THERES A familiar ritual each time an operation to thwart a putative terrorist incident dominates the news. After the publics initial expressions of relief and shuddering contemplation of what might have been, a rising chorus of sceptics takes over, with a string of questions and hypotheses.
Was it really a serious terrorist plot, or only a bunch of misguided, alienated Muslim kids larking about with a chemistry set and a mobile phone? Sometimes, unfortunately, as with this summers ludicrously overplayed Miami plot to blow up buildings in Chicago, in which the plotters had got as far as purchasing some boots but not much else, overzealous authorities bring this sort of suspicion on themselves. But you can guarantee that every incident now, whatever the evidence, will be treated with such derisive doubt. If the police had got to the 9/11 hijackers or the 7/7 bombers in time, a sizeable chunk of respectable opinion would have dismissed them as idealistic young men with no real capacity or intent to cause harm.
The scepticism is then embellished by the conspiracy-as-diversion theory. How convenient, cluck the doubters, with rolled eyes and theatrical sarcasm, just as the Governments got some new bonfire of civil liberties planned; or just as President Bushs poll numbers are collapsing; or just as Israel is stepping up its ground attacks in southern Lebanon.
Then, of course, whether real or imaginary or government-authored, the cynics will say the plot inevitably has its roots in our own culpability. If we hadnt invaded Iraq, if Tony Blair werent George Bushs agent of oil-fuelled imperialism, if Israel werent killing innocents in Lebanon, this wouldnt have happened.
It is a neatly comprehensive schema of cynicism. If the plot turns out to be a damp squib, or the police have made some ghastly error, the sceptics will triumphantly claim that it was deliberately overdone to scare us. If the plot is real, or God forbid, as with 9/11 or 7/7 it isnt foiled in time, then they can switch seamlessly to the claim that weve only ourselves to blame.
In this internally pure worldview, the consistent theme is denial denial of the reality of the mortal threat we face, denial of the reasons we face it. The villain for these people is not the jihadist, with his agenda of destroying our very way of life. It is, as it has always been, that malign continuum of institutions of our own authority that begins with the aggressive police officer and goes all the way up via the credulous media and craven officials to No 10 and the White House.
Its too early to say with any confidence yet, but it looks as though yesterdays plot to blow up US-bound aircraft from the UK was closer to the 9/11 tragedy than the Miami-Chicago farce. If the police and intelligence authorities have succeeded in foiling such a murderous plan, the correct response is one of immense gratitude to them, pride in our security institutions and continued vigilance against future plots.
But we should also remember that our continuing existence lies not just in inconvenient security measures and uncomfortably intrusive intelligence activities, but in a grand global strategy. Success requires, in addition to the tiresome banalities of long check-in queues and tighter limits on hand luggage, a commitment, whatever the costs, to eradicate the deep global political causes that threaten us.
And for this it just wont do to claim its all about bad US foreign policy. It is repetitive but necessary to point out that we didnt start this war when we invaded Iraq. The attacks on 9/11 were planned not only before we invaded, but during a time when the US was expending extraordinary effort to try to forge a lasting settlement between Israel and the Palestinians.
And if our actions have radicalised the jihadists we should remember that they are animated at least as much by our ridding Afghanistan of their spiritual brethren, the Taleban, as they are by whatever crimes the US may have committed in Baghdad.
The same applies to Israel and Lebanon. Not only is the current war the direct result of Hezbollahs aggression, its deeper causes lie in the continued determination of Israels enemies, increasingly emboldened by Tehran, to liquidate the Jewish state.
Few can look at events in Iraq or Lebanon today with optimism, but it would be dangerous folly to assume, as some do, that the West should retreat, beating its breast and promising never to offend again.
Events such as yesterdays near-miss should remind us that September 11, 2001, gave birth to a radical and dangerous new world. It required the US an imperfect country to be sure, but the only one with the power and the will to defend the basic freedoms we too easily take for granted with its allies to remake the international system. It provided a terrifying harbinger of much larger atrocities to come, when terrorists and their state supporters get hold of weapons with which they can kill millions, not thousands. This new enemy is not like old enemies. It is fundamentalist and suicidal and apocalyptic. The old system, rooted in a liberal philosophy that relied on patient diplomacy and made a virtue of being slow to respond to attacks, was unequal to this new challenge. The new system required rapid action to open up the Middle East, the festering root of all these threats to modernity.
I will grant you that the Iraq war has been characterised, in conception and execution, by blunder after blunder. And it is certainly possible that, in their failures there, the US and Britain have made the world more unstable, not less. But we should not, in our frustration, confuse the real enemies here. We should not mistake the unlooked-for dangers caused by blunders and arrogance in Washington for the targeted threats posed by nihilism and hatred in much of the Middle East, and in some of our own cities.
Yesterday provided us with yet another glimpse of the awful reality of our long war and associated miseries. We must be very careful not to ascribe their creation to our own errors.
* Funds given to two British citizens of Kashmiri origin and an Islamabad-based Kashmiri builder
* Earthquake relief money remitted to individuals alarmed British agencies
By Sarfaraz Ahmed and Maqbool Ahmed
KARACHI: A UK-based Islamic charity organisation remitted a huge amount of money to three individuals in three different bank accounts in Mirpur, Azad Kashmir, in December last year with the sole purpose of helping its recipients and their organisations carry out the aircraft bombing plan in the UK, insider sources told Daily Times yesterday.
An investigation carried out by Daily Times showed that Muslim Charity of UK remitted not so long ago a huge amount of money under the head of earthquake relief to the accounts of three individuals in three different banks Saudi Pak Bank, Standard Chartered and Habib Bank Ltd. One of these banks is UK based and has its presence in Azad Kashmir because of a huge number of British citizens of Kashmir origin in UK. The money was transferred from UK to banks in Azad Kashmir through Barclays Plc..
Two of the recipients of the transaction are British citizens of Kashmir origin while the third is an Islamabad-based builder, also of Kashmir origin. They were arrested in the last two weeks at three different places in the country. One of them was arrested in Karachi, the builder was arrested in Islamabad while the place of the arrest of the third suspect is still not known. There are no available details about these three suspects with regard to their links with organisations such as Al Qaeda or Lashkar-e-Taiba or both.
Pakistani FIA investigators were apparently tipped off by the British authorities about the fund transfers and asked to investigate. Following their arrests the three suspects revealed some key elements of the aircraft bombing plan during interrogations by various agency personnel, who were also aided by at least one expert specialising in money laundering. The Pakistani and British investigators were able to discover how operatives at both ends had raised and moved their funds around. These investigations also established that it was due to the prompt and successful operation of Pakistans intelligence agencies, particularly the FIA, that the world was saved from a fate worse than 9/11.
Had we been even slightly complacent, the perpetrators of this plot might have been able to carry out their operations without little or no problem in the UK because of two broad reasons, said a senior government official, who was privy to the inquiry carried out by Pakistani agencies following the receipt of a tip from UKs National Terrorist Financial Investigation Unit in June this year.
First, he said, Pakistani anti-terrorism agency counterparts abroad have been showing a lot of trust in our skills and abilities and none of our reports has so far been challenged by them. Second, he added, any delay on the part of the Pakistan agencies in acquiring and relaying this information would have cost the NTFIU dearly for it was desperate to know the outcome of Pakistans inquiry report in order to determine whether or not to ask the UK authorities to declare a red alert in the country. Giving details, the official said the NTFIU, which reportedly plays a central role in informing and implementing British government policy on terrorist finance and is an integral part of the UKs intelligence structure targeting terrorist finance, had asked Pakistani authorities to carry out a highly discreet inquiry on some money transfers.
According to the NTFIU, a huge amount of money had been transferred from Britain to Azad Kashmir for quake relief efforts two months after the quake caused devastation. Neither the amount nor the purpose for which money was sent caused any concern in the British investigation unit, said the senior official. What raised alarm among British sleuths specialising in finances was the fact that the entire money was remitted to three individuals, not to any organisation or organisations involved in the relief work.
The official, who refused to disclose the amount, however said that the entire transaction was in pound sterling. It is up to you to deduce. What I can say is that it was a huge amount. Had it not been gone into the accounts of individual, nobody would have been bothered, he said.
A senior Pakistani banker who has successfully dealt with a number of money laundering cases told Daily Times on condition of anonymity that the UK has had extensive experience of tracking, disrupting and undermining the finances of terrorist networks and continues to develop new ways in which such targeting and disruption can be effectively achieved. In this case too, the UK Units expertise provided immense guidance to Pakistani sleuths to uncover the plot, he added. Another senior official told Daily Times that the Pakistani agencies have in recent months been able to effect significant seizures of terrorist cash and identify and disrupt terrorist fundraising activity.
According to him, all banks, including multinationals, and financial institutions have been cooperating fully in seeking out sources of terrorist funding since 9/11. This was mainly due to the cooperation of the three banks through which money was transferred to these suspects, the official said, and added that one of the most significant features contributing to the success of this case was increased integration between key bodies involved, ranging from government, law enforcement and regulatory bodies at home and abroad.
Posted by: john ||
08/11/2006
20:19 ||
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#1
Ahhh, that old world wisdom. I wonder what is going on in Indonesia right now. Hmmmm.
#3
Muslim Charity of UK remitted not so long ago a huge amount of money under the head of earthquake relief to the accounts of three individuals in three different banks Saudi Pak Bank, Standard Chartered and Habib Bank Ltd. One of these banks is UK based and has its presence in Azad Kashmir because of a huge number of British citizens of Kashmir origin in UK. The money was transferred from UK to banks in Azad Kashmir through Barclays Plc.
I'm too disgusted to comment. Condi will NEVER get my vote as President
JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert faced a backlash on Friday over a U.N. proposal to end the war in Lebanon, with army officers saying they were held back and right-wing rivals calling for new elections.
"Olmert must go," read a front page headline in Israel's left-leaning Haaretz newspaper.
Opinion polls, conducted before details of the proposed Security Council resolution emerged, showed public support eroding for Olmert, a career politician who lacks the combat credentials of many of his predecessors.
Twenty percent of those surveyed by Haaretz believed Israel was winning the war.
Leading members of the right-wing opposition Likud party called the resolution a victory for Hizbollah.
"We will work to bring down the government," said Likud's Silvan Shalom. Yuval Steinitz, also of Likud, said the Israeli government should resign and call new elections.
Some Israeli military commanders said an expanded ground offensive, authorized by Olmert and his security cabinet on Wednesday, should not have been put on hold.
They accused Olmert of denying the army a chance to gain more ground militarily to secure a ceasefire that would be more favorable to Israel and less so to Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah.
Army officers said Israeli troops massed along the Lebanese border were now "sitting ducks" while Israeli political leaders awaited the outcome of the negotiations at the United Nations.
"We need to keep on going with the military operation," one officer said. He did not want to be identified.
Another officer told Haaretz: "Nasrallah will continue to mock us, and in the end there will be another war."
Justice Minister Haim Ramon defended the government, telling Israel Radio: "War in the name of the war is not an objective."
Tzachi Hanegbi, a senior member of Olmert's Kadima party, said that, if it was possible to remove Hizbollah from southern Lebanon through diplomacy, "obviously this is far preferable to a military clash with its heavy price in lives of fighters."
LATEST PROPOSAL
The latest proposal calls for the existing U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon to be reinforced by French and other troops, although Beirut has rejected a proposed mandate allowing the use of force for more than just self-defense.
Hizbollah would pull out from south of the Litani river, 13 miles from the border -- as Israel wants.
Israeli critics say the resolution would not secure the immediate release of two soldiers seized by Hizbollah, whose capture on July 12 sparked the war, and does not guarantee the guerrilla group's disarmament.
Political sources said Israel was still pushing for changes to the resolution to make sure troops would withdraw only once the expanded peacekeeping force was on the ground.
Israel also wants the resolution to spell out how an embargo will be enforced to prevent Hizbollah from receiving new arms.
A poll published in Haaretz on Friday showed only 48 percent of Israelis were satisfied with Olmert's performance compared with more than 75 percent early in the fighting.
A poll in the mass-circulation Yedioth Ahronoth showed 66 percent were satisfied with Olmert, down from 73 percent.
Haaretz columnist Ari Shavit wrote: "You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power."
Ben Caspit, a columnist for Maariv, agreed that it would be hard for Olmert to remain: "The public in Israel will not keep silent about this month.. without reaching a victory or exacting an appropriate price."
(Additional reporting by Jonathan Saul)
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006
19:52 ||
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"You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power."
George W. Bush, are you listening??? Get the lead out of your ass AND GROW A DAMN SPINE!!!!!
Posted by: Dave D. ||
08/11/2006 20:04
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Condi isnt the guilty here, Olmert didnt wanted to do anything. I didnt like her in the begining of crisis but i am more worried with her specially with Iran.
#3
Consider how all of this will be perceived in Iran, Syria, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Osama's cave, Pakistan, Europe's Islamist enclaves, etc.
Israel has lost. The West is losing. When and how can the tide turn? I'm 40, I've already served, and I'll do it again when necessary -- but there's got to be a leadership that wants us to WIN THE WAR.
Posted by: Kalle ||
08/11/2006 20:17
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I don't know whether we're losing; but we're sure as hell not winning very fast.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
08/11/2006 20:33
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We lost. Nothing here that can be described as a win. Only Iran and Syria gained. Israel lost men and treasure, Leabanon lost people and infrastructure Hizb'allah decalres a victory.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
08/11/2006 21:48
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I side with the folks at The Corner, who conclude that you can't get on paper (the resolution) any more than you can gain on the ground (in Lebanon after a month).
This isn't Bush or Condi's fault. It is Olmert's fault and, frankly, those who voted him into office.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/11/2006 22:36
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Sitzkrieg folks. Nothing more. Spines are only made from pressure and neither we nor Israel are being truly pressured. I am confident it will happen though the price will be high.
THEY lived on quiet English streets. Neighbours invariably described them as polite, pleasant and respectable. But from unremarkable houses in East London, a leafy town in Buckinghamshire and Birmingham, 24 young British residents, mostly of Pakistani background, were arrested early on Thursday after being under MI5 surveillance for more than a year.
The Muslim-convert son of a Conservative Party staffer, a young woman with a six-month-old baby and two brothers, both married and living in a semidetached house with their wives and parents, were among those detained.
It was in the aftermath of the London Underground bombings in July last year that attention was drawn to the group when a member of the Muslim community became suspicious about an acquaintance's behaviour.
MI5 started an investigation and, as the evidence mounted, it became clear something big was being planned. Intelligence officers placed bugs and phone taps in the homes of some young men and began listening carefully. The plot they discovered being hatched in these quiet streets was described by one senior security source as "bigger than 9/11". They wanted to bring down up to 12 American aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean, each carrying a maximum of 400 passengers. Some sources believe the plan was being timed to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States in 2001.
Last December, MI5 called in the British police to mount an even larger surveillance operation. Officers and agents began watching the alleged plotters and following them. They found out who they spoke to and what meetings they attended. Their spending habits and bank accounts were tracked by a special anti-terrorism unit that discovered some of the alleged plotters had access to unusually large amounts of money, well out of keeping with their incomes.
The network was large: US officials believe there were three cells of terrorists, involving up to 50 people. They were organised centrally and may not have been aware of the activities of their co-plotters.
But in recent days, one thing became clear to authorities: the intensity of their activities were increasing and an attack was, if not imminent, then in the final stages of preparation.
After two Britons of Pakistani descent were arrested in Pakistan nearly two weeks ago, some British Government sources believe a message was sent to the suspected terrorists in Britain, saying: "Do your attacks now." Rest of 3 page article at link.
Posted by: ed ||
08/11/2006
18:51 ||
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THE capture of a British national in Pakistan was the trigger for the arrests of 24 men suspected of plotting to blow up transatlantic airliners.
Government sources indicated to The Times that the apprehension of Rashid Rauf was the key event that forced British police to raid addresses in London, Birmingham and High Wycombe. One of those arrested in Birmingham was Raufs brother, Tayib, 21. Police brought the raids forward because they were concerned that the alleged plotters would realise they were under surveillance once they lost contact with a central figure in their plans, and either go into hiding or carry out an attack.
In a separate development, Scotland Yard is investigating possible links between the men arrested on Thursday and other British terrorists, including the July 7 bombers. They are concerned that some of those now in custody visited Pakistan last year at the same time as two of the London bombers. Pakistani intelligence sources are examining whether any of those arrested on Thursday attended the same madrassa, or religious school, as the 7/7 bombers..
Searches after Thursdays arrests had uncovered material which could be used in bomb making, The Times was told by security sources last night.
Rashid Rauf left Britain in 2002 after the murder of his uncle Mohammed Saeed, 54, who was stabbed to death in Birmingham in April of that year. Pakistani officials said that Rauf had forged links with militant groups and received explosives training at an al-Qaeda camp. The Foreign Ministry said: A key person arrested is British national Rashid Rauf.
West Midlands Police said that the home of the Rauf family, at St Margarets Road in Birmingham Ward End, had been searched in 2002 in connection with the Saeed murder inquiry. Rashid Rauf has not been arrested or charged with his uncles murder.
The Pakistani authorities have made several more arrests which they said were directly connected to the airline plot. They said that one was a British national.
Another of those detained is understood to be Matiur Rehman, Big news. Purported mastermind and keeper of the al Qaeda personnel book 29, previously identified by Pakistani intelligence as a senior al-Qaeda operative and linked to an assassination attempt on President Musharraf. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry added: There are indications of an Afghanistan-based al-Qaeda connection.
John Reid, the Home Secretary, has thanked the Pakistani Government for its assistance. He said the threat level would remain at critical.
Police have been granted an extension until August 16 to question the suspects. They can in theory hold them for 28 days before charging or releasing them. One person has been released without charge.
Posted by: ed ||
08/11/2006
18:36 ||
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NOTE: Info is from a private newsletter, which states the document will be made available in English at the Basic-Project web site [link goes there; not yet posted as of today].
Hmmm - lemmee see - "BASIC": B(razil)-A(frica)-S(outh)-I(ndia)-C(hina). Barf.
RIO DE JANEIRO--A document drafted by Brazil, China, India, and South Africa at an Aug. 7-9 climate change conference in São Paulo proposed criteria for setting greenhouse gas emission targets for developing countries under the Kyoto Protocol, a São Paulo state government spokesman [said] Aug. 10.
The proposal would cover for the treaty's second commitment period, from 2013 to 2018. The targets for the first commitment period, 2008-2012, only apply to developed countries.
The proposal also called for putting trade sanctions on nonmembers of the protocol such as the United States, and those that fail to become members by Dec. 31, 2012.
What's Chinese/Portugese/etc. for "chutzpah"?
Wouldn't this violate the WTO agreements? (Not that I care that much.)
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/11/2006
18:28 ||
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2005 US-China trade deficits:
US-China: $201.5 billion, growing 20%/year
US-India: $10.8 billion, growing 15%/year and accelerating
US-Brazil: $9.1 billion, growing 100%/year
US-South Africa: $2.0 billion, growing 50% this year
I would like nothing more than trade sanctions. I like it so much that I advise the American people to minimize buying any products from overseas. Keep the dollars and bring the middle class manufacturing jobs back home.
Posted by: ed ||
08/11/2006 20:56
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This isn't really about Kyoto - it's nothing more than an end-run around WTO free trade requirements.* I guarantee you that Washington will put the screws to the countries that levy trade sanctions against us.
* The Japanese used to bar American medical products on the basis of what they termed genetic differences between the two nations, so non-tariff trade barriers are nothing new.
· Key suspect seized on Afghan border
· Arrested men attended Islamic camps
· Martyrdom tapes found during searches
· Tip-off came from Muslim informer
A brother of one of the 24 suspects seized by detectives investigating a plot to bomb up to 12 planes was seized in Pakistan shortly before police launched their raids, it emerged tonight. The arrest of Rashid Rauf in the border area with Afghanistan was a trigger that led anti-terrorist investigators to start an immediate pre-emptive operation with officers fearing that the alleged cells were ready to strike.
Pakistani officials claimed tonight that Mr Rauf had links with al-Qaida. "We arrested him from the border area and on his disclosure we shared the information with British authorities, which led to further arrests in Britain," said the interior minister, Aftab Khan Sherpao. The foreign minister, Khursheed Kasuri, said Mr Rauf had been monitored for some time before his arrest.
Mr Rauf's uncle was murdered in Birmingham in April 2002 and as part of the murder hunt it is understood that Mr Rauf's home in St Margaret's Road in the city was searched. The arrest of Mr Rauf in Pakistan was one of seven made by Pakistani authorities in recent days, and is understood to have included one other Briton. Mr Rauf's two brothers were arrested in Birmingham yesterday as part of the raids.
It also emerged today that at least one of the suspects arrested in Walthamstow, east London, regularly attended Islamic camps run by Tablighi Jamaat, an organisation which the Americans believe has been used as a recruiting ground for al-Qaida. Martyrdom tapes and other significant items were discovered during the search of the 29 properties where arrests were made yesterday morning.
As it became clear that Pakistan played a pivotal role in the plot, and helped in its unmasking, British counter-terrorism officials said several of the Britons involved had visited the country two months ago, before returning to the UK.
British intelligence sources say the original tip-off about the alleged plot came more than a year ago from an informant in the UK. The informant is believed to have come from the Muslim community.
A combination of Mr Rauf's arrest, at least one intercepted message from Pakistan to Britain, and an alert from an informant here, led to yesterday's arrests, according to British security sources.
More details about the backgrounds of the 24 arrested suspects emerged today. Three were Muslim converts. The youngest was 17 and the oldest 35. Among those arrested was the wife of one of the suspects, detained with her young baby. It is likely that in the next few days a handful of those arrested will be released having been caught up in the sweep inadvertently. It is understood that the 19 names released by the Bank of England as subject to asset freezes are the core suspects.
Although some had visited Pakistan, a senior security official said: "The plot was constructed in the UK, targeted in the UK, based in the UK, and foiled in the UK". But it is not clear when the attack was to take place. None of the alleged plotters had yet bought airline tickets, according to anti-terrorist sources.
The Guardian has learned that US and British counter-terrorism officials believe that the liquid chemical the alleged plotters were planning to use to crash the planes was the peroxide based TATP.
Posted by: ed ||
08/11/2006
18:24 ||
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Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has accepted an emerging Mideast cease-fire deal and informed the United States of his decision, Israeli officials said Friday. Olmert will recommend that his government approve the deal in its meeting on Sunday, said Gideon Meir, a senior official in the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
Meir said the military offensive in Lebanon would continue for the time being. It was not immediately clear if it would be halted after the U.N. Security Council vote on the cease-fire deal later Friday, or only after the Israeli Cabinet has endorsed it.
Posted by: ed ||
08/11/2006
18:07 ||
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#1
Been sayin it all day...and he couldn't wait. This was his end goal all along and FUBAR'd this beyond belief. Only hope is that his govt. shoots it down. What a crock.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/11/2006 18:18
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What I want to know is why Bush is covering for him damn we had the shot oh well back to the drawing board.
Is this some kind of American-Israeli rope-a-dope con game being played on the Hizzies, Syria and Iran to convince them we're hopelessly Stuck On Stupid™ in hopes that they'll get overconfident and make some fatal blunder, and then we'll spring the Super-Secret Trap™ on them and blow them to Kingdom Come??
Or is it that we're just Stuck On Stupid, period?
Posted by: Dave D. ||
08/11/2006 18:24
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Olmert thought he could finesse everybody, Hez-B, UN and US. Screw him.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/11/2006 18:25
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This is the Europeasation of Israel. A cultural shift that is happening in top politicians,journalists etc It is also happening in USA
Posted by: Dave D. ||
08/11/2006 18:33
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Is a military coup possible in Israel?
Posted by: kelly ||
08/11/2006 18:36
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Clerert nailed it.
We ran interference for Israel for a month. Even the freakin Egyptians and the Soddies gave them the green light to eliminate an direct threat to their country. Still, despite this unprecedented opportunity to do what is just, the Olmert government showed no interest in doing so. Given this 'Europeanization' the UN deal is the best we can do.
If I were Israeli, I'd think about moving to the US before they are overrun. Israel can only afford one strategic defeat. This may be it.
#10
I am so bummed, GWB is really starting to piss me off...I got pictures of the dood hanging on my walls and I am wonder now why they are there!!
I am begging him to take the gloves off. I can't believe we are being pushed around by a midget dictator and a bunch of people living in the 3rd century...
Let's just get this over with!! If it goes to nukes then fuck it!! Let's just get this shit over!! I am so tired of trying to be nice to these fucking cock sucking MOOOSLIMS!!
KILL THEM ALL!!
Fuck it!!
Hopefully they were never fighting for Olmert, but for God & country.
Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
08/11/2006 18:56
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Fighting continues, resupply is still denied and getting Lebonen forces mobilized will take weeks.
Kofi says to "stop hitting" but the guns are still pumping out rounds.
It ain't over till thay start talking about swapping prisoners...
#18
I'm just as disappointed as everyone else in regards to the weakness showed but I'm wondering if any of our capitulation to the Euro-weenies viewpoint has to do with Iran and its date with the UN at the end of August.
#20
This is the first defeat that Israel has suffered since 1948.It's not a military defeat, but a defeat of will. From now on it can expect to be subjected to the "death of a thousand cuts", as attacks on it by non-state actors escalate, with the full backing of regional players. These backers lived in fear during the present conflict that Israel might bring them to account. Nothing happened to them, so they will be emboldened to escalate conflicts in the region, and will expect Israel, and by definition the US, to seek a political solution. Expect interesting times in the Middle East if the US tries to lean too hard on Iran over their nuclear ambitions.
#21
I'm just as disappointed as everyone else in regards to the weakness showed but I'm wondering if any of our capitulation to the Euro-weenies viewpoint has to do with Iran and its date with the UN at the end of August.
If we don't have the collective balls in the West to deal with the Hezzie scum, do we have the will to deal with a growing Iranian nuclear threat? It is going to take a great deal more sense of purpose and will to defeat this scourge to mankind.
What the hell is going to happen to the Israeli soldiers who were kidnapped? Are they just going to be left hanging out in the breeze?
What are the Iraqians going to think about the
West's determination to win the WOT.
We are going to be plagued by this agreement forever. It is going to lead to a very serious war soon.
Who in the hell is vying for an Arafat Nobel Peace Prize?
#22
Yep. The Rumsfeld game plan in action, and Condi sitting there pushing it onward. Welcome to PC war, ready your burqas, ain't it grand no ones feelings will get hurt.
Make do with as little as possible, and ensure the enemy a fair fight. They will love us now.
#24
Disgusted. Gut-wrenching feeling going on in my stomach. Olmert is going to be the worst PM of Isreal for a long time. If he lasts, I have the feeling he will resign when public opinion goes down lower than Bush's numbers.
Posted by: Charles ||
08/11/2006 20:17
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#25
Tie it to Rumsfeld - I'd tie you to Michael Moore. Same Dif
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 20:17
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"Olmert will recommend that his government approve the deal in its meeting on Sunday"
This is the only moron that I know that would agree to a deal before it's even drawn up. If an investment banker did this, he would canned in two seconds.
"U.N. Security Council vote on the cease-fire deal later Friday"
I would surprised if this wasn't a black tie event. This way, the hard working diplomat's wouldn't take a chance on missing the 8pm dinner reservations. Who cares about Jews, when there's lobster on the menu?
#27
No Frank. This make-do with as small of a force bullshiat and fighting a PC war is tied directly to Rumsfeld whether you like it or not. Look where it's gotten us in Iraq, and now look what the same attitude and approach has gotten the Israelis. I am pissed off as fuck, and I can't believe these clowns have learnt nothing from Vietnam.
#28
If you go to war, you fight it like it's a goddamned war and finish it! No mercy, no PC shenanigans! If you're not ready to do that, you don't fight it at all!
#29
you think Rumsfeld fought a PC losing war in Afghanistan or Iraq? Ask the Taliban (hiding in Pakland) who were supposedly invincible. Ask Saddam or Qusay or Uday? You can't, can you? Meh
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 20:25
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#30
"One survey, by the independent Dahaf Institute, said Olmert's personal approval rating dropped from 73 percent to 66 percent."
Oooh! A staggering 7 point drop. I haven't seen this much forgiveness even among Christians. Boy, the Jews really know how to make their politicians pay for wrong decisions. Maybe, Olmert will stay in power due to the re-redistricting plan coordinated by Delay.
Bush is fighting a WoT and his approval rating is inside the 40's. Imagine what would happen if Bush fought the WoT like Olmert.
#31
We didn't fight a PC war in Afghanistan, and we employed people who were probably not our best friends, but they got the job done. We bombed who needed to be bombed, and didn't give a rats ass to what any media would say.
That changed in Iraq. Rumsfeld brought along the idea of "we can make do with less" approach to warfare, and it has not proven to be the wise choice. Not only that, the PC bullshiat has led to our own military charging our own boys with war crimes to "show fairness" to the goddamned bloodthirsty Iraqis that we will prosecute our own. And who brought about these allegations? Oh, gee, "freedom fighters". All in the name of showing our PC side and showing our "fairness". Bullshiat!
Israel has taken the same approach to this war. The same old PC bullshiat. Leaflet them before they attack, give the damn Hezbollitos time to move on, and leave bodies for propoganda purposes. Meanwhile, after the media criticizes and hates Israel(WHICH THEY WOULD DO ANYWAYS), say that you are going to run an investigation into what happened, and , OH WE SO SORRY! in the meantime.
No, feh, Israel knows how to fight fucking wars, the problem is they listened to the bullshiat ideas coming from over here.
"No mercy, no PC shenanigans! If you're not ready to do that, you don't fight it at all!"
Whose fault do you think it is? Not Rumsfeld. I have another question for you. If Kennedy, Schumer, and Biden wrote a letter to Rumsfeld to do whatever it takes to defeat the terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan, do you think Rumsfeld will wait 1 second or 2 seconds to give the order to wipe out entire towns in the Sunni Triangle?
Get off Rumsfeld. Blame the bleeding hearts or as Fred would say "....or is that chili?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 20:47
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#34
Is Rumsfeld in charge, or is Kennedy, Schumer, and Biden? No. If you are in charge of fighting a war and winning it, you do what it takes REGARDLESS of what your political opponents have to say. The very fact that you bring up that those morons are controlling what's happening, tells me that Rummy isn't as in control of the situation as he should be. I'll bring it up again, you can't fight a PC war, and if Rummy has let those assholes take charge, then Rummy is an appeaser, isn't he?
#35
The buck has to stop somewhere. I should hope that it stops with the people who were voted in charge of running this country! Not the dipshiat senators from Massachusettes or New Yorkistan.
#36
Rumsfeld maybe in charge of DoD, but the Senate can haul him in and make a public spectacle of him, anytime they want. Unfortunately, that's political reality. Anyone who has been around Reagan as long as Rumsfeld, could never be an appeaser.
#38
I understand where you are coming from PR, and I know the dipshiat opposition. If Rummy can't handle it though, maybe it's time for him to pass the reigns in to someone else. Someone who won't be afraid of the scrutiny, and letting these gasbag senators from the east coast run things. If he can't handle it, then it is time for him to get off the pot. I want to see someone there who will do whatever it takes, and kick people like Biden and Kennedy to the curb if they don't like it.
The sad thing is this has spread now to Israel, and they should be mad as fuck.
#39
like WHO? suggestions? or just bitching? I'm all ears
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 21:09
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#40
btw - I DO believe in fighting to win. I lay this on Olmert first, second, Condi's lack of "buck the fuck up, you spineless wimp" AKA Churchill/Thatcher backbone
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 21:13
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#41
Mainly just bitching Frank, to be honest.
I would just like to see someone with balls take over this crap, and do what needs to be done.
#44
no disagreement, Thoth :-) We want the same end result
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 21:24
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#45
apparently W thinks Olmert is roadkill...
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 21:25
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#46
The "too few troops" argument does have one thing going for it: the Sunnis first and now the Shiites do not feel well and truly beaten. Wars end when one side gives up.
We have fought a PC war, but I do not blame Rumsfeld for this. We will lose the PC, or we will lose our lives. There is not a third way.
#47
Only 2 people to blame Olmert and G.W. Bush. The Buck does stop there.
It sure wasn't the fault of the war figheters it is a failure of leadership. GW. Bush is not doin the job to the best of his ability. Time for him to quite acting like Goofy and get his ass in gear.
This is what it looks like when the Left wins. Hizb'allah and Iran declare victory.
#50
Understood - and I don't know who in Israel's the answer. Bibi? Someone else? Where are the Dayan's and Meir's?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 21:55
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#51
Bibi is a good speecher. Nothing more for him i am afraid. I think you are getting the past rose tinted glasses syndrom while Dayan was great in 67 he wasnt in 73 and Meir Gov felt because of war. But it's true the gamble was much bigger.
Our society doesnt educate for those able to reach leadership or maybe there are too many good firms to go, good money and no public exposition and media arrest .
#52
someone needs to be the Churchill of Israel. Time is now. Who?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 22:25
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#53
IMO the US-Israel are trying to verify iff Syria and Lebanon want to stay democratic and sovereign or against Iran while trying to make it look like they aren't. Ditto for North Korea wid its missles. Syria = Lebanon = North Korea > the WOT may be their only chance to break free pf control-domination by another power [ChiComs = Radical Iran]. 9-11 + WOT > America's enemies want to destabilize + implode America so America has to destabilize + implode back, wid out resort to mutually destructive global nuke war [2015-202].Dubya correcrly interpreted 9-11 as either America rules the world, or its enemies will destroy America.
#57
My beef is either we're gonna go all out on this or no. If no, then don't take our boys there. If you're not going to back em up 100%, then don't send them "over there". And sure as hell if you are not going to back up our allies(Israel) 100%, then bugger the frick out of it, and don't play part in ceasefire agreements that are just going to hurt them even more.
#58
True enough Joe, but GW isn't operating to his interpretation. The problem is not enough have died in the west for the folks to push this to total war. It is no different than before WWII. The public didn't have the stomach for it, and if the public doesn't then the leadership won't. Neither we nor the Israelis are going to go native on our enemies until the stakes become real in an absolutely visceral sense. When the Israelis can just go to Tel Aviv and party or go to the beach to get away from the war, Olmert can do a peace treaty. Likewise if the US population does not feel really threatened, we are not going to go all out as we should. Sucks, but there it is. Many of us will die before we end this thing.
#59
The buck has to stop somewhere. I should hope that it stops with the people who were voted in charge of running this country! Not the dipshiat senators from Massachusettes or New Yorkistan.
I hate to tell you this, but under our current system of government the dipshit senators from Massachussetts and New Yorkistan have enough authority to keep shit from getting done. And in the field of energy policy, they _have_ done so, and the result has been expensive gas and lots of increaced profits for the people funding terrorism.
(And voters bitching about Dick Chainey's Evil Plots, so guess what? The guys who actually stop drilling off of Florida or wind farms off of Connecticut never have to face the music...)
Posted by: Phil ||
08/11/2006 22:55
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#60
thoth - I feel the same - my son enters the Army in Sept and if they aren't going to use him/defend him/plan for him 100% then WTF? Why should I support this admin in any way, shape, or form. Believe me, I've let them know, while I withheld all the $ I gave before
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 22:59
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#61
Phil, who has the majority of both houses? Who has control of the executive branch? Who now has control of the judicial branch? Who has control of the government? If the Republicans don't at this time, then there is something either very seriously wrong with this country, or we've allowed a bunch of patsies take over the place.
To keep blaming everything wrong as to why this administration doesn't take the bull by the horns and fight this like a freaking war on the douchebag senators in Massachussettes and New Yorkistan tells me one of either 2 things.
1) Our systemn is a total failure
2) GWB and crew are a gang of nutless leaders who talk a good game but will bend in the face of their minority opponents.
My oldest son is less than 2 years from graduation, and he wants to join the military and fight for our country(He wants to be a Marine, I'm trying to convince him "go Navy!"). I support him 100%, but I want to know damned well that the people in charge are going to support him as well. So far I saw that early on, but it looks like this administration caves in more and more all the time. I was glad to see Bush finally say what needed to be said. It's a war against Islamofascism. I was getting really tired of the "war on terra" crap. That isn't what it is, and if our leader couldn't say it, why should my son or anyone elses go to follow this prick until he says what the war is, get's serious about, and gives our troops everything they need to do to accomplish their mission, and make sure these Izlamofascists are bombed into such oblivian that they need 10 years to learn how to grow squash.
I get it. I know what's going on. I wish Rumsfeld and crew would also learn to know that the majority of America would support them in what they need to do, instead of playing patty cake political games with people who will never see it their way anyhow.
#64
Wow. The best and thanks to your sons, Frank and Thoth.
I'm really concerned that people don't really understand the message this sends to the Hezbos. This is VICTORY, in their playbook, and will further embolden them and gain support of other "moderate" Moslems watching from the sidelines. Basically, if it looks like a certain group of Moslems are winning, you will have "defections" from the non-participants. It happened overnight in Iran--partiers became Mullah, hardline supporters. When the "victimized" underdog sees he has a chance, he goes all out. If this isn't poker, GWB style, we're in a lot of trouble.
#65
exactly the same here - either use them with the best tools to protect and utilize for their mission or quit. We should accept no less. Our allies (hellloooo Israel?) should do the same...
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 23:35
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#66
Thoth, take (for instance) Energy Policy. Theory says the Republicans won and the Republicans should control everything. But the last time there was actually a vote on drilling on the continental shelf, 75% of Republicans voted for it, 100% of Democrats and 25% of Republicans voted against it. The 100% of Dems and 25% of Republicans carried the day, because they had a "working majority."
It's been like this for about the past five years. During that time period the vast majority of my sales have wound up being overseas. I go home knowing both that and knowing who created that situation and log onto the internet, and see people blaming Dick Cheney for high oil prices.
High oil prices _they_ helped put up. Not Cheney, and ultimately not even the senators from Mass. and NY. The ELECTORATE.
Our system is fucked up because _we_ put these people into office with a lot more economic power than they were originally supposed to have, and tell ourselves we're doing OK as long as they manage the division of the spoils in what feels like a fair manner. And we're not paying attention to what they're doing.
I mentioned wind power earlier. That's a good example. Did you know that Texas has passed California in the amount of wind power connected to the grid, in both absolute and per-capita measurements? In spite of CA having big state tax subsidies for wind power going back to the 80's?
I'd say that it's because the government of CA is a bunch of assholes, but the truth is more complex: the people who elect the government of CA are assholes. They want to judge windpower based on the environmental impact in one particular spot (Altamont Valley) of a windmill design that hasn't been produced in about twenty years because it's too much of a pain to work with. And they also want to blame Enron when the power supply gets tight.
Well, the power supply there got really tight again this year. Too bad it didn't get really tight, it would have been interesting to watch them try to blame Enron when the company no longer exists any more.
(I know, I'm mentioning Energy and Oil a lot because that's what I work in and can see a lot of what's happening instead of what gets reported in the general press. According to the conventional wisdom, this would make me biased and not to be trusted on the subject, which IMHO is just more proof that the conventional wisdom is fucked up along with the rest of our system. As an aside about the incomplete stories... people have read about the need to protect the Caribou, and they may have read that BP hadn't been inspecting their pipeline enough, but did they ever _notice_ that some of the rigs that used to be on the North Slope are now in other countries across the Pacific Rim? I know because I do support for one of the ones that had to move. And the Big Bad Oil Company that decided to move the rig in question from Alaska to ________ ______, ______ wasn't Enron, or Shell, or Halliburton. It was the American electorate. And they don't even notice.)
Posted by: Phil ||
08/11/2006 23:39
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#67
So you're saying the system is messed up, right?
Phil, I love you man, but I don't see how any of what you're saying ties into how this war is being run. I've been known to be slow at times, I might need a better explanation. I trust you, and I'm listening.
#68
My son is already in and just recently re-upped. I hate that we're tying their hands behind their backs. When did being PC overtake our will to do what's right.
I have been very angry over how all of this has been shaking out.
The direction that our country has been taking is really screwed up.
Not just with energy and oil, as told by Phil, but with my daughter going for mechanical engineering, I'm told that around 66% of the students at her college are foreigners for this program. Hell she'll probably be able to get a scholarship for being an american citizen.
We need to make more than a strong cup of coffee, no one's smelling the coffee and waking up around here.
I email cousins in Haifa and it's frightening how they are living each day there.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/12/2006 0:13
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#69
earlier you said:
To keep blaming everything wrong as to why this administration doesn't take the bull by the horns and fight this like a freaking war on the douchebag senators in Massachussettes and New Yorkistan tells me one of either 2 things.
1) Our systemn is a total failure
2) GWB and crew are a gang of nutless leaders who talk a good game but will bend in the face of their minority opponents.
I was arguing that option 1) is probably more likely to be the case.
We elect a lot of people with a lot of authority to the House and Senate but never hold them responsible for what they do with that authority. This screws us up in a lot of areas going from defense funding through energy resource management and independence (which ties into where the other side gets _its_ funding) and the conduct of the war.
(I could also mention the budgetary fallacy of saving money on weapons systems by handbuilding everything instead of running production lines but I'm already low on time).
Right now we're screwed up in fighting the war in Iraq without dealing with the life support systems keeping the terrorists in Iraq running in Syria and Iran. Israel (to give another example) appears to want to deal with Hezbollah in Lebanon without doing anything in Syria (gee, that country's name is starting to sound familiar).
The reason we are fighting Syria in Iraq (and via Israel in Lebanon) rather than Syria (which Syria would not be able to stand very well) is because of the accepted "division of power" between Congress and the Presidency. The only way the President can expand the war to another theater would be a) if those countries I mentioned attacked with troops in uniform rather than irregulars pretending to be insurgents, which they're unlikely to do unless they think they have a really good trump card (see the speculation about whether or not they have the bomb already), or b) if Congress gave him permission and funding to do so. In order to do that he virtually has to make the question an issue in the midterm election. Which I suspect either he or Iran is going to do.
Now let me see if this'll post or I'm too late.
Posted by: Phil ||
08/12/2006 0:16
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Michigan - go figure!
The three suspects are now facing two counts each of Homeland Security Terrorism charges. All three suspects are due to be arraigned August 12th.
Around 1:00am August 11th the three men purchased cell phones from the Wal-Mart store on M-81 near the corner of M-24 in Caro. Wal-Mart places a limit on the number of cell phones that can be purchased at once, that number is three. The three men allegedly bought 80 by purchasing them three at time so that an alert wouldn't be triggered by the cash register. They also paid cash. hmmmmmm
An alert clerk grew suspicious and called Tuscola County central dispatch. The Caro Police Department sent a unit and stopped the rented van on M-81 just east of Caro. The suspects were headed towards Bad Axe on M-81 where there is another Super Wal-Mart. "alert" as in "conscious", but good job.....
The three men are described as being of Palestinian descent but live in Texas. Police say the three, ages 19, 22, and 23 appear to be naturalized citizens. from Palestine, TX? Nope?
One man was driving while the other two were in the back opening the phone packages with box cutters throwing the phones in one box, batteries in another and the packaging and phone charger in another container. The suspects had 1000 other cell phones in the van. There was also a bag of receipts showing that someone was in Wisconsin the day before. busy lil beavers
The phones were Nokia TracFones selling for $20 at Wal-Mart. For your twenty dollars you receive a phone charger and 40 minutes of airtime. The phones do not have to be registered with a name. Also discovered was a laptop with store addresses and store logos.
Tim Nausler with the Michigan State Police bomb squad says this has all the tell tale signs of using cell phones to detonate bombs. He says you need two phones to detonate a bomb one to be with the explosive and the other to make the call to that phone. In some instances he says you can detonate with one phone using the alarm clock function. hmmmm ....ROP?
The TracFones are a nationwide prepaid wireless phone service and are even offered with international long distance. These phones according to tracfone.com don't even have coverage in the Thumb area where they were purchased.
The men have been "cooperative, upfront, not hiding" anything according to police. They also told officers they get stopped frequently and say they buy the phones for $20 and sell them elsewhere for $38. They sell them without the packaging or charger.
The Caro Police Department, the FBI and the Homeland Security Terrorism Taskforce are involved in the case.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006
17:49 ||
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"Clean phones" are used by drug dealers, here in Australia.
Many people make a nice little earner going around weekend markets buying second-hand phones, and then on-sell to the dealers who chuck them away after a few days. Hinders the cops doing electronic surveillance on them
More than a year after sneaking away from his unit at Fort Bragg, an Army sergeant said Friday he'll turn himself over to military custody.
Ricky Clousing, 24, planned to go to authorities at Fort Lewis, south of Seattle, after his news conference Friday at the University of Washington.
Less than six months in Iraq, seeing the "daily physical, psychological and emotional harassment of civilians" had left him confused and disenchanted with the United States' role in the war, Clousing told The Associated Press in an interview a day before his official announcement.
"My experience in Iraq really made me second-guess my ability to perform as a soldier and also forced me to question my beliefs in associating myself" with the Army, the Sumner man said.
Officials in Fort Bragg, N.C., did not return an Associated Press call for comment on the case Thursday. Fort Lewis officials said they did not know about Clousing's case and could not comment.
Clousing said he won't participate in what he considers to be a "war of aggression" that has "no legal basis to be fought."
Clousing sneaked out of Fort Bragg in June 2005. Beginning last fall, his lawyers said, they contacted Fort Bragg and later Fort Lewis to try to negotiate a discharge. But neither installation claims responsibility for him, said attorney Lawrence Hildes of Bellingham. Finally, Clousing decided to just show up at Fort Lewis... Hopefully 4 years in Leavenworth will clear up the issue for him.
#1
We had one of those. Deserted before being assigned to a combat unit. Old (training) unit disbanded in the interim, new training unit didn't want him. Basically, he didn't exist. Spent three months in limbo and then committed suicide.
They say that all their red-lines were met: no return to the status quo; Israeli security situation is improved; Lebanese government is strengthened. They say they are quite pleased with the resolution.
The resolution clearly puts the blame for the war on Hezbollah. Some other drafts didn't.
It calls for a cessation of hostilities, which is not the same as a ceasefire. It means Hezbollah is to stop rocketing Israel, and Israel will stop its offensive operations. But Israel can maintain its forces in Lebanon.
A very robust international force will move in as the Israelis withdraw. French efforts to have Israel withdraw first, creating a vacuum that could be filled by Hezbollah, have been beaten back. Israel will withdraw in parallel with the deployment of the international force.
From Israel's perspective, it gets its major goal of ousting Hezbollah from the south from this resolution, if the international force works.
Over the last four weeks Israel has managed to do serious damage to Hezbollah, and has re-established its deterrence.
Israel has always wanted the Lebanese army in the South, and that will happen with this resolution too.
Israel supports this resolution, although there has been a lively debate over it. It gets them what they want.
Israel never told the administration not to get a resolution so it could proceed with its offensive. Israel wanted a resolution, so long as it meet its standards.
The ballyhooed Israeli ground offensive helped the administration get a better resolution. And if the process had fallen apart today, Israel was in position to follow through with its offensive.
The resolution describes the international force in outline. It will still be called UNIFIL, but will be different from UNIFIL, more robust. The resolution describes the mandate and size of the force. The force will be up to 15,000. The rules of engagement will be robust.
There won't be a full ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal until the international force is deployed, creating an incentive for it actually to happen and happen quickly.
There is an issue with the time difference in Beijing with the Chinese delegation getting its instructions, but the resolution should pass tonight.
This is all from one source, so take it with a grain of salt and none of the characterizations here represent my views, but the views of the source.
It remains to be seen if Hezbollah goes along with this. I'm suspecting they won't because it would be seen as "caving in to the Zionists." If they breach the "cessation of hostilities," well, Hezbollah is defying the UN and Israel has a UN-approved hunting license.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/11/2006
17:27 ||
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It's not a disaster, for this reason: The language of Paragraph 10, point 1, reads "Calls for a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hizbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations." This is not parallel language. Hezbollah must cease all attacks. Israel must only cease "offensive military operations." Since Israel itself defines its own action in South Lebanon as by definition defensive, not offensive, there's a lot of give here. Besides which, will Hezbollah really cease "all attacks"?
Posted by: Mike ||
08/11/2006 17:39
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#2
and what about the return of the kidnapped Israeli soldiers? F^*king State Dept capitulation is what it is, no matter how you paint it
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 18:11
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#3
Israel has the momentum. This UN resolution throws that away. Hizb'allah will filter back south and round 2 will happen, only next time with a lot foreign troops in the mix.
Posted by: ed ||
08/11/2006 21:11
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#4
Also consider that while Iran's Radical Mullah's and Moud may be Muslim, Shia, andor anti-Israel, IMO they are not for the "status quo" of State-specific sovereignty or local Nationalism for Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and any other ME nation, Muslim or otherwise. Dubya & Admin do have a legit stake in isolating and containing Radical Iranian ambitions for regional and global empire.
Residents in Winter Park, Fla., are angered over the city's response to a squirrel that attacked at least seven people this month, according to a report.
The squirrel attacks happened at Winter Park's Central Park over the last several days. A 3-year-old boy was bitten by the animal several times and has a two-inch wound on his leg, according to the report. Another child was reportedly bitten on his calf and a man sitting on a park bench was attacked by the squirrel. He suffered a bite and scratches on his arm.
The attacks took place between August 1 and August 4. Some people now say the attacking animal should have been captured sooner. One citizen said he captured the squirrel under a bucket after it attacked his friend. He said he released the squirrel when county animal-services workers failed to arrive after two hours.
City employees captured the animal this week.Winter Park received notice from the Florida Department of Health Epidemiology stating that the results on the squirrel were negative for rabies. I hope they remembered to give him a cookie...
With mounting Canadian combat deaths in Afghanistan, most recently the four killed last week, then rocket attacks on Canada's base at Kandahar airport on Saturday and Monday, not to mention a warning from a Taliban spokesman on Sunday that the rate of attacks will increase, it's beginning to look like the last thing we expected a mission of containment.
In the beginning, after all, we thought it was peacekeeping. Then, with a resurgence of the Taliban in the south early this summer, it looked more like combat, but still, combat in a war that could be won locally. All we had to do, it seemed, was to pacify southern Afghanistan up to the southern border with Pakistan.
The problem is that there isn't any southern border with Pakistan. And it's from that area in the south that most of the Taliban are coming in. It's a part of Pakistan called Baluchistan, a place with a lot of resources for insurgents, a rugged, isolated region where Pakistan doesn't have a lot of control.
The southern border between Pakistan and Afghanistan was scratched out through tribal lands by the British in 1893 and named the Durand line. When Pakistan got its independence from Britain in 1948, Baluchistan also wanted independence. Baluchis considered themselves a single people divided between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan. But Pakistan took control and put down several Baluchistan rebellions.
In the 1980s, Pakistani Intelligence found restive Baluchistan useful as a base from which to help the Taliban throw the Soviets out of Afghanistan. Then, in 1993, the Durand line "lapsed." Pakistan moved Pashtun tribesmen into the borderless area to form a bulwark between separatist Baluchistan and Afghanistan. But the Pashtuns, instead of forming a border, have made a conduit between the two regions for Taliban recruits and the heroin traffic that supports them. To make matters worse, Pakistan's ISI, the intelligence arm that helped the Taliban against the Soviets, may have gone back to helping them again this time against the Coalition.
Baluchi separatists have little interest in helping the Pakistani army to assert itself and secure the border. Conversely, Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf is more interested in dealing with Baluchi separatism than he is in the added burden of clearing out the Taliban.
As a consequence, southern Afghanistan and Baluchistan are, for all practical purposes, a single "nation" neither under the control of Kabul nor of Islamabad. The Taliban gets support from local tribes for whom Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, is too far away to be of any benefit; tribes whose links of trade, locality and culture are with Baluchistan.
Baluchistan is also home to poverty, radical Islam, Madrassa schools, drug trafficking and 231,000 Afghan refugees, all of which supplies the Taliban. What's more, the smuggling routes, both for drugs and Islamist guerrillas, run from Pakistan through Baluchistan and neighbouring Iran to Iraq. There couldn't be a better expression of the area's effective autonomy than the attendance, not long ago, of six Baluchistan politicians at the funeral of a Taliban commander.
Now, Canadian troops sit at the heart of the problem. Helmand province to the west, where the British are stationed, and Kandahar Province in the south-centre, where the Canadians have their base, both border on Baluchistan. A single road runs from Quetta, Baluchistan's capital, north to Kandahar, where it joins an east-west road that runs from Kabul in the East to Herat in the west. The Canadians have to defend Kandahar, which, if captured, would open the way for the Taliban to Herat and Kabul. And like the rest of the NATO and Afghan forces, they have to win over local sympathies, bring in the infrastructure that will link the area to Kabul and win Afghan farmers away from growing the heroin used to fund the Taliban. They have to do all this in the face of an enemy backed by the bottomless resource of Baluchistan.
As long as we don't mention Baluchistan, our victories over the Taliban look noble, our casualties the price for ground gained, the Taliban's more numerous casualties the sign of a desperate and foolhardy enemy. But the Taliban don't care a lot about taking casualties. They care mostly about wearing down NATO's morale and making reconstruction costly and hopeless. Supply from Baluchistan is allowing them to fight that very war of attrition at any cost.
It follows that the war in Afghanistan must be recognized as a geopolitical problem and not simply a military problem. And unless the international community persuades Pakistan to control Baluchistan, there is little hope of depriving the Taliban and its cousin, Al Qaeda, of a base. Not to mention, of rescuing Afghanistan itself.
Posted by: john ||
08/11/2006
16:54 ||
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Pakistan still hopes to have Afghanistan as its strategic depth, for a war with India.
It is not in its interests for NATO to succeed and Afghanistan become a strong, stable nation.
The jihadi camps are operating to provide fighters for the wars in both Afghanistan and Indian Kashmir.
Musharraf and the Pak military will not close them down. They are funded by the ISI and trained by Pak army officers masquerading as Taliban.
Posted by: john ||
08/11/2006 17:49
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John! you knowledgable cynic!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 17:54
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John when you talk about "strategic depth" what do you mean? An ally? Maneuvering room? It seems like Afghanistan is on the wrong side of Pakistan for good strategic depth.
The concept of the 'strategic depth' doctrine is not new: it was first articulated by the army chief General Mirza Aslam Beg and tried out in the high-profile Zarb-I-Momin military exercise in 1989-90.
Simply put, the doctrine calls for a dispersal of Pakistan's military assets in Afghanistan beyond the Durand Line and well beyond the current offensive capabilities of the Indian military. This would ensure the protection of Pakistan's military hardware.
However, to be really effective the doctrine calls for Pakistan having the ability to field these assets at a time and place of its choosing, which in turn requires not just neutralareas around the Durand Line but Pakistan-dominated areas well within Afghanistan.
Posted by: john ||
08/11/2006 19:05
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J: Musharraf and the Pak military will not close them down. They are funded by the ISI and trained by Pak army officers masquerading as Taliban.
My feeling is that the Pak government has established red lines beyond which the jihadis aren't allowed to cross - post 9/11, and the consequent invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, i.e. future attacks against the US can't be of the same scale. This is the meaning of Pak cooperation with the West over the airline plots. Pakistan feared major American military retaliation.
JERUSALEM - Israel launched an expanded ground offensive into southern Lebanon on Friday as U.N. diplomats worked furiously on a cease-fire deal to deploy 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers to bring an end the monthlong conflict with Hezbollah.
Israel expressed dissatisfaction over an initial cease-fire plan, saying it failed to meet its basic requirements, such as stationing robust international combat troops in southern Lebanon once Israel withdraws. But after France and the U.S. reached a deal on a revised draft resolution, Israel indicated it may accept the new arrangement and call off its offensive. The U.N. Security Council was expected to vote on the text later Friday.
The draft Security Council resolution circulated Friday would authorize the deployment of the 15,000 U.N. peacekeepers in south Lebanon to support the Lebanese army's deployment to the region "as Israel withdraws."
No mention which countries will be supplying the troops, huh? The French will of course run the mission and logistical HQ from Cyprus.
The draft, obtained by The Associated Press, would ask the U.N. force to monitor a full cessation of hostilities and help Lebanese forces gain full control over an area that has previously been under de facto control of Hezbollah militias.
The text of the draft says the force's mandate would include several elements: monitoring the cessation of hostilities, accompanying Lebanese troops as they deploy and as Israel withdraws, and ensuring humanitarian access to the area.
About 2,000 useless U.N. troops and observers are now stationed in Lebanon, as they have been since 1978. The draft would authorize an increase to a total of 15,000 troops.
If they're of the same quality and have the same mission as UNIFIL, the Israelis might as well keep on fighting.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was reviewing the draft, and an individual close to the government, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the negotiations, said there was a good chance Israel would accept it.
Britains U.N. Ambassador Emyr Jones-Parry said the resolution would give a U.N. force in Lebanon an enhanced mandate to help coordinate the eventual withdrawal of Israeli troops. But it would ultimately be deployed under Chapter 6 of the U.N. Charter which Israel has previously opposed. That decision was a key concession to Lebanon and Hezbollah. Israel wanted the force deployed under the Charters Chapter 7, which would give the troops more robust rules of engagement. Youll find that the mandate for the force is very robust, Jones-Parry said.
Just another UNIFIL.
Although the government of Lebanon will have gained a certain amount in the changes that weve made, its also the case that Israel has had concerns and no one has wanted to lose Israel from that equation, he said.
The two sides sent the new text to the governments of Israel and Lebanon, but a French diplomat said the vote would go ahead whatever the response.
James Lileks has some words on terrorists and the media:
And now I rest. Sorry I had many things to discuss, but at the end of the day they all seem obvious. Terrorists = bad. People who think the arrests were a PR move = foolish. Likelihood substantial portions of the business fliers will subconsciously adopt the nuke em from orbit, its the only way to be sure posture after learning they cant take their laptops on the flight = high. Seriously, when I learned that they were confiscating books today, I had a vision of a plane full of people all staring straight ahead, hands in their laps, waiting, waiting, waiting for it all to be over. No books. Because, you know, they might overwhelm the cockpit crew with a dramatic reading.
Go read the rest, I'll wait.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/11/2006
15:20 ||
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oh. I'm sorry. Did I say muslims were arrested? These were people arrested at muslim gathering places who were probably of pakistani descent who are probably british or italian. There's no good reason to assume they were muslim. At least, the media doesn't seem think so.
LONDON Police arrested 40 people in cities throughout Italy in raids on Muslim gathering places in a security crackdown after Britain thwarted an alleged terror plot, the Interior Ministry said Friday, as Pakistani intelligence agents claimed there was an Al Qaeda connection with ties to Afghanistan to the group of suspected terrorists arrested Thursday.
The arrests in Italy were made Rome, Milan, Venice, Florence, Naples and other cities on Thursday and Friday "as part of an extraordinary operation that followed the British anti-terrorist operation," the ministry said in a statement.
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#2
Muslims expressed shock and anger.... Do you think I f*&king care?? Muslims need to express some fear that if they don't get right, and soon, they won't walk the streets safely. Clean your own house, or it will get down for you. Over and OUT
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 16:24
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Saw it reported somewhere United tickets to USA were found in London for 8/16 travel.
Can't these guys ever get their party planning right?
#6
To any persons in the US government who may happen upon this
The bombs were to be assembled on the aircraft, apparently with peroxide-based solution and everyday carry-on items such as a disposable camera or a music player, two American law enforcement officials told The Associated Press. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because Britain asked that no information be released.
Find these 2 and shoot them. No trial take them out and shoot them for treason. These leaks have got to stop and stop now. No one will share info with us if we can't keep it secret and it's obvious we can't. We are in a war. Leakers are traitors. Shoot their worthless asses and leave them to rot.
#9
I disagree, now people who fly know to watch for anyone trying to disassemble a walkman (Etc) and Jump them.
Think of the hundreds of people who already hate the hassle of No Carry-ons, endless waits at airports (Be there two hours before the flight) and let them catch somebody pouring a bottle of baby's milk into a bottle of aftershave, then disassembling some kind of hand held electronics.
The flight would have to be steam cleaned upon landing to get all the bloody pieces out of the carpets.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/11/2006 21:12
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TWO policemen were killed by suspected members of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group in an area controlled by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in North Cotabato, the group said in a statement. Abdul Dataya, chairman of the MILF ad hoc joint action group, said Insp. Marlon Frilles and PO1 Binggo Utto, members of the Special Action Force's Rapid Deployment Co., were shot and killed by JI fighters while attempting to serve an arrest warrant on Indonesian national Adulhir bin Hir alias Marwan in Barangay Balong in Pikit town at 1:35 a.m., Thursday.
Marwan is a suspected financier of the Islamic militants based in Mindanao. Frilles and Utto were killed in a firefight that lasted 30 minutes, Dataya said. "MILF fighters were not responsible for the killing of the two cops," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
14:01 ||
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Two alleged members of the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were arrested with two kg of RDX by the Special Cell at New Delhi railway station here on Thursday. The police suspect that the duo was part of a module despatched to the Capital to carry out strikes in the run-up to the Independence Day celebrations. According to Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Karnal Singh, a team under the supervision of Sanjeev Kumar Yadav recently received a tip-off from the intelligence agencies that two persons suspected to be working for the LeT would sneak into the Capital. During interrogation, the two identified themselves as Abrar Ahmed, a resident of Bihar, and Abu Anas, a Pakistan national. The two were subsequently whisked away to the Lodhi Colony interrogation cell.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
13:59 ||
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In an unusual move, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at two houses in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin on Wednesday, killing two Islamic Jihad leaders, the army said. The IDF said the targets were senior members of the Palestinian terror group, and that they were planning attacks against Israel. The two men, who were identified as Osama Attili, 24, from Atil near Tulkarm, and Muhammad Atik, 26, from Burkin near Jenin, were leaders of Islamic Jihad's military wing.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
13:57 ||
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#1
Which part of the paleo terrorism strategy leads them to conclude that it's working?
The Palestinian terrorist organizations enjoy what can only be the greatest degree of upward mobility. The final stage of which is usually enhanced by cordite.
The Palestinian terrorist organizations enjoy what can only be the greatest degree of upward mobility. The final stage of which is usually enhanced by cordite
the management retirement plan is to die for
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 17:36
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Someday someone might wonder why there are "houses" if it's supposed to be a "camp".
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
08/11/2006 19:42
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(Bloomberg) -- The Russian envoy to the United Nations Security Council said he is willing to table his proposal for a 72-hour cease-fire in the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah if a broader U.S.-French proposal goes to a vote. ``If it goes to a vote tonight, we are prepared to give it to the French and the Americans,'' Russian envoy Vitaly Churkin said. Russia had said it would ask the Security Council to demand a 72-hour cease-fire to allow humanitarian aid into Lebanon, a proposal the U.S. said will hamper efforts to get agreement on a resolution to permanently end the fighting.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
13:56 ||
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(RIA Novosti) - A militant has been killed in a firefight with federal forces in central Chechnya, the North Caucasus counterterrorist operation headquarters said Friday. "On Thursday, at 2:30 p.m. Moscow time (10:30 a.m. GMT), a unit of Russian Interior Troops conducting a reconnaissance operation near the village of Agishty [the Shalinksy district], engaged an eight-member illegal armed group," a source at the headquarters said. "One gunman was killed in the exchange. His identity is being established." He said there were no losses among federal servicemen. A manhunt has been launched for the other militants.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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(CNN) -- Two of the suspects held in connection with the plot to down jetliners with explosives had contact with a Pakistani suspected of being an al Qaeda operative, U.S. and British officials said Friday. The officials allege that Matiur Rehman, described as an explosives expert in Pakistan who is now at large, met two of the British suspects in Pakistan.
But officials, who say the plot displays signs of al Qaeda participation but who are still investigating that angle, do not know whether Rehman was involved in the plot. After the two people returned to Britain, they received a wire transfer of money from Pakistan, the officials said. Authorities in Britain on Thursday announced the arrests of 24 people in connection with the plot. While the investigation continues, the government officials say the primary players are in custody.
Pakistani officials said the arrests of two British citizens and five Pakistanis last week directly contributed to terror arrests made Thursday in Britain. The original information about the plan came from the Muslim community in Britain, according to a British intelligence official. The tip resulted from a person who had been concerned about the activities of an acquaintance after the July 7, 2005, terror attacks in London, the official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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British police and MI-5 "thwarted" [a word which has not been used in conversation for the past 150 years until today] a plot to blow up between six and ten US airliners while they were crossing the Atlantic Ocean from Heathrow to JFK or Dulles or LAX.
The Home Secretary held a press conference in London along with the deputy top cop of the London Metropolitan Police.
About an hour later, the Secretary of Homeland Security in Washington had one and was joined by the Attorney General and the head of the FBI.
Helicopters hovered over the flats where the terrorists had lived, met, plotted and, presumably, been caught.
As the morning wore on great (and well deserved) kudos were heaped on the police, intelligence, and security services in the UK, the US and Pakistan for banding together to stop this horrific act.
Meanwhile In Marietta, Ohio another plot was broken up.
You know about Marietta, Ohio 45750. It is the place where I went to college; met and married the Mullings Director of Standards & Practices; witnessed the birth of The Lad; and served on the City Council.
This, more or less, is what happened, as reported by Brad Bauer in the Marietta Times:
Two guys walked into the Radio Shack in Marietta, Ohio and bought a number of pre-paid cell phones - maybe a dozen. The two guys refused to give the Radio Shack salesman their names when they wanted to purchase time on two of the phones, which the Radio Shack salesman thought was strange.
So, he called the Sheriff's office and told them about these two guys and the cell phones and the name thing.
The Sheriff sent a car out looking for the two guys, found it, and got in behind it.
At some point, the two guys with all the phones but no names made a turn without having first put on their turn signal.
Whoop! Whoop! Traffic stop.
The Sheriff's deputy gets up to the car, sees about a dozen cell phones and what turned out to be $11,000 in cash. And smells Marijuana.
Cell Phones. Turn signal violation. Marijuana. Ohhh, kaaaayyy, boys. Why'nt cha just step out of the car, slowly, and let me see your hands.
The two guys, it turns out have names which happen to be Osama Sabhi Abulhassan and Ali Houssaiky (no kin to the Houssaiky or Abulhassan families from the neighboring town of Coal Run, Ohio, I'm told.)
It comes to pass that they lied to the deputy about what they were doing with all the phones and what with the name thing and the turn signal thing and the Marijuana thing they were arrested on a charge of "obstructing official business."
After the bust, the Deputies searched the car and found a map showing every Wal-Mart from Michigan to South Carolina, as well as airline passenger lists and airport security information, and so they called the Feds.
Abulhassan and Houssaiky admitted to buying over 600 phones in the area over the past few weeks and, further, explained how they took the phones apart and sent the chips to some other guy in Dearborn, Michigan who paid them a five dollar profit on each phone.
Then they explained how "they send these [phones] overseas and they use the chips against the troops detonating bombs."
Old Osama and Ali must'a slept through the training session on not spilling your guts about international terrorism after you've been busted on a traffic violation.
The Feds showed up and the charge of obstructing official business was dropped in favor of a charge of money laundering on behalf of Hezbollah which, as a former reporter and City Councilman, I don't believe is a listed offense in the Marietta, Ohio Code of Ordinances.
The two are now being held on $200,000 bond each in the Marietta lockup.
That's the way this war on terrorism is fought. CIA, FBI, MI-5 on the one hand. A Radio Shack salesman who smelled something funny and the Sheriff's department of a small county in Ohio on the other.
Both worked.
It was a good day for the good guys.
On the Secret Decoder Ring Page today: A link to the original Marietta Times piece and the follow up by the Associated Press; a vexing Mullfoto of the day ALSO having to do with cell phones; and a Catchy Caption which makes fun of a French guy.
#1
Now if Radio Shack will just, as a public service, review what store locations have the highest cell phone sales per capita and pass that info along....
Just saying...
Posted by: DanNY ||
08/11/2006 14:31
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Israel began an expanded ground offensive in southern Lebanon on Friday after expressing dissatisfaction over an emerging cease-fire deal, government officials said. Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and his defense minister, Amir Peretz, made the decision to expand the offensive after meeting for four hours Friday. Peretz instructed the military to launch the offensive, officials said. Olmert's spokesman, Asaf Shariv, told The Associated Press that the expanded incursion had already begun. An emerging cease-fire deal being worked out by the U.N. Security Council fails to meet Israel's basic requirements, such as stationing robust international combat troops in southern Lebanon once Israel withdraws, Shariv said. "Yesterday we were very optimistic, but they (the Security Council) took the wrong turn," Shariv said.
The government has decided to implement a Cabinet decision on Wednesday granting the army permission to carry out a massive ground offensive "to deal with the Hezbollah positions in south Lebanon, from which barrages of missiles continue to be launched against the Israeli civilian population," said Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev. Regev added, however, that Israel was still open to a negotiated solution as the U.N. Security Council prepared to vote on a proposed cease-fire deal. "Our action does not exclude a diplomatic option. On the contrary, we are following developments in New York closely. But so far diplomacy has not produced concrete results and it is incumbent upon the government to defend its citizens," Regev said. He said he could not comment on the time frame or scale of the offensive.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
13:34 ||
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#1
Hopefully we will see BiBi at the helm by this time next week. And Bush will have given foggy bottom a bitch slap. And Syria.... ah, yes.
Woohoo mama, i need me a fried peanut butter sammich and a RC cola.
Posted by: Evil Elvis ||
08/11/2006 14:01
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This sounds like Vietnam compressed into a few weeks. Bomb, Halt Bombing, Christmas Pause, Tet Truce, Tet Offensive, etc. etc. etc. Operation Linebacker came 6 to 7 Years too late.
#10
Stop Rolling Thunder, restrict bombing to below the 18th Parallel. Le Duc Tho and Kissinger are negotiating in Paris. Peace is at hand. (Please do not pay any attention to the enemy replenishing their missile supply)
Day 31: Hizbullah fired a Khaibar-1 rocket at Haifa on Friday, police confirmed. The explosion of the 302 mm rocket echoed as far south as Hadera, residents said. A barrage of several long-range Katyusha rockets landed in the city on Friday, with one of the rocket slamming in the midst of the coastal highway, which was reopened in the afternoon.
In Kiryat Shmona, a man was moderately injured by shrapnel from a rocket that hit a building Friday afternoon, paramedics said. Several people were treated for shock and firefighters battled a fire that broke out in the 11-storey building. Earlier Friday afternoon, rockets were launched at Kiryat Shmona, one hitting a structure and also causing a subsequent fire. Two additional barrages landed on nearby communities, one of them hitting a dairy, killing and wounding several cows. According to regional authorities, attacks thus far have caused the deaths of over fifty cows.
Hizbullah launched more barrages at northern Israel communities Friday afternoon. MDA crews treated one person, injured from shrapnel, as a result of a direct rocket hit on a Safed home at 2:15 p.m. Meanwhile, a fire broke out in a meadow, adjacent to a northern Galilee town, as a result of rocket hits. Large fire crews are working to contain the blaze, which presents a significant danger if it spreads because flames would move in the direction of a nearby artillery battery.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
13:29 ||
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what will the israelis do if they keep killing cows at that rate?
One month after the outbreak of the war in Lebanon, during which the Israeli army has established a security zone along the border and reached a depth of 12 kilometers into Lebanese territory, the IDF got a 'green light' Friday night to continue north up to the Litani River. The order was given against the backdrop of a fervor of international diplomatic talks hoping to reach a ceasefire agreement as soon as Friday night.
The aim of the operation is to distance Hizbullah terror cells, especially those responsible for rocket attacks on Israeli, as far north as possible, thus widening the buffer zone along the border. IDF officials assessed this week that the completion of such a mission could take two months. The IDF presented the cabinet with a timetable for its operations in the field, by which the operation would take a minimum of one week to reach the Litani River. Another four to six weeks would be required to defeat the Hizbullah operatives in the field. It was still unclear whether the green light was time-limited and aimed pressuring Lebanon and Hizbullah into giving in to Israel's demands as part of a ceasefire agreement.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Sounds like they want to get to the Litani fast in order to prevent Hezballan thugs from getting accross and out of Israeli range.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
08/11/2006 13:46
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they'd have been in Tyre in the west and then spread east along the Litani with armor (and come with infantry from the Golan in the east)less than 5 days days had they done this in force at the beginning, as the original ground commanders had allegedly planned.
#3
" they'd have been in Tyre in the west and then spread east along the Litani with armor (and come with infantry from the Golan in the east) less than 5 days had they done this in force at the beginning . . . as the original ground commanders had allegedly planned . . ."
Why is it that stupid-ass politicians never listen to these guys? Aarrgh! (which is polite for whatever you'd like to fill in)
It was at the Veterans for Peace national convention in Dallas last year that Cindy Sheehan says she was galvanized to seek a meeting with President Bush at his Crawford, Texas, ranch. The result was a 26-day sit-down protest near Bush's ranch that attracted common folk and luminaries from across the nation, rejuvenating the anti-war movement. On Thursday, Sheehan, who became a peace activist after her soldier son, Casey, was killed in Iraq in 2004, was at the Veterans for Peace national convention at the University of Washington.
Now almost 40 days into her on again - off again diet fast supporting war resisters and their families, Sheehan, though weak, announced that she is offering land she bought in Crawford near Bush's ranch as a refuge for U.S. troops who desert to resist the war in Iraq.
What, Canada's full?
"What is the noble cause that my son died for in Iraq?" Sheehan asked, echoing her remarks from last year as she spoke Thursday on the steps of the HUB on the UW campus.
Protecting us from islamic nutjobs. Not that you'd care
Joined by conscientious objectors from the Vietnam War, the 1991 Persian Gulf War and Iraq, Sheehan said she decided to offer her land because 12,000 more U.S. troops are being deployed to Iraq, calling the war "this nightmare, and it's breaking my heart."
Sheehan is among what Veterans for Peace leaders bill as an "all-star cast of war resisters" in Seattle this week. At least 425 of its 5,000 membership signed up for the convention, which opened Thursday with calls for disengagement by the United States in Iraq and Israel in Lebanon.
Gray-haired veterans from the Vietnam War joined fresh-faced veterans from the current war. Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Seattle, a Navy doctor in Vietnam and early opponent of the war in Iraq, is slated to speak to the group today. Among a contingent of younger Iraq Veterans Against the War were several current service members.
One not wearing a name badge declined to reveal his identity. He said, with confirmation from his peers, that he was from the Seattle area, in his 20s, and had been "away-without-leave from a combat unit now in Iraq" for an undisclosed period of time. The AWOL soldier said he decided to flee the Army after the invasion of Iraq because he believes the war illegal. He said he joined the military before 9/11 "because I had been to five different high schools and went through family problems. The military was a way to get friends and family structure." He said he first began considering risking prosecution for desertion after the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. Being AWOL, however, has been "hell," he said, not only because of rifts in his family, but also because of "the uncertainty of not knowing if I will be caught as a deserter or if I should go public and turn myself in. I am constantly back and forth; it's always on my mind."
He will have more to think about at 9 a.m. today, when a fellow soldier he knows who also is AWOL -- Ricky Clousing, a 24-year-old Army sergeant and interrogator from Seattle who served in combat in Iraq -- appears outside the HUB with lawyers, relatives and supporters to announce he is turning himself in to authorities. He left Fort Bragg in 2005 after returning from Iraq with the 82nd Airborne Division.
Several members of the military supporting efforts against the war said they were careful to attend the convention on military leaves. Christina Taber, 26, of Madison, Wis., is an Army reservist activated for 18 months who works in behavioral health at Camp Atterbury, Ind., where she hears stories from soldiers returning from war. "I think hearing their powerful war stories motivated me to get involved" in the veterans efforts to end the war, Taber said. Taber said she became a veteran for peace after a fellow soldier died in April 2003 before deployment to Iraq. The death was linked to the mandatory anthrax inoculation she received.
Damon Murphy, 26, of Minneapolis, meanwhile, a U.S. Navy submariner based in San Diego, said he joined the anti-war movement seven months ago. Murphy, who has 10 weeks to go on his enlistment, said he has no orders for Iraq but acknowledged that if he did, "I'd be in jail" refusing to go.
I'd say you're pretty safe, Damon. Haven't seen too many submariners getting orders to Baghdad
Posted by: Steve ||
08/11/2006
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Hey Cin, news flash for ya. The Big Bad gummint can search your 'land' for deserters if they suspect they are there. It's called a warrant. It's called probable cause. It's called hey you dumbass, if you really want to 'hide' them there, why announce it beforehand?
Thursday August 4, 2006 (updated Sun, Aug 6)
There goes the neighborhood...
The five acres of land that was purchased on behalf of war protester Cindy Sheehan is now being riddled with leftist propaganda and ten port-o-potties. Surrounding land owners have denied Sheehan access to electrical lines and the city of Crawford work crew was forced to stop laying water lines to the property since the proper permits were not obtained.
Though the protesters purchased five acres, they have already filled the property with displays of their descent that there is not adequate parking. It is dangerous and against the law to park along the side of the highway.
There are so many curious people pulling into their drive way and then backing out onto the highway that residents are afraid that a major accident will surely happen.
BUSH SUPPORTERS ARE ASKED TO PLEASE NOT COME TO CRAWFORD TO PROTEST SHEEHAN AND HER GROUP!
These people feed off the energy of counter protesters and believe that Bushies help center the media back on them.
Remember Sheehan sitting all alone at a table in a circus tent last Thanksgiving waiting for someone to ask her to sign her book of rhetoric? I, for one, want to see more photos of her all alone this August. Just Cindy and the media.
Sheehan is only looking for press coverage... lets be smart and not give it to her!
Many Crawford residents just want to try to have a normal summer and are looking forward the beginning of a new school year and preparing for the upcoming dove season. We will try to update this site frequently so that you will have an idea of what is going on in Crawford without having to coming here.
Upon Sheehan's arrival to her new location Sunday, Reuters reports:
Talking to reporters, Sheehan defended the purchase of a 5-acre (2 hectare) plot of land for use as a protest location. The land was purchased by her supporters through a third party to keep secret her connection to it.
"I just had a third party do it because I know that they wouldn't have sold property to me," Sheehan said.
The previous owner of the property, Celia Ramsey, told ABC News, "We were duped, we were deceived, we had no idea" that Sheehan was behind the purchase.
Crawford residents angry at her presence "just need to relax a little bit and learn to live with us," said Sheehan.
#4
Maybe Cheney will invite her to go dove hunting.
Posted by: ed ||
08/11/2006 13:52
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CO's? Its an all volunteer force. By now all the 4 year hitches pr-9/11 are done. Anyone in now knows what they are getting into, and should be classified as deserters, subject to federal penalty. And Cindy and her group should very careful read the RICO act statutes as well as aiding and abetting a felony. They've written a lot of the laws for the drug war that make yo liable for the original felony if you actively participate in helping those who are knowingly committing the felony.
Cindy might not own that land for long if they get a RICO civil seizure.
That "illegal" thing is a bullshit cover for running away and cowardice. If you believe it to be illegal, then challenge it - have the guts go to court and push it to the chain of command. If its truly illegal you will be vindicated. If not you will be forced to go to fight. But either way its better than running away and using it as an excuse to cover your cowardice.
Reminder: Desertion during war carries a possible death sentence.
#9
One of you ex-military types should contact her, claim to be a deserter, and see what she does. If she helps you, she can be prosecuted. If she doesn't she's a liar. And if they won't prosecute, she looks like a fool for falling for a sting operation
#11
Talking to reporters, Sheehan defended the purchase of a 5-acre (2 hectare) plot of land for use as a protest location. The land was purchased by her supporters through a third party to keep secret her connection to it.
"I just had a third party do it because I know that they wouldn't have sold property to me," Sheehan said.
The previous owner of the property, Celia Ramsey, told ABC News, "We were duped, we were deceived, we had no idea" that Sheehan was behind the purchase.
Crawford residents angry at her presence "just need to relax a little bit and learn to live with us," said Sheehan.
#12
I have a basic question. If the money for this came from Casey's insurance money, shouldn't this money been shared by all members of Casey's family?
Did Cindy take money that was meant for her husband? What are the rules for distributing money from the insurance policy?
P.S. I agree on RICO. It can be used for many purposes far removed from its original purpose. Cindy may not have her land for long.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
08/11/2006 15:26
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#13
At least 425 of its 5,000 membership signed up for the convention, which opened Thursday with calls for disengagement by the United States in Iraq and Israel in Lebanon.
Geez, a grand old whopping membership of 5,000 (even from Vietnam era) and you can't even get 10% to show up for your protest. I imagine most of these 5,000 live nearby too, so it's not like it'd be expensive to get to Univ. of Wash. Probably from Portland, Seattle, San Fran, etc.
Posted by: BA ||
08/11/2006 16:06
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What are the rules for distributing money from the insurance policy?
It goes to the named beneficiary, as with every other insurance policy.
#17
It'd sure be a shame to have a grassfire around Crawford, wouldn't it? With all that crowding, tents, port-o-johns, no water, no electricity... Nasty, nasty.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/11/2006 19:05
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Gore isn't quite as green as he's led the world to believe
Updated 8/10/2006 10:44 AM ET
By Peter Schweizer
Al Gore has spoken: The world must embrace a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." To do otherwise, he says, will result in a cataclysmic catastrophe. "Humanity is sitting on a ticking time bomb," warns the website for his film, An Inconvenient Truth. "We have just 10 years to avert a major catastrophe that could send our entire planet into a tailspin."
Graciously, Gore tells consumers how to change their lives to curb their carbon-gobbling ways: Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs, use a clothesline, drive a hybrid, use renewable energy, dramatically cut back on consumption. Better still, responsible global citizens can follow Gore's example, because, as he readily points out in his speeches, he lives a "carbon-neutral lifestyle." But if Al Gore is the world's role model for ecology, the planet is doomed.
For someone who says the sky is falling, he does very little. He says he recycles and drives a hybrid. And he claims he uses renewable energy credits to offset the pollution he produces when using a private jet to promote his film. (In reality, Paramount Classics, the film's distributor, pays this.)
Public records reveal that as Gore lectures Americans on excessive consumption, he and his wife Tipper live in two properties: a 10,000-square-foot, 20-room, eight-bathroom home in Nashville, and a 4,000-square-foot home in Arlington, Va. (He also has a third home in Carthage, Tenn.) For someone rallying the planet to pursue a path of extreme personal sacrifice, Gore requires little from himself.
Then there is the troubling matter of his energy use. In the Washington, D.C., area, utility companies offer wind energy as an alternative to traditional energy. In Nashville, similar programs exist. Utility customers must simply pay a few extra pennies per kilowatt hour, and they can continue living their carbon-neutral lifestyles knowing that they are supporting wind energy. Plenty of businesses and institutions have signed up. Even the Bush administration is using green energy for some federal office buildings, as are thousands of area residents.
But according to public records, there is no evidence that Gore has signed up to use green energy in either of his large residences. When contacted Wednesday, Gore's office confirmed as much but said the Gores were looking into making the switch at both homes. Talk about inconvenient truths.
Gore is not alone. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has said, "Global warming is happening, and it threatens our very existence." The DNC website applauds the fact that Gore has "tried to move people to act." Yet, astoundingly, Gore's persuasive powers have failed to convince his own party: The DNC has not signed up to pay an additional two pennies a kilowatt hour to go green. For that matter, neither has the Republican National Committee.
Maybe our very existence isn't threatened.
Gore has held these apocalyptic views about the environment for some time. So why, then, didn't Gore dump his family's large stock holdings in Occidental (Oxy) Petroleum? As executor of his family's trust, over the years Gore has controlled hundreds of thousands of dollars in Oxy stock. Oxy has been mired in controversy over oil drilling in ecologically sensitive areas.
Living carbon-neutral apparently doesn't mean living oil-stock free. Nor does it necessarily mean giving up a mining royalty either.
Humanity might be "sitting on a ticking time bomb," but Gore's home in Carthage is sitting on a zinc mine. Gore receives $20,000 a year in royalties from Pasminco Zinc, which operates a zinc concession on his property. Tennessee has cited the company for adding large quantities of barium, iron and zinc to the nearby Caney Fork River.
The issue here is not simply Gore's hypocrisy; it's a question of credibility. If he genuinely believes the apocalyptic vision he has put forth and calls for radical changes in the way other people live, why hasn't he made any radical change in his life? Giving up the zinc mine or one of his homes is not asking much, given that he wants the rest of us to radically change our lives.
Peter Schweizer is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution and author of Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy.
Peace activist murdered by Palestinian Angelo Frammartino, a 24 year-old student from Italy who arrived in Israel as a human rights organization activist, was stabbed to death Thursday by an Arab knifeman. "He believed in what he did and was always ready to help others," a friend described him.
The website of Italian newspaper Corriere Della Sera reported that Frammartino was working for the setting up of a children's supper camp for Palestinians in Jerusalem's Old City, and was supposed to return to Italy on Friday. The youth was stabbed in the back while walking with four friends in the Sultan Suleiman street in the capital, near the Prahim Gate. The attacker left the knife at the scene of the crime and fled. Police set up checkpoints in the area and arrested three suspects for suspected involvement. It is believed that the attack was a nationalistically motivated terror attack, and not an attempted robbery.
Resuscitation attempts by Magen David Adom paramedics who arrived on the scene could not save him, and Frammartino was declared dead due to loss of blood. Frammartino, a resident of Monta Rotondo, arrived in Israel at the start of the month with an Italian organization, ARCI, working to advance human rights in the world. He planned for the experience for a year and was chosen with another youth from his city to take part in the project. Frammartino was a law student. "He was very interested in politics and in the issues of society, like his father," said Monta Rotondo's Mayor, Anonino Lopi. "Something so beautiful ended in such a tragic way," he added.
The mayor expressed his condolescenes on behalf of the whole city.
#2
You just got to love the irony. The backstabbing bit is true to form, too. IIRC, in the 70's, apart from hijackings and paramilitary infiltrations of "fedayeens" from jordan then lebanon, random knifing of israeli civilians was the favorite past time of the paleos. Blast from the past.
#9
Angelo Frammartino, a 24 year-old student from Italy who arrived in Israel as a human rights organization activist, was stabbed to death Thursday by an Arab knifeman. "He believed in what he did and was always ready to help others," a friend described him.
But like they said in the 1992 rioting here in L.A. (when people "acquired" many a TV and CD player from unoccupied stereo stores) ...
"Ya gotta understand the 'rage'! "
Whats a dead pacifist compared to understanding 'rage'?
That's why these bastards have to be all sent to their virgins. We must defend the clueless, like Mr Frammartino, among us.
Hooray for Michigan State University (The Spartans) and Professor Wichman!!!
Well, what do we have here. Looks like a small case of some people being able to dish it out, but not take it. Let's start at the top. The story begins at Michigan State University with a mechanical engineering professor named Indrek Wichman.
Wichman sent an e-mail to the Muslim Student's Association. The e-mail was in response to the students' protest of the Danish cartoons that portrayed the Prophet Muhammad as a terrorist. The group had complained the cartoons were "hate speech."
Enter Professor Wichman. In his e-mail, he said the following:
Dear Moslem Association:
As a professor of Mechanical Engineering here at MSU I intend to protest your protest. I am offended not by cartoons, but by more mundane things like beheadings of civilians, cowardly attacks on public buildings, suicide murders, murders of Catholic priests (the latest in Turkey!), burnings of Christian churches, the continued persecution of Coptic Christians in Egypt, the imposition of Sharia law on non-Muslims, the rapes of Scandinavian girls and women (called "whores" in your culture), the murder of film directors in Holland, and the rioting and looting in Paris France.
This is what offends me, a soft-spoken person and academic, and many, many, many of my colleagues. I counsel you dissatisfied, aggressive, brutal, and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems to be very aware of this as you proceeded with your infantile "protests." If you do not like the values of the West see the 1st Amendment you are free to leave.
I hope for God's sake that most of you choose that option.
Please return to your ancestral homelands and build them up yourselves instead of troubling Americans.
Cordially,
I. S. Wichman, Professor of Mechanical Engineering
Well! As you can imagine, the Muslim group at the university didn't like this too well. They're demanding Wichman be reprimanded and mandatory diversity training for faculty and a seminar on hate and discrimination for freshman. How nice. But now the Michigan chapter of CAIR has jumped into the fray. CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, apparently doesn't believe that the good professor had the right to express his opinion.
For its part, the university is standing its ground. They say the e-mail was private, and they don't intend to publicly condemn his remarks. That will probably change. Wichman says he never intended the e-mail to be made public, and wouldn't have used the same strong language if he'd known it was going to get out.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
08/11/2006
12:28 ||
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#2
It's unfortunate that Prof. Wichman has to back-pedal the way he did.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/11/2006 14:34
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#3
Isn't this an old story from earlier this year? It's good to see that the professor hasn't lost his job over this email. It's probably because engineering still relies on, well, verifiable facts, as opposed to liberal arts' touchy-feely deconstructionism crap.
This morning's press is abuzz with talk of TATP (acetone peroxide), a liquid explosive favoured by Middle Eastern bombers that is "easy to make and hard to detect." With advantages like that, surely there's some catch? Just so--TATP is easy to make, but far, far easier to blow one's limbs off with in the making. In its high-explosive form it's even less stable than nitroglycerin. And after five years' experience with the New Transport Security, it should not come as a surprise to anyone that the scenes of security officials pouring hand lotion, hair gel, and bottled water into giant waste bins apparently represent a spectacle every bit as irrational as a witch-dunking. It didn't blow up, therefore it was safe all along! Have a nice day!
TATP is popular amongst disaffected Arab nihilists because the necessary ingredients are uncontrolled and virtually uncontrollable. It's literally a matter of putting acetone and peroxide together in the presence of any of a number of catalysts (I've seen sulfuric acid mentioned). If you're willing to invest some manpower to cover the risk of accidents, it is "easy" to fabricate.
But concealing an amount large enough to bring down an airliner in flight might be another matter. If TATP has been a threat all along, why hasn't it been used to target aircraft before? Pan Am Flight 103 was brought down over Lockerbie with Semtex. Shoe bomber Richard Reid was found with TATP in his shoes, but only as a detonator for Semtex. ABC News is reporting:
The suspected terror plotters arrested in Britain had planned to conceal their liquid or gel explosives inside a modified sports beverage drink container and trigger the device with the flash from a disposable camera. ...the plotters planned to leave the top of the bottle sealed and filled with the original beverage but add a false bottom, filled with a liquid or gel explosive. The terrorists planned to dye the explosive mixture red to match the sports drink sealed in the top half of the container.
So you tell me: we're talking about maybe 200 or 300 mL of an explosive that's not under serious compression, and that isn't quite TNT-equivalent even when it's not in liquid suspension? I realize airframes are fragile because of the annoying necessity to leave the ground, and that's certainly enough TATP to cause some death and carnage in the cabin. I'm not sure it would reliably breach the skin of the aircraft, let alone guarantee that it crashed. Even assuming you didn't bump into anything on the way through the security inspection. Or attract a whole bunch of attention by carrying a bottle of Gatorade like it was a carton of sparrow's eggs. Or get the dye job not quite right.
Obviously there is much more yet to be disclosed about this thwarted plot. What I want to hear is a sensible threat model. I'm not concerned about an advance justification of the current madness going on in American and British airports. A temporary overreaction is perhaps excusable--assuming that the resources diverted to examining carry-ons haven't been taken away from security screening of checked baggage, which all our experience tells us is more dangerous to aircraft. In fact, if I were Osama bin Laden and I wanted to smuggle something dangerous onto an airplane in 2006, I think my exact first step would be to get a couple dozen movement "goofballs" to risk their freedom and hides on the biggest diversionary action imaginable.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/11/2006
12:27 ||
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#1
Interesting article. Here's a question in relation to this part: So you tell me: we're talking about maybe 200 or 300 mL of an explosive that's not under serious compression, and that isn't quite TNT-equivalent even when it's not in liquid suspension?
Would that much be enough to blow open the reinforced cockpit door?
#2
PanAm 103 (747) was blown out of the sky with 300 grams (11 ounces) of semtex. The shoe bomber had 3-6 ounces of TATP and PETN in his shoes. The video where the feds blew up the exposives in a plane on the ground showed it was enough explosives to destroy the plane.
Posted by: ed ||
08/11/2006 22:17
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The Israel Defense Forces confirmed on Friday that the government has given the green light for army to widen its operations in southern Lebanon and to capture the territory south of the Litani River, officers confirm.
Large troops along the border are preparing to enter Lebanon. (Hanan Greenberg)
#1
We've been here before....believe it when I see it but this is probably Olmert's last chance, and it might not even be that.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/11/2006 12:27
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#2
On their push to the Litani River watch Israel move to prevent this from happening again.
They will need to do this to secure their flanks. I am sure somebody will remember what the key passes where in the Golan Heights. So I would appreiciate a little help.
#6
Olmert's phony shock and awe did not work. BTW, there was almost a military coup in Israel according to Israel Insider.
We all hope this lawyer might have to recall his son who lives in Paris.
Just like a fucking yo-yo. I guess Hezbollah declaring victory was a little too much. The way Israeli politicians are managing this war, I figure the ground offensive will be called back in 15 minutes.
Defense official says the Israeli defense minister has instructed the military to launch its expanded ground offensive in Lebanon.
#1
I fear you are right. Sharon would not have been so reckless. After Sharon's decisive victory expelling 100,000 people from thier homes what else could you expect from this crew.
#2
Maybe we should have a 24 hour comment delay on these kinds of things. Otherwise some good Rantburgers are gonna burst some blood vessels in elation or dispair.
#3
Betcha it ain't. UN to vote on draft ceasefire resolution. My money sez Olmert takes it as it's what he's always wanted. End result - catastrophic Hez-B victory and Israel established as paper tiger.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/11/2006 14:51
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#4
This sounds like Vietnam compressed into a few weeks. Bomb, Halt Bombing, Christmas Pause, Tet Truce, Tet Offensive, etc. etc. etc. Operation Linebacker came 6 to 7 Years too late.
#5
Done deal. Olmert takes the cease fire without the IDF achieving any of the goals assigned to it...it's not as if they were allowed to. Olmert should be arrested for gross negligence and deriliction of duty.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/11/2006 18:24
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Masked explosives capable of destroying an airplane midair were recovered in a tense operation from a family travelling from London to Boston.
A source at Heathrow airport recounted the drama. The five-member family two adults and three children boarded American Airlines Flight 109 for Boston. They checked in at the last moment, inviting only a perfunctory check of the childrens hand-baggage.
After the aircraft took off the check-in computer at the airport flashed a warning that a person under observation had boarded the flight. Airline staff informed immigration and security officials. A background check revealed that the male adult member of the family was on a suspect list prepared by Scotland Yard after the 7/7 terror attacks in London.
By the time the pilot was alerted to the danger, the flight had been airborne for an hour. UK authorities and the pilot began deliberating on the possibility of checking the suspects luggage. But the plan was abandoned because it could have triggered a violent response from the suspect and caused panic on board.
The pilot was advised to proceed to Boston where US security agencies could take over. But he decided to return to Heathrow. To avoid causing suspicion, it was agreed that the pilot would not announce the change in itinerary.
The aircraft landed safely at Heathrow and armed marshals boarded it to take the suspect and his family in custody. A search revealed the deadly cargo.
#4
You mean like this? Transatlantic flight turns back to London over security alert Mon Aug 7, 5:27 PM ET British authorities questioned four people at London's Heathrow Airport after a flight to Boston turned around midway across the Atlantic because of a security alert.
American Airlines flight 109 carried 240 passengers and 13 crew members on the Boeing 777 jet, which landed back in London four hours after it departed. Four of the passengers were escorted from the plane when it landed in London, where six police officers were waiting for them, a Heathrow Airport spokeswoman told AFP. Anneliese Morris of American Airlines said the turn-around was "due to a security issue that needed to be resolved in London," but declined to comment further.
A spokeswoman for London's Metropolitan Police told AFP four people were interviewed by police officers at the airport, but had not been arrested. She declined to give details on the four. Britain's domestic Press Association said the four passengers questioned were believed to be a man who had been travelling with three women, believed to be his mother and two sisters.
The flight, which left London at 10:55 am (0955 GMT), had been due to arrive at Boston's Logan International Airport at 1:05 pm local time (1705 GMT). American Airlines told AFP it had re-booked passengers onto alternative flights to Boston.
According to the US Transportation Safety Administration, one of the passengers' names was on a so-called no-fly list, of persons not allowed to board airliners. "Early in the flight, TSA learned that a passenger on board was a positive match on the no-fly list. Out of an abundance of caution, TSA determined that the best course of action was to turn the flight around and at around 8:20 EST we instructed American Airlines Flight 109 to land," said Ann Davis, TSA spokeswoman. "This is the eighth international diversion due to a no-fly list match since the fall of 2004," Davis said. Air transportation was greatly bolstered after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
"It's important to note that American Airlines was in regular communications with the flight as it returned to Heathrow and there were no reports of any unusual activity on board. "US law enforcement is working with local law enforcement in the UK to interview the passenger on the ground," she said.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/11/2006 16:54
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#5
wasn't flight 109 that either blew up over Lockerbie or right after leaving new york a few years ago?
#6
John Fund ( radio segment) was discussing this same information yesterday. The constituents were found in bottles. This is the first I heard that it was in children's carry-on bags. Not surprising. These scumbags will stoop to any degraded level necessary to carry out their deeds. We need to keep in mind who we're dealing with here. There should be no hesitation in exterminating them when required.
#7
Very interesting. The 8/10 airliner bombing plot arrestees have been found to also have links to the 7/7 terrorists. The Brits have already said there were 3 independent cells involved in the plot. They just may have stumbled onto a fourth cell.
Posted by: ed ||
08/11/2006 19:42
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Intelligence agents arrested at least seven people, including two British nationals of Pakistani origin who provided information on an alleged terror plot aimed at blowing up U.S.-bound passenger jets from Britain, a senior government official said Friday. The arrests were made in the eastern city of Lahore and in Karachi, the official said on condition of anonymity because he did not have the authority to speak formally on the issue. Two were Britons arrested a week ago who provided information about the plot during interrogations, he said. The five Pakistanis were arrested on suspicion that they served as their local "facilitators," the official said. It wasn't clear when they'd been detained. The official did not know whether they had links with any local or foreign militant organizations.
Pakistan's government said Thursday it had played "a very important role" in uncovering the plot allegedly to bring down as many as 10 jetliners in a nearly simultaneous strike that U.S. officials say was suggestive of an al-Qaida operation. Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam on Friday said some arrests were made in Pakistan but refused to give details.
"The investigation is going on. We are not talking about their identities," she told The Associated Press.
Pakistani intelligence officials also confirmed the arrest four or five days ago of a suspect in Faisalabad, a city about 75 miles east of Lahore. They did not provide further details about the suspect's nationality or connection with the plot. The arrest appeared to be separate from the arrest of the seven others. More arrests were expected, officials said.
British authorities arrested 24 people Thursday based partly on intelligence from Pakistan. The suspects were believed to be mainly British Muslims, at least some of Pakistani ancestry.
A Pakistani intelligence official said an Islamic militant arrested near the Afghan-Pakistan border several weeks ago provided a lead that played a role in "unearthing the plot." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.
Pakistan, a key ally of Britain and the U.S. in the war on terrorism, has been long been regarded as a center of Islamic militancy.
Three of the four suicide attackers in the July 7, 2005, bombings on the London transport system that killed 52 people were British Muslims of Pakistani origin and had visited Pakistan before the attacks.
One of the bombers visited a pro-Taliban seminary run by the hard-line Jamaat al-Dawat group in the eastern city of Lahore before the blasts, but officials in Islamabad say none of the London bombers received militant training or support during their visits.
Pakistan placed the hard-line group's leader, Hafiz Mohammed Saeed, under house arrest on Thursday for a month in Lahore, but officials said it wasn't linked to the aircraft plot. Lahore police chief Khawaja Khalid Farooq said authorities feared Saeed's plans to address a rally Saturday could lead to unrest.
NEW DELHI - The U.S. Embassy in India's capital warned Friday that foreign militants, possibly al-Qaida members, may be planning to carry out bombings in two major Indian cities in the coming days.
An e-mail sent to American citizens registered with the embassy said New Delhi, the capital, and Bombay, the country's financial and entertainment hub, were the targets of the alleged plot, and that the attacks were believed to be planned around India's Independence Day, which falls on Aug. 15.
The embassy confirmed that it had sent the e-mail, and the chief secretary of India's Maharshtra state, where Bombay is located, confirmed that authorities had intelligence about a possible terror plot.
But the chief secretary, D.K. Sankaran, refused to provide additional details, saying only that "adequate security measures are being taken at sensitive installations, offices and areas."
That was clear on the approach road to New Delhi's international airport, where guards armed with assault rifles stopped cars, buses and trucks, checking IDs and searching some vehicles.
However, Indian Home Ministry officials said they had received no notice of the possible plot. Home Secretary D.K. Duggal called the warning "innocuous," saying it was an internal embassy matter.
The U.S. Embassy's warning for India said the "likely targets include major airports, key central Indian government offices, and major gathering places such as hotels and markets."
It urged American citizens to maintain a low profile, and be alert and attentive to their surroundings between Aug. 11 and Aug. 16.
Security around India has already been beefed up because of the coming Independence Day celebrations, a time of year when militants from the country's myriad regional separatist movements often launch attacks.
The alleged plot appeared tied to Independence Day and not the reported plan to blow up airliners over the Atlantic.
Although neither U.S. nor Indian officials would explain the source of their intelligence reports, the Press Trust of India reported Friday that police in New Delhi had arrested two members of a Pakistani Islamic militant group suspected in a string of bombings in India, including last month's attacks on Bombay's commuter trains, which killed 207 people.
The news agency said the arresting officers believed they had foiled a terror plot by the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, which is believed to have ties to al-Qaida.
One of the two alleged Lashkar-e-Tayyaba militants arrested is Pakistani, and both were arrested late Thursday with 4.4 pounds of a powerful explosive known as RDX, and a huge quantity of other ammunition, PTI reported. They were nabbed at New Delhi's train station.
The Pakistani was identified only as Anaz, a native of Islamabad, and the other man as Abrar Ahmed, from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, PTI said.
Israel has asked the Bush administration to speed delivery of short-range antipersonnel rockets armed with cluster munitions, which it could use to strike Hezbollah missile sites in Lebanon, two American officials said Thursday.
The request for M-26 artillery rockets, which are fired in barrages and carry hundreds of grenade-like bomblets that scatter and explode over a broad area, is likely to be approved shortly, along with other arms, a senior official said.
But some State Department officials have sought to delay the approval because of concerns over the likelihood of civilian casualties, and the diplomatic repercussions. The rockets, while they would be very effective against hidden missile launchers, officials say, are fired by the dozen and could be expected to cause civilian casualties if used against targets in populated areas.
Ohfergawdsakes. The solution is for the civilians to get out of the way. It's not like they can't see what's happening around them. I rather suspect (I'm cynical) that the civilians that are still within spitting distance of a Grad launcher a) are there because they're Hezbie workers/supporters or b) are human shields. Harming them is regrettable but can't be allowed to stop taking out the launchers.
Israel is asking for the rockets now because it has been unable to suppress Hezbollah's Katyusha rocket attacks in the month-old conflict by using bombs dropped from aircraft and other types of artillery, the officials said. The Katyusha rockets have killed dozens of civilians in Israel.
The United States had approved the sale of M-26's to Israel some time ago, but the weapons had not yet been delivered when the crisis in Lebanon erupted. If the shipment is approved, Israel may be told that it must be especially careful about firing the rockets into populated areas, the senior official said.
"Careful with that, Ari! You almost took out a baby duck!"
"Sorry, Sarge, but I was aiming away from the puppies!"
Israel has long told American officials that it wanted M-26 rockets for use against conventional armies in case Israel was invaded, one of the American officials said. But after being pressed in recent days on what they intended to use the weapons for, Israeli officials disclosed that they planned to use them against rocket sites in Lebanon. It was this prospect that raised the intense concerns over civilian casualties.
During much of the 1980's, the United States maintained a moratorium on selling cluster munitions to Israel, following disclosures that Paleostinian human shields civilians in Lebanon had been killed with the weapons during the 1982 Israeli invasion. But the moratorium was lifted late in the Reagan administration, and since then, the United States has sold Israel some types of cluster munitions, the senior official said.
Officials would discuss the issue only on the condition of anonymity, as the debate over what to do is not resolved and is freighted with implications for the difficult diplomacy that is under way.
State Department officials "are discussing whether or not there needs to be a block on this sale because of the past history and because of the current circumstances," said the senior official, adding that it was likely that Israel will get the rockets, but will be told to be "be careful."
"Hokay, lissen up: the pointy end goes towards the Hezbies. Now be careful!"
"Yes ma'm, Madam Secretary!"
David Siegel, a spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Washington, declined to comment on Israel's request. He said, though, that "as a rule, we obviously don't fire into populated areas, with the exception of the use of precision-guided munitions against terrorist targets." In such cases, Israel has dropped leaflets warning of impending attacks to avoid civilian casualties, he said.
In the case of cluster munitions, including the Multiple Launch Rocket System, which fires the M-26, the Israeli military only fires into open terrain where rocket launchers or other military targets are found, to avoid killing civilians, an Israeli official said.
While Bush administration officials have criticized Israeli strikes that have caused civilian casualties, they have also backed the offensive against Hezbollah by rushing arms shipments to the region. Last month the administration approved a shipment of precision-guided munitions, which one senior official said this week included at least 25 of the 5,000-pound "bunker-buster" bombs. Israel has recently asked for another shipment of precision-guided munitions, which is likely to be approved, the senior official said.
Last month, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch said its researchers had uncovered evidence that Israel had fired cluster munitions on July 19 at the Lebanese village of Bilda, which the group said had killed one civilian and wounded at least 12 others, including 7 children. The group said it had interviewed survivors of the attack, who described incoming artillery shells dispensing hundreds of cluster submunitions on the village. Human Rights Watch also released photographs, taken recently by its researchers in northern Israel, of what it said were American-supplied artillery shells that had markings showing they carried cluster munitions.
We can always depend on HRW decry something that makes either America or Israel look bad. This is a two-fer for them.
Mr. Siegel, the Israeli Embassy spokesman, denied that cluster munitions had been used on the village.
The United States Army also employs the M-26 rocket and the Multiple Launch Rocket System in combat, and the Pentagon has sold the weapon to numerous other allies, in addition to Israel. The system is especially effective at attacking enemy artillery sites, military experts say, because the rockets can be quickly targeted against a defined geographic area. Each rocket contains 644 submunitions that kill enemy soldiers operating artillery in the area.
But Human Rights Watch and other groups have campaigned for the elimination of cluster munitions, noting that even if civilians are not present when the weapons is used, some submunitions that do not detonate on impact can later injure or kill civilians.
War is a bitch, guys, but you don't fight it with both arms tied behind you.
The M-26 "is a particularly deadly weapon," Bonnie Docherty, a researcher with Human Rights Watch, who helped write a study of the United States' use of the weapons in the 2003 Iraq invasion. "They were used widely by U.S. forces in Iraq and caused hundreds of civilian casualties."
Unfortunate, but we can't let an opposition artillery unit shell our people. That's just not going to happen. These weapons were created for a reason. We don 't want, and the Israelis don't want, to kill civilians. Note that Hezbollah has no similar qualms.
After the Reagan administration determined in 1982 that the cluster munitions had been used by Israel against civilian areas, the delivery of the artillery shells containing the munitions to Israel was suspended. Israel was found to have violated a 1976 agreement with the United States in which it had agreed only to use cluster munitions against Arab armies and against clearly defined military targets. The moratorium on selling Israel cluster weapons was later lifted by the Reagan administration.
This week, State Department officials were studying records of what happened in 1982 as part of their internal deliberations into whether to grant approval for the sale to go forward.
#3
I doubt the military benefit outweighs the PR cost. I'd have to agree with State based on the limited information here. State itseld is like a slow clock. it can be correct.
#4
I'd have to agree with State based on the limited information here. State itseld is like a slow clock. it can be correct.
A 1 in 1,440 probability.
I hope Bush ignores them and sends those M-26's out today.
Posted by: Evil Elvis ||
08/11/2006 12:06
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#5
The military benefit is obvious. Suppress the AT fire and kill the gunners. Israel (and the USA) need to decide whether or not we want to win and destroy Hisbullah - or not. If IDF uses the the weapons, the world will hate us. If IDF doesn't use the weapons, the world will hate us. The down-side is? Looks like zero PR cost to me.
I believe the DoS is working for the other side. I am disappointed that Condi did not clean house. As far as I'm concerned, burn Langley and Foggy Bottom to the ground and start over.
#6
This story sounds fishy. Israel already has the MLRS and cluster bomb rockets were it's main armament. It makes little sense that the US would have provided only the unitary warhead since it would have been less useful than artillery w/o the GPS guidance kit (new).
Posted by: ed ||
08/11/2006 12:11
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#7
NS: I doubt the military benefit outweighs the PR cost.
The military benefit is that less Israelis get killed. The PR cost is that Arabs, who claim that Israelis are using chemical weapons against the Lebanese, will now add cluster bombs to their list. I really don't see much downside - from the Israeli viewpoint.
#9
Phuech the piano music. If Richard Armitage were Secretary of State you'd find him down at Tobyhanna Army Depot with his sleeves rolled up and a good sweat on, assisting the load masters palletize M-26 crates.
#12
Israel is fighting our enemy currently. I believe that the DoS is working for our enemies: Tranzi Progs, Socialists, the Phrench, The Soodies, the BDS Dhimmiecrats. . .
#13
The State Department need a cleaning from top to bottom. We all know this. We are in a war we need to arm our sometimes allies with the weapons they need to win. The State Department is not helping us fight the war in a fashion that assures victory for US or our sometimes allies.
Find the cabal responsible for this and fire, demote or harass them until they quit.
#15
One week Rice and Bolton are the next best thing to sliced bread and happy-hour and the next week they are subversive elements that deserve nothing less then a tortuous death. And todays reason is because the US is reluctant to give (not sell) Israel cluster munitions in a conflict that involves guerilla warfare in civilian population centers. Damn, this is a tough crowd.
#17
Bolton and Condi serve at the pleasure of the President. They follow orders. Many of the rest of the DoS apparatchiks do not.
And todays reason is because the US is reluctant to give (not sell) Israel cluster munitions in a conflict that involves guerilla warfare in civilian population centers. Damn, this is a tough crowd.
"civilian" is a relative term. Hisbullah is not uniformed and could be called civilian. I doubt that many of the "civilians" south of the Litani are innocent. Human shield tactics will end up killing us all.
#18
STATE can delay anything they want. As long as the missiles get there by the time Netanyahu is in charge. They are unlikely to be used until he is in charge anyway. Olmert is history. My take is that the US did not want to get out in front Israel in protecting Israel.
I await part 2 of this fighting, when Israel has a real leader again.
#19
D: And todays reason is because the US is reluctant to give (not sell) Israel cluster munitions in a conflict that involves guerilla warfare in civilian population centers.
The US is selling these munitions to the Israelis. They have a fixed amount of military aid alloted to them, and they can buy whatever they want with it. Western Europe never "bought" the munitions or the 400,000 lives we expended rescuing them from a choice between Nazi or Soviet domination, but that's what that war cost us. Note that we've never had to come directly to Israel's defense, unlike in Western Europe, where we lost another 100,000 men in WWI.
#20
D: And todays reason is because the US is reluctant to give (not sell) Israel cluster munitions in a conflict that involves guerilla warfare in civilian population centers.
I think you've also got to realize that a guerrilla force that uses civilians as human shields is a legitimate military target for cluster bombs, especially after the civilians have been told ahead of time to clear out of the regions in which fighting is about to happen. This is pretty standard issue - the lives of military men are worth no less than the lives of civilians.
MV Kellie Chouest, At Sea - A Navy diver submerged 2,000 feet, setting a record using the new Atmospheric Diving System (ADS) suit, off the coast of La Jolla, Calif., Aug. 1. Chief Navy Diver (DSW/SS) Daniel P. Jackson of Navy Reserve Deep Submergence Unit (DSU) was randomly selected to certify the ADS suit for use by the Navy. I feel like the luckiest guy in the world, said Jackson. I am honored and privileged to be the first diver to go down to that depth.
The certification was the culmination of 11 years of planning, designing and testing by multiple agencies to develop the ADS suit, also known as the Hardsuit 2000. This is the biggest piece of teamwork that I have ever seen in the Navy, said Cmdr. Keith W. Lehnhardt, the officer in charge of the project.
Lehnhardt said the project was a collaboration of so many different organizations, such as DSU, Submarine Squadron 5 and Diving Systems Support Detachment. Jackson said, I was just a guy tied to a rope. It was the ADS team that made it all possible. They were incredible.
Developed by OceanWorks International from Vancouver, British Columbia, the Hardsuit 2000 was designed to withstand underwater pressure at 2,000 feet. Current models have only been able to go down as far as 1,200 feet. The suit worked incredibly, said Jackson. It did everything it was intended to do. I always heard that around 1,300 feet, the joints of the Hardsuit 2000 would work even better, and it worked exactly the way they said it would.
Meeting the Navys high safety requirements, the ADS suit was designed and acquired by the Navy to support submarine rescue. Its specific purpose is to be part of the advance assessment system during a submarine rescue operation, said Lehnhardt. The diver in the suit will see what the damage to the sub is and find out where the survivors might be.
At 2,000 feet, I had topside turn off all the lights, and it was like a star show. The phosphorescence that was naturally in the water and in most of the sea life down there started to glow," Jackson said. "When I started to travel back up, all the lights looked like a shower of stars going down as I was coming up. It was the best ride in the world.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/11/2006
09:41 ||
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#1
IIRC, the "rescue downed submarines" line was used to conceal all sorts of interesting UW ops.
The DSRV had a similar cover story, and they hid a lot of programs in the inevitable cost over-runs.
I wonder what sort of activities they have planed for this new suit? I hope I live long enough to see when it gets declassified.
Posted by: N guard ||
08/11/2006 11:04
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#2
I have a watch that can go to 3000 meters. Never understood what it's use is....
Posted by: Mark E. ||
08/11/2006 12:04
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#3
They're ivory. It's a Rolex, Only a pimp from a cheap New Orleans whorehouse would carry a pearl-handled pistol. wear a Kraut Tag watch.
#5
It's a hard suit. Inside it's atmospheric pressure. They breathe air and there is no need to decompress afterwards.
Posted by: ed ||
08/11/2006 12:58
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#6
Off topic on watches:
"It's a Rolex..."
Rolex makes the sea-dweller, but it doesn't dive quite that deep. Breitling makes the Seawolf Avenger, 3000 meters, and the Avenger M1 (1500 meters quartz) for people who need to use the stopwatch functions while underwater, which is a no-no with most chronographs. Others I have seen are quartz, but some can go deeper; there is one that says it can do 12k meters....
I agree; no tags. (except the one that has the Zenith 1/10th of a second stopwatch movement; that is a very good watch. But I'd rather have the Zenith rather than the Tag.)
Posted by: Mark E. ||
08/11/2006 14:51
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#7
They are working in conjunction with Pakistan's submarine program. (No french were involved in this effort)
TERROR suspect Waheed Zaman met controversial MP George Galloway many times, his sister said last night.
Safeena, 24, said of her 23-year-old brother: He saw it as his duty to stand up for his community and thats what led him to know George Galloway. He has a lot of respect for him and has met him many times.
A spokesman for MP Galloway, above, said: Waheed Zaman is not a name that George is familiar with. He is not known to him on a personal level. "Zaman? No, don't know him"
There is no suggestion Galloway is an associate of Zaman uh huh
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006
09:26 ||
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#5
Don't think our LLL's are any different. This is exactley why I suspect thier is such resistance from the left on Data Minnning.
Data Minning is based alot on spider webbing known or suspected terrrorist 2,3,4 layers out with the basis that birds of a feather flock together. Like minded people hang together like anti-american LLL mentalities can jive with radical islamist anti-american ideology.
This is a good example or see Bajr in Iran linked to Iran pres to Chavez to Bontefello, Sheenan, to Hillary, Kerry ect...
#6
Galloway has officially outlived whatever usefulness he may have once possesed, if any. He should be cremated (perhaps prior to cessation of vital signs) so as to avoid contaminating any hapless worms who might accidentally feast upon his remains. The words facilitator and collaborator spring to mind.
Tehran, 11 August (AKI) - One of Osama bin Laden's sons, Saad, together with a number of top al-Qaeda commanders, including Seif al Adel, are hiding in Iran and are not in Syria as reported by several Western papers this week, a well informed source told Adnkronos International (AKI). The source, a top Iranian intelligence official until a few months ago, said al-Qaeda and members of Iran's powerful revolutionary guard, the Pasdaran, are negotiating coordinated actions against the United States and Israel.
We've been hearing reports Saad has been a 'guest' of Iran for some time.
The al-Qaeda members had been living for the past four years in a neighbourhood in northern Tehran under the surveillance of Iran's revolutionary guards corps, the Pasdaran, but were recently moved to a military base 80 km south-west of the capital, along the road to the holy city of Qum.
"Keep your friends close and your enemies closer"
The source said that Saad bin-Laden doesn't need take unnecessary risks and move to Syria to organize militantss to send to Lebanon to fight against the Israelis alongside the Shiite Hezbollah militias.
Much easier to do it from the comfortable guest quarters
According to the same source, the death of the former leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi , who was killed in a US air raid on 7 June and was known for his hatred of Shiite Muslims, paved the way for talks on a "tactical cooperation" between the Pasdaran and a significant part of the predominantly Sunni al-Qaeda organization of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri.
Zarq had a major hard-on for killing Shiites. Zawahiri kept telling him to back off, but he wouldn't listen. Lends more credence to the thought al-Qaeda dropped a dime on him.
"The decision to transfer of Saad bin Laden and of other leading members of al-Qaeda to this military base managed by the al Quds battallion of the Pasdaran was taken to make it easier for members of the militant group and the army to meet," the source told AKI.
There's also an old tradition of holding one of your "allies" family hostage to ensure cooperation
The latest statement by Ayman al-Zawahiri aired on 27 July by al-Jazeera was considered by many analysts an unprecedented step by al-Qaeda's number two, towards Shiite movements. In the message, Zawahiri praised Hezbollah and called on Sunni Muslims to fight with the soldiers of the group's leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend, for now.
However, the source told AKI that the message was a consequence of dialogue started after the death of al-Zaerqawi.
"The statements made by [Iranian president] Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Israel and Jews and the threats of Pasdaran top officials agains the Americans and British, the campaign of Iranian papers against the presence of foreign troops in Iraq facilitated negotiations with al Qaeda's men."
The same source expressed the belief that ideological and theological divergences between the Iranians and al Qaeda remain but the needs dictated by current events prevailed and forced the radical Shiites to seek an accord with the terror group.
SEE: Enemy of my enemy
"Grassroots members of both groups will probably not welcome an accord though an agreement is key for both if they mean to strike the common enemy with terror actions."
They'll be looking sideways at each other fondling their guns
"The Islamic Republic has the advantages and the limits of a state sitting in international organizations but needs an organization able to do the dirty work while al Qaeda needs the cover of a government, though it has overhauled its organization."
The Iranian source however denied reports alleging that Iran, which is believed to arm Hezbollah with Syria, needs al Qaeda to support Hezbollah's fight against Israel.
They'd use al-Qaeda for deniable attacks on western targets
"Providing Nasrallah with the support of al Qaeda would destroy the myth of Hezbollah's invincibility," the source said. "Iran will use Palestinian militants if the Shiite guerrilla needs help, further strengthening ties with Hamas, an alliance which has added value on a political level."
Posted by: Steve ||
08/11/2006
09:24 ||
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Three Indonesian Christians convicted of leading attacks on Muslims will be executed on Saturday, officials say. The three men, who have been on death row since 2001, will face the firing squad just after midnight local time (1600 GMT). They were sentenced for inciting attacks during religious rioting in Central Sulawesi in 2000.
Sulawesi province has a long history of violence between Muslim and Christians. More than 1,000 people are believed to have been killed during two years of violence triggered by a brawl between Christian and Muslim gangs in December 1998.
Fabianus Tibo, Dominggus da Silva and Marinus Riwu were convicted of masterminding a series of attacks on the Muslim community in the central district of Poso in 2000. The men, who say they are innocent, had their final appeal rejected by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono last year.
On Thursday, the European Union warned that the executions could harm the "fragile equilibrium that exists between different ethnic and religious groups".
'Fragile equilibrium'? The Y'urp-peons never fail to impress with their euphemisms.
In Christian-dominated Tentena, demonstrators condemned the decision. "Tibo, Dominggus and Marinus do not deserve to be executed because they are not the main culprits," Christian leader Rinaldy Damanik told the crowd. "Whatever happens, we cannot accept their executions," the Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying.
But a spokesman for the attorney-general said the executions, set to take place in a secret location in the Central Sulawesi provincial capital of Palu, would go ahead. "There will be no delay unless there's a natural catastrophe," I Wayan Pasek Suartha told journalists.
So these three guys are praying to the volcano god right now ...
#8
Too bad they don't give the terrorists the same treatment for the killings they are attempting in West Papua and the crap in East Timor. But thats Muslims killing Christinas so I reckon by Islamofascist standards, thats OK. Just another of the 4001 reasons to kill Islamofscists and their supporters.
#9
One of several reasons why I did not give one penny to Tsunami relief.
I took a beating here for suggesting that we force Indonesia to agree upon substantially enhanced anti-terrorism measures prior to receiving a penny of foreign aid after the tsunamis. As of now, I truly regret having back-pedalled on at least delivering humanitarian medical aid without these agreements in place.
If these terror havens want access to global largess in times of need, they had d@mn well better start toeing the line with respect to snuffing Islamist jihadis. Indonesia's kid glove treatment of Bashir, even as he spewed about Muslims being entitled to nuclear weapons against the West, was the breaking point for me.
We need to isolate these Islamic cesspools and let them submerge in their own corrupt filth. If they get up on their hind legs, slap them down and make it known that they are on the Christmas list for regime change.
#10
Zenster:
I was one of those who rejected your conditions, saying that needed to help people first and then worry about cleaning up the islamic mess.
#11
"The stay of execution was granted after the Vatican delivered an appeal for clemency to the Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono."
I know, I know. It's crazy in Indonesia. But for Yudhoyono to agree with the Pope is unheard of. Hopefully, he'll inch his way further to sanity and avoid the civil unrest which will follow executions.
IDF officials admit that the biggest surprise of the ongoing war against Hizbullah is the ease by which terrorists have destroyed IDF tanks.
At least 30 tanks have been totally destroyed or seriously damaged in bomb and anti-tank rocket attacks involving state-of-the-art Russian anti-tank rockets.
About one-half of the military personnel killed in southern Lebanon were inside tanks. Per capita, Hezbollah probably has the most, and most varied arsenal of anti-tank weaponry of any fighting force on the planet. However, they expend this expensive ordnance like fireworks.
#1
They expend it on both armor and infantry. Regardless of cost, it works. And it doesn't cost as much as Merkava's. Israel/Olmert has really screwed this war up and will pay for it in the next one.
Dont hit the enemy all oover jsut do "pinpricks" from the air. Send the tanks in by ones and twos, then keep them static and pussyfooting aroudn to try to avoid inflicting casualties, then withdraw them after a day or two. Thats terrible operational art and crap armor tactics. And thats why they are losing their armor - they are using it wrong due to political constraints. WW2 had a ton of examples of this sort of operational stupidity.
Israel blew this when they decided to dribble forces in, instead of dealing a hammerblow by roulling up to Typer and down the Litani at the start with several divisions. The casualties are a result of that piss-poor half-assed way of doing things.
You cannot bend reality to fit your fantasy in the military or you will get your people killed. No matter how much the Liberals want to beleive that such alterred reality is possible, it just results in death when the messy real world comes crashing in on their unworkable ideals.
I think the Israeli political leaders need to spend less time on Marx & Engls and other leftists and pacifists, and more time on Frederick the Great, Napoleon, Boney Fuller, Guderian, Rommel, and Patton (as well as Giap for what they are facing). they might jsut get a clue before they get even more of their citizenry and soldiers killed.
#5
"You cannot bend reality to fit your fantasy in the military or you will get your people killed. No matter how much the Liberals want to beleive that such alterred reality is possible, it just results in death when the messy real world comes crashing in on their unworkable ideals.
I think the Israeli political leaders need to spend less time on Marx & Engls and other leftists and pacifists, and more time on Frederick the Great, Napoleon, Boney Fuller, Guderian, Rommel, and Patton (as well as Giap for what they are facing). they might jsut get a clue before they get even more of their citizenry and soldiers killed."
1. Olmert is not a socialist. Hes a long time Likud member, and afaik a loyal defender of free markets and capitalism.
2. Peretz, the Defense Minister, who IS a leader of a leftist party, and who is certainly more left on economic issues than any leader Labour has had in 30 years (though hes still not a Marxist) has actually been pushing for a more aggressive stance militarily, at least in the last couple of weeks.
3. Olmerts approach does seem to have messed up, falling in between two approaches that might have worked better - going in with a big ground force from the beginning, OR switching to a focus on diplomacy after the first few days of air attacks. (I note again the main advocate of the latter seems to be FM Lipni, also from an old Likud background, NOT a socialist)
4. Its not clear now what Israel military intell was telling the govt about the strength of Hezb on the ground, and how much this was an intell failure vs how much a failure of Olmert. That will be thrashed out in Israel after the war - they are very good at recriminations. If Olmert cant establish a rock solid defense of his approach (IE a better defense than Rumsfelds) Olmert will be history, I have little doubt.
5. Once again, folks here who comment on Israeli politics would be well served to follow it more closely. While Bibi IS both VERY pro-capitalist, and (lately) very hawkish, and the old Mapam party was both socialist and dovish, Hawk vs Dove doesnt map all that well to Capitalist vs Socialist in Israeli politics. Ben Gurion and Golda Meier were both probably more socialist than any major Israeli pol today (and probably actually HAD read Marx) but both were firm hawks. OTOH many of the doves in Israels Meretz party, are yuppies who with little real enthusiasm for leftie economics. Sharon grew up on a Kibbutz, started a party that he intended to ally with Labour, and switched to supporting the Israeli right strictly on security policy grounds.
#7
Halutz should not get off scot free, either. It appears he sold Olmert the "Air Power can do it all" bill of goods. It is also going to be interesting to see what comes out of the Kaplinski-Adam swap. Israel has way too many uncontrolled internal divisions. Such divisions are inseparable from the big egos required to run these organizations. But part of leadership is keeping them under control and moving in the same direction. That was Eisenhower's skill. Ultimately, Olmert is responsible and has failed miserably to provide strong unified leadership.
What is starting to astound me is how long Israel is willing to be led by Olmert after his incompetence has become plain for all to see.
I believe most of your points are spot on save perhaps for your call for an IDF headstrong push into Lebanon.
Hezbos are fighting a conventional, fixed position battle, and that means IDF should have overwhelmed their fortified positions with a combination of firepower and massive infantry assaults.
Flamethrowers and napalm, incidentally neither of which are outlawed by internationl law, should be used along with HE, tank fire, and air power.
It now appears that Israel's liberal-leftist politicians have blown this war.
Consequences will be severe.
Idiotic comment of the Year:
Simon Peres: "Since Israel did not start this war, she does not have to win it. She only has to stop it."
#9
The IDF lost a lot of armor in 73 war early on due to not using tanks on close cooperation with infantry so that the infantry could take out the AT teams.
After a pause, IDF changed tactics and beat the Egyptians. Could be same thing here - using tanks too forward.
#10
Nimble Spemble you're a loudmouthed ignoramus with a serious chip on your shoulder about Israel.
Oldspook. Shuf Mountains are not armor country. And most of these Merkavas will be back in operation a week from now.
p.s. The US military would take 10 times the casualties for the same results.
furstus and foremost Armor and Armies must shock, surprise and overwhelm and crush their opponents.
In the beginning I was hoping that Israel would have also assulted Lebanon/Hizzbos simultaneously from the Med. North of the Latani. [but what the fark do I know]
Of course kofi, al-MSM, and the Libs would have gone ape shit, shed crock tears and wrung the skin off their hands.
#13
I don't know whether this is relevant, but tanks don't seem to be playing a big part in the slaughter of the Taliban. It's mostly about infantry units calling in pinpoint airstrikes as required. The Israelis don't seem to be using these tactics: their bombing seems to be mainly strategic.
#14
Grom makes an excellent point about the "destroyed" term in the article. Most of the vehicles will be repaired. I'm also interested to know how many of these "tanks" are really APC's, which are thinner skinned and more vulnerable. I'm guessing that the idiot journos wouldn't know the difference.
#16
Well, Remoteman, I don't know if they've used them in the present conflict, but I think the Israelis ahve experimented with using tank hulls as the basis for APC's.
Posted by: Phil ||
08/11/2006 13:22
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#17
Phil, there are two kinds that I've seen on TV. One is a modified M113 and the other appears to be what you are talking about.
#18
Libhawk you're so wrong its comical. Call yourself a hawk, and don't know Guderian?
Guderian cleaned the Soviet's clocks until he was forced into fixed positional warfare by Hitler's idiocy. And as far as Guderian and his brilliance as an operational armored commander goes, the Soviets respected the hell out of him - they used his history, writings and methods to train their tankers for their offensive in WW2, and continued to do so generations that followed WW2. Heinz Guderian was an idol for Soviet tankers and his doctrines formed the basis for a lot of the teachings at the Malinovskiy armor academy in the old Soviet Union. At the Frunze General Staff Academy they also study Guderian - indeed "Guderian" was a nickname given to Soviet tankers (as a mark of respect). Learn history sonny - all of it, don't leave out the bits that discredit your ideology - something liberals always seem to try to do. You guys seem to always color your history until its no longer recognizable, robbing it of any educational or probative value.
Additionally, the political labels of Israeli politicians are not entirely accurate, but their combined actions and political policies are reflective of typical liberal and leftist sentiments - pacifists, and tend towards half measures. That much is very clear with the vacillation and nature of the conduct of the wa as driven by the politicians. And any of these would be called Liberal in the US, which is what I was using for the standard.
A further correction for you Libhawk: Marxists are pacifists when it comes to western nations defending themselves against marxists. Or did you miss the entire 1970's and 80's peace movements that were sponsored by Communist and Soviet organizations (Remember the Pershing missiles?) Once again , your grasp of history is tenuous at best due to the ideological blinders you place on yourself as a liberal. You make a useful fool for them if you cannot see that clearly.
Grom, you didn't read what I wrote. The Litani from Tyre along IS armor country for that stretch - where I said the advance should have been done. And armor is effective in combined arms teams in the more broken terrain. Or can you not read English and a map? The point is to not push into the mountains bit by bit, but to cut them and isolate those in them in a hard blow, quickly and harshly. Its called shock - that and hitting the C3I elements hard early on would have caused a disruption and possibly even shattered a large number of those Hezbollah hedgehog positions. That would have forced them to either starve out under artillery and air bombardment, or come out and fight in more open terrain - unsupported by command control comms or intel, they would have been chopped up and destroyed. Either way its more favorable than the slow bleed Israel needed up using. Its called "shaping the battlefield". Also Grom, its an idiotic assertion that the US would take 10x the casualties. Look to the initial armored sweep into Iraq and the casualty rates there - far more opposition, far longer range action, far larger scale. In modern armored warfare, its mobility that saves lives, and Israel has failed to use their mobility to any real advantage. To deny that is to deny reality - is that where you are coming from, what color is the sky in your imaginary place?
Also, there was a complete lack of operational surprise and audacity - hallmarks of ops that will be successful. Israel was give a green light but decided to half-step into things, and the political leadership with the DM being a former pacifist was stupid enough to believe that it would work.
here's a free clue to all you who apparently know nothing of the operational art:
FM 100-5.
Read it, know it, live it.
And pick up an good military history book or two. There are normally a few at the local library. Or go to a university library and grab the West Point Atlas series, and some DoD histories, as well as the aforementioned Field Manuals (The USMC has a good one on the Operational art as well).
#19
Isn't the Merkava built up from an M-60 chassis, with new turret & fire control/electronics suite? IDF looked at M1A2, but too big/heavy for bridges and narrow streets - same reason they couldn't up-armor the Merkava.
#20
"Guderian cleaned the Soviet's clocks until he was forced into fixed positional warfare by Hitler's idiocy. And as far as Guderian and his brilliance as an operational armored commander goes, the Soviets respected the hell out of him - they used his history, writings and methods to train their tankers for their offensive in WW2, and continued to do so generations that followed WW2. Heinz Guderian was an idol for Soviet tankers and his doctrines formed the basis for a lot of the teachings at the Malinovskiy armor academy in the old Soviet Union. At the Frunze General Staff Academy they also study Guderian - indeed "Guderian" was a nickname given to Soviet tankers (as a mark of respect). Learn history sonny - all of it, don't leave out the bits that discredit your ideology - something liberals always seem to try to do. You guys seem to always color your history until its no longer recognizable, robbing it of any educational or probative value. "
I admit I have more to learn about the details of operational armored warfare in WW2. Nonetheless, Guderian made the wrong strategic choices, standing with a man who was a lunatic, and invading a country that Germany almost certainly couldnt have beaten whatever choices Hitler had made.
"Additionally, the political labels of Israeli politicians are not entirely accurate,"
Change that to not at all accurate.
" but their combined actions and political policies are reflective of typical liberal and leftist sentiments - pacifists, and tend towards half measures."
Pacficists dont believe in war by half measures. They dont beleive in war at all.
"That much is very clear with the vacillation and nature of the conduct of the wa as driven by the politicians."
Politicians of all stripes have historically used half measures in war. Sometimes its the right strategy, sometimes its not. Depends on the value of the objectives, and the political context.
" And any of these would be called Liberal in the US, which is what I was using for the standard. "
I dont think Olmert would be called a liberal in the United States.
"A further correction for you Libhawk: Marxists are pacifists when it comes to western nations defending themselves against marxists. Or did you miss the entire 1970's and 80's peace movements that were sponsored by Communist and Soviet organizations (Remember the Pershing missiles?)"
I didnt miss the cold war. And I knew of at least a few Marxists who opposed pacifist policies in the cold war, cause they were not Leninists, and they saw what the USSR did to Marxists who were not Communists.
In any case, Hezbollahs not Marxist so its not relevant.
"Once again , your grasp of history is tenuous at best due to the ideological blinders you place on yourself as a liberal. You make a useful fool for them if you cannot see that clearly"
A useful fool for whom? For Hezbollah? I hate Hezbollah, and am trying to help figure out a strategy against them? A fool for Peretz? Ill admit to have a grudging respect for Peretz, contingent on how he comes out in Israels postwar investigations. Olmert? I still think Olmerts general approach to the Pal question is right, but im quite open to the possibility that he screwed up royally here. It has nothing to do with him being a socialist, a pacifist, or a liberal, none of which he is.
#22
I admit I have more to learn about the details of operational armored warfare in WW2. Nonetheless, Guderian made the wrong strategic choices, standing with a man who was a lunatic, and invading a country that Germany almost certainly couldnt have beaten whatever choices Hitler had made.
Ding! Use of historicism! Minus Fifty DKP!
Seriously, though, it's hard to discuss Guderian's mistakes and non-mistakes if it's approached from the standpoint that no matter what he did he was doomed to lose anyway.
In fact, it's hard to discuss history in general anyway if everything is viewed as inetivable.
Posted by: Phil ||
08/11/2006 14:19
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#23
BTW, FM 100-5 is now FM 3-0. All of the services are moving to a joint numbering system for their pubs.
#24
not everything is inevitable, by any means. Much depends on accident. Germanys defeat in WW2 is probably one of the better candidates for historical inevitability though.
Guderian, if was so brilliant, could have advised that the war was unwinnable, as Yamamoto, IIUC, advised the govt of Japan.
He also could, later, have joined the plot against Hitler, as did several German generals, including, of course, Rommel.
#26
1) The Merkava looks nothing like a M60 Patton. If anything, it bears a family resemblance to the Centurion series, although it is an Israeli design from the ground up.
2) The Merkava is easily confused with an APC, since it has an oversize crew compartment located in the rear of the tank for maximum forward defensive potential, with a rear hatch for emergency use as an APC. There are armoured ambulance versions of the Merkava, and apparently at least one battalion's worth of actual Merkava APCs, which may have seen action with the Golani.
3) Where they're operating is, in fact, terrible tank country, and I wish I had been wrong two weeks ago when I said that early reports boded poorly about their mis-use of armour in hill-and-village country.
4) The Israelis just don't have enough dismounted infantry to fight the grinding attritional bunker war they *ought* to be fighting, and this seems to be creating a crippling sense of indecision on the part of the politicals. Nevertheless, they *have* to let go of this indecision, and wholely commit to the fight. Israel may not survive continued demonstrations of weakness because
5) Those rockets raining into Israel could easily be fitted with nasty, persistent chemical weapons, and make the north uninhabitable for weeks or months. If Olmert's ongoing weakness makes the Syrians think that the Israelis won't be able to retaliate, or only retaliate with conventional weapons, then they might take the safeties off, and the only thing keeping Hezbollah & Iran from gassing Israel off the map is the Samson threat.
6) August 22nd might be the promise of such a comprehensive gassing, regardless of the Samson threat, possibly because of an Iranian nuke.
I don't know about you, but I'm far enough from the coastal cities here in the states that I'm pretty sure I'll survive August 22nd if the surprise is a backpack in New York or Baltimore. It makes me sick to think something like that. I just spent a week working a convention in Baltimore...
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/11/2006 15:38
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#27
Been gone a while--please help me catch up. Isn't part of the problem that Israel didn't actually realize how dug-in and outfitted the Hezbos were in terms of the tunnels/supplies/infrastructure/communications/pr campaign with US and other Western news media? And isn't the terrain an issue (tank problems)? Also--wouldn't a real "shock and awe" for a week, followed by massive
ground troops provided a better equation for winning this? Is it too late now? And what's with August 22nd? What does that mean? THANKS.
#28
In any case, taking out Israeli artillery, etc. is REALLY gonna embolden the Hezbos, as well as the rest of the Islam-ick facists, and there's no doubt about that. All the philosophy/politicing in the world can't stand up to a raw fight, and in the end it only matters WHO wins.
The UN Security Council has taken up a new resolution which if approved would give Iran until August 31 to suspend uranium enrichment and accept a package of international incentives.
Iran had previously set August 22 as the date when it would formally respond. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has vowed his country will never surrender its right to pursue uranium enrichment, a process that could lead to the production of a nuclear weapon.
Iran picked the 22nd but since that also happens to be one of Islam's holiest events, the great cataclysm that Shiite Muslims believe will forever resolve the battle between "good" and "evil."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Liberal Hawk pfffsts this one out of his ass and sneaks it into the discussion about armored warfare:
"Nonetheless, Guderian made the wrong strategic choices, standing with a man who was a lunatic.."
Liberalhawk lectures Guderian telling him he made the wrong StraTEGery!
I call MORON! Liberalhawk do you want to keep digging? Or how low do you actually want to go?
In Tehran, Kazem Jalali, a spokesman for the Iranian parliament's foreign affairs and security commission, said the resolution was "unacceptable" and would create a situation where no one benefits.
"It seems America has done its utmost to divert Iran's case from the path of dialogue and drag it into crisis," Jalali told the Students News agency."
This is PR, and it is designed to play into the hands of the US Dems.
Beirut, 11 August (AKI) - Israeli planes on Friday flew over Beirut dropping thousands of leaflets bearing the names of 100 Hezbollah militants Israel says it has killed since the current conflict began just over a month ago. The leaflets were mostly sprinkled over the Lebanese capital's southern Shiite districts which are regarded as a Hezbollah stronghold.
The inscription: "[Hezbollah leader Hassan] Nasrallah is having your sons killed for nothing. What follows is a list of names of those killed, who Nasrallah abandoned and whose death he has denied" also appeared on the pieces of paper.
"Making a list and checking it twice,
gonna find out who's naughty and got iced,
the IDF is coming to town"
Posted by: Steve ||
08/11/2006
09:13 ||
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#1
As some day it may happen that Hezbollah must be found,
I've got a little list I've got a little list
Of jihadi cannon fodder who might well be underground,
And who never would be missed who never would be missed!
They're the pestilential nuisances who bomb a city bus
The people who fire Katyushas right at us
Their children they wire up with bombs, and floor you with 'em flat
They ask for a ceasefire, but they turn on you like that
And all mad mullahs who on killing Jews insist
They'd none of 'em be missed they'd none of 'em be missed!
I have them on my list, and they will not be missed
Posted by: Mike ||
08/11/2006 12:08
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#2
An extra Chu Hoi Leaflet - Just in case there's any "little people" caught unawares.
Quan Luc Dong Minh triet Thoai
song song voi su lon mnh cua Quam Luc VNCH
Cac ban ca binh Cong san
Thuc hien nhung dieu khoan dac biet ve toi tan hoa Quan Luc VNCH de thay the vai tro chien
dau chong Cong san tai vung Dong Nam A, tinh den ngay 21.20.1970, Quan Luc Dong Minh, nhat la Quan Luc chien dau Hoa Ky, da hoi huong mot quan-so tuong duong voi 5 su doan. Su kien nay da lam cho luan dieu tuyen truyen cua phe Cong san vo cung tro tren va lo bich.
#1
Hezzballah could not put 12,000 rockets in Lebanon without the full cooperation, complicity and knowledge of the Lebanese government. Hezzballah has indeed hijacked the Lebanese governmemt. It is no longer a fledgling democracy because of Syria and Iran.
August 11, 2006: Liquid explosives are back in the news, after British counter-terrorism forces arrested 21 local Moslems on August 10th, for participation in a plot to smuggle liquid explosives onto airliners and set them off once aloft. This has long been feared as a possible terrorist tactic. The recent scare came about because there appeared to be a large terrorist organization supplying the explosives, detonators, and suicide bombers.
Liquid explosives have been around for a long time. But these explosives share two bad traits. They are either very unstable (like nitroglycerin), or subject to deterioration as the different elements suspended in the liquid settle, and become less explosive. Overall, liquid explosives aren't very explosive compared to more solid one. Another problem with liquid explosives is that their components are usually noxious, if not poisonous. Nitric Acid, for example, is nasty stuff, but can be added to more benign substances to produce fairly stable explosives, like Nitromethane.
In 1995, an al Qaeda bomb maker used nitroglycerine (in a contact lens solution bottle) to fashion a bomb that blew a hole in the side of a Boeing 747, but did not destroy the aircraft. Nitroglycerine is one of the more powerful explosives, but subject to going off spontaneously if jarred. Very dangerous to carry around.
Another favorite liquid explosive is one using various types of nitrates. Fertilizer can be mixed with diesel oil to form an explosive slurry. Not something that would pass a smell test at airport screening. But some nitrates, like Methyl nitrate, are more explosive, and only need exposure to another chemical to detonate.
Chemicals found in household products, especially those used for cleaning, are popular for home-made explosives. For example, mixing hydrogen peroxide with nail-polish remover or paint thinner produces an explosive mixture that can be set off. You need more than a few ounces (as with nitroglycerine). In fact, a quart or more is needed to assure fatal damage to a large aircraft. These are not particularly powerful explosives, and have not been widely used for terrorist attacks. There are also doubts whether such explosives could actually do enough damage to penetrate the hull of an aircraft, and create a situation that would cause the airliner to crash. Keeping dangerous liquids off of airliners is not easy, for the containers can be strapped to the bodies of the suicide bombers, along with the detonator (which can also be a liquid).
The key thing with all of these possible liquid explosives is that you need someone, who knows what they are doing, to mix up a batch that will work. The big thing to come out of the August 10th incident will probably be the capture, or identification, of a guy terrorists like to call, "the engineer." These fellows usually have a degree in something like chemistry, and maybe some work experience in the chemical industry. Terrorist movements don't attract a lot of people like this, and the Israelis figured out that if you went after "the engineers" you could cripple a terrorist movement. This was what the Israelis did two years ago to halt the Palestinian suicide bombing campaign against them.
The most dangerous terrorist group to ever exist was Aum Shinrikyo, a 1990s Japanese cult that was able to recruit well qualified engineers and scientists. These people proceeded to achieve the Holy Grail of modern terrorism, producing their own nerve gas. So far, Islamic terrorists have not attracted the caliber of people Aum Shinrikyo (radical Buddhists) was able to recruit. But the potential is there. With Aum Shinrikyo grade techies, Islamic terrorist groups could produce all manner of liquid horrors, including explosives and various chemical weapons.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/11/2006
09:09 ||
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#1
The most dangerous terrorist group to ever exist was Aum Shinrikyo Agreed, they may even have attempted an atom (nuclear) bomb.
#2
I have several objections to what this article states are disadvantages. I'm no chemist or explosives expert by any means, but it seems to me that if a liquid explosives are A) unstable like nitroglycerin, or B) subject to deterioration, that's not going to bar some suicide bombers who A) are not stable themselves and want the bomb to go off, prematurely or not, and B) plan on using the material immediately, not putting it into storage!
Aside from explosives, I'm also concerned about:
o Creating a toxic reaction, like chlorine gas or some other poisonous inhalant that could kill/blind/incapacitate many if not all crew and passengers.
o Creating a highly corrosive substance that will eat through cables, hoses, and other flight control elements.
Remember, these guys aren't concerned about their own safety, much less the safety of others. This only has to work one time for them to score a victory and kill a lot of innocent people.
Posted by: Dar ||
08/11/2006 11:04
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#3
Nitroglycerine is one of the more powerful explosives, but subject to going off spontaneously if jarred. Very dangerous to carry around.
OK! New idea for a security screening! Every passenger has to step onto a platform that jars them up and down a little bit. With a little work, a trip through security could be like a brief amusement park visit. Wheee!
#4
"Okay, sir, now if you'll step over here, put your feet on the footprints in the mat ... very good sir, I'm going to stand behind this plexiglas shield ... now please, sir, jump up and down ten times."
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/11/2006 11:43
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#5
Let's not give Aum too much credit. They attempted seven or eight times to initiate an anthrax attack with zero success. They attempted several Sarin attacks, with two succeeding. The issue with the second attack, the subway attack, wasn't the Sarin. It was the lack of decontamination by rescuers and thus secondary and tertiary exposures far outnumbered primary exposures.
The terrorists face one primary issue with every plot, whether it be this one or a WMD one. How do they minimize the number of potential points of failure? In Oklahoma City there was one, the risk that the timer would fail to operate. This whole plot seems to have several points of failure connected tot he transport and mixing of the chemicals.
I think that the article has inadvertently identified the most lethal terrorist approach. Release a poison gas agent into the ventilation system. At a minimum the terrorist would kill many passengers. It is also very likely that it would get the flight crew with a crash resulting. Easier to make, easier to deploy.
#8
I wear contacts, so I am concerned about those who are being forbidden to take such fluids onto their planes. However, I have a simple solution: If a passenger has a contact lens fluid bottle and claims it is for himself, have him wash his hands, remove his left contact (test #1), shake the bottle vigorously (test #2), and reinsert using the fluid from the bottle (test #3). Repeat for right hand contact unless he is writhing on the ground or has no free hand to perform removal and re-insertion.
Gilberts newest hospital will star in a movie meant to warn and educate the public about the threat of a pandemic mutating from the feared bird flu.
Mercy Gilbert Medical Center was used this week as a set for the British Broadcasting Corp. and Discovery Channels docudrama "Pandemic."
The TV movie, expected to be released in November in the United Kingdom and later here on the Discovery Channel, takes place in Indonesia and the fictitious U.S. town of Fleetwood.
The movie weaves a dramatic fictitious story of how governments would react to an outbreak of the feared flu virus with documentary interviews with experts about how real the threat is.
"The best way to beat it, if it does arrive, is to know what is up," said director Peter Leonard, who also directs the BBC science documentary "Horizon" series.
In the film, experts from the World Health Organization and nations facing the current form of the bird flu are interviewed. Scenarios are acted out as to how governments may need to respond to the bird flu. Scenes filmed in Chandler play out how Fleetwood officials might decide to quarantine an affected community. Scenes filmed in Phoenix depict a man in the film flying home from a conference in Hawaii carrying the virus to the U.S.
Film researcher Sophie Wallace said its important that people not just governments be on the outlook for an outbreak. Theoretically, if it can be contained, she said, experts believe they can quarantine an area, give residents there antiviral drugs and try to stop a major spread.
It could take months to find a vaccine, so holding off the spread will be important, since there is no other cure, experts say.
Eight hospital nurses played key extra roles, as they worked in the hospitals isolation rooms, playing out how a hospital would react if it came across an unusual flu virus.
The nurses said they want viewers to know that hospitals here are prepared to respond and aid victims, as well as contact authorities.
"We have these throughout the hospital," said Cathy Jagos, a nurse and ER educator, as she stood outside an isolation room, which allows health care workers to decontaminate and prevent spread to the hospital.
#2
Let me know when you get that bioweapon up and working, I plan to rain it down on that pedophile, Mohammed's followers. Words do nothing, and bullets are too slow.
Posted by: Allan ||
08/11/2006 11:37
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#3
Do not wish for a killer flu. It is horror compounded by terror.
Years ago, I interviewed some survivors of the Spanish flu, then in their eighties. They were still traumatized after all these years.
One man, as a boy, was kept inside for an entire year, but the window of his room looked out over a road where coffins were xported to the cemetery. He saw many coffins of his classmates.
Truthfully, the most important advance we have today that they didn't have then is public awareness of hygiene. Not much if you think about it.
When the killer flu comes, and it will, we will all lose people we know and care about.
A typographical error that replaced a v with a d on a menu item during the First Familys flight to the Far East last Friday left four Air Zimbabwe staffers suspended - and a sour taste in the mouth. President Robert Mugabe and the first family, on the Harare-Singapore-China flight last Friday, were handed a menu card where an item should have read Chimukuyu and Dovi. But there was a disastrous typo when a d replaced the v.
The national airline on Tuesday reacted to the embarrassing stinker of an error by suspending the four employees involved after holding an emergency executive meeting. Air Zimbabwe spokesman David Mwenga yesterday confirmed the suspensions. We have suspended four staff members pending investigations into operational issues, said Mwenga who could not be drawn into detailing the issues in a terse response to The Financial Gazette. The suspended include Masi Gambanga, the cabin services manager, Victoria Munzara, the acting flight services officer, Chipo Sikireta the secretary to the senior flight operations manager and an unnamed worker who is employed in the airlines reservations section.
Robert Jr, the Presidents second born, reportedly stumbled upon the typo before alerting the veteran liberation war leader and the rest of his travelling party to the embarrassing blunder. First Lady Grace Mugabe was not on the flight, having travelled ahead earlier. Sources said a furious Transport and Communications Minister Chris Mushowe took issue with Air Zimbabwes management over the error and summoned the top officials to his offices early this week. The four workers will appear before a disciplinary hearing next week. They (suspended workers) were served with their suspension letters after submitting reports detailing the incident at around 3 pm, our source said.
Unconfirmed reports suggest that management has since apologised to the First family, which arrived back home yesterday. The family was on a trip to the Far East, a frequent destination for the President. The national carrier has faced a series of crises in recent years, but this latest one takes its troubles to new depths. Thank you Robert Jr. No spell check needed for you lad. A mind like a steel trap, 'n chip off die oud block! Smart move splitting the 'command group' and sending Grace out on an earlier lift, one never knows these days.
Ok, I confess: I don't get it. 'Dodi' versus 'Dovi'. Explain?
British suicide bombers were within days of blowing up 12 passenger jets above five US cities in an unprecedented terrorist attack designed to commit "mass murder on an unimaginable scale", counterterrorism sources claimed last night.
Anti-terrorist agents said they had uncovered the plot from surveillance of a group of young British Muslims, which began nearly a year ago and was on a scale never before undertaken.
US and British counterterrorism officials claimed the men, the majority British Muslims of Pakistani descent, were going to disguise liquid explosive as bottles of soft drink and carry them in their hand luggage on to US-bound planes leaving British airports.
When the jets were in midair over American cities, they planned to combine the explosives and detonate them using an electric charge from an iPod, the security services believe. BA flights were among the targets. US officials said the bombers had been seeking to hit New York, Washington, San Francisco, Boston and Los Angeles. Other airlines targeted were thought to be United, American and Continental.
#1
The only carrier flying nonstop to Seattle from Britain is British Airways, and the other two don't have any nonstop flights there from London from any carriers at all.
Although BA was targeted, the other cities have American flag carriers that also land there, so they might have been more attractive targets (plan B in case an American carrier wouldn't take them...take BA?)
Who knows? Not enough recruits to include Seattle? Maybe they thought their butts might go numb by the time it got there? One of the chemicals/the iPod batteries wouldn't last that long? They didn't want to piss off Starbucks?
#2
I've been saying for a long time, if the terrorists deliver a devastating (NBC) hit to a big liberal urban area like those listed above, the left will have 2 problems: 1) We'll have martial law. 2) They'll be having to ask the right to spot them 8 to 10 million voters to replace those killed in a massive attack.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/11/2006 11:49
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#4
Why did Pakistan rat its jihadis out? Because if the plot had gone through, Uncle Sam would have ended up in Pakistan and a universal draft would have been instituted to deal with the occupation. The invasion of Iran would probably have followed.
#5
Because if the plot had gone through, Uncle Sam would have ended up in Pakistan and a universal draft would have been instituted to deal with the occupation.
Safe bet, ZF. I can only imagine just how eager our military is to confiscate the only Muslim controlled nuclear arsenal in the world. Kahn's proliferation (and lack of court trial) has shown us exactly how stable or secure Pakistan's actual grip on nuclear technology really is.
As to terror attacks on blue cities, my only guess is that they're going for a Zapatero effect. Sadly, in view of how spineless America's liberals seem to be of late, it just might work. I remain very thankful that our military will never surrender to these psychotic lunatics (no, not the liberals, the terrorists).
#9
Jackal, there's lots of 'em from Orlando (with bunches of kids going to Disney), Las Vegas is kinda/sorta red and they've got a bunch, and Phoenix has quite a few. Not sure how to classify Miami, but it's got international flights, too.
#10
The terrorists blow themselves up, MOVEON.org Dems and domestic anti-American Americans will do the rest, ala PC isolationism and "justified" closed society and reactionist, popular Governmentism-Totalitarianism = National Safety-Security, Responsibility, Accountability, etc.
I couldn't have said it better myself. A few weeks back it was my birthday, and my equally non-Jewish journalist friend Chas Newkey-Burden took his life in his hands and presented me with a cuddly toy. Now, normally I feel that people who bother with cuddly toys over the age of eight are either mad and/or prostitutes, but this little sweetie stole my heart. A honey-brown camel with a heart-melting smile and a jaunty cap, he proudly wore an Israeli Army uniform with a fetching hole cut out for his hump. "I've named him Bibi," Chas told me, obviously in honor of our mutual crush.
Later that night Chas and I were watching a TV news report of the beginnings of the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict. To say we were amazed when a news presenter solemnly intoned that there had been "two militants wounded" with all the grieving gravitas of Richard Dimbleby reporting on the state funeral of the late Winston Churchill is to employ English understatement to an almost surreal degree. But it's been that way ever since - and more than one night has seen me screaming at the TV/my husband "You don't understand! None of you English bastards understands!" before running into the bedroom, slamming the door and collapsing in a tearful heap with only Bibi to comfort me.
One of the most grotesque examples of the almost brainwashed level of bias can be seen on the official BBC Religions Web site, where that "peace be upon him" eyewash is going on like crazy, while other religions are coolly commented on in a strictly "objective" way.
André Glucksmann on reactions to the war in Lebanon: From surrealistic geopolitics to apocalyptic delusion.
The outrage of so many outraged people outrages me. On the scales of world opinion, some Muslim corpses are light as a feather, and others weigh tonnes. Two measures, two weights. The daily terrorist attacks on civilians in Baghdad, killing 50 people or more, are checked off in reports under the heading of miscellaneous, while the bomb that took 28 lives in Qana is denounced as a crime against humanity. Only a few intellectuals like Bernard-Henri Lévy or Magdi Allam, chief editor of the Corriere della Sera, find this surprising. Why do the 200,000 slaughtered Muslims of Darfur not arouse even half a quarter of the fury caused by 200-times fewer dead in Lebanon? Must we deduce that Muslims killed by other Muslims don't count - whether in the eyes of Muslim authorities or viewed through the bad conscience of the west? This conclusion has its weak spots, because if the Russian Army - Christian, and blessed by their popes - razes the capital of Chechnian Muslims (Grosny, with 400,000 residents) killing tens of thousands of children in the process, this doesn't count either. The Security Council does not hold meeting after meeting, and the Organization of Islamic States piously averts its eyes. From that we may conclude that the world is appalled only when a Muslim is killed by Israelis.
Should we thus presume that the public at large implicitly endorses the ideas that Ahmadinedjad shouts at the top of his lungs? And yet so many of those sceptics who display consternation over bombings in Lebanon seem shocked if you suspect them of anti-Semitism. I want to trust them. We don't want to imagine that the entire planet is mired in anti-Jewish paranoia! But then the matter becomes even more puzzling. What is the source of this hemiplegia? Why is the world frightened by Israeli bombs alone?
Perhaps the reason why the deaths in Lebanon are so disproportionately shocking as compared with the starving people of Darfur and the ruins of Chechnya is that they are seen as a surrealistic geopolitical signal. Anyone who follows the news in Gaza or Qana does not simply count the dead on a particularly violent day - rather, the coffins of these victims encircle the aura of a fatal promise - a promise that the hundreds of thousands of corpses from Africa and the Caucasus have no chance of approaching. Haven't legions of experts - for decades now - identified the Mideast conflict as the centre of the world's chaos and the key to its pacification? Is there any diplomat who does not repeat ad nauseum the formula about the gates to a hell of future wars versus the gates to world harmony, all of which open in Jerusalem? A never-changing script haunts 21st century minds. The script maintains that everything is decided on the banks of the Jordan. In its most grim version, that means: As long as four million Israelis and as many Palestinians are facing off against one another, 300 million Arabs and 1.5 billion Muslims are condemned to live in hate, bloody slaughter and desperation. And the rosier version: We just need peace in Jerusalem to put out the fires in Tehran, Karachi, Khartoum and Baghdad and to set the course for universal harmony.
Have our sages gone crazy? Do they really believe that sans Israeli-Palestinian conflict nothing bad would have happened, neither the deadly Khomeini Revolution, nor the bloody Baathist dictatorships in Syria and Iraq, nor the decade of Islamic terrorism in Algeria, nor the Taliban in Afghanistan, nor the angry warriors of God the world over? The sad, reverse hypothesis is seldom posed, but it is actually much more likely: Every truce along the Jordan is fleeting, as long as the palaces and streets, the majority of the intelligentsia and the officials of the Muslim world hang on to their anti-western passion. Globalization (which entails the dismantling of economic barriers but more importantly all social and mental barriers) necessarily leads to tough and terrible defensive reactions. The development of anti-western ideologies in Germany, from Fichte to Hitler, does not depend on the foundation of the Zionist state. The anti-western affect is constantly renewed in Russia, from the tsars to Stalin and on up through Putin. And it would be naive to presume that the Iranian lust for power, in search of its Khomeinistic force de frappe, uses the "Jewish question" as anything more than a pretence for a universal Jihad. Does anyone think that the green subversion, after erasing Israel from the map, will mark its success by laying down its weapons?
A hypocritical geopolitics, which ordains the Mideast as a basic pillar of the world order, has become the religion of the European Union, the belief of the unbelievers and of the doubters of the west. Post-modern thinkers have no justification in proclaiming the end of all ideologies. In fact, we are swimming in an ideological illusion and have secretly exchanged our deceptive hopes for a final battle with a fearful incantation conjuring a catastrophe to end all catastrophes, that is just as absolute. While our head swarms with surrealistic ghosts, our heart perceives, in every photo from Lebanon, the death of humankind. Jerusalem is only the centre of the world because it is considered the centre of the end of the world. Our illusions feed on apocalyptic notions.
And so every Mideast conflict is like a rehearsal for the end of days. Just look at the undefinable war of cultures, if you need convincing. And anyone taking that position is resigned to a self-fulfilling prophecy. The years of bombing of Israeli cities by the rockets of the Party of God become a foretaste of the Iranian godfather's promised destruction. And so, as Clausewitz already noted with irony, it is not the aggressor who starts the war. Instead it is he who steps in to stop the aggression. So Israel is guilty. Guilty of a collectively fomented fantasy of the end of days. From surrealistic geopolitics to delusion - just one step.
This article first appeared in Figaro on 8 August, 2006.
André Glucksmann is a French philosopher and writer.
Translation: Toby Axelrod.
Americans went to work yesterday to news of another astonishing terror plot against U.S. airlines, only this time the response was grateful relief. British authorities had busted the "very sophisticated" plan "to commit mass murder" and arrested 20-plus British-Pakistani suspects. As we approach the fifth anniversary of 9/11 without another major attack on U.S. soil, now is the right moment to consider the policies that have protected us--and those in public life who have fought those policies nearly every step of the way. . . .
"This wasn't supposed to happen today," a U.S. official told the Washington Post of the arrests and terror alert. "It was supposed to happen several days from now. We hear the British lost track of one or two guys. They had to move." Meanwhile, British antiterrorism chief Peter Clarke said at a news conference that the plot was foiled because "a large number of people" had been under surveillance, with police monitoring "spending, travel and communications."
Let's emphasize that again: The plot was foiled because a large number of people were under surveillance concerning their spending, travel and communications. Which leads us to wonder if Scotland Yard would have succeeded if the ACLU or the New York Times had first learned the details of such surveillance programs.
And almost on political cue yesterday, Members of the Congressional Democratic leadership were using the occasion to suggest that the U.S. is actually more vulnerable today despite this antiterror success. Harry Reid, who's bidding to run the Senate as Majority Leader, saw it as one more opportunity to insist that "the Iraq war has diverted our focus and more than $300 billion in resources from the war on terrorism and has created a rallying cry for international terrorists."
Ted Kennedy chimed in that "it is clear that our misguided policies are making America more hated in the world and making the war on terrorism harder to win." Mr. Kennedy somehow overlooked that the foiled plan was nearly identical to the "Bojinka" plot led by Ramzi Yousef and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to blow up airliners over the Pacific Ocean in 1995. Did the Clinton Administration's "misguided policies" invite that plot? And if the Iraq war is a diversion and provocation, just what policies would Senators Reid and Kennedy have us "focus" on?
Surveillance? Hmmm. Democrats and their media allies screamed bloody murder last year when it was leaked that the government was monitoring some communications outside the context of a law known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. FISA wasn't designed for, nor does it forbid, the timely exploitation of what are often anonymous phone numbers, and the calls monitored had at least one overseas connection. But Mr. Reid labeled such surveillance "illegal" and an "NSA domestic spying program." Other Democrats are still saying they will censure, or even impeach, Mr. Bush over the FISA program if they win control of Congress.
This year the attempt to paint Bush Administration policies as a clear and present danger to civil liberties continued when USA Today hyped a story on how some U.S. phone companies were keeping call logs. The obvious reason for such logs is that the government might need them to trace the communications of a captured terror suspect. And then there was the recent brouhaha when the New York Times decided news of a secret, successful and entirely legal program to monitor bank transfers between bad guys was somehow in the "public interest" to expose. . . .
In short, Democrats who claim to want "focus" on the war on terror have wanted it fought without the intelligence, interrogation and detention tools necessary to win it. . . .
The real lesson of yesterday's antiterror success in Britain is that the threat remains potent, and that the U.S. government needs to be using every legal tool to defeat it. At home, that includes intelligence and surveillance and data-mining, and abroad it means all of those as well as an aggressive military plan to disrupt and kill terrorists where they live so they are constantly on defense rather than plotting to blow up U.S.-bound airliners.
As the time since 9/11 has passed, many of America's elites have begun to portray U.S. government policies as a greater threat than the terrorists themselves. George Soros and others have said this explicitly, and their political allies in Congress and the media have staged a relentless campaign against the very practices that saved innocent lives this week. We doubt that many Americans who will soon board an airplane agree.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/11/2006
07:59 ||
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Something just occurred to me: Let us assume for the moment that the Democrats actually gain a majority in Congress and begin impeachment proceedings against W. While I shudder to think of what it would mean (namely, that we're screwed and doomed six ways from Sunday), let us further assume that they succeed in convicting him. This will . . . put Dick Cheney in the White House, will it not? Would they seriously try and take down both elected officials? And, in the absence of anything except sophistry, how likely is it that they'd succeed before most Americans got pissed enough to exercise either recalls or their Second Amendment rights?
Posted by: The Doctor ||
08/11/2006 16:32
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Its that old generalization bugaboo that annoys. I try not to generalize in long-form stuff, because too many crass reductive accusations dont help to persuade. On the other hand, persuasion is overrated. A good friend broke with me, apparently forever, because I had Changed; I once sought consensus as the ultimate goal, and always argued everyone towards the middle, and now I had become Hard and Adamantine in my views. . . . As a bar exercise, as a way of whiling away the hours, its fun to play the middle against the extreme, and see if an unrepentant hard leftie will admit there were actually Communists in the US in the fifties, but in the end the Rosenbergs will matter more than 10 million starved Ukranians. So Ive come to subscribe to Pragerism: clarity matters more than agreement.
Anyway. That said, generalizations can be useful, or not. Depends. The statement that Democrats have a national-security image problem with many swing voters is reasonable; saying Democrats want to negotiate with terrorists less so, but not entirely unmoored from reality, since you could make the case that the Democrats seem to be adopting a posture of mediation, international conclaves, and addressing the root causes of modern Muslim rage, which can be traced to either the invasion of Iraq by the US or the invasion of Lebanon by Israel or the Palestine by Romans, depending on who you talk to. Its a partisan statement, but a smart Democrat can bat it back in a way that makes for a good argument, if everyone agrees to operate in good faith. Saying that all Democrats are cut-and-run surrender gibbons who want to leave the field so they can fine-tune the National Compulsory Sodomy Act is patently false, and not exactly helpful to the overall debate. Of course, sometimes unfair and cruel exaggeration can be used to make a point, but a steady diet is as intellectually nutritious as a bag of Doritos. It gets tiresome to have to point out that not all Democrats believe what Howard Dean says, just as few Republicans are gung-ho about some of President Bushs more regrettable utterances. But in the end you go to war with the party you have, and you have to make a few generalizations based on what the luminaries and theoreticians of a party are saying.
While this works with political parties, however, it doesnt work with the media. I had an interesting argument on the Hewitt show with his fill-in host, the estimable and tenacious Jed Babbin, over the medias performance in the war. I ended up defending the media and it seems almost absurd to use a single word to describe so many people in so many places in so many organizations because I dont believe they are consciously, willingly, aiding the Dark Side to achieve the defeat of Bush. I think Mike Wallace gave a post-interview tongue bath to the Iranian President because Mr. Wallace is a vain old fool who has soaked his brain for decades in the holy water of Objectivity, and believes that putting a nice gloss on a fellow whos been castigated in some quarters makes Mike Wallace look like the smart, canny iconoclast he knows he is. . . .
Its possible some CBS editors decided it was necessary to send Mike to Iran to get the Real Iranian President and calm everyone down, because the editors think that too many Americans believe he spends his mornings kicking puppies with steel-toed boots, and therefore we must invade. I dont know. Theres a certain historical value in interviewing these guys. If some pro-Nazi group in the 30s had sent a camera crew to follow Adolph around for a week, and the footage surfaced tomorrow, CBS would bid for it and not because they thought he was a swell fellow. Bottom line: its possible that the CBS producers believe that the Iranian president is a great guy, misunderstood, and that Irans government is made up of genial humane hirsute guys who behave as they do because of American pressure. But I doubt it. More likely they subscribe the usual notions common to the class contempt for the mullahs, brusquely stated to establish their bonafides, followed by a reminder of US meddling, so no one thinks they dont see the Whole Picture. Theyre all about the Whole Picture.
The trouble is that the Whole Picture obscures the particulars of the moment, and those particulars are crucial. Earth, viewed from space, is united. Zoom in a bit, and the story gets complicated. What irritates me about many in the media isnt some imagined desire to DESTROY THE WEST, because thats nonsense. Its the disinclination to acknowledge that they have a pervasive mindset whose underlying preconceptions are subjective, not objective. Thats all. Hell, thats enough. Look: Ive been in newsrooms for thirty years. Ive been to enough meetings, enough editorial conferences, enough planning sessions, enough news huddles. People who think that the editors and writers get together to figure out how to twist the news and hide the inconvenient truths would be greatly disappointed. It doesnt work that way. It doesnt have to. No one at Reuters, I am sure, hired a Middle Eastern stringer to cover the Israel Hezbollah War and asked him to make Israel look bad. When the pictures were bad or even worse, poignant they fit the mindset: war is bad, and its badness trumps all, including the causes. Hezbollah may have been wrong to send rockets into Israel, but look at this picture of a childs toy in the rubble and tell me you still support the war. Any war.
If anyone in Reuters wondered whether the photographer might have sympathies that would make his work worth a second look, they kept it to themselves. Im not saying that they should have refrained from hiring the lousy photoshopper because he was apparently a Middle Eastern Muslim. Im saying that the fact he was a Middle Eastern Muslim provided him automatic insulation, because the idea that there was anything about those characteristics that might affect his objectivity is anathema to some newsroom cultures.
I know this seems like hair-splitting, but its important to me. Clarity, and all that. (He said, after writing 1200 lugubrious words.) If I was still in consensus mode, Id try to get some editors to agree that it was highly unlikely theyd ever have a reporter stuck in a Mossad dungeon with a knife to their throat while the interrogator demanded to know if they were a goy. And it was not impossible that some reporter might find himself on the brink of a tracheal shave while an angry man demanded to know if he was a Jew. Right? So perhaps that the other side sees things differently, and hence our entire script of cycles of violence and youths radicalized to militant Islam by the deposition of a secular butcher might, perhaps, be insufficient to explain why young men want to blow up planes over the Atlantic?
Can we agree on that?
Well, good. Consensus.
Hush- dont spoil it with a but. Lets just enjoy the moment.
Hit the link for embarrassing photos of Mike Wallace and James Lileks in their younger days.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/11/2006
07:16 ||
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Allways seeking consensus forces people to extremes in order to move the argument their way.
#2
Not to go all Leninist and everything, but the subjective attitude of pacifism is objectively anti-West. The refusal to take sides is objectively anti-West. The belief that the West is always the 6'4", 220 lbs. dude and every potential enemy is always the tiny dog tugging at our pants leg is objectively anti-West and racist.
The "West" is a set of shared values about government, collective defense, rights of citizens, sovereignty, inviobility of borders, etc. When you throw out Westphalia and the right to self-defense, and and start hiring large numbers of stringers that don't support your self-professed code of of journalistic ethics (and refuse to edit their submissions since that might be racist), you are being ant-West.
#3
Lileks is right on with this. It's a shorter, more concise version of what Goldberg wrote in "Bias".
The media "thing" regarding their distaste for western exceptionalism isn't a conspiracy, it's a confluence of purpose of a million journalists. Nobody met in a dark alley to come up with a plot. Nobody had to.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
08/11/2006 14:43
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NMU: Can't remember who coined the phrase, but I believe the phenomenon is called "the herd of independent minds."
Posted by: Mike ||
08/11/2006 14:57
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Pakistani officials tell ABC News a new terrorist plan to attack the United States and Europe is being organized by a shadowy Pakistani, who is the keeper of the log of recruits who attended al Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan in the 1990s. Pakistani police and military officials identify the man as Matiur Rehman, whose role as al Qaeda's planning director was first revealed by ABCNews.com earlier this year.
U.S. law enforcement sources tell ABC News Rehman is now the "leading suspect" in the attack earlier this year on the U.S. consulate in Karachi that killed a State Department Foreign Service officer, David Foy. Officials say the car bomb attack was planned by Rehman. The officials say Rehman was spotted within the last month in the slums of North Karachi but escaped capture. The Pakistani government has posted a reward of 10 million rupees for the capture of Rehman, who also uses the aliases "Akeel Khan" and "Sadamd Sial."
U.S. law enforcement officials tell ABC News there has been great concern since last March about a "Pakistani" network that could attempt multiple international attacks. Rehman, along with his deputy, another Pakistani named Qari Hassan, are believed to be keepers of the "Directory of Jihad," which officials say contains "thousands of names" of young militants who trained at al Qaeda camps and have since dispersed around the world. U.S. law enforcement officials confirm al Qaeda kept extensive recruitment records, many of which were recovered after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.
Rehman, now in his mid-30s, worked as an explosives instructor in the al Qaeda camps, according to Pakistani officials, who say he has been deeply involved in most of the major terror attacks in Pakistan in the last few years. Officials say they disrupted yet another Rehman plot last month to assassinate Pakistani President Musharaff at a summer festival.
Pakistan intelligence officials tell ABC News that Rehman moves between between Karachi, Waziristan and South Punjab, where he was born. He is in "constant communication" with al Qaeda's top leaders, according to the officials.
A former militant of the Pakistani terrorist groups Harakat ul Jihad ul Islami and Lashkar e Jhangvi, Rehman rose to prominence in the late 1990s by setting up elaborate networks in Pakistan through which he recruited young men to be trained in al Qaeda's camps.
Pakistani intelligence officials tell ABC News that between 10,000 and 50,000 militants received basic training in these camps, where the best recruits were directly "hired" by al Qaeda. The rest was used by Pakistan's most violent terrorist groups such as Lashkar e Jhangvi, Harakat ul Mujahideen and Jaish e Muhammad, either to fight in Kashmir or India, or conduct sectarian attacks within Pakistan.
U.S. officials say there is no information that any attack on the United States is imminent.
Posted by: ed ||
08/11/2006
07:09 ||
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FOX NEWS & FRIENDS > in aftermath of yesterday's HEATHROW incident, the only choices for Americans is between Reagan-style PEACE THRU STRENGTH, versus Carter-style PEACE THRU APPEASEMENT/CONCESSIONS. * "OVER THERE",
versus "OVER HERE/IN OUR BACKYARDS-MAINSTREETS".
Ehud Olmert may decide to accept the French proposal for a cease-fire and unconditional surrender to Hezbollah. That is his privilege. Olmert is a prime minister whom journalists invented, journalists protected, and whose rule journalists preserved. Now the journalists are saying run away. That's legitimate. Unwise, but legitimate.
However, one thing should be clear: If Olmert runs away now from the war he initiated, he will not be able to remain prime minister for even one more day. Chutzpah has its limits. You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power. You cannot bury 120 Israelis in cemeteries, keep a million Israelis in shelters for a month, wear down deterrent power, bring the next war very close, and then say - oops, I made a mistake. That was not the intention. Pass me a cigar, please.
There is no mistake Ehud Olmert did not make this past month. He went to war hastily, without properly gauging the outcome. He blindly followed the military without asking the necessary questions. He mistakenly gambled on air operations, was strangely late with the ground operation, and failed to implement the army's original plan, much more daring and sophisticated than that which was implemented. And after arrogantly and hastily bursting into war, Olmert managed it hesitantly, unfocused and limp. He neglected the home front and abandoned the residents of the north. He also failed shamefully on the diplomatic front.
Still, if Olmert had come to his senses as Golda Meir did during the Yom Kippur War, if he had become a leader, established a war cabinet and called the nation to a supreme effort that would change the face of the battle, a penetrating discussion of his failures could be postponed. But in blinking first over the past 24 hours, he has become an incorrigible political personality. Therefore, the day Nasrallah comes out of his bunker and declares victory to the whole world, Olmert must not be in the prime minister's office. Post-war battered and bleeding Israel needs a new start and a new leader. It needs a real prime minister.
...On the streets of Dearborn, Hezbollah is not seen as a terrorist group but as a heroic resistance force. Residents say the group led the "freedom fight" in Lebanon during 18 years of Israeli occupation.
Without the diligence and sacrifice of Hezbollah, people here say they would not have been able to return every summer to show their children their hillside villages and share their ancestral heritage. Hezbollah also provides social services and education for their relatives in Lebanon who are too poor to afford them.
Watching reports from the Middle East, many in Dearborn feel betrayed and unfairly targeted by the U.S. government.
This week some 200 Hezbollah fighters engaged in fierce battles defending Bint Jbeil, a village that is a longtime Hezbollah stronghold near the Israeli border. Some 15,000 Dearborn residents have emigrated over the years from Bint Jbeil. They created a community center named after the village.
When about 10,000 Arab-Americans demonstrated in Dearborn last week in support of the Lebanese cause, some held up portraits of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. People here draw a distinction, though, between Hezbollah's strict religious theocracy and its military movement...
#3
Reportedly the Paks or Brits got the tip off for the latest aircraft plot from a Muslim. There's some on both sides of this conflict, disgusting as the one side is.
#4
There's some on both sides of this conflict, disgusting as the one side is.
Uh-huh. When Western Muslim support for terrorists drops below, oh, 5%, let me know. Make sure the definition of "terrorist" includes people who kill Israelis.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
08/11/2006 9:24
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You know, you get the idea that domestic muzzies are sitting on the sidelines to see which side wins. I would like to see them more actively engaged in the WOT--not as the enemy.
#6
#1 People here draw a distinction, though, between Hezbollah's strict religious theocracy and its military movement...
Same rationale, a distinction between the political and military arms, used by many a Irish-American as they dropped their dollars into the the IRA collection plates stateside.
#8
From the cited article " Even though the U.S. government has linked Hezbollah with the deadly attack on the Marine barracks and the U.S. Embassy in Beirut in the 1980s, Hezbollah has never attacked America at home" -- Headline should have read "Dearborn Arabs continue to support terrorist group"
BP may be right. Islam is antithetical to the very concept of freedom, liberty and tolerance. I think this is where we really need to start. What's the solution? I have NO idea.
#10
There's some on both sides of this conflict, disgusting as the one side is.
Sadly, the ratio is somewhere around 99:1 and its not in our favor.
Islam is antithetical to the very concept of freedom, liberty and tolerance. I think this is where we really need to start. What's the solution? I have NO idea.
Yes, it is. Islam largely views man as being forbidden from making laws that govern his fellow men. Only Allah, and the sharia law descending from his word, is regarded as being worthy of such status. This is entirely inimical to democratic rule of law and Islam is a direct threat to it.
As to a solution? We are currently developing fMRI (functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) of the brain to where it may well serve as a very reliable lie detector.
There may come a time where it will be necessary to take each and every single Muslim or immigrant from an Islamic country (that old taqiya thingie), and subject them to fMRI interrogation about their views on terrorism, jihadism, acceptance of democratic rule and so forth.
Massive violation of civil rights? Undoubtedly. Do the Islamists entertain even more massive violations of human rights along with even greater atrocities and crimes against humanity? Absolutely. We know who the enemies within our midst are. Eventually we will need to come to terms with the importance of identifying them without mistake and taking appropriate measures there after.
#11
"Yes, it is. Islam largely views man as being forbidden from making laws that govern his fellow men. Only Allah, and the sharia law descending from his word, is regarded as being worthy of such status. "
Nonetheless Turkey is not only a functioning democracy, but is strictly secularist (head coverings forbidden in govt buildings) Yet they (even the ones who support the secularism) consider themselves muslims.
Obviously theyre not REAL Muslims, even though they think they are. What we need are more muslims who arent real muslims, whatever they think of themselves as. Or something.
An article in a leading Norwegian newspaper last weekend lambasted Israel and Judaism and said Israel has lost its right to exist in its present form.
Entitled "God's chosen people," the article by author Jostein Gaarder in Aftenposten is raising a storm in Norway. Gaarder, author of the book "Sophie's World," links the Israel Defense Forces' acts in Lebanon to Jewish history and foresees the coming dismantling of the state as it exists today, with the Jews becoming refugees.
In an interview with Haaretz Gaarder said Thursday that he was misunderstood. "As John Kennedy declared in Germany 'I am a Berliner', I say now 'I am a Jew'", he said.
The article compares Israel's government, the Afghan Taliban regime and South African apartheid, and states, "We no longer recognize the State of Israel" and "the State of Israel in its current form is history."
"We call child murderers 'child murderers,' and will never accept that they have a divine or historic mandate excusing their outrages," Gaarder writes. "Shame on ethnic cleansing, shame on every terrorist strike against civilians, be it carried out by Hamas, Hezbollah or the State of Israel!"
Gaarder repeatedly refers to the role Judaism plays in Israel's territorial aspirations, writing, "We don't believe in the notion of God's chosen people. We laugh at this nation's fancies and weep over its misdeeds."
He writes, "It is the State of Israel that fails to recognize, respect or defer to the internationally lawful Israeli state of 1948. Israel wants more; more water and more villages. To obtain this, there are those who want, with God's assistance, a final solution to the Palestinian problem."
The article has triggered off thousands of comments and dozens of stormy debates in the Norwegian media. It also has sparked off a debate about Gaarder's alleged anti-Semitic tendencies and the right to criticize Israel.
The Jewish journalist and music critic Mona Levin spoke out in public against Gaarder and said she was shocked by the Norwegian government's silence. She blasted the cabinet for not denouncing what she described as "the most appalling thing I've read since 'Mein Kampf.'"
"We're dealing with an ignorant man, a hate-filled man who derides Judaism," she said in an interview from Oslo. Levin said it was unacceptable that a man of such international repute (26 million copies of his book have been sold) could attack an entire ethnic group and that politicians would remain silent.
"This is a classic anti-Semitic manifesto, which cannot even disguise itself as criticism of Israel," said Professor Dina Porat, head of the Stephen Roth Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism and Racism at Tel Aviv University.
"The writer does not address the conflict in its contemporary context but reaches back thousands of years to assert that the Jewish people have traits of cruelty that have remained unchanged and account for the current war," she says.
Porat says that according to the European Union, denying Israel's right to exist -- arguing that its existence is racist -- is an anti-Semitic statement. She also finds in Gaarder's text the use of classic anti-Semitic symbols, like infanticide.
"I've been head of the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Anti-Semitism for 15 years and it's not every day that I get to read such a radical document, in terms of its content and rhetoric," she said.
Gaarder writes, among other things, "We do not believe that Israel mourns 40 killed Lebanese children more than it has lamented for more than 3,000 years 40 years in the desert. We note that many Israelis celebrate such triumphs like they once cheered the scourges of the Lord as 'fitting punishment' for the people of Egypt."
He writes that the first Zionist terrorists started operating in the days of Jesus.
Speaking to Haaretz on Tuesday, a day before he stopped talking to the media, Gaarder said he was misunderstood and emphasized that he is a friend of Israel and the Jews.
"I think what Hezbollah is doing is terrible," he said, adding that he supports Israel's right to exist as a national homeland for the Jews since 1948.
Gaarder said he does not question Israel's right to exist, "but not as an apartheid state." He said he could understand how his article could be interpreted as "anti-Jewish" and admitted that if he were to rewrite it, he would change a few things.
He is aware he has hurt the Jews in Norway, he said, adding that he would make sure the article is not translated into other languages. However, Gaarder refused to retract publicly his main theme.
Aftenposten's political editor Harald Stanghelle said he saw no problem publishing Gaarder's article.
"Of course I don't agree with what he says," he said. "But an open debate on the issue is better than a covert one.
"Gaarder's voice is important in the Norwegian discourse and it was right to publish the article," he said.
Meanwhile, the furor over Gaarder's article coincides with a series of anti-Semitic incidents in Norway, including the desecration of an Oslo Synagogue and cemeteries and the assault and battery of a skullcap-wearing youngster.
#2
Gaarder said he was misunderstood and emphasized that he is a friend of Israel and the Jews.
Was he riding shotgun with Mel Gibson? Looks like they've got their stories straight.
You lose the right to exist when you aren't willing to fight for it. Israel knew that from the beginning. The Europeans appear to have forgotten it and, unfortunately for them, will probably realize it the hard way soon.
This must be the best selling book by a Norwegian by at least an order of magnitude. I wonder who bought it?
Otherwise, if Israel has lost it's right to exist in its present form then the solution is a bigger Israel. At least more Arabs will get to enjoy legal due process and civil rights.
#5
That's because Israel = zionism, zionism = racism, and racism = nazism.
Hence, israeli are nazis, paleos are WWII jews, and this free us europeans from the neurotic Holocaust guilt we've been forcefed... thus allowing progressives to be antisemite again, even though this is a big no-no (rightwing antisemitism is a serious thoughtcrime, but antizionism is not, in fact it's progressive).
#6
The Jewish journalist and music critic Mona Levin spoke out in public against Gaarder and said she was shocked by the Norwegian government's silence. She blasted the cabinet for not denouncing what she described as "the most appalling thing I've read since 'Mein Kampf.'"
No offense to the other posters here, and I agree with you, but I'm a LOT more concerned with the antizionism of Ahmadinijad. He actually intends to do something about it. I guess his speeches aren't "written down" so that doesn't count like this goon's book.
Posted by: BA ||
08/11/2006 14:54
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Sophie's World has to be the most tedious book I've given up on.
Not to bore you with the details, but all the previous problems in the world existed because there wasn't a United Nations and women didn't have rights.
#8
Norwegian author says Israel has lost right to exist
That's why Israel has a formidable military and a second strike nuclear capability - so that its citizens don't have to rely on the protection and help of Norwegians to survive...
Posted by: john ||
08/11/2006 16:45
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Um, no. Israel has not lost the right to exist.
A state has the right to exist for as long as it can defend itself. The moment that it can no longer do so, the moment that someone else's army is able to march in and take over - that's when a state loses the "right" to exist. You cannot take that right away, and it is intrinsic to all states - despicable ones like Iran included.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
08/11/2006 16:49
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A comprehensive overview of the four types of photo fraud committed by Reuters, August, 2006
The recent discovery that the Reuters news agency released a digitally manipulated photograph as an authentic image of the bombing in Beirut has drawn attention to the important topic of bias in the media. But lost in the frenzy over one particular image is an even more devastating fact: that over the last week Reuters has been caught red-handed in an astonishing variety of journalistic frauds in the photo coverage of the war in Lebanon.
This page serves as an overview of the various types of hoaxes, lies and other deceptions perpetrated by Reuters in recent days, since the details of the scandal are getting overwhelmed by a torrent of shallow mainstream media coverage that can easily confuse or mislead the viewer. Almost all of the investigative work has been done by cutting-edge blogs, but the proliferation of exposés might overwhelm the casual Web-surfer, who might be getting the various related scandals mixed up. In this essay I hope to straighten it all out. Rest at link; Zombie does a swell job, as usual.
This Muzz uses every lie in the book to pretend he is refuting inherent Muzz disloyalty. If you read his responses to the following, you will read that Muslims can marry Christians and Jews. What he doesn't say is: only as long as the Muzz is male. FeMuzzies have been put to death for physical contact with a "kaffir."
Theologically, No - Because their allegiance is to Allah, the moon god of Arabia. Muz cannot accept universal values, because these don't derive from the unholy koran.
Religiously, No - Because no other religion is accepted by their Allah except Islam. Their allegiance is to the five pillars of Islam and the Koran. The purpose of the wretched life of a Muz, is to enslave worshippers for the Moon-god
Geographically, No - Because their allegiance is to Mecca, to which they turn to in prayer five times a day. Islam is a political ideology, and democracy and nationality are anathema to a Muz.
Socially, No - Because their allegiance to Islam forbids him to make friends with Christians or Jews. Plus their men are instructed to marry four women and beat his wife when she disobeys him. Polygamy is for men only, and wife beating is compulsory (unholy koran 4:84) for a Muz
Politically, No - Because they must follow the mullah (spiritual leaders), who teaches annihilation of Israel and destruction of America. Muzz believe that non-Muzz polities promote evil, and prevent good. That is what the Wahabi' Muttawa practises
Intellectually, No - Because they cannot accept the American Constitution since it is based on Biblical principles and he believes the Bible to be corrupt. Muzz will not touch a Bible unless taqiyah dictates that they do so.
Philosophically, No - Because Islam, Muhammad, and the Koran do not allow freedom of religion and expression. Democracy and Islam cannot coexist. Every Muslim government is either dictatorial or autocratic. Muzz have to belief that the Moon-God alone is sovereign
Spiritually, No - Because where as we declare our country to be "one nation under God," and believe God to be loving and kind, their God, Allah, does not allow allegiance to a Christian God and does not promote love and kindness. Muzz believe that non-Muzz cannot properly perceive the Moon-God.
I think that the most obvious answer is in the way Muslims are referred to within the article itself: They're not Paki-Americans, or Arab-Americans, or even Middle-Eastern- or Persian-Americans, but Muslim-Americans. Leaving aside for the moment the fact that I absolutely despise the *YOUR SPECIAL IDENTITY GROUP HERE*-American title (just be satisfied with being an American, dammit!), notice that this is the only group which is explicitly identified not with a geographical or national area, but with a religion. Every other faith allows for a man to have multiple loyalties even if the loyalty to God is the most important (and Christianity's own Paul even emphasizes this, I believe - although I haven't read anything by him in a while, so I might be wrong), but Islam doesn't - and it's right there: You're a Muslim first and an American a poor second.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
08/11/2006 16:44
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The draft ceasefire plan agreed to by the United States and France may result in an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, but it will not disarm Hizbullah. It appears that United Nations efforts are concentrating on halting Israeli military operations throughout Lebanon, but no effort is being made to eliminate the Hizbullah threat. The draft agreement only calls for pushing Hizbullah north of the Litani, not far enough from Israels northern border to place Hizbullah rockets out of range from northern Israeli civilian population centers.
While the draft agreement supports UN Resolution 1559, demanding Hizbullah be disarmed by the Lebanese government, it does not make this a precondition to the implementation of the ceasefire. The plan calls or the deployment of the current UNIFIL force in southern Lebanon, to be supported by some 10,000 French forces and 15,000 Lebanese army troops. Other countries may also send troops to take part in the force, which will be responsible to prevent Hizbullah attacks into Israel.
Lebanese authorities and Hizbullah are already signaling the plan is unacceptable since it does not demand an immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon, but permits a gradual withdrawal of forces over a month. In addition, Lebanese officials are calling the plan discriminatory, since it mentions the need to work towards the release of captive IDF soldiers while not making mention of the release of Lebanese soldiers.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
00:51 ||
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#1
So, let me get this straight (If there is anything in the world that is straight anymore). You, THE WORLD are beholden to demands of terrorists and it is not only US and France policy to negotiate with terrorists, but the UN's point of view as well?
#3
When the survival of the state has been established to be very much in doubt - when the duly elected government has brokent their vow to protect the populace especially when that same populace has made it clear they wish the enemy to be crushed, then I would think the military has every right to remove them. Olmert's government is on the brink of declaring itself illegitimate.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/11/2006 1:33
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#4
So Israel sends it back for modification, just like Lebanon did last week, and we go round and round and round....
#6
Not so sure gromgoru - if recent accounts are true. We gave them all the green light they needed and Olmert didnt' pack the sack necessary. Now Condi is out there trying to salvage what we can thanks to spineless Olmert. I don't see any backstabbing on our part....at least not yet.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/11/2006 2:34
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#7
Yes, yes, Rex. The fact is, USA has plans for the Middle East. Ones' that do not include the only way Israel can become really secure.
#8
Olmert don't want to fight and we can't make him. I am sorry but the US is not going to hold his hand. What is that old saying "sh*t ot get off the pot."
#10
I reserve judgment until more facts come to light.
Let's give it another 12 days. It sounds like the Lebanese are unwilling to let any form of UN-sponsored obstacle be erected in front of Hizb'Allah. So be it.
I suspect that the fog of war is dense. I expect that the enemy will provoke a larger fight. I worry that this campaign in WW IV will only be remembered as a prelude to major battles.
I believe the US, Israel and a strong, small, willing coalition are ready for anything the Islamofascists will throw at us. The last 40 years have strengthened and emboldened our enemy, without and within. We will suffer large losses. Our leaders and intellectuals have painted us into this corner -- and the only way out will be worse than any sane person would hope for.
Even when it may seem we are losing, or about to lose, always remember that the Western Way of War will prevail. If needs be, the spirit of Leonidas and his men can be found in our midst. We are at war. A war that will last a long time, cost us dearly -- and lead to the annihilation of our enemy.
Diplomats and ceasefire plans are but smoke. Who is shaping the battlefield behind that smoke's screen?
#11
" The senior minister added that there are several points that must be included in any ceasefire plan, including the deployment of a multinational stabilization force in southern Lebanon, removing the threat of future Katyusha rocket attacks against Israel, disarming Hizbullah and setting in motion a plan towards the release of captive IDF soldiers."
1. deployment of a multinational stabilization force in southern Lebanon=Israel's myopia!
2. removing the threat of future Katyusha rocket attacks against Israel=Israel's on crack!
3. disarming Hizbullah and setting in motion a plan towards the release of captive IDF soldiers=Israel's hallucinating erotic fantasy!
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/11/2006 4:16
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#13
So it looks like this then ...
There will be a force now deployed South of the Litani. Hezbollah is now free to fire their rockets from North of the Litani and if Israel wants to get them, they now have to fight their way through a UN force first. In other words, the UN transforms from a Hezbollah "monitoring" force, to a Hezbollah protection force.
Wonderful ... just fricken wonderful. What jeenyus thought this up?
#14
IsraelNationalNews just said that "30 Israeli tanks have been destroyed by [Hezbonuts]" and that "The militaries are surprised how easily Hezboschmucks are able to destroy tanks, with top-of-the-art Russian anti-tank rockets".
I wanted to post the link, but the news disappeared strangely from their site.
(IsraelNN.com) Israel is calling on the United States to speed up the delivery of M-26 short range cluster munitions rockets, which deliver a wide blast to the target area.
The rockets would be particularly effective against Hizbullah missile launchers. They are fired by the dozen and strike a wide range area.
Some State Department officials are seeking to delay approval of the rockets, the New York Times report, explaining opponents fear the use of the rockets would sharply increase civilian casualties.
The deal involving the M-26 rockets has been approved, but shipment did not take place prior to the start of the war against Hizbullah in July. Israel is now working to expedite delivery.
#17
Latest update. Lebanon: Cease-fire draft 'unacceptable'
A new obstacle arose over the latest UN draft proposal to stop the fighting between Israel and Hizbullah on Thursday night, when Lebanon refused to allow the French to enforce its mandate as allowed by the UN's chapter VII regulations.
Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh said in an interview with Al-Jazeera news station that he was opposed to the draft proposal because it did not call for an immediate cease-fire.
#19
Seems to me that weapon is likely to result in too much collateral damage. Israel needs to get someone with Infantry experience to head the IDF and then go kill Hezbos one by one until they are all dead. They would be finished by now if they had started a month ago. The objective is simple. Kill All Hezbos.
#20
I'll reserve judgment on this "enemy reload agreement." What does this agreement gain the West? What does the agreement gain Israel? Why is resoultion 1559 not enforced, i.e. disarmament of Hezzballah. We are going to end up paying a greater price later. Rembember the mass murder of the 241 Marine peacekeeping force in the early 1980s. Doing nothing only emboldened these terrorists and the countries behind them. Nassarallah, Hezzballah, Syria, and Iran are going to view this agreement as a win and become more emboldened. The price for addressing the problem in the future will be even greater. The West had better count their collective fingers after shaking hands on any agreement with these guys to see if any of them are missing. This agreement will just be another step towards achieving the islamofacist's overall goal of power and world domination. Their pursuit of this goal is widespread, focused, relentless, and driven by religion. There is no appeasement with these guys. It didn't not work with Adolph Hitler and it will not work with these folks. Appeasement just emboldened Hitler to seize more and kill more to accomplish his objective. Hitler stated in Mein Kamf what he intended to do. He proceeded to do what he said. The Iranian nut case has basically stated his intentions, i.e. to destroy Israeli. Why is this not clear to the world?
An end to senseless bloodshed. Israel has been defeated morally by Hezb' Allah. They apparently do not now have the will to fight this war. Therefore, it is senseless and immoral to continue killing people to no end. Israel needs to have an election and decide if they want to survive as a nation or if they are really going to throw in the towel.
#23
"...release of captive IDF soldiers while not making mention of the release of Lebanese soldiers."
No resolution will end this conflict if there is any perception of humiliation on either side. (Especially Hizbullah) Call it what you want but its a fact. With that said, if Israel capitulates on the unconditional release of their abducted soldiers (with the exception of captured HAMAS legislators), they will have publicly acknowledged that kidnapping is a legitimate tool for negotiation.
#24
Reality folks. Hezb is stronger and more dug in than Israel OR the US expected when this war began (we can debate whos at fault for THAT, but its not relevant now) To fully destroy Hezb would take months, and the US cant wield its veto to stop a ceasefire indefinitely, at an acceptable diplomatic cost, with so many other irons in the fire. Besides, suppose you DO kill every Hezb militant, and destroy every missile, at the cost of alienating EVERY Lebanese, and destroying all the anti-Syrian and anti-Iranain elements in the Leb govt. What then? Israel still has to leave at some point. Then the Iranians, who set up Hezb in the first place, just come back and create Hezb 2.0.
There IS no way to destroy Hezb now. The BEST outcome is a ceasefire, and some improvement in terms of an international force, Leb army troops, and keeping Hezb away from the border. The arguement within Israel now is HOW to achieve that, whether to focus on diplomacy, or another week or two of fighting to improve bargaining leverage.
The rockets are NOT now threatening Israels existence. If Hezb is pushed north of the Litani, their short range missile are out of the picture, and its only their costlier, yet innaccurate long range ones that matter. In the worst case, if they fire off the heads of the international force and the world does nothing, they cant threaten Israels existence. Meanwhile youve given the US more room to deal with the bigger threat, which is Iran itself.
#25
Hezb is stronger and more dug in than Israel OR the US expected when this war began (we can debate whos at fault for THAT, but its not relevant now) To fully destroy Hezb would take months
You say. It is not clear that there has ever been a competent sustained effort to remove Hezb by sufficient combined arms forces.
There IS no way to destroy Hezb now. The BEST outcome is a ceasefire
And that is an invitation to Iran to create Hezb 2.0. This logic is evidence of the moral failure that has caused the defeat of Israel in this war. Israel has never been in mortal danger in this war from rockets or any other material factor. It's morale has been attacked and, by this logic, defeated. The only way for Israel to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat is to destroy Hezb' Allah now, regardless of what the Lebnanese think, regardless of what the Americans think.
And a moral defeat of these dimensions for Israel will only lead Ahmedinajihad to believe he can achieve a similar defeat of the Americans, not give the Americans more room for anything. And the election returns from Conneticut didn't do much to dissuade him.
When this campaign widens into war with Syria and Iran, the US will take the opportunity to destroy these two terrorist states. Hizb'Allah does not live or grow in a void.
Israel has not lost and doesn't have to agree to a ceasefire as long as they are killing Hizb'Allah members and the Lebanese government supports Hizb'Allah and the distinct Syrian as well as Iranian threats remain. If these two believe --as many do-- that Israeli leadership is confused or weak, they may very well make their fatal mistake.
I'm not prepared to judge now whether the information on the state of Israeli leadership is accurate. I remain open to the possibility that there are much wider strategic objectives in play.
During WW II a lot of disinformation was only aimed at the enemy's secret services. Today the UN and MSM are so involved in shaping perception (and planning) that one should assume these are scenes of disinformation.
#27
Kalle, widening the war to include Syria and Iran is politically more feasible the quicker it is done, not the slower. The current delay simply gives the usual world anti-Israel coalition time to mobilize.
#28
"Hezb is stronger and more dug in than Israel OR the US expected when this war began (we can debate whos at fault for THAT, but its not relevant now) To fully destroy Hezb would take months
You say. It is not clear that there has ever been a competent sustained effort to remove Hezb by sufficient combined arms forces."
Thats my point. The reason they thought they could win WITHOUT a large combined arms force was BECAUSE they didnt think Hezb was that strong.
"There IS no way to destroy Hezb now. The BEST outcome is a ceasefire
And that is an invitation to Iran to create Hezb 2.0."
Yes, but Hezb 2.0 wont be south of the Litani. Thats a benefit militarily, and begins to weaken Hezb politically, on the ground in S Leb. And strengthens the Leb state.
" This logic is evidence of the moral failure that has caused the defeat of Israel in this war. Israel has never been in mortal danger in this war from rockets or any other material factor. It's morale has been attacked and, by this logic, defeated."
For now. If they get a good political deal that will reduce the loss of morale. And then they will fix whats wrong with the military, and probably get rid of Olmert. It will take them months to a year or more to recover morale, but they will do it.
" The only way for Israel to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat is to destroy Hezb' Allah now, regardless of what the Lebnanese think, regardless of what the Americans think. "
Israel cannot afford to ignore the Americans. Can NOT. Then when they have to fight Hez 2.0, they will do so isolated.
"And a moral defeat of these dimensions for Israel will only lead Ahmedinajihad to believe he can achieve a similar defeat of the Americans, not give the Americans more room for anything."
Which isnt necessarily bad. The more Ahmadinajad overreaches, the worse it is for him.
" And the election returns from Conneticut didn't do much to dissuade him."
Disappointed as I am with those returns (enough to consider changing my party registration) I doubt Ahmadinajad follows them closely.
#29
"When this campaign widens into war with Syria and Iran, the US will take the opportunity to destroy these two terrorist states. Hizb'Allah does not live or grow in a void."
If thats whats going to happen, then its all the more important for Israel to take steps that help the US political and diplo position, more important than killing a few more Hezb terrorists.
#30
It is difficult to imagine a peacekeeping force implementing UN resolultion 1559--particularly if the force is largely made up of the Lebanese military. The Lebanese military, most likely, is made up of a fair number of Hezzballah. So where does that put the West? Not in the catbird seat by any means. Seems like same old same old--as was said by by LH and NS--a Hezzballah Version 2.0. Improved and more dangerous with all the newest bells and whistles provided by Iran and Syria.
#32
Reality is what you create on the ground. Even if a UN resolution is reached, who will enforce it? France? Don't make me laugh. The Israelis would have an easier time attacking France than visa versa.
So far only localized raids have been conducted to kill local concentrations of shiite jihadis. The key to this conflict is to drive the shiites into sponsor Syria. That means attacking shiite towns and villages to create a refuggee flow into Syria and then destroying the structures, electical, water, and sewer systems that make easy return possible. If any shiite later tries to return, then shell them until they leave. No shiites, no support system for Hizb'allah. Ideally, the Israelis should annex southern Lebanon as punishment for starting this war, but since they won't do it, they need to ensure the abandoned shiite areas are repopulated buy a friendlies. The shiites started the war against the Israeli civilain population. The Israelis are late in joining.
Posted by: ed ||
08/11/2006 11:38
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#33
Diplomatic pressure
"According to one of my sources Israel is going to reject the diplomatic efforts spearheaded by America at the UN.
The resolution that America in the end has agreed to will do nothing to protect Israel
As a result of this according to my source in the next few hours Olmert will give the order to restart the war and the IDF will march north to the Litani River and maybe beyond."
yoni blogger
I am afraid this reaction to critcism will end badly. I dont expect Olmert to know how wage war.
#34
"It is difficult to imagine a peacekeeping force implementing UN resolultion 1559--particularly if the force is largely made up of the Lebanese military. The Lebanese military, most likely, is made up of a fair number of Hezzballah. So where does that put the West? Not in the catbird seat by any means. Seems like same old same old--as was said by by LH and NS--a Hezzballah Version 2.0. Improved and more dangerous with all the newest bells and whistles provided by Iran and Sy"
The Leb army wont be asked to FULLY implement 1559, since 1559 calls for the full disarmament of Hezb. What the Leb Army WILL be tasked with is keeping Hezb out of the zone south of the Litani.
Will they be up to it? Unclear. Only 15,000 troops will go, not the entire Leb Army, and it may be possible to select more reliable units. Also the US will be training the Leb army.
If anyone in the Leb army is shot at by Hezb, that will be a huge deal politically in Lebanon, and will open up the possibility of a different configuration of forces against Hezb.
#35
The US had 3 years to attack Syria and 5 years to attack Iran. I didn't happen even under severe provocation. Get used to it. This administration does not have the stomach another war. Syria will continue sponsoring terrorists against th US and Syria until Israel, not the US, overthrows them. As for Iran, they will become the second Islamic nuclear power. I expect the Iranians to attack the US when they build up several thousand warheads (15-20 years). In the mean time, the Iranians will harass and demoralize us with ever increasing attacks both against our military and cities in order drive the US out of the middle east, then south Asia, then Europe. I believe the 27 years and counting of Neville Chamberlain's policyies w.r.t. Iran will cause the US greater deaths than WW2 (all nations combined).
Posted by: ed ||
08/11/2006 11:52
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#36
Reality folks. Hezb is stronger and more dug in than Israel OR the US expected when this war began (we can debate whos at fault for THAT, but its not relevant now) To fully destroy Hezb would take months, and the US cant wield its veto to stop a ceasefire indefinitely, at an acceptable diplomatic cost, with so many other irons in the fire. Besides, suppose you DO kill every Hezb militant, and destroy every missile, at the cost of alienating EVERY Lebanese, and destroying all the anti-Syrian and anti-Iranain elements in the Leb govt. What then? Israel still has to leave at some point. Then the Iranians, who set up Hezb in the first place, just come back and create Hezb 2.0.
There IS no way to destroy Hezb now. The BEST outcome is a ceasefire, and some improvement in terms of an international force, Leb army troops, and keeping Hezb away from the border. The arguement within Israel now is HOW to achieve that, whether to focus on diplomacy, or another week or two of fighting to improve bargaining leverage.
As long as Israel is fighting to "improve bargaining leverage" rather than to wreck the enemy, Hizbullah isn't going to be wrecked.
You know, when this whole cluster**** started, Oldspook dropped by the O-Club and described in depth what he thought was wrong with Israel's strategy.
He didn't say that Israel was going to fail to destroy Hezbollah because Hezbollah was indestructible. He said Israel was going to fail because they weren't specifically doing a number of actions to transform the war from battles of attrition to battles of maneuver. (Loosely summarizing; I hope he or someone else will correct me if that summary is wrong).
He gave examples at the time.
I thought at the time he was being unduly pessimistic.
However, it seems to have been borne out by subsequent events. He made predictions based on what courses of action Israel took, that if they did one thing it would produce one result, and if they did another it would produce another result.
None of these were based on "Hizbollah being tougher than everyone thought."
Posted by: Phil ||
08/11/2006 11:52
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#37
since the lebanese army = hezbollah i don't see much good there
#39
The Leb army, if deployed south of the Litani, will be made of largely of shiites. Guess where their sympathies lie. Even if they wanted to enforce the central government's will, their families/clan/tribe are vulnerable to Hizb'allah.
The only positive to Leb army deployment is that attacks restart, the responsiblity will fall on the central government, which can then be defeated and the land taken away.
Posted by: ed ||
08/11/2006 12:00
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#40
Olmert just rejected the Fwench cease-fire (arutz 10 & Fox) and the invasion is on.
#42
I dont know what OSs intell was on the degree of fortification and strength of Hezb, or how that related to the intell in Olmerts plan.
Im going by what I read in the Israeli press, and the debate going on in Israel, including by IDF generals who thought Olmert was wrong.
Im not sure how a war of maneuver wins. Hezb is presumably supplied in its strongholds for months, and Israel would inevitably have faced a ceasefire in less time than it would take for to cutting off Hezb to be effective. Everyone in the ME is aware of what Sharon did in '73, and I dont beleive Hezb was in the same logistical situation as the Egyptian 3rd army was. Blitz warfare doesnt work if the staybehinds can outlast you.
#43
"It was not immediately clear whether Israel was trying to pressure the U.N. Security Council, which was expected to vote soon on a cease-fire resolution, or whether it was really determined to send troops deeper into Lebanon.
The Israeli officials said Israel was upset about apparent last-minute changes that seemed to weaken the mandate of a multinational force."
#44
I am watching TV now.
Israelis are are warming up,
UN convoy headed west , out of the way.
Posted by: j. D. Lux ||
08/11/2006 12:45
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#45
LH: I took notes at the time, and had permission to edit them slightly and repost them (he didn't want to reuse some civil war/ww2 comparisons he was worried might be inappropriate) but I didn't have time to edit them and he later made similar analogies in the comments in the pages 1 and 2 sections.
I suggest asking him.
I don't want to argue from authority or try to repeat what he said with my faulty memory, because I'd wind up putting words in his mouth that he didn't say.
Google isn't helpful in this regard. I guess one day we'll get a "comment search" feature with author, date ranges, and keyword variables.
It does seem odd to suggest that now an interdiction approach instead of a frontal assault approach wouldn't have worked because the frontal assault approach didn't work.
Posted by: Phil ||
08/11/2006 12:57
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#46
Anyway, for about three and a half of the last four weeks I've been thinking Oldspook was wrong, and Olmert was just about to go on the offensive in a major way.
I've heard six or seven reports over that time that the Big Offensive was about to kick in. Each one turned out to be wrong.
They might be wrong this time, but for the six or seven previous times I owe all the pessimists an apology.
Posted by: Phil ||
08/11/2006 13:59
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#47
... and the only way out will be worse than any sane person would hope for.
Then color me less than sane, Kalle. We will find a way out from under the spectre of Islamist terrorism, be it with or without any active cooperation from the world's Muslim population.
As to all of this Hezbollah 2.0 horseradish, it will be pretty hard to re-arm these maggots if Syria and Iran become bouncing rubble.
This administration does not have the stomach another war.
You're presuming that America will continue to engage its enemies with conventional warfare, as in Afghanistan or Iraq, ed.
Any American general worth his or her salt must now know that the era of nation-building is through, possibly forever, at least with respect to Islamic autocracies. We must now adopt a policy of simply breaking the bad boys' toys and letting them crawl out and rebuild on their own. If they reconstruct another terrorist sponsoring regime break rinse and repeat. I will repeat, there is absolutely nothing worse that could be sucked into an Iranian power vacuum than what we are already confronted with as of now.
Olmert's lack of courage is more than disappointing. Israel should declare a vote of no confidence in their current leadership and elect someone with the determination to crush their enemies for once and all.
#48
Another in the many reasons why the deep tank strike us not in the cards here is that unlike earlier IDF wars, the objective here is to inflict casualties on the Hezzies, not break them up and bypass them.
#49
"I am afraid this reaction to critcism will end badly. I dont expect Olmert to know how wage war."
I am afraid that many people will not understand that the nature of this war will be different than what Israel has fought before. This will not be a war of maneuver with great tank units outflanking an enemy and causing them to surrender. This will be a slog through clearing bunkers like the US had to do against Japan in the Pacific. One bunker at a time against a well-armed fanatical enemy armed to the teeth and willing to fight to the death.
This is the kind of fight that brings out weapons such as flame throwers to clear bunkers and it is very slow and causes a lot of casualties. The IDF has never engaged in this kind of fight before and it took us a couple of years to perfect our methods for it during WWII ... and that expertise is gone now, for the most part.
#50
I"m more convinced there will be no attack. The US and France have agreed to ceasefire language and will bring to a vote quickly to save Olmert's butt because he has signaled repeatedly that he does not want to fight it out. Green light....feh..you don't announce your intentions...you announce what you've already undertaken. I hope I'm wrong on this...we'll find out soon.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/11/2006 16:05
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#51
Turn on your television to Fox News ... it has already started. Tens of thousands of troops are at this moment moving across the border.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/11/2006 18:49
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#55
Crosspatch - I hope that you are correct. If things remain as they are now, Israel will be in full retreat from now on. And Olmert still wants to leave the West Bank.
Cliche #1. The Arabs can make many mistakes, but Israel can only make one. A cliche, but true none the less.
Cliche #2. The Arabs lose, but someone always saves their asses. This time it appears to be the USA. (!)
Cliche #3. The IDF is the toughest army in the world. True, but the political leadership appears to be rotting from the head.
Cliche #4. We can always been able to count on Israels sense of self preservation. I'm not so sure now.
I believe that things always make sense from some level. Something behind the scenes is causing sensible people to take actions that appear non-sensical. I am beginning to wonder if democracies can defeat the challenge of Islamo-Facisism.
Just heard exerts of Mike Wallace's interview with Sean Hannity about his talk with Ahmanutjob. Wallace appears to have been totally charmed by the maximum jihadi in Teheran - he repeadedly called Israel the Zionist entity. He is a posterchild for the MSM: morally backrupt and an enemy of this nation. The bonds that hold America together continue to fray. I am going to buy another case of ammunition.
#56
I guess I was being optimistic when I said I'd reserve judgment for 12 days.
Olmert has opened the door to the total destruction of Israel. Europe will follow shortly. The survival of Western civilization depends entirely on the USA -- and it will take Islamist nukes on all of the West before the people of this country pick leaders who will take on the real sponsors of Islamofascism.
It's not 1938. It's not 1941. It's 2006, and time for Dan Simmons' three words.
August Twenty-Second. Jerusalem, Rome, London. Recombined bubonic pest. It doesn't matter which it is now, this capitulation to Hizb'Allah opens the door to whatever it will be. We can't count on or hope for anyone else's actions.
Ceterum censeo, Mecca delenda est.
Posted by: Kalle ||
08/11/2006 20:00
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#57
"Peace in our time!" -- it may look like 1938, but it's much much worse.
Posted by: Kalle ||
08/11/2006 20:09
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(KUNA) -- Iraqi Ministry of Defense said Thursday that their soldiers were able to arrest 27 armed men and the dismantling of two cars loaded with explosives in different parts of the country. A statement by the ministry said the arrest of five armed men in the northern city of Mosul coincided with the arrest of seven others in the Ramadi city in the west of Iraq. Eleven other armed men were arrested north of Baghdad, while the dismantling of two car bombs was made in the Howaija and Al-Khales towns, statement added.
Meanwhile, Iraqi military forces said today that they have found a militant hide out in the Al-Azameya area in Baghdad designed to be used for making bombs. Iraqi forces have also arrested four suspects in the Forat river mid west of Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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(KUNA) -- In one of the biggest casualties in recent times, as many as 45 Tamil civilians and four soldiers were killed in Sri Lanka between the government forces and the Tamil rebels Thursday. The civilians died in military strikes in villages near a disputed canal in Northeastern Sri Lanka Thursday, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported from capital Colombo. The soldiers were also killed in an encounter with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) near the canal Thursday, the news agency reported.
On Thursday when Sri Lankan soldiers made an attempt to strengthen their position, they came under attack. The closure of the sluice gate of the irrigation canal in Northeastern Sri Lanka deprived about 15,000 farming families of water. It was opened Tuesday night. More than 300 LTTE cadres, government troops and civilians have been killed during the attacks and counter attacks in the area during the past two weeks, according to the news agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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Tehran, 8 August (AKI) - An Iranian hardline Islamist journalist claims she has recruited 56,000 Iranians, a third of them women, to carry out suicide attacks against American, British and Israeli targets. Afrouz Rajai, who in 1979 was among a group of Iranian students who held 52 US diplomats hostage in the American embassy in Teheran for 444 days, also told Adnkronos International (AKI) that 35 of the would-be terrorists are "of the Jewish faith."
The firebrand activist, dubbed "Allah's widow," by her detractors in Iran formed what she said was a "non governmental organisation" three years ago to recruit volunteers prepared to "carry out suicide actions against the United States, Britain, the Zionist entity (Israel) or any nation or person hostile to Muslims or the Islamic faith," she said.
She also claims that some of those her organisation has trained have already carried out suicide attacks abroad, but did not provide details...
#2
The new Nazis. Something tells me that either they will rule the world in about 30 years -- when the political dithering and her Tranzi PC accomplices finally drag us down into oblivion -- or she won't have any ancestors.
I choose to fight for the latter option, in every possible course of action I can find. She and her muzzbots, and all of the others who practice the abomination Islam, deserve the kiss of oblivion. No human disease brings more death and misery and is more deserving of eradication.
#7
Why do I have a feeling that radicals in Iran claim to have been one of the US embassy hostage takers, much like radicals in the US claim to have marched with Martin Luther King.
#9
I want them to meet allan just as badly as they do. Though I am sure the way I mean to arrange that meeting is much different then their assumption.
#10
Swamp Blondie, better to thank Mr. Carter for telling the Shah to step aside for the Islamic Revolution. Were it not for the moralistic constraints imposed by Carter, the Savak would have killed Khomeni in Paris and wiped out his accomplices in Teheran and Qom. Iran today is brought to you in all its glory by Jimmy Carter, the worst president in the history of the Republic.
Eight policemen and 12 Taliban insurgents died when rebels ambushed a security patrol and a firefight broke out in restive southern Afghanistan, a provincial spokesman said Thursday. The fierce clash in Kandahar provinces volatile Panjwayi district on Wednesday left another seven policemen and nine rebels wounded, spokesman Daud Ahmadi said. A police patrolling convoy was attacked by Taliban. Eight policemen and 12 Taliban were killed, Ahmadi said.
Maulvi Samad, a local Taliban commander, put the Taliban death toll at one and said the militants had killed 15 policemen. There was no independent verification for either sides claims. Separately, at least three civilians were wounded in an explosion on a main road in front of the governors office in the eastern city of Jalalabad, police said. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast, but militants have carried out attacks in the past in the city. Panjwayi is a known stronghold of the Taliban.
A suicide car bomber blew himself up in a bazaar in Panjwayi on August 3, killing 21 civilians and injuring several NATO soldiers in a passing convoy in one of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan this year. The district some 30 kilometres (18 miles) west of Kandahar was the scene of fierce clashes between the coalition and Taliban troops in mid-May. Some 34 civilians also died when US-led warplanes bombed a village in Panjwayi. Separately on Thursday, seven civilians including an elderly woman were wounded when a rocket landed in the centre of the eastern city of Jalalabad, witnesses and an AFP reporter said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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#1
The dude in the picture kinda reminds me of Deacon Blues.
#6
Islamists want to live in the 7th century, forever. Kids are the future. Islam kills the future, quite often by killing kids. Islam is a death cult.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/11/2006 14:59
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#7
Don Adams in mufti
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 16:13
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Defying a police veto, a group of 200 gay pride activists held a silent protest vigil in a central Jerusalem park on Thursday, after their long-planned international city parade was canceled due to the war in Lebanon. The heavily guarded demonstration, which was ignored by the city's haredi community, was allowed to take place after organizers adhered to the police conditions for the gathering, Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said.
'We believe that the holiness of Jerusalem is increased by this city being the center of tolerance and coexistence,' said Rabbi Ayelet S. Cohen...
The evening event in the city's Liberty Bell Park was marred after a group of far-left anarchists joined the gathering and began waving placards against the war in Lebanon and shouting slogans against the IDF. Police forcibly prevented them from approaching the sidewalk on the edge of the park, and detained a protester who unfurled a PLO flag on the scene.
The low-key event, which was one-fifth the size organizers had planned, came near the culmination of six-day World Pride Event in Jerusalem, which was overshadowed by the war in Lebanon and the police decision to bar their planned parade through the streets of Jerusalem. A huge red banner at the protest read "Jerusalem is for all," while rainbow-colored placards included such slogans as "The Path to God is not always straight" and "Senseless hatred."
'At a time when Jewish blood is being spilt in Lebanon, all that these self-indulgent narcissistic selfish perverted people can think about is engaging in sodomy,' said New York Rabbi Yehuda Levin...
"We believe that the holiness of Jerusalem is increased by this city being the center of tolerance and coexistence," said Rabbi Ayelet S. Cohen, 32, who lead a delegation from New York City's Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, which is the world's largest gay and lesbian synagogue. Cohen added that organizers of the event understood that the tone had to be "appropriate" during wartime when "the voices of tolerance and hope are all the more essential."
Some Israeli motorists shouted at the protesters to go to Lebanon and alternatively to relocate to Palestinian-ruled Gaza. "At a time when Jewish blood is being spilt in Lebanon, all that these self-indulgent narcissistic selfish perverted people can think about is engaging in sodomy," said New York Rabbi Yehuda Levin, of the Orthodox 'Rabbinical Alliance of America' and the 'Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the US and Canada' who has been spearheading an international campaign against the parade.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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#1
Round em up and send them to the front lines.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/11/2006 0:19
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'At a time when Jewish blood is being spilt in Lebanon, all that these self-indulgent narcissistic selfish perverted people can think about is engaging in sodomy,' said New York Rabbi Yehuda Levin...
NINGDE, China (Reuters) - A "super typhoon", the strongest to hit China in half a century, slammed into the coast on Thursday killing at least two people, injuring more than 80 and forcing hundreds of thousands from their homes.
Typhoon Saomai, one of three storms to hit East Asia in the past few days, made landfall in the southeastern province of Zhejiang, hitting Cangnan county just after a state of emergency was declared, the state-run Xinhua news agency said. It destroyed more than 1,000 houses, plunged almost all the county into darkness and knocked out nearly half of local communication links. All together now: I blame Bush!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/11/2006
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#1
Can't wait until the Super dam lets go and sweeps all of South China into the sea.
#3
China doesn't usually get big hurricanes like Florida does on a routine basis. This is one of the few exceptions - a full-fledged Cat 5 hurricane (lower when it made landfall).
(CNN) -- Terrorists planned to concoct an "explosive cocktail" using MP3 players and sports drinks to blow up as many as 10 jetliners bound for the United States, authorities said Thursday.
"All right, Mo'gyver! Drop the hairpins and the Pledge!"
... intelligence officials said the plotters hoped to stage a dry run by Friday. The actual attack would have followed days later
U.S. intelligence officials said the plotters hoped to stage a dry run by Friday, The Associated Press reported. The actual attack would have followed days later, the officials told AP.
Dry run on 8-11, with maybe the blowoff on 8-22, assuming they're coordinating with Terrorhran.
A senior congressional source said it is believed the plotters planned to mix a British sports drink with a gel-like substance to make an explosive that they would possibly trigger with an MP3 player or cell phone. The sports drink could be combined with a peroxide-based paste to form a potent "explosive cocktail," if properly done, said a U.S. counterterrorism official. "There are strong reasons to believe the materials in a beverage like that could have been part of the formula," the official said.
I suppose. I knew there was a reason I won't drink that stuff.
British and Pakistani authorities joined forces to block the plot to bomb the airliners, officials said. British police acted urgently overnight, arresting 24 people in what U.S. government officials said privately could have been the biggest terrorist attack since September 11, 2001.
Among those arrested were a Muslim charity worker and a Heathrow Airport employee with an all-area access pass...
Figure 250 people on 10 planes = 2500 dead innocents. Or 2500 more "little Eichmanns" if you're a fake Indian...
Among those arrested were a Muslim charity worker and a Heathrow Airport employee with an all-area access pass, according to Britain's Channel 4. Five suspects in the plot are still at large, ABC News reported on its Web site, citing U.S. sources.
Which is why they're still on alert. They're probably back in Bajaur or Wana by now, muttering in their beards as they vow Dire Revenge...
Information gathered after recent arrests in Pakistan convinced British investigators they had to act urgently to stop the plot, sources told CNN.
No telling which of the continuing trickle of perps was the one that gave the tipoff. The Paks barely bother reporting such anymore...
Pakistani authorities also made arrests in coordination with Britain, said a spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry. He did not say how many arrests were made.
I notice Hafiz Saeed's under house arrest again, though. I'm sure it won't be for long, but we do have to go through the motions, don't we?
U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the plans were "suggestive of an al Qaeda plot," and President Bush said the arrests are a "stark reminder" that the U.S. is "at war with Islamic fascists."
President Bush said the arrests are a 'stark reminder' that the U.S. is 'at war with Islamic fascists.'
As lotp observed yesterday, that'll cause the old undies to bunch. It's kind of like a verbal wedgie in some sectors, not all of them Islamic...
Bush thanked British Prime Minister Tony Blair for "busting this plot." Authorities immediately banned all passengers headed to or departing from U.S. airports from carrying any liquid in their carry-ons. The massive lines that resulted at security checkpoints made chaos of air travel worldwide as flights were delayed or canceled.
Quick multiple choice quiz here: Fill in your answer using blue or blue-black ink or crayon. You have your choice of a.) flight delay b.) cancellation or c.) KABOOM! ___________
The effects of the plot rippled across the globe Thursday. The U.S. raised the terror threat level to "severe" for all flights leaving Britain for the United States. Britain raised its alert level to "critical."
"Reginald, how critical is 'severe'?"
"Severely critical, Nigel. Critically."
Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney ordered the National Guard to Boston's Logan Airport, and California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger ordered the National Guard to airports in his state. Besides banning liquids, British police are also banning passengers from carrying electronic key fobs, which have the potential to trigger bombs.
What's technology coming to? USB detonators?
A U.S. administration official said the plot targeted Continental, United, British Airways and American Airlines flights to New York, Washington and California. As many as 10 flights were targeted, and the plot may have involved up to 50 people, U.S. officials told CNN.
at least 21 of those arrested are British citizens and some were of Pakistani ethnicity.
Not counting the potential victims, of course...
U.S. and British officials said some suspects could still be on the loose and their investigations were continuing. Indications are that at least 21 of those arrested are British citizens and some were of Pakistani ethnicity, a senior U.S. intelligence official said.
My guess would be that all of them were.
In a sign of the heightened security, Chertoff said the U.S. was dispatching extra air marshals to Britain. The plot was "intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale," London's Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson said.
Maybe to an over-civilized western man. Back in Peshawar it's merely 'death to infidels.'"
Chertoff said the plan was reminiscent of a plot by September 11 coordinator Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who in 1995 had envisioned detonating bombs on 11 airlines possibly traveling over the Pacific Ocean.
Sounds like a replay, actually. Only the ocean's been changed.
The plot was "as sophisticated as any we have seen in recent years as far as terrorism is concerned," Chertoff said. CNN terror analyst Peter Bergen said two factors pointed to the influence of al Qaeda. He said al Qaeda was "obsessed" with commercial aviation and that the timing of the plot was "very interesting."
... the plan was reminiscent of a plot by September 11 coordinator Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who in 1995 had envisioned detonating bombs on 11 airlines possibly traveling over the Pacific Ocean.
Their "obsession" lies with public transport, where you're likely to find large numbers of people in confined spaces, preferably unable to resist the actions of the Islamic sooperdoopermen sent to dispatch them. Public transport is also essential to commerce, so they're hitting us in the economy even if the plot's not successful see today's airline stock quotes. What surprises me is that they haven't yet hit on sports. A big enough bomb at an Ohio State homecoming game would take out 100,000 people. But maybe the Big Turbans don't see sports fans as economically essential.
"It's not clear when this was going to be implemented ... but we are coming up on the fifth anniversary of 9/11. They do want to make a big statement," he said on CNN's "American Morning."
They appear to be big on the number "11", but they're not particularly big on anniversaries. And a high enough corpse count is all the statement they need.
"Due to the nature of the threat revealed by this investigation, we are prohibiting any liquids, including beverages, hair gels, and lotions from being carried on the airplane," a DHS statement said.
"Please leave Vaseline, KY Jelly, Dippety-doo, and similar substances in your luggage."
Increased security means airline passengers around the country should show up at least two hours early for all flights, an official with the Transportation Security Administration told CNN. British and U.S. security agencies quickly moved to impose strict limits on carry-on items in the wake of Thursday's arrests, causing extended delays at airport security checkpoints.
I still think passengers will eventually be required to fly naked and/or be allowed firearms up to .32 caliber.
The British Airports Authority said no hand luggage would be allowed onto planes leaving British airports until further notice. British Airways canceled all short haul flights in or out of Heathrow Airport for Thursday, and delays were stacking flights up at airports across Europe.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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#1
The BBC still can't bring itself to use the M or the I word, except via a quote from GWB.
#3
The biggest casualty so far appears to be Duty Free. They are out of business.
Posted by: john ||
08/11/2006 8:04
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#4
"electronic key fobs" prolly refers to car key remote doorlock controls...
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 9:49
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#5
London's Metropolitan Police Deputy Commissioner Paul Stephenson must be suffering from IDD (Imagination Deficit Disorder), and should be sent for IRT (Imagination Remediation Training), either that, or a course in remedial English.
#6
A big enough bomb at an Ohio State homecoming game would take out 100,000 people. But maybe the Big Turbans don't see sports fans as economically essential.
You're right, Fred. We're not the only ones with cultural blind spots.
#7
A big enough bomb at an Ohio State homecoming game would take out 100,000 people.
Not to mention any Texas, Texas A&M, or a dozen other schools. The islamonutjobs should be very wary of doing any such mayhem. Pick the wrong game, and the entire middle east would become radioactive glass. Think Ohio/Michigan, Texas/Oklahoma, LSU/Alabama, UCLA/Washington, etc., etc., etc.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/11/2006 15:20
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#8
There was that muslim kid who blew himself up outside a (Oklahoma?)football game last year. The cops were quick to call it a simple suicide with no connection to terrorism. I still think he was arming the bomb when it went off before he got inside. That story vanished a little too quickly for me.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/11/2006 15:33
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#11
Auburn/Alabama, there wouldn't be enough immigration/Coast Guard/Navy to stop the whole southeast from forming a flotilla bound for the Mideast.
Wal Mart (ALL Wal Marts) would be completely out of Beer, (All Brands) Shotgun Shells, and plastic 5 gallon gas cans.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/11/2006 21:03
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(Xinhua) -- The U.S.-led coalition forces have arrested four Iraqis suspected of abducting a U.S. female journalist who was kidnapped earlier in the year and then released, a U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday. "Coalition forces have detained four Iraqi men that we believe have been involved in the kidnapping of Jill Carroll," Major General William Caldwell, U.S. military spokesman, told reporters in a news briefing in Baghdad.
Carroll, a reporter of the U.S. Christian Science Monitor, was kidnapped and her Iraqi interpreter was killed in western Baghdad on Jan. 7. She was later released on March 30. The spokesman showed pictures of a hot spot area between Baghdad and Fallujah, west of the capital, which he said have been suspected by his soldiers. "Marines from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force were able to identify the location in which we believe Jill Carroll was held," Caldwell said.
Carroll's captors, calling themselves the Revenge Brigades, hadthreatened to kill her unless all women detainees in the U.S. and Iraqi prisons were released.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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KARACHI, Pakistan - Pakistans navy on Thursday inducted its first locally built submarine in an effort to bolster its marine force, a spokesman said. Pakistan has already built two Agosta submarines with help from France, but it is the first time that we completely built it ourselves without any foreign help, said Salman Ali, spokesman for the navy.
Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf was the chief guest at the launching ceremony of the Hamza submarine near the port city of Karachi. Musharraf congratulated the naval officers, engineers and technicians over the induction of the submarine into the navys fleet and hoped that it will help to boost the countrys defenses. Security and peace is only guaranteed through credible defense and strength and never through weakness, Musharraf said while referring to the ongoing fighting between Israeli forces and Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon.
Can't argue with Perv on that statement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/11/2006
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#1
What'd you wanna bet that the name of this fine piece of Pakistani craftsmanship translates from Urdu into "The Widowmaker"? Or "Staring into the Face of Allah"?
#4
Umm, it is not the submerging part that I would be concerned with. I am quite certain that it can submerge very well -- the question is, can it surface after that?
#5
The problems will surface (pardon the pun) only after the sub's been run for a while. And it wasn't a Pak-only project; the French sent an engineering team (11 of whom were killled in an attack in Karachi back in 2002).
On paper, the Agosta seems okay. This last one also has air-independent propulsion. But a boat's only as good as its crew (and the builders) and the proof is gonna be if and when the design ever sees action.
#7
Yes, #5, the Agosta class is a good one BUT as the article made clear, this is the first all Paki built vessel. No way I would want to bet my life on the integrity of the welds done by a Paki shipyard.
#16
With help from the French; hopefully not in the propeller-retention system. I am betting the glide ratio of an underwater (unpowered when it does fall off) brick isn't great, but the curve can be fairly well plotted.
#10
No one should construe this pic as any sort of answer to yesterday's post by Yosemite Sam concerning the 'dumbing down' of Rantburg. No sir, this isn't about that at all.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/11/2006 9:16
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(Xinhua) -- Indian Border Security Force (BSF) and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) exchanged gunfire at border for nearly eight hours overnight, creating panic and tension in the area, local news agency UNB reported Thursday. There was no report of any casualty from the exchange of gunfire that began at 11:00 p.m. (1700 GMT) Wednesday and continued till 7 a.m. (0100 GMT) Thursday at Amalshid border in Bangladesh's northeastern Sylhet district. However, Khalilur Rahman, 70, a resident of Amalshid village, died of cardiac arrest apparently from the impact of heavy sound created by mortar shells, UNB reported. Many local residents, who left their homes, are yet to return while some others were staying at their homes by digging bunkers.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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What happened? To find out you might have to cut and paste until the moderators approve the link. There are 20 million Bengali illegals in India.
(Xinhua) -- The Ugandan government peace delegation is consulting with mediators on the next step after the rebel Lords Resistance Army (LRA) peace team walked out of the peace talks in Juba, southern Sudan.
Might we suggest killing them all?
Robert Kabushenga, head of the government Media Center, told Xinhua by telephone on Thursday that the government negotiators are consulting Riek Machar, chief mediator and vice president of southern Sudan, on the next move. The LRA negotiators walked out on Wednesday protesting the government's refusal to declare cessation of hostilities. "As far as the LRA delegation is concerned, the talks have not resumed," the LRA delegation spokesman Obonyo Olweny told journalists in Juba.
Last Friday, the elusive LRA leader Joseph Kony declared a unilateral ceasefire, urging the Ugandan government to do the same. Kabushenga said the Ugandan government still maintains its earlier position of discussing the ceasefire with the LRA team. "We have to first discuss the cessation of hostilities and agree. There are procedures to be followed before a ceasefire is declared," he said. The Ugandan government claimed that the LRA have abused past ceasefires by recruiting and re-arming its fighters, a claim rejected by the LRA negotiators.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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The son of the last ruler of part of present-day Saudi Arabia said Tuesday he was setting up an opposition party in Paris to seek democratic rule in the oil-rich kingdom. "We announce the birth of the 'Saudi Democratic Opposition Front' which will struggle by peaceful means for the establishment of democracy in the country," said Prince Talal Mohammad al-Rashid, son of the last ruler of the independent Rashidi emirate which reigned in the northwestern region of Hail from 1835 to 1921. "The Al-Saud (family ruling Saudi Arabia) must either respect liberties and introduce democracy or give up the power they usurped," Prince Talal, who has been living in exile in France since 1980, told AFP.
My name is Talal Montoya. You deposed my father. Prepare to die."
Talal, son of Mohammad II bin Talal al-Rashid, said his opposition group would launch a satellite television channel within three months which will broadcast from a European country to "call on Saudis to rise up against the tyrants and usurpers plundering public funds."
The Rashidi emirs, who were ousted by the Saud family during its struggle to unite Saudi Arabia, are a branch of the Shammar tribal confederation. Prince Talal, who has retained his title, said that the confederation was backing his new movement. He said his group, with "some 2,000 active members, mostly in Saudi Arabia," would coordinate its activities with other opponents of the Saudi government at home and abroad, chiefly the London-based Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA) which calls for a regime change in the kingdom. Members of the Shammar confederation are believed to number "hundreds of thousands living mainly in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Syria but also in Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates," said Talal's daughter, Madhawi al-Rashid, a London-based academic.
#3
He (Prince Talal) said his group, with "some 2,000 active members, mostly in Saudi Arabia," would coordinate its activities with other opponents of the Saudi government at home and abroad, chiefly the London-based Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA)
MIRA is an al Qaeda front group. Treasury Designates MIRA for Support to Al Qaida The U.S Department of the Treasury today designated the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA), a U.K.-based Saudi oppositionist organization, for providing material support to al Qaida. MIRA is run by al Qaida-affiliated Saad al-Faqih, who was designated pursuant to E.O. 13224 by the Treasury on December 21, 2004 and is named on the United Nations 1267 Committee consolidated list of terrorists tied to al Qaida, UBL and the Taliban.
Posted by: ed ||
08/11/2006 7:21
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BEIJING The Chinese government, which has battled a surge of social unrest in recent years, reported Wednesday that there were 39,000 cases of "public order disruptions" in the first half of the year. The Ministry of Public Security said that represented a 2.5% decrease in the number of protests from the same period in 2005, though it offered no explanation of how it had come up with the figures.
China is in the midst of dramatic social and economic transformations that have created a two-tier society separated by a widening gap in incomes. Social discontent has been on the rise in recent years, fueled by income disparities, land disputes, pollution problems and an inadequate legal system that is widely seen as failing to address people's needs.
Beijing is normally reluctant to disclose negative information, especially about public disturbances that could tarnish China's international reputation and undermine one-party control. But in recent years, the central government has grown increasingly concerned about the effect of unrest on economic development and social stability.
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Posted by: Steve White ||
08/11/2006
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Just wait for their first real economic recession!
#2
China's revolutions usually start in the countryside. This wave of unrest will not need a recession to set it off. In fact, a recession would probably reduce the friction between the countryside and the cities as schadenfreude sets in. The Olympics could be interesting.
#5
Article: Illegal land grabs are a major source of tension. In December, paramilitary police opened fire on villagers in southern China's Guangdong province who were protesting what they said was insufficient compensation for land appropriated for a new power plant. The government said three villagers were killed.
The weird thing is that in some of the prosperous (by Chinese standards) regions of Guangdong province, which is 20% larger than New York State, local officials have worked out deals that former residents have found acceptable, whereby the land is leased out to businesses and the rent paid is distributed to these ex-residents on a per head basis. The amounts paid can be significant - in Shenzhen and the counties immediately west of it, many ex-residents have achieved comfortable retirements (again, based on Chinese standards) on the basis of these pro rata rent payments alone. It appears that even within the same province, there are significant differences among the eminent domain policies practised by local officials - some satisfy local residents while others serve to inflame their grievances.
#6
China nor Russia will have to worry about achieving rough parity or auperiority vv USA 2030-2050 iff the USA is gone 2015-2020, now will they, voluntarily via MOVEON.org/Far-Radical Left-led Dem POTUSes, or forcibly via "Resistance agz US Agression". Worse case - USA's VOLUNTEER ARMY runs of beans-bullets afore the Commies-Muslims run out of cannon fodder bodies.
DIR: The families of two-honour killing victims were forced by an illegal jirga, comprising of local khans and maliks, to agree to take no action against the killer and to keep the case quiet, sources have revealed. The murderer told the jirga that he would kill another four of five members from each respective family if they refused to strike a deal with him and reported the killings.
Bakht Rawan killed his cousin Badshah Zada on July 16 when he suspected him of having illicit relations with his wife. Rawan then killed his wife, who was also his cousin and mother of their one-month old baby.
Bakht Rawan killed his cousin Badshah Zada on July 16 when he suspected him of having illicit relations with his wife. Rawan then killed his wife, who was also his cousin and mother of their one-month old baby. Salih Rehman, the brother of Zada, had last month charged local khans and maliks with forcing him and his family to accept the deal put forward by Rawan. The jirga then warned the fathers and brothers of both victims that more of their family members would be killed if they rejected the deal. The jirga then used force to secure the thumbprint of each father on a document that declared them willing to accept reconciliation with Rawan. The jirga refused to give either details of the document or its copy to the aggrieved parties. But it did warn them that they would incur a Rs 0.5 million fine if they tried to bring Rawan to justice.
The document declaring the reconciliation is fake; our thumbprints were taken by force...
However, Rawan had himself already surrendered to the police in the hope that he would be released once the jirga secured reconciliation with all parties. We did not agree to any reconciliation which pardons the killer, we were forced to do it as we are weak and powerless. The document declaring the reconciliation is fake; our thumbprints were taken by force and thus we do not accept the document, said Qabil, the father of Zada, and Mubarak Jan, the father of the woman.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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How does Rawan have so much pull with the local Sheiks? Or is it that they just want to establish their authority as seperate and superior to the Pakistani State's by being extra mideaval and Islamic and upholding a husband's right to off his wife in a jealous paranoid rage because she's not 100% obediant to his every command and retains warm relations with her old family?
Savagery.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006 1:08
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"The murderer told the jirga that he would kill another four of five members from each respective family if they refused to strike a deal with him and reported the killings."
Tehran, Iran, Aug. 10 Irans Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki will travel to Istanbul on Friday to hold talks with Turkish officials on the crisis in Lebanon, the official news agency IRNA reported on Thursday. Mottaki will also discuss the events in Palestine, the report said.
Fridays trip will be Mottakis second visit to Turkey since he became Foreign Minister.
Mottaki has a chequered history in Turkey and was once expelled for his involvement in terrorism when he was the Islamic Republics ambassador to Ankara. Mottaki, 53, has been accused of involvement in a series of terrorist attacks in Turkey in the late 1980s, according to Iranian exiles and defectors from the theocratic regime. Turkish authorities had asked him to leave the country in 1989, when he was Irans ambassador in Ankara, after his role in several terrorist incidents in Turkey became known.
Mottaki was appointed Irans ambassador to Turkey in 1985 and it was during his tenure in Ankara that the Revolutionary Guard-turned-diplomat became involved in a number of terror attacks and assassinations of dissidents, according to Iranian opposition figures and defectors. In the 1980s and the early 1990s, at least 50 Iranian dissidents were kidnapped or assassinated in Turkey by Iranian secret agents often working closely with diplomats from Irans embassy and consulates.
On Mottakis watch, the Iranian embassy in Ankara and the consulate-general in Istanbul were turned into safe houses for agents of Irans notorious secret police hunting down Iranian dissidents, according to exiles.
Just the kind of guy you want as a foreign minister -- if you run a terror state.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/11/2006
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"...according to Iranian exiles and defectors."
How about a name...no? Maybe an affilliation...not that either huh? Oh that's right this 'Iranfocus'...guess we'll just go with exiles and defectors then.
The man charged in the shootings of six people at Seattle's Jewish Federation offices has indicated he wants to plead guilty, his attorney told a judge Thursday. Naveed Afzal Haq, of the Seattle area, is charged with aggravated first-degree murder in the death of Pamela Waechter, who was the director of the Jewish charity's annual fundraising campaign, and with five counts of attempted murder.
Haq is accused of forcing his way into the downtown offices of the Seattle charity and opening fire with a handgun, saying that he was upset about the war in Iraq and US support of Israel.
Haq, 30, said little at his brief arraignment Thursday, but his court-appointed attorney, C. Wesley Richards, told the judge that Haq "is indicating that it his desire to enter guilty pleas." Richards said he was not aware before the hearing that Haq intended to plead guilty. At the attorney's request, the rest of the hearing was delayed until next Tuesday to give him time to determine whether Haq is competent to enter a guilty plea. Haq is accused of forcing his way into the downtown offices of the Seattle charity and opening fire with a handgun, saying that he was upset about the war in Iraq and US support of Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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#1
Do you not remember when you were a child, Naveed?
Could you ever imagine such violence you would do as a "man" shooting Pregnant women? Do you find that appropriate in your religion or am I watching a Zombie movie "Allah Akbar, Allah Akbar". We took YOUR family in and yet you find need to bring that mooselimb violence onto this soil?
No son, you are sane enough for a firing squad but you lucked out. You did it in Oregon.
I personally think this is a politial crime and all of these should be looked at as suh because YOU HAVE NO GOD, Haq.
May your soul rot in the listless spiritual void to be example for mooselimbs all across America to see. Maybe they will see how spiritually void the world has become from your shame and lack of connection to humanity. If Muslims are not careful, they will be held in quarantine in the islamic country of their choice due to fators that interefere with Humanity and moreover GOD.
Do you know who you are in the Bible, Punk?
You are a nobody in the Koran.
#3
As I said in my weblog, these people have the right to find their own path to hell - they just don't have the right to try to take us with them, especialy by force. When we catch one of these insects committing a crime against others, we need to squash them the same way we'd squash a cockroach.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/11/2006 15:43
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#4
Word via radio news was that the primary reason the judge delayed the arraignment was to prevent the early guilty plea being used as a way to get any convidtion tossed, since he 'didn't confer with his attorney.' Score a pre-emptive legal strike for the Black Robed One!!!
(KUNA) -- National Security Adviser Muwaffaq Al-Rubaie announced Thursday that Iraqi security forces arrested 17 Qaeda leaders and killed another one in the past few days and said 35,000 Iraqi policemen were successfully involved in the implementation of Baghdad's security plan. In a press conference held here, Al-Rubaie said security forces arrested 17 Qaeda leaders, including five who were detained in Baghdad, and killed another.
Al-Qaeda member Muhammad Ali Al-Obaidi is accused of killing hundreds of Iraqis in tens of car explosions.
He showed photographs of the detainees which included a photo of "Dr. Saad" who was killed a few days ago in a raid south of Baghdad, and the photo of Ameer Al-Qaroghly, the Al-Qaeda's religious leader in Al-Yousefiya, Al-Mahmoudiya, Al-Karma, and Al-Doura. He also demonstrated the photo of Al-Qaeda member Muhammad Ali Al-Obaidi who is accused of killing hundreds of Iraqis in tens of car explosions. Al-Rubaie said among the arrested are Wisam Al-Douri, a senior Qaeda member accused of terrorist attacks, and Dhia Abd Olaiwi Al-Rakabi, the first deputy of Qaeda leader Abdullah.
According to Al-Rubaie more than 30,000 patrols were spread since the beginning of Baghdad's security plan, in which 22,000 local police members and 13,000 national police members are participating. He stressed that the government is supporting the Iraqi police forces, saying "I would like to kiss every policeman on his forehead and tell him thank you for all what you sacrificed". "My message to the terrorists and death squads is 'failure is your ally'", he emphasized.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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#4
There's an al-Douri in there. Wonder if there's any kinship between him and Ibrahim al-Douri, one of the most wanted men in Iraq. Pliers and panties definitely called for!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/11/2006 15:56
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#5
even if just for the name/clan....
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 17:27
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(via Secrecy News blog)
In a momentous expansion of the government's authority to regulate public disclosure of national security information, a federal court ruled that even private citizens who do not hold security clearances can be prosecuted for unauthorized receipt and disclosure of classified information.
The ruling by Judge T.S. Ellis, III, denied a motion to dismiss the case of two former employees of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) who were charged under the Espionage Act with illegally receiving and transmitting classified information.
The decision is a major interpretation of the Espionage Act with implications that extend far beyond this particular case.
The Judge ruled that any First Amendment concerns regarding freedom of speech involving national defense information can be superseded by national security considerations. "Although the question whether the government's interest in preserving its national defense secrets is sufficient to trump the First Amendment rights of those not in a position of trust with the government [i.e. not holding security clearances] is a more difficult question, and although the authority addressing this issue is sparse, both common sense and the relevant precedent point persuasively to the conclusion that the government can punish those outside of the government for the unauthorized receipt and deliberate retransmission of information relating to the national defense," Judge Ellis wrote.
I guess I'm just a simple conservative but it seems like common sense to me. If we classify something as 'secret' that means that not everyone can know about it. Since we have a representative gummint, it decides what's secret and what isn't. Ordinary joes and joans don't get to decide when to violate national security laws.
The provisions of the Espionage Act are not impermissibly overbroad or unconstitutional, the Judge ruled, because they are limited by the requirements that the prohibited behavior be both knowing and willful.
"The government must... prove that the person alleged to have violated these provisions knew the [restricted] nature of the information, knew that the person with whom they were communicating was not entitled to the information, and knew that such communication was illegal, but proceeded nonetheless."
"Finally, with respect only to intangible information [as opposed to documents], the government must prove that the defendant had a reason to believe that the disclosure of the information could harm the United States or aid a foreign nation...."
"So construed, the statute is narrowly and sensibly tailored to serve the government's legitimate interest in protecting the national security, and its effect on First Amendment freedoms is neither real nor substantial as judged in relation to this legitimate sweep," Judge Ellis wrote (p. 63).
Others will disagree. For example, the classified 2004 report of Maj. Gen. Antonio Taguba on prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib prison clearly fit the court's description of national defense information that is closely held by the government. Moreover, its unauthorized disclosure was likely to, and did in fact, harm the United States. And yet that disclosure also served an important national purpose in attacking the hated Booosh administration prompting a public debate over U.S. policy on prisoner detention and interrogation.
But under Judge Ellis' new interpretation, those reporters and others who communicated this information to the public could apparently be prosecuted under the Espionage Act.
Think about that Mr. Keller.
Judge Ellis concluded his opinion by noting that the provisions of the Espionage Act "have remained largely unchanged since the administration of William Howard Taft."
Technological and other changes over the past century "should suggest to even the most casual observer that the time is ripe for Congress to engage in a thorough review and revision of these provisions to ensure that they reflect both these changes, and contemporary views about the appropriate balance between our nation's security and our citizens' ability to engage in public debate about the United States' conduct in the society of nations."
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/11/2006 0:21
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#2
What hath Valerie Plame wrought?
Posted by: Mike ||
08/11/2006 0:40
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#3
Since we lay-folks have seen the actual language of applicable laws posted here on a few occasions, the only response that comes to my mind is, "Well Fuck Yeah!"
It's no "momentous expansion" - that's idiocy. It was there in black and white. Only ruling the Espionage Act and other laws which apply are unconstitutional could blunt the will of the people as expressed in those statutes.
I'm "happy" with this "decision", of course, but sheesh. Any two-bit punk can tell you all about receiving stolen goods...
#7
I protest ! This is an attack on the democrat party. This is politically motivated and the judge should be impeached and removed.
Sarc off.
It would also be great if a judge ruled that anyone participating in a cover-up be jailed as well.
Then, it would be great if we elected a republican with the balls to investigate the Clinton administration. ie. Deaths of Vincent Foster, Ron Brown, the old CIA leader, William something, and all of those witnesses who were run off the road and killed on their way back from church. Not to mention all the suicides of people with a Clinton connection.
#9
The only proviso I have is that the recipient must know (or reasonably assume) that the material is classified. I worked with classified stuff and unclassified stuff. I can show the latter to y'all. What if I slipped something classified in? Would you necessarily know the difference?
I'm not saying that's the case here. Just that it may be the case sometime in the future.
#10
J, I may not know the difference, but I'm sure the prosecutors will be showing you what the difference is, even if you knew already. I believe that is the point. Now if I share that information with someone else, the same prosecutors will be explaining the difference to me in short order.
Posted by: john ||
08/11/2006 11:57
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QUETTA: Suspected renegade tribesmen blew up a bridge on a major road in Balochistan on Thursday, disrupting traffic between Quetta and Karachi, an official told The Associated Press. No one was reported injured in the explosion in Ornach, a rugged area about 400 kilometres south of Quetta, said Abdul Samad, a local government administration official.
The explosion on the bridge led to the suspension of traffic on the road linking Quetta with Karachi, stranding dozens of vehicles, Samad said. He did not give details on the extent of damage to the bridge, but said explosives planted under it had been set off. Authorities will divert traffic between Karachi and Quetta to an alternate route, Samad said. No one claimed responsibility for the explosion but Samad suspected local tribesmen. Separately, security forces seized arms from militants during a search operation in Dera Bugti district, while three more commanders of Nawab Akbar Bugti surrendered to the government on Thursday, Online reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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(KUNA) -- Six civilians were killed and three others were injured in a bomb explosion at a restaurant in western Baghdad, said a police source on Thursday. An unidentified person left a bag full of explosives inside a crowded restaurant in al-Sayedyah area this afternoon which exploded, causing the casualties and damaging surrounding buildings, said Iraqi interior ministry source.
Al-Sayedyah area has witnessed clashes today between gunmen and police forces, which resulted in the killing of seven of the gunmen, according to Iraqi defense ministry sources. An interior ministry source said that a police Colonel and two policemen were also killed in the clash.
Posted by: Fred ||
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(Reuters) - U.S. Muslim groups criticized President Bush on Thursday for calling a foiled plot to blow up airplanes part of a "war with Islamic fascists," saying the term could inflame anti-Muslim tensions.
I'd say the turban and automatic weapons set is doing a pretty good job at that, without Bush having to say anything.
U.S. officials have said the plot, thwarted by Britain, to blow up several aircraft over the Atlantic bore many of the hallmarks of al Qaeda. "We believe this is an ill-advised term and we believe that it is counterproductive to associate Islam or Muslims with fascism," said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations advocacy group.
We believe this is an ill-advised term and we believe that it is counterproductive to associate Islam or Muslims with fascism
At the very first we picked up on the blind hatred of the West, Nihad. It took a bit more study to realize we were dealing with Nazis, only without the natty uniforms and the marching songs. The Jew hating's there. So's the accrual of rights to the state in this case the ummah rather than to the individual, who's reduced to being nothing but cannon fodder since jihad's a requirement on the devout. We've read the words of the new Streichers and Goebbels and Dr. Neys in the Arab and Muslim press. We've watched Hezbollah and the Marching Mullahs of Iran doing their funny imitation goose steps and just a-Hitlergrüssing to beat the band. You've got Supreme Councils and Supreme Leaders and Global Councils and aspiring Fearless Leaders and you've got holy men just as corrupt and just as merciless as any Gauleiter was. There's always a beturbanned SA ready to march and bust things up, whether it's in Lahore or Gay Paree. The TNSM's out in force in Peshawar in today's news; nobody there owns any books but the Koran, so they're burning TV sets instead of books. So where's the inaccuracy in referring to them as fascists? From our angle the curly-toed slipper's a pretty good fit.
"We ought to take advantage of these incidents to make sure that we do not start a religious war against Islam and Muslims," he told a news conference in Washington.
We ought to take advantage of these incidents to make sure that we do not start a religious war against Islam and Muslims
Why? Muslims have declared war on us. As a matter of fact, we seem to get a declaration of war from some nutball group or other about once a week. With lunatics running through the streets and burning our flag and the SA smashing and booming McDonalds' and Kentucky Frieds, wouldn't the appropriate response be for the populace of, say, Milpetas to riot in the streets and burn Pak or Soddy or Iranian flags and smash the occasional felafel shop?
"We urge him (Bush) and we urge other public officials to restrain themselves."
Why, oh why, is it incumbent upon us to restrain ourselves when there's no such constraint on the Muslim world?
We urge him [Bush] and we urge other public officials to restrain themselves...
Awad said U.S. officials should take the lead from their British counterparts who steered clear of using what he considered inflammatory terms when they announced the arrest of more than 20 suspects in the reported plot. Hours after the news broke, Bush said it was "a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation."
I like it when he calls a spade a spade...
Bush and other administration officials have used variations of the term "Islamo-fascism" on several occasions in the past to describe militant groups including al Qaeda, its allies in Iraq and Hizbollah in Lebanon.
I think this is Bush's first use of the term. Anybody who thinks Hezbollah's not a fascist organization has never listened to their rhetoric, though I'll admit they're lousy goosesteppers, not a patch on the old GDR.
'...it is a totalitarian, intolerant imperialism that has a vision that is totally at odds with Western society and our rules of law,' Chertoff said...
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told MSNBC television the phrase reflected what he called Osama bin Laden's own vision of leading a totalitarian empire under the guise of religion. "It might may not be classic fascism as you had with Mussolini or Hitler. But it is a totalitarian, intolerant imperialism that has a vision that is totally at odds with Western society and our rules of law," Chertoff said.
Elections are un-Islamic, as the holy men have told us on a number of occasions. Democracy's a Jewish plot. God's law, as interpreted by properly pious holy men, displaces the will of the people.
Many American Muslims, who say they have felt singled out for discrimination since the September 11 attacks, reject the term and say it unfairly links their faith to notions of dictatorship, oppression and racism. "The problem with the phrase is it attaches the religion of Islam to tyranny and fascism, rather than isolating the threat to a specific group of individuals," said Edina Lekovic, spokeswoman for the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles.
That specific group of individuals acts in the name of Islam, justifies its actions by invoking Islam, and those who aren't members of that specific group nod sagely when nobody's looking and root for the old Ummah.
She said the terms cast suspicions on all Muslims, even the vast majority who want to live in safety like other Americans.
Even while contributing to Hamas, Hezbollah, and unspecified other charities. Even while raising their children to hate the Christians and the Jews, just like back in the Olde Countrie. Those who don't aren't CAIR members.
Bush upset many Muslims after the September 11 attacks by referring to the global war against terrorism early on as a "crusade," a term which for many Muslims connotes a Christian battle against Islam. The White House quickly stopped using the word, expressing regrets if it had caused offense.
"Jihad" is the same thing, a war carried out in the name of Islam. I notice nobody's stopped using that.
Mohamed Elibiary, a Texas-based Muslim activist, said he was upset by the president's latest comments. "We've got Osama bin Laden hijacking the religion in order to define it one way. ... We feel the president and anyone who's using these kinds of terminologies is hijacking it too from a different side," he said.
No, he's not. He's referring to a well-documented phenomenon.
"The president's use of the language is going to ratchet up the hate meter, but I think it would have caused much more damage if he had done this after 9/11," Elibiary said, adding that tensions were not running as high as they had been in the immediate aftermath of the 2001 attacks.
Nope. The combination of fatigue and the national attention span deficit has kicked in. The streets of Milpetas remain quiet, despite the ravings of the loons in Terrorhan and Peshawar and Cairo.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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#1
So start calling it the "Crusade Against Islamic Fascism". That'll drive them nuts...
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/11/2006 0:40
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#7
At the very first we picked up on the blind hatred of the West, Nihad. It took a bit more study to realize we were dealing with Nazis, only without the natty uniforms and the marching songs. The Jew hating's there. So's the accrual of rights to the state in this case the ummah rather than to the individual, who's reduced to being nothing but cannon fodder since jihad's a requirement on the devout. We've read the words of the new Streichers and Goebbels and Dr. Neys in the Arab and Muslim press. We've watched Hezbollah and the Marching Mullahs of Iran doing their funny imitation goose steps and just a-Hitlergrüssing to beat the band. You've got Supreme Councils and Supreme Leaders and Global Councils and aspiring Fearless Leaders and you've got holy men just as corrupt and just as merciless as any Gauleiter was. There's always a beturbanned SA ready to march and bust things up, whether it's in Lahore or Gay Paree. The TNSM's out in force in Peshawar in today's news; nobody there owns any books but the Koran, so they're burning TV sets instead of books. So where's the inaccuracy in referring to them as fascists? From our angle the curly-toed slipper's a pretty good fit.
olde Rantburgese literary piece, joins the classic library section in private collection.
The streets of Milpetas remain quiet, despite the ravings of the loons in Terrorhan and Peshawar and Cairo.
#8
Islamic supremacy also describes the phenomenon. The One True Religion plays the role of Aryanism in Nazism or the proleteriat under Communism. One group is destined by nature, history, or Divine Will to rule all the others and true believers have few scruples about the unpleasantries necessary along the way. Unity of purpose will overcome all opposition; free thought threatens that unity and must be ruthlessly suppressed for the cause.
Historically, of course, there's ample basis for Bush's remark. The progenitors of today's Islamic revival were supporters of the Third Reich in its day. Hajj Amin al-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, is only the most prominent example, going so far as to raise of Muslim brigade to fight for Germany in the Balkins.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
08/11/2006 1:16
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#9
Can we please get a graphic for Elibiary's "hate meter"?
I bet it would look spiffy next to the sympathy meter!
#10
Bristling already ? I hope this doesn't mean spittle and slobber all over the floor again. Really, you f**kin' Muzzies ain't seen nothin" yet. We're just starting to pay you some attention. And we don't like what we see. You better pack your asses up and drag them out of here while you can.
#11
Prediction: over 100 posts on this topic. I heard widespread support for the President on talk radio.
Fascism? Ask Mussolini: "...Fascism reasserts the right of the State as expressing the real essence of the individual. And if liberty is to be the attribute of living men and not of abstract dummies invented by individualistic liberalism, then Fascism stands for liberty, and for the only liberty worth having, the liberty of the State and of the individual within the State. The Fascist conception of the State is all-embracing; outside of it no human or spiritual values can exist, much less have value. Thus understood, Fascism is totalitarian, and the Fascist State - a synthesis and a unit inclusive of all values - interprets, develops, and potentiates the whole life of a people...it is the purest form of democracy if the nation be considered -as it should be - from the point of view of quality rather than quantity, as an idea...expressing itself in a people, as the conscience and will of the few, if not, indeed, of one..." Benito Mussolini, 1932.
An airline passange was stopped at Airport security due to smoke rising from his turban.
Authorities were relieved to find it was simply CAIR representative Mohammed Mohammed Bin Fumin's brain smoldering after hearing President Bush call a spade a spade.
#18
I would like to gice a little testimony about "Islamic fascists" in Paris...
I live in the center of this city, in a very old street. 20 meters right of my house, there is a muslim bookshop, selling Korans, books in arabic, and a few in french; I had bought there a translation of Omar Khayyam's wonderful poems some time ago (before 9/11); one year ago, I noticed in the window a negationnist book and an antisemitic book, both of which had been forbidden by the French justice; and some time later, I heard on radio that the owner of this bookstore had personally published those 2 new editions, and had been convicted after a trial.
On the opposite way, 50 meters left of my house, there is a grocery, whose owner is a nice Tunisian immigrant 50 years old; two months ago, I heard his 20 years old son speak with another Arab of his age, and say that "9/11 wasn't done by the Muslims, but by the Jews"; I objected to this, but he was totally convinced it was the Jews; then, I noticed he had always at his side a small book in arabic, probably a pocket Koran.
#19
leroidavid (king david):
When I was last in Paris - 1976 - the parks were safe 24-7. I hear that they are now Arab rape and rob zones. There is a Resistance movement against savage islamization.
#20
This definition by Columbia University professor Robert O. Paxton seems to fit the Islamists:
"Fascism may be defined as a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victim-hood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants, working in uneasy but effective collaboration with traditional elites, abandons democratic liberties and pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion."
Central Paris is still safe: the government doesn't want the tourists to leave our country...
Nevertheless, there is a high rise of Muslim crime (for the moment, French Muslims commit 30 times more offenses and crimes per person than non-Muslims).
And the situation in the suburbs is very bad, but you all know that, thanks to our famous riots... White people living there can't go out at night, and are carefully planning their travels...
However, recently, in the center of Paris, I had to use for the first time my paralysing spray against 2 Arabs, and knock the third. They attacked me 'for the fun', as it seems (and it's easier to attack one single man when you are three - that's the courage of the Lions of Allah). The police came fast, but we were unable to arrest those heroes.
#23
Nihad, it's counterproductive to hide jihadism behind "sensitivities". That makes you a bigger narcissistic liar. Your "sensitivities" or our health.
#24
The term "Islamofacism" (my favorite, and which I invented) is better IMO, because is suggests a "flavor" of Islam when connected with facist terrorism, rather than "impugning" the religion as a whole--so it keeps the aspect of denigrating religion out of the debate, at least technically. But it wouldn't matter. They'd be upset anyway. I think Bush was smart to put it on the table and quit dancing around the PC noose.
#27
Karl Popper coined the term 'Historicism' to describe all the ideologies that claim they are historically inevitable, and wrote arguably the most important book of the twentieth century - The Poverty of Historicism.
#28
The terrorists are Martyrs® fighting Jihad® against Infidels® to convert them to Dhimmis® for Allah®. In other words, they are fascists killing people in the name of Islam.
Which part of "Islamic fascists" did Bush get wrong?
Instead of criticising, clean up your own house. You've got a lot of work to do there.
#29
*I* invented Islamic Crusader and introduced it here a few days ago. That's also what they're doing - crusading - and since they seem to hate that word as well....
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/11/2006 6:48
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#30
I'm getting tired of hearing American Muslims whine about "descrimination." If they don't like it here, get out. Go somewhere else. Leave.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
08/11/2006 7:06
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#31
Hey, Nihad, you know what? I really don't give a rat's ass what offends you any more.
I have yet to see you poor, victimized Muslims do a damn thing about the crazies "hijacking" your religion. (An interesting choice of words, Mohammed, considering that your co-religionists pretty much pioneered that concept in the 70's.)
I have yet to see you clowns enlist to fight against said "hijackers", either. I'm not expecting the Muslim equivalent of the Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team, or the Navajo Codetalkers, for that matter. But we certainly could do without the "contributions" of Sgt Hasan Akbar, among others, who have signed up only to disgrace the uniform and fight against us from within.
We have shown incredible restraint so far. Sorry if I don't equate a few funny looks and being delayed at the airport with rounding up citizens and putting them in internment camps or reservations. And, no, arresting Abdul for assembling an interesting collection of books, explosives, and pen pals based in Pakistan does not equate.
If you don't want the funny looks, tell your women to take off their "traditional" hijab (dating back, oh, about 30 years ago to Lebanon, modeled after a nun's habit and meant to say to one of your out of control, seething young men "don't rape me, O mighty Lion of Islam, rape that other girl over there instead").
Until you do something, anything, constructive to fight against said religious "hijackers", and reply to them with the alacrity you do for every "offense" the rest of the world commits against Islam, sit down and STFU.
#32
Ya know, I'm with CAIR. Terms like "Islamofascist" aren't helpful.
Let's be clear, honest, and inclusive. The most accurate term is "Muslim".
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
08/11/2006 8:00
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#33
I don't think they yet understand what's coming if there's another attack on American soil by muzzies. Good and innocent people (and yes, there are some in any group) are gonna pay hard for this BS. The Ummah's gonna look back on these days as "the good old days". The loony left isn't gonna save your ass, and the Supreme Court/ACLU/CAIR won't stop violence in the streets against muzzies. It'll be a real black mark on American history when we destroy Islam and it's adherents who're our enemies, but we'll get over it
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 9:24
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#34
Must be getting close to the truth. Who gives a shit what they think. Methinks that maybe islamofacism and islam may be one and the same.
#37
"a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation."
There. Fixed it for you Nihad. Everyone should be happy now.
#40
The problem is that Bush hasnt explained the analytic necessity of the term Islamic Fascism.
Saying Islamic Fascism doesnt imply Islam is inherently fascist, any more than saying "european Fascism" implies Europe is inherent fascist, or "christian fundamentalism" implies all christians are fundamentalist. Its necessary to mention Islamic fascism, because European fascism was centered on the nation state and was not connected with premodern religious loyalties (with the arguable exception of Spain) while in Islam, where the nation state is weak, fascism takes on a different form.
This is explained best by Paul Berman in "Liberalism and Terror"
Y'all might not want to read it though, as Berman is a socialist :)
#42
Nihad Awad doesn't like Islamic Fascists term?
Okay, how about Wahhabi-Islamo-Fascists?
I nailed it *cough* of course under the influence of much learned men (Daniel Pipes, Christopher Hitchens, Stephen Schwartz) nearly five years ago by calling it nihilistic Islamic absolutism (NIA). But that's a bit of a mouthful, so I'll stick with Islamic Fascists.
#43
Check List on How Do We Discern If You're An Islamo-Fascist:
1. You call for the murder of all non-Wahhabis, including Jews, Christians, Shiites, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, B'hais, Sufis, etc.
2. You hate music, dance, art, and anything remotely and humanly sensual. Goats and under-age children are okay (See depressing movie OSAMA).
3. You glorify death, often wear black uniforms, and pledge your loyalty to cultiish-like leaders.
4. Goose-stepping and stiff arm salutes kinda gives away the game.
5. You hate democracy and yearn to impose by force of arms and terror, the latter directed entirely at unsuspecting, innocent civilians, your dark, Medieval vision of Shar'ia.
These are more than sufficient though several additional examples can be added.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/11/2006 11:57
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#45
Bristling over Islamic Fascists? If the truth hurts, too bad!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/11/2006 12:15
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#46
#8 Baba Tutu Historically and politically accurate analysis, sir. May the innocent among them be protected. Ideas can be smashed if not completely destroyed or rendered controllable.
#48
They are right in a way. We are not at war with islamic fascists.
We are at war with islam. No modifer is required.
And the only thing that "inflames anti-muslin tensions" are the muz themselves because all things being equal no sane person would ever give them a second thought to them.
Posted by: kelly ||
08/11/2006 15:06
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#49
Good grief, it didn't even take 12 hours before CAIR was offended? How are those trials/detentions going for all your leadership, there CAIR? Finally, the Prez calls our war what it is.
Again, why Islam must undergo a "modernization" as Judaism and Christianity have. Except that big Mo' himself wouldn't allow for it. By that, I mean, I'd call myself a believer of a "Only Way" religion (Christianity), but it's been tempered with Christ's teachings, the Magna Carta and the US Constitution (Separation of Church and State). Yes, I believe Christ is the ONLY way to Heaven, but I'ma not gonna strap a bomb on or hide liquid explosives in a sports drink bottle to prove my point. Unfortunately, I don't believe Islam can modernize without doing away with Big Mo and his crazy "religion." And, they won't go for that, so Mr. Prez, carry on.
Posted by: BA ||
08/11/2006 15:42
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#50
"We believe this is an ill-advised term and we believe that it is counterproductive to associate Islam or Muslims with fascism,"
"Ill-advised"? For who? Those that promote increasing awareness of exactly how serious a threat Islam (not "Islamism", not "Islamofacism", not "Islamists" ab nauseum) is to civilized society. "Ill-advised"? In what way? Was that a threat on your part at those of us who oppose sharia law to avoid using such a precise description of what your so-called "faith" entails?
Rather, I'd say, Islam is "ill-advised" to continue on its current course. Nothing other than radioactive glass awaits all Muslim countries if they are unable to authentically and genuinely reform their religion.
#51
Hmmmm. Lets see. You muzzies 'bristle' at the term "Islamic Fascism". OK. Ummm, don't get all pissed, but there's a few things about you that make me 'bristle' too. Bet my list is longer.
#52
CAIR and every single Muslim public figure needs to be ridiculed at mocked at every opportunity. That's how ideologies eventually get defeated--the folks on the sidelines begin to notice that its *ok* for them to voice the things they had already noticed but feared to comment upon.
#53
Well, not to play devil's advocate (besides, Aminahajib already has that role), bu we're dealing with weird brain-washed, brain-numbed cultist Muslims, and if you say Muslim Facists, rather than Islamic Facists, then it leaves room for alternate personal definitions: i.e., some Muslims are facists and others aren't (which of course is arguable--but you get the drift). On the other hand if you say "Islamic" Facists, then you damn the entire religion itself along with them (again, arguable, but to be avoided in the real world where perception is 9/10ths of reality). "Islamofacist" would mean that they are "informed" or at least think they are by Islam, and leaves the same room for differentiation, although again, I don't think it matters much in this fight. It's bad monkeys against good monkeys, for all you evolutionists, and for the Christians, it's written, so we're not surprised, but we better do what's right and fight them (which is what's right), and for Jews, fight now or fight more later, and for the Buddhists . . . well, I'm not sure. Blondie--great comment.
#54
damn perceptions. They've lost the opportunity to be "surprised" and "disappointed" when the shit hits the Islamic fan. The entire religion is based on disgusting premises. The religious "must see" sites are in a country which tolerates no other religion. Their "good book" expresses no tolerance of other religions, instead they are to be killed or enslaved, lied to, and at best, to be taxed just for being dhimmis. I say, F*&K em. I've had enough of their outrage and seething, I've had enough of being discomforted by the acts of their true believers, and I've had enough of them. Adopt the customs and tolerances of your adopted states or get the fuck out. Attacks on US soil will cause innocent (and non-practicing muslims) to die. I suppose the hard core Islamists don't care. I've seen them send their children and women out as human shields, splodeydopes, and cannon fodder. Truly a disgusting and cowardly belief system - our Saudi and Paki friends along with the conniving Iranians and Syrian cowards are targets. Get the coordinates
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 19:42
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#55
The police came fast, but we were unable to arrest those heroes.
UUmmmm, Why?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/11/2006 21:53
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#56
Couldn't agree more Frank. Well said. I was musing on the political problems, and the fact of lumping everyone together, which will make them all more willing to lump. Of course, my belief is that they'd do it anyway, so it don't really matter.
(Xinhua) -- Iran will continue its nuclear work "to the maximum scope" within the non-proliferation regime, but will give a reply to an international nuclear offer by Aug. 22 as announced, Iran's ambassador to Russia said on Thursday. Tehran views as "unlawful" the latest UN Security Council resolution on Iran, which urges the country to stop uranium enrichment by Aug. 31, Gholamreza Ansari said, quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency. "Therefore we don't recognize the demand that we suspend uranium enrichment in view of absence of violations on our part," Ansari said. But Tehran will give an answer by Aug. 22 to the international proposal on its nuclear program, he added.
To lure Tehran to the suspension of uranium enrichment, Britain, China, France, Russia, the United States and Germany offered an international package in mid-June offering incentives and multilateral talks to Iran. "Iran intends to continue work in the nuclear field to the maximum scope in accordance with the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," Ansari said. "We are resolved to continue our activity within the framework of IAEA rules," the diplomat said, referring to the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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#1
Of course. Anyone who might entertain even the most fleeting thought otherwise is a diplomat or journalist, er sorry, a fool... but I repeat myself.
#2
So far many on the Net see either a Commie-style, Cold War-era anti-US/West classic dual warning that Iran is now a nuclear power thanx to its Radical leaders, as opposed to a WMD attack on a US-Israeli city(s)[Tel Aviv?]. It makes no sense for the Terror Groups + Moud to proclaim to liberate Jerusalem only to destroy same via WMD attack.
Yup, my guys with the baby-blue helmets come through ...
(CBS) CHICAGO Chicago police on Thursday morning arrested one of the 11 Egyptian students who were wanted for failing to show up for an exchange program in Montana. It all started with some heated words at a ticket counter.
At 8 a.m., about four hours after heightened security restrictions went into effect following a foiled terror plot in Britain, a man at the Delta terminal at OHare International Airport tried to use a ticket to go to Bozeman, Montana, but his ticket was out of New York rather than Chicago, police Supt. Philip Cline said at a news conference. A disturbance then ensued. He was raising his voice for the level for the counter agent to call for the police officer to come over, Cline said.
The man, Ahmed Mohamed Mohamed Abou El Ela, 22, was found to be one of the missing Egyptian students, Cline said.
He was acting in a strange, erratic behavior, and the Delta supervisor and they went a little farther in their investigation with the ticket, and they discovered that he was one of the missing students that they were looking for, said Chicago police officer Tim Bolger, who arrived at the scene. We get disturbances occasionally, but its not unusual for people to be a little irate at the ticket counter, added Bolger.
Check the pic of Officer Bolger at the link. I wouldn't mess with him. He's got the healthy, military-reserve look about him ...
The Delta supervisor contacted the university, who in turn told her to call the Chicago Police Department and the FBI, Bolger said. They say he was kind of fidgety, moving around and kind of talking in a loud voice, which caused for a little bit of alarm, Bolger said.
El Ela was calm when Bolgar arrived. He was taken into custody and turned over to federal authorities, Bolgar said.
Mayor Daley said Bolger did a tremendous job checking out the disturbance. All of a sudden a name comes up and a person of interest, Daley said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/11/2006
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Good to see Chicago's finest actually doing something other than towing vehicles on Halsted and Stony Island.
#5
Heard on radio this morning they've bagged 6 out of the 11.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/11/2006 9:56
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So let's see. I'm illegal, I'm Arab, every cop in the country is looking for me, a major terrorist plot involving aircraft has been uncovered this morning, and I'm in O'Hare with a ticket issued from New York.
Let me walk over to this ticket counter and start screaming. I'm sure nobody will notice.
Two Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, including a Pakistani, were arrested on Thursday night and two kg of RDX and huge quantity of other ammunitions were seized from their possession as police foiled a possible terrorist plot to subvert Independence Day celebrations. Anaz, hailing from Islamabad, and Abrar Ahmed, a resident of Bahraich in Uttar Pradesh, were nabbed by Special Cell sleuths of the Delhi Police outside Ajmeri Gate terminal of the New Delhi railway station. The duo, who had reached Delhi by Swaraj Express from Jammu, was about to get into an autorickshaw when they landed in police nets, Deputy Police Commissioner (Special Cell) Alok Kumar said.
Two kg of RDX and five detonators were seized from the two, who disembarked at platform number eight of the crowded station, he added. The two terrorists were in mid-30s, were interrogated by a team of Special Cell officers to find out their motives and to get details about their contacts in the capital which is in a state of high security alert in view of Independence Day.
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The main points of a resolution to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah have been agreed to by the U.S. and France, diplomatic sources said Thursday. John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said council members hope to vote Friday on the resolution, but "we're not there yet."
Under the plan, the Lebanese army and an expanded U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon will deploy to southern Lebanon in parallel with an Israeli withdrawal, the sources said, adding that Hezbollah forces will move north. The timing of the UNIFIL deployment had been a key sticking point in negotiations. Parts of the plan still need to be worked out, the sources said, and the various governments involved need to agree on it. ...
Posted by: ed ||
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#1
Looks like the Lebanese government isn't gonna go for it because the Joos aren't moving out of southern Leb fast enough. The Ruskies have their own proposal calling for a 72-hour Hezbo rearming period humanitarian period.
And then the Frenchies have their "own" separate proposal in case the US-French proposal falls.
With any luck, no agreement and the push to Beirut and beyond commences.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/11/2006 0:17
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"U.S., France agree on peace plan"
That's nice, but since it's the Israelis and SyriaIran the Lebanese Hizzie-nuts who are actually fighting....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/11/2006 0:32
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#3
Looks like the UN (France and USA) have caved in on disarming Hizbollocks, which means another war not too far in the future, and in the interim much crowing by HB that they beat the Jooos. Dam and double dam.
#4
Right, the "peace plans" will come and go. Not worried about that. Olmert and Peretz, a different story. They may say tomorrow "go ahead" and 12 hours later, say "prrrrr". F~<&!^@ schlemiels!
With leaders like that, who needs enemies?
No, am not Jewish, but Israel is on the very important front line of Western Civilization.
I simply draw parallels, since I was born in a small country that was called Czechoslovakia and don't like to see the history stutter.
#5
I know exactly zip about Israeli politix. Are 'no confidence' votes possible? If so, I should think Netanyahu is working overtime on forcing one at this very moment.
#8
Sorry not blaming Condi on this one, if Olmert does not want to fight the US is just taking the other route and salvaging what we can. Israel had its shot and it's leadership let them down.
#9
I'll play the bad guy... Diplomacy is a game. Condi is serving at the pleasure of the President. You don't like Condi? Then you don't like how Bush plays the diplomacy game. She is the designated "nice doggie" who talks the quadruple-speak of diplomacy. What will this actually mean, in reality? Honestly, none of us here know, though I'm sure a few can accurately guess what will play out.
The failure of nerve implied and cursed so far in this thread may be real - or it may not be. If it is, and there are soooo many ways it can become yet another irrelevant UN resolution to add to the dung-heap of UN "accomplishments", it is shared by many - but most specifically Israel (Olmert) who held the high ground and had the clear opportunity, strong support, and right to aggressively pursue a military "solution". Speed was key. What we saw was irresolute and ambivalent and chaotic.
Personally, if this does play out to be another idiotic stalemate, leaving both the farce of international diplomacy intact and the threat of Hezbollah to attack again at a time of their choosing, then I most regret the lost opportunity to drag Syria and Iran out into the open for direct reprisal -- and regime change -- with the US doing the heavy lifting. It was there, just a few steps further down the road.
#12
"UNIFIL deployment had been a key sticking point"
What abooot the original sticking point? The kidnapped soldiers!! If this deal goes through, without the soldiers being returned, then Olmert is a traitor to his people. Then again, you get what you vote for.
As much as we like to blame Condi, (especially me) and as I take a 50,000 ft view, Israelis must realize that they are over the 18yrs of age and need to start taking care of themselves. If kids want respect from their parents, then they need take some responsibility for themselves. This current Israeli leadership comes crying to daddy USA and mommy UN every time they get in a hole. After receiving the rope to get out of the hole, they want someone to pull them up, too.
Grow some nuts and get with the program, people! Enough, with the victim card nonsense. Frankly, its getting old and tired.
#15
So far I think this is another case of GWB stringing a poker hand out until he sees enough of the cards. Will the Israelis really fight hard? Will the Hezbies break and run? Will the Russians and Chinese veto any resolution that leaves the Israelis in southern Lebanon?
I think GWB hasn't seen enough cards to call. The peace plan is just another way to say, "I'll take two ..." and wait to see what happens. For sure, even if this 'plan' were to be approved tomorrow by the UNSC (hah), it would take weeks to be implemented. Let's see what develops.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/11/2006 9:50
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Nice analogy SW. I agree GWB is not ready to fold yet.
#17
"I know exactly zip about Israeli politix. Are 'no confidence' votes possible? If so, I should think Netanyahu is working overtime on forcing one at this very moment"
Yes no confidence votes are possible. A no confidence vote with the war still underway is inconceivable in Israel, however.
After the war Likud will probably submit a no confidence resolution. What happens is unclear. Peretz and Labour will maneuver to get Olmert out, but wont want Bibi in power. Some Kadimaniks, like Lipni, will want Olmert out, but, having taken a more dovish line, wont support either Bibi OR Peretz. Peres and Ramon will stand ideologically WITH Olmert, although they may maneuver for personal power. And its quite possible when all is investigated, that Olmert wont look that bad, making the best of a bad situation.
I doubt Bibi will take power short of a new election, even if Kadima splinters, I dont think the votes are there. If theres a new election all bets are off.
#18
"I think GWB hasn't seen enough cards to call. The peace plan is just another way to say, "I'll take two ..." and wait to see what happens. For sure, even if this 'plan' were to be approved tomorrow by the UNSC (hah), it would take weeks to be implemented. Let's see what develops."
I would agree that whatever plan is passed, thats not the end of the game, its just setting up for the next round (of political maneuvering, and maybe war)
#19
Israeli fumbling has limited US options. What else could Bush/Rice/Bolton done than what they've done so far?
Israel has huge problems. Their enemy vastly outnumbers them, is currently emboldened by petrodollars, is too zealous and crazed to be deterred by their numerous defeats, and has a demographic bulge of young, underemployed males.
So Israel, hampered by being a civilized country, lurches from attempting to quell the danger by strong military action to attempting to do it by withdrawals and peace talks.
The mood in Israel at the time of the last election was to try the withdrawal method, not only putting in Olmert, but giving more votes than expected to Peretz's Labor. In effect, Israel voted for the kind of fumbling and putting PR before military necessity it experienced. Although the eventual upshot may be a call for Olmert's head (though not literally as in Islam), the Israeli public has itself to blame for voting for a government of wishful thinkers. My sympathy is with them because they just want to live sane, normal lives, but unfortunately, they are not in a sane, normal neighborhood.
#20
It would be too easy to infer that Bush and Condi and Ohmert actually see something bigger coming down the road and are avoiding the impulse to tie down any additional IDF forces in southern Lebanon.
But that would mean some sort of largescale activity from the other side that indicates a prelude to other things. Syria and Iran do not appear to be mobilizing.
So either the IDF is not ready or Ohmert has wobbled, and Bush or Condi seek peace in our time.It boggles the mind that a Lieberman primary loss would push GW to the left of Kerry.
"Ari, Ari, wake up! Ohmert's in a coma!"
Posted by: john ||
08/11/2006 10:54
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#21
The more I think about this, Ohmert has decided he does not want to destroy Hezbollah. He expects the UN to stop the missiles.
Bush and Condi are just trying to put a fallback plan in place to save Israel. If Ohmert really wanted to deal with the issue, I bet that Bush would him, and Condi would provide diplomatic cover for whatever the IDF did.
Posted by: john ||
08/11/2006 11:01
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#22
"Israel voted for the kind of fumbling and putting PR before military necessity it experienced. Although the eventual upshot may be a call for Olmert's head (though not literally as in Islam), the Israeli public has itself to blame for voting for a government of wishful thinkers. My sympathy is with them because they just want to live sane, normal lives, but unfortunately, they are not in a sane, normal neighborhood."
Unfortunately for Israel PR is part of strategic necessity.
Also, whatever happens in Lebanon, theres no good strategy on offer involving staying IN the West Bank.
#23
The muslim nazis will push it too far and Israel will do what is necessary and prevail. But not will the present leadership or the familiar names passed around.
#24
LH, I agree with you that "unfortunately for Israel PR is part of strategic necessity." But other factors are part of strategic necessity as well. The reported unused IDF battle plan, if true, seemed to make strategic sense. A strike on the Hizbollah command facility in Beruit before they went underground with a chance of getting Nasrullah and then landings and paratroop drops north of Hizbollah strongholds with the idea of cutting them off. The slower method actually used doesn't actually win over world public opinion or governments in France, Russia, etc. In fact opposition to Israel can be depended on to rise the longer a conflict lasts.
In regard to the West Bank -- Israel withdrew from Lebanon and Gaza and was rewarded with missile fire from Lebanon and Gaza. Israel didn't withdraw from the West Bank and, guess what, no missiles from there.
#26
and again, Odys, afaict Olmert really believed, based on the intell available to him, that his method would NOT take that long, and so it wasnt worth the added risks of the more aggressive approach.
I dont think its possible to tell from here what intell was available to Olmert, or what the basis for his strategic decisions was.
Im not saying his position looks good, but I would await the inevitable post-war commision.
#27
Israel is cranking up the ground offensive to full tilt according to an AP alert just sent in. Looks like we'll find out what the IDF can do when it really tries.
#28
I think thats being done to put pressure on the UNSC to ignore Arab quibbles and to pass the US-French resolution. If a ceasefire passes, and they attack anyway, I for one will be surprised.
#31
Condi, like Colin Powell before her, is the institutional advocate for diplomacy in the U.S. government. It's her job to do the diplomacy dance. She's doing her job.
This administration has a standard offensive play that it's used twice, and appears to be using again: make 'em an offer they can't accept.
2001: The US demands that the Taliban turn over all al-Q in Afghanistan, or else. The Taliban refuse, as they must, since Binny won't go quietly--which is no shock, because the terms of the offer were specifically designed to be unacceptable. US goes in, Talibunnies get stomped, one of the world's worst tyrranies is reduced to an ineffectual insurgency.
2003: The US demands that Saddam leave power as a condition of leaving him alive. Saddam refuses, of course--no tyrant ever renounces the throne while breathing. As expected, the US invades, Saddam is out of power, yanked from his spider hole, and faces a date with the noose. Iraq is still a work in progress, but there's no gainsaying that one of the world's worst tyrranies has been put out of business.
It looks to me like we're seeing the same play here. Whatever the ceasefire offer might be, it will be deliberately designed to be unacceptable to Hezbollah, or to the French, or to one of the other permanent members of the UNSC--and it will, therefore, fail.
As planned.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/11/2006 14:24
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#32
UAn uacceptable offer to Hezb'Allah or to Israel?
#33
It won't be unacceptable to France 'cause they helped write. If France likes it, Hez-B likes it. That leaves Olmert. He's already played his hand. He's done. He accepts as well. Game over. Someone please, tell me I'm wrong.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/11/2006 16:10
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#34
"It won't be unacceptable to France 'cause they helped write. If France likes it, Hez-B likes it"
Thats simply not the case.
Note - its also possible Hezb wont like it, will accept it anyway, then proceed to subvert it on the ground. Thats where things become problematic.
#35
Good point LH...yet the end result is the same and that's truly to their liking. Heard in another thread that IDF is moving in...hope that's the case and I hope it sticks.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/11/2006 16:43
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#36
Now Fox is saying Olmert is agreeing to the "deal", and tanks that rolled north an hour ago have turned around... WTF is going down, and how can this be a win-win for anybody I am pulling for?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/11/2006 17:36
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#38
It's a huge win for Hez-B and the Mullahs - a horrendous defeat for the West. Make no mistake...this is a major defeat.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/11/2006 19:01
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#39
It's an invitation to Osama and his friends to gloat over the weakness of Israel and the USA.
And to prepare the next attacks.
Israel is doomed. We've just seen the world take a giant step towards a nuclear war. We could have destroyed Syria and Iran now -- instead hundreds of millions will die in the next few years.
Posted by: Kalle ||
08/11/2006 20:07
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(KUNA) -- Iraqi police raided Thursday a mosque in western Baghdad to arrest three gunmen involved in an armed attack on Iraqi police in which a police colonel was killed, said the Iraqi Interior Minister in Baghdad. "Group of terrorists attacked the national police in Saydiah area in Western Baghdad, and then took refuge in Turkey bin Talal Mosque," said the statement.
The gunmen "continued firing from the mosque killing Colonel Dhiaa Al-Samirrai and two other policemen," added the statement. The Iraqi police then arrested the three gunmen, one of whom was wounded by police fire, said the statement, noting that police also confiscated a large quantity of weapons stored in the mosque. An Iraqi security source told KUNA earlier gunmen clashed with Iraqi police in Ighilsidiya area in Western Baghdad. Three Iraqi policemen including a senior officer were killed in the clash, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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#1
A large quantity of weapons in the mosk ?
Truly shocking.
PESHAWAR: Police arrested 24 activists of a banned religious organisation, Tehrik-e-Nifaz Shariah Muhammade (TNSM), for setting TVs, CDs, and VCDs on fire during their campaign against obscenity and vulgarity in Manglawara and Charbagh. Interior Minster Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told reporters in Islamabad that the government would take stern action against people involved in the incident. He said that nobody could stop people from watching TV.
"The activists were booked ... for terrorising people in the area," Manglawara Station House Officer Khaista Rehman told Daily Times. She said that TNSM leaders including Dost Muhammad Khan, Muhammad Anwar, Fazal and Tajud Din had been arrested. According to eyewitnesses, the activists bought VCDs, VCRs, TVs and VCDs, and set them on fire along with shops. Residents of the area also joined the campaign after clerics threatened them. Clerics used loudspeakers to tell people to join hands with them. Eyewitnesses said that the activists also launched a door-to-door campaign to 'motivate' people.
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by Dean Barnett ("SoxBlog"), posting at Hugh Hewitt
As you all know by now, a terrorist plot in England was foiled in the last 24 hours. The plan was to blow up something like a half dozen passenger planes, perhaps over American cities. The British authorities characterized the plot as an effort to commit mass murder on an unimaginable scale.
What a poignant choice of words that is. One of the most important conclusions of the 9/11 forensics was that 9/11 was partly caused by our lack of imagination. . . .
HERES WHAT IVE LEARNED from personal experience. As Soxblog readers know, Im a 39 year old man with Cystic Fibrosis. For those of you not familiar with CF, 39 is pretty old for someone with the disease. Im doing quite well now, but Ive had some extremely rough patches and some very dark days in the not too distant past.
When you go through such times, the first instinct is to resist imagining the unimaginable. Our human instinct is to recoil from the worst; if theres something that makes recoiling easy, it becomes all the more likely that youll choose to not face your unpleasant reality.
If you have a serious disease, you eventually wind up going one of two routes: One is that you confront your problems, deal with them in a hard-headed way and make peace with the hand youve been dealt. I call this dealing with your New Normal; the old normal was better, but the New Normal becomes your reality. It may be less than optimal, it may be downright dreadful, but its your new reality and you find a way to deal with it.
The other choice is to deny the situation. There are tons of ways to rationalize such a decision without using the pejorative term denial. You can defiantly say that you wont let your condition rule your life. If you do, people will applaud your toughness. These are often the same people who always tell you how healthy you look, even when you look and feel like death warmed over.
So you live your life without accepting or dealing with your New Normal. And you reap terrible consequences.
AS FREE SOCIETIES, the Western democracies have a choice of whether or not face up to the existential challenge they face from Radical Islam. The lure of seeking an easy way out is almost irresistible. The siren song of sitting down and reasoning with the Hezbollahs and Ahmadenijads of the world is powerful. If we could just do something to convince ourselves that all is well and that theres nothing to fear, life sure would be easier.
Just as is the case with an illness, there are a lot of people willing to tell us that are fears are overblown. If you want to believe that George W. Bush and the Patriot Act are the greatest threats to our way of life, you wont have much trouble finding a professor on a nearby college campus to buttress your theory. If you want to think that there was nothing really going on in London to warrant any concern and all the news this morning is just Karl Roves response to Joe Liebermans defeat, youll easily locate a prominent blogger to offer his concurrence.
But its past time we face the facts and realize that this is our New Normal. Its worse than the old normal, the one that we had before 9/11 when we felt completely safe even though we werent.
This is the one small point on which I would disagree -- the Old Normal was worse, even though it didn't feel like it, because we were just as unsafe as now, but we were almost wilfully ignoring it. Osama knew he was at war with us, but we didn't.
Its time we stop having a sphere of things that are unimaginable. Lets imagine airliners exploding over our cities. Lets imagine a mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv. Lets imagine a mushroom cloud over New York.
Lets imagine how such things might happen. And then lets resolve to stop them.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/11/2006
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#1
Another good article. It seems a major realization is occuring. Years late for us, but important nonetheless.
NEW DELHI: Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Mohammad Saeeds house arrest in Lahore could pave the way for a meeting between Pakistani President Gen Pervez Musharraf and Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on the sidelines of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit to be held in Havana in the middle of September.
I wouldn't get too excited. It's a house arrest. When they're under house arrest in Pak, they have the habit of leaving the house and going anywhere they damned well please. And it's only for a month. I'd call it a charade.
Indian officials see the LT founders month-long detention as a welcome development. After dialogue between the foreign secretaries of the two countries in Dhaka earlier this month, it is believed that a senior Pakistani official visited India recently, and met an Indian interlocutor to prepare the ground for the summit meeting. Sources said that after the Mumbai blasts, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh approved punitive measures against Pakistan, he directed that these should not end up in permanent hostility.
Which makes no sense at all.
Indian officials said Sayeeds arrest was a welcome move because Indians believed that a resumption of dialogue was not acceptable if practical steps were not taken in Islamabad to control terrorists allegedly operating from Pakistan. Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said in Dhaka that Hafiz Saeed, chief of the Jamaatud Dawa, and Syed Salahuddin, chief of the Hizbul Mujahideen, were roaming free in Pakistan. Sayeed and Salahuddins arrests were only some of the actions that Pakistan could take easily, said Saran while referring to Pakistans claims that it was doing all it could to fight terrorism. Officials, however, brushed aside reports that India had given a non-paper to Pakistan, envisaging the return of Jammu and Kashmir to its pre-1953 status, which granted it autonomy in most subjects.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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#1
Manmohan Singh is a far too genteel soul to deal with Perv.
Posted by: john ||
08/11/2006 15:56
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PESHAWAR: Suspected militants killed a tribal elder in South Waziristan for allegedly "spying" for the United States, officials said on Thursday. Noor Muhammad was gunned down late on Wednesday in Angoor Adda, 40 kilometres west of Wana, said administration officials on condition of anonymity. Noor, 44, had been receiving threatening letters for the past few months, accusing him of "spying" on militants on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border for the US-led coalition, his family told reporters. One letter, said his cousin, had warned: "Stop spying for US forces in Afghanistan or you will be killed." This is the second such execution to have taken place in the area this week. On Monday suspected militants, believed to have links to the Taliban, beheaded a tribesman in North Waziristan on similar charges.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Likely not a spy; that accusation is probably just 'cover' for killing a guy somebody doesn't like for other reasons. From Taliban perspective it doesn't make much difference - killing somebody accused of spying (true or not) provides good disincentive to others considering spying or any other uncooperative behavior.
I particularly like the bomb magnet lady (she's the really unlucky lady that was bombed out of two places she lived in within a few days of each other);
Image is at
"http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/4081/944/400/263308.jpg" - I give up, I keep getting the Roadside America site
But they're all good!
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/11/2006 4:13
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#3
You can even get Green-Tshirt-Guy T-shirts, coffee mugs, and coasters. Collect the whole set!
#5
I understand that Green Helmet Guy is the founder of First Responders Without Borders. His group uses ambulances, stretchers, and camera crews to furnish cadavers and propaganda where needed, throughout the world.
#8
Man what a site! I for one hope this makes the big blogs and out to the Hannity/Rush crowds. This needs to be spread far and wide! Oh, the propaganda, lol!
Posted by: BA ||
08/11/2006 14:48
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Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday criticized the Bush administration for being too slow in helping to resolve the crisis in Lebanon. "The United States did not move sufficiently and quickly enough to contain the situation," Mubarak was quoted as saying by the state-run Middle East News Agency.
He also blamed other UN Security Council members for their inaction. "The international dealing with the crisis, whether inside or outside the Security Council, lacks necessary speed and balance," Mubarak said. He blamed the Lebanese standoff on the international community's failure to push for a peace settlement between Israel and the Palestinians. "Unless the United States and other members of the Quartet admit [their failure to address the Palestinian peace process] this crisis will only breed more crises," Mubarak said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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#1
Hosni,our dear friend, I could not agree with you more. We have been far too slow in bringing in Spectre gunships, A-10 ground support, offshore fire battery support, major carpet bombing runs, and the like. Had we done this, as you recommend, this shit would be over. We could now be bulldozing rubble and creating the free fire zones required for safety. We should consult with you more often.
THE HAGUE - A Rwandan man suspected of having participated in the massacre of Tutsis during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda has been arrested in the Netherlands, the national prosecutors office said on Thursday. The suspect, 38-year-old Joseph Mpambara, is set to be tried in a Dutch court, said prosecution spokeswoman Desiree Leppens.
"Paging Ms. del Ponte, Ms. Carla del Ponte, to the white courtesy phone ..."
Witnesses questioned by Dutch police said that Mpambara played a role in several attacks on Tutsis in the Kibuye region in western Rwanda. He is said to have ordered the killing of Tutsis taken from an ambulance at a roadblock there.
According to the Dutch prosecutors office, Mpambara is suspected of being a member of the infamous Interahamwe Hutu militia, implicated in the deaths of thousands of Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide that left some 800,000 people dead in 100 days. Mpambara will appear in court for a procedural hearing within three months, Leppens said.
And should get his day in court in about, oh, eight years, or whenever all the witnesses have died of old age ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/11/2006
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Decent, tech-oriented NYT article once you get past the obligatory Bush bashing.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 10 Despite knowing for years that liquid explosives posed a threat to airline safety, security agencies have made little progress in deploying technology that could help defend against such attacks, security experts say.
"But you can rest assured we'd give you the full details if they had! Remember, we're all the news that hurts George Bush."
Since September 2001, the federal government has hired tens of thousands of government screeners and upgraded its metal detectors and X-ray machines. But most of the equipment is still oriented toward preventing a metallic gun or other easily identifiable weapon from being carried aboard; it cannot distinguish shampoo from an explosive. Cathleen A. Berrick, director of the Government Accountability Offices homeland security and justice division, told a Senate committee in February 2005 that the Transportation Security Administration, part of the Department of Homeland Security, redirected more than half of the $110 million it had for research and development in 2003 to pay for personnel costs of screeners, delaying research in areas including detecting liquid explosives. It has continued to redirect some research and development money, she said Thursday.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/11/2006
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#1
I think that if you were smart enough, it would be pretty easy to smuggle even military grade explosives on an airliner using stuff that you could buy at Target. Any commercial battery would do. The hard part would be making a blasting cap that didn't look like a blasting cap. I could think of half a dozen ways to do that, too.
Luckily, most of these shaheed wannabees aren't smart enough to figure any of this out.
#4
No carry on luggage over the long haul will cut into business traveler revenues which cuts into airline viability meaning fewer flights from fewer airlines at higher costs to everyone.
The carry on policy needs to be to be reorganized no doubt, but it needs to be thought out as well.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/11/2006 20:45
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#9
The MSM has long reported on how Commies/Maoists are supporting Radical Islam and akigned terror orgs - iff the Radical Islamists recognize or are aware of the Left's 2015-2020 timeline to force America under anti-Amer Socialism + anti-sovereign OWG. IMO the destruction of 6-20 airliners over America, while graphic and deadly, is not enuff. IMO the agenda of the Radical Islamists + Failed/Angry Left is better accomplished by using these airliners to spread BIO-WAR or CHEM-WAR AGENTS. Also bear in mind that it is not unkknown for the leadership in many Islamist terror orgs to mislead their own suicidists as to time and place of death by detonation.
NAJAF: At least 51 people were killed across Iraq on Thursday. A suicide bomber killed at least 35 people and wounded over 90 on Thursday near a Shia shrine in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, dealing a blow to fresh efforts to avert a sectarian civil war. Hospital sources said the bomber blew himself at a police commando checkpoint on his way to the Imam Ali shrine, one of the most revered sites in the world for Shia and an annual destination for thousands of pilgrims. Dr Riyadh al-Shibli said 35 were killed and 94 wounded. Shia al-Forat television channel said there were two attacks, including the suicide blast, in the city which is home to Iraqs top Shia clerics. Suddenly my cart and the cans and the people were flying through the air, said Moussa Khadhan, a 37 year-old street vendor, who was nearby at the time.
The blast ripped through the checkpoint as the United States boosted its troop levels in Baghdad, some 160 km to the north, in another attempt to ease communal bloodshed tearing the capital apart. Ambulances drove through the streets of Najaf appealing for blood donations as the scale of carnage became clear and the number of injured rose. Television pictures showed the body of a child being laid besides other bloodied corpses on a patch of ground beside a hospital. The dead, marked with numbered white labels on their foreheads for identification, included both police and civilians, police and hospital sources said.
Meanwhile, at least 13 people were killed across Baghdad on Thursday as US and Iraqi security forces began executing the new phase of a security plan for the capital. Insurgents ambushed and killed the head of a national police brigade and six officers while they were carrying out a raid in the flashpoint neighbourhood of Al-Maalif in southwest Baghdad, medics and a defence official said. Seven, including the colonel, were killed in the battle, a Defence Ministry official said, adding that the officers had been ambushed by insurgents during a raid intended to seize a major weapons cache.In another incident not far from Al-Maalif, six people were killed when a bomb exploded in a busy restaurant in Baghdads Saydiyah neighbourhood, an Interior Ministry official said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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#2
Seems suicide boomers have been way down lately.
A few days ago, the escalating-surging-blossoming-exploding-surging-violence-
leading-to-the-impending-civil-war-quagmire had 35 killed across the nation, including three or four booms.
I tellya, we're winnin'!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/11/2006 6:53
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The police have reported that at least 110 Katyusha rockets have fallen in various parts of northern Israel since early Thursday morning. This latest barrage has so far resulted in two killed, one person seriously wounded, and 69 people who have been treated for shock.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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#3
Yep, open the lines of "communication" - start bombing and say you'll stop when Hezbollah is destroyed. Everything outside of Israel (and Jordan, at the moment) is a target. Barrage pattern, fire for effect.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/11/2006 16:05
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ISLAMABAD - Pakistani intelligence agencies helped British authorities foil a plot to carry out mid-air bombings of planes to the United States, a senior Pakistani security official told AFP on Thursday. The actions that have been taken in London were made possible only with the close cooperation between Pakistani and British intelligence, the official said on condition of anonymity.
I'd like to believe this is true, I really would, but I need more convincing ...
Pakistani intelligence cooperated and provided vital information that led to these actions, the official added. They conducted an operation here and on the basis of that operation we provided leads to London police about the plan to bomb the airliners, the official added.
He would not give any details about the operation.
"I will say no more!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/11/2006
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Right on, gromgoru. Since the Brits have "revealed" (according to news reports I saw last night) they had a agent inside the plot, which struck me as particularly stupid to admit, the Paki claim is rather overstated, to say the least. Who knows how many versions of this operation will be in play next week.
Taking out the Hizb enablier Syria cuts off Hizb.
NWFP rearranging of the funiture by air and some special ops neutralizes Binny's Boyz and the Taliban. Iran may we made unstable by Syria and the MMs can be taken out with their dinner jacket. And last but not least, Saudi financiers taken out would let the Pak madarassas and other nefarious enterprises die on the vien, which will start neutralizing Pakistan.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/11/2006 12:22
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AP, I agree in theory, but in truth, the best way to stop the entire nonsense is to stop the flow of money. That requires targeting the source first. My list:
Front-line troops:
6. Hezbollah/Hamas
7. NWFP/Taliban
8. Sudan
9. Somalia
10. Indonesia
11. Philippines/MILF-Abu Sayyaf
12. Malaysia
13. Bangladesh
Supporters:
13. Egypt
14. Libya
Whack 'em as listed.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/11/2006 15:10
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#7
Oldspook, are you able to provide any comments or insight on the informal halawah money transfer system commonly used by many Arabs? About the only other modern comparison might be to the Korean pak system.
I regard halawah as being a primary conduit for laundering albeit small scale but numerous contributions to terrorist causes. While it is critical to sever the huge funding provided by the Saudis, halawah represents a gigantic swarm of malarial mosquitoes compared to the Saudi cockroach.
...On August 12 at 7 am, we will gather in Martyrs Square to form a civilian convoy to the south of Lebanon. Hundreds of Lebanese and international civilians will carry relief as an expression of solidarity for the inhabitants of the heavily destroyed south who have been bravely withstanding the assault of the Israeli military.
After August 12th, the campaign will continue with a series of civil actions for which your presence and participation is needed. Working together in solidarity we will overcome the complacency, inaction, and complicity of the international community and we will deny Israel its goal of removing Lebanese from their land and destroying the fabric of our country...
#2
Does Israel have any A-10s? If not, do they wanna borrow a couple?
Posted by: Mike ||
08/11/2006 0:16
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Target-rich environment....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/11/2006 0:29
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Hope springs eternal, tu3031. My e-mail to Adam Shapiro ...
Adam,
Here's hoping the biggest JDAM in the IAF arsenal finds you and all your islamofascist-loving pals huddled with Nasrallah and as many other Hez-vermin as possible. I'm sure there's an especially vile corner of Hades reserved for treasonous, self-loathing Jews like yourself, and I'm so looking forward to seeing you go there as soon as possible. Nobody deserves it more than you.
Oh, almost forgot ... a big "hello" from me to Rachel Corrie when you get there. Viva Caterpillar!
Sweet dreams!
Unfortunately, he'll probably make it no further than the bar of the Beirut Hilton.
#9
Oh the irony of it all. Moonbats on parade at the Martyr's square. It could only be better if it was on the anniversary of tianiman square! All we need now is Jesse Jackson and the show will be complete!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/11/2006 17:43
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#10
Isn't there an edict "Any moving vehicle WILL be destroyed"?
Self curing problem.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/11/2006 22:05
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WATERBURY, Conn. -- U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman seized on the terror arrests in Britain Thursday during his first campaign appearance since launching his independent bid for re-election, accusing his Democratic rival of not fully understanding the danger facing the nation.
'We are at war with a brutal enemy. How the heck can we be in a battle in which we are fighting as Democrats and Republicans against each other when these terrorists certainly don't distinguish based on party affiliation?
Lieberman also reiterated his disgust for political partisanship when it comes to national security, saying it's "un-American" in his opinion.
"We are at war with a brutal enemy," Lieberman said during a campaign stop at a Waterbury pizza joint Thursday. "How the heck can we be in a battle in which we are fighting as Democrats and Republicans against each other when these terrorists certainly don't distinguish based on party affiliation? They want to kill any and all of us. I'm not saying we shouldn't have healthy disagreement and discussions about national security, but to make it into a partisan political football is just unacceptable and in my opinion un-American."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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Sounds right. I am not a very big Joe fan, but I am MUCH less a Lamont fan. Joe seems to be honest. Lamont? No, he seems to be an opportunist.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
08/11/2006 0:20
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Unless sources are wrong, Lamont is the son of Corliss Lamont, who was the most articulate of all Secular Humanists.
#4
Lieberman got raped by his party because he supported the WOT. Lieberman is right on this important issue, wrong on some of the other issues. Lamont is wrong on all the issues. The looney left wing islamofacists appeaser demos won this primary. Maybe they will lose the election--hopefully, he said.
President Hugo Chavez said Thursday his close friend and ally Fidel Castro is in a "great battle for life," but he also expressed optimism about the 79-year-old Cuban leader's recovery. "From here, let's pray to God for Fidel and his recovery, and he's fighting a great battle," Chavez said in a televised speech from the eastern state of Anzoategui.
I'm praying for sepsis, myself...
Hugo prays to God? An odd sentiment for a commie thug to express over another commie thug ...
His statement was the most dire yet from a close Castro ally in describing the 79-year-old Cuban leader's condition. Chavez said he had received a message from Castro on Wednesday "that filled me with more optimism, with more faith."
"He said, 'Squigggk!'"
"Among other things Fidel told me ... 'I keep saying Chavez, God help Chavez and his friends,'" Chavez said. "I wrote to him in my own handwriting last night, in the early morning, to send it with the messenger who was returning immediately: 'You are fighting a great battle every day, all these nights,'" Chavez said.
"Ramon! Take a letter in my own handwriting!"
"Si, Jefe!"
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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Hurry up and die already, willya? The suspense is killing--uh, you, actually.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/11/2006 0:15
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What ? I thought he was a lot better. Out of bed and walking around. Getting ready to get back on his skateboard. Ya mean you were just funnin' us ?
#3
I'm thinking Fidel is way dead, Ramon got iced shortly afterwards in a pre-emptive coup and there is some serious jockeying going on behind the scenes on who will be the front man for the regime.
#5
Aha! Right out of the 'Dictator's Death Playbook'. Looks like we're in week two:
Week 1. Announce he's sick, can't rule anymore, BUT he's recovering nicely & he'll be OK soon. Really.
Week 2. Announce he's had an unexpected setback in his health. There is Cause for Concern, but don't panic. Doctor's and fellow dictators are optimistic.
Week 3. Announce that his Heroic Battle continues. His condition has Stablized. Doctors are still cautiously optimistic.
Week 4. Announce that he's on a respirator, but still sends his Greetings to the Masses. Viva la Revolucion!
Week 5. Announce that he 'belongs to history, now' and 'will live foreever in the hearts of the people'. Arrange for millions of weepy peasants to pass by the wax facsimile.
#7
This is like Don Barzini wishing Don Corleone a speedy recovery.
Don't think Hugo would like Fidel out of the way so he becomes the new commandante of anti-Americanism in the hemisphere.
#9
Not even a still photo of Fidel propped up in bed conferring with his brother, no sign of dear brother anywhere, other commie leaders wishing Fidel a quick recovery. He's dead, Jim.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/11/2006 8:51
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He can't go yet. Miami hasn't decided yet if they will salute his passing with mojitos or Cuba libres.
#16
Just which 'God' would you be referring to, Hugo? The Marxist Leninist Totalitarian Hate-filled Saber-rattling Opressor God is one I'm not familiar with.
(KUNA) -- Israeli forces besieged a residential building in Umm Al-Sharayit neighborhood in the West Bank town of Ramallah as they searched for militants. Eyewitnesses told KUNA, a large number of Israeli forces besieged a number of Al-Aqsa martyrs brigades' militants in a home while soldiers opened heavy fire at the building.
Israeli forces have arrested the commander of Al-Aqsa martyr's brigades in the West Bank, Ramzi Obeida, who Israel has been seeking since 1995 after having his wife ask him to turn himself to the troops over loudspeakers. In Nablus, Israeli forces arrested five Palestinians including a girl after raiding their house in the town. During the raids, the army was firing randomly towards homes, eyewitnesses said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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(KUNA) -- A ceasefire in Lebanon might be reached within hours, Israeli television cited political sources on Thursday. The sources said that the UN Security Council has been discussing the deployment of French forces with the Lebanese Army in Southern Lebanon in addition to granting international forces wider combat powers. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said that Israel would achieve big progress if a ceasefire was reached with the removal of Hezbollah from South Lebanon.
Meanwhile, Israeli media reported three Israeli soldiers were killed and several others injured in battles with Hezbollah in South Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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I still maintain any international force that goes and tries to disarm Hizbollocks won't last till Christmas. It will be a bloody mess.
#4
Face it, we lost this one big time. Olmert will go down as another Chamberlain and will be held accountable. Israel is now a paper tiger and all of Islam has taken note. The next war - and it isn't far off - will be everyone's worst nightmare. And, despite seeing it from far off, we were still a party to it. Maybe this is how it had to be though 'cause in the end, who here really felt that anything short of wholesale torching was gonna convince these nutjobs. Hell....they want it - been begging for it. Well....soon enough.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/11/2006 1:26
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Whimper or Bang?
Cake or Death?
SOSDD.
Another pointless round in the endless M.E. "game", another opportunity lost.
Australians could be committing a serious offense under Australian law if they fight for Hizbullah in Lebanon, the attorney-general warned Thursday. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock warned that traveling to a foreign country to fight under some circumstances is an offense under Australia's toughened counter-terrorism laws punishable by 25 years in prison. "The foreign incursion offense does not apply if a person is with armed forces of a government and that would mean it wouldn't apply in relation to Israel or Lebanese defense forces," Ruddock told Parliament. "However, Australians who engage in hostile activities with Hizbullah or the external security organization could well be committing an offense," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/11/2006
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More good sense from the Aussies.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/11/2006 3:44
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Inspired by all of the groovy Rantburg love vibrations going 'round in this thread, I've thrown together a "preview of coming attractions" for the upcoming film noir classic A Very Rantburg Movie (or maybe it's The Rantburg Falcon, The Big Rant, Rantablanca, or Keyboard Largo, it's hard to say).
I tried to get as many of the "regulars" in as I could, but the site where I made this only allows you to string nine clips together. If you got left out and didn't want to be, don't take it personal. (If you got included, don't take that personal, either.)
Hope you get a chuckle out of it, anyway.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/11/2006
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#1
"Mike as himself"
ROFLMAO!
Very cool, Mike. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/11/2006 0:23
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Posted by: j. D. Lux ||
08/11/2006 11:15
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#14
Steve: The movie is a Flash animation hosted on Grapheme's server. There's probably a method to capture it as a digital movie, but for the life of me I don't know what it would be. If anyone else here at the 'Burg has the right software and knows how to do it, by all means, go for it.
The rest of you: thanks for the kind words, and glad you enjoyed it.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/11/2006 11:57
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#15
TW, your life is now complete. Top billing, and no supporting role! That's when the big bucks start rolling in.
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.
Residents in Winter Park, Fla., are angered over the city's response to a squirrel that attacked at least seven people this month, according to a report.
The attacks took place between August 1 and August 4. Some people now say the attacking animal should have been captured sooner. One citizen said he captured the squirrel under a bucket after it attacked his friend. He said he released the squirrel when county animal-services workers failed to arrive after two hours. 
Winter Park received notice from the Florida Department of Health Epidemiology stating that the results on the squirrel were negative for rabies.
TWO policemen were killed by suspected members of the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist group in an area controlled by the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in North Cotabato, the group said in a statement. Abdul Dataya, chairman of the MILF ad hoc joint action group, said Insp. Marlon Frilles and PO1 Binggo Utto, members of the Special Action Force's Rapid Deployment Co., were shot and killed by JI fighters while attempting to serve an arrest warrant on Indonesian national Adulhir bin Hir alias Marwan in Barangay Balong in Pikit town at 1:35 a.m., Thursday. 
Two alleged members of the terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) were arrested with two kg of RDX by the Special Cell at New Delhi railway station here on Thursday. The police suspect that the duo was part of a module despatched to the Capital to carry out strikes in the run-up to the Independence Day celebrations. According to Joint Commissioner of Police (Special Cell) Karnal Singh, a team under the supervision of Sanjeev Kumar Yadav recently received a tip-off from the intelligence agencies that two persons suspected to be working for the LeT would sneak into the Capital. During interrogation, the two identified themselves as Abrar Ahmed, a resident of Bihar, and Abu Anas, a Pakistan national. The two were subsequently whisked away to the Lodhi Colony interrogation cell.
In an unusual move, Israeli helicopters fired missiles at two houses in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin on Wednesday, killing two Islamic Jihad leaders, the army said. The IDF said the targets were senior members of the Palestinian terror group, and that they were planning attacks against Israel. The two men, who were identified as Osama Attili, 24, from Atil near Tulkarm, and Muhammad Atik, 26, from Burkin near Jenin, were leaders of Islamic Jihad's military wing.
(RIA Novosti) - A militant has been killed in a firefight with federal forces in central Chechnya, the North Caucasus counterterrorist operation headquarters said Friday. "On Thursday, at 2:30 p.m. Moscow time (10:30 a.m. GMT), a unit of Russian Interior Troops conducting a reconnaissance operation near the village of Agishty [the Shalinksy district], engaged an eight-member illegal armed group," a source at the headquarters said. "One gunman was killed in the exchange. His identity is being established." He said there were no losses among federal servicemen. A manhunt has been launched for the other militants.
Gore isn't quite as green as he's led the world to believe 
Angelo Frammartino, a 24 year-old student from Italy who arrived in Israel as a human rights organization activist, was stabbed to death Thursday by an Arab knifeman. "He believed in what he did and was always ready to help others," a friend described him. 
Israel has asked the Bush administration to speed delivery of short-range antipersonnel rockets armed with cluster munitions, which it could use to strike Hezbollah missile sites in Lebanon, two American officials said Thursday.
Three Indonesian Christians convicted of leading attacks on Muslims will be executed on Saturday, officials say. The three men, who have been on death row since 2001, will face the firing squad just after midnight local time (1600 GMT). They were sentenced for inciting attacks during religious rioting in Central Sulawesi in 2000.
A typographical error that replaced a v with a d on a menu item during the First Familys flight to the Far East last Friday left four Air Zimbabwe staffers suspended - and a sour taste in the mouth. President Robert Mugabe and the first family, on the Harare-Singapore-China flight last Friday, were handed a menu card where an item should have read Chimukuyu and Dovi. But there was a disastrous typo when a d replaced the v. 
The draft ceasefire plan agreed to by the United States and France may result in an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon, but it will not disarm Hizbullah. It appears that United Nations efforts are concentrating on halting Israeli military operations throughout Lebanon, but no effort is being made to eliminate the Hizbullah threat. The draft agreement only calls for pushing Hizbullah north of the Litani, not far enough from Israels northern border to place Hizbullah rockets out of range from northern Israeli civilian population centers.
(KUNA) -- Iraqi Ministry of Defense said Thursday that their soldiers were able to arrest 27 armed men and the dismantling of two cars loaded with explosives in different parts of the country. A statement by the ministry said the arrest of five armed men in the northern city of Mosul coincided with the arrest of seven others in the Ramadi city in the west of Iraq. Eleven other armed men were arrested north of Baghdad, while the dismantling of two car bombs was made in the Howaija and Al-Khales towns, statement added.
(KUNA) -- In one of the biggest casualties in recent times, as many as 45 Tamil civilians and four soldiers were killed in Sri Lanka between the government forces and the Tamil rebels Thursday. The civilians died in military strikes in villages near a disputed canal in Northeastern Sri Lanka Thursday, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported from capital Colombo. The soldiers were also killed in an encounter with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) near the canal Thursday, the news agency reported.
Eight policemen and 12 Taliban insurgents died when rebels ambushed a security patrol and a firefight broke out in restive southern Afghanistan, a provincial spokesman said Thursday. The fierce clash in Kandahar provinces volatile Panjwayi district on Wednesday left another seven policemen and nine rebels wounded, spokesman Daud Ahmadi said. A police patrolling convoy was attacked by Taliban. Eight policemen and 12 Taliban were killed, Ahmadi said.
Defying a police veto, a group of 200 gay pride activists held a silent protest vigil in a central Jerusalem park on Thursday, after their long-planned international city parade was canceled due to the war in Lebanon. The heavily guarded demonstration, which was ignored by the city's haredi community, was allowed to take place after organizers adhered to the police conditions for the gathering, Jerusalem police spokesman Shmuel Ben-Ruby said. 
(CNN) -- Terrorists planned to concoct an "explosive cocktail" using MP3 players and sports drinks to blow up as many as 10 jetliners bound for the United States, authorities said Thursday.
(Xinhua) -- The U.S.-led coalition forces have arrested four Iraqis suspected of abducting a U.S. female journalist who was kidnapped earlier in the year and then released, a U.S. military spokesman said Wednesday. "Coalition forces have detained four Iraqi men that we believe have been involved in the kidnapping of 
(Xinhua) -- Indian Border Security Force (BSF) and Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) exchanged gunfire at border for nearly eight hours overnight, creating panic and tension in the area, local news agency UNB reported Thursday. There was no report of any casualty from the exchange of gunfire that began at 11:00 p.m. (1700 GMT) Wednesday and continued till 7 a.m. (0100 GMT) Thursday at Amalshid border in Bangladesh's northeastern Sylhet district. However, Khalilur Rahman, 70, a resident of Amalshid village, died of cardiac arrest apparently from the impact of heavy sound created by mortar shells, UNB reported. Many local residents, who left their homes, are yet to return while some others were staying at their homes by digging bunkers.
(Xinhua) -- The Ugandan government peace delegation is consulting with mediators on the next step after the rebel 
The son of the last ruler of part of present-day Saudi Arabia said Tuesday he was setting up an opposition party in Paris to seek democratic rule in the oil-rich kingdom. "We announce the birth of the 'Saudi Democratic Opposition Front' which will struggle by peaceful means for the establishment of democracy in the country," said Prince Talal Mohammad al-Rashid, son of the last ruler of the independent Rashidi emirate which reigned in the northwestern region of Hail from 1835 to 1921. "The Al-Saud (family ruling Saudi Arabia) must either respect liberties and introduce democracy or give up the power they usurped," Prince Talal, who has been living in exile in France since 1980, told AFP.
BEIJING The Chinese government, which has battled a surge of social unrest in recent years, reported Wednesday that there were 39,000 cases of "public order disruptions" in the first half of the year. The Ministry of Public Security said that represented a 2.5% decrease in the number of protests from the same period in 2005, though it offered no explanation of how it had come up with the figures.
DIR: The families of two-honour killing victims were forced by an illegal jirga, comprising of local khans and maliks, to agree to take no action against the killer and to keep the case quiet, sources have revealed. The murderer told the jirga that he would kill another four of five members from each respective family if they refused to strike a deal with him and reported the killings. 
The man charged in the shootings of six people at Seattle's Jewish Federation offices has indicated he wants to plead guilty, his attorney told a judge Thursday. 
(KUNA) -- National Security Adviser .JPG)
(Reuters) - U.S. Muslim groups criticized President Bush on Thursday for calling a foiled plot to blow up airplanes part of a "war with Islamic fascists," saying the term could inflame anti-Muslim tensions. 
(Xinhua) -- Iran will continue its nuclear work "to the maximum scope" within the non-proliferation regime, but will give a reply to an international nuclear offer by Aug. 22 as announced, Iran's ambassador to Russia said on Thursday. Tehran views as "unlawful" the latest UN Security Council resolution on Iran, which urges the country to stop uranium enrichment by Aug. 31, Gholamreza Ansari said, quoted by the Itar-Tass news agency. "Therefore we don't recognize the demand that we suspend uranium enrichment in view of absence of violations on our part," Ansari said. But Tehran will give an answer by Aug. 22 to the international proposal on its nuclear program, he added. 
Two 
(KUNA) -- Iraqi police raided Thursday a mosque in western Baghdad to arrest three gunmen involved in an armed attack on Iraqi police in which a police colonel was killed, said the Iraqi Interior Minister in Baghdad. "Group of terrorists attacked the national police in Saydiah area in Western Baghdad, and then took refuge in Turkey bin Talal Mosque," said the statement.
PESHAWAR: Police arrested 24 activists of a banned religious organisation, Tehrik-e-Nifaz Shariah Muhammade (TNSM), for setting TVs, CDs, and VCDs on fire during their campaign against obscenity and vulgarity in Manglawara and Charbagh. Interior Minster Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told reporters in Islamabad that the government would take stern action against people involved in the incident. He said that nobody could stop people from watching TV. 
NEW DELHI: 
PESHAWAR: Suspected militants killed a tribal elder in South Waziristan for allegedly "spying" for the United States, officials said on Thursday. Noor Muhammad was gunned down late on Wednesday in Angoor Adda, 40 kilometres west of Wana, said administration officials on condition of anonymity. Noor, 44, had been receiving threatening letters for the past few months, accusing him of "spying" on militants on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border for the US-led coalition, his family told reporters. One letter, said his cousin, had warned: "Stop spying for US forces in Afghanistan or you will be killed." This is the second such execution to have taken place in the area this week. On Monday suspected militants, believed to have links to the Taliban, beheaded a tribesman in North Waziristan on similar charges.
Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak on Thursday criticized the Bush administration for being too slow in helping to resolve the crisis in Lebanon. "The United States did not move sufficiently and quickly enough to contain the situation," Mubarak was quoted as saying by the state-run Middle East News Agency.
THE HAGUE - A Rwandan man suspected of having participated in the massacre of Tutsis during the 1994 genocide in Rwanda has been arrested in the Netherlands, the national prosecutors office said on Thursday. The suspect, 38-year-old 
NAJAF: At least 51 people were killed across Iraq on Thursday. A suicide bomber killed at least 35 people and wounded over 90 on Thursday near a Shia shrine in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, dealing a blow to fresh efforts to avert a sectarian civil war. Hospital sources said the bomber blew himself at a police commando checkpoint on his way to the 
WATERBURY, Conn. -- U.S. Sen. 
President Hugo Chavez said Thursday his close friend and ally Fidel Castro is in a "great battle for life," but he also expressed optimism about the 79-year-old Cuban leader's recovery. "From here, let's pray to God for Fidel and his recovery, and he's fighting a great battle," Chavez said in a televised speech from the eastern state of Anzoategui.
(KUNA) -- Israeli forces besieged a residential building in Umm Al-Sharayit neighborhood in the West Bank town of Ramallah as they searched for militants. Eyewitnesses told KUNA, a large number of Israeli forces besieged a number of Al-Aqsa martyrs brigades' militants in a home while soldiers opened heavy fire at the building.
(KUNA) -- A ceasefire in Lebanon might be reached within hours, Israeli television cited political sources on Thursday. The sources said that the UN Security Council has been discussing the deployment of French forces with the Lebanese Army in Southern Lebanon in addition to granting international forces wider combat powers. Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres said that Israel would achieve big progress if a ceasefire was reached with the removal of Hezbollah from South Lebanon.
Australians could be committing a serious offense under Australian law if they fight for Hizbullah in Lebanon, the attorney-general warned Thursday. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock warned that traveling to a foreign country to fight under some circumstances is an offense under Australia's toughened counter-terrorism laws punishable by 25 years in prison. "The foreign incursion offense does not apply if a person is with armed forces of a government and that would mean it wouldn't apply in relation to Israel or Lebanese defense forces," Ruddock told Parliament. "However, Australians who engage in hostile activities with Hizbullah or the external security organization could well be committing an offense," he added.
