The state Supreme Court today upheld the death sentence of "Night Stalker" Richard Ramirez, who is on death row for 13 murders he committed during a crime spree that terrorized the Southland in the 1980s.
In a 104-page ruling, the state's highest court unanimously rejected Ramirez's claim that numerous errors were made in his trial in Los Angeles Superior Court.
Ramirez, who is now 46 and on death row at San Quentin State Prison, was sentenced to die for the crimes after a high-profile trial.
Along with the murders, he was convicted of 30 other counts -- including attempted murder, rape and first-degree burglary -- for the nighttime killings between June 1984 and August 1985 that made the self-proclaimed devil worshipper one of California's most notorious criminals.
Ramirez's appellate attorney, Geraldine S. Russell, told the California Supreme Court at a hearing in June that Ramirez did not receive a fair trial.
Among the defense's contentions were that two of Ramirez's trial attorneys, Daniel Hernandez and Arturo Hernandez, were not qualified for such a massive case, that Ramirez's mental competence should have been probed, and that the trial court erred in rejecting his motion for a change of venue in his trial.
Associate Justice Carlos R. Moreno, writing on behalf of the panel, rejected all of those claims.
Ramirez committed murders in Glassell Park, Rosemead, Whittier, Monterey Park, Monrovia, Arcadia, Glendale, Sun Valley and Diamond Bar. His crime spree also extended to San Francisco and Orange County, where an engineer was shot but survived an attack in which his fiancee was raped.
In one slaying, the former drifter from El Paso gouged out a woman's eyes. Just over a year after being caught by a group of angry East Los Angeles residents, he called a guard over to his jail cell and showed photographs of two of the murder victims.
At his sentencing hearing, Ramirez rocked back and forth and turned to grin at the audience, vowing that he would be "avenged."
"You maggots made me sick, hypocrites one and all. We are all expendable for a cause, and no one knows that better than those who kill for policy, clandestinely or openly, as do the governments of the world which kill in the name of God and country and for whatever else they deem appropriate," Ramirez said then.
"You don't understand me," he said just before being sentenced to death. "You are not expected to. You are not capable of it. I am beyond your experience. I am beyond good and evil." Hillary thinks the same thing.
US researchers have taken a mouse back in time some 500 million years by reversing the process of evolution.
By engineering its genetic blueprint, they have rebuilt a gene that was present in primitive animals.
The ancient gene later mutated and split, giving rise to a pair of genes that play a key role in brain development in modern mammals.
The scientists say the experiments shed light on how evolution works and could lead to new gene therapy techniques.
"We are first to reconstruct an ancient gene," said co-researcher Petr Tvrdik of the University of Utah. "We have proven that from two specialised modern genes, we can reconstruct the ancient gene they split off from.
"It illuminates the mechanisms and processes that evolution uses, and tells us more about how Mother Nature engineers life."
The study, published in the academic journal Developmental Cell, involved a suite of genes involved in embryonic development.
Until about 500 million years ago, early animals had 13 such Hox genes. Then each gene split into four, making 52 genes.
Over the course of evolution, further mutations occurred, and some genes became redundant and disappeared, leading to today's tally in mammals of 39 Hox genes.
The Utah team looked at two of these genes; Hoxa1, which controls embryonic brain development, and Hoxb1, which plays a key role in the development of nerve cells that control facial expressions in animals.
The Utah pair combined critical sections of each gene, reconstructing a gene similar to its equivalent some 530 million years ago.
The hybrid gene is not completely identical to the ancient one, but the scientists say it performs essentially the same functions.
"What we have done is essentially go back in time to when Hox1 did what Hoxa1 and Hoxb1 do today," said Mario Capecchi, professor of human genetics at the University of Utah School of Medicine.
"It gives a real example of how evolution works because we can reverse it." Reminds of when Bugs Bunny was hit with the de-evolutionizer by Marvin the Martian.
#1
Ummmm...I hate to break it to these guys, but mice (and most other mammals) aren't even close to 500 million years old as species.
It was the end of the dinosaurs some 65 million years ago that gave rise to the mammals - theretofore forced to remain small and relatively unassuming (and limited in territory and actual numbers of species) - and allowed the mammal species to differentiate and expand to what we see today.
It's possible that mice might be 65-100 million years old as species, but it's unlikely they've remained what they originally were way back when.
I understand what the article is trying to say, but they're saying it horribly and producing as fact what is merely fancy.
#2
Essentialy, as Mario says, the BBC forgot to give al Rooters the photo credit, essentialy on the mouse. (FOTSGreg nails the time line error.) Grant money available?
#3
Well, there is a major difference between evolution of a species on the macro level and evolution of a protien and the gene(s) which encode it.
Basically, this is very true at a genetic / protien level.
This is something that confuses many people, the difference between molecular evolution and evolution. The article is essentially correct in what it is saying.
Many genes can stay un-evolved for millions of years while others can change at amazing rates.
Again, the difference between protien evolution and evolution of a species.
The IDF has released film from an interrogation of a Hizbullah member who took part in the kidnapping of two soldiers on the northern border.
"My role was to stop the tank backup that was supposed to arrive to chase after the kidnappers," Hussin Ali Suleiman, 22, commander of the ant-tank unit of Hizbullah told the camera.
Suleiman was captured by IDF forces, and his interrogators released footage of the questioning on Monday.
In the interrogation, Suleiman volunteered information which shed light on a range of topics linked to Hizbullah and Syria and Iran's
link to activities in the area. He described his role in the kidnapping, but did not provide new information on the fate of the kidnapped soldiers.
During the interrogation Suleiman said he was not involved in the full kidnapping plot and did not know all of its details, but was aware of the general intentions. His role was to shoot anti-tank missiles on IDF tanks mobilized into the area following the kidnapping.
He said in followed his instructions and fired a Fagot-type anti-tank missile.
A senior IDF source added that in total "a few dozen" Hizbullah members took part in the abduction, from Hizbullah's area 2, and from the Nasser unit operating south of the Litani River.
I hesitate to post this -- being as it Reuter's, but what does peachful succession really mean? Could it be, "He's dead Jim."
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba has set in motion a peaceful political succession, dashing U.S. government expectations of chaos following
Fidel Castro's hand-over of power to his brother, a leading Cuban intellectual and government member, Roberto Fernandez Retamar, said on Monday. "They (the U.S. government) had not expected that a peaceful succession was possible. A peaceful succession has taken place in Cuba," Fernandez Retamar said at a news conference. The writer and member of the Council of State was the first government official to say a succession under Raul Castro was in motion after Fidel Castro relinquished power a week ago following gastric surgery.
#3
I think the olde boy is hanging in there. But the day is not far off when we're going to have one hell of a funeral. I foresee split screen coverage Miami/Habanna. Huge I tells 'ya!
And it being Cuba I'll bet he's put in the floor of the cathedral.
#5
dashing U.S. government expectations of chaos following
Fidel Castro's hand-over of power to his brother Where did the "reporter" geet that tid-bit? Projecting his wishes? I don't recall any US official making a statement wishing for chaos, on the contrary, all I heard was we hope he's dead but chaos would not be anyone's best interest.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/07/2006 19:00
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#6
It's just poorly written. Parse out that first sentence, and you'll see they are reporting what the Cuban "intellectual" said.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/07/2006 20:27
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#8
DB, You were actually correct. The reporter is projecting, by using the term 'leading Cuban intellectual'. The quoted comment is also projection, just not of the reporter.
The fact that this government type brought it up probably means the Cuban government is very worried. Succession post Soviet-style has not been a successful process. North Korea and Belyorussia excepted.
'Leading Cuban intellectual' is an oxymoron.
Posted by: john ||
08/07/2006 20:54
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A controversial American general has said most of the alleged terrorist prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba should be released to take up arms again because "it may be cheaper to kill them in combat than to sit on them for the next 15 years".
General Barry McCaffrey, now retired, is adjunct professor of international affairs at West Point, the US officer training academy. His comments are contained in a memo obtained by The Herald. It was written in late June this year, after he visited the Guantanamo detention centre on an inspection tour.
More than 450 al Qaeda and Taliban fighters are being held under military guard at the detention facility. Some have been captives since 2001.
General McCaffrey argues in his six-page memo that the "great value" of Guantanamo had been that its status under military law meant "no applicable foreign law, no foreign diplomatic intervention, no US Federal court civil orders, and no nosy intervention by a US ambassador" was possible until recently.
What he describes as "the perfect deal" in which no Federal court had primary jurisdiction was now being eroded and the military tied up "in a legal strait-jacket", ending decades of secret operations using Guantanamo. "Will we soon be required to read Miranda Rights - the standard rights to remain silent, have an attorney present, etc applicable to US citizens - to al Qaeda terrorists?" he asks.
In the absence of persuading an international body to accept legal jurisdiction for the site, General McCaffrey continues: "We need to weed out as many detainees as soon as possible and return them to their host nations with an evidence package as complete as we can produce. We can probably dump two-thirds of the detainees in the next 24 months.
"Many we will encounter again with an AK47 on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. It may be cheaper and cleaner to kill them in combat than sit on them for the next 15 years."
Time to go elk hunting.
The general, who commanded the US 24th Mechanised Division in the 1991 Gulf War, later faced allegations of misconduct for placing his troops in the path of retreating Iraqi forces after the ceasefire. It triggered a one-sided battle in which hundreds of fleeing enemy troops died when they clashed with US tank units blocking their withdrawal. He claimed the Iraqis had fired first and his men replied in self-defence.
How in the world is it misconduct to encircle your enemy?
#4
It is a major no-no to shoot retreating troops after they have "retired from the battle area". The assumption is that they are not "under discipline", and as such are not an imminent threat.
The one defense is indeed that they shot first.
The rule is a very old one, and assumes that soldiers generally are not combat effective unless directed by an officer. Even an "ordered withdrawl" assumes that the unit *may* be in effect "surrendering" by leaving the field.
Things such as "regrouping" are not considerations, nor is their ability to continue to fight at a later date.
Other variants that permit attack include "fighting retreats", the commission of major war crimes during retreats, looting during retreats, or the attempt to take hostages such as POWs with them.
This is stuff they really pound into them at Command & Staff school.
#6
I gather from the slant that The Herald thinks the general is a bit of a renegade nutcase. We'll take more of 'em, please. Oh, and in this country even generals are entitled to their opinions.
#8
It is a major no-no to shoot retreating troops after they have "retired from the battle area".
I don't know where you got that nugget, but it simply is not true. Pursuing an enemy in retreat is what every general dreams about. It offers the moment of shattering your opponent's force fatally without the corresponding damage to one's own troops. Nathan Bedford Forrest referred to it as "putting on the skeer and keeping it on."
#9
The Herald thinks the general is a bit of a renegade nutcase
He was always a bit of a renegade, but no ones nutcase!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/07/2006 15:50
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Dreadnought: the devil is in the details, which is why the wording is so explicit.
Pursuing an enemy in retreat is still "in the field of battle", the particular battle is still ongoing. The assumption is that they are still under orders and still fighting in retreat.
However the situation changes if as the General was accused of doing, he is putting his forces in the path of retreating forces after a ceasefire. The battle is over and the enemy is leaving during a ceasefire.
What is the enemy supposed to do at that point, halt and surrender? They are leaving the field of battle during what amounts to a flag of truce. How is he supposed to "block" their retreat other than by firing on them?
At that point, the General is undermining those who have made the truce.
He might not like it, but such conventions are the stuff of the rules of war as written in the Geneva Conventions.
#11
One interesting thing is the ambivalent attitude toward General McCaffrey displayed by the MSM and the Democrats (Ed.: Redundancy alert). When he says something like the quote in this article, he's either "controversial" or a war criminal. But when he says something negative about President Bush, Rummy, or the war in Iraq, he gets lionized by CNN and quoted on Joe Biden's website (from January 2005):
BLITZER: On the whole nature of the U.S. military deployment in Iraq, Senator Biden, listen to what General Barry McCaffrey, retired U.S. Army four-star general, told Time magazine. In the new issue of Time magazine, he says this. He says, "The Army's wheels are going to come off in the next 24 months. We are now in a period of considerable strategic peril. It's because Rumsfeld has dug in his heels and said, I cannot retreat from my position."
Do you agree with General Barry McCaffrey that the U.S. military is in peril right now because it's so overstretched?
BIDEN: It is overstretched. I agree with his assessment. I agree with his assessment of Secretary Rumsfeld.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/07/2006 16:48
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#12
It is a major no-no to shoot retreating troops after they have "retired from the battle area". The assumption is that they are not "under discipline", and as such are not an imminent threat.
I wonder what staff officer would have said that to Ike was the allies were chewing up the Germans at Falaise Gap. Monty failed to close the gap. Many a British soldier would pay for it at Arnham when the reequiped and remanned German units repaid the opportunity.
#13
Wrong! Suicide bombing produces a relatively high kill ratio, and its use forces the need to tie up more resources in roadblock operations. It would be better to keep the terrorists in jail. However, making participation in terror a capital offense is the best idea. Try 'em and fry 'em! Any Arab who was found in Afghanistan in 2001, was there for only one thing: terror.
#14
Perhaps a reminder of the President's "National Cathedral" speech, should be made here.
On Sept. 14, 2001, just three days after the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, President Bush, speaking from Washington's National Cathedral stated, "This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. The conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour, of our choosing."
Iraq stabilizing operations are being overwhelmed by sectarian violence (although the oil transfer facilities are somewhat secure). Iran boasts of a swath of supporters all the way to the Mediterranean. We are learning that future missile emplacements could neutralize any Israeli response. Taliban are attacking from bases in our Pakistan ally. Democraticization efforts are resulting in support for jihadi terrorist groups. All the above looks bad, until you think of fact that we can deal with all the above through escalation. And, in these days we don't have to face the countervailing effects of Soviet Russia.
What is the "way"...when is the "time"...and what is "our choosing (choice)? Critics say the enemy hasn't been defined. Maybe now we can identify them, and start the slaughter. I'm in. If something huge wasn't about to blow, then why would Israel assign only piecemeal rendering tasks onto the IDF? Israel is losing less than 2 troops per day, in spite of al-Reuters' daily vomit about non-existent heavy pitched battles followed by nominal IDF retreats. Bigger fish will be fried.
#15
Ah disagree, Anonymoose. it is a warcrime to kill surrendering troops, but not those retreating in disarray. If they don't throw down their arms and put their hands up, they are, and always have been a legitimate target for death.
That last sentence was solely commentary by the MSM about the EVIIIL US Army.
#16
The thing I find interesting in "It may be cheaper and cleaner to kill them in combat" is that the alternative of capturing them is not entertained. Anybody keeping track of the Killed/Captured ratio since Hamdan? I think the correct field fiz is being implemented without unnecessary documentation.
Don't know what ROE you are looking at, but it sure ain't one I've ever seen. From a naval standpoint (my branch), a ship that has turn tail and run is a target until the moment it surrenders or sinks. The Geneva Conventions are clear about shipwrecked sailors, parachuting aviators (not paratroopers), and soldiers surrendering; they are out of combat. An army in retreat is not.
Also, you added the word "ceasefire" into the discussion, which was not there before. Historically, if your army is in full retreat, no one is granting you a ceasefire.
#3
I have actually listened to Alan Colmes on the radio and you would be surprised how liberal he aint. Yes he gets paid to play the part but he does have a solid rational side. He doesnt give LLL Mo0b@+5 a free pass on TV or on radio. I had hoped that FNC would team up Dennis Miller with Ann Coulter, but maybe Dennis will join Michelle Malkin on her new show?
If you think those "Click It or Ticket" seat belt enforcement drives are all about your safety, give it another think. State and local law enforcement agencies have a huge financial incentive to dole out as many tickets as they possibly can -- in order to qualify for the federal grant boodle dangled before their noses like a savory pork chop in front of a hungry blue tick hound.
The more tickets they write, the more money they get -- and each year, the prize gets fatter. Successful departments (those that crank out the most tickets) qualify for ever-larger handouts of taxpayer dollars -- in order more thoroughly to fleece those very same taxpayers via trumped-up traffic charges that have grow ever more penny-ante as the years roll on. Literally millions of dollars are being spent -- at a time of mammoth federal deficits, the huge fiscal strain of a war on terror and burdensome federal taxes -- to use law enforcement as 9 millimeter-packing nannies ensuring we're "buckled-up for safety."
California alone went through $2.6 million this year to fund its May 15-June 4 "Click It or Ticket" dragnet. This in a state with a huge crime problem (real crime; you know, murders, rapes, assaults and that kind of stuff) and a teeter-tottering fiscal situation that, you'd think, would call for austerity and reordering of priorities to the essentials. Do "seat belt checkpoints" qualify? What about it, Ahhnoold?
The same situation obtains in other states as well. The federal Department of Transportation aggressively markets its nation-wide "Click It or Ticket" grant program to every state in the land -- including gaudy (and sort-of Plah Doh-style softly fascistic) TV commercials in which infantilized motorists are given an in loco parentis browbeating by Johnny Law before being issued the obligatory piece of payin' paper.
The late conservative intellectual Sam Francis came up with an excellent term for all of this stuff -- "anarcho-tyranny." In brief, he meant a situation in which the truly lawless (violent criminals, big-time crooks) are increasingly treated with kid gloves while at the same time, ordinary schlubs who never commit serious personal or property crimes are increasingly hassled over Pecksniffy technical fouls and "lifestyle violations" such as failing to wear their seat belts.
Invariably, the punishment involves money.
The reasoning and motives are easy enough to understand. Real criminals are potentially dangerous, after all; John Q. driving along unbuckled in his family van almost never is. The first might put up a fight -- and will often try to run. If caught, he certainly has no money in wallet -- so what's in it for the Feds? But John Q. has a job. His wallet, credit cards. He will be fined.
"Click It -- or Ticket"!
IT OUGHT TO BUG US (we John Q's) that with child molesters and serial killers splattering their hideous deeds all over the TV nearly every day, with violent gangbangers penetrating even formerly quiet suburbs, millions of dollars and untold hours' worth of law-enforcement time is being used to make sure we're wearing our seat belts. But it doesn't.
And it ought to infuriate us that, at a time of alarming federal and state budget deficits and a groaning tax load on the average middle class American, our leaders see fit to expend millions upon millions of dollars on nationwide, dragnet-style enforcement campaigns directed not at public menaces, not at desperate needs -- but rather, at folks whose only crime is having the temerity not to "buckle up."
It doesn't.
Part of the reason may be that many of us have come to accept a level of do-gooder busy-bodyism in our lives that would have appalled our grandfathers. We're as passive as Ned "we don't want any trouble here" Beatty. Not content to live our own lives as we see fit, according to our own lights -- and to extend the same courtesy to our neighbors -- we increasingly feel obliged to cram our notions of what's "safe" and "proper" down the gullets of our fellows. (You might call this the HOA Fuhrer Syndrome writ large; i.e., the stretch-pants-wearing neighborhood termagant who loves to waddle around with her clipboard noting violations of the HOA rulebooks transposed onto society at large.)
Another is that that we've accepted much of the propaganda fed to us about seat belts -- which can injure a motorist as well as save his life. One study found that seat belts cause injuries 10-30 percent of the time. Seat belt-caused aortal tears are not common -- but they do occur. There is no question that people have actually died as a result of wearing a seat belt.
Without question, seat belts can save lives -- and usually do. But not always. So shouldn't the choice to wear or not to wear be ours to make?
The same issue obtains with air bags -- which have caused scores of deaths and, literally, thousands of injuries ranging from minor to severe. Yet the government has arrogated to itself the right to make a potentially life or death choice for us -- and for many of us, against our will. (And at our expense; air bags have added anywhere from $400 to $1,000 or more per car since they became mandatory.)
BUT THE REAL BOTTOM LINE with "Click It or Ticket" is the precedent it (and programs like it) sets for government meddling in areas where the individual was (formerly, anyhow) sovereign. If the government can make us buckle up for safety, why not issue tickets to sedentary people for failing to maintain an ideal body-mass index? How about mandatory jumping jacks each morning -- monitored by cameras in our homes, with tickets issued to "cardiac fitness scofflaws"? After all, being overweight and sedentary have clear-cut health and well-being consequences every bit as severe (indeed, more so) than failing to wear one's seat belt. The former, for example, is a real and definite risk -- the latter, at best a theoretical one. A person could go his whole life without buckling up and suffer no adverse consequences and impose no costs on "society." But eat a pound of bacon every day, smoke two packs and put on 50 pounds of excess blubber -- and you will absolutely suffer health ill-effects. And "society" will get the tab.
Perhaps a ticket-writing campaign (and many federal dollars) is in order. All those blubber-powers need to be protected against the consequences of their risky and dangerous behavior. Don't you agree? If it's good for the (seat belt) goose, it's good for the big-boy gander, eh?
#1
I suspect the wave of the future will be what I call the "Singapore solution". In Singapore, they give out fines for every damn thing. Every impropriety, every nuisance, every annoyance. They only put you in jail for something dangerous or serious.
Not just typical offenses, either. Just being rude and impolite will get you fined. Spitting on the sidewalk, leaving gum where you shouldn't, urinating in elevators (strangely popular there), shoplifting, graffitti, disorderly conduct, panhandling, etc., etc., etc.
This is far more cost effective than putting people in jail for any time less than six months.
And even if you can't pay, you can work until your fine is paid off.
Every cop carries a ticket book and issues citations like there is no tomorrow. It forces everyone to be polite, or else.
If you think about it, it makes sense in the modern world. Jails are for people who can't control themselves, but aren't really awful; not for the pestiferous, who today just get away with it.
Plus, if you issue enough fines, it actually pays for the jails and prisons.
You don't want to wear that seat belt, just make sure you got plenty of cash to pay for the emergency room, overtime for the officers who have to block off traffic and do the investigation to prove you're a dumbass (incidentally, taking them away from solving real crimes, like the author of this piece bitches about), and money for the paramedics (usually firefighters) who could have been off putting out fires instead of extricating your fat ass out of your car. And if you live, don't forget the rehab costs where they will teach you yet again how to stack blocks, tie your shoes, and maneuver around in your wheelchair.
I've been to enough damn accidents that didn't have to be so bloody and gory, thank you very much. They wouldn't have been if the idiots just put on the stupid seat belt. Yes, I got paid, and got paid well for my trouble. And it all came out of the taxpayers' pockets. Thank you all.
It always amazed me how many morons thought they were going to just shoot out the windshield and land on something soft (in Arizona, where every single native plant has stickers or spines of some sort...good luck, moron), or that asphalt has some "give" to it when you hit it at 40 mph.
Don't go shouting about how your "civil rights" are being violated when I have to pay with my taxes for your stupid, irresponsible behavior.
Reuters withdrew all 920 photographs by a freelance Lebanese photographer from its database on Monday after an urgent review of his work showed he had altered two images from the conflict between Israel and the armed group Hizbollah.
How about staging - looked into that yet, guys?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/07/2006
14:22 ||
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#1
They only pulled the photos because they didn't want to deal with them being exposed one after another. Easier to take them all down, examine them (as they should have done long ago) and rerelease the cleared ones quietly.
#3
It's not a leap to assume that Reuters hires the kind of people it feels comfortable with -- that's fine, every company does that. That logic, though, quickly leads to realizing that Reuters may have a similar mindset -- and while they don't necessarily use photoshop, they nevertheless view and report the news through their own biased lenses.
The sad thing is that they don't see it, won't admit it and of course, won't change.
Similar to the recent report proving BBC bias -- and the BBC minimizing (and probably discounting) it.
#6
rjschwarz, they won't touch any of the 920, anymore, not even with 9 ft pole. If they tried after they were pulled...there is simply too many watching eyes.
Of course, there are people (bloggers, etc.) That would go through Al-Rooter archives one pic by one pic and . This is just a beginning. AP would be next.
Gates and Winfrey aboard Norwegian airliner. Photo credit: Reuters
Aug 07 1:42 PM US/Eastern
A Norwegian journalist has admitted he fabricated interviews with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and talk show host Oprah Winfrey, media reports said Monday. Freelance writer Bjoern Benkow said in a statement that the interviews, published in Norwegian and Swedish media, were partially concocted because of financial "desperation," newspaper Verdens Gang reported. "I have met and talked to these global celebrities," Benkow was quoted as saying. "But the circumstances and times have not always been as I described."
The acknowledgment came after Microsoft Norway said last week that an interview with Gates, printed in the Norwegian magazine Mann and top- selling Swedish tabloid daily Aftonbladet, was "totally fake." Benkow claimed he spoke to Gates during a two-hour commercial flight in Europe, but Microsoft Corp. officials said Gates had not been on that plane. In the four-page interview entitled "Big Bill," Gates was quoted as saying in the article that he never carries more than a "dime" in his pocket and that he makes $1 bets with his wife.
Benkow maintained that the quotes used in the article were real, but apologized for lying about when he spoke to Gates. "What I did was done out of desperation," VG quoted Benkow as saying. "To pay the rent, electricity, food and to survive." The editors of Mann apologized for the article last week.
Aftonbladet spokesman Olof Brundin initially said the paper was convinced the interview had occurred. On Monday, however, the newspaper published an article calling Benkow a "fraudster" who had deceived the editors. "We have been fooled, and thereby we fooled our readers," Brundin said, adding that the newspaper was considering suing Benkow. Aftonbladet also published Benkow's alleged interview with Winfrey earlier this year, but on Monday the article had been removed from the newspaper's Web site.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006
14:18 ||
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#1
Where's Waldo?
Posted by: john ||
08/07/2006 15:50
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#2
Thank God for the 2,324,566 layers of fact checking in the professional media, otherwise something like this might have happened!
#2
I wonder where it came from? Chinese or Russian? This opens more questions about Hez support. I hope they publish the country it came from.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/07/2006 14:23
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#3
So I wonder, what exactly was used to shoot this drone down. Cannon seems to be a bit too difficult with such a small target and so that means they used a missile of some kind.
I imagine the pilot that shot it down is lording it over his buddies too, being the only one with an air to air kill for this entire conflict.
#7
Planes to intercept a drone? I wonder if they used cannon to blast it. Anything larger and it would have been turned to a fine mist.
Maybe they can raise and train falcon to attack and take down drones. Maybe give them metal spurs like a fighting cock. Open one of those suckers up like a can opener.
#11
"So I wonder, what exactly was used to shoot this drone down."
Well, a real close and hot flyby would be all it would take. The wake turbulence would probably cause structural failure, or at a minimum, loss of control resulting in an impact with terrain!
#1
Nasrallah, however, has sided with Moqtada Sadr, an Iraqi junior mullah who has tried to undermine Sistani's position in Najaf, so far unsuccessfully. (Nasrallah and Sadr are distant cousins.)
That explains a lot. Small world, isn't it?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/07/2006 16:03
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#2
I'm obit scanning everyday, checking on Moqtada Sadr.
#3
What a non-story. A debate on what will pass for victory for Hezb. In my opinion, anything but annihilation is a hezb victory.
Some realistic negotiation points:
1. Islam have been poisoning the minds of it's young against joooos and America and modern life, among other things. Therefore, this must end.
2. This brainwashing is done in their schools.
3. The average muzzie does not know what is a fact in our world and what is a lie that he is forced to believe. This too must end.
4. Islam believes that death is the penalty for not believing in Islam. This too must end.
So, my recommendation of a point that must be won in negotiations ? That Islam stop teaching Islam and that all who practice it submit to psychological examinations to determine how dangerous they may still be until cured. Further that Islam forgive and honor Israel and joooos and America and modern lifestyle. And that Islam preach that accepting what other people do without hateful judgement is the desired behavior for all muzzies. And finally that Islam urge it's followers to get outside educations which are not faith based, but fact based.
In other words, fight them and kill them until they are gone. Bomb their mosques, burn their korans, free their women and children, and remove Islam from the face of the earth.
The National Security Agency is running out of juice.
The demand for electricity to operate its expanding intelligence systems has left the high-tech eavesdropping agency on the verge of exceeding its power supply, the lifeblood of its sprawling 350-acre Fort Meade headquarters, according to current and former intelligence officials.
Agency officials anticipated the problem nearly a decade ago as they looked ahead at the technology needs of the agency, sources said, but it was never made a priority, and now the agency's ability to keep its operations going is threatened. The NSA is already unable to install some costly and sophisticated new equipment, including two new supercomputers, for fear of blowing out the electrical infrastructure, they said.
At minimum, the problem could produce disruptions leading to outages and power surges at the Fort Meade headquarters, hampering the work of intelligence analysts and damaging equipment, they said. At worst, it could force a virtual shutdown of the agency, paralyzing the intelligence operation, erasing crucial intelligence data and causing irreparable damage to computer systems -- all detrimental to the fight against terrorism.
Estimates on how long the agency has to stave off such an overload vary from just two months to less than two years. NSA officials "claim they will not be able to operate more than a month or two longer unless something is done," said a former senior NSA official familiar with the problem, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Agency leaders, meanwhile, are scrambling for stopgap measures to buy time while they develop a sustainable plan. Limitations of the electrical infrastructure in the main NSA complex and the substation serving the agency, along with growing demand in the region, prevent an immediate fix, according to current and former government officials.
"If there's a major power failure out there, any backup systems would be inadequate to power the whole facility," said Michael Jacobs, who headed the NSA's information assurance division until 2002.
"It's obviously worrisome, particularly on days like today," he said in an interview during last week's barrage of triple-digit temperatures.
William Nolte, a former NSA executive who spent decades with the agency, said power disruptions would severely hamper the agency.
"You've got an awfully big computer plant and a lot of precision equipment, and I don't think they would handle power surges and the like really well," he said. "Even re-calibrating equipment would be really time consuming -- with lost opportunities and lost up-time."
Power surges can also wipe out analysts' hard drives, said Matthew Aid, a former NSA analyst who is writing a multivolume history of the agency. The information on those hard drives is so valuable that many NSA employees remove them from their computers and lock them in a safe when they leave each day, he said.
A half-dozen current and former government officials knowledgeable about the energy problem discussed it with The Sun on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
NSA spokesman Don Weber declined to comment on specifics about the NSA's power needs or what is being done to address them, saying that even private companies consider such information proprietary.
In a statement to The Sun, he said that "as new technologies become available, the demand for power increases and NSA must determine the best and most economical way to use our existing power and bring on additional capacity."
Biggest BGE customer
The NSA is Baltimore Gas & Electric's largest customer, using as much electricity as the city of Annapolis, according to James Bamford, an intelligence expert and author of two comprehensive books on the agency.
BGE spokeswoman Linda Foy acknowledged a power company project to deal with the rising energy demand at the NSA, but she referred questions about it to the NSA.
The agency got a taste of the potential for trouble Jan. 24, 2000, when an information overload, rather than a power shortage, caused the NSA's first-ever network crash. It took the agency 3 1/2 days to resume operations, but with a power outage it could take considerably longer to get the NSA humming again.
The 2000 shutdown rendered the agency's headquarters "brain-dead," as then-NSA Director Gen. Michael V. Hayden told CBS's 60 Minutes in 2002.
"I don't want to trivialize this. This was really bad," Hayden said. "We were dark. Our ability to process information was gone."
As an immediate fallback measure, the NSA sent its incoming data to its counterpart in Great Britain, which stepped up efforts to process the NSA's information along with its own, said Bamford.
The agency came under intense criticism from members of Congress after the crash, and the incident rapidly accelerated efforts to modernize the agency.
One former NSA official familiar with the electricity problem noted a sense of deja vu six years later.
"To think that this was not a priority probably tells you more about the extent to which NSA has actually transformed," the former official said. "In the end, if you don't have power, you can't do [anything]."
Already some equipment is not being sufficiently cooled, and agency leaders have forgone plugging in some new machinery, current and former government officials said. The power shortage will also delay the installation of two new, multimillion-dollar supercomputers, they said.
To begin to alleviate pressure on the electrical grid, the NSA is considering buying additional generators and shutting down so-called "legacy" computer systems that are decades old and not considered crucial to the agency's operations, said three current and former government officials familiar with the situation.
"It's a temporary fix," one former senior NSA official said.
On Wednesday, the same day that The Sun inquired about the power issue with the NSA's public affairs office, the agency sent word to Capitol Hill about its energy conservation efforts.
"They have told us they have been shutting down all non-essential uses of power to help out BG&E," said one congressional aide, adding that the NSA is also raising the temperature in its buildings two degrees to conserve.
The information was presented in the context that the NSA was making these changes "to be a good corporate citizen," the aide said.
Contractors on at least one high-priority, power-intensive NSA project that is located off the headquarters campus, have upgraded their electrical infrastructure to ensure power for their project, according to two former agency officials. That lone upgrade, a fraction of the agency's total demand, took four months.
Longer-term solutions being considered would move some operations to off-campus facilities with more electrical capacity, current and former officials said.
Adding more capacity to the substation feeding NSA is an obvious answer, but constraints on that particular facility make an expansion difficult, they said. BGE's Foy declined to discuss specifics about the substation. She said it takes 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 years to design, procure equipment, obtain permits, and build a new one.
Post-9/11 needs
Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, the NSA has ramped up its operations, and the electricity needed to sustain major projects -- such as the warrantless surveillance program and technology modernization programs -- has increased sharply.
The computer systems supporting these programs demand far more wattage per square foot than their predecessors and still more energy to cool them.
Area development like the Arundel Mills Mall has contributed to the problem by putting additional strain on the local electrical grid, according to two sources familiar with the issue. Joe Bunch, BGE's director of strategic customer engineering, said, however, that the mall's demand "was fairly easily accommodated."
Demand in the Baltimore-Washington region has been growing, and the regional operator for Maryland and 12 other states has been studying the installation of up to $10 billion in new power lines to deliver more and cheaper electricity to this region.
"We've seen a lot of growth in Anne Arundel County as a whole but particularly in the north and northwest area of the county," said Bunch, who agreed to talk about trends in the area but not the NSA's specific demand. Much of that growth is because of the surge of high-tech jobs in the area from the NSA and government contractors, he said.
He said BGE is working to meet the demand by building new substations in the area. One was built about a year ago, and another is scheduled to be built in two to three years, he said.
"We have adequate capacity" now, he said, but upgrades like the new substation are being planned to stave off future strains on the electrical grid.
The NSA's problem was identified in the late 1990s and could have been fixed by now -- and for much less money -- had keeping the lights on been a priority, current and former officials said.
"It fits into a long, long pattern of crisis-of-the-day management as opposed to investing in the future," said one former government official familiar with the NSA's electricity shortfall.
Electrical infrastructure maintenance and upgrades have been a casualty of the fight against terrorism, according to unclassified budget documents.
Upgrades delayed
Even as the NSA's budget has ballooned after 9/11, the agency has put off basic utility upgrades such as a $4 million computer system to manage the allocation of power at the NSA -- a sliver of the NSA's estimated $8 billion budget.
"Due to budget constraint [sic] and other development [sic] in the fight against terrorism," a 2007 budget document reads, the system was never fully implemented.
Without this system, the document stated, the NSA "may experience difficulties in meeting its power requirement to support critical war fighting missions."
Neglect of infrastructure at the NSA has been a chronic problem, often fraught with bureaucratic politics, former agency officials said.
Fort Meade is not the only NSA outpost facing limitations on its ability to upgrade electrical infrastructure. Listening posts around the world, such as Menwith Hill in Britain and Bad Aibling in Germany, are ailing.
The NSA's largest listening station, Menwith Hill, has an "aging infrastructure that cannot support the people or equipment" there, according to a budget document for 2007.
It is faced with "concrete foundations that are crumbling," an "electrical infrastructure that is not in compliance with current codes," and a weakened infrastructure that poses a safety hazard, the document said.
Identical language appeared in the previous year's budget documents.
With agency operations facing an imminent threat, facilities issues are front and center. "It's a big deal," said one former senior NSA official. "They're all talking about it, anyway. That's progress."
#1
Lets wait till it's a crisis and get congress to fund it rather than do it right.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/07/2006 13:36
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#2
Well - they are mothballing NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain so -- they have lots of un-interuptable power... move some of the operation there until Fort Meade is fixed.
No question of it being secure!
#5
They can set up a remote site if they want to and run jobs from there. And now that Intel has the new big-boy on the block that takes a lot less power to do a lot more work than anything else out there. Out with the old, in with the new! Don't forget to wipe the hard drives before you auction them off, though!
#12
Its not just the harddrives. In a server there are lots of parts that have NVRAM that *can* have info written to it if someone really knows what they are doing. Some of these parts can cost upwards of 20K and the big boys refuse to return them when broken unless the server venders can guarantee the NVRAM is wiped absolutely clean.
Its kind of eye-opening to see the level of secrecy and realize that its probably not simple paranoia. Makes those movies where they use usb thumb drives to get data out of the CIA look niave.
#13
Easily solved. Cut all power to Senate and House. Divert to Ft. Meade. Not only will we never miss them, we'll only wonder why we didn't do it sooner.
#15
You dont wipe secret hard drives.
You crush them and burn them.
As one computer expert said, "The only way to prevent someone from recovering any data off of your hard drive is to remove the the disk and hammer it repeatedly."
Sounds like the NSA needs to import a submarine or carrier reactor to meet its ampacity shortfall.
#16
The trend in CPUs, even the new intel big boys, is more power consumption not less. The reason the new intels appear less consumptive is because of multi-cpu comparisons to n-core comparison - not an apple to apple comparison.
But my friends, it is not just the ICs that are burning the juice, it is the cooling for all of these massive heat generators (CPUs, Memory, BIOSes, disks, etc) running ... that is where the real drain is, cooling these massive computing centers.
#17
As an interesting sidenote: When installing a Cray II, you first brought in three phase 480VAC and then connected that to another independent electrical generator which was able to provide much more stable power delivery than the utilities could supply. Very finnicky power regulation requirements were needed to ensure peak performance.
#19
I know that with phone equipment, the grid power is rectified and floated on a battery bank. Then that bank is inverted and fed to the phone equipment. That way, power is always stable.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/07/2006 22:05
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#20
We use active online-ups(es) backed up by generators. None of the switching ups can hang in our environment. Essentialy, all power is fed through the ups(es) which condition it and clean it up.
We have AC aluminum welders and what not, very harsh environment for systems. Have to do all we can for clean and reliable power.
Irked by a ban on Arab TV channels, apparently under the Israeli pressure, the Saudi daily Arab News in a front page report has criticised the Indian government for the unannounced ban.
In a country widely referred to as the worlds largest democracy, Indian government has succumbed to the Israeli pressure and ordered a nationwide ban on the broadcast of Arab television channels, the newspaper said.
The story pointed out: "The Indian governments ban on Arab television stations is in complete contrast to the friendship that Arab countries imagine exists with their neighbours across the Arabian Sea."
The report says that Nabila Al-Bassam, a Saudi businesswoman on a trip to Mumbai, told the newspaper how she became exasperated at not being able to watch Arab channels at a leading five-star hotel of Mumbai.
When she took up the issue with the hotel manager, she was told that Arab television channels had been banned across India.
A perplexed Al-Bassam sent an SMS to Arab News Editor-in-Chief Khaled Al Maeena to verify whether this was indeed the case. "Oberoi Hotel tells me that the government of India has banned all Arab TV channels. Why? I hate watching CNN and BBC," she wrote to Mr Almaeena.
#1
What's her problem with CNN and the BBC? Their women may not be veiled, but the kinds of things they say can't be *that* different from the Arab networks . . .
Posted by: The Doctor ||
08/07/2006 13:01
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#8
So in India, you can't watch Arab TV (no loss there) annd if you want to "convert" you have to report it to government agencies.
hmmmmm. I guess there really is something to this "freedom of religion" stuff.
Posted by: J. D. Lux ||
08/07/2006 19:44
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#9
Nabila runs the Arab Heritage Gallery. Carries a nice line in antiques. This is her view on democracy.
"Across the border in Saudi Arabia, even the notion of a debate is anathema. Saudi Arabia has virtually no political culture. "We don't need democracy, we have our own 'desert democracy," explained Nabila al-Bassam, a Saudi woman who ran her own clothing and gift store in Dhahran. What she was referring to was an ancient desert tradition known as the majlis, weekly gatherings hosted by members of the ruling family, where any of their subjects were free to present petitions or air grievances. In fact, the majlis was an intensely feudal scene, with respectful subjects waiting humbly for a fefw seconds' opportunity to whisper in their prince's ear.
Nabila told me of a friend who had recently petitioned King Fahd's wife to allow the legal import of hair-salon equipment. Technically, hairdressing salons were banned in Saudi Arabia, where the religious establishment frowned on anything that drew women from their houses. In fact, thriving salons owned by prominent Saudis and staffed by Filipina or Syrian beauticians did a roaring trade. "My friend is tired of having to run her business in secret," Nabila said. But so far she had received no response to her petition. "Petitions do work," said Nabila. "But in this society you have to do things on a friendly basis, like a family. You can ask for things, but you can't just reach out and take things as if it's your right." A rejected petitioner had no choice but to accept the al-Sauds' decision. With no free press and no way to mobilize public opinion, the al-Sauds ruled as they liked."
#4
Fox was showing the video this morning. Those ar outgoing. They also had the correct Lebanon to Israel trajectory, not the Israel to Lebanon as was reported by some bugwits.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/07/2006 13:16
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Clutching her Hermes holiday bag under her arm, Susan Barrington, a 52-year-old housewife from Buckinghamshire, can't help smiling as she leaves the exclusive clinic in London's Wimpole Street. She has been given the final go-ahead to travel abroad for a cutting edge nonsurgical treatment that promises to make her look ten years younger.
She doesn't care if the treatment is expensive, involves babies and is so controversial that it is not allowed to be performed in this country - among her well-heeled friends, this is the ultimate new elixir of youth. The attractive brunette has opted for a controversial stem- cell therapy where umbilical cord tissue from new-born babies will be injected into her body.
It may seem distasteful, but thousands of women have already done it and it is organised by a seemingly respectable British clinic then carried out in Rotterdam, Holland, where rules regarding stemcell therapies are not so strict.
#2
Vain women putting themselves at serious risk, paying huge sums for to be the proving grounds for unvetted treatments. Ignoring that the entire situation is immoral, that is just plain Darwin-award dumb. I will feel no sympathy for any of the parties when the horrific side effects appear.
It was the same a decade ago when Human Growth hormone replacement therapy was the hot thing, only it turns out the cascading side effects are killer dangerous at the levels then prescribed.
#3
TW, I know you weren't implying otherwise, but to me, the moral argument is the only one worth having. BTW - I actually HOPE there are horrific side effects.
I'm reminded of the tale "Akallabeth" in the Silmarillion.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/07/2006 14:37
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#5
Telegraph.co.uk
Unpalatable but true: cannibalism was routine
By Tim Taylor
(Filed: 15/10/2003)
The science of cannibalism has just become respectable, as irrefutable bio-molecular evidence that we have eaten each other for millennia spurs renewed efforts by archaeologists, geneticists and anthropologists to find out when we started to do it, and why.
With the Lendu and Hema militias currently cooking human hearts and livers under the eyes of UN observers in north-east Congo, and the abduction of children for food in North Korea, it is hard to believe that until recently academia was dominated by politically correct assertions that cannibalism did not exist. While no one denied that psychopaths and the very hungry do it sometimes, eye-witness accounts of routine cannibalism were ignored.
In his 1979 book, The Man-Eating Myth, the social anthropologist William Arens told a generation of scholars what they wanted to hear: stories of cannibal tribes were the racist slanders of white imperialist scientists.
Survival cannibalism made headlines after the 1973 Andes air crash. Sixteen Catholics had stayed alive by eating those who either died on impact or subsequently. The Vatican advised that, although those who had chosen to starve were not guilty of the sin of suicide, those who practised cannibalism had not sinned either: the souls of the deceased were with God, the corpses profane husks.
The ease with which humans switch into survival mode should have alerted the anthropologists who espoused Arens that their cherished theory was fictional. Archaeologically, cannibal behaviour was evident all along, from prehistoric Fiji to the Aztecs to the Neanderthals of Europe.
There is now an overwhelming case that cannibalism is a worldwide phenomenon, stretching back to our evolutionary origins: wild chimpanzees and 70 other mammal species have been observed killing and eating each other, while the two-million-year-old Homo habilis cranium known as Stw 53 is covered with deliberate cut marks.
With this in our behavioural inheritance, the question of why we started to do it fades away. More interesting is the cannibalism we have chosen. The emerging picture is of two main types, one aggressive, as on Pueblo-Indian sites where children's skulls were used to cook their brains; the other reverential, as in the Siberian Iron Age, where select cuts of meat were removed from bodies before burial to make a funeral meal.
Sceptics who have argued against these interpretations now have the findings of molecular biology to deal with. Desiccated human faeces, preserved for a thousand years among smashed bone at the Pueblo-Indian site of Cowboy Wash , have been found to contain protein unique to human heart muscle.
This is the remains of just one meal, eaten in one place, but there is new evidence that is global in extent. Researchers from University College London, having identified gene-based resistance to diseases of the mad-cow type among the Fore of Papua New Guinea - who only recently gave up eating their dead - went on to identify it in all the rest of us as well. John Collinge of UCL sees the pattern of chromosomal modification as due to the evolutionary "selection pressure" of past cannibalism-related diseases.
The question is why has cannibalism, by and large, stopped? The answer has less to do with innate decency or moral progress than with status. For most of the hunter-gatherer period a community could not afford not to eat its dead or its dead enemies. With farming came a certain pride in displaying a life of plenty. Human burials and cremations were (and are) acts of conspicuous consumption.
It is easy to think that what "we" do is what all right-thinking humans do. And it is hard, in our supermarket culture, to imagine what it is like to scavenge for food. But the careful procedures of science can uncover the truth in the face of hardened preconceptions.
Now we know that cannibalism was a widespread norm in the past, we need to find out why particular societies gave it up. Somewhat uncomfortably, the reason in Papua New Guinea, after the Australian government's suppression of funerary cannibalism in the Fifties, seems to have been a desire on the part of the indigenous population to be reincarnated as affluent white people.
Dr Taylor teaches at the Department of Archaeological Sciences, University of Bradford. His book, The Buried Soul: How Humans Invented Death was published in paperback this week (Fourth Estate) and is available for £8.99 + £2.25 p&p. To order call Telegraph Books Direct on 0870 155 7222.
19 June 2003: 160,000-year-old skulls fill crucial gap in evolution
8 June 2003[News]: Famine-struck N Koreans 'eating children'
1 March 2001: Bones point to Iron Age cannibalism
The left's wished-for myth of the noble, gentle savage, whether promoted in books like the one mentioned in your post or in events like the popularization of the mythical Tasaday people, show just how delusional and dyfunctional and insecure the descendants of the French Revolution have become.
Tolkien was a classical liberal, not a modernist or post-modernist, and unlike the advocates of movements, recognized that consuming your own was immoral as well as unworkable.
A regression to pre-civilization, really.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/07/2006 15:00
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#7
In case anyone missed it... the money quote:
Here, poverty-stricken young women are paid 200 U.S. dollars to carry babies up to the optimum eight to 12-week period - thought to be best for harvesting stem cells. They are then sold on to cosmetic clinics.
In short these fetuses are being grown and then killed so some rich bitch can have a cleaner face.
If you want to read a chilling book on this very subject, pick up "Never Let Me Go". Very well written, and a good treatise on how easy it might be for people to grow humans for transplants.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/07/2006 15:04
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#9
Beoserker: Have you ever read much about the mythology and history re: the Pueblo Indians?
Posted by: Phil ||
08/07/2006 15:21
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#10
Human Life now given stature below that of live stock.
The slope was so slippery no one realized they were sliding.
#14
I think people are missing a key distinction. The article states "opted for a controversial stem- cell therapy where umbilical cord tissue from new-born babies will be injected into her body. " and not fetal stem cells. I think the article is missleading in that point and people are falling. There's no ban on stem cell research on the whole let alone umbilical cord, just research that come directly from the destruction of a fetus, which I wholehartedly agree is very controversial.
And as for it being used for cosmetics well its their money and if they want to waste it well whatever. I'm sure I would think differently if I were old and shrivelled though.
#15
The clinic claims that the foetal tissue derived from elective abortions at six to 12 weeks is rich in regenerative stem cells. 'We inject the cells taken from the liver tissue of human foetuses directly into the vein in the back of your hand,' explains the well-spoken English consultant Jenny, who gives telephone consultations to potential patients.
And where does it stop? Today its fetuses. What will it be tomorrow - baby organs? And then what?
Say - you have pretty eyes. I want them and am going to pay someone top dollar to take them from you. Too bad for you but as you say.... its my money....
#3
So... make it so.
I know they don't have buffs so they can't really do this... but ArcLight the village. They have already paid the political cost so Israel could get some free points.
#4
Siniora is thoroughly pathetic. If he has one grain of honor in him, he should just resign just for being useless, not even counting being aggravating and spineless etc.
#5
But Siniora has shed tears, 3 times. I think the last time was when al-Reuters announced they fired jihad photographer Hajji. Now Siniora has to work overtime a few hours a day....
Posted by: Evil Elvis ||
08/07/2006 16:15
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#6
This is all the Israelis fault so they should corrrect the mistake by killing another 39.
#7
As one commentor wrote in JihadWatch: http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/012582.php#comments
And it goes to show , if you don't clean your house of the gargabe, it will become full of rats and vermin carrying filth and disease.
Fouad Siniora has no one to blame except his own government and his own people. If you are unwilling to fight the terrorists, they you are destined to be their slaves, or worse, dead. Because if the terrorists don't kill you, those who come to your land to kill the terrorists will.
Posted by: exsgtbrown
.....
Read the other good comments as well. Perhaps his name should be FOAD Sin-Oral.
When Navy SEAL Marc Alan Lee talked to his wife last week from Iraq, he was upbeat as always, discussing their future, his SEAL team's planned return to Coronado, Calif., in October and the prospect of starting a family. The next day the 28-year-old Lee, a petty officer 2nd class, was killed in a prolonged firefight with insurgents in Ramadi, making him the first SEAL killed in Iraq.
Two other SEALs were wounded in what a reporter embedded with U.S. troops described as an hourlong firefight between heavily armed and aggressive insurgents and a force of SEALs, U.S. soldiers and Iraqi troops.
As one of the U.S. military's most elite and secretive fighting units, the SEALs almost never reveal their missions to the public, even long after completion. Lee's death, announced Friday by the Pentagon, is virtually the first recognition that the SEALs are involved in the battle to wrest Ramadi from insurgent control.
Maya Lee, 25, said she never considered that her husband might be killed when his Coronado-based SEAL team deployed to Iraq this spring. The couple met while he was in SEAL training and she was studying dance at UC Irvine; they married four years ago.
The SEALs, she said, give off an aura of invincibility. "They're such heroes, so strong, that never in my mind did I think this could happen," she said in a quiet but strong voice during a phone call Saturday night from upstate New York, where she has gone to be with her family. "Marc was amazing. He was my best friend, my love," she said.
In his calls from Iraq, he preferred not to speak of the violence in Ramadi, she said. "Everything was planning for the future, for October," said his wife, who has been working in fashion consulting and public relations. "We laughed and talked about him coming home and what we were going to do. We talked of buying a house and having children."
In an e-mail to his wife earlier this summer, Lee mentioned going into an Iraqi house on a mission and seeing children there: "The youngest girl was a glimpse into the future of our daughter, really cute curly hair, small and petite. It made me want a family so bad with you. Once again I am in a rush to write this as I am rolling out of here in less than an hour. No worries about anything. I am fine."
Lee's mother, Debbie Lee, said in a statement from her home in Surprise, Ariz.: "In this mother's eyes, he will always be a hero and greatly missed."
Rear Adm. Joe Maguire, a SEAL and commander of the Naval Special Warfare Command, issued a statement praising Lee and the two wounded SEALs. "We want their families and all Americans to know that their loved ones' sacrifices were not in vain."
Stars & Stripes newspaper reported that last Wednesday's assault was the biggest action in a campaign against insurgent strongholds in the Sunni Triangle. Lee was killed as he and other SEALs stormed a building with insurgents barricaded inside. He has been posthumously awarded a Bronze Star Medal for Valor, a Combat Action Ribbon and a Purple Heart.
He grew up in Hood River, Ore., where he excelled in soccer and enjoyed skiing and weightlifting. His brother Kris, 32, served in the Marine Corps. In 2001, Lee enlisted in the Navy and the next year began the 25-week Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL training in Coronado. It is one of the most grueling training programs in the military, and the dropout rate exceeds 50%.
When he developed pneumonia, he had to leave training. After a deployment aboard an aircraft carrier as an aviation ordnance technician, he returned to SEAL school in 2004 and graduated that November. "For Marc, becoming a SEAL was like a dream come true," his wife said.
His funeral is pending at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery in Point Loma, across San Diego Bay from the SEALs home base. Since she received the official notification of her husband's death, Maya Lee has had two SEALs with her to offer emotional support and help with arrangements.
The experience has broadened her view of SEALs. "They have this toughness about life generally," she said. "But then, when this happens, you find out they really care about you."
#7
For more, read what a former SEAL Froggy at http://www.blackfive.net/ writes about this death. Scroll down to Greater Love Hath No Man. Warning, tissue alert!
Looks like the last chance for India to lift itself out of the toilet has been swept away....
For a person to convert to Christ, he must have the government sign over that he can convert to Christ. In other words, there is no freedom of religious choice in India, per Compass Direct News. One has to bow down to the government officialdom first; otherwise, he sets himself up for persecution.
Persecution against Christians is a daily occurrence in India. Now it will increase. In Madbya Pradesh north-central state, the state lawmakers passed the statute "making stricter the 'anti-conversion' law that has increased persecution of Christians."
#1
Nearly all of Asia is reverting to more primitive life forms-those that think they can dictate religious belief. Next come the Asian Inquisitions. Wonder how many decades those will last?
#2
Of course, the reason the law was passed in the first place was because children and young women were being kidnapped, and *forcibly* converted to Islam before being sold as slaves.
The kidnappers were doing a full court press on them, indoctrinations and beatings, and getting them to sign documents swearing that their conversion wasn't forced.
#3
The laws ban forcible conversion and conversion influenced by supply of money and food etc.
Posted by: john ||
08/07/2006 17:48
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#4
John, you often have good posts-maybe you can link to an article that explains how this only about forced conversions. This article can lead to an entirely different conclusion.
What's the story with the Post Chronicle, Unong?
Posted by: Jules in the Hinterlands ||
08/07/2006 18:58
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#5
No law can just ban conversions. This would violate the Indian constitution and the Indian supreme court would strike it down.
Several states have laws that ban forcible and induced conversions.
There are groups that will encourage local police to harass missionaries now that they have the law.
They have zero chance of actually getting a convistion, because they would have to prove coercion or monetary inducement but they'll probably still try.
Posted by: john ||
08/07/2006 19:13
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#6
This is a pretty old law - dating from 1968.
The Madhya Pradesh Freedom of Religion Act of 1968 aims to prevent religious conversions by force or allurement.
The amendment passed (requiring 1 months notice) probably violates the Indian constitution. The state governor will probably refuse to sign it (as happened in Rajasthan state) and it still has to survive the Indian supreme court.
Posted by: john ||
08/07/2006 19:17
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About 40 IDF commandos landed on a southern hilltop near Lebanon's Mediterranean coast on Monday, fighting Hizbullah in close combat in a bid to destroy its rocket launchers. Helicopters dropped off the troops on a hill overlooking Ras al-Biyada, south of Tyre, Lebanese security officials said. It is believed that the majority of rocket launchings take place in the region of Tyre.
SEOUL, South Korea North Korea claimed it has captured an unmanned U.S. submersible and put it on display in Pyongyang near the captured spy ship USS Pueblo, a pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan said Monday, but the U.S. dismissed the report.
The ultra-small unmanned submersible vessel was captured during a reconnaissance mission in waters off North Korea's eastern city of Hamhung, said the Choson Sinbo newspaper, which is published by a pro-North Korean association linked to the Pyongyang government. The newspaper report on its Web site, monitored in Seoul, was accompanied by a picture purported to be of the black torpedo-shaped U.S. vessel. There were no further details as to when or how North Korea obtained it.
#6
"Comrade, we've finished putting the imperialist underwater spy device on display. By the way, any reason you know of why it should be ticking?"
Posted by: Steve ||
08/07/2006 13:16
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#7
LOL! Steely Dan was the name of the dildo in "The Naked Lunch".
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/07/2006 13:17
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#8
Kim Jong Il is partial to beautiful women, especially kidnapped actresses, whom he also forces to perform in films of his own devising. His several acknowledged heirs have all been from different mothers, as I recall, not all of whom he was officially married to.
#9
LOL indeed. '.....learn to work the saxophone.....and play just what I feel......drink Scotch Whiskey all night long.....and die behind the wheel....'
#12
I got the nick-name because I finished a Turkey Shoot (black powder flintlocks) with a 0 score. I got teased because I qualified as a sharpshooter in the army. I didn't miss any targets (we walk a trail in the woods by following written directions) but I had points taken off for minor infractions. So everyone started calling me Deacon Blues.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/07/2006 13:57
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#18
Nope, I actually did hit the targets. I just got penalized for not seeing the Indians. Or the Bear. And I had to bribe the guide to not tell anyone.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/07/2006 14:50
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#19
ROFLMAO Ed. Only thing I don't understand is the soup.
#22
Rock & Roll bands, kidnapped actresses in bondage, Naked Lunch sextoy literary references, black powder safaris and Disney movie props. Just another run-of-the-mill day at Rantburg. Eff almighty, I love this frickin' place!!!
Check out this nugget on the McKinney campaign buried at the end of a story in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
Several people dressed in black suits and boots followed McKinney around. The patches on their clothes said: "New Black Panther Party Freedom or Death." The organization does not have an official role in McKinney's campaign and are not on her organization's payroll, said McKinney's campaign manager, John Evans.
So members of the "largest organized anti-Semitic black militant group in America" just show up spontaneously to follow McKinney around during the final hours of her campaign? This woman is nothing if not a predictable disgrace.
You'll remember that during the waning, desperate days of McKinney's last primary loss to Denise Majette, Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan magically appeared for a rally in the 4th district . Farrakhan wasn't "officially" there on behalf of the McKinney campaign either, of course, though I believe he encouraged people to vote for her. Just another rabidly anti-Semitic coincidence, I guess.
And who can forget the famous remarks by Cynthia's father, Billy McKinney, who blamed her loss on the fact that "Jews have bought everybody. Jews. J-E-W-S."
By the way, it may be that the anti-Semitic appeal doesn't pack as much of a punch as it used to, because Billy was back on the op-ed pages of the Atlanta Progressive News this weekend claiming that it isn't the "J-E-W-S" who are pulling the strings orchestrating the revolt against his daughter - this time around it's the "R-E-P-U-B-L-I-C-A-N-S."
#4
Atlanta Progressive News
APN) DECATUR US Congresswoman McKinney (D-GA) wowed a progressive audience here at the packed Push Push Theater during a forum following a screening of the film American Blackout. You are like a Malcolm X, one audience member said.
Ah, not to seem pushy or anything, but I'm still waiting for my money. Does anyone here know who I should be talking with to get my "Bought and Paid for by Dem Joooos" check?
#6
You'll get your check the same day I get notified of the monthly meeting of the 'vast right-wing conspiracy'. Must be the J-E-W-S intercepting my mail.
#7
An add from the Atlanta Progressive News. Something McKinney might wish to consider.
Mental Stimulation . . . for the restless mind.
Welcome to MENTAL STIMULATION!
We are happy to announce that we have finally moved into our new location at 308 West Ponce de Leon Avenue (pronounced Ponce de Leeeeon), between Levi's Fish House and Cafe Lily. We are in the former location of The Final Touch.
We still offer the same great selection of films that you can either rent or buy. (Only three dollars for five days.) We still have used books as well as current ones.
And, of course, our fascinating line of cool toys sets us apart from other stores. Come by and visit us soon, or give us a call at 404 378-4113 or 404 377-5620.
#8
Well, she couldn't exactly run around with the Democrat's old militant wing. So she's replaced the Klan with the Panthers; the threat of violence is the same.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/07/2006 19:18
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No prizes for guessing which presidential front-runner drew these remarks in focus groups. But these werent Republicans talking about Hillary Clinton. They werent even independents. These were ordinary, grass-roots Democrats. People who identified themselves as likely voters in the pivotal states Democratic primary. And, behind closed doors, this is what nearly half of them are saying.
I was amazed, says Bennett. I thought there might be some negatives, but I didnt know it would be as strong as this. Its stunning, the similarities between the Republicans and the Democrats, the comments they have about her.
Bennett runs American Research Group Inc., a highly regarded, independent polling company based in Manchester, N.H. Hes been conducting voter surveys there since 1976. The polls are financed by subscribers and corporate sponsors. He has so far recruited 410 likely voters in the 2008 Democratic primary, and sat down with them privately in small groups to find out what they really think about the candidates and the issues.
His conclusion? Forty-five percent of the Democrats are just as negative about her as Republicans are. More Republicans dislike her, but the Democrats dislike her in the same way.
Hillarys growing brain trust in the partys upper reaches already knows she has high negatives among ordinary Democrats. They think she can win those voters over with the right strategy and message. But they should get out of D.C., New York and L.A. more often, and visit grassroots members. Because were not talking about soft negatives like, say, out of touch or arrogant. Were talking: Criminal . . . megalomaniac . . . fraud . . . dangerous . . . devil incarnate . . . satanic . . . power freak.
Satanic.
And: Political wh***.
(Note: I dont usually like reporting such personal remarks, but in this case you can hardly understand the situation without them. I have no strong personal feelings about the senator.)
There are caveats. Any survey can be inaccurate or misleading. And 55 percent of ARGs sample was either neutral or positive about Sen. Clinton. Thirty-two percent currently say they plan to vote for her in the primary.
But Bennett says hes never before seen so many N.H. voters show so much hatred toward a member of their own party. Hes never even seen anything close. He believes top national Democrats are missing this grassroots intensity. Instead, he suspects, they are blinded by poll numbers, which give Hillary a big early lead based on her name recognition.
Larry Sabato, director of the University of Virginias Center for Politics, agrees. There is far more anti-Hillary sentiment in the Democratic Party than the pollsters understand, he says. In the race for the nomination, she is ripe for plucking, he says.
Sen. Clintons team could not be reached for comment.
New Hampshire is small, but its a bellwether state with clout. Its primary probably holds the key to the Democratic nomination. And New Hampshire, alone, swung from Bush to Kerry in 04.
Its hard to see any Democrat winning the White House without carrying the state in the presidential election. And its hard, right now, to see Hillary carrying the state.
#1
The problem with Hillary is she has the same ethics and devotion to truth as Bill with none of the charm.
I had a friend in the Secret Service and he said every second word out of her mouth was f***. She also spent a great deal of time bullying the "little people" on the White House staff.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/07/2006 11:28
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#2
(Note: I dont usually like reporting such personal remarks, but in this case you can hardly understand the situation without them. I have no strong personal feelings about the senator.)
#6
Between her and Joe Lib the Donks are going to self destruct before the primary.
And that Satanic picture of her still frightens me.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/07/2006 13:34
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#7
Senator Clinton is a bright, ambitious woman with the wrong ambitions. While it is possible she is doing New Yorkers good by representing them in the Senate (I've not followed her voting record), she is entirely too elitist and lacking in the necessary people skills to run a successful national campaign. While no doubt charming on the individual level, even when she only had to appear as Bill's Wife she became a detriment the moment she opened her mouth in public. There are lots of elitists out there; most are smart enough to confine there endeavors to fields where this is an asset. However, like her fellow senator John Kerry, she will not be able to back away from her ambition until the two of them have led the Democrats ever further from the goal of returning to power, or even influence.
#12
The really good news is that she has all of the money already donated to her by the blind elitist lefties like Soros. She will run, and she will win the nomination. Then, the cancer inside the democrap party will consume it.
Bub bye democraps.
#13
When political elites put a populist in power, thinking that the populist will serve the elite interests, things often blow up in the face of those elites, with the newly anointed figure pursuing his own agenda which is often antithetical to what the elites wanted.
The German aristocracy in late Weimar Germany leap to mind - Hitler was the populist that they sought to "use" to restore the Reich. It blew up in their faces.
So leaps to mind the American left with the Clintons.
No, I'm not comparing the Clintons' policies to Hitler, for their isn't a comparison to make, and anyone who says there is can be properly named an extremist.
But in a similar fashion, the cultural elites here in the U.S. chose their charismatic populist thinking that he could be their trojan horse for getting their agenda done in America. Instead, he ended up screwing over the party in the long run. WJC was as likely to throw a Dem to the wolves as a Repub, if it would further his own career.
Dems, particularly hard left ones, have been so burned by what they perceive (rightly in many cases, IMO) as betrayal by the Clintons that they either distrust them or are openly hostile.
Apostasy is worse than paganism, I guess.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/07/2006 14:29
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#14
NS-Yuck!!! A bust only the New York art crowd could love.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/07/2006 14:39
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Duvdevan Soldiers Nab Wanted Terrorist
16:06 Aug 07, '06 / 13 Av 5766
(IsraelNN.com) Soldiers of the elite Duvdevan unit apprehended a wanted terrorist in Azzoun, east of Kalkilye. The terrorist in custody is linked to a number of terror attacks. The force also apprehended another wanted suspect while operating in the area.
Tanzim Commander Apprehended During the Night
15:20 Aug 07, '06 / 13 Av 5766
(IsraelNN.com) Security authorities report that the Fatah Tanzim commander of Banei Naim, north of Hevron, was taken into custody by IDF soldiers. Abdel Marei is linked to shooting attacks on the Gush Etzion-Hevron Road and is also believed to have interrogated and tortured suspected collaborators. He was taken into custody by members of the IDFs Shimshon unit.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/07/2006
09:38 ||
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(IsraelNN.com) Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora is now signaling a willingness to deploy Lebanese army troops in southern Lebanon, along Israels northern border, to expedite the departure of Israeli forces from Lebanese soil.
Siniora states he is willing to deploy his troops along with a United Nations force in an effort to halt the IDF military offensive in Lebanon.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/07/2006
09:35 ||
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#1
Yes, the Lebanese army. That's a proven deterrant. Should have thought of using the Leb army before their Hizb cousins took over the show down south.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/07/2006 10:42
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#2
Fuad is not willing to deploy against Hizb'Allah, right?
Olmert needs to learn from Bush: send a 48h ultimatum to the Lebanese government -- "Deliver Nasrallah and deploy the Lebanese army actually fighting against Hizb'Allah and stop all rocket attacks into Israel -- or else you are at war with Israel and will suffer the consequences."
#4
The hezbullies are a minority within lebanon, Lebanons government has enabled this minority group to bring turmoil upon the whole population. Hezbullies are a political party with two cabinent members, yet they Launched a war as if they represented the entirety of lebanon. Hezbullies are what they are, sources of subversion, intimidation and provocation.
The international force must have the ability to disarm the bully and restore the functioning democracy of a country, representing its population in its diversity and entirety.
hezbullies esteem is said to be rising, I believe this is a lie elevated by the imminent threat they pose to anyone opposed to them.
Its often been said that Lebanon is the Paris of the middle East, it sure sounds like it. The population is acting like the french out of learned behavior, subject to change at the appropriate moment.
On Sunday evening, ambulances rolled in non-stop to three Haifa hospitals, after a fatal rocket barrage hit the city slightly before 8 p.m. Three people were killed and dozens were wounded after two rockets one in the lower city and one in Wadi Nisnas crashed into buildings.
Following the attack, city hospitals declared a mass casualty event and began receiving the injured. One woman arrived in critical condition, with Magen David Adom crews attempting to resuscitate her.
Dozens of residents, mainly Israeli Arabs, congregated at the entrances to the Rambam Medical Center seeking to check on their loved ones injured in the attack. Some of those present condemned Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Shadi Mzawin and his sister, who arrived at the hospital to visit their sister, said: "How can it be that with all its might Israel is incapable of eliminating Hizbullah and finish it once and for all? How can it be that with al this force he succeeds to do this for us?"
Shadi, whose grandmother and grandfather were also injured in the attack, said police officers positions at the entrance to the emergency room refused him entrance because he swore at them. "Half of my family and my neighborhood are here inside and they are not allowing me in although I am injured. I don't understand that. Do I have no rights? I am a citizen too and I pay taxes grandma and grandpa are here and they are not letting me see them," said Shadi who was lightly injured in the legs.
Shadi expressed anger at the government for the lack of shelters in the neighborhood. "I live in Wadi Nisnas and we have no shelters, we hardly have where to live, we have no where to go, we have nowhere to go, and our shelter is the toilet. There are no shelters at all. I hope Nasrallah gets a rocket between the legs for what he is doing to me here, for harming grandma and grandpa."
#5
From what I've been able to gather, while Arab Israelis may feel discriminated against, and certainly as a group they are poorer and less well educated, nonetheless they are terrified at the idea of being turned over to Palestinian control.
#6
Some of those present condemned Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Shadi Mzawin and his sister, who arrived at the hospital to visit their sister, said: "How can it be that with all its might Israel is incapable of eliminating Hizbullah and finish it once and for all? How can it be that with al this force he succeeds to do this for us?"
Mzawin should ask himself why is it that Arab culture has so obsessed itself in Semitic genocide instead of seeking peaceful coexistence like the remaining civilized world. Talk about a "blame the victim" mentality. I suppose that it works so well with Arabic women that they merely extend it to the Jews as well.
It is hardly Israel's fault that psycho thugs like Nasrallah are indiscriminate about where missile launches are pointed. In fact, indiscriminate hatred can be blamed for much of what is going on.
An IDF soldier was killed in a Monday morning battle with Hizbullah terrorists in Bint Jbeil in southern Lebanon. Three soldiers were lightly wounded - and 14 terrorists were reported killed. A total of 12 soldiers have been killed in the current war in Bint Jbeil, a Hizbullah stronghold village just a few kilometers from the Israeli border in the central/east sector of southern Lebanon. Three paratroopers were wounded in today's battle. In addition, a battalion officer and two Nachal Brigade soldiers are listed in "moderate" condition following a battle in Huleh in the eastern sector.
In the western sector, the IDF has destroyed a Hizbullah headquarters, as well as anti-tank missiles and rocket launchers.
The number of victims since the current war began has now risen to 102, among them 58 soldiers, 38 civilians, and six killed in Gaza, Sderot and the Shomron. Fifteen of the civilians killed by the Hizbullah-fired rockets were Arabs and Druze. Ten Katyushas were fired at the Israeli city of Nahariya, on the Mediterranean coast, late this morning, and several at Kiryat Shmonah as well. Sirens were heard as far south as Beit She'an. One person was lightly hurt in these attacks.
Among the wounded in recent Katyusha attacks is a 27-year-old man from the northern community of Sh'ar Yashuv: Shai (ben Dalia) Golan. Hospitalized in Sieff Hospital in Tzfat, he has been in critical condition since a Katyusha attack on Friday, Aug. 4. Two other reserve soldiers wounded in yesterday's attack in Kfar Giladi are in serious condition as well. Some 50 citizens wounded in the Sunday evening Katyusha bombardment of Haifa remain hospitalized.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/07/2006
09:27 ||
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#1
Bint Jbeil: The meat-grinder where Hezbollah will lose many of its Lions for Allan.
#3
Yep. US and international pressure perhaps. Also, the creation of too much rubble actually makes the place more suitable to defense. Examples: Monte Cassino, Italy and Caen, Normandy during WW2.
Hopefully, the IDF will leave a bunker or two intact and booby-trapped so that Hezbos re-enter them thinking Allan has helped them drive out the IDF, a big KABOOM will greet them.
DEBKAfiles military sources disclose: Hizballahs rocket offensive against Israel is orchestrated from a rear command located in the Syrian town of Anjar.
While Israeli officials keep on insisting that Syria must be kept out of the conflict, the fact is that the Assad regime is already in it up to their ears with a leading role in the Hizballah rocket attacks on northern Israel.
The command which coordinates the pace of those attacks is located at the Anjar base of the Syrian Armys 10th Division opposite the Lebanese town of Az Zabdani. It is manned by Iranian and Hizballah officers, who take their orders from a Syrian military intelligence center in Damascus to which Iranian Revolutionary Guards intelligence officers are attached. It is headed by a general from one of Syrias surface missile brigades. This joint command is provided with the most up-to-date intelligence and electronic data available to Syria on targets in Israel and IDF movements. The timing and tempo of Hizballah rocket strikes are set according to that information.
To keep the rockets coming without interruption, the joint Hizballah-Syrian-Iranian command is also responsible with keeping Hizballah supplied with an inflow of rockets and launchers. They use smuggling rings to slip the supplies into Lebanon by mule and donkey which ply the 5,000-7,000 feet mountain paths that straddle the Syrian-Lebanese frontier.
A senior Israeli officer told DEBKAfile: We can go on bombing Lebanon for many weeks, but that will not stop the rockets..
Posted by: Steve ||
08/07/2006
09:18 ||
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#3
Gasp. Bomb the pencil-necked dipwap's palace and the hezzie rocket center. These as*holes are not paying a price for their complicity. What happened to the concept of "If you harbor terrorists.....?"
#6
It's time for massive attack on Syria. Get UAV's up over these trails. Donkeys move slowly. When spotted get a gunship over them and tear them to shreds. Israel has no gunships, so we need to lend them a couple for a month or so.
#7
I don't know much about this, but it would seem to me that any rocket or launcher moved by a donkey would have to be rather small in size. So if Israel holds a line at the Litani river these additional small rockets are meaningless. I do know about airplanes tho. The Spectre gunship idea sounds good. A couple along the Leb/Syrian border would make their hairs stand on end.
#8
Have we (the US) warned Israel not to bomb targets in Syria, even if as blantantly involved as the Anjar base? Such a warning might be motivated by a US fear that allied Arab governments might fall if the war spreads. If such a warning has been given, Israel they might heed it given the desirability of US resupply.
#13
Not sure TW, but ever seen airplane? The scene where Air Israel is departing with orthodox gear is priceless. I bet it send Levant into a frenzy ;)
#14
Airplane? Oh, yes. It was the only film in English when Mr. Wife was doing the plant start-up in Cairo. He can recite the bloody thing verbatim... and we have to watch it whenever it comes up on the teevee. Thank goodness it's funny!
A prominent and popular imam has been killed in the south of Kyrgyzstan, in the town of Korasuv in the Ferghana Valley near the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border. According to his family and local police, the imam - Rafik Kamalov - was shot dead by Kyrgyz special forces. But security officials have not confirmed his death.
The Ferghana Valley lies in the south of Kyrgyzstan - the very heart of Muslim Central Asia. Authorities have been cracking down on what they call Islamic fundamentalism.
In an interview with the BBC, Kyrgyz security officials confirmed that they had killed three men during a special operation on Thursday night and that all of them were members of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan - a banned radical organisation. The officials neither confirmed nor denied that Rafik Kamalov, the Imam of the biggest mosque along the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border, was among them.
But family members, who are preparing for the funeral, deny that he belonged to any Islamic group.
For the past month, Kyrgyz security services, often with the help of their Uzbek colleagues, have launched a massive operation aimed at eradicating what the government here calls the serious threat of Islamic fundamentalism. But human rights groups have voiced concern that this label is often used to silence political dissent. The death of this hugely popular Imam could provoke a major public outcry among the deeply Islamic population of the Ferghana Valley.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/07/2006
09:13 ||
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#1
Damn shame! That everybody hasn't done this much sooner. Cut the head off the snake. If it becomes a hydra, just keep chopping.
#3
Sung to
There's a Boat That's Leavin'
from "Porgy & Bess"
George & Ira Gershwin
There's a ghost dat's jus' lef' for da virgins now.
Par-a-dise,
dat's where he belong, Jihadis.
Him an' da virgins live a high life in the sky.
He is ready - they'll be pouring him da mead, brother...
Authorities have been cracking down on what they call Islamic fundamentalism.
Mister Cause, permit me to introduce Mister Effect.
It's time to declare open season on all jihadist Islamic clergy, from the top mullahs right down to the lowliest muezzin. We need these maggots so scared that they're afraid to even whisper "death to America" for fear of being overheard.
The leaders of Somalia's crisis-ridden interim government say they have resolved their differences and agreed to dissolve the cabinet. Some 40 ministers have quit the cabinet over the prime minister's opposition to peace talks with the Islamist militias who control the capital, Mogadishu. The crisis had caused a rift between President Abdullahi Yusuf and Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Ghedi. Mr Ghedi's government controls little more than Baidoa, where it is based.
"The bloated cabinet of Ali Mohamed Ghedi's government did not do anything during its tenure," President Yusuf announced in parliament. "From today onwards, the government has been dissolved - only the prime minister will remain." Mr Ghedi was present during the announcement, which reportedly follows the intervention of Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin as mediator between the two factions in the Somali government.
"How about this, Ali. We'll toss out all those bothersome ministers and leave you in power. That work for you?"
"Ok"
Ethiopia is the main regional puppetmaster ally of the interim government.
The interim cabinet originally had over 100 members, not all of whom had been approved by parliament. In the past 10 days a succession of ministers left the government, and Mr Ghedi narrowly survived a parliamentary vote of no confidence on Saturday. Mr Ghedi's opponents within the government and parliament believe he should have done more to seek a settlement with the Union of Islamic Courts, whose militia have taken control of Mogadishu in recent months.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/07/2006
08:46 ||
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Make sure the tin foil is tight, this is a bumpy ride With Howie Kurtz and Tom Ricks:
KURTZ: Tom Ricks, "The New York Times" reported the other day, quote, "Israel is now fighting to win the battle of perceptions," which to me says the battle of headlines. And, in fact, an Israeli cabinet minister was quoted, not by name, as saying, "That the narrative at the end, is part of the problem." I'm starting to hear echoes of Iraq. That couldn't possibly be Olmert, could it?
RICKS: Echoes of Iraq, yes. But also the Israelis are very sophisticated in their handling of the media. They consider it part of the battlefield, officially. The word "narrative" always comes up with conversations with Israeli national security officials. They consider shaping the narrative, the battle for the narrative, to be key as part of any war fighting. So they see the media as part of the battlefield. And, in fact, there's some belief from our very objective reporters that they have occasionally targeted the media.
KURTZ: Tom Ricks, you've covered a number of military conflicts, including Iraq, as I just mentioned. Is civilian casualties increasingly going to be a major media issue? In conflicts where you don't have two standing armies shooting at each other?
THOMAS RICKS: I think it will be. But I think civilian casualties are also part of the battlefield play for both sides here. One of the things that is going on, according to some U.S. military analysts, is that Israel purposely has left pockets of Hezbollah rockets in Lebanon, because as long as they're being rocketed, they can continue to have a sort of moral equivalency in their operations in Lebanon. Sort of a longer term Coventry decision.
KURTZ: Hold on, you're suggesting that Israel has deliberately allowed Hezbollah to retain some of it's fire power, essentially for PR purposes, because having Israeli civilians killed helps them in the public relations war here?
RICKS: Yes, that's what military analysts have told me.
KURTZ: That's an extraordinary testament to the notion that having people on your own side killed actually works to your benefit in that nobody wants to see your own citizens killed but it works to your benefit in terms of the battle of perceptions here.
RICKS: Exactly. It helps you with the moral high ground problem, because you know your operations in Lebanon are going to be killing civilians as well.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/07/2006 9:41
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#3
Surely Israel is not that good...not only have they completely infiltrated the entire top leadership of Hizb'Allah, but they secretly replaced all of Beirut's coffee with Folgers' Crystals®!
An Israeli air strike has killed more than 40 people in the southern Lebanese border village of Houla, Lebanon's prime minister has said. Fouad Siniora told an Arab foreign ministers meeting in Beirut that there had been "a horrific massacre". At least 20 people died in earlier Israeli raids across Lebanon, as troops fought Hezbollah in the south. The violence comes after at least 15 people were killed in Israel on Sunday - the country's deadliest day so far. "An hour ago, there was a horrific massacre in the village of Houla in which more than 40 martyrs were victims of deliberate bombing," Mr Siniora told the meeting. He broke down during the address, in which he appealed to Arab states for support against Israel's "horrific actions".
The Israeli Defence Minister Amir Peretz has said Israel will step-up its offensive against Hezbollah rocket launching sites if the diplomatic process does not reach a successful conclusion. More than 900 Lebanese, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict, the Lebanese government says. More than 90 Israelis, most of them soldiers, have also been killed. Humanitarian groups say Israeli military action is hampering efforts to help many of the hundreds of thousands who have fled the fighting - sparked by the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah on 12 July.
AP News Alert: Corpse count less than 40
Aug 07 11:17 AM US/Eastern
BEIRUT, Lebanon
The Lebanese prime minister says only one person died in an Israeli air raid on the southern village of Houla, lowering the death toll from 40.
#4
Another 40 presumably hapless civies who chose to stay in contested area despite repeated warnings and numerous examples of what happened to those who remained in previous cases, example Qana.
Word of advice: If you're near the Syrian border and locals make it a habit of loading and off-loading trucks coming in and out of Syria in these perilous times, get out of town. Head north, ASAP.
If Hezbos are placing rocket and missile launchers near your village, head north, ASAP.
If Hezbos are stock-piling an arsenal in your local recreational center and or Mosque, head north, ASAP.
#8
Nothing will change when the fighting stops - everyone knows that..
Laughs!! EE3821, You have to separate your wishful thinking from what is real. Hizbollocks operatives are getting killed every hour. At some point enough will be killed to stop this.
And BTW, note the sense of panic that the Jooos are going to finish what we started. Why isn't the UN, etc saving us from our dimwhitiness?
We are Arabs we deserve to be saved from our own stupidity and feckless irresponsibility.
#9
Hizbollocks operatives are getting killed every hour. At some point enough will be killed to stop this.
phil_b, you're missing a point. Ask yourself, what proved to be the most effective IDF's tactic against Paleo suicide boomers? Now survey Lebjoke before July 12 and today.
#17
So who said it was 40? I notice in the original article the '40' number only appeared in the headline (and sub-headline) and only attributed to the PM without being an actual 'quote' or appearing anywhere else in the article.
Did the PM really say it was 40? Or did the BBC reporter pull this number out of his ass and simply attribute it by paraphrase to the PM?
Three more suspected criminals were killed in shootouts between their associates and the Rapid Action Battalion in Dhaka, Chittagong and Kushtia early Sunday, raising the crossfire death counts to 632 since June 2004.
Three bad guys get killed in seperate incidents and human rights groups think there's some kind of death squads running around.
In Dhaka, the battalion members arrested Masud Rana (1) , accused in a number of cases (2) , and took him out to Commissioner Bazar at West Nakhalpara to seize arms and nab his associates (3) .
As the team reached the spot at about 3:00am (4) , the associates of Masud opened fire (5) on the battalion members prompting them to retaliate (6) . At one stage, Masud sustained bullet wounds falling in line of crossfire when he tried to escape (7) and died on the spot (8) , the battalion claimed.
In Chittagong, a battalion team picked up Rabiul alias Surutta, (1) a top criminal listed with the Boalkhali police and wanted in half a dozen cases (2) , from Rajakhali early Saturday and took him to Ghoshkhali at Boalkhali to seize firearms. (3)
When the team went to the area at around 12:30am (4) , his accomplices opened fire on them (5) . The law enforcers also returned the fire resulting in a gunfight. (6)
Rabiul was hit by bullets while trying to escape from the spot. (7) He was taken to the local medical centre where the doctors declared him dead, (8) the battalion said.
Besides, a battalion team arrested Gopal (1) , a member of outlawed Biplabi Communist Party and accused in several cases (2) , from Chuadanga on Saturday and took him to Badyanathpur village under sadar upazila in Kushtia early Sunday to seize his arms. (3) As the team reached the village (4) , Gopals associates attacked them to snatch him away. (5) During the fight (6) , Gopal sustained bullet injuries (7) and died on the spot, (8) the battalion claimed.
Yup, totally different 'incidents'. Nothing to see here, move along
Posted by: Steve ||
08/07/2006
08:18 ||
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Vile George Galloway celebrated the Israeli farm deaths yesterday gloating they were getting a bloody good hiding. His sickening outburst came in an astonishing rant on Sky TV News.
The MP shouted throughout the live interview before blowing his top as images of the Hezbollah strike at Kfar Giladi were shown. Galloway was shown alongside the pictures in a split-screen. He beamed: They seem to be getting a bloody good hiding on the other half of the screen. Stunned presenter Anna Botting rebuked him. But Respect MP Galloway, 51, fired back: You do not give a damn. You believe Israeli blood is more valuable than the blood of the Lebanese.
Last night Labour MP Stephen Pound said: This man sinks to the depths then goes even further. It is insensitive. Galloway sparked outrage in May when he claimed an assassination of Tony Blair would be morally justified.
#1
Hey suprised Sky News didnt wheel out keith graves thier 'expert' (lol) on the mid east. Him and Galloway would get on extremely well i'm sure. Skys as bad as Al-Beeb these days folks, cancel it if you got it and if you havnt got it then do not get it unless you wanna be swamped with PC, terrorist pandering dick wads who even bother to interview c**ts like gallaway.
Posted by: Shep UK ||
08/07/2006 7:38
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#2
More like a bit of fecal material that refuses to flush.
#4
A c**nt of the highest order. The very pinnacle of c**ntdom. C**nt extraordinaire.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/07/2006 8:38
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"Insensitive"? Aw C'mon Mr. Pound. A learned British Gentleman should be able to come up wth a much more effective insult than that. Galloway needs a length of rope and a short drop.
The government of Iraq is secretly holding a Baathist cabal of military officers it claims attempted a coup against Prime Minister al-Maliki. The plotters were rounded up July 5 with the help of American military authorities after the Iraqi government's security warning center sent word to Mr. Maliki, who was in Kuwait on his first official visit as head of state, two highly placed Iraqi sources said. The prime minister quickly canceled a scheduled trip to Amman, Jordan, and returned to Baghdad to attend to the matter. At the time, Mr. Maliki's staff told reporters that the prime minister was cutting his trip short because of Iraq's "security situation."
In an interview last night, an adviser to Mr. Maliki and a member of parliament in Baghdad, Mithal al-Alusi, said a coup attempt indeed took place last month. He said the mutinous attempt to replace the elected government of Iraq was organized by military officers loyal to Saddam Hussein. "The Baathists were trying to have this coup, and people have been arrested and it has been stopped. There have been a lot of rumors as to who is behind this," Mr. Alusi said, referring to speculation that the plot may have involved a former interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, whose men worked with the CIA in 1995 to oust Saddam in a military coup.
#1
Ah, remember the critics who said we shouldn't have disbursed the old Iraqi army? Guess we needed even more old Baathis officer. Think they will shut up? Nah.
The High Court on Sunday issued a rule on the government and the Rapid Action Battalion to explain within two weeks why they should not be directed to ensure the safety and security of the person/s detained in their custody.
Humm, cause the general public doesn't feel safe and secure with them on the street
A High Court bench of Justice Syed Dastagir Husain and Justice Mamnun Rahman issued the order after hearing a public interest litigation writ petition filed by a human rights organisation, Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, seeking a court directive on the government and the RAB to protect the life of any person detained by the RAB.
Spoilsports.
Pleading for the petitioners, Manzill Murshid told the court that from the very beginning of RABs operation almost one person was killed everyday on an average.
Yep, that's what we counted.
The activities of the RAB are neither within the limits of the constitution nor within the bounds of any law of the land, he argued.
Seeing as the law of the land wasn't dealing with the various commie miscreants ...
The killing of arrested persons in the disguise of crossfire has denied the rights of every citizen to enjoy the protection of law, to be treated equally by the law, and deprived them of their inalienable rights to be treated only in accordance with the law, contended the counsel.
That's how it's done in civilized countries, though B'Desh hasn't yet made that list ...
After every crossfire killing, the RAB issues a statement that after hearing the confession of the arrestee, RAB personnel raid an area for seizure of arms and face resistance by his fellow gangsters, resulting in his death in crossfire, the counsel explained.
That's the correct macro.
Steps 1 through 8, they fell into a routine and the lawyers noticed
The death of suspected criminals either in custody or in the crossfire of the lawmen began with the death of Debashish Sarkar, who was shot on June 26, 2004 in Dhaka. He later died in the custody of the Rapid Action Battalion.
Ahhh, Debashish, we knew him -- briefly.
"He's dead, Jim"
The 100th man was killed in November 2004 while the 500th in March 2006. The 600th victim was Amjad Biswas, a suspected gang leader of the underground Naxal, when he was killed in the crossfire of the battalion at Ataikula in Pabna on July 6, 2006. Six hundred and thirty-two have so far been killed either in custody or in the crossfire.
And all of them were wanted on twelve systems.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2006
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#1
Is there an online petition we can sign to show our support for RAB? But if they do get closed down, how about a commemorative 'shutter gun and round of bullet' coaster set, diorama or role-playing-game?
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/07/2006 3:05
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#2
Any chance we can get the 'complainant' labled as a "Naxalite" and get them offed in a crossfire incident too?
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/07/2006 3:55
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How about an RAB World Tour where the guys visit Moscow, London, Washington, etc., instructing the local gendarmerie in techniques and training methods, and ride along to neighborhood hotspots?
Compelling television and it would foster loads of goodwill towards B'Desh!
#15
So did anyone ever figger out what a shutter gun is?
Maybe they meant a "stutter" (machine( gun.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/07/2006 12:31
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At the least, I hope the court will affirm the constitutional right of all Bangladeshis to own shutter guns.
Ever so useful as a club when the constitutional "one round of bullet" has been used up. Bobby, I think 6 found a picture somewhere. As I recall, it is not a machine gun, but rather something that takes a startling variety of ammunition, including smooth pebbles.
#2
That is thick heavy stuff isn't it? Japan is going to be hurting worse than the US. The Speculators will drive the prices higher but that is just a tiny impact in reality.
#3
According to the article BP needs to change out the piping; it's eroded faster than expected. Not a long term problem like in Nigeria where they are dealing with local insurgents kidnapping the workforce.
#1
Are they less vulnerable than the old passports? Perfection will never be achieved, but a stepchange improvement is worth doing. I think I'll get on with renewing our passports anyway.
#2
Good call TW. Other countries are starting to look hard, read delay, the old style passports if they are worn. The last thing anyone wants is to get delayed trying to leave a country.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/07/2006 10:22
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MEXICO CITY (AP) - Leftist candidate Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Sunday he was digging in for a long battle to ensure his ruling-party rival is not declared the winner of presidential elections, calling on supporters to demonstrate in front of the court that ruled against his demand for a full recount.
Because mass action is better than obeying the law.
Lopez Obrador told tens of thousands of followers in Mexico City's main Zocalo plaza that they should indefinitely man the sprawling, week-old protest camps that have brought much of the capital's normally thriving center to a halt. The blockades have snarled traffic, costing the city an estimated $23 million a day.
The former Mexico City mayor said that he would continue to demand a full recount in the presidential race, despite the Federal Electoral Tribunal's decision Saturday in favor of a partial recount. Electoral officials across the nation will begin sifting through ballots from 9 percent of the nation's 130,000 polling places on Wednesday, wrapping up their work by the weekend. An official count from the July 2 vote found that conservative Felipe Calderon of President Vicente Fox's National Action Party beat Lopez Obrador by less than 0.6 percent, or about 240,000 votes.
KFAR GILADI, Israel - Twelve Israeli soldiers were killed when a Hezbollah rocket landed among reservists in northern Israel on Sunday, the guerrilla groups deadliest single missile strike of the Lebanon war.
The army confirmed reservists called up for duty for ground operations in southern Lebanon had been killed in the attack on the Kfar Giladi communal farm, but did not say how many. Medics put the toll at 12, with dozens of people wounded.
Soldiers near the scene held their heads and one wept as a military ambulance pulled away. Helicopters landed nearby to fly the seriously wounded to hospitals further from the war front. Blood-stained army boots stood on a stone wall. Stretchers lay on the ground, covered in blood. One officer looked down at the bodies, some covered by blankets, and shook his head in disbelief.
I dont recall so many dead ever. This is terrible, said Ron Valensi, head of the upper Galilee municipal council and a resident of Kfar Giladi, on Channel 2 Television.
The attack occurred near the communal farms graveyard, not far from the Lebanese border. Smoke rose from two destroyed cars. Trees burned in the aftermath of the attack, sending plumes of smoke into the air.
Medics said several soldiers among the wounded were in critical condition. The casualties bring to 45 the number of people killed in northern Israel in rocket strikes since war broke out on July 12 after Hezbollah seized two soldiers in a cross-border raid. At least 153 rockets landed across northern Israel on Sunday, police said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2006
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#1
That's very saddening, but I cant help questionning myself why these soldiers didn't go to the shelters when they heard the alarm, as did the civilians of Kfar Giladi? I hope that from now IDF soldiers will be more carefull. They are doing a great job, protecting Israel and the life of all Israelis, but they shouldn't forget their own lives.
#2
After 4000 missiles this was bound to happen. During GW1, a Saddam missile hit US barracks in Saudi Arabia in the last days of the conflict. Hopefully, the Hizbis won't get lucky again.
#3
The Radical Islamists and aligned terror groups have had since the Lebanese civil war and 1980's to pre-sight all of Israel, or at least major or significant targets, just as Israel has had same to gather INTEL.
#4
In every conflict, armies screw up. Mistakes often occur toward the end of conflict or under circumstances where one side lets its guard down.
Recall in the Falklands War (1982), Brits' single greatest loss of life occurred when a jam-packed troop-ship was offloading. Two Argentine aircraft made it through air defenses and struck the vessel. This incident occurred near the end of that conflict, just about the time the UK had won the day.
In the first Persian Gulf War (1991), the single greatest loss of American lives also occurred within hours of victory. I believe it was a Penn. Quartermaster Unit of National Guardsmen that sat down to eat dinner in a hanger at a Riyadh airbase when a Scud missle crashed through and killed about 28 of them.
And now this incident. While the IDF has not won the day yet, it appears these reservists had taken a rather cavalier attitude towards theie own safety.
One concern expresssed by Col. David Hunt and others on Fox News is that the IDF does not seem all that concerned in restricting news outlets to film, often live, IDF staging areas. Often the footage is accompanied by commentators saying stuff like this: "The Israeli infantry and armored units are preparing to go into Lebanon. We're just about a mile from Lebanese territory and maybe three miles from the hilltop town of whatever. Back to you, Brian."
Perhaps Hezbos have figured out that by watching network and cable news, they just need to adjust their rockets and pour a number of them right at the border.
#9
On NPR tonight they reported there just are not enough shelters for the troops in the field, who often enough are literally camped in the fields awaiting movement to the front, far from buildings with safe rooms and such. These brave men simply got caught on the wrong side of the statistics. Yitgadal v'yitkadash Sh'mai rabah. Magnified and sanctified is God's Name.
#10
Let's keep some perspective here. However dreadful the loss may be (and it is), that's thousands of missiles and only a few dozen IDF or Israelis killed by them. We're looking at, what?, hundreds of missile to kill just one individual.
Whilst offing Hezbollah leadership and troops must remain a priority, the time to begin torching the rocket command in Anjar and the actual manufacturing sites is long overdue.
SUCRE, Bolivia - President Evo Morales launched his ambitious drive to give more power and opportunity to Bolivias Indian majority on Sunday when he officially opened a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the nations constitution.
Bolivia is living in a revolution, said Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera. Those who have been excluded for 514 years, who have been marginalized for 514 years, those who have hidden in the basement during these 514 years today reclaim their right to equality, citizenship, and prosperity. Not with bullets, but with votes, with words, and with leadership.
Morales said a new era had begun with the start of the assembly. But there are challenges ahead for Morales Movement Toward Socialism party, or MAS, which holds only a thin majority in the assembly _ not the two-thirds needed to control the body outright.
Conservatives, many from eastern provinces, want to keep more of their wealth from being consumed by socialist programs. And a proposal to grant states greater autonomy from the central government won overwhelming support in the wealthier eastern and southern states during a July 2 national referendum.
Bolivias current constitution was adopted in 1967 under Rene Barrientos Ortuno, who rose to power in a military coup and was then elected president. Morales, who rose to political prominence as leader of a coca growers union, wants not only to give the indigenous community more say in government but also to place more state controls over the free-market economy, following the nationalization of Bolivias natural gas industry on May 1.
That transfer of power will depend heavily on Quechua Indian political activist Sylvia Lazarte, elected Friday as assembly president. Just how Lazarte should run the assembly already is the subject of spirited debate.
Bolivian law requires that the text of the new constitution be approved by two-thirds of the assembly. But it is silent on whether the body needs such a majority to attend to administrative chores such as appointing committees and setting agendas. MAS delegates want to run the assembly by simple majority.
And if that doesn't work, they'll try colored ballots, new rules, intimidation of delegates, and whatever else they need to do.
Delegates from the conservative party Podemos have called for a two-thirds vote on all assembly actions. If MAS makes all decisions by simple majority, half of the population will feel excluded, said Podemos delegate Jose Luis Aruquipa.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2006
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Where's a CIA operative with a bullet when you need him?
ISLAMABAD In an unprecedented move, 28 officials of Airport Police Station in Rawalpindi were arrested on Saturday on charges of dereliction of duty, but their incharge station house officer (SHO) escaped arrest.
Senior police officials ordered the arrests after a man wanted for murder, kidnapping and robbery escaped from the police station. A case was filed against 38 policemen, but 10 including the SHO Inspector Malik Sher Mohammad are still on the run.
The wanted man, Banaris Khan, was arrested two days ago in a kidnapping for ransom case and was being interrogated by SI Munawar Khan in Rawalpindi Airport Police Station. On Friday night, Khan sought permission to use the toilet. Constable Naveed escorted Khan to the toilet and was supposed to stand guard until Khan came out. The constable got a call on his mobile phone and Khan seized on the opportunity to flee.
The old "sorry, sarge, I gotta call from my girlfriend" ruse.
Azhar Akram, Supervisory Police Officer (SPO) Airport Police Station, lodged an FIR against the cops said he suspected dereliction of duty if not a conspiracy to allow the Banaris Khan to escape. No effort was made by the police station staff to trace the escapee, the SPO Azhar Akram said in the FIR.
I'm guessing it wasn't simple dereliction ...
The detained policemen were produced in the court of Civil Judge Malik Imran Shahbaz who sent them to Adiala jail for 24 days and directed the authorities to produce them in the court on August 29, 2006.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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And the four guys lifting him are getting trusses.
CARACAS - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that his Cuban counterpart, Fidel Castro, was already getting out of bed and on his way to a full recovery.
He's getting the best western medicine has to offer, which fortunately for him (and not for us) is a lot better than the best Cuban medicine has to offer ...
Speaking by telephone to Bolivian President Evo Morales during his regular Sunday television talk show Hello President, Chavez said he had gotten new information about the ailing Cuba leader and that Castro was improving after his gastrointestinal operation announced last Monday. This morning I learned that he is very well, is already getting out of bed, is talking more than he should because he talks a lot. We sent our regards, Chavez said to Morales on the program.
While Castro does talk alot when he's healthy, that doesn't mean he's talking now.
Chavez said he was ready to visit his old friend, addressing Castro on the air. Youre expecting my visit there so that we can drink a tsunami, an energy drink Fidel makes with 151 proof rum soy milk, an old cigar oatmeal and blood from a female dissident I dont know how many other things, Chavez added in his first broadcast in nearly two months.
It's an energy drink! It's embalming fluid! It's an energy drink and embalming fluid!
Since his return to Venezuela Thursday, Chavez had avoided mentioning Cuba or Castro, feeding speculation that the Cuban leader was in much worse shape than authorities in Havana had let on.
Just coordinating his strategy with that shifty Raul ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2006
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#1
Hurry up and die a horrible death please Fidel, the sane world will not shed a tear for your passing into hell. lol just fck off and die Fidel.
Posted by: Shep UK ||
08/07/2006 7:25
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A few hours after a Franco-American draft for a UN Security Council resolution was released, pro-Hezbollah lobbies and allies launched a campaign to hijack the response of Lebanon to the United Nations. As noted by seasoned observers the campaign started at the top with an alert release by News Agency Reuters written by Lin Noueihed. The article, put out early Sunday has reached the four corners of the Globe and its title has framed the position of the Lebanese people in a "no" to the UN expected resolution.
Amazingly enough, Lin Noueihid titles her release "Lebanon rejects draft UN resolution." But when you read the release you realize that the "representative" of all of Lebanon in the eyes of the Reuters reporter is no one other than pro-Syrian, Hezbollah ally, Nabih Berri, the leader of Shiite Movement Amal. Basing her entire report on one of the most powerful supporters of the Syrian occupation and who heads a militia allied to Hezbollah, Noueihid gives Berri the full power of the credibility of Reuters. This title will find itself printed from Yahoo to the last local newsletter in the Fidji islands.
Evidently, local editors around the world trust Reuters as they trust the Red Cross, and will conclude that indeed "Lebanon" has rejected a UN resolution, while in reality, it is Tehran-Damascus-Hezbollah axis that rejected it, and unfortunately a Reuters writer framed it otherwise. But leaders of the civil society, NGOs, members of Parliament and cadres from the Cedars Revolution said just the opposite.
Reuters quotes Berri stating that "their resolution will either drop Lebanon into internal strife or will be impossible to implement," which in fact reveals his intents and those of Hezbollah: If the UN resolution is voted Hezbollah and its allies will attack the Lebanese Government and the Cedars Revolution
Commenting from Beirut, Human Rights activist and Cedars Revolution Human Rights officer Kamal Batal said the "Reuters framing of Lebanon's answer to the UN is a hijacking of the opinions of millions of Lebanese. The popular majority in Lebanon wants to end the War now and the disbanding of all militias," he said.
Analyzing Reuters' release closely George Chaya, Director for the Lebanese Information Office for Latin America in Buenos Aires said "it is not really a coincidence that Lin Nouaihid twisted realities and induced millions of readers around the world into error in perception. From a thorough review of Nouaihid's previous campaigns through Reuters and other media, you can easily see her framings in the Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Koran affairs in addition to her postings on radical web sites. Nouaihid has all the freedom to express her ideological positions but Reuters credibility as a fair and professional news agency are now damaged."
In fact the Lebanese Government of Fouad Seniora has stated that the UN draft doesn't meet their requirements of a real solution. Seniora and his colleagues wanted a stronger UN resolution that would help Lebanon regain its control of its land. Berri's position is different: he is opposed to any UN resolution that would give Lebanon's army international support to disarm the militia.
Lebanon's framing is not new. During the long and terrible wars of Lebanon from 1975 until 2000, writers in news agencies and journalists such as Jonathan Randall, Thierry DesJardins, Robert Fisk and others sculpted the perception of Lebanon at their discretion and often against the thinking process of Lebanon's popular majority.
Dr Walid Phares is a Senior Fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and a Visiting Fellow with the European Foundation for Democracies.
#4
Reuters is about to drop dead. This will be the fastest death among the MSM ever recorded. It took decades for CBS to turn cold. Reuters death could mark the beginning of a new era.
#5
Amazingly enough, Lin Noueihid titles her release
Traditionally, newswire reporters simply submit their articles and their editors are responsible to assign headlines as well as edit content. Furthermore, independent news organizations that hold subscriptions to newswire feeds are under no obligation to use the original headline and can edit for content by omitting some of information.
At least 21 people were killed across Iraq on Sunday, as US reinforcements rolled into some of the most violent districts of Baghdad to halt Iraqs slide towards civil war. Fifteen people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the midst of mourners in Tikrit, the hometown of former president Saddam Hussein, police said. At least 30 others were wounded in the attack, they added. The suicide bomber arrived at a hall located in the centre of Tikrit where people were gathered to mourn the death of the father of provincial council member Saab Abd Badaywi. The bomber parked an explosive-laden car outside the building and then entered the hall where he blew himself up, a police officer said.
An Interior Ministry official said that clashes between Iraqi security forces and Mehdi militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr had also erupted in Baghdads Shiite dominated Sadr City district. Units of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team were deployed in flashpoint districts in the west of the capital, which in recent weeks has seen hundreds of civilians murdered by sectarian death squads. As they arrived in Baghdad, the blasts of two roadside bombs echoed around the city and security forces recovered 20 corpses across Baghdad four Iraqi soldiers and 16 civilians who had been tortured and shot dead, police said. One bomb wounded two Iraqi police commandos and two civilians in the Jihad neighbourhood, an Interior Ministry official said. The Stryker Brigade had already completed 12 months in the restive region around the northern city of Mosul, and had begun to head home to Alaska when they were ordered to Baghdad for the next 120 days.
General George Casey, the head of coalition troops in Iraq, said last week on a US military website that the Baghdad deployment was key to his strategy. Two months ago, Iraqs Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced a plan to restore security by deploying 43,000 Iraqi police and army and just over 7,000 US troops around Baghdad. But the plan has failed to contain the violence, as daily bombings target police and civilians and faceless death squads kidnap, torture and shoot more than a dozen victims daily.
Continued on Page 49
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#1
related, Baghdad Monday, August 07, 2006 2:02 AM
A C-130H Spectre like a C-130 is firing its rounds for the past 90 minutes on the Far East side of Sadr City they are using there Vulcan Canons and some Airborne artillery shells. I have no Idea whats happening on the ground. I also hear Fighter planes in the Air.
The Mahdi Army are firing Back with what? all I hear are shoots from AK-47 And medium machine guns firing everywhere.. spread the news Now!!
Seems the word on the street is TRUE!
Update: it seems to have ended now "word on the street" says "it was a limited operation" one house was distroyed, yabks and APC's were also involved.
Jordan's military court on Sunday sentenced two Islamist lawmakers to prison terms of up to two years for instigating sectarian strife by praising al-Qaida leader, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi at his wake. Mohammed Abu Fares was sentenced to two years in jail and fined 400 Jordanian dinars (US$ 585.50 or euros 441.74) and Ali Abu Sukkar to 1 years and fined 200 Jordanian dinars (US$ 284.25 or euros 220.87) for their "provocative" remarks about al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed by US forces June 7. The court said their prison terms began with their arrest on June 12. The defendants provoked widespread domestic indignation when they paid their condolences at the family home of al-Zarqawi.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Imagine the international indignation if Israel were to confict some of its Arab MK for supporting terrorism.
IDF forces identified two suspicious persons close to the security fence near Jenin on Sunday afternoon. After searching the area, the force uncovered an explosive device weighing 20 kilograms, Central Command spokesmen reported. Border Guard Police sappers later detonated the explosive device.
Posted by: Fred ||
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I suppose it's be a lot of work to repackage the explosive into something they could "return to sender"?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/07/2006 12:45
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The IDF, operating in southern Lebanon on Sunday evening, destroyed two rocket launchers that have been used to fire rockets at Israel. A third launcher was destroyed by the army earlier in the evening.
Posted by: Fred ||
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No they were not launchers but fruit picking machines and a fluffy kitten mobile hospital.
At least 15 people have been killed after a bomber blew himself up in the midst of mourners in Tikrit, the hometown of former president Saddam Hussein. At least 30 others were wounded in the attack, police said. The bomber arrived at a hall located in the centre of Tikrit where people were gathered to mourn the death of the father of provincial council member Saab Abd Badaywi. He parked an explosive-laden car outside the building and then entered the hall where he blew himself up, a police officer said. The toll was expected to rise as many victims were caught in the debris after the roof of the hall caved in following the explosion. The rescue effort was hampered because the bomber's car was outside the building.
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Lashkar-e-Jhangvi leader Muhammad Ajmal alias Akram Lahori was shifted to Central Jail Hyderabad from Karachi on Sunday. Lahori succeeded Riaz Basra as the chief of Lashkar, after Basra was killed in Mailsi, Multan, on May 14, 2002.
Lahori is accused of killing Ehtishamuddin Haider, the brother of former federal interior minister Moinuddin Haider, and Pakistan State Oil managing director Shoukat Raza Mirza. He is also a prime suspect in the massacre at Mehmoodabad Imambargah, and the murder of Iranian military cadets in Rawalpindi. Lahori was arrested in Orangi Town, Karachi, on June 17, 2002.
Ahmed Omar Shaikh, the man convicted for the abduction and killing of US journalist Daniel Pearl and awaiting execution, and three of his accomplices undergoing life imprisonment, are also at Hyderabad Central Jail.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006
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Is this the one getting daily Ayurvedic massages and special meals sent in?
Syria's foreign minister yesterday offered to join militant group Hezbollah in its fight against Israel and said a regional war would be "most welcome" as more than 30 people in Israel and Lebanon were killed on one of the worst days since the conflict began. But as the attempts at diplomacy continued, Syria's foreign minister, Walid Muallem, defiantly trumpeted his country's support for Hezbollah and warned that Syria was ready for "the possibility of a regional war if the Israeli aggression continues. If you wish, I'm ready to be a soldier at the disposal of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah [the Hezbollah leader]," he said.
"Hassan, we will defend you with our blood!"
"If Israel attacks Syria by any means, on the ground, in the air, our leadership ordered the armed forces to reply immediately"
Walid Muallem, Syrian foreign minister
He was speaking after crossing into neighbouring Lebanon in the first visit by a senior Syrian official since Damascus - under international and Lebanese pressure - ended a 29-year military presence there last year. Asked if he feared the conflict in Lebanon could spill over into a regional war, Mr Muallem said: "Most welcome. If Israel attacks Syria by any means, on the ground, in the air, our leadership ordered the armed forces to reply immediately," he added. Mr Muallem also lashed out at the draft UN resolution, describing it as a prescription "for the continuation of the war". He said: "It's not fair for Lebanon, therefore it's a plan for the possibility of the eruption of civil war in Lebanon and nobody, nobody, nobody has anything to gain from that happening, except Israel."
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had the following statement for the press: " ..... ."
#4
ISRAEL AMBASSADOR ON FOX > neither Syria or Iran see any borders between their nations and Lebanon = Israel: IOW, Lebanon doesn't exist as sovereign or independent as far as Damascus andor Tehran is concerned. Where IRAN PER SE is concerned, this view potentially also applies to Syria per se, as well as Jordan per se, pragmatically once Israel surreally goes down for the count. By the ambassador's scope Israel is already fighting against Syria and Iran.
#6
The elephant in the room remains seated until November and not a moment later.
Time is running out on Syria and Iran. The twelfth Imam will hatch soon and all hell will break loose. Stay tuned.
#10
I think this says Assad is not in control, fearing for his life. He may want to negotiate for protection...get the list for Mossad and we'll arrange a nice vacation spot on the Mediterranean.
#14
"If Israel attacks Syria by any means, on the ground, in the air, our leadership ordered the armed forces to reply immediately..."
Really? Kidnap a couple Syrian soldiers and see if Syria is willing to play by the same rules they demand of Israel--complete military restraint. (Course you'd have to find the Syrian soldiers when they're not in women's clothing.)
#16
Syria's foreign minister, Walid Muallem said: "If you wish, I'm ready to be a soldier at the disposal of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah"
Bill Clinton once said: "The Israelis know that if the Iraqi or the Iranian army came across the Jordan River, I would personally grab a rifle, get in a ditch, and fight and die."
(He didn't mention Syrians, so he would luck out here.)
Do you suppose Walid Muallem is more or less sincere than former President Clinton?
HAVANA, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Fidel Castro's illness has renewed interest in a legend of Cuba's patron saint predicting the death of a terrible ruler in the fourth decade of his reign. Stories about the prediction are making the rounds on the Internet -- with some variations -- the Miami Herald said Saturday.
The legend begins in the 1850s and goes something like this:
A Spanish priest, San Antonio María Claret, had been sent to Cuba to become archbishop of Santiago de Cuba, coincidentally Castro's home province. While riding his horse through Sierra Maestra -- also coincidentally Castro's mountain rebel stronghold in the mid-1950s -- he saw La Virgen de la Caridad del Cobre in a vision.
She relayed to him the future of Cuba in the hands of a leader that resembled Castro -- long hair, a beard, a uniform, bearing weapons with followers who look just like him.
He would promise reforms to the Cuban people but betray, imprison, divide and inflict them with great pain and heartache.
Claret said the virgin told him the ruler would rule for four decades, and Cuba would be devastated during this time. However, the young man would grow old and die -- and Cuba would be free.
I like that prophecy. ¡Cuba libre!
Posted by: Mike ||
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World leaders-nations ignore the Virgin Mary at their peril. The meaning of the Angel holding the sword ala FATIMA is that, like any person or good farmer trying to save good fruit, the bad part(s) of the fruit = earth will be excised/cut off in order to save the remainder. NOTHING IN THE UNIVERSE CAN STOP GABRIEL'S SWORD EXCEPT GOD/CHRIST - EARTH'S "SPHERE" > LOSE A "EVIL PORTION" OF ITSELF. Most of the physical earth + large part of mortal humanity will survive the cataclysm. Iff mankind still refuses to turn to God for salvation, this surviving "fruit" will itself suffer ever-worse conflagration(s) unto total destruction = smithereenies/space dust. Asteroids + Planet X + Moon/Solar explosions, etal > LIGHT STUFF. DON'T BE SAYING WITHOUT SAYING "MAN IS GOD" OR "MAN MUST CONTROL GOD-UNIVERSE" ETC. BUT THEN FAIL TO DO GODLY THINGS, EVEN WITH YEARS AND DECADES OF ADVANCE WARNINGS.
USING THE MSM-HOLLYWIERD TO DENY OR HIDE THAT EVENTS TOOK PLACE ISN'T GONNA CUT IT BECUZ BIGGER THINGYS WILL SENT TOWARDS EARTH. And no even the UNO or the Global MIC will be able to hide it, or let alone stop it.
#5
Dear JosephM posts out of Guam, as he's said on occasion. Usually when observing airplanes flying overhead, and suchlike extremely useful information.
#12
I know physically they couldn't, but I always harken to the "it could be worse" mantra. Just imagine if Joe and mucky had a kid and that kid started posting here at RB? Not only lots of non-sense, but phonetically spelled at that!
Posted by: BA ||
08/07/2006 21:04
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(SomaliNet) At least four people have been killed and three more were wounded in clashes in the port town of Kismayo of southern Somalia between troops loyal to Juba valley authority and militia on Sunday. The clashes began as Juba valley troops raided a militiaman alleged for murdering many people in the town earlier. Reports say the troops chased the man to capture him but encountered a strong resistance from him causing casualties. The murder suspect was among the dead people killed in the battle with the rest of the three others were the security forces of the towns authority. The clashes lasted for several minutes.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006
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Peace activist Cindy Sheehan is returning to Crawford, TX for her second summer in hopes of meeting with President Bush - and this time she's staying. Sheehan recently purchased five acres near the presidential ranch with insurance money she received after her oldest son, Casey, died fighting in Iraq in 2004.
Sheehan recently purchased five acres near the presidential ranch with insurance money she received after her oldest son, Casey, died fighting in Iraq...
Cindy also says she will march towards the President's ranch to the roadblocks manned by the Secret Service. She believes during the next few weeks, other protesters will join the other fifty already camped out in the soaring temperatures. "We needed to either rent a bigger property or buy something," explains Sheehan, "and we were having trouble finding something to rent. So, I decided to buy something. And when we don't need Camp Casey anymore, when the troops are home, and after we use it as a peace camp, I'm going to donate the property to the town of Crawford to use as a park."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006
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Here's hoping that Fred never runs out of hotties for the morning paper and resorts to THIS....
Cookie tossing in 5, 4, 3,...
#2
The really sad part of this -- for those of us who live in the area -- well, we get too much coverage of the minute to minute happenings than I really want to process through my brain.
But the other side? Look to the skies. Lots and lots of those jet contrails showing up. They just seem to suddenly begin to appear, and I smile, knowing W is in town... and we got some folks above, keeping eyes open. I smile and from inside my car, wave to them and send a silent "Thank you, glad you are in the neighborhood. You want a glass of ice tea?"
A Palestinian terrorist threw a Molotov cocktail at a passing car driven by Israeli civilians close to Salam, near Nablus. No casualties were reported. IDF forces were searching the area shortly after the event.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Lion of Islam again eh lol
Posted by: Shep UK ||
08/07/2006 7:26
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What kind of gun laws does Israel have? Can you have a gun in your car?
Afghan troops and police killed 17 rebels and wounded another five in two separate clashes in the southern province of Helmand, police said on Sunday. Three insurgents were killed and one was wounded in a firefight with police in Garmser district on Saturday afternoon, district police chief Ghulam Rasoul Aka told AFP. Following the incident Afghan soldiers and police launched a joint search in the district overnight. This sparked a battle lasting several hours with the Taliban in which 14 insurgents were killed, he said. At least 14 Taliban bodies are still at the site of the clash from the overnight battle. Four Taliban were also wounded, said Aka. No soldiers or police were hurt in either encounter, he said.
I love it when that happens.
In neighbouring Kandahar province on Sunday a suspected suicide bomber struck a coalition convoy and at least one US soldier was wounded, said Mohammad Anwar, an Afghan highway police official at the site.
Two Afghan border police were killed and two were missing after armed men stormed a checkpoint in northwestern Afghanistan, police said Sunday. A group of unknown armed men attacked the police post overnight in Murghab district of Badghis province, provincial police chief general Shir Ali said. Two border police are martyred and two are still missing after an attack on their post in Murghab district, Ali said. It is too early to blame the attack on anyone. We are investigating the issue now, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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No runs, no hits, and no errors as the Coalition pitches another shutout against the Taliban Wankers.
Fifteen local employees of a French charity have been found shot dead in the strife-torn town of Muttur in northern Sri Lanka, aid workers say. An official from the group, Action Against Hunger, said the bodies had been found in the agency's office.
A pro-Tamil Tiger website blamed the government for the killings but the military rejected the claim.
The Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies, which found the bodies of the aid workers, said it was unclear who had committed the killings. The director-general of Action Against Hunger, Benoit Miribel, said the organisation had not suffered such a loss in its 25 years of existence. He said the group had wanted to send a team to the area but was prevented by soldiers. "Our sympathy is with the families of the victims and with all the civilians affected by this massacre, whose scale is not known," Mr Miribel said.
The ethnic-Tamil aid workers had been working on post-Asian tsunami relief and reconstruction. A pro-Tamil Tiger website blamed the government for the killings but the military rejected the claim.
Posted by: Fred ||
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ISRAELI forces carried out new bombing raids on Beirut's southern suburbs today, launching six bombs on districts in the Hizbollah stronghold area. At least six explosions were heard and a massive cloud of white smoke billowed over the area,, AFP correspondents on the scene said. Three buildings were flattened on Hadi Nasrallah avenue, the main street of the suburbs which have suffered massive devastation since Israel launched a military onslaught after Hezbollah's July 12 capture of two Israeli soldiers. One of the destroyed buildings collapsed, blocking the way on the street named after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah's son, Hadi, who died in a military operation against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon in 1997.
Posted by: Fred ||
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ahhh the sweet sound of secondaries. Let the music play!
Sunday's deadly Katyusha attacks in Kfar Giladi and Haifa could change the way Israel relates to the US-French draft resolution at the UN Security Council calling for a cessation of hostilities, senior diplomatic officials said Sunday evening. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was expected to hold meetings deep into the night with the top security-brass to discuss the ramifications of Sunday's attacks, and whether to widen the scope of the present operations. "This may change everything," one senior official said.
The attacks may re-open discussions in the government and in the IDF on whether to launch a final push to the Litani River. Over the last few days, divisions have emerged between Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz, with Peretz favoring a push to the Litani, and at one point late last week instructing the army to draw up plans, but Olmert arguing that it would not be necessary since the missiles could continue to be launched from further north of the river.
Olmert prevailed, and the issue was not even raised at a meeting of the Forum of Seven, Olmert's kitchen cabinet, that met Saturday night. However, government officials said, the recent events could change matters.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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Personally, I do hope that the IDF will be permitted by Olmert to reach the Litani.
I dont understand the strange argument of Olmert, replying to Peretz that he opposes this move because the Hezbonuts would still be able to fire missiles from the other bank of the Litani.
As most of the rockets fired by the Hezboschmucks have a range of 17 km (correct me if I am wrong), reaching the Litani, which is mostly 20 km far from Israel northern border, would put an end to the firing of those rockets on Israel. There would still be the permanent danger of the syrian missiles that have been fired on Haifa, Afula and Hadera, but, then, the IAF would have less targets to search and destroy, and would be able to concentrate its fire on those remaining missile launchers.
So, I hope Peretz will prevail. I criticized him some days ago, but I was wrong: it seems that it's Olmert who is slowing down, not Peretz.
#2
They have fired some from Bekaa Valley locations well beyond Litani. Also, IDF generals, not this shithead schmuck Peretz are afraid of a large Israeli unit being trapped, cut off and killed if they penetrate too far. Supply lines are vulnerable. Elaborate traps and ambushes have already been executed and Israelis can't get wounded out in timely fashion. So, maybe they don't want a spearhead column penetrating so deeply just yet.
But then, I hope Olmert will give the IDF time to expand carefully but strongly till the Litani, even if this needs 2 or 3 weeks more.
Wouldn't it be a disaster to allow a part of Hezbonuts infrastructure to remain between Israel and the Litani ?
Anyway, what proof do we have that the UN will REALLY send a strong enough international force with the right to fight, and the will to dismantle Hezboschmuck, and to stop Syrian and Iranian weapons to enter Lebanon ?
Israel shall protect itself, and not rely on the UN.
#4
what proof do we have that the UN will REALLY send a strong enough international force with the right to fight, and the will to dismantle Hezboschmuck, and to stop Syrian and Iranian weapons to enter Lebanon?
I think it safe to take as an article of faith as basic as one's belief/non-belief in the existence of God that the UN will not send a strong enough force to do any of those things, and actually any force they do send will be counterproductive rather than helpful.
#5
I have complete faith that the UN will flounder and never really get any resolution out the door, let alone UN troops into Leb. Israel will have all the time it needs to get this job done, I for one hope they go slow and steady. Once complete, they will call the UN and ask for help with the humanitarian mission.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/07/2006 8:35
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#6
If the United NAtions cannot take a stand clearly against PRIVATE religious militias, that is going to send a bad message.
Where are all the "international lawyers" on this subject?
Posted by: J. D. Lux ||
08/07/2006 11:32
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Sixty militants trained in Pakistan have recently sneaked into the border- districts of Indian-held Kashmir, an Indian police official said on Sunday. Infiltration is going on . It has increased. As per rough estimates around 60 militants have infiltrated into Poonch and Rajouri recently, Jammu Inspector General of Police, SP Vaid told reporters.
Indian police, army and paramilitary forces are determined to scuttle the militants plans to escalate violence in Indian-held Kashmir, Vaid said, adding that in the past six months the security forces captured and killed 40 militants, out of which 16 were nabbed while 28 had surrendered. Those who surrendered included nine youths who were rescued while being sent to Azad Kashmir for arms training, he said. He said that 46 rifles and 138 kilogrammes of explosive material were recovered from the captured militants and their hideouts.
The police official said that Lashkar-e-Taiba militants were responsible for the Kulhand massacre on May 1, in which 19 people were killed. He said that those responsible including two foreigners had been identified, and a man identified as Khursheed Ahmad had been arrested in this connection and was being charge-sheeted in court. The remaining militants were hardcore militants, he said, adding that meeting with them will take place during encounters.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006
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Thousands of Congolese have fled clashes between troops loyal to General Laurent Nkunda and the Congolese army in the eastern town of Sake. At least 18 civilians, 17 government soldiers and two soldiers from Nkunda's brigade were wounded in the gun battle, UN officials said. Two government soldiers were killed in the clashes, the government said.
Democracy thing is working well, eh?
The UN said there was nothing to worry about after a deal was reached between Commanders of Nkunda's fighters and the army's 9th brigade to withdraw both forces from the town...
The clashes are less than one week after the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) held its first multiparty elections in more than 40 years, aimed at cementing peace after a 1998-2003 war during which Nkunda rebelled against Kinshasa. The UN said there was nothing to worry about after a deal was reached between Commanders of Nkunda's fighters and the army's 9th brigade to withdraw both forces from the town. But women carrying children on their backs and men bearing suitcases or mattresses walked in long lines along the road to the provincial capital Goma, 20 kms (13 miles) to the east, near to the Rwandan border. "The firing has stopped. There are fears and apprehensions. There was a small misunderstanding but there is nothing to worry about," Brigadier General GV Satyanarayana, commander of United Nations forces in North Kivu, told Reuters in Sake.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The UN said there was nothing to worry about...
You'd think they'd know by now that that's Kofi-speak for "Run for your lives!"
#3
There was a small misunderstanding but there is nothing to worry about," Brigadier General GV Satyanarayana, commander of United Nations forces in North Kivu, told Reuters in Sake.
These people are right next to Rawanda. They know what to expect when Kofi's clowns say stuff like this, genocide is right around the corner.
Posted in Ops as this is as much an Op in the Soddy War on Civilization as any ordnance. And possibly more lethal.
The vast number of unemployed Moro residents in the country will have new opportunities at employment once giant food companies adapt the Muslims halal practices in food production.
"Or else."
Sheikh Salih D. Musa, an Islamic scholar from this city and concurrently the secretary-general of National Halal Fatwa Council, said he was hopeful that unemployment, a plague among Moro Muslim communities, would be reduced when the country gets its slice in supplying halal-certified products to the Middle Eastern countries. The council would be the certifying body for halal foods and Musa disclosed that one of the policies in certifying halal products was requiring companies that there must be Muslim workers in the supply and production divisions of food companies to monitor that no haram components would be mixed or added in the process. Halal means permissible or lawful, and its opposite is haram, which literally means unlawful or forbidden.
It's always either-or for this crowd, ain't it?
Musa has scored the continued discrimination against the Moro saying that it is a fact that employers are reluctant to accept Muslims to work in their companies out of distrust and prejudice. However, should they want their products to be certified Halal, they should hire Muslim workers. he stressed.
"Really, it would be for the best. Trust me on this."
#3
There are some problems here. The poverty and disease on the Moro islands is frightening. Every time I go there I wonder why more are not fighting. The Phil government is flat broken and corrupt. They could care less about the southern islands and send very little federal money there. Marcos also set a violent course here, purges-relocations-land grabs etc... What does get there is taken by the corrupt political officials and to some extent the military. About four years ago I outfitted a clinic with meds and other supplies and before I even left the site the military was there taking it all, for safe storage I was told. When I told the guy to get fucked and to put it back I was met with some not so friendly troops and the Phil LTC told me it was a dangerous island and I might not get out of here. Events like this, not uncommon either, gave the Soddies opportunity to come in and influence the people and turn them even further against the government. The good news in all this is the US military is there providing advise and after the first year of rooting out the asses, like the one I met, the Phil military is straight and honest as long as we are there. Once we leave, all bets are off. Bottom line with the Moros is the Soddies are going to win this one with humanitarian aid and infrastructure. With the aid comes influence, they have a jump on us with that one and the Moros.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/07/2006 9:21
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#4
Pan, I totally understand what terrible conditions the Moros live in and under. It is truly shameful. But you know, I know, and the readers of Rantburg know that even if Moro becomes the (bad pun warning) Mecca of halal meat, the vast majority of Moro families will continue to live in squalor. Their wimminz will veil, their sons sent off to madari and weapons training with JI, the daughters sent to Soddiland as playthings. Another generation or so and we'll see some high-quality seething, even with the newfound "prosperity" that will be carefully granted to just the right tribesmen. Sigh.
#5
S, agreed. What needs to happen is for the PI to take an active roll in their country, never gonna happen. First step is to throw out the Senate and redesign the Senate to actually represent a geographic area and the people, they are voted "at large" right now meaning Manila. Then send in the military to protect the mines and pinapple fields. With development and employment the living conditions will improve. The muzzie influence only lights the fires of hate down there and needs to go away. But then the Phils always seem to snatch defeat out of the hands of victory.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/07/2006 14:32
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Iran's nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said Sunday that his country would not freeze uranium enrichment, and would instead intensify its nuclear program. Larijani rejected the UN resolution passed last week that calls on Iran to suspend enrichment activity by August 31 or face sanctions.
Posted by: Fred ||
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No surprise here - iff this were a narrow-scope Jessica Simpson movie, means they wanna go from being the blue-collar "Dukes of Hazard", i.e. "white trash" or less of Global Monotheism, to being Boss Hogg/Big Boss in town.
#4
So is this the response to the formal proposal?
I thought they were going to reveal something on August 22, and they have previoulsy said they'd need until August 31st to 'study' the proposal.
Good cop, bad cop?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/07/2006 6:28
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#5
And the West will stand by Gawping and muttering bad things about the iranians until we get nuked, just great, fckin great eh. :(
Posted by: Shep UK ||
08/07/2006 7:29
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#6
They aren't going to nuke Great Britain, Shep. We'll be a muslim nation in 5 years...
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/07/2006 11:15
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#7
Whats with the holdup on Iran? In our face with the nukes. Chatting with NKor. Supplying Hez and Syria. F-ing around with us in Iraq. Harboring and sponsiring terrorists. Threatening to withhold oil. How many reasons do we need? Unfortunately, I fear we will need in excess of 3,000.
#8
I, too, fear you are right, Intrinsicpilot. The need for Iran's leadership to be decapitated or dismantled is so glaring that a person must be brain-dead to ignore it. That we are forced to sit around waiting for yet one more devastating atrocity is simply criminal. Why the current administration is not playing up Iran's incessant exacerbation of Middle East tensions utterly confounds me. Ahmadinejad has done all but beg for us to bomb the crap out of them. We really need to take this psycho nutjob at his word and begin demolishing Iran's military and (if needed) economic infrastructure.
Palestinian security officials said that a 47-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed and his 17-year-old son was wounded after unidentified assailants opened fire during a drive-by shooting on Sunday night in the Nablus area. Witnesses reported that the attackers' car bore Israeli license plates.
Posted by: Fred ||
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About 2000 more like that and they'll be even. Unless it was staged . . . .
The United States and France ran into strong opposition from Lebanon and the Arab world Sunday in their drive for speedy adoption of a U.N. resolution aimed at ending the escalating Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, primarily over the withdrawal of Israeli troops. Washington and Paris had hoped to put the draft in final form for a Security Council vote Monday. But they delayed action after Lebanon and Qatar, the council's only Arab member, proposed many amendments to the U.S.-French draft resolution first and foremost demanding Israel pull its forces out of Lebanon once hostilities end.
The council was scheduled to meet Monday morning when the U.S. and France are likely to present a revised text, taking into account some of the Arab concerns, with a view to a possible Security Council vote on Tuesday, council diplomats said, speaking on condition of anonymity because negotiations have been closed. "The most important thing for us is to obtain the agreement of the Lebanese government (and) the Arab world," France's Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said on France-Info radio.
Lebanese special envoy Nouhad Mahoud proposed an amendment to the U.S.-French draft that would have Israel would immediately hand over the ground it held when fighting ended to U.N. peacekeepers. Within 72 hours, the peacekeepers would assist the Lebanese armed forces to deploy throughout southern Lebanon to the U.N.-drawn boundary with Israel known as the Blue Line.
Mahoud also urged the council to amend the text to call for Israel to immediately hand over the Chebaa Farms area, which it seized in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, "to U.N. custody" until the border is marked. Lebanon claims the area but the United Nations determined that it is Syrian, and that Syria and Israel should negotiate its fate. Hezbollah uses the Chebaa Farms to claim that Israeli forces still occupy Lebanon.
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The United States and France ran into strong opposition from Lebanon and the Arab world Sunday in their drive for speedy adoption of a U.N. resolution aimed at ending the escalating Israeli-Hezbollah conflict, primarily over the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
#5
Amen to that. I'm getting awfully sick of the coverage of "civilians" killed in Lebanon. I notice in many of the reports, they show apartment buildings with the sides blown off. Many of the apartments are relatively undisturbed, except for the missing wall. You can see the TV, the furniture, the decor, and one other little detail: A large portrait of Nasrallah hanging on the wall. These people are the enemy, plain and simple. Israel's naive notion that they would somehow blame the Hezzies and support the strikes is nonsense. They ARE Hezbollah. Maybe not the 'military' wing, but Hezbollah nonetheless.
#9
BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Monday that one person was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Houla, not 40 as he had earlier reported.
The massacre in Houla, it turned out that there was one person killed, Reuters quoted Siniora as saying. They thought that the whole building smashed on the heads of about 40 people ... thank God they have been saved.
Siniora had earlier told Arab foreign ministers in Beirut that the attack was a horrific massacre ... in which more than 40 martyrs were victims of deliberate bombing.
Oh yeah, but some ppl only shed tears but has no shame about blathering BS. A "Shame Culture"(indeed!)that breeds liars.
#10
The Arabs are habituated to their allies in the UN forcing a losing cease fire on Israel, and that is what they are negotiating for again this time. Only things have changed, and I do not believe this time they will get what they consider the inevitable. It will be a salutory learning experience for all parties.
#11
Yep, #10, they have gotten very damn used to bullying for concessions via the "imternational community" ; nice to see them finding out that everyday's not a Sunday.
A woman and two men were killed and at least 189 people were wounded on Sunday evening when a massive barrage of rockets struck at least six sites in a crowded residential area of Haifa. Two people who were critically wounded died of their wounds shortly after. Several others were listed in serious condition. All of the wounded were evacuated to local hospitals within some 30 minutes.
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That graphic looks like it's from the same set of photos as this one. The curious thing about the linked image is AFP's caption:
"Caption:
Tyre, LEBANON: Rockets fired from Israel are seen falling in the outskirts of the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre, 06 August 2006."
These are rockets being fired at Israel not by Israel. I forget which site pointed this out.
I guess AFP is wanting to horn in on some of Rooters glory.
Israeli warplanes struck deep in Lebanon early Monday, targeting a northeastern region that is a symbol of Hizbullah power, while guerrillas fought with Israeli forces near the border, witnesses and the group said. At least four explosions were heard around the city of Baalbek in the northern part of the eastern Bekaa Valley, witnesses said. There was no immediate word on casualties. Warplanes struck roads about 20 kilometers (13 miles) south of Baalbek, and in the Rashaya region further south on the corridor linking the southern part of the country with the Bekaa Valley, the witnesses said.
Hizbullah has many bases in the Baalbek region, about 100 kilometers (63 miles) north of Israel's border. Israeli commandos on Wednesday landed troops in the Baalbek area and fought guerrillas, apprehended several people before withdrawing. Sixteen Lebanese were killed in that raid.
In the south, several kilometers (miles) inside Lebanon, Hizbullah ambushed an advancing Israeli army unit near the village of Houla early Monday and heavy fighting ensued, the guerrillas' TV station said. In addition to repeated air raids since fighting erupted July 12, Israel has sent thousands of troops into southern Lebanon to try to stop Hizbullah rocket attacks, which on Sunday killed 12 Israeli soldiers and three civilians in the deadliest such strikes.
Israeli airstrikes on Sunday battered homes and roads across southern and eastern Lebanon, killing at least 14 people and leaving others believed buried under rubble. Hizbullah reported three of its fighters also killed. Israeli jets also fired at least six missiles into the Lebanese capital's southern suburbs Sunday afternoon, security officials said.
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Two blasts occurred almost simultaneously near telecommunications masts in two Chechen districts, Staropromyslovsky and Groznensky, late on Saturday night, a source in Chechen law enforcement services told Interfax. The blasts occurred in infrastructure vans. Although no casualties were reported, a man was killed and another injured in an explosion in the Staropromyslovsky district about the same time, the source added.
The man was killed, when an explosive device he was carrying went off, reports said.
The man was killed, when an explosive device he was carrying went off, reports said. The injured man remains in very serious condition after a surgery. His identity has been established.
Officials downplayed the incidents, saying the blasts must have been caused by overheated gas containers. The incidents were definitely not linked to any terror attacks, Col. Akhmed Dakayev, the Chechen Interior Ministrys headquarters chief, told Interfax. The gas containers blew up in infrastructure vans due to overheating, he said.
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#4
You know if you drop the towers in areas where the terrorists operate, they have a harder time communicating with each other and remotely setting off bombs. Just force them in areas you have better control because you know if the devices cause people to act like Borgs [technology all but integrated into their bodies], they'll move into areas where they can get reception. Herd them into a kill zone.
The Cuban vice president said on Sunday that Fidel Castro will to return to work in a few weeks. Earlier Sunday, Venezuela's president said that Castro was out of bed and talking following his intestinal surgery. Messages wishing the Cuban leader a quick recovery poured in from Latin America's leading leftists and Elian Gonzalez. Cuban officials have provided no details and released no pictures of Castro since his surgery was announced last Monday - fueling speculation around the world about his condition. Raul Castro, the defense minister, also has not been seen in public since the announcement.
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One of Egypt's most prominent Islamist groups has denied making any alliance with al-Qaeda. "The Gamaa Islamiya in Egypt stresses the lack of truth in what Aljazeera aired by Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri about it joining al-Qaeda, and categorically denies this," the group said in a statement on its website.
And a former official in Egypt's Gamaa Islamiya said that even if some members had joined al-Qaeda - as al-Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri said in a video aired on Aljazeera on Saturday - it was unlikely that most would do so. The group fought a bloody campaign against the government in the 1990s to set up an Islamic state before declaring a truce in 1997.
Sheikh Abdel Akher Hammad, a former Gamaa leader, told Aljazeera on Sunday from Germany: "If [some] brothers ... have joined, then this is their personal view and I don't think that most Gamaa Islamiya members share that same opinion."
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(SomaliNet) The powerful Islamists in Somalia has again condemned on Sunday the transitional federal government based in Baidoa town for not being responsible on Somali people after it sought solution from Somalis enemy (Ethiopia). The leader of consultative council of Islamic Courts Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, who is now in Somalia Galgadud central region, criticized the arrival of Ethiopian foreign minister Seyoum Mesfin in Baidoa as illegal and not justice for solving the current political crisis among the government.
He blamed the TFG of taking orders from Addis Ababa which he says has great influence in the movement of President Abdullahi Yusuf. The government in Baidoa belongs to Ethiopia and the arrival of the Ethiopian official in Somalia Baidoa town indicates that Addis Ababa government dedicates the transitional federal government to what ever they do, Sheikh Aweys said adding Ethiopia over looks the government to fulfill its interests in Somalia.
Sheikh Hassan Aweys has also warned the constant intervention by Ethiopian troops in Somalia sending again a strong massage to the world community to hold back Ethiopia from Somalia. He said if the world powers do not confirm the withdrawal of Ethiopian soldiers from our country things would change drastically and this will led more bloodshed in horn of Africa and create more crises inside Ethiopia.
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The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) initiated anti-militants operation in Afghanistan's volatile Helmand province on Sunday, a spokesman of the multinational force said. "An operation was launched early this morning in Musa Qala district, which would continue to expand the security there," Toby Jackman told newsmen here at a press conference. This is the first NATO operation in south Afghanistan since assuming the command from the U.S.-led Coalition forces in the troubled region on July 31.
Coalition forces had launched a massive offensive, the Operation Mountain Thrust, against Taliban militants in Afghanistan's southern provinces of Helmand, Kandahar, Uruzgan and Zabul during the past one and half months. More than 1,100 insurgents were killed, wounded or captured in the operation, which was concluded following the handover. But the security is still tough in the south as some 80 people, including eight foreign soldiers, have been killed during the latest violence this week. "ISAF will not be deterred. ISAF would continue its mission to bring security to Afghanistan within its area of operation," Major Jackman emphasized.
Musa Qala and Nawzad, Sangin and Garmser districts of Helmand, which are famous for poppy product and Taliban's activities, have been the scene of increasing security incidents as six British soldiers have been killed there over the past one month. One day prior to the NATO's operation, dozens of suspected Taliban militants ambushed Afghan and NATO-led troops on Saturday in Garmser district, one of the two districts they briefly captured last month, leaving 17 insurgents killed and seven others injured after the heavy battle.
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Lebanon officially asked Sunday for changes to a draft UN resolution agreed to by the United States and France that calls for a "full cessation of hostilities" in the Middle East conflict. In Israel, the normally talkative cabinet was tight-lipped, though reportedly pleased with the plan. The draft measure, presented to the UN Security Council on Saturday and reviewed by an expert-level meeting of the council Sunday, calls for an immediate cessation of attacks by Hezbollah and of offensive military operations by Israel. It asks the current United Nations peacekeeping force to monitor the border area and lays out a plan for a permanent cease-fire and political settlement. But it does not call for a prisoner exchange or require Israel to withdraw immediately from Lebanon, which raised dissent among council members.
The Israeli cabinet, meanwhile, held a daylong session in which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert reportedly told ministers not to discuss the matter publicly until it was completed. However, the Israeli media, citing unidentified government officials, said the government was generally pleased with the plan. Israel's justice minister, Haim Ramon, said that Israel would press ahead with its attacks and that its forces would stay in southern Lebanon until an international force arrived. "We must continue the fighting, continue to hit whoever we can hit from Hezbollah," he told army radio.
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Sri Lanka rejected a deal on Sunday brokered by Norway with Tamil rebels to lift a water blockade, saying access to the site by its engineers was non-negotiable. Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said they were not involved in Norway's talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that led to the guerrillas announcing they will open a sluice gate closed in late July. "Water should not be a negotiating tool," Rambukwella told AFP. "We don't want terrorists to come and open the water way. They must simply allow irrigation engineers to do it, otherwise we will open it anyway," he said.
The LTTE, in talks with Oslo's top special envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer, agreed on Sunday to end the dispute by releasing water to around 15,000 farming families. Tiger political wing leader S P Thamilselvan said the Tigers would unblock a sluice gate in the east - a blockage that plunged the island into a fresh bout of civil war - if the government agreed to their demands. "Our leader has agreed to open the sluice on humanitarian grounds," Thamilselvan told reporters in the northern rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi.
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I'm getting the impression that Olmert, not the IDF, is horribly out of his depth.
After completing the creation of a security zone in southern Lebanon and with diplomatic pressure mounting, the IDF, senior defense officials revealed Sunday, did not plan to move ground troops northwards towards the Litani River - a line initially named as the IDF's final destination in this current ground incursion.
Meanwhile Sunday, five Golani soldiers were wounded after a bomb went off when they stormed a home in the Lebanese town of Mahbeeb. The wounded soldiers were evacuated to safety and then taken to Rambam Hospital in Haifa for further medical treatment. Five other soldiers were wounded, one moderately and four lightly, during heavy clashes between IDF reservists and Hizbullah guerillas in the southern Lebanese village of Ras al-Baida. The troops from Brigade 609 killed over 35 Hizbullah gunmen since Friday and succeeded in destroying at least three Katyusha rocket launchers hidden in the village. Another soldier suffered moderate wounds when an anti-tank rocket hit his D-9 bulldozer near the village of Kila, west of Metulla. IDF troops took three Hizbullah guerrillas captives during operations in southern Lebanon overnight Saturday. The fighting that continued on Sunday took place in the 20 some villages IDF troops had taken up positions in over the weekend as they finished recreating the 10-kilometer-deep security zone Israel held during its 18-year presence in Lebanon which ended in 2000.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006
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#1
That idiot will make Israel pay an heavy price.
#2
...Olmert, not the IDF, is horribly out of his depth.
I'd have to second that. So far it seems to me that he's been too prone to react to the crisis of the moment, and he's allowed the MSM caterwalling to affect Israel's strategy.
#6
I disagree - i think the IDF will push up to the Latani River. They been playing the MSN guys like a violin the IDF have. Stupid reporters here from the UK based out there and the so called 'experts' on tv, Keith Graves on Sky news for one have all been utterly proved wrong so far, whilst not realising the important details such as IDF forces punching through several KM's over the border then wrapping around and trapping Hezbollocks in pockets. All of these crucial details either slip through the small brains of reporters or they simply choose to ignore the actual Stratigic and tactical moves that the IDF have taken . Personally i think there fckin just clueless to it. Some Journo's on Sky t.v on day 2 , yes just day 2 of this war were saying ' Already Israel cannot seem to defeat the Hexbollocks' - two fckin days two fckin days, yeah imagine in WW2 a reporter saying that. 'Two days of fighting with Germany and still no sign of victory'. The small minded simplistic ness of the MSN is simply jaw dropping! Keith graves like i say on Sky news is one of the greatest examples of Buffonary and stupidity - He claimed outright on day 1 'the IDF will not cross the border to lebenon, absolulty no way' next fcking hour they did cross the border and ever single one of his crystal ball like predications have been so far off the mark its not even funny. Yet after weeks of emailing sky to point out the fact they have a so called 'expert' who gets every single prediction wrong by a massive mark i simply get repliys from Sky News telling me nicely 'Mr Graves has been there 25 years his Knowladge of the region is unsurpassed blah blah blah.' My sky subscription has now been cancelled but alas so many other people will be duped by the propaganda of Idiots like 'expert' Keith Graves.
Posted by: Shep UK ||
08/07/2006 7:22
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#7
So Olmert is playing the media game while the IDF sets up another mssion ? Could be. In fact, I hope that's the case because he does it so well. The MSM will be zigging and zagging, photoshopping their way to an Israeli defeat while Israel buries the Hezbs. Works for me.
#8
I'm getting the impression that Olmert, not the IDF, is horribly out of his depth.
Careful about expressing such dark and depressing thoughts. But Condi will make another trip to stop the wobbling and kep the IDF on track.
It's a real shame Israel did not have political leadership equal to the challenge. I suspect they could have cleaned Hesb'Allah out much more quickly and thoroughly.
#11
its not the MSM theyre worrying about, its the reaction in the US and Europe, which are in turn under pressure from the region.
Theres nothing magic about the Litani. They have to weigh the loss of their most precious resouce, Israeli troops, against the gains from pushing a few more miles, and killing some more terrorists.
There does seem to have been some confusion surrounding the planning and execution of this war, but its not at all clear to me that its the fault of Olmert and Peretz, as opposed to Halutz. I know Krauthammer is inclined to blame Olmert, probably hoping for the return of his beloved Bibi, but Krauts no military expert. Too many armchair strategists waving around marches to the Litani, and to Beirut, from their keyboards, without facing the real material and diplomatic costs Israel faces.
#12
Nope. Disagree here. The IDF has a different plan in place. It is playing Chess while Hezbollah tries to play poker.
Hezbos could foil Israel's strategy, which is to compel over-confident Hezbo-nutters to fight from defensive positions in towns like Bint Jbeil, by playing their hand with a long-range missile strike at Tel Aviv. If that happens, all hell break loose and those wishing for an IDF drive to and beyond Litani will get their wish.
For now, Israel's playing it right. We have seen a number of bold, deep commando strikes that have resulted in an estimated 17-20 dead Hezbos and about six POWs without the loss of a single Israeli commando.
Airstrikes are hitting larger launchers almost within minutes of an attack. Today, Fox News reported that IDF has killed 40 Hezbos in ground fighting in and around Bint Jbeil in the past 24 hours. Hezbos are adopting what appears to be an Iwo Jima strategy. They've invested so much symbolism in Bint Jbeil and other border towns that they've stupidly decided to face IDF head-on.
#13
Just like when they stopped at the border, another tactical pause. Not to worry folks the Litani River will be Kosher before long!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/07/2006 15:54
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#14
Smart move. Having to post at a fixed line of control wouldn't be easy. Maintaining a 5 mile - or whatever - kill and destroy zone would be a better exercise of options.
The passion and energy fueling the antiwar challenge to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in Connecticut's Senate primary signal a power shift inside the Democratic Party that could reshape the politics of national security and dramatically alter the battle for the party's 2008 presidential nomination, according to strategists in both political parties.
A victory by businessman Ned Lamont on Tuesday would confirm the growing strength of the grass-roots and Internet activists who first emerged in Howard Dean's presidential campaign. Driven by intense anger at President Bush and fierce opposition to the Iraq war, they are on the brink of claiming their most significant political triumph, one that will reverberate far beyond the borders here if Lieberman loses.
An upset by Lamont would affect the political calculations of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who like Lieberman supported giving Bush authority to wage the Iraq war, and could excite interest in a comeback by former vice president Al Gore, who warned in 2002 that the war could be a grave strategic error. For at least the next year, any Democrat hoping to play on the 2008 stage would need to reckon with the implications of Lieberman's repudiation. Even backers of the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee are now expecting this scenario. Two public polls in the past three days show Lamont with a lead of at least 10 percentage points.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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#2
CLINTONISM > America = Amerika is a SSSSSSHHHHHHHH
pro-Socialist and pro-Communist nation and mianstream thats being led by the "wrong kind" of Socialism. FASCISM = defective, mere Authoritarian LIMITED COMMUNISM-TOTALITARIANISM-GOVERNMENTISM, etc. Federalism = Centralism, National Constitution = POLITBURO/Party Central Committee, don't ya know - just becuz America = Amerika is allegedly a representative democracy doesn't mean our elected leaders have to tell us = voters anything. The Motherly "polite" extermination of 200Milyuhn-plus Americans =Fascist/Limited Commie Amerikans = is the
"status quo" or better, don't ya know.
#3
they are on the brink of claiming their most significant political triumph, one that will reverberate far beyond the borders here if Lieberman loses.
the Kossaks have had such a BAD run that defeating Liberman would be their most significant political triumph ONLY because it would be their ONLY political triumph.
#6
This primary election will only serve to snowball the "Rove strategy" of moving small amounts of traditional Dem voter groups into being either nonvoters or wobbly Republican voters.
The 5-8% that peeled off of the Jewish vote in 2004 will continue to increase as a result of this primary alone.
Ned Lamont's rich-boy high handedness and dedication to socialized medicine and extreme left social agenda will undoubtedly peel a few votes off of those few lunch pail union guys who still vote Dem.
Those few military moms and dads who still vote Dem for social issues or for family tradition will have to take pause at a party which wants to repeat the mistakes of the post-Nixon Dem Congress which cut and run in Vietnam and made their sons' sacrifices all for nought.
To anyone who has strong devotion to their faith - whatever faith - the implications of this primary are very, very chilling.
Thing is, Lieberman will most likely ultimately win as an independent (from the polling data I've seen) and this will be a pyrrhic victory at best for the far left, with Lieberman still intact in his Senate seat and less likely to vote favorably for leftist causes.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/07/2006 8:07
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#7
This is good for the right in the long run, but I wonder if the increased hazard to Shays and other endangered CT Repubs may cost us the House.
A PALESTINIAN militant from the radical Islamic Jihad movement was killed by Israeli forces near the West Bank town of Jenin today, Palestinian security sources said. Rashid al-Omari, 24, was killed after his home was surrounded by Israeli troops, the sources said. After he refused to surrender, the force stormed the house and killed him. An army spokeswoman confirmed its forces had come out to arrest the wanted Palestinian militant, who was shot dead "after refusing to surrender". His death brings to 5319 the number of people killed since the start of the Palestinian intifada in October 2000, the majority of them Palestinians, according to an AFP count.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Bugs: It's true, Doc; I'm a rabbit alright. Would you like to shoot me now or wait 'til you get home?
Daffy: Shoot him now! Shoot him now!
Bugs: You keep outta this! He doesn't have to shoot you now!
Daffy: He does so have to shoot me now! [to Elmer] I demand that you shoot me now!
[Elmer raises his gun. As Daffy sticks his tongue out at Bugs, he is shot. Daffy walks back over to Bugs, gunsmoke pouring out of his nostrils]
Daffy: [to Bugs] Let's run through that again.
Bugs: Okay.
Bugs: [deadpan] Would you like to shoot me now or wait till you get home.
Daffy:[similarly] Shoot him now, shoot him now.
Bugs: [as before] You keep outta this, he doesn't have to shoot you now.
Daffy Duck: [re-animated] Hah! Thats it! Hold it right there! [to audience] Pronoun trouble. [to Bugs] It's not "he doesn't have to shoot you now", it's "he doesn't have to shoot me now"
[Pause]
Daffy: [angrily] Well, I say he does have to shoot me now!! [to Elmer] So shoot me now!
[Elmer shoots Daffy again]
#2
Yup, one of my facorites, where Daffy's beak gets blown off about a dozen different ways.
Troublemakers should always get the same treatment.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/07/2006 6:19
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#3
"It's Duck Season". "It's Rabbit season". "Duck Seanson". "Rabbit season". "Rabbit season." It's Duck season, shoot the Duck." BLAM! burnt feathers and his bill on backwards.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/07/2006 11:27
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#4
It would be nice if Israel could either kill or capture every terrorist in the West Bank and Gaza. Unfortunately, it would leave the areas without any male population between the ages of 12 and 50. I'm not sure Israel has enough bullets, or jail space for that many prisoners.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/07/2006 14:58
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#5
I hate to say this, but it's now baseball season!
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
08/07/2006 15:45
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#6
Pronoun trouble.
One of the all-time greatest (and personal favorite) Daffy Duck lines in cartoondom, along with, "Nobody puts one over on this little black duck!" Definitely on a par with Foghorn Leghorn's immortal, "Fortunately, I keep my feathers numbered for just such an occasion!"
I'm not sure Israel has enough bullets, or jail space for that many prisoners.
So, line 'em up single file and use high velocity ammunition. I'm beginning to think that any resolution of the terrorism problem will require simple extermination, be it conventional or nuclear.
Five guerrillas of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, wanted in connection with the grenade explosions in the mountain-locked Doda district in May and June, have been arrested, police said on Sunday. At a hurriedly convened press conference, Inspector General S P Vaid claimed all the grenade attacks in Doda, including the one during a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally in May, have been worked out. Two people died and at least 40 were wounded in the explosion on May 13 while taking part in a rally backed by the BJP to protest against the massacre of 22 Hindus in Kulhand area on May 1.
"Sustained investigation and chase of clues led us to the arrest of the five terrorists, one of whom (Mohammad Qasim) was working as a domestic help for years with Saidullah Tantray, a leader Hurriyat Conference (Syed Ali Shah Geelani faction) for years," Vaid said. Police are investigating the role and activities of the Hurriyat leader. The four other arrested rebels are - Javied Ahmad, Mohammad Hussain, Javid Iqbal and Riyaz Ahmed. Vaid said three absconding guerrillas have been identified and they would soon be in the police net. "Our teams are working to trace them."
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Reuters, the global news and information agency, told a freelance Lebanese photographer on Sunday it would not use any more of his pictures after he doctored an image of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike on Beirut. The photograph by Adnan Hajj, which was published on news Web sites on Saturday, showed thick black smoke rising above buildings in the Lebanese capital after an Israeli air raid in the war with the Shi'ite Islamic group Hizbollah, now in its fourth week.
Reuters withdrew the doctored image on Sunday and replaced it with the unaltered photograph after several news blogs said it had been manipulated using Photoshop software to show more smoke. Reuters has strict standards of accuracy that bar the manipulation of images in ways that mislead the viewer. "The photographer has denied deliberately attempting to manipulate the image, saying that he was trying to remove dust marks and that he made mistakes due to the bad lighting conditions he was working under," said Moira Whittle, the head of public relations for Reuters.
How do you get dust marks on digital images? What are the bad lighting conditions that effect Photoshop? A cheap monitor?
"This represents a serious breach of Reuters' standards and we shall not be accepting or using pictures taken by him," Whittle said in a statement issued in London.
Hajj worked for Reuters as a non-staff freelance, or contributing photographer, from 1993 until 2003 and again since April 2005. He was among several photographers from the main international news agencies whose images of a dead child being held up by a rescuer in the village of Qana, south Lebanon, after an Israeli air strike on July 30 have been challenged by blogs critical of the mainstream media's coverage of the Middle East conflict. Reuters and other news organisations reviewed those images and have all rejected allegations that the photographs were staged.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"Reuters drops freelance Lebanese photographer over image." Hires his cousins in his place.
What are the bad lighting conditions that effect Photoshop?
Over at Protein Wisdom they suggested that the power went out and his laptop battery drained, so he had to do his Photoshopping by candlelight. I buy it.
I got a theory: The original image was shot by an Associated Press photographer. Hajj was supposed to get a shot of the carnage, but he was hung over or had to go to a beheading or something, and never made it. So he figures that since these pictures all look alike anyway, he'll just alter a colleague's picture a bit, hand it in as his own, and no one will be the wiser.
OR, he and his colleague had a bet:
AP guy: My editors are the most clueless bastards the world has ever seen.
Hajj: No way, dude. Mine are barely sentient.
AP guy: Oh yeah? If you locked my editors in an airtight room, the CO content would go down, if you get my drift.
Hajj: Er, no. But I propose a contest. We'll take turns filing ludicrous fakes. First one to get fired wins.
AP guy: You're on, dude. You first.
#8
Anyone think this is the only photo he 'shopped? Anyone? Bueller?
If Roooters had any integrity (hah) they'd do an audit of each and every photo he's sent them. Better yet, they'd put each one on the net at one website and invite bloggers and photo experts to take a look.
The key problem: Roooters, Aaay-Peee, Agencie Frog Pressé, etc, are all relying on stringers to bring them news annd photos from war zones. It's not safe to venture from the hotel bar, so the stringers do their jobs. Think Hajj had an agenda? Think he saw this as a golden opportunity?
The problem won't get better until 'war correspondents' go to war.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/07/2006 10:19
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#9
Anyone think this is the only photo he 'shopped? Anyone? Bueller?
No. Take a gander here. Try not to choke on your coffee as you read it.
There was another one, a photo of flames behind a row of buildings, but I can't find it now. It looked as if the buildings in the foreground were photoshopped in to make a very arty shot.
#12
Now Reuters has withdrawn all of Hajj's pictures from its database, after that jet picture was exposed. I did a google image search on his name earlier this morning, and what came up were mostly soccer pictures.
#14
Garsh, you'd think that Reuters would want to protect its credibility by prosecuting Hajj for fraud (selling falsified documents) and making sure his journalistic credentials were revoked. Anyone wanna bet that Hajj shows up on al-Jazeera's staff?
FAISALABAD: The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) will stage a countrywide protest if the government did not remove the restriction on the use of loudspeakers in mosques, said MMA Punjab President Liaqat Baloch, while speaking at an Ulema and Mushaikh convention held at Press Club on Sunday. He said the present regime wanted to eliminate Islamic edification from the country only to please foreign powers.
"We are Moose limbs! We demand the right to be subjected to amplified caterwauling at all hours of the day or the night!"
Wouldn't a car alarm be cheaper?
However, he said, the Muslims of the country would resist the government's move. He said the MMA would take to street if the ban was not lifted. He said that it was due to erroneous decisions of President Musharraf's government that Pakistan had lost its Islamic recognition and hence failed to lead Muslim Ummah.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006
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Afghanistan's president swore in the chief justice and five other judges of the country's new Supreme Court during a ceremony at the presidential palace, a statement said on Sunday. President Hamid Karzai presided over the ceremony, days after the country's fledgling parliament approved his nominees amid calls for wide-ranging reforms to stamp out corruption and political interference in the judiciary.
The parliamentary approval came as a relief for US-backed Karzai, who has already had one nominee for the Supreme Court's top job rejected. US-educated Abdul Salam Hazami, once deputy head of the commission that drew up Afghanistan's new constitution, became chief justice.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
how long till some savage bastard of the Lions of Islam cut the throats of these judges i wonder under the brave banner of Islam.
Posted by: Shep UK ||
08/07/2006 7:30
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ISRAEL arrested a politician from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas today, Palestinian security forces said. Fadel Hamdan was detained tonight after about two dozen Israeli army jeeps ringed the area of Ramallah where he was based, security forces said. Overnight, Israeli forces also arrested Aziz Dweik, the Hamas speaker of the Palestinian parliament. Israeli troops detained 64 other leading Hamas figures, including eight ministers and 26 MPs, on June 29.
The ruling Islamist Hamas movement is correctly considered to be a terrorist group by Israel and the West. The Israeli crackdown, which has also involved large military incursions in Palestinian areas, began on June 28, three days after Palestinian militants from Gaza killed two soldiers and captured a third in a cross-border raid.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006
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#1
Got complacent, eh? The rest are going to have a hard time sleeping for a while, I'll bet!
On Sunday, August 6, Mujahideen attacked a truck of the gang "Russian Interior Ministry" on a landmine near village Prigorodnoye, severely wounding 3 kafirs (infidels). On Saturday, August 5, Mujahideen blew up on a landmine a gang of Russian kafirs belonging to another Russian gang, "Defence Ministry", severely wounding 4 Russian troops. The condition the wounded Russian terrorists "remained severe also on Sunday", reported the Prague-based US station Radio Liberty, quoting invaders' sources.
Two blasts, destroying 5 mobile phone masts, occurred almost simultaneously near telecommunications masts in two Chechen districts, Staropromyslovsky and Groznensky, late on Saturday night (August 5). According to the puppet "mayor" of Jokhar, Chechen Mujahideen were responsible for these attacks. The Russians and their puppets always lower their casualties. No information on actual Russian casualties and damage was received from Mujahideen till the filing of this report.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/07/2006
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I'm truly curious! As in how much of Grozny had to be razed to the ground before the russians were no longer shot at.
cos burnt earth in lebanon is so tempting and so deserved
IAF planes targeted a house in the northern Gaza Strip early Monday; the building was used by the Islamic Jihad for weapons storage. No one was wounded in the operation. The inhabitants of the building received a telephone call from the IDF warning them to leave the premises. An additional call clarified that "this was not a joke."
Posted by: Fred ||
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Why not call the neighbors instead, tell them to get their heads down, or wait a little and call them after with an apology for loud noise.
#2
oh this is just dumb , imagine WW2 and us allies telegraming germans telling them ' oh please get out your nazi infested area before we bomb it' then hours later 'this is not a joke' . Fck me letting your enemys escape - thats a sick joke on all.
Posted by: Shep UK ||
08/07/2006 7:34
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One wonders the Hezbos are calling people and the telling them to get out as a joke / to get more to ignore the calls and get killed....
#5
This is like the Israeli version of gun control. I hear stories all the time about 'gun violence' and 'too many weapons' on the streets, etc, yet I've never seen a single gun ever go out and commit a crime or an act of violence. Targeting the weapons and not the people who wield them is simply insane.
#6
Israel's often commendable restraint is beginning to be their undoing. With Hamas elected to office all pretenses must be dropped. It is high time for the Palestinians to start suffering the consequences of their idiotic decisions.
The Tamil Tigers have said that shelling of their territory by Sri Lankan troops amounted to a declaration of war, but they had not yet decided whether to retaliate. SP Thamilselvan, leader of the rebel's political wing, said: "We consider this a declaration of war and strongly condemn the attitude of the government. We may have to take a defensive position if the shelling continues. It is not decided yet." He said there was still space for discussion while Norway's special peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer was in Kilinochchi. Hanssen-Bauer is expected to leave on Monday.
Sri Lankan artillery pounded Tiger territory hours after the rebels offered to give in to a key government demand to open a sluice gate providing water to government territory. The closure of the gate last month prompted the first ground fighting since the 2002 ceasefire. The Tigers said they would re-open it but as the head of the unarmed Nordic-staffed ceasefire monitoring mission, retired Swedish major general Ulf Henricsson, headed towards the sluice south of the northeastern port of Trincomalee, army artillery opened fire.
Tommy Lekenmyr, chief of staff for the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said: "The government have the information that the LTTE has made this offer. It is quite obvious they are not interested in water. They are interested in something else. We will blame this on the government." The government said the Tigers must leave the area of the sluice gate, which officially lies in army territory, but which military sources said was in an area effectively controlled by the rebels.
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Lebanese sources reported that IAF planes struck targets near the Syrian border early Monday morning. According to the report, the air force struck four sites east of Baalbek. It was unclear whether there were any casualties.
Posted by: Fred ||
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2) next, This blog, has done one of the most complete vettings I've seen although there are many others, LGF etc... check the first link then Scroll down to the end of July and begin
re: The Staffs of the Associated Press, Reuters, BBC, Guardian and their stringers etc.
The profession of video and photo journalism is sadly diminished by them, and the trust in those who produce them and in the organs who carry them is misplaced. Truly, we are dealing with loathsome creatures. [paraphrased]
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba has set in motion a peaceful political succession, dashing U.S. government expectations of chaos following
A controversial American general has said most of the alleged terrorist prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba should be released to take up arms again because "it may be cheaper to kill them in combat than to sit on them for the next 15 years".
By Eric Peters 
Irked by a ban on Arab TV channels, apparently under the Israeli pressure, the Saudi daily Arab News in a front page report has criticised the Indian government for the unannounced ban.
AP News Alert
When Navy SEAL Marc Alan Lee talked to his wife last week from Iraq, he was upbeat as always, discussing their future, his SEAL team's planned return to Coronado, Calif., in October and the prospect of starting a family. The next day the 28-year-old Lee, a petty officer 2nd class, was killed in a prolonged firefight with insurgents in Ramadi, making him the first SEAL killed in Iraq.
SEOUL, South Korea North Korea claimed it has captured an unmanned U.S. submersible and put it on display in Pyongyang near the captured spy ship USS Pueblo, a pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan said Monday, but the U.S. dismissed the report.
Check out this nugget on the McKinney campaign buried at the end of a story in today's Atlanta Journal-Constitution: 
MANCHESTER, N.H. - Dick Bennett has been polling New Hampshire voters for 30 years. And hes never seen anything like it. 
On Sunday evening, ambulances rolled in non-stop to three Haifa hospitals, after a fatal rocket barrage hit the city slightly before 8 p.m. Three people were killed and dozens were wounded after two rockets one in the lower city and one in Wadi Nisnas crashed into buildings.
A prominent and popular imam has been killed in the south of Kyrgyzstan, in the town of Korasuv in the Ferghana Valley near the Uzbek-Kyrgyz border. According to his family and local police, the imam - Rafik Kamalov - was shot dead by Kyrgyz special forces. But security officials have not confirmed his death. 
Three more suspected criminals were killed in shootouts between their associates and the Rapid Action Battalion in Dhaka, Chittagong and Kushtia early Sunday, raising the crossfire death counts to 632 since June 2004. 
Vile George Galloway celebrated the Israeli farm deaths yesterday gloating they were getting a bloody good hiding. His sickening outburst came in an astonishing rant on Sky TV News.
The government of Iraq is secretly holding a Baathist cabal of military officers it claims attempted a coup against Prime Minister al-Maliki. The plotters were rounded up July 5 with the help of American military authorities after the Iraqi government's security warning center sent word to Mr. Maliki, who was in Kuwait on his first official visit as head of state, two highly placed Iraqi sources said. The prime minister quickly canceled a scheduled trip to Amman, Jordan, and returned to Baghdad to attend to the matter. At the time, Mr. Maliki's staff told reporters that the prime minister was cutting his trip short because of Iraq's "security situation."
MEXICO CITY (AP) - Leftist candidate 
SUCRE, Bolivia - President Evo Morales launched his ambitious drive to give more power and opportunity to Bolivias Indian majority on Sunday when he officially opened a Constituent Assembly to rewrite the nations constitution.
ISLAMABAD In an unprecedented move, 28 officials of Airport Police Station in Rawalpindi were arrested on Saturday on charges of dereliction of duty, but their incharge station house officer (SHO) escaped arrest.
At least 21 people were killed across Iraq on Sunday, as US reinforcements rolled into some of the most violent districts of Baghdad to halt Iraqs slide towards civil war. Fifteen people were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up in the midst of mourners in Tikrit, the hometown of former president Saddam Hussein, police said. At least 30 others were wounded in the attack, they added. The suicide bomber arrived at a hall located in the centre of Tikrit where people were gathered to mourn the death of the father of provincial council member Saab Abd Badaywi. The bomber parked an explosive-laden car outside the building and then entered the hall where he blew himself up, a police officer said.
Jordan's military court on Sunday sentenced two Islamist lawmakers to prison terms of up to two years for instigating sectarian strife by praising al-Qaida leader, Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi at his wake. Mohammed Abu Fares was sentenced to two years in jail and fined 400 Jordanian dinars (US$ 585.50 or euros 441.74) and Ali Abu Sukkar to 1 years and fined 200 Jordanian dinars (US$ 284.25 or euros 220.87) for their "provocative" remarks about al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq who was killed by US forces June 7. The court said their prison terms began with their arrest on June 12. The defendants provoked widespread domestic indignation when they paid their condolences at the family home of al-Zarqawi.
IDF forces identified two suspicious persons close to the security fence near Jenin on Sunday afternoon. After searching the area, the force uncovered an explosive device weighing 20 kilograms, Central Command spokesmen reported. Border Guard Police sappers later detonated the explosive device.
At least 15 people have been killed after a bomber blew himself up in the midst of mourners in Tikrit, the hometown of former president Saddam Hussein. At least 30 others were wounded in the attack, police said. The bomber arrived at a hall located in the centre of Tikrit where people were gathered to mourn the death of the father of provincial council member Saab Abd Badaywi. He parked an explosive-laden car outside the building and then entered the hall where he blew himself up, a police officer said. The toll was expected to rise as many victims were caught in the debris after the roof of the hall caved in following the explosion. The rescue effort was hampered because the bomber's car was outside the building.
Lashkar-e-Jhangvi leader Muhammad Ajmal alias Akram Lahori was shifted to Central Jail Hyderabad from Karachi on Sunday. Lahori succeeded Riaz Basra as the chief of Lashkar, after Basra was killed in Mailsi, Multan, on May 14, 2002.
HAVANA, Aug. 5 (UPI) -- Fidel Castro's illness has renewed interest in a legend of Cuba's patron saint predicting the death of a terrible ruler in the fourth decade of his reign. Stories about the prediction are making the rounds on the Internet -- with some variations -- the Miami Herald said Saturday.
(SomaliNet) At least four people have been killed and three more were wounded in clashes in the port town of Kismayo of southern Somalia between troops loyal to Juba valley authority and militia on Sunday. The clashes began as Juba valley troops raided a militiaman alleged for murdering many people in the town earlier. Reports say the troops chased the man to capture him but encountered a strong resistance from him causing casualties. The murder suspect was among the dead people killed in the battle with the rest of the three others were the security forces of the towns authority. The clashes lasted for several minutes.
Peace activist 
Afghan troops and police killed 17 rebels and wounded another five in two separate clashes in the southern province of Helmand, police said on Sunday. Three insurgents were killed and one was wounded in a firefight with police in Garmser district on Saturday afternoon, district police chief Ghulam Rasoul Aka told AFP. Following the incident Afghan soldiers and police launched a joint search in the district overnight. This sparked a battle lasting several hours with the Taliban in which 14 insurgents were killed, he said. At least 14 Taliban bodies are still at the site of the clash from the overnight battle. Four Taliban were also wounded, said Aka. No soldiers or police were hurt in either encounter, he said.
Fifteen local employees of a French charity have been found shot dead in the strife-torn town of Muttur in northern Sri Lanka, aid workers say. An official from the group, 
ISRAELI forces carried out new bombing raids on Beirut's southern suburbs today, launching six bombs on districts in the Hizbollah stronghold area. At least six explosions were heard and a massive cloud of white smoke billowed over the area,, AFP correspondents on the scene said. Three buildings were flattened on Hadi Nasrallah avenue, the main street of the suburbs which have suffered massive devastation since Israel launched a military onslaught after Hezbollah's July 12 capture of two Israeli soldiers. One of the destroyed buildings collapsed, blocking the way on the street named after Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah's son, Hadi, who died in a military operation against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon in 1997.
Sunday's deadly Katyusha attacks in Kfar Giladi and Haifa could change the way Israel relates to the US-French draft resolution at the UN Security Council calling for a cessation of hostilities, senior diplomatic officials said Sunday evening. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was expected to hold meetings deep into the night with the top security-brass to discuss the ramifications of Sunday's attacks, and whether to widen the scope of the present operations. "This may change everything," one senior official said. 
Sixty militants trained in Pakistan have recently sneaked into the border- districts of Indian-held Kashmir, an Indian police official said on Sunday. Infiltration is going on
. It has increased. As per rough estimates around 60 militants have infiltrated into Poonch and Rajouri recently, Jammu Inspector General of Police, SP Vaid told reporters. 
Iran's nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, said Sunday that his country would not freeze uranium enrichment, and would instead intensify its nuclear program. Larijani rejected the UN resolution passed last week that calls on Iran to suspend enrichment activity by August 31 or face sanctions.
Palestinian security officials said that a 47-year-old Palestinian was shot and killed and his 17-year-old son was wounded after unidentified assailants opened fire during a drive-by shooting on Sunday night in the Nablus area. Witnesses reported that the attackers' car bore Israeli license plates.
A woman and two men were killed and at least 189 people were wounded on Sunday evening when a massive barrage of rockets struck at least six sites in a crowded residential area of Haifa. Two people who were critically wounded died of their wounds shortly after. Several others were listed in serious condition. All of the wounded were evacuated to local hospitals within some 30 minutes.
Israeli warplanes struck deep in Lebanon early Monday, targeting a northeastern region that is a symbol of Hizbullah power, while guerrillas fought with Israeli forces near the border, witnesses and the group said. At least four explosions were heard around the city of Baalbek in the northern part of the eastern Bekaa Valley, witnesses said. There was no immediate word on casualties. Warplanes struck roads about 20 kilometers (13 miles) south of Baalbek, and in the Rashaya region further south on the corridor linking the southern part of the country with the Bekaa Valley, the witnesses said. 
Two blasts occurred almost simultaneously near telecommunications masts in two Chechen districts, Staropromyslovsky and Groznensky, late on Saturday night, a source in Chechen law enforcement services told Interfax. The blasts occurred in infrastructure vans. Although no casualties were reported, a man was killed and another injured in an explosion in the Staropromyslovsky district about the same time, the source added. 
One of Egypt's most prominent Islamist groups has denied making any alliance with al-Qaeda. "The 
(SomaliNet) The powerful Islamists in Somalia has again condemned on Sunday the transitional federal government based in Baidoa town for not being responsible on Somali people after it sought solution from Somalis enemy (Ethiopia). The leader of consultative council of Islamic Courts 
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) initiated anti-militants operation in Afghanistan's volatile Helmand province on Sunday, a spokesman of the multinational force said. "An operation was launched early this morning in Musa Qala district, which would continue to expand the security there," Toby Jackman told newsmen here at a press conference. This is the first NATO operation in south Afghanistan since assuming the command from the U.S.-led Coalition forces in the troubled region on July 31.
Sri Lanka rejected a deal on Sunday brokered by Norway with Tamil rebels to lift a water blockade, saying access to the site by its engineers was non-negotiable. Government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said they were not involved in Norway's talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that led to the guerrillas announcing they will open a sluice gate closed in late July. "Water should not be a negotiating tool," Rambukwella told AFP. "We don't want terrorists to come and open the water way. They must simply allow irrigation engineers to do it, otherwise we will open it anyway," he said.
After completing the creation of a security zone in southern Lebanon and with diplomatic pressure mounting, the IDF, senior defense officials revealed Sunday, did not plan to move ground troops northwards towards the Litani River - a line initially named as the IDF's final destination in this current ground incursion. 
The passion and energy fueling the antiwar challenge to Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in Connecticut's Senate primary signal a power shift inside the Democratic Party that could reshape the politics of national security and dramatically alter the battle for the party's 2008 presidential nomination, according to strategists in both political parties.
A PALESTINIAN militant from the radical 
Five guerrillas of the Lashkar-e-Taiba group, wanted in connection with the grenade explosions in the mountain-locked Doda district in May and June, have been arrested, police said on Sunday. At a hurriedly convened press conference, Inspector General S P Vaid claimed all the grenade attacks in Doda, including the one during a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) rally in May, have been worked out. Two people died and at least 40 were wounded in the explosion on May 13 while taking part in a rally backed by the BJP to protest against the massacre of 22 Hindus in Kulhand area on May 1. 
Reuters, the global news and information agency, told a freelance Lebanese photographer on Sunday it would not use any more of his pictures after he doctored an image of the aftermath of an Israeli air strike on Beirut. The photograph by Adnan Hajj, which was published on news Web sites on Saturday, showed thick black smoke rising above buildings in the Lebanese capital after an Israeli air raid in the war with the Shi'ite Islamic group Hizbollah, now in its fourth week.
FAISALABAD: The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) will stage a countrywide protest if the government did not remove the restriction on the use of loudspeakers in mosques, said MMA Punjab President Liaqat Baloch, while speaking at an Ulema and Mushaikh convention held at Press Club on Sunday. He said the present regime wanted to eliminate Islamic edification from the country only to please foreign powers. 
Afghanistan's president swore in the chief justice and five other judges of the country's new Supreme Court during a ceremony at the presidential palace, a statement said on Sunday. President Hamid Karzai presided over the ceremony, days after the country's fledgling parliament approved his nominees amid calls for wide-ranging reforms to stamp out corruption and political interference in the judiciary. 
ISRAEL arrested a politician from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas today, Palestinian security forces said. 
On Sunday, August 6, Mujahideen attacked a truck of the gang "Russian Interior Ministry" on a landmine near village Prigorodnoye, severely wounding 3 kafirs (infidels). On Saturday, August 5, Mujahideen blew up on a landmine a gang of Russian kafirs belonging to another Russian gang, "Defence Ministry", severely wounding 4 Russian troops. The condition the wounded Russian terrorists "remained severe also on Sunday", reported the Prague-based US station Radio Liberty, quoting invaders' sources. 
The Tamil Tigers have said that shelling of their territory by Sri Lankan troops amounted to a declaration of war, but they had not yet decided whether to retaliate. SP Thamilselvan, leader of the rebel's political wing, said: "We consider this a declaration of war and strongly condemn the attitude of the government. We may have to take a defensive position if the shelling continues. It is not decided yet." He said there was still space for discussion while Norway's special peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer was in Kilinochchi. Hanssen-Bauer is expected to leave on Monday.
