lebanon. Hizbollah would almost certainly reject a peacekeeping force whose mandate calls for its disarmament. Any takers? Perhaps the Irish would like to sacrifice another 45 sons to guarantee a muzzie enters jannah?
The foreign ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israel would demand that the proposed peacekeeping force in south Lebanon keep Hizbollah away from the Israeli border and prevent the group from replenishing its stockpile of rockets from Syria and Iran. Like the Lebanese army and UN peacekeepers were doing for the past 6 years?
The official told Reuters that Israel was seeking a commitment to "start the process of implementing" U.N. Security Council resolution 1559, which calls for disarming Hizbollah. "But disarming Hizbollah now is not what Israel is demanding," the official said, adding that "disarming Hizbollah will not be part of the mandate for the (peacekeeping) mission." Sociopaths Muslims can smell weakness a mile away.
Posted by: ed ||
07/29/2006
14:22 ||
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#2
Israel is going to have a lot of fun with negotiations that assume a peacekeeping force in Lebanon, cause no one is volunteering. And they won't volunteer until Hezb'Allah is disarmed.
I posted a comment on this report on a different thread a couple of hours ago - and the denial by Israel very quickly after it began getting air time on Fox.
It was denied. But that didn't prevent repetition - even on Fox (LOL - after they got the denial) and on others (CNN, ABC). Yahoo will probably be slow to print the denial.
#9
Dave D: Remember what I said Thursday (I think)? About how you'd do your tactics if every five minutes everyone said you were going to capitulate and all the other side had to do was hold on five more minutes?
Posted by: Phil ||
07/29/2006 18:55
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#10
"Dave D: Remember what I said Thursday (I think)?"
Vaguely. I count a day as "a real good day" when I can remember something that happened an hour ago.
Makes sense, but counting on such a thing takes more faith than I can summon up. Same goes for the notion that we're acting irresolute and confused in our dealings with Iran to lure them into doing something so utterly vile that we'll have the perfect excuse to play Cowboys And Mullahs, and go absolutely apeshit medieval on their skanky bitch ho' asses.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/29/2006 19:18
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According to the incident report obtained by TMZ.com, the Road Warrior embarked on a belligerent, anti-Semitic outburst when he realized he had been busted.
"F-----g Jews. The Jews are responsible for all the wars in the world," Mee's report quotes him as saying.
"Are you a Jew?" Gibson asked the deputy, according to the report.
The actor also berated the deputy, threatening, "You motherf----r. I'm going to f--- you," according to Mee's report. The actor also told the cop he "owns Malibu" and would spend all his money "to get even with me," Mee said in his report.
TMZ quoted a law enforcement source as saying Gibson noticed a female sergeant on the scene and yelled at her, "What do you think you're looking at, sugar t--s?"
#3
KARMA KARMA KARMA
More of these hollywood types need to be given a dose of reality.
They live so high on the hog they feel their s*** doesn't smell.
His most recent religious movie of hate shows me where he stands.
Posted by: JAN ||
07/29/2006 20:41
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For the second time this week, a large plane arrived in the Islamists-controlled Somali capital of Mogadishu Friday, carrying an unknown cargo. But many people believe it contains weapons from Eritrea, which the Islamist leadership in Somalia denies.
A Russian-made Illuyshin-76 cargo plane touched down early Friday morning at the recently reopened Mogadishu airport. It had the same Kazakhstan Airways markings as a plane that landed Wednesday. In both cases, there was extraordinary security. Islamic militiamen sealed off all roads and prevented curious on-lookers from gathering near the facility. But some eyewitnesses said that they saw several large trucks leaving the airport in a convoy a short while after the plane landed.
So it prob'ly wasn't delivering food aid.
The arrival of the two planes this week is fueling speculation among Somalis that neighboring Eritrea is helping to arm Somali Islamists, who are facing a possible showdown with Ethiopian troops, believed to be protecting the country's secular and highly vulnerable interim government, which has its headquarters 250 kilometers away in the town of Baidoa.
Deputy Interim Prime Minister Ismail Hurreh in Baidoa tells VOA that his government is receiving intelligence that Eritrea is not only supplying Islamists with arms, but has also sent troops to back up the Islamic militias. "We are getting highly reliable information that a vessel has unloaded 500 Eritrean fighters along the Somali coast, and they are going to join with forces in Mogadishu," said Hurreh. "For Eritrea to simply come to Somalia to fight a proxy war against Ethiopia will fuel trouble in the whole region."
So Somalia is now officially a proxy war.
In Mogadishu, a spokesman for the Supreme Islamic Council that controls the capital and much of the south of the country dismissed unconfirmed reports that Eritreans are in Mogadishu and in other parts of Islamists-controlled areas of southern Somalia. The spokesman, Abdurahim Ali Mudi, also denies that the Islamists are accepting weapons shipments from Eritrea.
"Lies! All lies!"
Mudi says there are enough weapons in Somalia, and the aim of his group is to make the country secure by taking them off the streets, not bring more weapons into the country.
A disarmed populace is a quiet populace.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/29/2006
13:53 ||
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#1
Another clusterf**k courtesy of the United Nations.
#3
Who's to know, could have been just been bananas. Re-arm, re-fit, fight on till there ain't none left. US stay the phuech OUT OF IT! Entire bloody region isn't worth a warm pale of piss.
#1
Our Stryker brigade out of Fairbanks was scheduled to be back in Alaska after a year, but right at the last moment, the duty was extended another 120 days. It has been stressful on the families, but something must be up.
Maybe with all this Hiz activity, we want to have boots on the ground for contingency w/r/t either Syria, Iraq, or Iran. My uneducated guess.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/29/2006 13:55
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#2
I've figured out why we are doing this!
They're gonna HANG SADDAM!
They want Baghdad so buttoned up that anyone who runs out on to the street yelling will have a net thrown over him before he can yell twice.
#4
It's the Mexican technique. 2 soldiers and 2 cops on every street, and the cops know everybody on their street. Then have flying squads available for every group of about 10 blocks. The backup for that is the police stations, and US aviation. Add to that random checkpoints, informants who will quickly call in anything suspicious, and finally vehicle restrictions and you have a city that is buttoned up.
You can't keep up the full court press for too long, but even a day or two would be enough to suck the wind out of the sails of any agitators.
#6
Not only are there these 3,700 troops being moved in, but putting some known items from the last week together: (And I'm way out of my league here, really have more questions about these happenings - this is in no way analysis.)
a) Bush has Iraqi PM to Washington, even presenting him to Congress
b) Troops already in Kuwait with just a couple of days from home, sent back in for 120 days
c) Bush announces more troops being sent over
d) Troops that had been delayed in deploying, now deploying
e) Blair, on short notice, arrives, meets first with Bush, but there has been little publicity that he is here for five (5) days. That's lots for a PM of Britain, on very short notice. Who else is he meeting with?
f) From Bush's and Blair's news conference, was this a mispoke that Bush sometimes does but isn't really a mispoke :
Q: Thank you. Mr. President, and Prime Minister Blair, can I ask you both tonight what your messages are for the governments of Iran and Syria, given that you say this is the crisis of the 21st century?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Want me to start? My message is, give up your nuclear weapon and your nuclear weapon ambitions. That's my message to Syria -- I mean, to Iran.
g) From post here from DEBKA: Our sources add that from Saturday, July 29, the tempo of the American munitions airlift to Israel, begun last Wednesday, as DEBKAfile revealed exclusively, has speeded up. During Saturday, giant US Air Force C-114 cargo transports en route for Israel touched down in Scotland for refueling every few hours.
Could it be, that someone is taking seriously, that August 22 date often spoken of by that idiot in Iran?
A former CSIS informant who once kept tabs on terrorists says the Iranian regime is mentally and spiritually preparing its people for war against Israel.
The Ottawa man, now in Tehran, says the hate campaign against Israel is everywhere on the streets of the capital.
It is not good. It is sad, he told the Citizen.
There are posters at intersections of (Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah) saying Israel must be erased from the map.
Opponents of the Iranian government in Canada say they have received similar reports describing huge posters of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Hezbollah leader alongside the slogan: This war is our war.
Lots to ponder on what has been occurring the last week. And JPost is reporting AF bombing near the Syria border. Maybe using stuff brought in by those USA cargo plane?
Quickest way to get your neighbor to come out may be to kick his dog around a bit. As the seething neighbor comes out, the "mother of all" Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center bombing missions unfolds. The next few weeks will be most interesting.
HT Tim Blair. Oped piece that refers to some recent research on political attitudes and racism. Not a real surprise to me, but interesting nonetheless.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/29/2006 16:48
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The left collectively have a superiority complex. It the the pretense that they are intellectually, emotionally, and especially morally superior to others.
Since even a dullard can see this is not the case, it is coupled with a continual effort to re-define what intelligence, emotional maturity, and morality is. Often they try to define these things as the exact opposite of what they are.
Lastly, they try to destroy existing standards of quality. Lowering educational standards, "defining deviancy down", and citing their own whiny temper tantrums as example of emotional maturity.
All in an effort to feel superior to others while knowing beyond doubt how inferior they really are.
This superiority complex truly defines most in the left. It explains what they feel is important, how they attack their enemies, and how and whom they embrace.
Race is one of the easiest ways for them to feel superior to someone else. In past they saw other races as "children of nature living in a state of grace". But reality soon made itself known. So they re-defined other races as inferiors who must be raised and enlightened by their betters, namely the leftists.
But this is the crudest and most offensively patronizing way to approach someone else. Even the smallest handout must be repaid with bowing and scraping before the superior leftist. Almost nobody, even among primitive peoples, were willing to demean themselves for some trinket.
In the 1950s, this resulted in all the white liberals being expelled from the NAACP, an organization they had helped found. In the 1970s, white liberals were kicked off the Indian reservations, again for being rudely patronizing.
Only Africa, that bottomless pit, was willing to bow and grovel endlessly. But it was such a nasty place, and so out of the limelight, that only the hungriest of egos could abide the place any great length of time.
But this being said about leftists, it is obvious what their psychological weak point is. And when a pschological gambit is used that irritates this personality flaw, will you see the blind rage and hate within them, directed at those they feel are unfairly blessed with "life's lottery".
Although close observers are anything but naïve when it comes to the use of performance-enhancing drugs in their sport, the idea of Landis as a cheat is at odds with his reputation among many in the sport.
Although Landis was well known as an unusually tough man in a sport that prizes that quality, many other riders and team managers paint a picture of Landis as unusually well liked in a world often divided by jealousy. He was also candidly outspoken in a sport better known for closely guarded secrets.
Perhaps inevitably, Landis is also compared to Lance Armstrong, another American who won the Tour de France and who had to deal with doping allegations. But those comparisons also swiftly become contrasts.
This is the anti-Lance in so many ways, Lim said Friday from his office in Boulder, Colo. Theyre similar in their self-belief and their willingness to win. But Floyd is a very simple individual: not self-important and doesnt rate himself above anyone else. Hes less than a regular guy in that his life is so simple.
Armstrong used to arrive at Tour news conferences flanked by bodyguards and public relations advisers, but Landis, 30, was so ill prepared for his first session this year that he had to borrow a dress shirt and a blazer from a trainer to avoid appearing in a T-shirt.
As his friends and colleagues describe him, there are two sides to Landis. The rider whose training program largely involves outworking everyone else is easily pigeonholed as the boy who endured hard work on his Mennonite familys farm in Farmersville, Pa. The Jack Handey admirer, eccentric dresser and constant joker is almost a caricature of someone who escaped the farm more than a decade ago to become a mountain-bike racer in California.
Landis had no sponsor and was sleeping on a friends floor when John Wordin, the director of a team sponsored by Mercury, saw him ride for the first time at a minor early-season race in California.
He was like an untamed stallion, he was so strong, said Wordin, who now runs a sports marketing company. When Wordin consulted the other riders on his team about hiring Landis, the reaction was mixed.
Some of them thought he was too rash, too wild to fit in, Wordin said. But he was so strong that I couldnt not take him.
Despite Landiss decision to leave the farm and his faith, his relatives continued to support him. Dressed in traditional Mennonite clothing, they were an incongruous sight at race finishes, where riders frequently strip down in public and the conversation is often less than refined.
Wordin never fully tamed Landis during his three-year stay at Mercury. Floyd and I had a definite love-hate relationship, Wordin said. Hes very opinionated and hes very outspoken. I had to tell him that theres a line between being a joker and a jerk.
Phonak, sponsored by a Swiss hearing aid manufacturer, has become mired in doping cases to an unusual extent, even by cycling standards. Most famously, the former Postal Service rider Tyler Hamilton was on its roster in 2004 when a newly developed test discovered that he had injected another persons blood to boost his level of oxygen-rich red blood cells. But, unlike some teams, Phonak had also fired managers and made other personnel changes in the wake of each new crisis.
With Hamilton suspended from cycling and fired by the team, Landis was promoted to leader. His leadership style, however, was not based on Armstrongs.
Armstrong intimidated others sometimes and demanded respect, but Lim said that Landis earned it. People think that Im the physiologist who gives him guidance on everything, Lim said. But he inspires me.
His responses in news conferences, they say, are further examples of his sometimes misguided bluntness and his social ineptness.
Its not a polished P.R. game with Floyd, Vaughters said. He just says what comes into his head.
Vaughters and Lim, who have spoken to Landis several times since the doping allegations, accept his denial. They argue that a single testosterone injection would not have produced that Stage 17 performance. Given that cyclings credibility has been eroded by a series of doping scandals since police raids almost halted the 1998 Tour de France, they are not optimistic about the final outcome.
I believe in him 100 percent, and Im proud of him, Lim said. Hes being made to pay for the sins of others that came before him.
As for Landis, Vaughters said: More than anything, Floyd is very sad. I feel that he now may be thinking that this is retribution from God for all he did in the past.
The T/ET ratio test is historically problematic, prone to false positives. Besides the possible effect of cortisone on the test, it's known that alcohol has a strong effect. And we know that Floyd had more than a couple brews the night before the stage.
Lebanese citizens living in the Hezbollah stronghold of Bint Jbeil are aiding the Israeli soldiers advancing on terrorist enclaves in that southern Lebanon town. According to the Galil Report, many of the Lebanese, who refused to flee their homes, volunteered information to Israeli troops -- information that included the locations of Hezbollah members hiding in Bint Jbeil, as well as other terrorist installations in the region.
Bint Jbeil is widely known to be Hezbollah's "capital" in southern Lebanon, and most of its residents "see Hezbollah as having held them captive for years, using their village to fire rockets and plan attacks. They are eager to get Hezbollah out of their town," said a US intelligence source.
Historically, the Israel Defense Forces and the South Lebanon Army maintained positions in and around Bint Jbeil during Israel's 18-year occupation of southern Lebanon, and had cultivated good relations with many of the town's residents. In addition, over the years Israeli intelligence officers have formed alliances with their Lebanese counterparts and gathered intelligence from these informants. While police use the term "informants," intelligence operatives use the term "assets" to describe those providing information.
Meanwhile, Israeli ground forces are pushing Hezbollah terrorists from positions in southern Lebanon, and they are collecting the bodies of the gunmen killed in battle and storing them in refrigerated containers in Israel. Hizbillies, the other white meat.
Military officials told the AP that six bodies had been collected and transferred to Israel so far. In previous years, the Israeli government would trade the corpses of Hezbollah fighters, along with jailed Lebanese and Palestinians, for Israelis abducted by the terror group.
However, according to Ha'aratz, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "insists Israel will not conduct a prisoner exchange for the two Israel Defense Forces soldiers taken by Hezbollah on July 12, which sparked off [sic] the current round of violence." Hezbollah corpses not returned to Lebanon are buried in special cemeteries set aside for terrorists. Both the Jewish and Muslim faiths require quick burial of the deceased.
#1
Them Hez varmints been makin trouble round here. Eatin up all my chickens and makin eyes at my daughter. Run them buggers off, specially that one with the beard!
#2
Duh....heznullies are a minority within lebanon, naturally those suffering under the reckless moves of the group, will quietly assist Any liberating force. hezbullies are claimed to be legitimate part of lebanese government. All lebanases should be asking themselves when resolutions were passed making the hezbullies the official government, whereas they and they alone declare war subjecting the rest of the lebanese to the reults.
All u n posturing to save the hezbullies is an attempt to sustain another left wing government; where another population can be subjected to cadre behaviors, despite those behaviors being inimical to thier health and well being. Same ole stuff. The appendage is religion, this is the class warfare used to recruit the useful idiots needed to conduct campaigns; the socialist international is at the heart of all of this garbage.
LT.-GEN. (RET.) YA'ALON and Maj.-Gen. (Res.) Amidror
Discussions about security arrangements in Lebanon at the end of the war have included the proposal to station an international force in that country. Yet the UN has a very bad name in terms of confronting strong forces in areas where it is stationed.
The only logical basis for an international presence is the creation of a force whose primary mission will be assisting the Lebanese army in disarming Hizbullah (as stated in UN Security Council Resolution 1559). Such a force should be deployed close to Beirut, at Lebanese-Syrian border crossing, and deep in the Bekaa Valley.
An international force has no role in southern Lebanon along the Israeli-Lebanese border. Israel is deployed along its northern border to defend itself and prevent the strengthening of Hizbullah, should it try to move southward.
To complement this deployment, there should be an agreement prohibiting the building of fortifications in southern Lebanon - as in the agreement between Israel and Egypt. In addition, the UN should establish a supervisory force like UNSCOM to deal with locating and clearing out Hizbullah's arms caches and preventing the building of new ones.
#2
Any international force would have to be an actual military force with orders to wipe out any military or terrorist activities in the region. This nonsense of delploying helpless observers or terrorist collaborators is worse than useless.
#3
The UN should establish a supervisory force like UNSCOM to deal with locating and clearing out Hizbullah's arms caches and preventing the building of new ones. The UN carried out this role reasonably well in Iraq and there is no reason it cannot do so in Lebanon.
UNSCOM inspectors were never armed and operated in a strictly controlled and very safe envirnoment. Saddam had crime well under control, I'll give him that, but nothing more. Pistol toting Iraqi "minders" accompanied all UNSCOM inspection trips and most interviews were video taped by the Iraqis. I might be wrong, but I don't think ANYONE would volunteer for an UNSCOM type mission to that particular region.
#4
"I doubt many countries would be keen to put their forces in such a situation."
Gee, I know how to handle that one, bernardz - let the Israelis do it. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/29/2006 20:01
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Lebanon's only pragmatic hope to protect its so-called, alleged "sovereignty", "independence" and "Islam/Diversity-based pluralism" is either under the national umbrella of the IDF, or a US/Brit-led UNCOM capable of military action against terror groups attempting to forcibly establish themselves outside of the democratic process. Else, Lebanon is incapable of being an organz nation-state and should be partitioned-given to those whom can best protect its borders and serve its ethnic groups. The Syrians and now Iranians know this, and want Lebanon for themselves.
WASHINGTON - Osama bin Laden talks tough, but other mujahedeen laughed at him in Afghanistan because he would get scared and bolt when under fire, a new documentary claims.
"When bin Laden used to hear the explosions, he used to jump. He used to run away," his longtime friend Hutaifa Azzam says on "CNN Presents: In the Footsteps of Bin Laden."
"I still remember that me, and my elder and younger brothers, we used to laugh," says Azzam, the son of Abdullah Azzam, bin Laden's mentor in radical Islam.
Abdullah Azzam and bin Laden jointly created a mujahedeen support organization that later became al-Qaida. Azzam was assassinated in 1989, with Hutaifa's two brothers, in a bombing tied to Egyptians close to bin Laden.
Hutaifa's CNN interview - as well as interviews of others who had known bin Laden from childhood to when he made the FBI's Ten Most Wanted list - was his first with a Western broadcaster. The documentary, airing Aug. 23, is based on CNN terrorism expert Peter Bergen's book, "The Osama bin Laden I Know."
Bin Laden's friends describe a man who shed the materialism of a millionaire to become a survivalist. He readied himself for a life of jihad by idolizing gunfighters from old television shows and kung fu star Bruce Lee. "We would watch cowboy movies, karate movies . . . action movies," remembers Khaled Batarfi, schoolmate and soccer pal.
To toughen themselves, bin Laden and his pals galloped across the sands of Arabia without food or shelter. "We had our dates with us in our pockets and water - that's it. We sleep on the sand," says Jamal Khalifa, whose sister was bin Laden's first wife.
Though heir to a billion-dollar construction firm, bin Laden slept on the floor and shunned air conditioning and cold water, Bergen says on the program.
But not everyone in bin Laden's family liked life on the run after he declared war on the United States. Bergen says bin Laden's son Omar, in his mid-20s, was so upset by the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001 that he left Afghanistan and moved home to Saudi Arabia. "[Omar] basically said to his father, "These attacks were dumb, they were stupid. Now we've got this 800-pound gorilla after us,' " Bergen says. "He washed his hands of his father."
Speaking to the Daily News this week from Kabul, Bergen said bin Laden "overreached on 9/11 and now surrounds himself with yes-men and believes his own propaganda that the U.S. is weak. . . . Unfortunately, he's still perhaps the most important leader in the Arab world."
surrounds himself with yes-men and believes his own propaganda that the U.S. is weak. . . . Unfortunately, he's still perhaps the most important leader in the Arab world
Which says a lot about the "Arab world."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/29/2006 11:18
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#2
THE Brave Jihadi Warrior turns out to actually be...a pussy?
I am just sooooooo... shocked!
#3
"[Omar] basically said to his father, "These attacks were dumb, they were stupid. Now we've got this 800-pound gorilla after us,' " Bergen says. "He washed his hands of his father."
Notice he didn't condemn the attacks on moral grounds, just on practical grounds. Reminds me of the official Paleo "condemnations" of suicide bombings. Sounds like a "moderate muslim" to me.
#5
Whether these descriptions of Binny's behavior under fire are true or not, this is one of the few recent articles that suggest that we might finally have a propaganda effort under way, which makes me feel better.
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
07/29/2006 14:20
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#7
No way - Osama's God and belief system/ideals aside, I've been in firefights wid Osama myself during the anti-Soviet War. He's stalwart and reliable - however, this is not to argue that, like many other fighters or even professional soldiers, he doesn't have his personal moments of overwhelming fear and uncertainty. i.e. something (s) else was on his mind instead of the battle or mission at hand. We all do. The role of military training is gener to train soldiers to overcome their own internal or spiritual-physical fears, uncertainties, and chaoses, even the innate "goodness" of their human soul, to defeat iff not destroy = kill the enemy, i.e. to commit surreal, anti-God/Moral/Spiritual "evil" and
"corruptions", etc. IMMORALITY IN THE NAME OF MORALITY, ANTI-HUMANISM IN THE NAME OF HUMANISM, ANTI-GOD IN THE NAME OF GOD, to survive, to cheat [violent]death, to fight again and again, and accomplish his warrior taskings/
objectives.
Like, wow.
By Ahmed Al-Jarallah, Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times
HASSAN Nasrallah is in a quagmire. If, according to his own statements, Nasrallah knew Israel would attack Lebanon between September and November, if he was aware the Zionist enemy was ready for war and if he had received this information, which even the Pentagon and CIA could not receive, why did he give Israel an opportunity to launch the war before time by kidnapping two of its soldiers? Nasrallah has called for the beginning of a second phase of this war.
In what he calls Beyond Haifa, Nasrallah says his fighters will begin rocket attacks deeper into Israel, south of Haifa. We wonder if Nasrallah took any time to review his achievements in the first phase of the war against the enemy before thinking about the next. So far his only achievements have been causing the destruction of Lebanons infrastructure and killing of innocent Lebanese. If he begins the second phase the only result will be wiping out of whatever remains of Lebanons infrastructure and killing of the rest of the Lebanese.
Dictatorial decisions taken by a single man like Nasrallah, who gets instructions from foreign countries, will always lead to sorrow. The ongoing war in Lebanon is a clash between Israel and the United States on the one side, and Iran and Syria on the other. Although each party in the war wants to demonstrate its power in Lebanon, none of them wants its role to be recognized.
In a message to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Chairman of Irans Expediency Council Akbar Rafsanjani has expressed his countrys support to Saudi Arabias proposal for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. This indicates Tehran has started worrying it may lose the war and wants to retreat. However, Nasrallah seems not to have received this information. So if he goes ahead with his so-called Beyond Haifa mission, he will be left alone.
The ceasefire proposed by Saudi Arabia is its own idea and not dictated by anybody else. After realizing its inevitable defeat, the Iran-Syria combine has changed its mind on the war and decided to support the Saudi proposal. Nasrallah wont be able to cover his mistakes by appearing on TV channels and claiming to possess unreasonable information, which cannot be proved by anybody. Nasrallahs claims give the impression that he has some spy satellites flying over the United States and Israel.
Nasrallahs dictatorship will sink like those of Saddam Hussein and other regimes, which did not know their true ability. Egyptians suffered under the dictatorship of the late Gamal Abdul Nasser who led them to war in 1967. The late Egyptian President believed Arab power can defeat Israel. However, the result was different as Arabs were handed out a humiliating defeat. Nasrallah, who is being remote-controlled by Iran and Syria, believes he is in the mold of many Arab leaders. But the fact is he is playing with fire.
#1
I hope the Lefties are satisfied - they finally have their quagmire in the Middle East.
What? It's not the quagmire they wanted?
Picky little bastards, aren't they.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/29/2006 11:24
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Of course, Sunni Arabs wouldn't mind overmuch if Hezbollah got its clock cleaned, along with the Syrian Alawite Shiites.
I just wonder if they will consider the opportunity for Sunnis if they were to help in getting rid of Shiite intrigues in the area, replacing them with "calm" Sunni influence.
Egyptians and Jordanians would seem to be naturals as "peacekeepers" in southern Lebanon.
Update:
SOUTH PLAINFIELD -- When Linda Kay failed to show up for her arraignment in South Plainfield Municipal Court on Wednesday, bail bondsman Kenneth Sass knew he had to find her -- and fast. Motivated by the $100,000 he had posted for her bail Monday, Sass launched a two-day search for Kay, a nude dancer with strip club Hott22 in Union who was charged last week with illegally possessing a severed human hand in her Diana Drive home. That'd motivate me.
"I really wanted to relieve myself of owing that $100,000, so I started looking for her nonstop," said Sass, owner of In & Out Bail Bonds in Plainfield. In & Out Bail Bonds. Sound's soooo New Jersey...
"And I don't stop until I get the person," he added. On Friday afternoon, Sass got Kay.
Following tips provided by friends and family and a 48-hour manhunt that took him to locations from Springfield to Fanwood, he finally nabbed Kay at her father's Scotch Plains house around 2:30 p.m. Friday, Sass said. "Her father was being very cooperative, and he and I were in contact throughout the search," Sass said. "As soon as I spotted her at her father's house, I jumped out of the car, showed her the warrant, handcuffed her and put her in the van." Pops finally smarten up?
Without Kay putting up much of a fight, Sass took the 31-year-old woman to police headquarters, where she was taken into police custody and processed, he said. "She (Kay) was very, very, very scared," Sass said. "I'm just glad I found her."
Dan Russo, the owner of Hott22, the all-nude juice bar in Union where Kay dances, said the notoriety of Kay, who goes by the stage name Zilla, has not hurt business. Hott22. Home of the twenty dollar glass of apple juice...
"We've been getting calls from media all over the world," he said. "People want to know if the skull girl is still dancing here." He said he will welcome Kay back once she straightens out her legal problems.
Kay displays a little "goth" style into her routine, he said, but uses little more than black lipstick and other makeup. Skulls are not part of her act. Well, maybe in the back room...
"I'd never allow that here," Russo said. Jeez, youse guys think I'm fockin whackjob or sumthin? I run a legit joint here.
#1
"Dan Russo, the owner of Hott22, the all-nude juice bar in Union where Kay dances, said the notoriety of Kay, who goes by the stage name Zilla, has not hurt business"
Ya' think?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/29/2006 11:27
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Posted by: Steve White ||
07/29/2006 13:15
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#8
Having a skull on your table that was legally acquired is not a problem or all that unusual, for that matter.
Having a hand in a jar of formaldehyde is definitely twisted, but if she had a friend in the medical business as I heard, I can see how someone with her intelligence and lifestyle could have accepted it as a gift and never thought twice about whether it was illegal.
She's no doubt 'very, very, very' scared at this point. She needs to tell the authorities where the hand came from. If she wasn't involved in the original 'procurement' I wouldn't be inclined to go too hard on her. Nice career move.
#13
If you want macabre, the Body Worlds exhibition packed them in standing room only in Denver and has now moved to Boston for more of the same. These are real human beings, folks, plasticized and sitting there for your pleasure (and dollars).
So what, exactly, is the difference between an 'officially approved' exhibit like this and Freddy the hand sitting on the bureau? It's just meat, right?
Does anyone believe this hand was hacked off a live person? I can't get real exercised unless a portion of it or the formaldehyde ended up in my Wendy's chili (assuming I ever ate there).
Los Angeles -- A federal judge on Friday denied a government appeal to keep incarcerated a top fundraiser for an Islamic charity the government says has ties to terrorism. The motion came a day after U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter ordered the release without bond of Abdel-Jabbar Hamdan, 45, who is being held at the Terminal Island federal detention facility.
Hatter denied the motion without comment, according to court documents filed late Friday. It was unclear when Hamdan could be released, or whether the government would appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Calls to the Department of Justice after business hours were not answered. Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the department was aware of the judge's decision and was reviewing its legal options.
In Friday's motion, the government argued "in the context of a case where the alien has been found to engage in terrorist activity, the alien should remain detained." Contacted at her home late Friday, Hamdan's wife, Entesar Hamdan, said she was unaware of the motion but hoped the government wouldn't take the case any further. "I didn't expect they would take it one last step," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2006
09:22 ||
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#3
Ya thunk correctly, lotp, he was appointed to the bench by Brown and Carter.
U.S. District Judge Terry J. Hatter Jr.
Chief judge of the Central District of California from 1998 to 2001
Senior status April 22, 2005 to present
Los Angeles Superior Court judge April 22, 1977 to 1979-- appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown
Named to the federal bench by President Carter in 1979
#4
This judge has been known as the "Mad Hatter" for years. As I recall, the term "slam dunk", in reference to strong prosecution cases, originated in his courtroom.
#7
Appeal to the 9th Circus Court, ya say? Appeal to the enemy, ya say? We HAVE to turn these courts around. The body politic is all out of wack. They will kill us all if we let them.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/29/2006 17:45
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Newspeak comes to Iran...
TEHRAN, Iran - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has ordered government and cultural bodies to use modified Persian words to replace foreign words that have crept into the language, such as "pizzas" which will now be known as "elastic loaves," state media reported Saturday. Mmmmmmmmmm...elastic loaves...
The presidential decree, issued earlier this week, orders all governmental agencies, newspapers and publications to use words deemed more appropriate by the official language watchdog, the Farhangestan Zaban e Farsi, or Persian Academy, the Irna official news agency reported. "Deranged midget" will now be known as "12th Imam".
The academy has introduced more than 2,000 words as alternatives for some of the foreign words that have become commonly used in Iran, mostly from Western languages. The government is less sensitive about Arabic words, because the Quran is written in Arabic. "Footstool" will now be known as "photograph the 12th Imam standing on one and you will be beaten severely".
Among other changes, a "chat" will become a "short talk" and a "cabin" will be renamed a "small room," according to official Web site of the academy. "Dildo" will now be known as "President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad".
Diplomats hailed the "toilet diplomacy" of an impromptu chat in the washroom between the foreign ministers of feuding neighbours China and Japan at security talks here. Look for the Ex-Lax on those little trays with the Perrier
The two regional powers, whose relations are strained by historical enmities and territorial disputes, have held only a handful of high-level meetings in recent times. Sounds like relations are a bit constipated
So when China's Li Zhaoxing popped into the toilet during Wednesday's talks in the Malaysian capital, and found that Japan's Taro Aso happened to be inside, the two seized the chance for a discussion. "It would have been nice of you to turn the exhaust fan on."
Journalists who had been pursuing Li through the hallways were mystified by the long visit to the facilities as they waited at the door for 20 minutes, unaware that Aso was also inside. I bet they're smoking something.
You want to go in there?
Not me.
When Aso returned to the meeting of ministers from the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plus China, Japan and South Korea, he informed his counterparts of the encounter. "I just met Li in the toilet and we had a good discussion," Aso said ... Don't squeeze the Charmin!
... to the other ministers when he returned, a Japanese foreign diplomat told AFP, adding that their contingent was referring to the incident as "toilet diplomacy".
Provides a new meaning to diplomats washing their hands of something.
The two ministers on Thursday finally held their much-awaited official "bilateral" meeting which took place in the more dignified surroundings of five-star Nikko Hotel.
National identity poses itself theoretically as an insoluble problem in the context of previously colonized countries. The major components of state identity in Pakistan have been ideology of Pakistan which is the transformation of national identities of different nationalities to a so-called Pakistani Islamic identity by adjusting it to the requirements of ruling elite belonging to the dominant nationality and a strong centre doctrine which excluded the minority nationalities from the power structure of state. This state identity, having no rationale basis, had to be imposed by force and for this Pakistani armed forces took upon the responsibility and as a result Pakistan became a permanent experimental place for military dictatorship in South Asia. Implementation of this state identity, based on the propagation of a superfluous non-existing Islamic Ummah, by force resulted in hostility towards national aspirations of minority nationalities. The consequences were reflected in Pakistan becoming the bastion of Islamic fundamentalism and hatching place for international terrorism and jehadi activities and a centre of instability as a result of increased enmity between majority and minority nationalities. With the drastic changes in international polity in a post soviet and post September 11 milieu, Pakistani State is under tremendous pressure to reconsider the parameters of its state ideology and to reform its institutions of governance. From a realistic point of view it is clear that neither the majority nationality is prepared to give up its subjugating designs upon minority nationalities nor the state establishment is ready to replace the old irrational ideological parameters with a genuine and viable state identity. The conscious elements in the minority nationalities and international observers believe that the claims of a fundamental change in Pakistani state approach are merely deceptive tactics by state establishment to deceive the international community.
The present territorial states in postcolonial Asia and Africa were created by drawing artificial lines by colonial powers to create countries, uniting different ethnic identities in to one state negating the national and cultural aspirations of many nationalities. The State of Pakistan and its manufactured Muslim Pakistani identity reflect to the paradox of state national identity that is characteristic of many so-called national states created by imperialists after World War II in Asia and Africa. Pakistan came as a unique phenomenon in modern history. Its top leadership and bureaucracy came from northern India, having no cultural and social roots in the country. It was also unique that the language of a few hundred thousands emigrants was declared as the national and official language of a sovereign state. It was not only the ruling elite but also the very ideology of Pakistan was alien to the present nationalities comprising Pakistan. Proponent of Pakistan ideology, the Muslim League, a political party that was formed and groomed by British rulers in early 1906, had no popular support within the present geographical boundaries of country, a fact fully reflected in the pre-partition general elections. Only a section of Muslim minority in northern India was in the forefront for Pakistan movement, motivated in the hope that their future prosperity might be materialized in a separate new state.
Posted by: john ||
07/29/2006
07:56 ||
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#1
Solution is simple - Sindh and Kashmir goes to India, Balochistan goes to Iran (post regime change), the NWFP goes to Afghanistan, the remainder - Punjab, just seethes, disarmed of its missiles, nukes and other WMDs.
Posted by: john ||
07/29/2006 8:00
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#2
You really want all these Muslims in India, John?
#4
The native Sindhis are quite industrious folk - natural businessmen.
The Punjani settlers in Kashmir and Sindh would of course go to Pak Punjab, where they belong.
The rump Pakistan woul be Pak Punjab - 100% seething muslims.
Posted by: john ||
07/29/2006 15:19
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The Rediff Interview - Pakistan General (retd) Muhammad Nasir Akhtar
Lieutenant General Muhammad Nasir Akhtar (retd) served in the Pakistan army for 36 years and took part in two wars against India.
He was corps commandant, Karachi, before he was assigned a senior post at army headquarters in Rawalpindi. After retirement he settled in Lahore to run a business and tour the seminar circuit, one of which brought him to India as part of a delegation of retired military officers led by Zafar Chaudhry, former air chief marshal, Pakistan Air Force.
While upbeat about the peace process in an interview to Managing Editor (National Affairs) Sheela Bhatt, General Akhtar proudly proclaims that the Pakistan army is a Muslim army fighting for jihad.
How many wars you have fought?
I have fought two wars against India. In 1965 I was in the Rann of Kutch and then in the Chhamb area in Kashmir. In the 1971 war against India I was posted in Sialkot.
#2
This interview makes it clear that the only solution to militant Islam is complete and utter destruction of every one of it's believers and supporters.
I suggest using nukes on Mecca, Karchi, Islamabad, Tehran, plus maybe Riyad and Baghdad too, for good measure.
#3
I ain't there yet, not quite. But every time I read this kind of fanatical bullshit jihad talk it convinces me just a little bit more that we're on the wrong track with this war-- and that it will take much, MUCH harsher measures to convince the Islamoloonies to leave us the fuck alone-- completely, immediately, and permanently.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/29/2006 10:50
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Bear in mind that General Ahktar isn't some bearded mullah or madrassa graduate. He is part of the english speaking elite.
He would have been born in British India, educated at the best schools, gone through officer training under British instructors, receieved further training in the UK or the USA etc.
But his Islamic ideology and identity trumps all that.
Posted by: john ||
07/29/2006 15:25
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#5
Ahem, You mean your Political movement cause it certainly is not religion.
Police in Thailand's troubled deep South on Friday arrested two alleged militants who were suspected of planting a bomb targeting an convoy of justice and civil rights advocates during their field trip in Narathiwat Province on Thursday.
In a joint operation, more than 70 police and soldiers raided houses in Narathiwat's Ra-ngae District early Friday morning and arrested the men inside their homes, the official Thai News Agency said. They were identified as Udeeman Samoh and Sapee-aree Jekho, both 21 years old. Police also confiscated an 11 mm pistol and six rounds of ammunition which were hastily buried during the raid.
Police detained the two on suspicion of involvement in an attempted bombing at a bridge in Ra-ngae District Thursday. The bomb failed to harm a passing convoy of members of the Independent Commission on Justice and Civil Liberties for the Southern Border Provinces (ICJC).
He became a household name in Venezuela as a standup comedian who aims his wit rapid-fire, irreverent and loaded with vulgarities at everyone from his family to the Roman Catholic Church. So it's little wonder that few in Venezuela are taking him seriously now that he says he will run against Hugo Chavez in December's presidential election.
Benjamin Rausseo, better known as the "Count of Guacharo," announced his presidential bid in the capital of Caracas on Friday as he registered his new party, PIEDRA, which means "rock" in Spanish. The jovial 45-year-old says he's not intimidated by polls that show Chavez heavily favored for re-election.
"I'm the candidate of all of Venezuela," Rausseo said in an interview with Union Radio earlier this week as he compared himself to Chavez, with whom he shares humble roots and a husky build. "He's ugly, I'm ugly ... I talk, he talks. But the difference is I live in Venezuela," he quipped, in a gibe at the frequent overseas travels of the Venezuelan leader, who has been
Rausseo, who is also a successful businessman with hotels and other enterprises, grew up poor and left school at 11 to support his family as a shoeshine boy, street vendor and taxi driver. On Friday he told supporters that even if he cracks jokes on the campaign trail, he's serious about combating crime, creating jobs, winning the trust of foreign investors and healing a divided nation.
"Venezuelans are happy people, but since Chavez came to power that's changed," he said. "I've never seen Venezuelans so divided. Chavez has picked fights with the whole world and that's dangerous."
Chavez himself has chuckled publicly about rumors he might face the "Count," who has been known to perform in a straw hat, shorts and flip-flops, both before audiences and on TV. The comedian often makes political satire a part of his routine, poking fun at all sides. An electoral campaign "doesn't have to be a totally serious thing," he said. "There has to be happiness."
But with at least 12 opposition candidates already throwing their hats in the ring to challenge Chavez, pollster Luis Vicente Leon noted a sober aspect to Rausseo's presidential bid. "It's a symbol of protest," Leon said. "It's the reflection of a serious problem, of a lack of serious leadership in the opposition (to Chavez)."
#1
Gerry Fonseca, a Vietnam veteran who attended the protests in August and April, returned to Crawford in June to help the group look for property.
Fonseca said he doubts that any Crawford landowner would have sold to Sheehan or other protesters, so he didn't reveal his connection. Fonseca, who lost his Slidell, La., home in Hurricane Katrina, told sellers about that part of his life and that he wanted to build.
He bought the $52,500 lot in mid-July, using insurance money that Sheehan received after her oldest son Casey was killed in Iraq in 2004.
Methinks I smell a con man. But seeing she's the potential victim, I don't particularly care...
#5
Raj, there's nothing wrong with using an agent to buy property for you so as to obscure the identity of the true buyer. Happens all the time in the business world.
Though if she was taken to the cleaners in the exchange it wouldn't bother me but so much ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/29/2006 13:24
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That's how Rockefeller bought Colonial Williamsburg.
#7
Before the county starts allowing all of these large scale protests, they need to look at the health facilities and emergency services available. To be able to have rally's the size Sheehan wants, it would seem these services need to be in place. Not to mention the added police protection.
Who will be paying for all of these extra services? The residents?
Me thinks her rights are trampling all over the locals. Where is this fair.
What a b****.
Posted by: JAN ||
07/29/2006 20:50
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#8
I wish I could find the link to where she says that when she first came to Crawford she couldn't understand why anyone would want to live there, but now she has come to appreciate it.
The thin end of the wedge? Turn her into a Texan yet.
Andrew Stuttaford, posting at National Review's "The Corner":
WASHINGTON, July 27 /U.S. Newswire/ The U.S. Army recently discharged a highly regarded Arabic linguist who was the target of an anonymous email "outing" campaign. Former Sergeant Bleu Copas was stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., and was a member of the prestigious 82nd Airborne Division...His dismissal, under the federal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual personnel, brings the total number of Arabic language specialists dismissed under the ban to at least 55. Neither Copas nor his command know who was the source of the email campaign.
So far as I can recall, one of the problems faced by the US in dealing with the terrorist challenge and the war in Iraq is an insufficient number of Arabic language specialists. Whatever one may think of the current federal rules governing homosexuals in the military, applying them so strictly now (I'm assuming that the press release gives an accurate account of what happened) seems to reveal an absurd sense of priorities, very September 10th one might say...
A decorated sergeant and Arabic language specialist was dismissed from the U.S. Army under the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, though he says he never told his superiors he was gay and his accuser was never identified.
Bleu Copas, 30, confirmed he is gay, but said he was "outed" by a stream of anonymous e-mails to his superiors in the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg. "I knew the policy going in," Copas said in an interview on the campus of East Tennessee State University, where he is pursuing a master's degree in counseling and working as a student adviser.
An eight-month Army investigation culminated in Copas' honorable discharge on Jan. 30 - less than four years after he enlisted, he said, out of a post-Sept. 11 sense of duty to his country. Copas now carries the discharge papers, which mention his awards and citations, so he can document his military service for prospective employers. But the papers also give the reason for his dismissal.
He plans to appeal to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records. The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, established in 1993, prohibits the military from inquiring about the sex lives of service members, but requires discharges of those who openly acknowledge being gay. I've posted the reaction of Andrew Stuttaford (from National Review) to this on today's Opinion page.
#2
The "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, established in 1993, prohibits the military from inquiring about the sex lives of service members, but requires discharges of those who openly acknowledge being gay.
Another MSM half truth. The law requires he be prosecuted. In accordance with Article I Section 8 of the Constitution, Congress makes all laws governing land and naval forces [Congress because of an uncomfortable experience with Oliver Cromwell, a nightmare remembered by the writers of the Constitution]. Congress implementation of that law is Title 10 United States Code. Subsection of which is commonly referred to as the Uniform Code of Military Justice [a.k.a. military law].
Art. 125. Sodomy
(a) Any person subject to this chapter who engages in unnatural carnal copulation with another person of the same or opposite sex or with an animal is guilty of sodomy. Penetration, however slight, is sufficient to complete the offense. (b) Any person found guilty of sodomy shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
What is called Dont Ask, Dont Tell is actually another article within the UCMJ -
Art. 78. Accessory after the fact
Any person subject to this chapter who, knowing that an offense punishable by this chapter has been committed, receives, comforts, or assists the offender in order to hinder or prevent his apprehension, trial, or punishment shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.
In other words, unlike the civilian world, if you know of a violation you have to report and act upon it. You can not ignore it. It is law.
It is Congress law. If you want it changed, talk to Congress.
#3
An eight-month Army investigation culminated in Copas' honorable discharge on Jan. 30
Yes an honorable discharge which is what most are given unless they have other established disciplinary problems. That means full veteran benefits and entitlements. What the gay advocates do not talk about is the numbers of heteros who are discharged annually with less than honorable papers because of sexual harassment and adultery charges. Heterosexual behavior which is disciplined by the services is never mentioned by the gay advocates. If and when they achieve their goal in integration, they along with heteros will be discharged at less than honorable for their behaviors. That means then the loss of those benefits and entitlements. Bets on the victimhood card being played because theyre gay? Oh, well, well just lower change the standards for everyone.
As a liberal Democrat, I listened carefully to the opposition voiced by many Democratic senators to the nomination of John Bolton as our chief representative to the United Nations. Mr. Bolton has been representing us at the United Nations since August. During the current Middle East crisis, I have been able to listen for myself to what Mr. Bolton has been saying at the United Nations.
On the basis of his performance, I have become a Bolton supporter. He speaks with moral clarity. He is extremely well prepared. He is extraordinarily articulate. He places the best face on American policy, particularly in the Middle East during this crucial time.
During the late 1960s, I worked closely with our then-representative to the United Nations, Arthur Goldberg. Goldberg gave up his lifetime seat on the Supreme Court in order to serve at the United Nations in an effort to end the war in Vietnam. He was hopeful that he could make a greater contribution to his country at the United Nations than on the high court.
He too was our representative during a critical period in the Middle East. It was Ambassador Goldberg who helped draft the famous Resolution 242, which has served as the basis for Mideast peace efforts since 1967.
During the 1970s, Daniel Patrick Moynihan served with distinction in that position. He too stood up to the enemies of the United States and other democracies, such as Israel. When, during his term, the General Assembly introduced its most overtly bigoted resolution equating Zionism with racism, it was Mr. Moynihan who fought tirelessly, if ultimately futilely, against its passage. He continued to identify rampant anti-Semitism as the scourge of the United Nations until his death three years ago.
Now, there's John Bolton, who follows in that tradition with distinction. Were he not to be confirmed as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations at this crucial juncture it would send a powerful message to the international community that Senate Democrats do not stand behind our policy in the Middle East. It would be seen as undercutting American policy toward Israel. Even if that were a misunderstanding, it would have a devastating impact on the world's perception of America's solidarity with Israel.
Following his nomination, Senate Democrats asked the White House to release documents prepared under Mr. Bolton's supervision during his tenure working for the administration. The president ultimately released some of the documents for senior Democrats to review, albeit with redactions. I agree with the demand by the Democrats and wish the Bush administration would be more forthcoming, but I believe that it would be a mistake at this time for the Democrats to hold the Bolton nomination hostage to this dispute. The senators have had a year to observe and evaluate Mr. Bolton directly on his performance as our ambassador. They can intelligently vote based on what he has done at the United Nations and not based on documents related to his role as undersecretary of state for arms control and international security.
What remains of last year's nomination battle, though, is what I suspect to be the real reason that some Democrats oppose the Bolton nomination. That is, they felt uncomfortable with Mr. Bolton's oft-expressed and blunt skepticism over the United Nations' legal and moral authority. Mr. Bolton can even, at times, come off as "contemptuous of the U.N.," in Sen. Barbara Boxer's words.
But Mr. Bolton is right to be skeptical, and all the great U.S. ambassadors to the United Nations from Adlai Stevenson to Arthur Goldberg to Pat Moynihan to Jeane Kirkpatrick have shared that skepticism. Mr. Bolton is absolutely justified in pushing for reform of the notoriously corrupt and inefficient bureaucratic structure in Turtle Bay. As he once said, "If member countries want the United Nations to be respected ... they should begin by making sure it is worthy of respect."
Most importantly, Mr. Bolton understands that his job is to represent the United States and our interests to the world, and not the other way around. When The Washington Post's Dana Milbank chided Mr. Bolton for "disparaging the very organization he would serve," the Wall Street Journal's James Taranto promptly corrected him by saying, "the American ambassador to the U.N. is supposed to serve America, not the U.N."
I have observed Mr. Bolton's performance with regard to Israel and its conflicts with Hezbollah and Hamas. On many other fronts he has proved himself a staunch advocate of freedom and human rights specifically in Sudan, North Korea and Cuba. Some critics have argued that Mr. Bolton is better in his public role as advocate than in his behind-the-scenes role as conciliator. But at this point in history, the United States needs a public advocate who can further its case in the court of public opinion. No one does that better than John Bolton.
#1
Dershowitz must sit in front of a mirror at night and get into loud screaming matches with himself. The part of him that is a liberal democrat must just be in agony when faced with the part of him that fully backs Bush on foreign policy.
Words take on new meanings as Israel struggles to survive.
By Victor Davis Hanson
A ceasefire would occur should Hezbollah give back kidnapped Israelis and stop launching missiles; it would never follow a unilateral cessation of Israeli bombing. In fact, we will hear international calls for one only when Hezbollahs rockets are about exhausted.
Civilians in Lebanon have munitions in their basements and deliberately wish to draw fire; in Israel they are in bunkers to avoid it. Israel uses precision weapons to avoid hitting them; Hezbollah sends random missiles into Israel to ensure they are struck.
Collateral damage refers mostly to casualties among Hezbollahs human shields; it can never be used to describe civilian deaths inside Israel, because everything there is by intent a target.
Cycle of Violence is used to denigrate those who are attacked, but are not supposed to win.
Deliberate reflects the accuracy of Israeli bombs hitting their targets; it never refers to Hezbollah rockets that are meant to destroy anything they can.
Deplore is usually evoked against Israel by those who themselves have slaughtered noncombatants or allowed them to perish such as the Russians in Grozny, the Syrians in Hama, or the U.N. in Rwanda and Dafur.
Disproportionate means that the Hezbollah aggressors whose primitive rockets cant kill very many Israeli civilians are losing, while the Israelis sophisticated response is deadly against the combatants themselves. See excessive.
Anytime you hear the adjective excessive, Hezbollah is losing. Anytime you dont, it isnt.
Eyewitnesses usually arent, and their testimony is cited only against Israel.
Grave concern is used by Europeans and Arabs who privately concede there is no future for Lebanon unless Hezbollah is destroyed and it should preferably be done by the Zionists who can then be easily blamed for doing it.
Innocent often refers to Lebanese who aid the stockpiling of rockets or live next to those who do. It rarely refers to Israelis under attack.
The militants of Hezbollah dont wear uniforms, and their prime targets are not those Israelis who do.
Multinational, as in multinational force, usually means third-world mercenaries who sympathize with Hezbollah. See peacekeepers.
Peacekeepers keep no peace, but always side with the less Western of the belligerents.
Quarter-ton is used to describe what in other, non-Israeli militaries are known as 500-pound bombs.
Shocked is used, first, by diplomats who really are not; and, second, only evoked against the response of Israel, never the attack of Hezbollah.
United Nations Action refers to an action that Russia or China would not veto. The organizations operatives usually watch terrorists arm before their eyes. They are almost always guilty of what they accuse others of.
What explains this distortion of language? A lot.
First there is the need for Middle Eastern oil. Take that away, and the war would receive the same scant attention as bloodletting in central Africa.
Then there is the fear of Islamic terrorism. If the Middle East were Buddhist, the world would care about Lebanon as little as it does about occupied Tibet.
And dont forget the old anti-Semitism. If Russia or France were shelled by neighbors, Putin and Chirac would be threatening nuclear retaliation.
Israel is the symbol of the hated West. Were it a client of China, no one would dare say a word.
Population and size count for a lot: When India threatened Pakistan with nukes for its support of terrorism a few years ago, no one uttered any serious rebuke.
Finally, there is the worry that Israel might upset things in Iraq. If we were not in Afghanistan and Iraq trying to win hearts and minds, we wouldnt be pressuring Israel behind the scenes.
But most of all, the world deplores the Jewish state because it is strong, and can strike back rather than suffer. In fact, global onlookers would prefer either one of two scenarios for the long-suffering Jews to learn their lesson. The first is absolute symmetry and moral equivalence: when Israel is attacked, it kills only as many as it loses. For each rocket that lands, it drops only one bomb in retaliation as if any aggressor in the history of warfare has ever ceased its attacks on such insane logic.
The other desideratum is the destruction of Israel itself. Iran promised to wipe Israel off the map, and then gave Hezbollah thousands of missiles to fulfill that pledge. In response, the world snored. If tomorrow more powerful rockets hit Tel Aviv armed with Syrian chemicals or biological agents, or Iranian nukes, the international community would urge restraint and keep urging it until Israel disappeared altogether. And the day after its disappearance, the Europeans and Arabs would sigh relief, mumble a few pieties, and then smile, Life goes on.
BAGHDAD - Thirty three insurgents were killed in a daylong battle with Iraqi and U.S. military forces in Mussayab about 60 km (40 miles) south of Baghdad on July 23, a U.S. military statement said on Friday.
A burglar was caught after he left his finger at the crime scene and police found his prints in their database. Michael Baumgartner, 31, was spotted breaking into a leisure centre in Hamburg, Germany.
He fled when police arrived but a ring on his index finger caught on a metal fence and ripped his finger off. Police found the severed digit on the ground and used it to track down the thief. But it was too late to reattach the finger despite surgery at a local hospital.
#4
I'm the handsome dude on the left ... you can tell by the full head of hair.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/29/2006 2:50
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#5
Nasrallah's been hiding right under our nose! Check out the guy playing the drums! It's no wonder they have survived against the IDF for so long because he's been privy to our analysis of the situation there! :-)
#10
You too can settle here in beautiful prosperous Rantburg. Our operators are on standby to take your real estate questions! Taxes are low, rowdiness high, and everyone who wants to be is well-armed.
The Army's plan to destroy deadly VX nerve agent in Indiana and truck the byproduct to New Jersey for treatment and disposal adequately addresses public health concerns, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said yesterday. The CDC said the plan is "sufficient to address critical issues" such as potential human poisoning and transportation and treatment of the neutralized VX byproduct. The report said the Environmental Protection Agency found that the plan addressed ecological concerns.
Still, New Jersey Reps. Robert E. Andrews (D) and Frank LoBiondo (R), who oppose the plan, said the CDC report did not definitively say it was sound.
And nothing could convince them otherwise ...
Andrews said the CDC's conclusions were based on "the rosiest of scenarios, the best-case assumption."
Col. Jesse L. Barber, project manager for the U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency's Chemical Stockpile Elimination Project, praised the report. "We will continue to destroy the nation's chemical stockpile in a manner that is safe to the American public and will not adversely impact the environment," Barber said. The plan is on hold until the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, finishes a study of the entire operation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/29/2006
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There is a very simple environmentally-friendly way to get rid of the stuff. There are a bunch of madrassas and mosques that store all kinds of nasty stuff. Just air drop it on them and they will know what to do.
#2
Hold on to them. There will be a need to dispose of them over Iran.
Posted by: ed ||
07/29/2006 1:08
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#3
I agree with #'s 1 & 2. Don't get rid of it now. We need it. This should be dispersed over Wazoo territory in liberal amounts ASAP. And fer-godsakes, if we have any napalm squirreled away somewhere, save it.
#4
I think BZ would be more effective and hard to pin anything on the user. VZ leaves bodies. BZ's Zombies are so much more work for the support staff. A win win scenario.
#7
Global Security has a good entry-level background article here.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/29/2006 7:55
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#8
You've become them.
According to MSM and the talking heads who seem to be the only ones to get public coverage, we've been worse than them since slaverysuffrageHiroshima
the beginning. You know after a while, who gives a S**t. If there's nothing we do that doesn't provoke them anyway, there's no reason to hold back. Lets follow the Democratic Party strategy - anything is legitimate as long as it leads to power.
#9
I'm missing something here. To my knowledge, the US spent a bloody fortune on the Toole, Nevada destruction site, that incinerates chemical weapons and filters the air so thoroughly that it is cleaner than fresh air.
So what the heck are they doing in Indiana?
And the transshipment excuse doesn't fly, because we have chemical munitions crossing the country at intervals with no problem.
Well, what you might mean to say is that we are both willing to use similar means to achieve our ends. Supposing this were so, which it isn't yet and hopefully will never have to be, the difference between the two cases is in the ends. Whose world would you prefer to live in, assuming you were dropped into it at random.
#14
The US has been destroying Sarin, VX, and mustard gas for a decade at the Pueblo Army Depot, north of Pueblo, CO. As far as I know, no one has ever died from it. Chemical weapons were also stored at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal in Denver since the Second World War, without killing anyone. A couple of congresscritters are just playing NIMBY, possibly for large "accommodations" to be named later.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/29/2006 23:18
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A former Georgia Tech student allegedly involved in planning attacks against U.S. targets, including Marietta's Dobbins Air Reserve Base, pleaded not guilty Thursday to additional federal terrorism charges. Pakistan-born Syed Haris Ahmed, 21, appeared with his attorney Jack Martin before U.S. District Court Judge E. Clayton Scofield III to answer the new charges contained in a recently filed expanded indictment. The U.S. attorney's Atlanta office tacked on three additional counts having to do with conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and foreign terrorist organizations.
It also has added alleged co-conspirator Eshsanul Islam Sadequee, 19, to the indictment. Sadequee is in custody in New York, but is expected to appear in federal court here Aug. 18. Sadequee, who was born in Virginia and is of Bangladeshi descent, was charged in March with making false statements to federal agents after his arrest in Bangladesh. Ahmed originally was indicted in March on one count of providing material support to terrorist.
Neither U.S. Attorney David Nahmias nor Martin would comment on the case Thursday. Federal officials accuse Ahmed, a naturalized citizen, and Sadequee of engaging in acts in support of a jihad, or holy war, against the United States. Those acts, they allege, include participating in paramilitary training, sizing up possible targets, communicating with supporters of violent jihad and like-minded extremists, and traveling abroad in support of their plot. Federal authorities, however, say the men had not gotten far enough along in their planning for attacks on U.S. targets, also including oil refineries and the U.S. Capitol, to be an imminent threat.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2006
00:00 ||
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#3
It's becoming more and more obvious that islam and US citizenship are mutually exclusive. In order to become a naturalized US citizen, you have to swear to abide by our Constitution, which, among other things, guarantees freedom of religion. Islam refuses to acknowledge or accept any other religion as being valid. People who profess to be active muslims and US citizens are perpetrating a fraud, and should be expelled from this nation - or at least denied citizenship. This PC bullsh$$ is killing us, literally.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/29/2006 14:33
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Since Friday morning, the IAF has struck two Hizbullah rocket launchers, six buildings belonging to the organization, five weapons warehouses, and two Hizbullah bases. A total of over 40 targets were hit in IAF strikes.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2006
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President Jacques Chirac said Friday that France will press for the rapid adoption of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon, his office said. The statement from Chirac's office cited the "deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Lebanon."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2006
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So what happens if Israel plays Saddam, and just ignores any resolution about cease fire? Worked for Saddam, should work equally well for Israel.
IDF forces killed 26 Hizbullah operatives on Friday during an intense firefight in the southern Lebanon village of Bint Jbail. Soldiers operating in the village found and confiscated dozens of guns and rifles, stocks of ammunition, grenades, mines, and five anti-tank missiles.
Meanwhile, the IDF confirmed that an unmanned drone crashed in Lebanese territory on Friday. The army denied the claim made by Al-Manar, saying that its patron Hizbullah shot down the craft. Israel asserted that the cause of the crash was most likely technical problems. The IDF destroyed the remains of the craft so that it would not fall into Hizbullah hands, Israel Radio reported.
Earlier Friday, the IDF confirmed that Nur Shalhov, a senior Hizbullah official who was responsible for smuggling weapons into Lebanon, including the long-range missile array the organization possesses that can reach deep into Israel, was killed Thursday in an IAF strike. Shalhov was hit by IAF missiles while traveling in a car in the Bekaa Valley, and a number of other Hizbullah operatives were also killed in the attack. The car was packed with missiles when it was hit.
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2006
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#1
I wonder if they have a video of the Nur Shalhov air strike.
#4
Shalhov was hit by IAF missiles while traveling in a car...
Hmmm, single vehicle or enough of a convoy to be of military interest? We keep getting reports of a single house or vehicle being targeted. Makes me wonder if someone is dropping a dime on the Hizbers.
#5
26 dead, that means another 1872 raisins. I hope Allan has lots of grape vines... and some strong sun.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/29/2006 17:29
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If anybody wondered as to the definite number As Battalion 890 of the Paratroopers Brigade began to pull out of Bint Jbail, Military Intelligence personnel using an unmanned aerial vehicle spotted a group of Hizbullah terrorists on motorcycles on their way to set up an ambush for the withdrawing troops. Leb version of Hell Angels?
IDF troops deployed accordingly and engaged the enemy force, killing 26 guerrillas. Seven soldiers were wounded, including one seriously.
US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday refused to call for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, saying a more comprehensive solution was needed. "This is a moment of intense conflict in the Middle East. Yet our aim is to turn it into a moment of opportunity and a chance for a broader change in the region," said Bush at a joint press conference after talks at the White House.
Bush also sent Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice back to the Middle East as he and Blair called for quickly sending a multinational force to Lebanon. The two leaders criticised Iran and Syria, with Blair warning that they must become "proper and responsible members of the international community" or face "the risk of increasing confrontation."
Rice will arrive in the region today (Saturday) "to work with Israel and Lebanon to come up with an acceptable UNSC resolution" to end the conflict and set the stage for sending the international deployment, said Bush. Then, on Monday, world powers will meet at the UN to decide the size, composition and mandate of the multinational force, paving the way for the UNSC to take up a resolution on the conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2006
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#1
Okay, so we push the Hezbo's back 10, 20, or 30 miles from the border. Stick a peacekeeper (snicker, snicker) force in between. Then what happens?
Hezbos get bigger missiles from Iran and suicide boom the peacekeeper force. Think I've seen this movie before.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/29/2006 0:51
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I saw the News Conference and I think that the BBC and David Gregory should have their press creds revoked. They sounded just like a spokewomen for Hizbullah, except they left out the word Zionist running dogs.
Thailand joined Japan in urging sincere cooperation on the issue of missing persons in North Korea, only to be met with silence from the Pyongyang representative at the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) meeting yesterday. Caretaker Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon called on Pyongyang to cooperate with other countries in addressing the disappearance of foreign nationals including those from Thailand and Japan. Anocha Panjoy from Chiang Mai was believed to be abducted by North Korea's spies in Macau 30 years ago. Mr Kantathi joined Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso during the ARF meeting in appealing for humanitarian assistance from North Korea to solve the problem.
However, North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam-sun did not respond. ''He closed his eyes for most of the time at the meeting,'' Mr Kantathi said jokingly. Mr Paek only talked when ARF participants expressed concern over the Korean nuclear issue, saying that Pyongyang had a right to test its missiles. He emphasised that certain conditions must be met if the six-party talks were to restart. But involved parties, especially US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, as well as members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), urged that the talks should be held without pre-conditions, Mr Kantathi said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The Taliban have taken over military check posts in North Waziristan, BBC Radio reporter Dilawar Khan Wazir said in his 'Miranshah Diary' on Friday. Wazir said that more than a dozen check posts monitoring the highway between Kajhori and Miranshah earlier had been abandoned and that he had seen the Taliban patrolling the highway between Mir Ali and Miranshah in twin cabin pick-ups. "They were carrying automatic rifles and in some cases, rocket launchers. Militants now stand guard at the check points previously controlled by army soldiers," he said.
Wazir warned that "North Waziristan was being taken over by the Taliban". "The movements of the tribal jirga members have also been restricted and it is difficult for them to meet friends or family," he added. Wazir reported that authorities in North Waziristan had stopped officials, tribal elders and jirga members from speaking to the media. "Tribal elder Malik Qadir Khan said the administration had asked the jirga members not to speak to the media," Wazir said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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One daisy-cutter per checkpost ought to do the trick.
(KUNA) -- Five Iraqi civilians including three brothers were killed in Hilla Friday, as declared by Iraqi security sources. An army statement told Kuna that three brothers were killed by unidentified gunmen when they were about to board their car, early morning, in the heart of Baquba.
Meanwhile, the security sources in Hilla south of here imposed a curfew starting at 10 a.m. today and until further notice. Spokesman for Babel police station said the curfew that would remain until further notice came after tension in Al-Shawi suburb against the backdrop of passage of a US army patrol close to the Sadr office, south of the city. Locals said in Hilla the Iraqi security and US forces set up many positions in the city and imposed and checked passing cars. The Iraqi Government declared a four-hour partial curfew to fend off attacks on mosques and worship locations in east and south Iraq including Al-Sadr and Al-Amin suburbs.
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Narathiwat: Police have arrested two suspected bombers, thought to belong to the Runda Kampulan Kecil (RKK) insurgent group, who allegedly targeted an entourage of an organisation promoting peace in the deep South on Thursday. They were arrested yesterday in a pre-dawn raid on Hulupareh village in Rangae district by an 80-strong combined force. Police detained Udeeman Samoh, 21, and Sapee-aree Jehkor, 21, who are believed to have set off a 5kg bomb near Klong Tanyong bridge on Rangae-Cho Airong road on Thursday. The attack was reportedly aimed at members of the Independent Commission on Justice and Civil Liberties for the Southern Border Provinces who travelled past the bridge minutes before the blast. Nobody was injured. The team was headed by commission chairman Ukrit Mongkolnavin. Police said they seized one 11mm pistol and ammunition from the two suspects. Investigators said Mr Udeeman is a very skilful bomb-maker and belongs to the RKK. Mr Sapee-aree is considered one of the group's top members.
In Pattani's Sai Buri district, meanwhile, police retrieved 11 assault rifles suspected to have been used in a recent insurgent attack on a military checkpoint in tambon Troh Bon. In Yala, four teenagers stormed a mobile phone shop in Muang district and made off with 30 SIM cards yesterday. Police believed it was the work of the Permudor, a local terrorist network. Elsewhere in Yala, separatist insurgents opened fire on a military outpost of the 534 special task force in Bannang Sata district yesterday. No injuries were reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
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(AIP): Local officials of Helmand province claimed to have captured 13 fighters in on Friday. District in-charge of Garmser district of Helmand province, Ghulam Rasool while giving details to Afghan Islamic Press said, Police ambushed Taliban in Garmser district todays morning (July 28) and captured 13 fighters. He said the Taliban fighters were riding two vehicles. Garmser district as known as Hazara Juft is 80 kilometers to sought of Lashkargah, capital of Helmand province. A few days back Taliban captured the same district for some time.
Taliban dismiss govts claim of capturing 13 fighters in Helmand
(AIP): Taliban on Friday dismissed Afghan officials claim of arresting 13 fighters in Helmand province today (July 28). Spokesman of Taliban fighters Qari Muhammad Yousaf phoned the office of Afghan Islamic Press and said, This false as no Talib fighter has been captured by government. They might have captured civilians and named them Taliban.
The in-charge of Garmser district of Helmand Province earlier claimed that police captured 13 fighters after an ambush today in Garmser district. The Taliban spokesman claimed that Taliban fighters blew up an ANA vehicle with landmine in Atghar district of Zabul province today (July 28).
Posted by: Fred ||
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HYDERABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazalur Rehman said on Friday that the government's efforts to amend or repeal the Hudood Ordinance (HO) was a conspiracy to divide the opposition and warned that the government would face the wrath of the people if it attempted to change the Hudood Ordinances. "The Hudood Ordinance contains laws provided by the Quran that are now a part of Pakistan's law. I warn the rulers that if they try to amend these laws, the Muslims of this country will not let them continue their rule," Fazl said.
He was addressing over 5,000 people gathered at Hyderabad Station Road as the MMA kicked off its anti-Musharraf campaign called "Tehreek-e-Nijaat". The rally lasted 4 hours and raised slogans against the US, UK, India, Israel and the Musharraf-led government.
Fazl said the rulers were falsely claiming that women were facing a lot of injustices due to the Hudood laws. "It is our duty to protect Islamic laws." He also objected to the reconstitution of the Council of Islamic Ideology (CCI) claiming that the people chosen, as its members, didn't represent their religious groups. "Only secular Maulvis are appointed in the reconstituted CCI, they are not even recognised by their own religious groups."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2006
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Fazl said the rulers were falsely claiming that women were facing a lot of injustices due to the Hudood laws.
It's preposterous! How could stoning, honor killings, 5 year-old brides, burqas, and the like be considered unfair?
Same meeting between the two as cited by Fred below, but two different stories. What gives?
I listened to them today. They politely endorsed a multinational force when the shootin's all over, but they stuck to their guns on not calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Tony Blair and US President George Bush say they want to see a multinational force sent to the Middle East as soon as possible.
Assuming the shooting is over.
Following discussions in the White House, Mr Bush said their objective was to "achieve a lasting peace out of this crisis".
Which doesn't mean caving in to the "stop the killing" crowd...
He said they would work for a UN resolution to provide "a framework for the cessation of hostilities on an urgent basis and mandating a multinational force".
And we all know how quickly that goes...
A meeting of the UN Security Council has been brought forward to Monday to discuss the force. Mr Blair said it was important not only to stop the violence but to use the opportunity to set out and achieve a "different strategic direction for the whole of that region". "We feel deeply for people in Lebanon and people in Israel who are the innocent casualties of this conflict, of course we do.
A MNF would take weeks to organize. A NATO force would need permission from the member states, and deployment will be a problem since a fair chunk of the Euro 'rapid reaction' force is in Afghanistan. If this means the IDF can continue to whack the Hezbies until then, fine.
"And we want it to stop now... We have set out a way to do this but it requires the long term as well as the short term."
As far as I know, we're sticking with Resolution 1559...
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/29/2006
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HAHAHAHAHA...UNSC resolution 1559, that was soooo late year.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/29/2006 0:47
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Resolution shmezolution. The muzzies don't give a damn about them. They go around killing people while the western world f*cks around with worthless pieces of paper and speeches.
When they write the books, this'll be the mistake they discuss in multiple chapters...
Despite approving the call-up of three reserve divisions, the security cabinet decided on Thursday against significantly widening the IDF's operations in southern Lebanon, rejecting a recommendation by Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz to escalate the offensive against Hizbullah. Halutz, IDF officials said, asked the cabinet for permission to expand Israel's ground operations in southern Lebanon, to insert larger forces to sweep through the Hizbullah strongholds in the area. According to a high-ranking source in the Northern Command, Hizbullah has several hundred underground bunkers in southern Lebanon, mostly near the border with Israel.
As a result of the cabinet decision, the IDF said the operation in Lebanon, now called "the war within the straits" would retain its current format, according to which brigade and battalion-level forces - not division-level as Halutz had requested - carry out pinpoint incursions on specific targets. The IDF stressed that if Bint Jbail - where eight Golani soldiers were killed on Wednesday - did fall into Israeli hands, the victory could have a ripple effect on other Hizbullah strongholds and cause them to surrender. Halutz said the IDF would now immediately call up the senior commanders of three reserve divisions. The soldiers, he said, would only be mobilized when the need arose. "We need to be ready for every scenario," Halutz said during a joint press conference with Defense Minister Amir Peretz. "This is the IDF's duty and the government has allowed us to fulfill it [by calling up reservists]."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2006
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#1
Yep, the one that gotta way.
Meanwhile, Israeli citizens live in fear for their lives for the foreseeable future.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/29/2006 0:43
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I'm puzzled by the logic behind this because, on the surface, it seems like a really bad idea. As a general principle, winning quickly with overwhelming force is better than long drawn-out onflict. Is the Israeli cabinet worried about tipping the scales too far and drawing Syria and friends explicitly into the game?
#3
Although this article is coming from JPost, I think there is a major disconnect somewhere. Articles and TV interviews and such over the last week are full of contradictory stuff, from Israeli Govt spokes-folks on TV, former Mossad guys, Netanyahu, even Peres, all seeming to indicate this opportunity must be exploited to kill off Hezb - and the go-slow dance of Bush & (even) Blair to allow for it. Then articles like this suggesting they don't have the confidence to follow through.
Certainly there's intentional and adversarial disinformation flying about. The sound of grinding axes is deafening.
To be honest, were I running Israel's campaign, I'd be trying to trip Syria and Iran, by whatever means and psyops available, into showing more of the skin we know they have in the game.
#7
Why warn the Hezzies and their allies around the world until its too late to do anything about it? If you were dedicated to a limited war, why call up additional troops?
As long as the Hezzies don't withdraw from the south, there's no need to move further in and give the MSM and diplomats more leverage. Meanwhile, the Hezzie cadres are submitting to the meat grinder.
I'd watch what the Israelis do more than what they say to the press.
#8
So true, Oldcat. Just a little while ago Fox was reporting that Israel wouldn't demand that Hezbollah be disarmed to agree to a cease-fire. I didn't hear which "newswire" it supposedly came from.
Imagine that for a second. I presumed it had to be bullshit, but still... I wasn't sure...
Now, only about 40 minutes later they're reporting that Israel utterly and completely denied the report. Of course Hezbollah must be disarmed. They ridiculed the report.
#9
It would be a mistake to do anything other than grind up Hizbollah. Anything less is going to be claimed as a victory by the Hezs, Syria, and Iran. Total humiliating defeat is the only thing these islamofacists understand. Anything less is a grave mistake.
A bomb planted between a Sunni mosque and a youth center exploded during Friday prayers, killing four people and wounding another nine, police said. The blast hit just as worshippers began leaving the al-Ali al-Aadhim mosque in southeastern Baghdad, said police Capt. Ali Mahdi. The attack came during a four-hour driving ban police hoped would hold down sectarian attacks that have threatened to divide the capital city in recent weeks.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Thai and Malaysian police have launched a joint rescue effort to help three Thai fishermen being held for ransom by pirates who recently abducted them in the Straits of Malacca. The three were identified as Rorhim Ali, 43, Boonlert Prommul, 50, and Wanmudtalem Madlem, 37. They were reported to be captains of Malaysian-owned fishing boats.
They were abducted by pirates in the Straits of Malacca on July 25 while sailing in international waters between Indonesia and Malaysia, police said. The pirates, believed to be holding the three in Aceh province in Indonesia, are demanding 1.2 million baht in ransom for each man.
Posted by: Fred ||
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At least 19 people, including a woman and a child, were wounded and two were reported to be in critical condition as a home-made bomb exploded in Quetta on Friday afternoon. "Explosive devices planted in a motorcycle and a cycle parked in front of the Allied Bank in Chaman Patak on Jail Road, went off at around 4pm," Balochistan Inspector General (IG) of Police Chaudhry Yaqoob told Daily Times.
Several cars, auto-rickshaws and motorcycles parked nearby were also damaged. The IG vowed that those responsible for the blast would be arrested. The blast occurred a kilometre from Ayub Stadium, where a three-day public gathering of the Jamaat-i-Islami had begun on the same day. The injured were shifted to Quetta Civil Hospital.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Jesus, where the hell did you get that picture?
Many Arab leaders responded with quick condemnation when Hezbollah militants kidnapped two Israeli soldiers this month. Some of the harshest words were from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Sunni Muslim-led U.S. allies that both said the Shiite militants' "adventures" risked destabilizing the Middle East. But as the fighting stretches into its third week and the civilian casualties climb from Israel's Lebanese offensive, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries are shifting the focus of their criticism from Hezbollah to Israel.
We had no doubt that'd happen. It was only a matter of time. Hezbollah's surprised it hasn't happened earlier.
Immediately after the militant group seized the soldiers, Riyadh issued a strong rebuke accusing it of carrying out "uncalculated adventures." This week, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia warned that "if the option of peace fails as a result of Israeli arrogance, then the only option remaining will be war, and God alone knows what the region would witness in a conflict that would spare no one."
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned after the Hezbollah raid that the guerrilla fighters "will drag the whole region to adventures that won't serve either the interests or the issues of Arabs."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2006
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Oh yes, we must not incite the Arab street. Israelis jus grab your ankles and take it like a joo.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/29/2006 0:46
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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak warned after the Hezbollah raid that the guerrilla fighters "will drag the whole region to adventures that won't serve either the interests or the issues of Arabs."
#3
These kind of stores are starting to saturate the MSM. Same old "why do they hate us" handwringing, and it's all bullshit. The myth that terrorism is caused by 'injustice' or wrongs, rather than the truth that there are some people who are just evil murdering bastards. Muzzie terrorists don't need a REASON to hate, and even if they did, who cares why? Do you ask the cockroach why it's crawling across your floor, or do you kill it?
#4
The Times is reporting over 80% Druze and lebanese Christian support for the Hizbis. But how can they believe the IDF is losing, when Israeli defense forces have lost only a couple of dozen troops? Because Islam fosters a party-line culture.
The IDF is advancing slowly because they know that the nukes will fly when missiles strike Tel Aviv.
What is the source of resistance to the belief that Israel will use nukes to pre-empt a status quo "peace" that would allow genocidal missile placements? Appeasement?
Because the Israeli government is acting like it is losing. War is not merely a physical exercise, but a moral one. The greater the physical challenges, the more moral resources are required to overcome them. But Olmert and Peretz (and Bush and Blair) are providing no moral support to the IDF,or they are conducting the greatest disinformation campaign in history. I'm not positive which, but it still looks like the IDF will be hung out to dry.
#7
It is, but it will not be sufficient to assure victory if the moral support is absent. That is why this problem has been festering for 60 years. The Cold War was a sufficient reason to leave it an open wound. What reason is there now?
#8
"if the option of peace fails as a result of Israeli arrogance, then the only option remaining will be war, and God alone knows what the region would witness in a conflict that would spare no one."
Right - Arabs losing yet another war. Keep trying, guys, and maybe you'll be as successful as Kos picking political winners!
#9
Actually, it has been festering for 60 years because no one has ever done what Bush is doing right now. Give it time - Bush is. If the IDF seems to be having a rough go of it, perhaps they are. Perhaps Hezb's front line is playing tough and they're not the usual muzzy pushovers. Perhaps the IDF is not exactly the Super Force that everyone has given it credit for. Many of those on the line right now are merely kids. Big hearts and decent doctrine, but green kids.
#11
Wise comments. Dealing with the growing and entrenched Iranian and Arab strength will not be a pushover -- not for Israel and not for us.
The problem is that everyone THINKS we could just push a button, have a little military operation and wipe out this threat. And so long as people think that they will be reluctant to do what is necessary to ensure that western civilization survives this threat.
#13
I think Israel needs to rid Peretz from the position of Defense Minister if they want any chance of making this work out right. Look at the bio on him in wikipedia BIO AT THIS LINK
Finishing up with these fine MOONBAT TRANZI beliefs so important for a defense minister to have:
Views and beliefs:
Peretz is strongly committed to social issues and to the strengthening of the welfare state. He has declared that "within two years of taking office I will have eradicated child poverty in Israel". Notwithstanding, he has also reiterated his commitment to a market economy. For his movement in latter years towards "third way" positions, as well as for his earthy and warm personality, Peretz has been compared to Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
In matters concerning relations with the Palestinians and the Arab world, Peretz holds dovish positions. He was an early member of the Peace Now movement. He was also, in the 1980s, a member of a group of eight Labour party Knesset members, dubbed "the Eight" and led by Yossi Beilin, who tried to set a liberal agenda for the party in matters concerning the peace process with the Palestinians. Peretz connects between the peace process and internal Israeli social issues. He believes that the unresolved conflict with the Palestinians has also been a hindrance to the solution of some of Israel's most pressing social ills, such as rising inequality. He sees the resources allotted to the settlements in the West Bank as having diverted funds that could have helped to solve these problems. He has described the conflict as having mutated Israeli politics, so that the traditional left-right distinctions do not hold: Instead of supporting a social-democratic left which would advance their cause, the lower classes, mostly of Middle Eastern Jewish origins, were diverted to the right by the fanning of nationalist tendencies. Concurrently the left in Israel was usurped by the well-to-do, so that the Labour party had ironically become elitist. That is why Peretz sees an intrinsic connection between a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the resolving of Israel's internal social tensions
#14
lotp, if you'd read the drubbing I got from Oldspook earlier this week, you'd know I don't expect a walkover. But something here is fishy and it's got nothing to do with military capability. And the fishy smell is the real threat to Western Civ.
JERUSALEM - Dozens of rockets fired by Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon hit towns across northern Israel on Friday, wounding at least six people, police said. A local ambulance station was hit by one rocket that landed in the town of Safed causing no injuries, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said.
Six other towns, including Kiryat Shemona, Nahariya, Rosh Pina and Karmiel, were also hit. Longer-range rockets fell in open areas close to the town of Afula and the Sea of Galilee resort of Tiberias, a police spokesman said.
Around 60 rockets were fired in all, he said.
Hezbollah has fired more than 1,500 rockets into Israel since the conflict erupted following a cross-border raid into Israel by the Shiite militia on July 12.
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Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will return to the Middle East this weekend to work with others on trying to bring an end to the Israeli-Hezbollah fighting. President Bush, holding a news conference in Washington Friday with visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair, announced Rice's return to the region she visited just a week ago amid escalating violence. Earlier, Rice's spokesman, Adam Ereli, took strong issue with an assertion by Israel's Justice Minister Haim Ramon, who said the failure of world leaders to call for an immediate cease-fire at a summit in Rome gave Israel a green light to carry on with its campaign to crush Hezbollah. Any such statement is outrageous, Ereli said. The United States is sparing no effort to bring a durable and lasting end to this conflict.
Rice also said: I think everybody in Rome agreed that we can't return to the circumstances that led us to this in the first place. The United States, adopting a diplomatic stance that has not been embraced by allies, has been insisting that any cease-fire to the violence over the last three weeks must come with conditions to address long-standing regional disputes. That, she has said, will ensure a durable solution. Nearly every U.S. ally has called for a quick truce to end the bloodshed and efforts to smooth needed humanitarian supplies to the Lebanese. They believe the difficult work solving of old grievances between Hezbollah and Israel can come later.
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The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council neared a deal Friday on a resolution that would give Iran until the end of August to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions. Diplomats said the resolution would probably be introduced to the full 15-member council later Friday and adopted next week. Because of Russian and Chinese demands, the text is weaker than earlier drafts, which would have made the threat of sanctions immediate. The draft now essentially requires the council to hold further discussions before it considers sanctions. There (are) no sanctions introduced on Iran in the draft resolution which we are finalizing, Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.
Churkin stressed that work on the resolution was not finished, raising the possibility the introduction of the draft could be postponed. The resolution, drafted by Britain, France and Germany with U.S. backing, is a followup to a July 12 agreement by the foreign ministers of those four countries, plus Russia and China to refer Tehran to the Security Council for not responding to incentives to suspend enrichment.
The ministers asked that council members adopt a resolution making Iran's suspension of enrichment activities mandatory. Tehran said last week it would reply Aug. 22 to the Western incentive package, but the council decided to go ahead with a resolution and not wait for Iran's response. Iran on Friday called again for international negotiations on its nuclear ambitions and said it was considering the incentives. Western nations have dismissed the idea of such talks without a halt to Iran's uranium enrichment.
Posted by: Fred ||
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I am psychic. The UN will say: we call for an immediate ceasefire and a pullback of all Israeli troops, and we will place towers along the Frontier with Israel to monitor future aggression, while allowing Hamas and Hizbollah supporters to site 30,000 all-Israel reaching missiles. If, when Israel is forced to sue for peace, the indulged Arabs begin exterminating Israel's 6,000,000 Jews, then we will point the blame at the Americans who aided the Zionist regime.
(RIA Novosti) - More than 30 gunmen have surrendered to federal law-enforcement officers in Chechnya in an amnesty, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said Friday. "Thirty-three gunmen have given themselves up after the chairman of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee and head of the Federal Security Service, Nikolai Patrushev, declared an amnesty July 15 for those gunmen who surrender," the committee said. The committee said 27 gunmen had laid down arms in Chechnya, three in Daghestan and another three in Ingushetia, all North Caucasus republics in Russia.
Posted by: Fred ||
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More than 30 gunmen have surrendered to federal law-enforcement officers in Chechnya in an amnesty, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said Friday.
if true..in the past, some of the former "rebels" who got amnesty are working for Russians today..
and some of them btw are brutally effective. One guy in particular, who I can visualize but can't remember the name, is currently enjoying great hunting.
really nice folks in a diverse folklorico kinda way...
India has been warned by its intelligence agencies that militant group Lashkar-e-Taiaba (LeT) could target its nuclear installations, National Security Adviser MK Narayanan said on Friday. Narayanan described it as a "very serious threat".
"There is information that maybe one of our atomic energy installations could be the target," he told CNN-IBN news channel. "It's (an) LeT operation... it is a very serious threat," he said. India has pointed a finger at the LeT for a series of bomb attacks on commuter trains in Mumbai on July 11 that killed 183 and wounded more than 800.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2006
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SAN DIEGO — A Mexican man who lied about his citizenship to become a U.S. Border Patrol agent and admitted helping illegal aliens to enter the country was sentenced Friday to five years in federal prison. Oscar Antonio Ortiz, 29, had pleaded guilty to conspiring to bring in more than 100 illegal immigrants, falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen, lying in order to get a gun, and owning a gun despite having entered the country illegally. "I grew up thinking I was a U.S. citizen," Ortiz told the judge. "I was living the dream, and suddenly I woke up in my prison and now I realize who I am."
A defense lawyer asked for two years in prison and a prosecutor for about three, but U.S. District Judge John A. Houston opted for a longer sentence. "You were one of the gatekeepers," the judge said. "Our border security depends on people like you." North County gang detectives investigating drug deals were the first to discover Ortiz's criminal background when they overheard him on
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2006
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Oscar Antonio "I grew up thinking I was a U.S. citizen," Ortiz told the judge. "I was living the dream, and suddenly I woke up in my prison and now I realize I..I.. I am just a pendejo."
#4
You guys are such boneheads I love watching you all toss your opinions around like you know what¡¦s going on. I¡¦m a capital projects engineer for one of the majors (oil producers that is). Israel has been trying for years to get this oil and gas (two-phase) pipeline from Turkey (originating in Kazakhstan). Lebanon and Syria have been opposed to it for years. They thought they would be able to get it through Iraq, but alas no go. Oh, how convenient, TERRORIST IN Lebanon. I¡¦m disgusted at myself; I make tons of money from this shit. It¡¦s Blood money. Turkey is now going to be the peace keepers in Lebanon-how convenient. This war is a joke. Oil is power, Germany didn¡¦t lose WWII³ It ran out of gas. If you idiots had any brains, you¡¦d see what is really going on. The US has to get that energy at any cost. That is the reality. I live for oil and have for many years, it¡¦s my livelihood. So that is what¡¦s going on. We are killing people for power, not for some kind of moral high ground--plain and simple. If you¡¦re going talk all this bull at least you can do it knowing its bull. Isn't nice to know your murdering for power rather morality. Just thought I'd fill you all in.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/29/2006 2:55
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#5
LOL. Thanks for spewing dropping by. I feel your dementia pain. BTW, you're the whore hero of this thread. Fuck you Thanks, again.
#11
Hell everytime the price of oil goes up my rate goes up. This has been the best thing to happen in my career. I was all for the Iraq war. Only three majors were allowed to do E&P there (Total, Luk, and the Chinks). We had to get those strategic reserves out of their hands. I'm just telling it like it is. Oh, by the way, logistic and economics make a pipeline work out. If you have to build a marine terminal, unfortunately it doesn't make much sense, especially when you have to depend on Arab sources. Therefore Caspian sources are more reliable. Basically, war starts in middle east and there goes your crude supply.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/29/2006 3:53
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#12
If your next key punch is distillate supply?? Distillate supply is totally unreliable. Europe won't sell them distillate. And the America has barely enough for us. The Isrealis are boxed in and they know it.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/29/2006 3:58
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#13
Mike: Have you anything to say about comment #6, or are you still trying to cobble up some way it fits your theory? Or are you going to sidestep the issue by substituting up to world supply now?
#14
You think oil is cheap you're about to get schooled in the US how cheap Oil is. BHAHAHAHA!!
Chavez is selling 20% of our crude supply to India and China. Iran just set up a bourse to sell crude in Euros. All crude used to be traded in dollars. Russia and Chavez are already joining up. That was the only thing propping up the dollar. Every country had to buy $$'s before they could buy oil. That means the $$ tanks and you can buy even less oil.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/29/2006 4:04
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#15
BTW: Nobody gives a $hit how much money you make except you, and it doesn't substitute for expertise. Hell, you could be some college Freshman who makes money getting Greenpeace petitions signed for a living. Talk sense, and people here will listen.
#20
I specialize in Heavy crude upgrading. I've worked for have the independant in the US a couple majors and two EPC (Engineering Procurement and Construction) (i.e. Bectel & Fluor) in the gulf.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/29/2006 4:16
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#22
Y'know, son, you can post all you want about your expertise, supply, political and economic shifting sands, etc., in the awl bidness. We all know about our fields and could, if it were relevant, do the same. Yawn.
What makes you "speshul" is this: "We are killing people for power, not for some kind of moral high ground--plain and simple."
Define "power". Then justify your idiocy. What you've posted since #4 is stuff we can get from 20 different people here. Be constructive and informative or fuck the fuck off. We get trolls spewing just like you every day.
#27
I specialize in Heavy crude upgrading. I've worked for have the independant in the US a couple majors and two EPC (Engineering Procurement and Construction) (i.e. Bectel & Fluor) in the gulf.
Here's how I read this:
I specialize in blah blah blah. I've worked for have the [sic] blah in the US a couple blah and two EPC (blah blah & blah) (i.e. Bectel & Fluor) in the gulf.
What does this mean in English? And how does it drive home your point? It's not going to help many others here, either. But you knew that when you wrote it.
You started saying that this war was so Israel could get oil. I say a tanker or two a year would be a lot cheaper than going to war.
Are you trying to say something other than what I think?
#28
Well, Mike ran away, so I will say a couple of things. Every nation has so much in reserves right now to my understanding that they are having tankers do circles before they come in to top off another tank.
Distillate supply in Israel? Israel's got a refinery or two of its own. Not a problem.
Mike isn't the only player out there, there are plenty of advisors on Wall Street, and they don't seem to be too afraid.
Personally, he seems to know some things, but not as much as he's claiming.
As for me, I'll continue to hold dollars for now.
Nighty nighty, Mike. Gotta bone up for that exam, I assume. :-)
#29
For some reason people who work in oil and gas are prone to this kind of quasi-conspiracy thinking. A friend of mine in O&G infrastructure is intelligent and well informed, but he has some really bizzare conspiracy thinking about how secret deals and machinations in the O&G business drives world events.
#30
Goodness, I'm even more glad that Mr. Wife didn't take that job with Exxon when he got his BS/Chem.E. Clearly I would like what he would've become, even aside from living in parts of the world not fond of nice, little Jewish girls whose fathers are Israeli war heroes.
Chavez is selling 20% of our crude supply to India and China, quoth dear Mike the oil man. He's gone native in a bad way, it appears, besides being a consummate ass. A pity -- he was probably kind to his mother in his youth.
#31
Dude, you're going to have to pick a new handle. I got here first.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/29/2006 7:57
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#32
Kazakh oil was limited to pipelines through Russia and then tankers through the Bosporus, but recently I believe the new pipeline was opened across Turkey (though perhaps the eastern extension is not open yet.) Why would Israel want a pipeline through its enemy Syria (and maybe also Lebanon) when it could run coastal tankers a few hundred miles? Even if the did manage to defeat Syria and make them a colony to host such a pipeline it would be subject to constant sabotage - if they really, really insisted on a pipeline instead of tankers they could lay it through the Med cheaper than fighting an unending war.
As a heavy crude upgrader, Mike's talents should be in very high demand in Alberta, where the tar sand minds are expanding like crazy. Similar projects are very possible in Venezuela if they can get their economic and political systems functioning - China may help them out, but at this point it would not be the most efficient path. China is cultivating and fertilizing Chavez shamelessly, because it needs a stable oil supply, and to 'distract' the US; they're doing the same with Iran and Kazakhstan. Long-term the latter make better sense for Chinese supply and Venezuela for US, just because of the substantial difference in transportation costs - if a government insists on selling to a less efficient market for political purposes it is going to eat a big hunk of that increased cost in price offsets, and thus make less money (meaning less cash flow from which to steal.)
Phil_b - I'm in the O&G business too and I don't see all these bizarre corporate conspiracies - though lobbying for favorable political decisions is standard practice (cash-assisted lobbying is frowned upon, even internationally, but I don't doubt it goes on at some level.) As far as the Iraq War being about oil - it is, but not about Iraq oil. Iraq has a good deal of oil, and good potential to find and develop more, but its real significance is as a fulcrum for moving the other big boys in the region - KSA and Iran. From the perspective of fighting the war on Islamofascism those two were as big or bigger problems than Iraq but 1) there was no legal 'excuse' for attacking them, 2) there was no logistical base from which to attack them, and especially 3) the developed world economies were too dependent on their oil to risk attacking them. The War on Islamofascism is intimately connected to oil so whatever is done to fight that war is going to simultaneously be 'about the oil'.
#33
Bectel
You'd think he'd know how they spell their name...
Hell everytime the price of oil goes up my rate goes up
That might be true for this "Mike", but I *know* it's true for Ahmedineedablowjob in Iran. And every time he opens his cakehole about Israel, up goes the price.
Yes, but can you put together an intelligible sentence? yawn So far, it doesn't seem as if you have impressed anyone here, Mr. Capital Projects Engineer.
You should go back to glueing together the pages of your Dad's old Hustler magazines. Buh Bye!
#36
Chavez is selling 20% of our crude supply to India and China. Iran just set up a bourse to sell crude in Euros.
Hey let's do a PEEK OIL THREAD! Wheeeeee! New versions of black heliocopters, Bilderburgers, Trilateralists and triple K morons from the heartland. Thank you visting Mike for reminding us of our inner kook.
#40
If Chavez is selling "20% of our crude supply to India and China", why the hell was he having to buy oil from other (more expensive) sources to fill contract requirements?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/29/2006 10:11
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#41
Hey Honkey, engineers do math, english majors do apostrophes. :>)
And remember there are 3 kinds of engineers: those who are good with math and those that aren't. ;-/
#43
If Chavez is selling "20% of our crude supply to India and China", why the hell was he having to buy oil from other (more expensive) sources to fill contract requirements?
As long as I can type the url of porn sites and understand the pics descriptions, I'm satisfied with my fluency in english. I'm the kind of guy who has low expectations about himself.
#46
"As long as I can type the url of porn sites and understand the pics descriptions, I'm satisfied with my fluency in english. I'm the kind of guy who has low expectations about himself."
A worthy aspiration. Seriously though, I make allowances for individuals where English is their 2nd language, but not so much for those that should know better. You at least are able to communicate your meaning.
There's nothing like the peace of mind that comes from diminished expectations, is there?
#47
Manolo buddy, english ist my frist and only language, I'll abuse it as i SEE fit. ARe you understand? Or do I need to make fun of your kooky semi fascist comments?
Ima gl'dus.. does itum count that I werked for Raymond International, Morrison-Knudsen, Healy Tibbitts, the Bechtel ppl waay back doin the oil thangy in North Africus..
#50
Wow, this was a nothing thread until Mike jumped in. I don't think he's 100% correct, but he's not 100% wrong. The Bushes are oil men. Cheney, as one of their major flunkies is too. Supposedly, good ol' Dick was subdividing the Iraqi oil fields during that meeting in his office. Why does anyone think the Brits sided in on Iraq ? They wanted to get back into southern Iraq where their oil interests were. Do you see them helping on Israel-Leb ? Hell no. Blair is bleating in Bush's ear for an immediate ceasefire. Everyone in this game is there to make their own money grab. Did we give a damn about OSB or Taliban ? Or did we want to enable the pipeline thru Afghan ? Karsai's 1st duty...sign off on pipeline right-of-way. Also, we could site bases along the Iran border. Did we do it ? You bet your ass. We have a lot of oil in Gulf and along west coast shelf areas. We just need to get it. Why do you think Bush is kissing Mexico's (I would ahve said Fox, but he's just one pawn among many) ass? Why does his brother spend majority of his time in Mexico City ? We all know the oil reserve potential Mexico has. We all know that they themselves are incompetent to develop it. Why is there this push to evolve this One America's idea ? This goes from Mexico to Canada. Think it may have anything to do with energy development ? Also lets all corporations totally gut unions and move all jobs to Mexico. All new GM & Ford vehicles will be built in Mexico and shipped duty free right into US. All maritime shipping is going into massive ports developed in Mexico. Again, trans-shipped via revitalized railroads duty free into US. Those lucrative dock worker jobs in So. Cal will be greatly diminished, if not totally gone. So Mike is right. There are linkages. Never think men are doing things for the goodwill of other mankind. Never happens. Just spend some time reviewing history.
#52
"#47 Manolo buddy, english ist my frist and only language, I'll abuse it as i SEE fit. ARe you understand? Or do I need to make fun of your kooky semi fascist comments?"
And you abuse it so well! There is nothing "semi" about my fascism. Make fun all you like, I could use the entertainment.
"#48 You've faded badly Manolo. Rerun city. Nicely parsed but boring as always."
Huh? Faded how? I must have used the wrong cycle. I'll take nicely parsed and boring over unintelligible any time. It is difficult to take someone seriously when their prose is so badly garbled, even if their argument has merit. Language is the tool we use to communicate, and when the tool is dull I assume the user is too.
#53
Does Israel even have enough demand to make an oil pipeline worth it? I would suspect not. Their power plants run off coal I believe, so there's no real urgency driven by that. It's not like their economy deals with huge industrial demands, either. They even have solar-powered water pre-heaters on top of all their housing! What they would need it for mostly would be maybe asphalt, heating, and transportation.
#54
If Mexico has so much oil, worst case is I'm sure they'd invite us in to develop it for them. It would bring them a ton of money, which they could obviously use. It makes no sense to sit on it.
#55
I worked in the oil business for a bit - in seismic data processing and as a geophysical technician. It's a crazy business.
Hezbollah is getting its a$$ kicked in southern Lebanon. They're firing Katyusha rockets like they're cheap, and costing Iran a bundle, with little to show for it. Sure, they want a cease-fire. Hudnas are great for islamonutcases. Let Israel continue to dismantle hezbollah's capabilities for a couple of more weeks, THEN agree to a peace plan that requires ARMED, COMPETENT SOLDIERS on the Israel/Lebanon border, with ROEs that allow killing hezbollah "warriors" attempting to re-establish a southern Lebanon presence. Otherwise, the entire operation is a waste of time, treasure and blood.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/29/2006 14:13
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#56
Fact:
- There is enough oil in the ground in Alberta and WY/CO to fuel the US for decades. The only thing they need is NG to drive the distillation process. That's why AK NG and NG from the McKenzie River Delta is so vital.
#58
anymouse: So you're suggesting not being able to drill in Alaska has been holding up the process of becoming energy independent? Why would we let a bunch of environmentalists stand in the way? Reclassify them as terrorists and move forward! :-) Just kidding about the terrorist thing. I recycle, too!
#59
I gotta disappear for a while. The electrical outlets are telling me I might be abducted by aliens unless I hide in a culvert in the park down the road for a few hours and make barking sounds.
#60
Manolo doesn't do Irony. It's two dam difficult. Language is the tool we use to communicate, and when the tool is dull I assume the user is too.
;> Nice cheap shot plagerizer.
#61
I gotta disappear for a while. The electrical outlets are telling me I might be abducted by aliens unless I hide in a culvert in the park down the road for a few hours and make barking sounds.
Gorb, watch out for the bunny rabbits. They're plotting to ambush you while you're alone in that culvert.
#62
I gotta disappear for a while. The electrical outlets are telling me I might be abducted by aliens unless I hide in a culvert in the park down the road for a few hours and make barking sounds.
Gorb, watch out for the bunny rabbits. They're plotting to ambush you while you're alone in that culvert.
#63
I am a verbal who married an engineer. I wasn't actually an English major (math and dance, with all my spare time spent reading whatever didn't manage to run away first, but I hated the analyses used in English department, and as it turned out I was a high-functioning non-mathematician with a science jones). In my considerable experience, most engineers can spell when they remember to run the spell check program *and* manage to choose the correct alternative -- that's why for the more difficult words there is a standard spelling and a scientific spelling -- or when a verbal type runs a quick eye over it before it goes out. Some engineers are trainable; some are only interested in efficient communication, which spelling and minor grammatical errors do not impede; and some type as fast as they think, which leads to a charming but independent set of errors (see our darling muck4doo for an extreme example of clear thinking coupled with significantly overclocked fingers). So for the subset of humans involved in the mathematics-related disciplines, spelling and grammar are not indicators of clarity of thought, no matter what your Second Grade spelling teacher said. Even if it drives me personally crazy, especially the typos I commit when I get tired.
No, Mike the oilman's failures in this thread are independent of his verbal/written lacks (he probably says, "Between you and I," too -- and the justice system of this country refuses to shoot people for that!!!). Manolo dear, I believe Mr. 6 is, in one of his incarnations, a teacher of writing and thinking skills. His errors are nicely calculated to get the most bang for his typing buck.
And some quibbles: first for Mike the oilman, who doesn't seem to know that Nazi Germany was synthesizing oil from coal. If Germany ran out of oil, that was one componant of their defeat, along with losing all territory to invading Allied armies, and having almost all their infrastructure, both military and civilian bombed to bouncing rubble.
Second, Israel is, to the best of my knowledge, one of the most energy efficient societies around these days. They have, amongst other things, the highest square footage of solar collectors per capita in the world, intense conservation of water, and high usage of public transport.
As for Hizb'allah, let them sue for peace after being completely defeated-- nothing less should be acceptable to anyone. And Lebanon can darn well sign a proper, enforceable peace treaty as well, one wherein it is clearly stated that the entire country will be held culpable if anything like this is allowed to happen again. The IDF is getting lots of quiet help, apparently, from Lebanese who disagree with Hizb'allah's choices -- in the current world environment that is going to have to become overt. A visiting friend told me today his personal fear after watching developments over the last few years from his standpoint in a small town in central Pennsylvania is that the Muslim world will force us to kill them all. The gentleman in question is not a Rantburg reader, in fact he isn't politically active at all as far as I know, and yet he on his own came to this conclusion. It's clearly getting near time when the Muslims and the Arabs, both here and there, are going to have to openly show which side they are on -- the Lebanese can go next.
#66
"...is that the Muslim world will force us to kill them all."
There is no doubt in my mind that we will be forced to kill them all, or most of them anyway.
"It's clearly getting near time when the Muslims and the Arabs, both here and there, are going to have to openly show which side they are on..."
I think they have already done that. Except, the left, (media, intelligentsia...etc.) and our politicians are refusing to listen. How many times do they have to say that they intend to kill or enslave us all before our high and mighty political class believe them?
Iran on Friday denied US allegations that it is supporting Hizbullah's war against Israel, and Iranians who wanted to fight for the Lebanese group complained their government was stopping them from leaving the country.
"Shhhh! Later, youse guys! Later! Why don't you... ummm... go on a pilgrimage or something?"
"Like to Najaf?"
"Najaf's nice this time of year."
A group of 120 Iranians who volunteered to fight for Hizbullah said they were refused permission to go through Bazargan crossing, near the eastern Turkish town of Dogubayazit. They planned to travel through Turkey and Syria to Lebanon. "The authorities said we could not pass through the border as we were wearing a kind of uniform," Ali Komeili, a spokesman for the volunteers, told The Associated Press. "We have sat here in protest at Bazargan border crossing to convince them to let us pass."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2006
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Rocketts take a pause in route to Allantown
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/29/2006 0:36
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#3
gromgoru, what message? Someone messed up, they were supposed to be told "civilian clothing", not a kind of uniform. I am sure once they change their attire, all will be just fine.
OTOH, it may be that Iranian leadership wants to boom them somewhere else.
#4
This is rich. Iran publicly stops angry students at the border. Meanwhile Revolutionary Guards and materiel are likely entering Lebanon as "aid workers and supplies".
#8
charger---It isn't plausible deniability, its denying plausibility, heh. The Syrians and Iranians are pushing the envelope of getting wacked big time. Just like they miscalculated on the IDF soldiers kidnapping, they will put a big rocket or missile in the wrong place and hell will rain down. Israel is being very restrained (not a good idea) right now.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/29/2006 14:00
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#9
Damn they even use the goose step!
Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
07/29/2006 14:48
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#10
#9 - I've been told goose-stepping is very hard on the knees, so hopefully they'll soon have painful knee problems. Inshallah. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/29/2006 22:28
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BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Three U.S. Marines assigned to the Army's 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division have been killed in action in Anbar province, the U.S. military said Saturday. The Marines died Thursday, according to a U.S. statement. No further details were released.
Both Army and Marine units operate in the Ramadi area of Anbar, and individuals from both services are sometimes attached to units from the other.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/29/2006
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HELSINKI: Finland said on Friday that it would recall its ceasefire monitors from Sri Lanka, sparking fears of increased violence between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels. The Finnish foreign ministry announced it would withdraw its 10 observers on security grounds before a September 1 deadline set by the rebels for all European Union ceasefire monitors to leave. "Based on the fact that the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) are not going to guarantee the monitors' safety after September 1, we will recall our observers by then," mission desk officer Marita Maunola told AFP.
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The government has issued deportation notices to five foreigners, including two Malaysians, an Indonesian and a Sri Lankan studying at the Jamia Benoria Madrassa, whose visas have expired, sources said. An administrator at the madrassa, Qari Muhammad Iqbal, has expressed "surprise" at the notices. He said that last year President General Pervez Musharraf had pledged that the government would issue visas to all those students who had no objection certificates (NOCs) from their countries' governments.
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Follow-up on the story we started late yesterday, so forgive the duplicate information. I'm promoting this to page 1 as I think it's WoT related. Please post updates in the comments, and the mods will move new information into a new post later today.
SEATTLE One person is dead and five others have been injured in a shooting at the Jewish Federation at 2031 Third Ave. in downtown Seattle. One suspect has been taken into custody. Seattle police spokesman Rich Pruitt said police are confident that only one shooter was involved.
From what I've heard to date, that's likely true. The guy sounds like a nutball...
Sources told KING 5 the suspect is a 31-year-old Pakistani man with a criminal background. He is from the Pasco but his citizenship status or how long he has lived in the United States is unknown. Also unknown is what sort of criminal record he has. Officials are on the way to the Pasco to interview his family. FBI spokesman David Gomez said officials believe the suspect acted alone and is not affiliated with a foreign organization.
That's a big claim to make. How about a little investigation first, Dave?
It's another Angry Brown Male story. It's the loneliness that gets to them. They're too far out of their element. Back home, he was with all his friends. He was comfortable. They'd get together down at the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi cell and compare turbans and plot a few murders. Here, he's by himself. Can't even get together a big enough gang to beat up a Jew.
According to the Seattle Times, a man got through security at the Jewish Federation and told staff members, "I'm a Muslim American; I'm angry at Israel," then began shooting, according to Amy Wasser-Simpson, the vice president for planning and community services for the Jewish Federation.
Kinda says it all, doesn't it? "I'm a Muslim American of Pak origin and I've brought my national fixation on religion coupled with mindless violence with me, so I'm going to kill somebody at random."
A Harborview Medical Center spokesperson said five women were brought in, and three of them are in critical condition. They have not yet been identified. Their ages are 23, 27, 29, 19 and 43. The 43-year-old woman was reportedly shot in the abdomen. Two vicitms were in satisfactory condition: a woman, who's 17 weeks pregnant whowas shot in the arm and another victim with a knee injury.
Unlike ABMs, 43-year-old Jewish ladies are unlikely to be armed and dangerous, especially in Seattle. Prob'ly he's poor and oppressed and can't afford plane fare to go to Beirut to join up with Hezbollah and fight actual Zionists. Besides which, they're Shiites, so all his friends back at the Jhangvi cell would make fun of him before they killed him.
A joint terrorism task force joined SWAT teams and a bomb disposal unit at the scene. The suspect's vehicle, a pick-up truck was in a nearby garage in the Bed, Bath and Beyond building, at 1930 Third Ave. Police cordoned off part of the garage before they determined there were no explosives.
More on local opinion, interviews with witnesses, etc. in this story.
From the Seattle PI, snipping the duplicate information:
One witness, who declined to give her name, said a man walked into the Jewish Federation building with a gun, said he was upset about what was going on in Israel, then opened fire. After the shootings, the man said to call 911, the witness said. The witness said the man identified himself as an American Muslim. Police officers throughout the city were being asked to step up patrols of Jewish synagogues and Jewish organizations.
But don't go stopping Punjabi males, mind you. We must be sensitive. CAIR will be rushing to the defense tomorrow, if they're not there already.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle was established 1926. According to its Web site, its mission is to "ensure Jewish survival and to enhance the quality of Jewish life locally, in Israel and worldwide." The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle is a fund raising and fund allocation organization. "It is the Jewish version of the United Way," Rabbi Daniel Weiner said. He said he is at a loss to understand why people in that building would be attacked.
One guess, Dan.
"To delve into the mind of a clearly troubled and disturbed person is impossible," Weiner said. "It is heartbreaking to think of what is transpiring."
Really, Dan, it's not that hard. And we'll be seeing more of it in the future, since we're a welcoming society and we wallow in the delights of Diversity, whether it drops the advocates of violence on our shores or not.
The Jewish Federation building is known for its security with gates and buzzers, puzzling many who go there as to how the gunman entered.
Even as rabbis were trying to find out more about security in preparation for tonight's services, Robert Jacobs, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, was issuing a recommendation to every Jewish institution, synagogue and temple that they get their people out of their buildings "until we find out if it's a lone incident."
Just another lone incident, nothing to see, move along ...
It probably is, but there are probably more lone incidents out there waiting to happen. We've got three of them in today's 'Burg...
"We're trying to keep the community as calm as possible," he added.
That statement means something entirely different in Seattle from what it means in Multan. Somehow I can't picture Jewish mobs roaming the streets, torching cars, and looting shops.
American Jews don't seethe well, it's not in their nature ...
Rabbi Daniel Weiner of Temple De Hirsch Sinai had said he was checking with police to see if security there needed to be bolstered, if indeed, the shootings were related to wider issues. But several rabbis said they were continuing with services anyway. "Even if [the shooting] is based on hate, we're not going to let that have any kind of victory over our community gathering," said Rabbi Jonathan Singer of Seattle's Temple Beth Am.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/29/2006
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#6
I guess the police will move into my synagogue permanently now, instead of just for the major holidays. And the Jewish school office staff will actually look out the window to see the visitors before buzzing them in.
#7
So tell me what is the difference between Seattle authorities' reaction and, say, the Dutch?
Posted by: ed ||
07/29/2006 1:12
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#8
Just another f**kin' Paki. Also, I see the A-rabs had a giant rally for Hizbollah in Detroit. I would suggest everyone look around and note where these Muzzies are. The f**kers are all over. Keep your guns clean and ammo ready.
#9
In case anyone was wondering, the congregation pays the police salaries when they are guarding us. I've no doubt I'll be seeing a bill for our share of the increased costs -- they'd already cut staffing to pay for such costs post-9/11, but that wasn't for every day.
#10
Before the Seattle police check out any mosques, they will have to thoroughly investigate all churches and synagogues in the name PC, the holy creator. I'm sure the Scientologists will get raided before any mosques do.
#18
Muslims are peaceful, therefore this fat Paki cannot be a Muslim. And jihad is a personal struggle against obesity.
Posted by: Abdullah Paduka ||
07/29/2006 5:30
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#19
At this very moment, CAIR is probably perparing their statement of regret that such a think could happen in the name of islam, and to express sorrow for the victims.
#21
The next time you post a comment, Snease Shaiting3550 , just type in your name or preferred nym in the "Your Name" box. It would be helpful for those of us less aware of individual styalistic quirks if you would append "formerly Snease Shaiting3550" to the end for a day or two, to give yourself posting continuity. Oh, and make sure you enable Rantburg's cookies, or your computer won't remember who you choose to become. Welcome aboard!
Authorities said officers were moving to protect both synagogues and mosques around the city but there was no evidence of a broad threat. Police were protecting mosques "because there's always the concern of retaliatory crime," Kerlikowske said.
Setting up muslims as the victims here.
Haq's lawyer, Larry Stephenson, told The Times that he thought Haq was single and unemployed. Stephenson said Haq had a misdemeanor lewd conduct charge pending in Benton County, near Pasco. He had been accused of exposing himself in a public place, he told The Times.
#27
Whatta we got, Muldoon?
Looks like another Muslim victim, sir. He 's says these jewish ladies made his gun go off so they could steal all his bullets.
#28
Just another lone Muslim gunman. Like the guy who shot Kahane (and was connected to the first WTC attack). Or the DC "snipers" (who somehow had access to tons of cash, fake passports, etc).
Funny how many "lone Muslim gunmen" have big support networks.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/29/2006 10:04
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#29
This is the lowlife
Haq's father, Mian A. Haq, was a founding member of the Islamic Centre of Tri-Cities in Richland, said center member Youseff Shehadeh. He described the younger Haq as a loner who attended holidays at the center but was barely involved in recent years.
Naveed Haq's parents moved into a new suburb in Pasco less than three years ago after living in nearby Richland for more than a decade, said Maureen Hales, a neighbor.
Mian Haq was involved in an Islamic center in Richland, but he did not discuss his religion with his neighbors, said Hales.
She said she had not seen Naveed Haq, but found his parents and his younger brother, Hasan, to be "quite enjoyable." The two families exchanged food, and Maureen Hales said she watches the Haqs' house when they're away.
Naveed Haq lived in an apartment building at 2924 Nassau St. in Everett until about two weeks ago, when he abruptly left, said tenant Chris Richey. The landlady told Richey that Haq was heading to Pakistan. Richie often talked with Haq about guns and politics, though little stuck out. Richey said Haq didn't like President Bush.
Posted by: john ||
07/29/2006 10:08
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#30
Posted by: john ||
07/29/2006 10:11
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#31
From the Seattle Times:
A friend of Haq's in Everett, who spoke on condition he not be named, said Friday night that Haq was on medication for bipolar disorder and was frustrated by his inability to find a job or a girlfriend. Haq displayed a streak of anti-Semitism, sometimes making offhand comments about Jews.
Ah, yes. "Bipolar". How did I know that would show up in this?
#32
Seems to be the SOP for describing the "lone gunman" terrorist attack. The Turkish Gov't declared that both shootings of Catholic priests in that country were conducted by "insane" yutes.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/29/2006 12:33
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#38
Richland is where the Hanford Nuclear site is. That's where the plutonium for the Nagasaki bomb was made. Interesting.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/29/2006 14:27
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#39
What two words will you *not* see in any MSM reports on this?
Hate Crime
If the victims were muslim you *know* CAIR and the MSM will be screaming for blood for the 'Hate Crime' from the rooftops. If the victims were gay, or 'of color' the media will be screaming it in bold headlines.
But since the victims are only Jews (and the terrorist is a muslims) you will never see those two words appearing in any media report.
#41
Authorities said officers were moving to protect both synagogues and mosques around the city but there was no evidence of a broad threat. Police were protecting mosques "because there's always the concern of retaliatory crime," Kerlikowske said.
No need to protect mosques (unfortunately). Jews wouldn't do that. They just get ACCUSED of doing that.
#42
I am from Richland and when I used to live there there where very few muslim families and almost all of them where from India or Pakistan. Pasco is near Richland, its one of the tricities, but I dont think you can make much of a connection between this guy and the Hanford site based on what we have seen so far.
#43
Richland is a nice quiet place, very peaceful. You'll see children riding bikes to school unescorted. Reminds me of the 1950's. Pasco is a bit on the TexMex side. Doubt if it had anything to do with Hanford Nuclear Site, but there's a hundred and fifty or so underground vats of bubbling radioative goooo out there that have yet to be solidified and sent to Yuka Mtn. Toss him arss into one of them and be done with him.
(KUNA) -- An Iraqi army lieutenant was killed on Friday as his checkpoint was attacked by unknown gunmen southwest of Kirkuk, while a Kurdish security personnel got kidnapped. Iraqi police source said a checkpoint in the Tal Al-Thahab area was attacked by unknown gunmen using a white sedan, which resulted in the killing of first lieutenant Arshad Nour Ibrahim.
Meanwhile, unknown gunmen using a civilian vehicle have kidnapped a security personnel from the Al-Qadisya area close to Kirkuk power station. Iraqi police source added an improvised bomb exploded in one of the patrolling police vehicles on the main street of Kirkuk, while a similar attack targeted Multi-National Force (MNF) vehicle on the way of Kirkuk.
Posted by: Fred ||
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WASHINGTON, July 28 A federal grand jury has begun investigating the leak of classified information about intelligence programs to the press and has subpoenaed a former National Security Agency employee who claims to have witnessed illegal activity while working at the agency.
This is the on-going Russell Tice story, a sordid tale ...
The former employee, Russell D. Tice, 44, of Linthicum, Md., said two F.B.I. agents approached on Wednesday and handed him the subpoena, which requires him to testify next Wednesday before a grand jury in Alexandria, Va. The subpoena, which Mr. Tice made public on Friday, says the investigation covers possible violation of federal criminal laws involving the unauthorized disclosure of classified information. It specifically mentions the Espionage Act.
For months, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has been looking into disclosures of secret intelligence operations, including The New York Timess reports in December about the N.S.A.s domestic surveillance program and The Washington Posts articles on the Central Intelligence Agencys overseas jails for terror suspects. But the subpoena is the first public confirmation that a grand jury has begun to hear evidence.
Good. Gov't employees who violate their security agreements need to be hauled into court.
The decision to compel testimony before a grand jury is an indication of the seriousness of the inquiry. The Eastern District of Virginia has often been chosen by the Justice Department for national security cases because the federal court there is generally thought to be favorable to the government.
Mr. Tice said in a telephone interview on Friday that he believed that the leak investigation and subpoena were designed to discourage lying scumbags who leak secrets whistle-blowers. I feel this is an intimidation tactic aimed at me and anyone whos considering dropping a dime on criminal activity by the government, he said.
A Justice Department official, who would discuss the confidential criminal investigation only on condition of anonymity, said that the leak inquiry was in a preliminary investigative phase and that no journalist had been subpoenaed. The official said federal agents had interviewed officials at several intelligence agencies about their contacts with reporters at The Times and other news organizations.
Mr. Tice was dismissed last year from his job as a space systems specialist at the N.S.A., the eavesdropping agency based at Fort Meade, Md., where he worked on top-secret satellite intelligence collection programs. In a 20-year career, he also worked at the Defense Intelligence Agency and in Air Force intelligence. By his account, his troubles began after he raised questions inside the agency about various N.S.A. activities. Eventually, Mr. Tice said, agency officials questioned his mental health and stripped him of the security clearance he needed for intelligence work.
He said that his mental health was perfect and that his dismissal was retaliation for his whistle-blowing. He said he was now doing housing construction work.
Mr. Tice said that he had discussed unclassified information about the security agency with reporters for The Times and other publications but that he had always been careful not to reveal classified information.
It's just about game, set and match for Mr. Tice. He admits to talking to Times reporters, he had access to secrets, and he was a trouble-maker. 2 + 2 + 2 = ...
He said he had described what he believed to be illegal security agency activities to Congressional staff members who had the necessary security clearances to receive the information. He declined to describe the activities, but he said he believed that they violated the Constitution and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which governs intelligence eavesdropping inside the United States.
So he talked with Congress and his superiors. I suspect he was told the equivalent of "okay, thanks, we'll take a look, now remember your oath and shaddup", and wasn't happy about it.
Mr. Tice gave the subpoena to the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, which posted it on its Web site. The group was formed last year by Sibel Edmonds, a former F.B.I. translator who lost a court fight challenging her 2002 dismissal after the government invoked the state-secrets privilege, a legal doctrine it is also using to try to block lawsuits involving the security agencys domestic surveillance program.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#5
Even if he didn't give classified info directly to the press he might provide the trail to the congresscritter who did.
I know Rep. 'Bagdad' Jim McDermitt (D-AlQaida) doesn't have a problem passing illegal information to the press. (incliding illegally recorded cellphone conversations - ask Newt). He also is a big-big defender of Islam and Al-Qaida. Would love to this guy brought before a grand Jury.
Suspects in the serial bombings on July 11 of the city's commuter train network have confessed they went to Pakistan for training in arms and explosives, the police in India said today, and at least one has testified that he received instructions from an operative of a banned terrorist organization operating across the border. The statements by senior police officials represent the first glint of evidence of complicity by the Pakistani-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, that Indian officials have blamed repeatedly for terror attacks on Indian soil.
The chief of the Mumbai police antiterrorist squad, K. P. Raghuvanshi, said today that six of the eight suspects confessed to having gone for military training in Pakistan. The police have not described precisely how the 8 men are linked to each other or, more importantly, to the blasts, which killed 183 people during the evening rush hour.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2006
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#4
Not old, John, we just appreciate the barely concealed sexuality.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/29/2006 19:43
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#5
A man's imagination will always be better than what's actually concealed, DB.
Too bad so many young women today don't know that.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/29/2006 19:57
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#6
Spot on, Barbara. I'm in my mid-50's but this "show it all" mentality of today leaves me cold. Give me 50's and 60's cheesecake any day. And "lots of make-up" dont necessarily mean pretty, either.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/29/2006 20:47
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#7
The tatoos do me in, along with the low jeans and "whale tails." We used to call it pri** teasing. A little modesty is a good thing.
On a Red Cross mission of mercy when Israeli air force came calling
By Robert Fisk
07/28/06 "The Independent" -- -- It was supposed to be a routine trip across the Lebanese killing fields for the brave men and women of the International Red Cross. Sylvie Thoral was the "team leader" of our two vehicles, a 38-year-old Frenchwoman with dark brown hair and eyes like steel. The Israelis had been informed and had given what the ICRC likes to call its "green light" to the route. And, of course, we almost died.
Five vast, brown, dead fingers of smoke shot into the sky in front of us, an Israeli air-dropped bomb that exploded on the road scarcely 80 metres away with the kind of "c-crack" that comic books express so accurately, followed by the scream of a jet. If we had driven just 25 seconds faster down that road, we would all be dead. And I thought the IAF were supposed to be accurate!
#3
I call bullshit. 80 m my ass. Assuming 500lb bombs he would have been inside the kill radius, which IIRC is pushing 100 m. Plus if you've ever been close to that kind of ordinance going off, you know there is no comic book "crack." That's what it sounds like from quite a distance away. This guy is really an enemy propagandist, an agent.
#5
I would say that if you survived to write that article, Israel lived up to their end of the bargain. Israel didn't promise they wouldn't see any fireworks, they simply promised that they wouldn't BE the fireworks. Where's the beef?
#11
"I saw only three men whom I suspect were Hizbollah...They can cross the rivers of Lebanon at will - just as we did - by circling the bomb craters and crossing the rivers. So what was the point in blowing up 46 of Lebanon's road bridges?"
#12
Air photos I saw somewhere showed virtually all the Lebanese bridges that were blown up were hit by precision bombing that dropped one span and did little damage to the supports; at cessation of hostilities a good engineering crew should be able to repair them very quickly.
#13
Thanks, Fiskie. Checks in the mail. It'll be in rials, but you'll get a good deal on the exchange.
Want me to send some of the boys down to beat the shit out of you? I know your into that.
Drop by the embassy to say hello when your in Beirut. Just tell 'em the 12th Imam sent you...
The US administration has quietly reversed its goal from whittling down troop numbers in Iraq before the mid-term congressional elections in November. A Pentagon spokesman on Friday confirmed that US troop levels in Iraq rose to 132,000 during the past week the highest since late May from 127,000 at the start of the week. The spokesman said troop numbers often fluctuated and there might be temporary spikes during periods of troop rotation.
However, analysts said an increase in troop numbers was more likely than a reduction because the number of sectarian killings in Iraq had almost doubled since the start of the year. The rise will prompt fears that the US is becoming increasingly bogged down in an unwinnable conflict.
On Thursday, the Pentagon said it would extend for up to 120 days the 3,700-strong deployment of the 172nd Stryker brigade in Iraq, among other rotations. There were 3,169 Iraqis killed in June, compared with 1,778 in January.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
I think Iraq is about to explode. Sadr Mehdi/Badgr groups are Iranian proxies and Iran is looking to turn up the heat. They may think a major push could break our back here on the home moral.
And this post is about strange new Mehdi banners around town pimping the 12Mehdi and such.
Thos two observations to me mixed with the odd behavior of Israel being so reserved with their ground forces makes me wonder that something big is getting ready to pop.
#2
Crap Watch. US objectives in Iraq do not involve resolving sectarian conflicts. That is an internal policing matter. The problem of the formation of irregular groups of terrorists - like the Mahdi Army - is within US scope of operations. That is why a temporary buildup is probably being put in effect. Al-Sadr has to go. Crunch time is coming.
Even though Nasrallah has become "famous" for starting this new Hezbollah-Israel war and declaring Israel as Hezbollah's mortal enemy, one should not forget that the "big Satan" remains the United States. And that's why Iraq is where Nasrallah's influence can also be felt.
Nasrallah's biography explains how he got close to prominent clerics in Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, in particular the Sadr family. In 1975, when he was only 15, Nasrallah joined the ranks of the Lebanese Shi'ite movement Amal - which Hezbollah broke from after its creation in 1982 - led by Musa al-Sadr.
From 1976 to 1978 he was sent to study in Najaf, Iraq, at the famed Shi'ite seminary the Hawze. There he met most of his mentors, starting with Iranian ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini (leader of the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1979) and also his tutor, ayatollah Mohammed Sadiq al-Sadr (Muqtada al-Sadr's father). He also was in close contact with Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani (the leading Shi'ite spiritual force in Iraq today).
And finally, he was groomed by future Hezbollah leader Abbas al-Musawi, whom he succeeded after Musawi was killed by the Israelis in 1992. Those two years in Najaf definitely left a huge imprint on Nasrallah's psyche.
And that's why, when it was time to help his Shi'ite brothers in Iraq after the US intervention in 2003, and especially Muqtada, Nasrallah responded. Nasrallah, using the 1982 model of what had worked in Lebanon to kick out the multinational force, adapted some of his tactics in Iraq.
Indeed, Iraq in 2006 looks a lot like the Lebanon of 1983. For example, the Iranian man in charge of this whole operation is Hassan Qommi, who had the exact same job ... in Beirut in 1982. Qommi helped Hezbollah instructors get to Iraq to train Muqtada's Mehdi Army, which has staged several high-profile confrontations with US forces, notably at Fallujah.
Starting in 2003, Hezbollah began building up organizational and military apparatuses in Iraq. For instance, that April, Hezbollah opened two offices in the Iraqi cities of Basra and Safwan. The campaign, targeting moderate Iraqi Shi'ite clerics willing to work with the US, was most likely orchestrated by Muqtada and Hezbollah.
Keep in mind that even though Nasrallah greatly respects Sistani, he is totally at odds with him when it comes to fighting the US presence.
Also in 2003-04, Imad Mughniah, the top Hezbollah operative wanted by most Western secret services for his role in most of the attacks perpetrated by Hezbollah, including the bombings of the US Embassy and the US and French barracks in Beirut in 1983, was sighted in Iraq. Syria had most probably facilitated his entry on to Iraqi soil.
#4
Agreed, secretarion violence is out of bounds. But popping Tater & Tots, Inc. fits the Iran profile. Good hunting.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/29/2006 0:33
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The US administration has quietly reversed its goal from whittling down troop numbers in Iraq before the mid-term congressional elections in November.
Quietly my a$$. Bush even said something about it on TV. If it was "quiet" it was because the MSM for once didn't say much about it. Somebody obviously forgot to tell this guy.
#8
Now that I read this again, is all this suggesting to some that an operation is being staged, and that apparently unnecessary increases in US and Israeli troops the supporting evidence?
If so, wouldn't that take a couple/three carriers?
Does this tie in somehow with the Sunnis suddenly being the US's best friends over there?
#9
Shery, Good info but I don't think the Mehdi "army" was a main player in Fallujah. That is Sunni territory. I believe you were thinking of Najaf where US forces had an extended run with him and should have finished the job. The similarity to Fallujah is that we are having to do the same job twice because we did not have the strength of will to get it done the first time.
#11
remoteman - I know you're right about Tater and his Tots - that was Najaf, not Fallujah.
Didn't I read here that Sistani actually saved Tater there? IIRC, he and his Tots were holed up in the mosque and the only thing that stopped them being finished off was Sistani's return from London, the asshole. After the MNF forces withdrew, people discovered he and his shits had been torturing and killing people, doing dope on a major scale, had stolen all the valuables they could find, and had trashed much of the mosque. Isn't this correct?
#12
Remoteman and others -- thanks for thinking I'm that smart and clever, but I didn't write any of that. I did know, tho, that it was Najaf, not Fallujah.
This is part of a article I posted on Friday by Olivier Guitta from http://counterterrorismblog.org/
There's more of his article at Asia Times http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HG29Ak02.html.
or at Rantburg at http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=161173&D=2006-07-28&HC=4
The chief prosecutor for war crimes in former Yugoslavia yesterday voiced admiration for and fascination with her most formidable opponent, Slobodan Milosevic.
Carla Del Ponte, whose mission is to bring the worst criminals from the Yugoslav wars to justice and who spent more than four years trying Milosevic, paid tribute to the late Serbian leader, declaring him superior to the dozens of other suspects who have been in the dock at the tribunal in The Hague.
It only seems like ten years.
"The way he questioned certain witnesses was fascinating," she told Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. "He really knew how to deal with people. I admired that. He was the only accused who mounted his own defence alone ... Milosevic always spoke out. He had been the president of Yugoslavia. He was head and shoulders above the rest."
I'm told Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin were charismatic guys too, Carla ...
Milosevic died in custody in his cell outside The Hague earlier this year, almost five years after being flown there following his overthrow in Belgrade. The death was a major blow to the tribunal, as it deprived the former Yugoslavia of a verdict in the biggest and longest trial before the court.
And deprived them of a reason to exist, to collect pay checks, a pension, good health benefits, and their names in the papers on a regular basis.
In contrast to her admiration for Milosevic, Ms Del Ponte rounded on his successor, Vojislav Kostunica, whom she accused of having protected another key genocide suspect, General Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb commander still on the run more than 10 years after being indicted for genocide in Bosnia. "Kostunica knows exactly where Mladic was until February this year. Kostunica knows that he even protected Mladic until 2002 ... until recently he didn't want to have him arrested. He was sure that [Mladic] could be persuaded to give himself up."
And you never seemed to get around to doing anything about it, did you?
At Ms Del Ponte's recommendation, the EU has frozen integration talks with Serbia because of its failure to capture Mladic. "We're concentrating now on Mladic because we know where he is," she said. "And we know that Belgrade can deliver him to us."
Freeze integration talks. Yeah boy, that'll do it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
The Serbs were trying to get rid of Muzzies weren't they ? Why did big Mr. BJ step in and save their sand ? All big PR for that worthless Clinton. Another appeaser like Kerry, Dodd, ad infinitum.
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
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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.
Israeli troops killed two Islamic Jihad militants on Saturday, including the man the group described as the leader of its militant wing in the West Bank city of Nablus. The group initially said in an announcement over mosque loudspeakers that the slain militant, Hani Awijan, 29, was the leader of its military wing in the West Bank. However, other members of the group later said Awijan headed gunmen in Nablus only.
According to the incident report obtained by TMZ.com, the Road Warrior embarked on a belligerent, anti-Semitic outburst when he realized he had been busted.
By JAMES GORDON MEEK, New York Daily News
Los Angeles -- A federal judge on Friday denied a government appeal to keep incarcerated a top fundraiser for an Islamic charity the government says has ties to terrorism. The motion came a day after U.S. District Judge Terry Hatter ordered the release without bond of Abdel-Jabbar Hamdan, 45, who is being held at the Terminal Island federal detention facility.
A former Georgia Tech student allegedly involved in planning attacks against U.S. targets, including Marietta's Dobbins Air Reserve Base, pleaded not guilty Thursday to additional federal terrorism charges. Pakistan-born 
President Jacques Chirac said Friday that France will press for the rapid adoption of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire in Lebanon, his office said. The statement from Chirac's office cited the "deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Lebanon."
IDF forces killed 26 Hizbullah operatives on Friday during an intense firefight in the southern Lebanon village of Bint Jbail. Soldiers operating in the village found and confiscated dozens of guns and rifles, stocks of ammunition, grenades, mines, and five anti-tank missiles. 
US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Friday refused to call for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, saying a more comprehensive solution was needed. "This is a moment of intense conflict in the Middle East. Yet our aim is to turn it into a moment of opportunity and a chance for a broader change in the region," said Bush at a joint press conference after talks at the White House. 
Thailand joined Japan in urging sincere cooperation on the issue of missing persons in North Korea, only to be met with silence from the Pyongyang representative at the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) meeting yesterday. Caretaker Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkhon called on Pyongyang to cooperate with other countries in addressing the disappearance of foreign nationals including those from Thailand and Japan. Anocha Panjoy from Chiang Mai was believed to be abducted by North Korea's spies in Macau 30 years ago. Mr Kantathi joined Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso during the ARF meeting in appealing for humanitarian assistance from North Korea to solve the problem. 
The Taliban have taken over military check posts in North Waziristan, BBC Radio reporter Dilawar Khan Wazir said in his 'Miranshah Diary' on Friday. Wazir said that more than a dozen check posts monitoring the highway between Kajhori and Miranshah earlier had been abandoned and that he had seen the Taliban patrolling the highway between Mir Ali and Miranshah in twin cabin pick-ups. "They were carrying automatic rifles and in some cases, rocket launchers. Militants now stand guard at the check points previously controlled by army soldiers," he said. 
(KUNA) -- Five Iraqi civilians including three brothers were killed in Hilla Friday, as declared by Iraqi security sources. An army statement told Kuna that three brothers were killed by unidentified gunmen when they were about to board their car, early morning, in the heart of Baquba.
Narathiwat: Police have arrested two suspected bombers, thought to belong to the Runda Kampulan Kecil (RKK) insurgent group, who allegedly targeted an entourage of an organisation promoting peace in the deep South on Thursday. They were arrested yesterday in a pre-dawn raid on Hulupareh village in Rangae district by an 80-strong combined force. Police detained Udeeman Samoh, 21, and Sapee-aree Jehkor, 21, who are believed to have set off a 5kg bomb near Klong Tanyong bridge on Rangae-Cho Airong road on Thursday. The attack was reportedly aimed at members of the Independent Commission on Justice and Civil Liberties for the Southern Border Provinces who travelled past the bridge minutes before the blast. Nobody was injured. The team was headed by commission chairman Ukrit Mongkolnavin. Police said they seized one 11mm pistol and ammunition from the two suspects. Investigators said Mr Udeeman is a very skilful bomb-maker and belongs to the RKK. Mr Sapee-aree is considered one of the group's top members. 
(AIP): Local officials of Helmand province claimed to have captured 13 fighters in on Friday. District in-charge of Garmser district of Helmand province, Ghulam Rasool while giving details to Afghan Islamic Press said, Police ambushed Taliban in Garmser district todays morning (July 28) and captured 13 fighters. He said the Taliban fighters were riding two vehicles. Garmser district as known as Hazara Juft is 80 kilometers to sought of Lashkargah, capital of Helmand province. A few days back Taliban captured the same district for some time.
HYDERABAD: Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly Maulana Fazalur Rehman said on Friday that the government's efforts to amend or repeal the Hudood Ordinance (HO) was a conspiracy to divide the opposition and warned that the government would face the wrath of the people if it attempted to change the Hudood Ordinances. "The Hudood Ordinance contains laws provided by the Quran that are now a part of Pakistan's law. I warn the rulers that if they try to amend these laws, the Muslims of this country will not let them continue their rule," Fazl said. 
Despite approving the call-up of three reserve divisions, the security cabinet decided on Thursday against significantly widening the IDF's operations in southern Lebanon, rejecting a recommendation by Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. 
A bomb planted between a Sunni mosque and a youth center exploded during Friday prayers, killing four people and wounding another nine, police said. The blast hit just as worshippers began leaving the al-Ali al-Aadhim mosque in southeastern Baghdad, said police Capt. Ali Mahdi. The attack came during a four-hour driving ban police hoped would hold down sectarian attacks that have threatened to divide the capital city in recent weeks.
Thai and Malaysian police have launched a joint rescue effort to help three Thai fishermen being held for ransom by pirates who recently abducted them in the Straits of Malacca. The three were identified as Rorhim Ali, 43, Boonlert Prommul, 50, and Wanmudtalem Madlem, 37. They were reported to be captains of Malaysian-owned fishing boats.
At least 19 people, including a woman and a child, were wounded and two were reported to be in critical condition as a home-made bomb exploded in Quetta on Friday afternoon. "Explosive devices planted in a motorcycle and a cycle parked in front of the Allied Bank in Chaman Patak on Jail Road, went off at around 4pm," Balochistan Inspector General (IG) of Police Chaudhry Yaqoob told Daily Times.
Many Arab leaders responded with quick condemnation when Hezbollah militants kidnapped two Israeli soldiers this month. Some of the harshest words were from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Sunni Muslim-led U.S. allies that both said the Shiite militants' "adventures" risked destabilizing the Middle East. But as the fighting stretches into its third week and the civilian casualties climb from Israel's Lebanese offensive, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries are shifting the focus of their criticism from Hezbollah to Israel. 
JERUSALEM - Dozens of rockets fired by Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon hit towns across northern Israel on Friday, wounding at least six people, police said. A local ambulance station was hit by one rocket that landed in the town of Safed causing no injuries, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will return to the Middle East this weekend to work with others on trying to bring an end to the Israeli-Hezbollah fighting. President Bush, holding a news conference in Washington Friday with visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair, announced Rice's return to the region she visited just a week ago amid escalating violence. Earlier, Rice's spokesman, Adam Ereli, took strong issue with an assertion by Israel's Justice Minister Haim Ramon, who said the failure of world leaders to call for an immediate cease-fire at a summit in Rome gave Israel a green light to carry on with its campaign to crush Hezbollah. Any such statement is outrageous, Ereli said. The United States is sparing no effort to bring a durable and lasting end to this conflict. 
The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council neared a deal Friday on a resolution that would give Iran until the end of August to suspend uranium enrichment or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions. Diplomats said the resolution would probably be introduced to the full 15-member council later Friday and adopted next week. Because of Russian and Chinese demands, the text is weaker than earlier drafts, which would have made the threat of sanctions immediate. The draft now essentially requires the council to hold further discussions before it considers sanctions. There (are) no sanctions introduced on Iran in the draft resolution which we are finalizing, Russia's U.N. Ambassador 
(RIA Novosti) - More than 30 gunmen have surrendered to federal law-enforcement officers in Chechnya in an amnesty, the National Anti-Terrorism Committee said Friday. "Thirty-three gunmen have given themselves up after the chairman of the National Anti-Terrorism Committee and head of the Federal Security Service, Nikolai Patrushev, declared an amnesty July 15 for those gunmen who surrender," the committee said. The committee said 27 gunmen had laid down arms in Chechnya, three in Daghestan and another three in Ingushetia, all North Caucasus republics in Russia.
India has been warned by its intelligence agencies that militant group Lashkar-e-Taiaba (LeT) could target its nuclear installations, National Security Adviser MK Narayanan said on Friday. Narayanan described it as a "very serious threat".
SAN DIEGO — A Mexican man who lied about his citizenship to become a U.S. Border Patrol agent and admitted helping illegal aliens to enter the country was sentenced Friday to five years in federal prison. Oscar Antonio Ortiz, 29, had pleaded guilty to conspiring to bring in more than 100 illegal immigrants, falsely claiming to be a U.S. citizen, lying in order to get a gun, and owning a gun despite having entered the country illegally. "I grew up thinking I was a U.S. citizen," Ortiz told the judge. "I was living the dream, and suddenly I woke up in my prison and now I realize who I am." 
Iran on Friday denied US allegations that it is supporting Hizbullah's war against Israel, and Iranians who wanted to fight for the Lebanese group complained their government was stopping them from leaving the country. 
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Three U.S. Marines assigned to the Army's 1st Brigade, 1st Armored Division have been killed in action in Anbar province, the U.S. military said Saturday. The Marines died Thursday, according to a U.S. statement. No further details were released.
HELSINKI: Finland said on Friday that it would recall its ceasefire monitors from Sri Lanka, sparking fears of increased violence between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels. The Finnish foreign ministry announced it would withdraw its 10 observers on security grounds before a September 1 deadline set by the rebels for all European Union ceasefire monitors to leave. "Based on the fact that the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) are not going to guarantee the monitors' safety after September 1, we will recall our observers by then," mission desk officer Marita Maunola told AFP.
The government has issued deportation notices to five foreigners, including two Malaysians, an Indonesian and a Sri Lankan studying at the Jamia Benoria Madrassa, whose visas have expired, sources said. An administrator at the madrassa, Qari Muhammad Iqbal, has expressed "surprise" at the notices. He said that last year President General Pervez Musharraf had pledged that the government would issue visas to all those students who had no objection certificates (NOCs) from their countries' governments.
(KUNA) -- An Iraqi army lieutenant was killed on Friday as his checkpoint was attacked by unknown gunmen southwest of Kirkuk, while a Kurdish security personnel got kidnapped. Iraqi police source said a checkpoint in the Tal Al-Thahab area was attacked by unknown gunmen using a white sedan, which resulted in the killing of first lieutenant Arshad Nour Ibrahim.
Suspects in the serial bombings on July 11 of the city's commuter train network have confessed they went to Pakistan for training in arms and explosives, the police in India said today, and at least one has testified that he received instructions from an operative of a banned terrorist organization operating across the border. The statements by senior police officials represent the first glint of evidence of complicity by the Pakistani-based militant group, Lashkar-e-Taiba, that Indian officials have blamed repeatedly for terror attacks on Indian soil. 
The US administration has quietly reversed its goal from whittling down troop numbers in Iraq before the mid-term congressional elections in November. A Pentagon spokesman on Friday confirmed that US troop levels in Iraq rose to 132,000 during the past week the highest since late May from 127,000 at the start of the week. The spokesman said troop numbers often fluctuated and there might be temporary spikes during periods of troop rotation.
