WASHINGTON - A liberal blogger has filed a federal complaint against former Sen. Fred Thompson, the actor and unannounced Republican candidate for president, accusing him of violating election laws as he ponders his entry into the race.
The blogger, Lane Hudson, submitted his complaint to the Federal Election Commission on Monday saying Thompson has raised far more money than he needs to explore whether to run for president.
Federal law allows potential candidates to raise money to travel, conduct polls and pay for other expenses related to "testing the waters" for a political campaign. During that exploratory period, a potential candidate does not have to file financial reports with the FEC.
The law prohibits anyone who is "testing the waters" from hoarding the money for use during his actual campaign. Potential candidates also cannot refer to themselves as candidates, can't run ads that publicize their intention to campaign or take steps to qualify for the ballot in a primary or caucus state.
According to a financial report filed late last month, Thompson had raised nearly $3.5 million and had had spent $625,000. Thompson must raise money within federal contribution limits and must report it to the FEC once he becomes an official candidate.
"We're following the law," Thompson spokesman Jim Mills said in response to the complaint.
Under federal guidelines, the FEC will now give Thompson 15 days to respond to the complaint. Following Thompson's response, election commissioners will decide whether to dismiss the case or investigate further.
Thompson, the "Law & Order" television actor and former Republican Tennessee senator, has been hiring staff, opening a headquarters, holding fundraisers and promoting his credentials as a potential White House contender. But he has not said definitively that he's a candidate for president. He is expected to make an announcement around Labor Day.
By not filing officially as a candidate, Thompson also benefits from continuing reruns of "Law & Order" without broadcasters encountering demands for equal time from his rivals.
Hudson, an activist who gained attention for posting Internet communications between disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley and a congressional page, said Thompson "has been ignoring the letter and the spirit of the federal election law for his own political benefit."
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
08/20/2007
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#1
"ignoring the letter and the spirit of the federal election law for his own political benefit"
You mean like the DemocRats?
Oh, the horror!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/20/2007 21:12
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A Pakistani man being held in Sydney's Villawood detention centre will take an appeal against the Refugee Review Tribunal to the High Court.
Ali Humayun says he is a homosexual and will face significant persecution if he returns to Pakistan.
But a member of the Tribunal did not believe Mr Humayun is gay, saying his sexuality was "contrived" and only caused by the situation of his detention.
Rachel Evans from Community Action Against Homophobia believes the Tribunal should have taken additional steps to determine Mr Humayun's sexuality.
"I guess the way that you would determine as to whether or not someone is homosexual is by talking to them and talking to their friends and talking to their lovers and not prejudging them in any way," she said.
"And unfortunately that's what the Refugee Review Tribunal has done in this case."
BRITISH Muslims will hold their own version of the Live 8 concerts to highlight the humanitarian crisis in Sudan's restive Darfur region, organisers announced overnight.
The concert on October 21 will be held at London's Wembley Stadium and is aimed at raising awareness of the situation among Britain's 1.5 million Muslims amid claims of inaction and focus on other areas such as Iraq, they said.
"We are going for our own equivalent of Live 8. We are going for a concert at the end of (the Muslim holy month of) Ramadan to celebrate (the festival of) Eid," said Jehangir Malik, fund-raising manager for charity Islamic Relief.
"It will be people trying to raise funds and raise the profile. We should hopefully see a sell-out and it will be a milestone."
Performers will include singers like the Iranian-born Sami Yusuf.
Live 8 in July 2005 involved a series of worldwide concerts ahead of the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, to highlight the problem of global poverty and call for the world's richest nations to increase aid.
A Muslim delegation, backed by Britain's Foreign Office, recently travelled to Darfur to talk to victims of the violence and refugees as well as tribal leaders and government officials.
The party said that with the exception of Malaysia, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Muslim countries had been slow to react to the Darfur crisis compared with some Western nations, including the United States and Britain.
The editor of the Muslim magazine Q News, Fareena Alam, said: "It is very shameful that we (Muslims) can get very, very hot and bothered about other issues.
"There is a lot of information about Darfur. There is no doubt this is Muslim-on-Muslim violence. In Iraq the enemy is externalised.
"This is a thorny issue for us and it is clear that we have to do more. It is a challenge for us because people are highly motivated and get highly charged in other areas, and we need to do considerably more."
The United Nations has estimated that at least 200,000 people have been killed and more than two million displaced by the combined effect of war and famine since civil conflict erupted in Darfur four-and-a-half years ago.
#3
After the 95% production salarys/expenses are paid, the Darfurians will see that generous donation (net .01% after deducting the bill for the fatwa on mirth frivolity and restivness.)
A DWARF performer at the Edinburgh fringe festival had to be rushed to hospital after his penis got stuck to a vacuum cleaner during an act that went horribly awry.
Daniel Blackner, or Captain Dan the Demon Dwarf, was due to perform at the Circus of Horrors at the festival known for its oddball, offbeat performances.
The main part of his act was for him to appear on stage with a vacuum cleaner attached to his member with a special apparatus.
The attachment broke before the performance and Mr Blackner tried to fix it using extra-strong glue, but unfortunately only let it dry for 20 seconds instead of the 20 minutes required.
He then joined it directly to his organ. The end result? A solid attachment, laughter, mortification and ... hospitalisation.
"It was the most embarrassing moment of my life when I got wheeled into a packed A&E with a vacuum attached to me," Mr Blackner said.
"I just wished the ground could swallow me up. Luckily, they saw me quickly so the embarrassment was short-lived."
THREE Villawood detainees awaiting deportation were this morning refusing to come off the roof of the Sydney immigration detention facility where they had spent last night, demanding reinstatement of their visiting rights.
Van Nguyen, from Vietnam, and New Zealand nationals Montana Kelly and Bruce Ngaromo, all of whom were recently released from prison, forced their way onto the roof early yesterday evening.
A spokeswoman for Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews said Villawood management had so far failed to persuade the men to end their protest.
"The situation will be assessed this morning. Obviously they are being encouraged to come down voluntarily," the spokeswoman said.
"There are significant safety risks to them and to other persons with any effort to remove a person from a roof, so we'll just see how we go."
It was too early to say what disciplinary action the men, who used force to gain access to the roof, would face, she said.
The three protesters had recently been released from prison after serving lengthy sentences, the spokeswoman said yesterday.
Their protest was sparked by a ban on home visits.
The minister's spokeswoman said detainees whose visas had been cancelled on character grounds were banned from home visits for four weeks, except in exceptional circumstances, while a security review took place.
"In light of a detainee absconding on an excursion we have introduced this measure," she said.
All detainees in stage one of the detention centre were on a hunger strike in support of the three men and were also demanding the resumption of visits, Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Jamal Daoud said last night.
#1
All detainees in stage one of the detention centre were on a hunger strike in support of the three men and were also demanding the resumption of visits, Refugee Action Coalition spokesman Jamal Daoud said last night.
So don't feed these guys and let the other three stay up on the roof.
Let's see who caves first.
INDIAN doctor Mohamed Haneef will today learn whether he will be allowed to return to work in Australia.
Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews cancelled the former terror suspect's work visa on character grounds last month saying he had a reasonable suspicion Dr Haneef had "associated" with terrorists.
He referred specifically to Dr Haneef's second cousins Kafeel and Sabeel Ahmed, both allegedly involved in failed bomb plots in the UK in June.
Dr Haneef's lawyers have appealed the decision and at a hearing in the Federal Court at Brisbane on August 8, they argued for his visa to be reinstated so he can continue his physician training at the Gold Coast Hospital.
They disputed the minister's use of the word "association" and questioned whether any relationship with an alleged criminal, even an innocent one, would be enough to justify a visa cancellation.
Solicitor General David Bennett QC, told the court "association" in the minister's usage, was more like "mates" to the average Australian.
He said not only had Mr Haneef given his mobile phone SIM card to Sabeel Ahmed when he left the UK last year, but he had borrowed money from Kafeel and stayed with the brothers for a short time.
Following the day-and-a-half long hearing, Justice Jeffrey Spender reserved his decision until noon (AEST) today.
Dr Haneef still wanted to return to work in Australia, his lawyer Peter Russo said today.
Mr Russo said he spoke to Dr Haneef, who is still in India, last night.
"The main issue is what he wants to do in the future," Mr Russo told ABC radio.
"And it's his wish to return to Australia to continue his studies."
However, Mr Russo said there were some issues with that.
"The main issue is that he doesn't have a visa, but the other issue is that perhaps his family may not think that it's the wisest thing for him to do."
#1
perhaps they should let him stay, release his mug shot/accusations/likely whereabouts to the nationwide media and pull back any security. Let nature take its' course. Medical trauma training firsthand
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2007 19:56
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THE West was still underestimating the evil of Islam, an influential Muslim thinker has warned, insisting that Australia and the US have been duped into believing there is a difference between the religion's moderate and radical interpretations.
On a two-week "under the radar" visit to Australia, Syrian-born Wafa Sultan secretly met both sides of federal politics and Jewish community leaders, warning them that all Muslims needed to be closely monitored in the West.
In an interview with The Australian, Dr Sultan - who shot to recognition last year following an interview on al-Jazeera television in which she attacked Islam and the prophet Mohammed - said Muslims were "brainwashed" from an early age to believe Western values were evil and that the world would one day come under the control of Sharia law.
The US-based psychiatrist - who has two fatwas (religious rulings) issued against her to be killed - warned that Muslims would continue to exploit freedom of speech in the West to spread their "hate" and attack their adopted countries, until the Western mind grasped the magnitude of the Islamic threat.
"You're fighting someone who is willing to die," Dr Sultan told The Australian in an Arabic and English interview. "So you have to understand this mentality and find ways to face it. (As a Muslim) your mission on this earth is to fight for Islam and to kill or to be killed. You're here for only a short life and once you kill a kafir, or a non-believer, soon you're going to be united with your God."
Dr Sultan, who was brought to Australia by a group called Multi-Net comprised of Jews and Christians, met senior politicians, including Attorney-General Philip Ruddock, Foreign Minister Alexander Downer and Labor deputy leader Julia Gillard.
Private security was hired for Dr Sultan, who left Australia yesterday, and state police authorities were also made aware of her movements in the country.
The organisers of her visit asked the media to not publish anything about her stay until she had left the country because of security-related concerns. Dr Sultan said Islam was a "political ideology" that was wrongly perceived to have a moderate and hardline following.
"That's why the West has to monitor the majority of Muslims because you don't know when they're ready to be activated. Because they share the same basic belief, that's the problem," said the 50-year-old, who was last year featured in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Dr Sultan, who was raised on Alawite Islamic beliefs before she renounced her religion, began to question Islam after she witnessed her university teacher get gunned down by Muslim hardliners in Syria in 1979.
The mother of three, who migrated to the US in 1989, said the West needed to hold Muslims and their leaders more accountable for the atrocities performed in the name of Islam if they wanted to win the war on terror.
But while she considered the prophet Mohammed "evil" and said the Koran needed to be destroyed because it advocated violence against non-believers, Dr Sultan struggled to articulate her vision for Muslims, whom she said she was trying to liberate from the shackles of their beliefs.
"I believe the only way is to expose the Muslims to different cultures, different thoughts, different belief systems," said Dr Sultan, who is completing her first book, The Escaped Prisoner: When Allah is a Monster.
"Muslims have been hostages of their own belief systems for 1400 years. There is no way we can keep the Koran."
... all Muslims needed to be closely monitored in the West.
Since this is virtually impossible it raises the specter of internment or deportation. To avoid citizenship issues, a combination of the two will be the most likely outcome.
warned that Muslims would continue to exploit freedom of speech in the West to spread their "hate" and attack their adopted countries, until the Western mind grasped the magnitude of the Islamic threat.
Crippled by Politically Correct thought, moral relativism and the Multiculturalist agenda, this probably will not happen soon enough to avoid serious loss of life on our soil. The ensuing backlash against American Muslims will likely involve an even greater death toll.
Islam was a "political ideology" that was wrongly perceived to have a moderate and hardline following.
There you have it, straight from the horse's mouth. Does anyone still believe that Islam is a religion, much less a Religion of Peace? [spit]
That's why the West has to monitor the majority of Muslims because you don't know when they're ready to be activated.
As .com warned all of us so long ago, the vast majority of seemingly moderate Muslims represent nothing but a dormant or covert resource pool for jihadist Islam. The overwhelming lack of any active internal resistance by Muslims to Islamism stands as glaring proof of this.
the West needed to hold Muslims and their leaders more accountable for the atrocities performed in the name of Islam if they wanted to win the war on terror.
None of which has happened. Instead, they have gotten a free ride while those in charge of protecting us persist in hand wringing and appeasement of perpetually aggrieved Muslim sensitivities.
Only some serious collective retribution is going to change the course of things. Retaliation must involve suffering that far exceeds our own or it will be to no avail. Our attempts to deal humanely with the most inhuman creed on earth earns us only well-deserved scorn and encourages further terrorist attacks against the West.
Muslims have been hostages of their own belief systems for 1400 years. There is no way we can keep the Koran.
As a dedicated bibliophile with a personal library that contains many thousands of volumes from every basic category of the Dewey Decimal system, the notion of book-banning is intrinsically abhorent to me. Yes, I even own a Koran. However, for the Koran, I am willing to make an exception. As the essential vehicle of shari'a law, it is the prime mover for widespread human rights violations and cannot be tolerated.
Wafa Sultan understands this and should be commended for so actively delineating to us the peril we face if our inaction continues.
Here's the creepiest complaint we've received in a long, long time. Reader Sam says he was filmed by a security guard contracted by Time/Warner during a recent showing of The Invasion at an AMC movie theater.
When he complained about it to customer service, they told him "Time Warner/Warner Bros had contracted a security company to film movie theater audiences around the country during the opening weekend of its movies in an effort to prevent piracy."
Ew! We think this is scary. If we saw some potential psycho filming us during a movie we'd be weirded out and we'd leave. Especially if it was during a (sort-of) remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Do not go to sleep. Warner Bros. will film you. The Invasion died horribly, pulling down only $6M nationwide with a $80M production budget. So imagine only six people in the theater, while some guy intently films just you for the entire length of a movie. Eek!
#1
At some point htey'll put powerful electromagnets on the theater exits to screw with DV storage.
The movie companies seem as clueless as the music industry when it comes to protecting their stuff. Here are a few truisims I've noticed during my life:
(1) Before the days of online music and napster kids in college would copy each others music tapes. This led to greater exposure to bands and the number of legal tapes I purchased increased ten or twenty fold when I finally had the cash. Think of the swapping as an investment and keep the actual cost low enough not to scare people out of going legit. (2) MOvies prior to Batman often cost $80. They were copied and copyprotection was put on a number of tapes. Then Batman came out at $20 and sold through the roof. Nobody was gonna risk buying or making a half-arse copy when going legit was so cheap and the quality of a legit is generally considered to be superior. (3) A friend of mine bought me a chinese bootleg of BATTLEFIELD EARTH. This is not a lost sale to the movie industry because I never in my right mind would have paid for such a movie and I love bad movies. Not every pirated move or music means a lost sale, sometimes your products are simply a good joke. (4) My mom bought SATANIC VERSUS because the Iranians tried to keep it out of peoples hands. If you get all totolitarian in the way you do things people will do the illegal deeds as an act or rebellion. (5) For a long time the Star Wars movies were the top pirated movie on DVD because they were not available legally on DVD. As soon as they came out I'm pretty sure the pirated copies dried up.
So the lessons. Make the products available at a reasonable price and people will buy them. Jerk people around and they will intentionally stick a thumb in your eye. And a certain amount of illegal activity can often gin up legal sales assuming you don't tick people off.
#2
rjschwarz: I've long proposed that copyright and perhaps patent law should be much more like the original 19th Century US mining law.
In short, it said that you could stake a claim about anywhere, but you had to either improve the claim or make a profit each year amounting to $500, one way or the other, or you would lose the claim.
Translated to copyright, this would extend valuable copyrights for many years, as companies could either attribute profits to them in particular, or retail them to the public in fair sale for at least a nominal amount, say $500, even in the 21st Century.
However, the vast libraries of copyrighted material that are neither retailed no allowed to go public domain, would *have* to be retailed or lose their copyright protection.
For example, Disney refuses to re-release "Song of the South", because it just doesn't want to, thinking it racist. But they should not have the right of government protection in *not* selling something *and* not letting anyone else sell it.
But at the same time, Disney's very profitable Mickey Mouse character makes them countless millions of dollars every year, so it should continue to get protection.
When you think of the enormous libraries of recorded music, books, TV and movies, and other things that are now unfairly receiving government copyright protection, even though they are not for sale by anyone, you can see this would apply to mountains of content.
The purpose of copyright and patent law is *not* to protect ideas forever. It is to stimulate business and foster innovation by giving a small amount of protection to new ideas. It should be returned to that idea.
Egypt says it will supply electricity to the Gaza Strip. The move comes after the EU and Israel have stopped subsidizing and delivering fuel to the Strip after irregularities were discovered concerning the fuel already supplied and suspicions increased that terrorists were using the fuel to power Kassam rockets. It's a beginning
#6
Ima thinkrn importing Bugtis with their love of destroying pylons and pipelines and such
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2007 22:42
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#7
Zen, its AC and I doubt they're high tech enough to have a ground wire. Unfortunately, you have a great idea that can't be taken advantage of because they're about 6 months ahead of the first light bulb.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
08/20/2007 22:50
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#8
Zen, its AC
AC has a hot and ground as well. What with all their red wire, blue wire problems, mixing up these two shouldn't be much of a stretch.
#2
"Lockheed Martin offered the system, know as the PAC-3, to the IDF for the relatively low price of under $50 million, defense industry sources said."
That's our introductory, low, low price of only $50 Million. But wait! If you act now, we'll throw in this Ginsu banana slicer absolutely free!
How much would you expect to pay for this amazing offer in stores? $200 Million? $100 Million? But now, for this limited time offer of three easy payments of $15 Million, plus $5 Million, Shipping and Handling, this PAC-3 AND the Ginsu banana slicer can be yours today.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
08/20/2007 22:52
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#5
The banana slicer might be overkill for scuds. I think Israel should use their domestically developed missile defense.
It's something along the lines of a flyswatter with an extended handle, isn't it? Gr*m?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
08/20/2007 22:55
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#6
The Israelis will get PAC-3 since US aid will pay for 100% of it. The US congress is only willing to pay for about 50% of Arrow acquisition costs ($170M/battery). That's after US taxpayers have already funded $2 billion for it.
The Arrow has the same problem as legacy Patriots. It uses a proximity fuse and HE warhead. Like the Patriot, it can destroy the incoming missile w/o destroying the warhead. In addition, Israel was considering dumping Arrow for THAAD.
Posted by: ed ||
08/20/2007 23:21
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#7
Another benefit is that PAC-3 also does double duty as a very deadly anti-aircraft missile.
Posted by: ed ||
08/20/2007 23:23
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Syria has begun delivery of the first batch of anti-aircraft missile and gun range land-based Pantsyr-S1E defense systems (SA-22 E in NATO terminology), the Web site of Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta reported Saturday.
Army Radio reported that Russian military officials agreed to the deal only after Syria vowed that the systems would not be resold or distributed to a third country, such as Lebanon or Iran. And if you can't trust syrian baathist, then, who can you trust, I ask you?
But in May, the reputable Jane's Defense Weekly reported that Syria agreed to transfer ten of the systems to Iran. Something russians piously deny.
#1
Given the history of Russian/Soviet weapons in the hands of Arabs in general and Syrians in particular I'd say the Syrians have just been seriously ripped off. You'd think they'd learn but they never seem to.
A NEW children's computer video game that enables youngsters to re-enact last year's Hizbollah-Israeli war, is being sold in Bahrain, it emerged yesterday. Special Force 2 is being sold in Bahrain for BD6 and can also reportedly be purchased at stores in Lebanon, Syria and the UAE for around $10 (BD3.78).
The GDN phoned around 12 stores yesterday and found Al Mustafa Bookshop in Jidhafs to be the only one in possession of the game.
Shop salesman Ebrahim Al A'ali said they were the main suppliers of the game.
He said the shop received the game on Saturday and yesterday obtained a licence from the Information Ministry to sell it at the store and to other shops in the country.
The bookshop will be selling the game to other shops from today, he added.
Release of the game in Bahrain has sparked mixed reactions, with some people rushing to the shops to purchase a copy and others criticising the promotion of violence to children.
The new 3-D war game, designed by Hizbollah computer experts and lauched last week, is a sequel to 2003's Special Force, which also featured conflicts between Hizbollah and Israeli forces.
Special Force 2 is based on the key events of last year's 34-day conflict.
It enables players to take on the role of a Hizbollah fighter, or Mujahid and collect points and weapons by killing Israeli soldiers.
Hizbollah reportedly killed 158 Israelis, mainly soldiers and 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in Lebanon.
"This game presents the culture of the Resistance to children: that occupation must be resisted and that land and the nation must be guarded," Hizbollah media official Sheikh Ali Daher is quoted by Reuters as saying.
"Through this game the child can build an idea of some of ... the most prominent battles and the idea that this enemy can be defeated.
"The features which are the secret of Resistance's victory in the south, have moved to this game so that the child can understand that fighting the enemy does not only require the gun.
Bahrain Youth Society for Human Rights (BYSHR) president Mohammed Al Maskati disagreed with the game being sold in Bahrain, saying, it was teaching children that violence was an acceptable way to solve a situation.
"Fighting and war equals violence - this game is teaching children how to be violent, whether they are Israeli or Hezbollah," he told the GDN.
"It is a problem if it is sold in Bahrain, children especially between 12 and 18, behaving violently is equal to drugs.
"Why sell these games to the youth and family? We have more problems from all these wars in Iraq, Palestine, Israel and Lebanon."
Mr Al Maskati said the game was also against human rights because such violations had happened in Lebanon and Israel.
"This tells people we can't make peace in the world. It is telling them you must stay in the war," he explained.
"If there is no peace, then there is no democracy or freedom."
Mr Al Maskati said he was against any game that promoted violence and war, because it wasn't teaching anything positive.
"Only you will fight or do war with someone," he said.
"If we give our children this game we shouldn't be surprised if they get into fights at school."
Although Mr Al Maskati is against children playing Special Force 2, he said it was important for the younger generation to be aware of the rights and wrongs of the conflict in Israel and Lebanon.
Bahrain Society Against Normalisation with the Zionist Enemy member and former chairman Mohammed Hassan Al Aradi praised Hizbollah for designing the game, saying he would be buying a copy for his family.
He said for a long time children had been playing war games in which the winners were always Americans or Europeans and the losers were Arabs and Asians - and it was about time this changed.
"This move from Hizbollah is changing the picture and giving us different victims," Mr Al Aradi told the GDN.
"It (the game) will help change a lot of public opinion in kids and they will play games they like."
In other games, for example some featuring western forces fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq, Arabs are the victims, said Mr Al Aradi.
He said Arab children played this games and in order to win, had to "kill" other Arabs.
"Now it's changing and I'm very happy about it. You can choose the name of the person you want to be (from last year's conflict), you can see them, know them and see the places of war, it keeps you in the war and the issue alive," said Mr Al Aradi.
He said children in Bahrain watched the war last year on the news and therefore seeing violence was nothing new for them.
"It's a good programme for us. You will see places you have heard about and you will keep the picture in your mind, it's also good for adults.
"It's (the conflict) a part of life that children should understand and kids have seen it on satellite, minute by minute, you can't keep them away from it.
"They watched what was happening in Palestine, Israel and Lebanon when they were eating, it's not something new.
"And this game shows what actually happened, it's not spreading lies."
Information Ministry publications and Press director Jamal Daoud said he was unaware of the game being sold in Bahrain, but would look into it.
#1
Air drop millions of copies of this game all through the MME (Muslim Middle East). Just be sure to have a disk drive and FAT munching virus embedded on the CD.
I'm very confused, I thought this was the other way around?
Baath mouthpiece Tishrin daily says US preventing Israel from restarting peace talks with Syria, pushing Jerusalem to war with Damascus 'after last year's defeat at hands of Hizbullah'
Roee Nahmias
A Syrian newspaper accused the United States on Monday of pushing Israel to war with Syria.
Tishrin, the mouthpiece of the ruling Baath Party, held Israel and the United States responsible for instability in the Middle East. "Even if Israel is not directly responsible for the daily killings, tragedies, and war crimes in the region, it is an accomplice to those," the daily wrote in its editorial.
The newspaper slammed Washington's decision to boost military aid to Israel whom it promised $30 billion over the next 10 years.
"American aid to Israel comes at a time when it is not only rejecting peace but also threatening and vowing to work around the clock to conduct military maneuvers in preparation of a new war. It is no secret that the war statements made by Israel officials against Syria are not pointless but express Israel's true intentions towards Syria," the editorial read.
"The American regime, which prevented Israel from returning to peace talks over the last six years, is pushing it to a military adventure and is encouraging it after last year's defeat at the hands of the national Lebanese Resistance," the newspaper said in reference to last year's war with Hizbullah.
The man who stabbed head teacher Philip Lawrence to death is to be allowed to stay in the UK after his lawyers argued deporting him would breach his human rights.
Learco Chindamo was 15 years old when he knifed Mr Lawrence in an attack outside St George's Roman Catholic School in Maida Vale, west London, in December 1995. Italian-born Chindamo, now 26 and currently serving a life sentence, won his appeal at the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal to stay in Britain. The Government today said it was "disappointed" that it cannot deport the killer.
Mr Lawrence, 48, was attacked when a gang of 12 youths led by Chindamo went to attack a boy who had quarrelled with a pupil of Filipino origin. The father of four was punched and stabbed by Chindamo as he tried to protect the boy and died the same evening.
A Home Office spokesman said: "We believe that foreign prisoners who have committed serious crimes should face automatic deportation from the UK at the end of their sentence. "We will study the judgment and make a decision as to whether to appeal in due course.
"We are disappointed that the courts have not upheld our decision to pursue deportation in this case."
The Home Office argued in the central London tribunal that deporting Chindamo, whose father is Italian and mother is Filipino, was conducive to the public good and was not disproportionate.
Chindamo's lawyers argued he no longer has strong links or family ties with Italy because he has been living in Britain since he was five years old.
Alan Gordon, vice-chairman of the Police Federation of England and Wales, branded the decision as "absolute madness".
He said: "We trust the Home Office will appeal against this ludicrous decision by the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal to allow convicted killer, Learco Chindamo, the right to stay in the UK when he is released.
"The fact that he may be paroled and back on our the streets as early as next year is in itself disgusting. Life should mean life."
#1
The man is serving a "life" sentence for murder. Apparently he is being paroled after only twelve years. The Brits want to deport him.
My take would be to let him serve out his life sentence - in prison. After he dies, it doesn't matter if his remains are deported, shipped back to Italy or dumped in the garbage.
Authorities have uncovered multiple al-Qaida terrorist plots targeting government institutions in the port city of Aden, a security official said Saturday.
Twenty-two alleged militants were arrested in connection to the plots including three al-Qaida masterminds, said the official. Documents including forged passports and visas were found with the detainees, who were operating in two groups, he said.
One of the groups allegedly was planning to target government facilities and blow up cars containing explosives using a remote control, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The other group was planning to carry out suicide attacks, storm prisons and launch a wave of kidnappings, according to the official.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh told newspapers on Thursday that his government is cracking down on militants, but his comments fell short of claiming that terrorism is being eliminated. "Nobody can claim that we have controlled terrorism, but we are alert and we follow up," Saleh told Al Wasat, an independent newspaper. "There are sleeper cells, which sometimes wake up, but our security apparatus is always alert and never rests."
The arrests came less than a week after Yemeni authorities announced the arrests of nine suspects in connection with the early July suicide attack on a Spanish tour group. Ten people were killed when a suicide bomber plowed his explosives-laden car into the tour group's convoy at an ancient temple in Marib.
Al-Qaida has an active presence in Yemen, the ancestral home of Osama bin Laden, despite government efforts to fight the terror network. Al-Qaida was blamed for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden that killed 17 American sailors and the attack on a French oil tanker that killed one person two years later.
Posted by: anonymous5089 ||
08/20/2007
13:49 ||
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#10
Imagine being down in one of those canyons while 250, 500, 1000, 2000 pounders are jarring yer bones and organs. after a couple your hearing goes and then if you live, you just get nauseated....
extra insh'allahs
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/20/2007 21:26
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#11
my usual pedantic asshole self
Frank, if you were any different you just wouldn't be the same. Trust mein its current statethis world needs you just as you are.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is planning to make his first visit to Iraq, the highest level trip by an Iranian leader since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki invited Ahmadinejad after he visited Tehran earlier this month, the ISNA student news agency reported.
"This invitation has been accepted and the preparation is underway. When the trip becomes definite we will make an announcement," Mottaki said in Iran's holy second city of Mashhad late on Sunday.
Mottaki visited Iraq himself in May 2006 while Iran's top national security official Ali Larijani travelled to the conflict-torn country in April 2007.
However neither Ahmadinejad nor his predecessor Mohammad Khatami have visited Iraq since the toppling of Saddam in 2003.
Such a visit would emphasise the strong relations between Tehran and the Shiite-led government in Baghdad, which have caused considerable unease in Washington.
The United States accuses Iran of helping supply sophisticated tank-penetrating bombs into Iraq for attacks against US troops and helping train Shiite militias. Iran denies the charges.
US President George W. Bush publicly contradicted reported comments by Maliki during his trip that Iran was playing a constructive role in Iraq, saying he would have a "heart-to-heart" with the prime minister.
Iraq President Jalal Talabani has been a frequent visitor to Tehran, his last trip coming in June.
Maliki made his first official trip to Iran in September 2006, while the first visit by an Iraqi premier since the fall of Saddam was made by Maliki's predecessor, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, in July 2005.
Iran and Iraq waged a war between 1980 and 1988 in which around one million people died but the fall of Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime led to a transformation in ties.
Posted by: Paul ||
08/20/2007 11:57
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#2
Yup, Paul. We need to cap this evil midget's ass nine ways to Sunday. Best of all would be to pin it on the Sunnis. Dumptrucks of popcorn wouldn't even begin to address the demand after that.
#5
I came across this site which like me believe Saudi Arabia is up there with Iran as being our biggest enemies!!!!
www.asecondlookatthesaudis.com
Posted by: Paul ||
08/20/2007 13:16
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#6
From Paul's very informative link:
In fact, Saudi Arabia has now been financially linked to the Bali nightclub bombings on October 12, 2002, which killed 202 people; the Madrid train bombings on March 11, 2004, which killed 191 people; the Beslan middle school massacre on September 3, 2004, in which 330 hostages were killed (including 186 school children); the London subway bombings on July 7, 2005, which killed 56 people; and the Mumbai train bombings on July 11, 2006, which killed 209 people.
While I still maintain that dismantling Iran's nuclear R&D labs and theocratic government remain a top priority, Saudi Arabia is certainly rocketing its way to the top of our Christmas list.
For any of you who have not read this (admittedly dated) article about Prince Turki al-Faisal, here's another link to it. The Saudi royals are up to their necks in global terrorism. We really need to appropriate the Ghawar oilfield to compensate ourselves for the expense of fighting Saudi financed terrorism.
#10
You all just calm down. I know the possibilities are exciting, but I'm sure Admiral Yamamoto has taken the necessary security precautions. Oops, did I say Admiral Yamamoto? Heh. I meant Ahmadinejad.
India's armed forces are short of a staggering 14,264 officers - the bulk of them in the army - and several steps are being taken to plug the gap, parliament was informed Monday.
The 1.12 million strong Indian Army is short of 11,238 officers against its sanctioned strength of 46,615 officers, Defence Minister A.K. Antony said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) faces a shortfall of 1,565 officers against its authorised strength of 12,128 while the Indian Navy is short of 1,461 officers against a sanctioned strength of 8,797.
During the past four years, 2,664 army officers had sought early retirement of which 1,496 applications had been approved, the minister said.
In the case of the air force, 565 discharge applications had been approved against 1,026 applications received while the figures for the navy was 637/807.
Detailing the steps taken to fill the vacant posts, the minister said all officers, including those holding short service commissions, were now eligible to hold the substantive ranks of captain, major and lieutenant colonel after two, six and 13 years of service respectively.
Time scale promotion to colonel and equivalent ranks after 26 years of service had also been introduced, while the tenure of short service commission officers had been extended from 10 to 14 years.
'The armed forces have undertaken a sustained image promotion and publicity campaign to create awareness among the youth on the advantages of taking up a challenging and satisfying career,' Antony said.
'Candidate-friendly recruitment procedures to attract more candidates and a focussed publicity drive in various institutions to attract potential candidates have been undertaken,' he added.
Awareness campaigns, participation in career fairs and exhibitions, advertisements in the print and electronic media, and motivational lectures in schools and colleges are some of the other measures taken, the minister stated.
#2
Fred.... I wonder if the Mess Havildar's Garam Masala and Chai tea could ever become spousal favorites? What's another PCS! Post the Colours, we're in!
#1
As much as I wish this were not an issue, fact is, it IS and issue and will remain so. And its significant enough to cost him the election.
Unlike Kennedy and Catholicism, who were obscure (Mass in Latin at the time), but open to all observers, Mormonism retains "secret" elements (and funny things like special underwear).
Its the "secrecy" of Mormonism that drives a lot of the distrust - temple garments, not allowing outsiders in the inner sanctum, etc.
#2
What bothers me most is LDS persecution of "fundamentalist" Mormons; i.e. Mormons practicing as Brigham Young did. The erasure of their own recent history is more troubling to me than their loony beliefs. In this they are closer to Scientology than than anything in Catholic doctrine which would mystify me.
#3
If you want to have your hair stand on end, read, "The Mormon Murders", by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. Co-editors of the biennial directory, "The Best Lawyers in America", they lay out one truly disturbing portrait of a church obsessed with concealment and secrecy pertaining to their religion's founders and foundations.
I'll restrain myself from making any comparisons about Mormonism's polygamistic practices and those of another *cough* highly suspect *cough* "religion" currently in dispute as well.
Keep a grip on yer wallets when this fellow is around, and wimmins, don't believe any of the sweet things he sez. PJM has an exclusive, and it ain't pretty.
#1
He joined the Army for the same reason John Kerry joined the Navy - Resume stuffing. And he is doing exactly what Kerry later did. He will become the left's poster boy of ex-army goes over to the anti-war side. He may even end up being adopted by Mother Sheheen as a replacement son.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2007 12:29
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#2
Interesting, too, that not everyone at TNR was taken in:
The Monday after the party, at the magazines offices, Foer was locked in a long serious conversation with Leon Wieseltier, the bear-shaped intellectual who has run the magazines literary section with distinction since 1983. They were talking about Beauchamp. Foer couldnt understand why anyone would just make things up.
Wieseltier did. Maybe he [Beauchamp] is a sociopath.
As new details about Beauchamps strange private life emerged, Wieseltiers initial assessment would prove to be on target.
Also interesting that the only person at TNR who got fired over the incident is the guy who leaked some of the gory details to conservative blogs. As soon as TNR canned him, the Huffasnuffaluffagus Post attacked the poor fellow for being gay. (Love that liberal tolerance and inclusiveness!)
As for Beauchamp's German girlfriend, the one he dumped so he could marry in to the TNR family, she now knows that strangely exhilarating feeling that comes from narrowly escaping disaster.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/20/2007 13:00
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#3
What Foer did not tell McGee was that Beauchamp was married to Elspeth Reeve, one of the magazines three fact-checkers (a point that the press missed too). So Beauchamp was effectively an insiderand would get treated as such.
Sorta just screams "conflict of interest", doesn't it?
And, why was the whistle-blower the only New Republic staffer to be fired?
An organization so unconcerned with facts certainly won't let such a trivial and niggling thing like ethics interfere with protecting their own interests.
It is odd that McGee has been the only one fired over the Beauchamp scandal. Wouldnt Foer be a likely candidate? Or the fact-checkers who failed to do their duty? Or Elspeth for knowingly bringing Beauchamp into its respected pages?
In a sane world, McGee should be the only one still at his job. Here's hoping that The New Republic's circulation takes a nosedive. What a bunch of tossers. Too bad they can't have the crap sued out of them over this.
Looks like Beauchamp gave TNR a shovel and they eagerly continue to dig their own grave. And why shouldn't they keep digging? Their reputation is already dead. Best they can do know is to throw dirt on top of it to keep the stink down.
Something to cheer you up
An IAF airstrike in central Gaza on Monday killed six Hamas operatives, Palestinian officials said.
The car was leaving a Hamas military installation when it was targeted by Israeli aircraft, killing six people, according to Dr. Muawiya Hassanin of the Palestinian Health Ministry. Hamas officials identified the six as Hamas militants.
The IDF said its aircraft hit a car carrying gunmen who fired rockets into Israel earlier Monday.
Earlier Monday, Palestinians fired two Kassam rockets into the western Negev from the Gaza Strip.
#1
the Sharia-based Afghan and Iraqi constitutions
This one simple and extremely inconvenient fact represents a massive betrayal of America's rights and goals as a military liberator of these two countries. The price of admittance into the global community must include abandonment of constitutionalized shari'a law. Period. No exceptions.
The Bush administration's refusal to understand how shari'a epitomizes a comprehensive violation of human rights stands as a monument to cultural relativism and a willingness to countenance what is nothing less than a direct threat to Western civilization. Our inability to dictate from a position of strength has provided for the ascendancy of retrograde forces in both Afghanistan and Iraq. Democracy has been flouted under the auspices of an entirely specious freedom of religion.
Shari'a is the absolute anthesis of democracy and a fundamental toxin to any freedom of religion. Having expended so many precious lives and vast financial treasure only to permit the installation of such moral and ethical filth in our wake represents a total abdication of responsibility to both America's own national security and the rights of those who shall continue to suffer under Islam's tyrannous predations.
Islam is a religion of the sword and there are, by even the most conservative estimates, more than one hundred million active jihadists seeking to impose sharia not only in the Islamic world, but in Europe and ultimately in the United States.
There is nothing in our current political or military agenda that adequately addresses this singular fact. Nowhere has there been even a glimmer of any indication that Islam will be held accountable for sowing the hydra's teeth. We have voluntarily opted to battle the endless horde of murderous jihadis that spring forth from the Koran's litany of horrors instead of saddling Islam with its own obligation to peacefully coexist.
By doing so, we have not only shown fatal weakness but an immensely flawed sense of self-worth. We have given Islam unmerited and unearned respectability which it abuses at every turn. This has won us nothing but well-deserved scorn from those who so openly prize deceit and subversion as legitimate tools of faith. To allocate such perfidy even a shred of credibility is self-delusion of a totally monstrous sort.
Whether one believes in Christianity or not, it is necessary now for all lovers of authentic freedom to acknowledge their debt to the Judeo-Christian West, to the Judeo-Christian assumptions that built Europe and the United States, and to acknowledge that this great civilization is imperiled and worth defending.
Amidst all our Herculean endeavors, the philosophical wolf-in-the-fold of moral relativism still ravages our determination to survive. This must change if we intend to endure Islam's vile onslaughts.
Yorkshire Folk were once noted for never calling a spade a spade, it was always a bloody shovel, in these PC times I thought it was a lost art, it is nice to know that that a few of my countrymen still practice it. Please enjoy it as much as I did.
Lt. Gen. Odierno has a press conference on Saturday where he updated us on the on-going action in Iraq. Ive posted the key slide at my site, linked.
With the information from his May 31 conference, it looks like well over 5,000 enemy KIA since January 15. This particular slide is from June 15 to date, when all the troops for the surge were in place.
#3
Unless the enemy:US kill ratio is above 20:1 I don't see the patience of the American people lasting long enough to achieve victory. This is on the order of 10:1. Halfway.
PRISTINA, Serbia: Seven inmates escaped from a high-security prison over the weekend in western Kosovo, and police backed by NATO helicopters launched a manhunt throughout the province, authorities said Monday.
The convicts, on a scheduled walk in a yard at Dubrava prison late Saturday, were supported by an armed group who shot at guards and at least one of the inmates participated in the gunbattle, police spokesman Veton Elshani said. They were able to jump over a surrounding wall and fence.
Two senior prison officials and two prison guards were arrested on suspicion of involvement, Elshani said. No injuries were reported.
Police said they found six unused rocket launchers and shell casings from automatic rifles at the site of the gunbattle.
The inmates, some convicted of terrorism, murder and theft, were believed to still be in the province, but police have notified authorities in neighboring countries.
Kosovo has been run by the United Nations and NATO since 1999, when NATO launched an air war to stop the Serb government's onslaught on Albanian separatists.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. media reporting of the war in Iraq fell sharply in the second quarter of 2007, largely due to a drop in coverage of the Washington-based policy debate, a study released Monday said.
Taken together, the war's three major story lines -- the U.S. policy debate, events in Iraq and their impact on the U.S. homefront -- slipped roughly a third, to 15 percent of an index of total news coverage, down from 22 percent in the first three months of the year.
The study by the Project for Excellence in Journalism examined 18,010 stories that appeared between April 1 and June 29. Its "News Coverage Index" encompasses 48 outlets, including newspapers, radio, online, cable and network television. The project is a research group studying and evaluating press performance. It describes itself as nonpartisan, nonideological and nonpolitical. The index is designed as an audit of a broad cross-section of U.S. news media.
The 2008 presidential campaign -- with its crowded field for the Democratic and Republican party nominations -- emerged as the top story in U.S. media in the second quarter, overtaking the Iraq policy debate, the biggest thread of the three Iraq-related storylines, the survey found.
Attention to the war dropped in all five media sectors surveyed. Network evening news, the sector that gave the war the greatest share of attention in the first quarter, scaled back more than 40 percent, from 33 percent in the first quarter to 19 percent in the second, the study showed. On cable television, another leader in first-quarter coverage, the slide was nearly as great, from 23 percent of news reported to 14 percent -- a drop of 39 percent, the project said.
The bulk of the fall took place after May 24, when Congress approved war funding without including troop withdrawal timetables. This was widely viewed by the media as a victory for President George W. Bush in a political battle with Congress sparked by his January 10 troop "surge" announcement. "In the aftermath, the debate itself quieted, as did coverage," the report said.
News from inside Iraq in the media surveyed became even more focused on Americans rather than Iraqis in the second quarter, the study found. Fully 55 percent of coverage about events on the ground dealt with U.S. combat and casualties, U.S. troop activities and soldiers charged with crimes, it said.
This must be the equivalent of the Manhattan Project or sending a man to the moon. Not impossible but it will take a long time and use a lot of trees.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2007 11:56
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#2
Fully 55 percent of coverage about events on the ground dealt with U.S. combat and casualties, U.S. troop activities and soldiers charged with crimes, it said.
C'mon, guys and gals. I'll bet you could bump that up to 85, 90, 100% if ya hire more Al-Qaeda stringers to do your jobs for you.
Posted by: Harry Reid ||
08/20/2007 13:21
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#5
The war goes well--I guess the MSM will go back to slamming Bush, hating the U.S.A. and reporting the evils of mankind and their link to global warming.
#6
The media is hedging it's bets. IF the war looks well by the time the elections roll around their team is finished. Better to lay low and let the debates cover other topics that their guys might be stronger on.
(IranMania) - Iranian Minister of commerce expressed hope that the Iranian bank will be inaugurated in Belarus within the next three months, MNA reported.
Massud Mirkazemi added that Export Development Bank of Iran (EDBI), Bank Saderat Iran, and Bank Refah Kargaran will jointly establish a bank in Belarus.
Attending the 8th session of Iran-Belarus Joint Economic Commission, the Belarusian Industry Minister Anatoliy Rusetskiy confirmed the news.
#1
The Pak dictator Yahya Khan was quite fond of his whiskey, as were his opponents...
During the 1971 war, the Indian army commander Sam Manekshaw was admonished by the Indian PM Indira Gandhi when she walked into the operations room and saw a bottle of whiskey and 3 glasses on the table.
"Madam, the brand of the whiskey is Black Dog, the same that General Yahya Khan drinks. I shall outdrink him and I shall outfight him".
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2007 12:09
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#3
After he was deposed, Yahya Khan was provided with a bottle of whiskey and a copy of Playboy regularly.
At one base, he was cursed on the tarmac by some PAF airmen... 'What is the matter with them?" he asked. "Did someone take away their she-goat?"
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2007 12:52
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#4
When Yahyaa Khan attended the 2500 years of Monarchy in Iran during the rule of the Shah, he
was so drunk on Black dog that he pissed himself right on the dais.
He was also drunk in 1947, and too busy with his mistress, in a safe-house near Srinagar to give orders. Reportedly he let the looting Pashtuns continue on their rampage instead of moving onto Srinagar. The Indians beat him to it.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2007 13:04
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#5
More whiskey tales...
1971
Dictator Yahya Khan, was drunk, sitting in a hole just dug behind the commander in chief's house at army headquarters in Rawalpindi with a couple of sandbags over his head to protect him against Indian bombs.
He had just met the US Ambassador who tried to tell him that he was on his own. Yahya was still hoping that Nixon would save him.
The ambassador was literally pulled away by his military attache, Chuck Yeager. "We've got to get out of here right now," said Yeager.
"Why?" Yeager explained that for some fool reason Khan had ordered a few of his planes to attack airfields in India. Probably Khan thought a few explosions would persuade Nixon to send in the Marines. Now, said Yeager, the Indians are going to send in bombers and the Pakistanis were going to send up their entire air force to dogfight. When the Pakistanis landed to refuel, the Indian bombers would turn for home, but a second Indian wave would arrive and destroy Pakistan's air force while it was all on the ground with empty gas tanks.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2007 13:11
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#1
Since she has been in prison, Haule has -- like Brigitte Mohnhaupt, who was released from jail in March -- opted to show no remorse for her actions as an RAF member.
Then she is still a threat not a non-threat. I have never understood when they still possess anti-social behavior they still turn them loose on the old canard of 'non-threatening".
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2007 12:18
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#2
This is surreal. These are amongst the most dangerous of all terrorists. They are able to elude all forms of rudimentary profiling and appear fully integrated within their social milieu. This murdereress has shown zero contrition or remorse for her killings and in no way is any less capable of continuing her terrorist activities than she was when captured.
As with serial killers and rapists, terrorists are the very least deserving of any legal clemency. They represent the most dire threat to civilized society and if they cannot be excuted should be premanently isolated from from their prospective victims. Judicial systems that are unwilling or incapable of performing this one simple portion of their job charter need a total overhaul.
Well, to be frank, I wouldn't do much better, but then again, I'm a wuss, and not a formidable Lion Of Islam fighting for the Master Religion. Compare to what appears to be contractors training in iraq (?).
Posted by: ed ||
08/20/2007 12:44
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#2
Ed, lol! I guess I don't go to liveleak frequently enuff. From a comment there : I dont normally laugh at people dying but i
couldn't help it.
So true.
#3
Rather unexpected. Was it a media release from Jund al Bloopers?
Posted by: ed ||
08/20/2007 13:29
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#4
In RVN we used to plant altered [booby trapped] munitions, typically grenades, mortars and i forget..
Because of the complete control of information the NVA Political Officers and Brass had the rank and file the effect on the morale of the NVA soldiers and Main Force Cadres in the South was unknown but to a few *guessers at MACV*.
heh..
In Iraq:
With the Internet I would think that a careful program of doctoring munitions [booby trapped] for the terrorist in Iraq would have a more measurable effect on their morale.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/20/2007 20:07
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An illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year to avoid being separated from her U.S.-born anchor son has been deported to Mexico, the church's pastor said. Elvira Arellano became an activist and a national symbol for illegal immigrant parents as she defied her deportation order and spoke out from her religious sanctuary. She held a news conference last week to announce that she would finally leave the church to try to lobby U.S. lawmakers for change. Hmmmm. I thought it was a crime to harbor a criminal.
Churches get a special pass. Sez so in the U.S. penal code.
She had just spoken at rally Los Angeles rally when she was arrested Sunday outside Our Lady Queen of Angels church and deported, said the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, where Arellano had been living. "She has been deported. She is free and in Tijuana," said Coleman, who said he spoke to her on the phone. "She is in good spirits. She is ready to continue the struggle against the separation of families from the other side of the border." They can all re-unite in Mexico.
A possibility that strangely, no one ever proposes.
Her 8-year-old son, Saul, is now living with Coleman's family. During a news conference in Los Angeles after Arellano's arrest, the boy hid behind the pastor's wife and wiped away tears.
Arellano had said on Saturday that she was not afraid of being taken into custody by immigration agents. "From the time I took sanctuary, the possibility has existed that they arrest me in the place and time they want," she said in Spanish. "I only have two choices. I either go to my country, Mexico, or stay and keep fighting. I decided to stay and fight." Note that "her country" is still Mexico. She's not an immigrant; she's a Mexican who wants to live in the US.
Arellano, 32, arrived in Washington state illegally in 1997. She was deported to Mexico shortly afterward, but returned and moved to Illinois in 2000, taking a job cleaning planes at O'Hare International Airport. She was arrested in 2002 at O'Hare and convicted of working under a false Social Security number. She was to surrender to authorities last August but instead sought refuge at the church on Aug. 15, 2006. A repeat offender.
She had not left the church property until she decided to travel by car to Los Angeles, Coleman said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed her Sunday arrest. Spokeswoman Gail Montenegro said the agency would have further details on the deportation later Monday.
Arellano is staying with a friend in Tijuana, Coleman said. He said she had brought to light her struggle, and for that, "she has won a victory."
They always dress up 'defeat' as a 'victory'.
"She'll be organizing on the Mexican side of the border while we're organizing in the (United) States," Coleman said Monday. "She'll be talking to organizations throughout Mexico and congressmen in Mexico City."
Coleman said he and other activists will continue Arellano's original plan to go to Washington, D.C., and take part in a prayer meeting and rally for immigration reform at the Capitol on Sept. 12.
CriminalImmigration activists promised protests and vigils to support Arellano. "We are sad, but at the same time we are angry," said Mexican Rage Boy Javier Rodriguez, a Chicago immigration activist who worked with Arellano. "How dare they arrest this multiple criminal offenderwoman?"
Anti-illegal immigrant groups said the arrest was long overdue. "Just because the woman has gone public and made an issue of the fact that she is defying law doesn't mean the government doesn't have to do its job," said Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors limits on immigration.
Arellano has repeatedly called for a stop to immigration raids that break up families with some members who are in the U.S. legally and others illegally. She has said her son would be deprived of his rights as a U.S. citizen if he had to go to Mexico simply because she did.
Emma Lozano, Coleman's wife and head of immigration rights group Centro Sin Fronteras in Chicago, said she was Saul's legal guardian. "He's taking it better than we thought he would," Lozano said.
While being arrested, Arellano spoke briefly with her son before submitting to authorities, Lozano said. "She calmed him down, hugged him and gave him a blessing," Lozano said.
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
08/20/2007
09:16 ||
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#1
Don't let the door hit you on the butt.
And good riddance. You are a prime example of everything wrong with letting illegals over run our country. You want to work legally, fine. You want to immigrate, fine. You want to work but get the free goodies and still maintain a primary loyalty to the old country and make the natives bow to your will and beliefs? Fuck off and die.
#2
I heard this idiot "Rev." Walter Coleman on local (Chicago) TV this morning. Nothing more than a leftist twit masquerading as a pastor. Newsman asked him how he would respond to those who say she should go through the process for legal residency. His answer was to spout unrelated nonsense until interrupted by time constraints.
#3
deported once. Snuck back in. Identity theft of SSN (and what else?). Had an anchor baby. Ordered deported again. Violated that order and became a loud mouthed asshole high profile "victim of the system" while abusing a church as "sanctuary". Went on a highly publicized rant/PR trip to overturn OUR country's policies on illegals.
Doing the jobs Americans won't do. Deporting was too good if she didn't have a cluestick applied hard enough. Bitch'll be back. Next time - prison time
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2007 10:01
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#4
We should return to the pre-1970s term for "activists"--"agitators".
The dictionary definition of "activist":
noun: a militant reformer
The dictionary definition of "agitator":
noun: a political troublemaker
1960s radicals demanded the change, to conceal and soften their purpose. And after the 1968 Democrat convention, when radicals seized the party, both they and the MSM adopted the convention that "agitators" were now "activists", and "radicals" were now "liberals".
If you look at the left, it is still easy to distinguish who are the agitators and who are the activists, and who are the radicals and who are the liberals.
#8
"She has said her son would be deprived of his rights as a U.S. citizen if he had to go to Mexico simply because she did."
Not only did the father not step in to care for his child, I simply can't imagine a loving mother leaving a child behind in another country. This family was separated by their own choices, not US immigration policy.
#13
"She is ready to continue the struggle against the separation of families from the other side of the border."
As others have said, the only one separating the family is the family. The chutzpah of some people is simply breathtaking.
I was on a newsgroup once with a woman who was in the US legally. She was very contemptuous of America and Americans, but she had a job in the US, and two American children (divorced from their father). When someone offhandedly suggested that if she were deported, she'd either have to leave her children or take them back home with her, she was indignant. Indignant, I say! Well! That tells you how deep this administration's commitment to family values runs!
#14
Arellano, 32, arrived in Washington state illegally in 1997. She was deported to Mexico shortly afterward, but returned and moved to Illinois in 2000, taking a job cleaning planes at O'Hare International Airport. She was arrested in 2002 at O'Hare and convicted of working under a false Social Security number. She was to surrender to authorities last August but instead sought refuge at the church on Aug. 15, 2006.
Somehow, these dates do NOT add up to her son (who's said to be 8 years old) being born here in the US. He was born either in 1999 (if he's already had a b'day this year) or 1998 (if he has NOT had a b'day yet this year). Unless, shortly afterwards means 1-2 years in the MSM on her first deportation.
Posted by: BA ||
08/20/2007 13:47
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#15
Of course, there's no mention of who the kid's daddy is.
#2
Ownership of the Jefferson version of the Koran would be regarded as prima facia evidence of capital heresy by almost any Sharia court since it crosses out all much of the text.
Troops in the north-eastern Indian state of Manipur have arrested 15 suspected foreign Muslim militants, officials said. They said those arrested during weekend raids in the town of Moreh were either Rohingya people from the Arakan province of Burma or from Bangladesh.
Over the last 15 years, thousands of Arakanese Muslims have fled Burma to escape alleged government persecution. A large number of Rohingya refugees live in camps in Bangladesh. "We think they are members of a Rohingya insurgent organisation operating in Arakan but we are not yet definite which one," Maj-Gen BK Chengappa, who leads Indian counter-insurgency operations in Manipur, told the BBC's Subir Bhaumik in Calcutta. Asked whether those arrested may have links to al-Qaeda, he said there was "no evidence" about such links, which "could only be speculative".
Police said no weapons were seized from those arrested, but some documents have been recovered suggesting they had links with Islamic groups active in Thailand. "If they are Rohingya insurgents, it is possible they would have links with militant groups in southern Thailand. But this is something we have to check in depth," an intelligence official told our correspondent. He said possible links between those arrested and local Muslim radicals in Manipur is also being probed.
Earlier this year, three Manipur Muslims working for the Islamic radical group, Lashkar-e-Toyeba were arrested in Delhi.
Posted by: ryuge ||
08/20/2007
08:29 ||
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BELGRADE, Serbia (Rooters) -- A 23-year old Serb was found dead and half-eaten in the bear cage of Belgrade Zoo at the weekend during the annual beer festival.
The man was found naked, with his clothes lying intact inside the cage. Two adult bears, Masha and Misha, had dragged the body to their feeding corner and reacted angrily when keepers tried to recover it.
"There's a good chance he was drunk or drugged. Only an idiot would jump into the bear cage," zoo director Vuk Bojovic told Reuters.
Local media reported that police found several mobile phones inside the cage, as well as bricks, stones and beer cans. So it was a Legitimate Right To Resistance from the harassed bears, after all, or this guy's drunken pals were not very good at rescue missions...
#4
Binky, the late polar bear at the Anchorage, AK zoo, was a crowd favorite, because not once, but twice, drunks got into his cage with the idea of fighting him.
Binky, remarkably personable for a polar bear, didn't attack and kill either. The first drunk suddenly realized where he was, sobered up and got out of there the way he came. But the second one actually walked up to Binky and punched him in the nose.
This was impolite, so Binky swatted him with his paw, knocking him backwards a good 25 feet. This likewise had a profoundly sobering effect on said drunk, who in his haste to depart, left behind a tennis shoe.
A picture of Binky gnawing on said tennis shoe soon became popular on local t-shirts, with the caption:
#6
...with his clothes lying intact inside the cage TIP: If your drunken buddies dare you to go in the cage and screw a bear, don't count on them to come to your rescue if when things go wrong.
#10
My easy guess is they were last ressort weapons thrown at the bears by the drunk Darwin award nominee, when the big furry critters started chewing on him. I wonder if the bricks and beer cans were thrown then, or before the attack to molest those Moderate bears?
The United States is at last making significant progress against al Qaeda in Iraq--but the road to victory now requires cutting off al Qaeda's road to Iraq through Damascus.
Thanks to Gen. David Petraeus's new counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq, and the strength and skill of the American soldiers fighting there, al Qaeda in Iraq is now being routed from its former strongholds in Anbar and Diyala provinces. Many of Iraq's Sunni Arabs, meanwhile, are uniting with us against al Qaeda, alienated by the barbarism and brutality of their erstwhile allies. As Gen. Petraeus recently said of al Qaeda in Iraq: "We have them off plan."
But defeating al Qaeda in Iraq requires not only that we continue pressing the offensive against its leadership and infrastructure inside the country. We must also aggressively target its links to "global" al Qaeda and close off the routes its foreign fighters are using to get into Iraq.
Recently declassified American intelligence reveals just how much al Qaeda in Iraq is dependent for its survival on the support it receives from the broader, global al Qaeda network, and how most of that support flows into Iraq through one country--Syria. Al Qaeda in Iraq is sustained by a transnational network of facilitators and human smugglers, who replenish its supply of suicide bombers--approximately 60 to 80 Islamist extremists, recruited every month from across the Middle East, North Africa and Europe, and sent to meet their al Qaeda handlers in Syria, from where they are taken to Iraq to blow themselves up to kill countless others.
Although small in number, these foreign fighters are a vital strategic asset to al Qaeda in Iraq, providing it with the essential human ammunition it needs to conduct high-visibility, mass-casualty suicide bombings, such as we saw last week in northern Iraq. In fact, the U.S. military estimates that between 80% and 90% of suicide attacks in Iraq are perpetrated by foreign fighters, making them the deadliest weapon in al Qaeda's war arsenal. Without them, al Qaeda in Iraq would be critically, perhaps even fatally, weakened.
That is why we now must focus on disrupting this flow of suicide bombers--and that means focusing on Syria, through which up to 80% of the Iraq-bound extremists transit. Indeed, even terrorists from countries that directly border Iraq travel by land via Syria to Iraq, instead of directly from their home countries, because of the permissive environment for terrorism that the Syrian government has fostered. Syria refuses to tighten its visa regime for individuals transiting its territory.
Coalition forces have spent considerable time and energy trying to tighten Syria's land border with Iraq against terrorist infiltration. But given the length and topography of that border, the success of these efforts is likely to remain uneven at best, particularly without the support of the Damascus regime.
Before al Qaeda's foreign fighters can make their way across the Syrian border into Iraq, however, they must first reach Syria--and the overwhelming majority does so, according to U.S. intelligence estimates, by flying into Damascus International Airport, making the airport the central hub of al Qaeda travel in the Middle East, and the most vulnerable chokepoint in al Qaeda's war against Iraq and the U.S. in Iraq.
Syrian President Bashar al Assad cannot seriously claim that he is incapable of exercising effective control over the main airport in his capital city. Syria is a police state, with sprawling domestic intelligence and security services. The notion that al Qaeda recruits are slipping into and through the Damascus airport unbeknownst to the local Mukhabarat is totally unbelievable.
This is not the first use of the Damascus airport by terrorists. It has long been the central transit point for Iranian weapons en route to Hezbollah, in violation of United Nations Security Council sanctions, as well as for al Qaeda operatives moving into and out of Lebanon. Now the Damascus airport is the point of entry into Iraq for most of the suicide bombers who are killing innocent Iraqi citizens and American soldiers, and trying to break America's will in this war. It is therefore time to demand that the Syrian regime stop playing travel agent for al Qaeda in Iraq.
When Congress reconvenes next month, we should set aside whatever differences divide us on Iraq and send a clear and unambiguous message to the Syrian regime, as we did last month to the Iranian regime, that the transit of al Qaeda suicide bombers through Syria on their way to Iraq is completely unacceptable, and it must stop. We in the U.S. government should also begin developing a range of options to consider taking against Damascus International, unless the Syrian government takes appropriate action, and soon.
Responsible air carriers should be asked to stop flights into Damascus International, as long as it remains the main terminal of international terror. Despite its use by al Qaeda and Hezbollah terrorists, the airport continues to be serviced by many major non-U.S. carriers, including Alitalia, Air France, and British Airways.
Interrupting the flow of foreign fighters would mean countless fewer suicide bombings in Iraq, and countless fewer innocent people murdered by the barbaric enemy we are fighting there. At a time when the al Qaeda network in Iraq is already under heavy stress thanks to American and Iraqi military operations, closing off the supply line through which al Qaeda in Iraq is armed with its most deadly weapons--suicide bombers--would be devastating to the terrorists' cause.
Simply put, for the U.S. and our Iraqi allies, defeating al Qaeda in Iraq means locking shut Syria's "Open Door" policy to terrorists. It is past time for Syria to do so.
Is Lieberman the only Democrat (if you can call him that anymore) left in Congress who either truly cares about ,or has a basic understanding of, national security?
#3
If Jim Webb could get over his BDS he would be partner of Liebermans. But unfortunately, Soros got to him and convinced him that Bush would get his son killed in Iraq.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2007 12:43
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The infighting begins over post-British control of the Shia provinces. Will it be Iran or Baghdad? Will anyone be able to tell the difference?
BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed the governor of the southern Muthanna province on Monday, police said, the second assassination of a top provincial official in just over a week.
The blast struck the SUV carrying Gov. Mohammed Ali al-Hassani about 9 a.m., shortly after his convoy departed from his home in Rumaitha en route to his office in the provincial capital of Samawah, about 230 miles southeast of Baghdad. Al-Hassani, his driver and a guard were killed, while his office manager and two other guards were seriously wounded, police said.
A curfew was immediately clamped on Samawah and new checkpoints were erected.
On Aug. 11, the governor and police chief of another southern province, Qadasiyah, also were killed in a roadside bombing attack. Gov. Khalil Jalil Hamza and the police chief Maj. Gen. Khalid Hassan were killed as they returned to the provincial capital of Diwaniyah from a funeral for a tribal sheik.
Both governors were members of the influential Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council, a group led by Shiite politician Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim whose loyalists have been fighting the Mahdi Army militia for control of the oil-rich south as British-led forces gradually withdraw from the area.
Al-Hassani, 52, was from a prominent clan in the area and had been governor for about two years despite several attempts by rivals in the provincial council to sack him. SIIC dominates the Muthanna provincial capital with about half of the 40 seats, with the rest divided among other Shiite parties, including Fadhila and the Dawa party of al-Maliki.
Police quickly laid blame on the Mahdi Army, which is nominally loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and has been involved in several recent clashes with its rivals. "There was nothing against the governor inside the province except the confrontations between Mahdi Army and SIIC, which have claimed the lives of dozens of people," an officer said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he feared retribution.
Al-Maliki's office issued a statement condemning the assassination, saying it had ordered and investigation and calling for restraint against retaliation. "Those behind this horrible crime want to flood the province with chaos and insecurity, thus implementing an agenda of hatred that does not want any good for our people," the prime minister said in the statement.
"Therefore, we call on our people in the Muthanna province to exercise self-restraint and avoid the trap set by this act," he added. "Meanwhile our armed forces are ordered to confront with full zeal and force any one who tries to destabilize the province."
#1
Better be the Iraqi's period. Basrah is too damn important as a refinery and chem center as well as the major logistics center of Iraq. You give this to Iran then you may as well give them Iraq in total.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2007 9:45
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#2
It will be interesting to see what the response is on this from the central government. This attack more clearly identifies Sadr and the Mahdi Army as tools of Iran. That is still not a good thing with a whole lot of Iraqis. Will Maliki use these two killings as an excuse to really go after Sadr or at least rally support away from the Iranian groups? Regardless, will that be enough to overcome all of the Iranian "walking around money" that is flooding the Basra area.
The BBC has said that its Russian-language FM broadcasts have been taken off the air by its Moscow distributor, which said its programs were "foreign propaganda."
The decision by Bolshoye Radio leaves the BBC's Russian-language services available only on medium and shortwave broadcasts, the BBC said in a press release.
So it is Putin vs. the BBC. Talk about a battle of the propagandists. Who do I root for? The bad guys or the bad guys?
Posted by: Mike ||
08/20/2007
06:50 ||
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#1
So the BBC has too much Communist propaganda even for Putin?
#2
It's rather than russia is busy redefining the West as its ennemy (that's why many euros who see the "West" as the ennemy have more than a fondness for putput and his nationalist, anti-US russia, that is true both for some rightwingers and some leftists).
#2
How long would an atheist last as a talk show host in America. He is right about Islam but he is just as offensive to Judaism and Catholicism and Protestantism.....He just doesn't like any religion. We already have Christopher Hitchens - we don't need another one like him.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2007 9:57
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#3
The fool has said in his heart, There is no God.
#4
I'll put this in the most polite fashion possible.
At some point Christians need to realize that surviving Islam will likely reside in making an alliance with all other religions including agnostics, atheists and pagans. None of us have the luxury of thinking that our freedom can be protected adequately by each of ours' own individual numbers. Only a united front with the poltical and military will to crush Islam utterly will stand a snowball's chance in hell of seeing this through.
I urge those of all other faiths and even no faith at all to please understand this. United we must surely stand. To remain divided is to falldie.
Damn, and Seafarious already did the dead parrot routine! Foiled again!
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says Fidel Castro is Stable "writing, and producing," denying rumours circulating on the internet that the Cuban leader had died. Mr Chavez, a close lover ally of Castro, has frequently provided information about the health of the ailing Communist leader who temporarily stepped aside after undergoing emergency abdominal surgery a year ago.
"On the Internet rumours are circulating that Fidel Castro has died," Mr Chavez said during his weekly Sunday broadcast. "Fidel is Stable producing, he is writing."
Mr Chavez said he had spoken to Castro on his 81st birthday on Monday. Ouija boards are nice.
Rumours had surfaced on Friday that Castro had died from complications resulting from his surgery.
#5
The Flemish should immediately start polling for secession, to get their people thinking about splitting Belgium in two.
They could even gain the high ground by proposing a split like the peaceful division of Czechoslovakia between the Czechs and the Slovaks, which ended up with smiles all around, instead of any lingering animosity.
#6
Split Belgium into two nations. Southern part goes to France, northern part goes to the Netherlands. Problem solved.
DV - no it doesn't. Not for the Flemings. (I am married to one). They hold the same disregard for the Dutch that they do for the Walloons. The language is not exactly the same. Flemish is more Old Dutch than current Nederlandse. Flemings are prominently Catholic. Dutch prominently Protestant except for the far south (Breda) districts. Believe me the best solution is an independent Flanders but only with Brussels as part of it.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2007 12:27
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#7
Flanders has a pretty long history as a distinct area with its own entrepreneurial ways. In the mddle ages it was a center of industry/craftsmanship/trade, with a thriving bourgeoisie (i.e. anti-feudal folks) and home of the northern renaissance.
Posted by: moody blues ||
08/20/2007 13:27
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#8
If Flanders becomes his own country, Moe and Apu are going to want the same deal.
/Homer
#9
Belgium has no longer areason to exist. It existed because at one time it seemed necessary to keep France down. If you look at a map of France you will see that it is bordered either by high mountains, seas or a wide river (the Rhine). Everywhere ecspt between France's right "elbow" and teh North Sea. In addition this border is close to Paris and there is no obstacle between it and Paris. No mountains, no river, nothing.
As long as France couldn't gob what is today Belgium it had to keep a huge army and was unable to challenge teh Royal Navy. Building a string Navy meant either a weak Army and invasion like in 1870 and 1940 or, in case France tried to have both, bankruptcy and revolution like for Louis XVI. That is why France who until middle XIXthe century had two or three times Enagland's population was never able to mount a credible threat of invading England.
But if France had had its whole north-east border on the Rhine she would no longer have a need for large army.
That is why when the Belgians expelled the Dutch the union between Flemish and Wallons was forced upon them and then in an independent state. The Wallons would have been French instead and the former I don't know what 1830 Flemish wanted but their fathers had served with distinction in Napoleon's army and kept loyal.
Now the need for Belgium has gone. But I am not sure to want Wallons into France.
#11
If they are serious about the EU Belgium should disolve and enter the EU as two seperate nations. The Basques should make their case as well. Same with Scotland, Bavaria, Tuscany, etc, etc.
The natural progression of the EU will lead to a number of large regional states leaving their member countries since paying taxes twice sucks and many places like Bavaria will have more power in the EU rather than providing power to all of Germany. As soon as the citizens realize this the EU will die.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The father of a man killed when hijacked Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, wants his son's name withheld from a victims memorial because of renewed concerns that its design is centered around Islamic symbolism.
Tom Burnett Sr. served on a jury that picked the winning design, originally named "Crescent of Embrace," and said the request was "something I'd rather not do, but I can't get anyone to listen."
Burnett's son, Thomas E. Burnett Jr., 38, died along with 39 other passengers and crew when Flight 93 was hijacked and crashed into a field near Shanksville, Pa., while flying to San Francisco from Newark, N.J. An investigation concluded the hijackers crashed when passengers rushed the cockpit and tried to regain control of the aircraft.
Nearly two years ago, designer Paul Murdoch changed the memorial's planned shape to a nearly full circle in response to critics who said the original crescent shape honored the Muslim extremists who carried out the attacks. The crescent is a Muslim symbol.
Burnett, of Northfield, Minn., said he is looking for is a "thorough, honest investigation" of the design and the elements discussed by Alec Rawls, a conservative blogger from Palo Alto, Calif. Burnett said many of his concerns were based on Rawls' theories.
Rawls says the planned memorial faces toward Mecca, Islam's holiest city, and contends that a planned 93-foot tower with wind chimes would act as an Islamic sundial.
Joanne Hanley, superintendent of the Flight 93 National Memorial, said, Rawls "bases all of his conclusions on faulty assumptions."
#1
Flight 93 Memorial and all other Memorials that celebrate the lives or pay respects to the victims.
Perhaps it would be smarter, wiser and more humane to ask the victim's families what the
red-line no-go areas for them would be in the ultimate design.
I recognize that some of them might say, build nothing; and some would say build a monument that said kill all Muslims. [like someone says around here fairly regularly]
But if the right team leader works with the families with all the dos and don'ts they can give the Designers a wide latitude of choices for a decent monument celebrating their kin's lives while paying respect to their losses.
THEN if a Designer on his own goes *Munafiqs* and injects Islamic elements and motifs into the whole of the monument I would fire his ass for the Flight 93 Crew and passengers, and the families, and the let's Roll Team, America, and every red blooded American on the Planet.
Then I would do is check and see if designer Paul Murdoch in this instance, and his firm does any work in the Gulf or is bidding work in the Gulf.
[a good 40% of the $$$ HUGE $$$ CASH $$$ jobs will be in the Gulf region for the next few years... without war of course]
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/20/2007 4:13
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#2
I recognize that some of them might say, build nothing; and some would say build a monument that said kill all Muslims.
#10
It's time the honest, hardworking citizens of this nation start kicking the a$$ of all the parisites that live here, but contribute nothing to the current success and sustained future of our nation. Unless we do, we're going to end up just like France.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/20/2007 14:29
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#11
I think all 9/11 Memorials should be designed by the thoughts, actions and insights of Vlad the Impaler. Like...93 impaled muslims in a circle around a crusader holding the severed head of allen's boy mudhead the child rapist.
From the excerpts, This guy sounds like someone who would like to be like Norman Podhoretz, but lacks the courage (and potential income, and talent) to do so.
Also, it gives an interesting view from the inside of how a Euro-moonbat thinks. Its not pretty.
Posted by: N Guard ||
08/20/2007 6:00
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#2
Revolting from start to finish. Written as if basic decency, duty and responsibility were and continue to be shocking revelations. "If I were Robert Fisk I would throw rocks at me too."
#7
But it is heartening in its own way to read someone has actually opened his eyes and begun to see what the fallacies of liberalism hath wrought.
Conspicuously absent in this chap's burbling-on is any genuine refutation of the choice liberal nuggets he parades. As in:
For all of them this was an issue of the powerless striking back at the powerful, the oppressed against the oppressor, the rebels against the imperialists.
So, where is the final reorientation towards understanding that some people just plain hate everyone else who is different and want to kill them?
In the end I reached the conclusion that 11 September had already brutally confirmed: there were other forces, far more malign than America, that lay in wait in the world.
Sonow that he has purged the bolus of indigestible liberalism from his upset tummyexactly what are those "forces" that are "far more malign than America"? Does he feel no need to go beyond his endless hand-wringing and begin to address issues of substance?
Methinks this bloke is still clinging to his liberalism despite having had it demolished before his eyes. I certainly hope that Mr. Anthony will begin to use his journalistic pulpit towards better ends than such an inconclusive and self-indulgent confessional.
#8
Written as if basic decency, duty and responsibility were and continue to be shocking revelations.
For some people, these things are alien concepts, quaint remnants from a bygone era.
Posted by: Natural Law ||
08/20/2007 11:30
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#9
Looks like they need the right to bear arms including concealed.
Too many random beatings of folks around that guy.
But... he doesn't have the guts to connect the first part with the next 2 or note how the US waded into the punks...
#10
Self-indulgent confessional is exactly right. I expect he understands he will be pilloried by his "sophisticated" friends and will enjoy that too. This man could barely bring himself to intervene in a vicious gang assault on a young girl and still agreed some evil smirking Eloi was right to think him "pompous" for doing so.
Nietzsche called it the will to decline. Freud called it the death drive. Might as well call it suicide.
#11
To take it even further... his step daughter gets beaten up and given the lack of police action he doesn't even consider that means there is no recourse to government so he's in an "everyman for himself" state. That being the case.... his re-actions are wrong. It was right to rescue the other girl but it is still pretty whimpy.
#12
I think this is actually a very good snapshot of 2007 Britain/Europe, not just of this man's epiphany. Read it beyond his own "journey" (which you should approve, by the way), it's damning in its own way.
#13
This man could barely bring himself to intervene in a vicious gang assault on a young girl and still agreed some evil smirking Eloi was right to think him "pompous" for doing so.
Thank you for catching that one, Excal. I meant to include that startling bit of self-loathing twaddle in my own assessment of this assclown.
#14
This is a guy "guessing", "assuming", "wishing", not someone who has had an epiphany. He is like a gay guy who wants to go straight but still has those "feelings" and just can't finally let go. His rhetoric says it all. He just can't help himself. Plus he can longer live like this, not in Islington, at least.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2007 12:35
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#15
I think you're all being a little hard on the guy. He's having an epiphany, and as self-indulgent and hesitant as his is, still it's a necessary step in changing his opinions -- and, hopefully, those of others.
He says, of the attack outside the liquor store:
There wasn't a liberal vocabulary with which to describe the situation. Indeed, even a phrase like 'civic decency' sounded fuddy-duddy, uptight, somehow right-wing.
It's very hard to say, to even think, things for which you have no vocabulary. It takes a great deal of mulling and sifting to be able to construct one from whole cloth. And it took a small amount of courage to publish this; as Seafarious says, the man's about to be outcast from "decent" society.
I don't want to overplay this guy's insight, but it is rare in Guardian-land. It's a first step we should at least welcome before pouting out its flaws.
#16
It's a first step we should at least welcome before pouting out its flaws.
Agreed, Angie, except that he leaves his poisonous indefensible liberal memes hanging in midair without acknowledging the honest and inescapable refutations that have finally sprung to his attention.
#17
No credit from me whatsoever. This is a free man raised in an open society bought and paid for by generations of blood, tears and sweat. He should know better.
To add to Zenster's thought: The writer acknowledges honest and inescapable refutations of his worldview without so much as alluding to, let alone crediting, conservative views that take his every agonized revelation to be self-evident. And he remains unrepentant for attempting to subvert the defense of the West through his pre-9/11 record of "protest", as febrile as I presume those efforts to have been.
Cool stuff. Ultralight. Just a few mm makes good IED armor, coat/house/spacesuit insulation, filter, oil & heavy metal contaminant sucker-upper, hydrogen catalyst, comet dust catcher, etc. Liberals up in arms because scientists haven't figured out how to get it to do dishes yet. Invented in 1931 . . . .
A MIRACLE material for the 21st century could protect your home against bomb blasts, mop up oil spillages and even help man to fly to Mars. Aerogel, one of the worlds lightest solids, can withstand a direct blast of 1kg of dynamite and protect against heat from a blowtorch at more than 1,300C.
Scientists are working to discover new applications for the substance, ranging from the next generation of tennis rackets to super-insulated space suits for a manned mission to Mars.
It is expected to rank alongside wonder products from previous generations such as Bakelite in the 1930s, carbon fibre in the 1980s and silicone in the 1990s. Mercouri Kanatzidis, a chemistry professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, said: It is an amazing material. It has the lowest density of any product known to man, yet at the same time it can do so much. I can see aerogel being used for everything from filtering polluted water to insulating against extreme temperatures and even for jewellery.
Aerogel is nicknamed frozen smoke and is made by extracting water from a silica gel, then replacing it with gas such as carbon dioxide. The result is a substance that is capable of insulating against extreme temperatures and of absorbing pollutants such as crude oil. It was invented by an American chemist for a bet in 1931, but early versions were so brittle and costly that it was largely consigned to laboratories. It was not until a decade ago that Nasa started taking an interest in the substance and putting it to a more practical use.
In 1999 the space agency fitted its Stardust space probe with a mitt packed full of aerogel to catch the dust from a comets tail. It returned with a rich collection of samples last year.
In 2002 Aspen Aerogel, a company created by Nasa, produced a stronger and more flexible version of the gel. It is now being used to develop an insulated lining in space suits for the first manned mission to Mars, scheduled for 2018. Mark Krajewski, a senior scientist at the company, believes that an 18mm layer of aerogel will be sufficient to protect astronauts from temperatures as low as -130C. It is the greatest insulator weve ever seen, he said.
Aerogel is also being tested for future bombproof housing and armour for military vehicles. In the laboratory, a metal plate coated in 6mm of aerogel was left almost unscathed by a direct dynamite blast. Humvee/tank/helmet/personal armor?
It also has green credentials. Aerogel is described by scientists as the ultimate sponge, with millions of tiny pores on its surface making it ideal for absorbing pollutants in water.
Kanatzidis has created a new version of aerogel designed to mop up lead and mercury from water. Other versions are designed to absorb oil spills. He is optimistic that it could be used to deal with environmental catastrophes such as the Sea Empress spillage in 1996, when 72,000 tons of crude oil were released off the coast of Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire.
Aerogel is also being used for everyday applications. Dunlop, the sports equipment company, has developed a range of squash and tennis rackets strengthened with aerogel, which are said to deliver more power. Will it help my golf stroke?
Earlier this year Bob Stoker, 66, from Nottingham, became the first Briton to have his property insulated with aerogel. The heating has improved significantly. I turned the thermostat down five degrees. Its been a remarkable transformation, he said. So it's good for the GWOT too!
Mountain climbers are also converts. Last year Anne Parmenter, a British mountaineer, climbed Everest using boots that had aerogel insoles, as well as sleeping bags padded with the material. She said at the time: The only problem I had was that my feet were too hot, which is a great problem to have as a mountaineer.
However, it has failed to convince the fashion world. Hugo Boss created a line of winter jackets out of the material but had to withdraw them after complaints that they were too hot.
Although aerogel is classed as a solid, 99% of the substance is made up of gas, which gives it a cloudy appearance. Scientists say that because it has so many millions of pores and ridges, if one cubic centimetre of aerogel were unravelled it would fill an area the size of a football field.
Its nano-sized pores can not only collect pollutants like a sponge but they also act as air pockets. Ah, no wonder liberals are so worried about this stuff. They are afraid they will come into contact with it! :-)
Researchers believe that some versions of aerogel which are made from platinum can be used to speed up the production of hydrogen. As a result, aerogel can be used to make hydrogen-based fuels.
#1
I've seen pics of aerogel floating on nitrogen. It's roughly the same density as air, so it's actually lighter than pure nitrogen.
Very cool stuff, particularly if it can be made cheap and strong.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
08/20/2007 9:30
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#2
Posted by: Boss Craising2882 ||
08/20/2007 9:33
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#3
They have samples of this stuff to play with at the local tech museum. It's really odd to place something in the palm of your hand and barely be able to detect its presence. As is so often the case with new technology, it is no longer a matter of design improvements but the evolution of novel materials and their applications.
I'd love to see if they can push this stuff to optical clarity. Imagine ultra-lightweight giant lenses for portable telescopes and photographic purposes.
#4
One killer app for this could be in home construction. That is, in the extreme, a foundation, a metal frame, the equivalent of thin advanced ceramic modular floor, walls and roof with a layer of aerogel in them, with solar panels on the roof to power cooling and heating.
Advanced ceramic is far lighter, stronger and harder than concrete, and the aerogel would act both as insulation and soundproofing.
#8
I wonder if it could be used in vehicle or aircraft applications. Minimal weight combined with strength is a great combination.
Dontcha love how technology introduces major paradigm shifts such that the prevailing wisdom of the day (yes, I'm talking about your idiot ass AlGore) becomes even more irrelevant. Any future prediction that is based on straight line projection should be dismissed out of hand every time.
Saudi Arabia's veteran foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has undergone neck surgery in New York, the official news agency said late on Saturday. The report from the Saudi Press Agency said the senior member of the ruling Al Saud family, who has been foreign minister since 1975, was treated successfully on Friday to remove bone calcification. It said the prince would return to Saudi Arabia after a convalescence period. He could head the Saudi delegation to a Middle East peace conference including Israel later this year, if the leading Arab-Muslim power agrees to attend. The Saudi Foreign Ministry says Prince Saud was born in 1940 making him one of the younger figures among the key players in the royal family.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007
00:38 ||
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#1
ROFL! I wanted to post the same pic when seeing the headline!
At least two rockets were fired at security forces' checkposts in the area of Kahan on Sunday. According to sources, the rockets landed in an open area and exploded with a deafening sound. No loss of life or property has been reported yet. Operations are underway to nab the miscreants. In another incident, security personnel defused a rig bomb on Mawand Road.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007
00:36 ||
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Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal central leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday that the recent Pak-Afghan peace jirga was meaningless without the Taliban's presence in it. "The Taliban are the real stakeholders, and not Pakistan and the Afghansitan government. No one can even think of peace in the region until the Taliban's importance is accepted", he said while addressing an annual Dastar Bandi in Darvesh Masjid.
Heroin and Kalashnikov culture were the byproducts of the Afghan war, he said, adding that the Taliban regime eliminated these menaces from Afghanistan and brought real peace and stability.
Replying a question, he said the Wafaqul Madaris was being weakened and madrassas were slowly abolished under a conspiracy.
Fazl said if the democratic process in the country was wrapped up religious parties would be the ultimate losers. He said the MMA-led government in the NWFP had made progress toward achieving its objectives. He regretted that Pakistan had become isolated in the comity of nations due to its ill-conceived foreign policy. It is no more on friendly terms with neighboring countries, including Afghanistan, India and China, he observed. "The US was present in Afghanistan to serve its own interests. America and other imperialist powers are equating jihad with terrorism. They are maligning Islam and provoking Muslims to raise arms so that they could be crushed in the US war on terror," he said. "We will have to show sagacity in the prevailing situation."
He said that he believed in politics of wisdom rather than weapons and that the incidents like Lal Masjid and the May 12 violence in Karachi could not be forgotten.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007
00:34 ||
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Top|| File under: Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
At least 20 people were killed and 39 wounded during clashes in Iraq, US statements and security and medical officials here said.
At least 12 people were killed and 31 wounded during an intensive mortar bombardment of the mainly Shiite suburb of Al-Obeidi on Sunday, security and medical officials here said. An interior ministry official said the attack came during heavy clashes between the US military and militiamen. "Many mortars were fired. The area has been sealed off," the official said.
A security official said at least five mortar shells landed in the suburb and all those killed were civilians. The Al-Sadr hospital in the Sadr City slum reported receiving 12 bodies and 18 wounded people, while the Ibn Nafees hospital in central Baghdad said 13 wounded were there for treatment.
In another incident, one person was killed and five wounded when a bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded in the Al-Shorjah market close to the city centre, a security official said. Al-Shorjah is the oldest and largest market in the Iraqi capital.
Separately, one person was killed and three were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded in central Baghdad's Mishin area, a security official said. The US military, meanwhile, said American-led forces killed three suspected militants and detained 21 others in a series of operations on Sunday aimed at Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Two suspected militants were killed in a raid targeting the leader of an Al Qaeda in Iraq cell near the town of Muqdadiyah in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, a military statement said. Snipers gunned down the two when they refused to leave a building and were perceived by US troops to be a "hostile threat," the statement said.
In the town of Tarmiyah, just north of the capital, US-led forces conducted an operation to "disrupt a foreign terrorist facilitation network that safeguards senior leaders of Al Qaeda in Iraq," the statement added. One man who had been rounded up during the operation "made threatening movements" and troops shot him in "self-defence," the statement said, adding Iraqis on the scene identified the man as a member of Al Qaeda, which the US blames for much of the violence in the country.
Seven suspected militants were arrested during the operation, the statement added. More suspected militants were also arrested in a series of raids in other parts of Iraq, including in northern Salah ad Din province, the US military said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007
00:32 ||
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
"5 mortar shells landed" "a bomb hidden in a motorcycle exploded"
Goodness, those bad, bad, mortars and bombs. Why do they do such things?
Posted by: Brian H ||
08/20/2007 8:24
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#2
Yeah, got that. It just kinda happened. Maybe Allan did it.
Mortars, you can't trust 'em.
The Swat peace committee ended its jirga on Sunday, with a decision that suicide attacks, especially those targeting police and security forces, are "haraam" (forbidden). The peace committee arranged the jirga at a mosque in tehsil Matta. Maulana Fazl-e-Haq chaired the jirga, and National Assembly members Fazl-e-Subhan and Maulana Azizullah also participated. The jirga also passed a resolution demanding President Pervez Musharraf step down after "failing to control law and order". Through another resolution, they demanded that non-government organisations (NGOs) immediately stop employing women in the district. The jirga urged prayer leaders to utilise their respective mosques as platforms to promote peace in the district.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007
00:31 ||
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#1
But still no fatwan against those who sanction homicide bombing as halal, so I guess it's all taqiyya bullshit. Carry on.
Serving and retired military personnel dominate nine out of the 12 power distribution companies working under the Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), according to official documents procured by Daily Times. According the documents, a total of 3,002 military people are working in the nine companies, three of which they head as well. The highest number of military people is in the Faisalabad Electricity Supply Company (FESCO) where 647 of them work, with a retired colonel and retired major in senior positions. The lowest ratio is in the Tribal Areas Electricity Supply Company (TESCO) where only three junior retired military men serve as security guards.
A total of 496 retired military officers work at IESCO which is headed by a retired brigadier. As many as 493 work at the PESCO, two of them at senior posts. Five hundred and twenty-five work at HESCO, and one of them is at a senior post. MEPCO has two retired brigadiers working at the top posts and three retired officers at less senior ? important nonetheless ? posts. The rest of the 326 retired military men work at junior positions in the company. As many as 218 work at GEPCO, with a retired colonel and major serving at senior posts. In total, 114 retired military officers work at QESCO. A retired colonel with 28 years of experience in power companies and the military works at a senior position. The LESCO employs a total 176 retired military officers, two of them in senior positions.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007
00:30 ||
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Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto warned on Saturday that the threat of terrorism in the country's northwest tribal zones would not go away while a military government was in power, agencies reported. "The root cause of the problem lies in the government's inability to enforce its writ in the tribal areas," Bhutto told Canada's CBC public television channel. "As long as we have a cabinet ... that needs the threat of terrorism to sustain a military dictatorship in Pakistan we're never going to get rid of terrorism," she said of the leadership of President Pervez Musharraf.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007
00:28 ||
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#1
They'll have terrorism there until the sign at the border says "Pakiwakiland - pop. 0"
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
08/20/2007 8:40
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#2
Prediction: The parking on the Left will become the parking on the Right. Meet the new boss ... yada yada yada ...
Egyptian Interior Ministry said Sunday its organs arrested 18 activists of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group in Alexandria and Sharqiya governorates. "Crackdown against the group led to the arrest of 18 activists and seizure of organizational documents belonging to the banned group," Egypt's state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) quoted sources of the ministry as saying. The crackdown is part of "perfect security strikes" against underground group to abort its plans and future moves," the sources pointed out.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
08/20/2007
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The military stepped up its retaliatory offensive yesterday by killing several Abu Sayyaf militants, including two of the suspects behind the beheading of soldiers last month.Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo said troops overran an Abu Sayyaf training camp in the mountain village of Silangkum here where bodies of several Abu Sayyaf gunmen were found. Troops have recovered at least six body counts, including the two leaders who were among the suspects in the beheading of the Marines last month. This does not include those bodies seen littered by the clearing forces, Cedo told a news conference here yesterday. Cedo said yesterdays clash here involved about 80 Abu Sayyaf gunmen. He added that hundreds of troops are pursuing the rebels who survived. The bodies of slain rebels were scattered around the battle scene, he said.
The two slain suspects were identified as senior Abu Sayyaf leader Furiji Indama and his brother Umair Indama, whose remains were among those recovered by troops in the rebel camp. Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief Gen. Hermogenes Esperon said the raiding troops even recovered the M-16 rifle of one of the beheaded Marines. Esperon said Furiji Indama was also a suspect in the killing of Peru-born American tourist Guillermo Sobero, one of three US citizens abducted by the Abu Sayyaf in a Palawan resort in 2001.
Troops also fired 105 mm Howitzer shells early yesterday at suspected Abu Sayyaf positions near Ungkaya Pukan and the nearby townships of Sumisip and Tipo-Tipo but there was no immediate report of casualties, officials said.
At least 57 soldiers and rebels were killed in the offensive, which started at dawn Saturday and raged until the early afternoon.
That's a costly battle.
It was the first offensive on Basilan since 14 Marines were killed, of which 10 were decapitated, in an ambush on July 10, primarily blamed on the Abu Sayyaf and renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
This article starring:
Furiji Indama
Umair Indama
Posted by: Seafarious ||
08/20/2007
00:00 ||
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#1
"At least 57 soldiers and rebels were killed in the offensive"
At least two of the dead were bad guys. You have to guess the distribution of the other 55 or more. Presumably many were Abu Sayyaf as "The bodies of slain rebels were scattered around the battle scene"
That is, unless it was just the two, but broken up and scattered widely.
GAZA'S main power plant shut down operations yesterday after it said it had depleted its fuel reserves, despite a pledge from Israel to resume deliveries that were halted last week. Power plant officials said a private Israeli energy company has yet to deliver any fuel.
More likely Paleo thugs officials are holding out for more baksheesh...
#4
This shutdown needs to be permanent. The Roadmap is now irrelevant and Israel deserves an undivided country entirely free of Palestinian terrorists. The Jews deserve nothing less for their endless patience and forebearance. Let surrounding Arab nations absorb the hatemongering human filth they have so assiduously bred up.
#6
Ramallah Ma'an The European Union stopped financing the energy company which supplies fuel to the Gaza Strip electricity company after Hamas forced the company's executives out and took control, according to the Palestinian Minister of Information, Dr Riyad Al Maliki.
At a press conference in Ramallah on Sunday Dr Al Maliki announced that the European Union stopped paying money to the Israeli Dor Alon Energy Company which supplies fuel to Gaza Power Generating Company after Hamas took over the company. He also accused Hamas of "stealing the company's money."
"The EU will not back down on its decision before Hamas backs down on its control over the power company," Al-Maliki said.
He added that "the Palestinian caretaker government will coordinate with the Egyptians in order to increase electricity supplied from Egypt so as to cover the central Gaza Strip. Furthermore, the government will ask the Israeli power company to increase power supply in order to cover the northern Gaza Strip."
Ummmmm...why should they? What's in it for them?
However, he admitted that the chances of increasing the power supply from Egypt and Israel were slim.
Power was cut for almost half of the Gaza Strip on Friday night when the power company shut down three of its four generators after Israel closed the Nahal Oz fuel crossing. On Sunday the fourth generator was also shut down, further increasing the power outage across the Gaza Strip.
EU Spokeswoman Alix de Mauny told Ma'an that the security situation was still being assessed before the EU would resume the financing of fuel deliveries to the Gaza Strip.
"Following security concerns during the last few days, we've taken the opportunity to assess the situation to make sure all elements for a high level of accountability are in place," she said.
She said that the assessment was due to be completed in the next 24 to 48 hours. "We hope on the back of that we would be able to resume our supply of delivery of fuel to Gaza," she added, pointing out that only 25-30% of the power supply to the Gaza Strip is funded by the EU.
Who covers the other 70-75%, because you sure as shit know that these mooks don't.
#7
Go tell Hugo Chavez. He'll fix it. He'll send Jesse Jackson, a wrench and Orinoco that even the sun can't burn.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2007 12:08
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#8
Quick question: Who is paying for potable water flowing from Israel, and are those accounts receivable up to date? Just askin, bein a Pisces and all........
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/20/2007 15:36
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#9
So, now they can sell Carbon Offsets?
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
08/20/2007 21:43
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Yemen security forces arrested an Egyptian suspected of having links with Al-Qaeda and involvement in recent bombings in Mareb which killed European tourists. Rai News website quoted security sources as saying Sunday that Mohammad Yaqout was arrested in one of the hotels in the capital, Sanaa, after months of pursuit.
The Egyptian is suspected of being involved in the terrorist attack that targeted Spanish tourists in the governorate of Mareb early July of this year, said the sources. The attack killed seven tourists and injured others. Yaqout entered Yemen illegally several months ago, said the sources.
The Yemen security forces killed Ahmad Basyouni Duwaidar, an Egyptian, who is accused of planning the June attack.
This article starring:
AHMED BASYUNI DUWAIDAR
al-Qaeda in Yemen
MOHAMAD YAQUT
al-Qaeda in Yemen
Posted by: Seafarious ||
08/20/2007
00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Yemen
KABUL - President Hamid Karzai led Afghanistans Independence Day celebrations on Sunday with a call to the countrys young people to educate themselves to preserve their freedom.
Karzai told tens of thousands of people gathered in the capitals sports stadium that Afghanistans youth should spend every second of their lives in learning to maintain the countrys cherished independence. "To maintain Afghanistans independence the youth of the country the youngsters must spend every second of their lives in learning, and better learning, Karzai told the gathering.
An enthusiastic Karzai asked the crowd to repeat after him we want to learn and live better. Do you want to learn, become engineers, doctors and experts?, Karzai asked the crowd. Say yes, loudly, Yes, Karzai exhorted. The crowd applauded and shouted: yes, yes, we do.
Reiterating condemnation of Taliban attacks on the 88th anniversary of full sovereignty from Britain, he warned there were still plots against our independence by the enemies of this land. Karzai denounced the killing of innocent people -- men, women and children, referring to the 15 victims, including 11 civilians, killed in a Taliban-linked suicide bombing in southern Afghanistan on Saturday.
Although Afghanistan was never a full colony of Britain, London under a treaty controlled its foreign affairs until agreeing to allow full independence on August 19, 1919. Afghans had earlier fought three wars against the British, the first starting in 1838 and the last ending months before the 1919 agreement.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2007
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#1
I wonder where they'd be today if they had just gone along with it.
#2
Had they been absorbed into the Raj, they would be part of Pakistan now.
You need to go back more than two thousand years, to the time when that region was recaptured from Selucius Nicator (Satrap of Alexander the Great) by the Indian Emperor Chandragupta Maurya.
His grandson the emperor Ashoka converted to Buddhism and sent missionaries to China, Japan, SE Asia to spread the word of the Buddha.
Afghanistan was full of centers of learning, full of Buddhist monasteries and libraries. It was actually civilized.
Nothing remained after the Muslim conquests. The Buddhist monks (who believed in non-violence) were slaughtered and their libraries burnt. All Buddhists were forcibly converted to Islam.
The Bamiyan Buddhas, one of the last remnants of the Buddhist presence were blown up by the Taliban.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2007 8:03
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#3
Good commentary, john frum. Churchill wrote a passage in one of his books along the same line.
But now, if Karzai is speaking about the virtue of education, isn't that apostasy?
#4
Edict of the Indian Emperor Ashoka, at Kandahar, Afghanistan
Inscription is in both Greek and Aramaic
"Ten years (of reign) having been completed, King Piodasses (Ashoka) made known (the doctrine of) Piety to men; and from this moment he has made men more pious, and everything thrives throughout the whole world. And the king abstains from (killing) living beings, and other men and those who (are) huntsmen and fishermen of the king have desisted from hunting. And if some (were) intemperate, they have ceased from their intemperance as was in their power; and obedient to their father and mother and to the elders, in opposition to the past also in the future, by so acting on every occasion, they will live better and more happily."
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2007 11:49
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#5
"All religions should reside everywhere, for all of them desire self-control and purity of heart."
"Here (in my domain) no living beings are to be slaughtered or offered in sacrifice."
"Contact (between religions) is good. One should listen to and respect the doctrines professed by others. Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, desires that all should be well-learned in the good doctrines of other religions."
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2007 11:54
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#6
Of course, it helps when you have a big army...
"But this last combat with Porus took off the edge of the Macedonians' courage, and stayed their further progress into India. For having found it hard enough to defeat an enemy who brought but twenty thousand men and two thousand horse into the field, they thought they had reason to oppose Alexander's design of leading them on to pass the Ganges, too, which they were told was thirty-two furlongs broad and a fathoms deep, and the banks on the further side covered with multitudes of enemies. For they were told the kings of the Gandaritans and Praesians expected them there with eighty thousand horse, two hundred thousand men, eight thousand armed chariots, and six thousand fighting elephants. Nor was this a mere vain report, spread to discourage them. For Androcottus, who not long after reigned in those parts, made a present of five hundred elephants at once to Seleucus, and with an army of six hundred thousand men subdued all India.
Vita Alexandri by Plutarch
And he was pretty mean before he converted and embraced Buddhist Dharma...
"Beloved-of-the-Gods, King Piyadasi, conquered the Kalingas eight years after his coronation. One hundred and fifty thousand were deported, one hundred thousand were killed and many more died (from other causes). After the Kalingas had been conquered, Beloved-of-the-Gods came to feel a strong inclination towards the Dhamma, a love for the Dhamma and for instruction in Dhamma. Now Beloved-of-the-Gods feels deep remorse for having conquered the Kalingas." Rock Edict Nb13
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2007 12:45
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#7
Map of the Maurya Empire under Ashoka's rule.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2007 18:36
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#2
I still hope that Iraq gets ambitious enough to become the nucleus of a Middle East Common Market.
Ironically, the only other group in the ME I've read who sees the logic of doing this, is of all people, Iran. Trouble is, such a common market is dependent on its members being real democracies with transparent government, at least to some degree. Which of course, leaves Iran, in its current form, out of the picture.
But if such a common market would ever evolve, with perhaps Iraq, Turkey, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Qatar, and a few others, it would easily challenge the EU on an economic level.
To double the irony, Iran might be to a MECM in the same position as Russia is to the EU--too large to join.
#3
Get all your sand needs fulfilled there. The finest sand north of Riyadh.
Posted by: ed ||
08/20/2007 13:27
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#4
This more or less fits. IIRC 'anbar' means something akin to 'storage depot' or 'caravan truckstop' in Persian. The province was named when the area was under Persian control centuries ago.
Two soldiers have died during gun battles with Islamic extremists in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, a senior military official said Sunday.
One of the soldiers was killed Saturday night while the second died Sunday of wounds he received in fighting on Saturday inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr el-Bared near the northern port city of Tripoli.
The official said the deaths brought to 138 the number of Lebanese soldiers killed since fighting between the army and Fatah Islam militants broke out on May 20. He spoke on customary condition of anonymity according to military regulations.
The state-run National News Agency said fighting continued Sunday, with army helicopters carrying out three successive raids against Fatah Islam positions inside the camp. It said the helicopters fired more than nine rockets at the suspected positions, but it was not clear whether any direct hits were made.
The military official declined to comment on the NNA's report.
Army commander Michel Suleiman said last week that up to 70 Fatah Islam fighters remained in the camp, along with some 100 women and children believed to be relatives. When the fighting broke out in May, the number of Fatah Islam militants was estimated at 360.
He said the group was affiliated with al-Qaida, denying that it was a Syrian creation, as claimed by anti-Syrian Lebanese government officials.
Anti-Syrian Lebanese government officials have accused Damascus of being behind Fatah Islam in an attempt to destabilize Lebanon following its forced withdrawal from the country in 2005. Damascus denies the claim, saying it considers the group a dangerous terrorist organization.
The Nahr el-Bared fighting has dragged on to become Lebanon's worst internal violence since the 1975-90 civil war. The army has refused to halt its offensive until the militants completely surrender, but the gunmen have vowed to fight to the death.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007
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Top|| File under: Fatah al-Islam
KABUL - A soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed Sunday while escorting a convoy in southern Afghanistan, the force said in a statement. The soldier died from wounds suffered when the convoy was hit by a bomb, which sparked a firefight with militants, an ISAF spokeswoman told AFP.
There was an IED, then there a firefight. He was injured and later died from his wounds. It was not known if he sustained the wounds from the IED or the gunshots, the spokeswoman said.
Neither the soldiers nationality nor the location of the incident was disclosed. His death brings to 136 the number of international troops killed in Afghanistan this year, according to an AFP count.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2007
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#1
Must be non-US since there would be more glee in the news if it were.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2007 9:39
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The IDF is strong and "will win any war," IDF Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said Sunday at a tribute to IDF soldiers. Ashkenazi added that those who fought in the Second Lebanon War were not inferior to fighters of previous generations. "The acts of heroism that came from [last summer's] war inspire our appreciation," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007
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Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#2
I'd love to see Gabi serving under Netanyaho, a shoot um-straight; down to Earth, reckoning kind of guy! The Second Lebanon War was called off due in part to great international pressure on Israel NOT to rout Lebanon with Hizballah, and of course the crying in his beer, hopeless 'Chicken Little' Senorita with no place to turn. Gabi needs only three things...a compass, a 'black' key, and a red phone! A true pit bull.
? can anyone predict [w/any accuracy] when we might see the indecisive loser gone?
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/20/2007 2:46
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#4
Space explosion over Guam, July 2007 > just remember that Armies and Nations are led by Politicians subject to the whims of Correctness. GOD WILL SIDE WID THE RIGHTEOUS, NOT THE ARROGANT.
#5
Two more years, RD. Elections are at fixed schedules. Oh, they could replace him, but with someone else selected by the same people who selected him in the first place. Meet the new boss...
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
08/20/2007 9:11
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The United States will soon send trainers to help the Palestinian Presidential Guard improve its security capabilities, the US State Department said yesterday in a statement.
The training provided by the Department of State's Bureau of Diplomatic Security is part of "a series of courses" that will take place "this fall through early 2008," the statement said. The program is part of the "framework agreement" for more than 80 million dollars the US has pledged to boost the defence needs of the Palestinians that was signed August 2 in Ramallah by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad. The training courses for officers "will enhance the abilities of the Presidential Guard to carry out their primary function -- VIP protection," the department said in its statement. It will "help improve the Palestinian Authority's capacity to deliver security for the Palestinian people and fight terrorism, build confidence between the parties, and ultimately help to meet the security needs of Palestinians and Israelis alike," it added.
The US military is nearing the end of its investigation of Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse with the court-martial of Army Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, who is accused of approving some mistreatment, allowing it to continue and lying about it afterward.
A trial for Jordan, 51, will begin Monday at Fort Meade, Maryland. He has pleaded innocent to the six charges, which could bring a 16 1/2-year prison sentence. He is the last of 12 defendants - and the only officer - charged in a probe triggered by photographs showing low-ranking US soldiers assaulting and humiliating naked detainees at the prison in Iraq in late 2003 and early 2004.
Jordan, the former director of the prison's interrogation center, is not in any of the pictures but is charged with illegally approving the use of dogs and nudity during interrogations.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
Unites States Marine Corp
U.S. MARINE CORPS FORCE CENTRAL COMMAND
7116 SOUTH BOUNDARY BOULEVARD
MACDILL AIRFORCE BASE, FLORIDA 33621-5101
AUG 08 2007
From: Commander
To: Lance Corporal Justin L. Sharratt, U.S. Marine Corps
Subj: DISPOSITION OF CASE
Ref: (a) Commandant of the Marine Corps ltr to Commander, U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command ded 06 Jun 2006 (Subj: Designation as Consolidated Disposition Authority for Any Necessary Administrative Actions Relative to the Haditha Investigation)
(b) Army Regulation 15-6 Investigation of Events in Haditha, Iraq on 19 November 2005 (MG Bargewell AR 15-6) dtd 15 June 06 Forwarding Endorsements
(c) The Naval Criminal Investigation Service's Reports of Investigation Concerning the Haditha Incident from 12 April 2006 to 25 May 2007
(d) Uniform Code of Military Justice Article 32 Investigating Officer Report ICO United States v. Lance Corporal Justin L. Sharratt, U.S. Marine Corps
1. Pursuant to reference (a), and based upon my thorogh consideration of reference (b), (c), and (d), I have determined that the charges in your case will be dismissed without prejudice. I have made this decision based upon all of the evidence and have specifically considered the recommendation articulated in references (d) from the Article 32 Investigating Officer and his determination that the evidence does not support a referral to a court-martial.
2. The experience of combat is difficult to understand intellectually and very difficult to appreciate emotionally. One of our Nation's most articulate Supreme Court Justices, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., served as an infantryman during the Civil War and described war as an "incommunicatable experience." He has also noted elsewhere that "detached reflection cannot be demanded in the face of an uplifted knife." Marines have a well earned reputation for remaining cool in the face of enemies brandishing much more than knives. The brutal reality that Justice Holmes described is experienced each day in Iraq, where you willingly put yourself at great risk to protect innocent civilians. Where the enemy disregards any attempt to comply with ethical norms of warfare, we exercise discipline and restraint to protect the innocent caught on the battlefield. Our way is right, but it is also difficult.
3. The event in which you were engaged on 19 November 2005 has been exhaustively examined by Marine, Army, and Naval Criminal Investigative Service investigators. An independent Article 32 Investigating Officer has considered all the facts and concluded that you acted in accordance with the rules of engagment. His comments on the evidence are contained in reference (d). The intense examination into this incident, and into your conduct, has been necessary to maintain our discipline standards and, in the words of the Marines' Hymn, "To keep our honor clean." I recognize that you have been through a most difficult experience. I am optimistic that you remained aware that you were, and have always been entitled to, and received the benefit of, the presumtion of innocense that is the bedrock of our military justince system.
4. You have served as a Marine infantryman in Iraq where our Nation is fighting a shadowy enemy who hides among the innocent people, does not comply with any respect of the law of war, and routinely targets and intentionally draws fire toward civilians. As you well know, the challenges of this combat experience put extreme pressures on you and your fellow Marines. Operational, moral, and legal imperatives demand that we Marines stay true to our standards and maintain compliance with the law of war in this morally bruising environment. With the dismissal of these charges you may fairly conclude that you did your best to live up to the standards, followed by U.S. fighting men throughout our many wars, in the face of life and death decisions made by you in a matter of seconds in combat. And as you have always remained cloaked in the presumtion of innocense, with this dismissal of charges, you remain in the eyes of the law - and in my eyes - innocent.
The Damascus Chamber of Commerce during a meeting here today with a delegation of Belarusian businessmen focused on activation of the role of the Syrian-Belarusian businessmen council and development of economic and trade relations between the two countries.
The two sides held extensive discussion on ways to activate commercial and economic exchange and visits in order to identify the available trade and investment opportunities and exchange of experience in this area. Talks also focussed on encouraging the joint exhibitions in both countries and the establishment of markets for Syrian products in Russia to brief businessmen and consumers on the Syrian goods.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
08/20/2007
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Egyptian security forces found 500 kilograms of TNT explosives Sunday hidden in sacks near the country's border with the Gaza Strip, a police officer said. Police discovered the cache covered with bushes in northern Sinai after receiving a tip from local Bedouins, reported the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Bedouins working for the authorities led them to the location of the explosives near el-Toayel village, some 25 kilometers west of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, the official said. Smuggling across the border into Gaza or Israel has long provided a livelihood for some Bedouin. Weapons, cigarettes and foreigners seeking jobs in Israel are all taken surreptitiously across the border.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007
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#1
Are the Bedouin in the habit of storing explosives in 500kg lots, or is it the same stash being found over and over again?
Lebanon's Hizbollah has trained Shia fighters from Iraq in advanced guerrilla warfare tactics, according to Mehdi army militants who have been fighting British forces in the south of the country. Members of Muqtada al-Sadr's powerful militia said they had received instruction from fellow Shias from Hizbollah, the movement that fought Israel's vaunted military machine to a bloody standstill in last year's July War.
One Iraqi militiaman, who asked to be named only as Abu Muhannad, said he had spent a month in Southern Lebanon, Hizbollah's stronghold. "I was one of the experienced fighters from the Mehdi army to go for training there," he said. "We learned how to take advantage of an armoured vehicle's weakness, and how to wait and kill the soldiers who try to escape." The 39-year-old from Suwayrah, a city 40 km south of Baghdad was one of several fighters to confirm the links between the two groups. The US has long claimed that Hizbollah, Iraq's Shias and Iran have formed a broad alliance opposed to Israel, the US and its Middle Eastern allies.
Earlier this year, the US military said it had captured a Hizbollah fighter in southern Iraq who had been involved in the abduction and murder of American soldiers. Hizbollah has a reputation of being able to carry out such complex operations, in contrast to the more amateurish Mehdi Army.
During last summer's war, Hizbollah proved itself equal to the American-supplied Israeli Defence Forces (IDF), staging well-organised, textbook ambushes on tanks belonging to the IDF. Israel invaded Lebanon expecting to crush Hizbollah, but the war ended in stalemate, surprising military observers and allowing the guerrillas to claim a victory.
Another Mehdi Army fighter, a 26-year-old who asked to be identified as Abu Nasser, said he and 100 other group members travelled to Lebanon in December 2005. "They didn't teach us anything about suicide bombings, they showed us real tactics and taught our snipers," he said. Speaking in Tufa in Iraq, Muqtada al-Sadr, the head of the Mehdi Army, admitted to "formal links" with Hizbollah.
"We have formal links with Hizbollah, we do exchange ideas and discuss the situation facing Shiites in both countries," he said. "It is natural that we would want to improve ourselves by learning from each other. We copy Hizbollah in the way they fight and their tactics, we teach each other and we are getting better through this."
Mr Sadr said members of the Mehdi Army had travelled to Lebanon, and would continue to do so. "We go and discuss what Israel's future plans are in the Middle East because we are part of whatever will happen," he said
Posted by: lotp ||
08/20/2007
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#1
Fred, give us a warning or something (graphic) before you publish this stuff. My surprise meter pegged out and I spilled coffee all over my lap.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2007 12:02
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#2
Lot of bull in this article. I wonder how much of this the Independent itself really believes (probably most of it). Hezbollah "won" a phyrric victory because Israel's military and civilian leadership weren't up to actually FIGHTING a war at that time. I believe if Netanyahu is elected to replace Olmert, Hezbollah won't be able to do even a tenth as well.
The real problem is Iran, which is funding and supporting Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria, the Mahdi Army, and whoever else they can employ to fight a proxy war against the United States. The sooner we retaliate with overwhelming force, the sooner this nonsense will end.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/20/2007 15:14
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BAGHDAD - French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner made a surprise visit to Iraq on Sunday and offered his countrys support to try to end the turmoil, as local leaders agreed on the agenda for a key summit. Kouchners visit is the first by a French minister since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which Paris vehemently opposed, putting a heavy strain on relations with Washington.
Shortly after his arrival, Kouchner visited the fortified UN compound in Baghdad to pay tribute to 22 people killed when the world bodys former headquarters was hit by a powerful bomb exactly four years ago. Among those who died was the head of the mission Sergio Vieira de Mello, a personal friend of Kouchner, and three UN officials who had worked with the French minister when he was the United Nations administrator in Kosovo.
Accompanied by his Iraqi counterpart Hoshyar Zebari and the UN deputy special representative in Iraq, Michael von der Schulenburg, Kouchner laid a wreath in front of a simple memorial to those killed in the blast.
Kouchner offered to support efforts by Iraqis and the United Nations to halt the bloodshed. We are ready to be useful, but the solution is in Iraqi hands, not in French hands, he told reporters after holding talks with Zebari.
Kouchner three-day visit, so soon after President Nicolas Sarkozy made a fence-building trip to the United States, will be seen as a sign that France is ready to seek a role in Iraq. But he made it clear that France had no regrets about its original decision to oppose US intervention in Iraq, and insisted there could be no military solution to the conflict.
Later Sunday, Kouchner was to meet Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki who is due to leave on a three-day visit to Syria on Monday.
Orrin Judd says it best: "Meanwhile, Jacques Chirac was last seen buying soap-on-a-rope."
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2007
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Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner made a surprise visit to Iraq on Sunday and offered his countrys support to try to end the turmoil...
by promising to deliver at lest 5k of Peugeot cars for automobile-dafés, stipulating that it may provide a needed distraction for jihadis, "idle hands tend to blow up", he said.
After the visit, Iraqi officials practiced rolling eyes and one oficil hd to be hospitlized as he was unable to stop laughing hysterically when his collegue quoted some selected Kouchner's utterances.
#3
Bernard Kouchner has coauthored a book exposing the crimes of Saddam (and if my memoryt is any good justifying his topping) a crime for which he (Kouchner) was pilloried by all the Comunisto-Vichisto-Chiraquian intellectuals and MSM (99% of them).
So please refraining of comments klike the one from twovyfour.
The situation is: there ia new team in charge and thuis team is trying to undo the harm done since De Gaulle.
Now you must remember that after 62 years of brain washing teh French as a people are anti-american so for now teh recovery is frail: Sarkozy has to compose both with his public opinion, with our friends of the MSM (spit) and with teh available political and administrative personel. In addition in five years he will face a new election. The recovery in French American relations will be solid only when the population has been deprogrammedf and this will take decades.
So keep in perspective that in five years FRance could beciome an enemy again but in the interim try to encourage the new administration instead of doung such disparaging comments.
There will be more joy in heaven for one repentant sinner than for one hundred justs.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/20/2007 6:54
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#5
Beautifully said, JFM. We'll keep rooting for President Sarkozy and his (and that of the many wise Frenchmen and women who voted him into office) vision of France.
#7
Now you must remember that after 62 years of brain washing teh French as a people are anti-american so for now teh recovery is frail
In 2x4s defense, remember that we have 62 years of considering the French as a people who would do everything in their power to screw us, no matter what the circumstances. Let us hope Sarkozy can change opinions on both sides. Personally, I am sceptical, but will be delighted to be proved wrong.
#8
I knew the world was completely upside-down.
So we have lost Britian and gained France.
Does this mean all score cards will be printed in two languages now ?
#10
JFM, I have faith in the average person in France, but little with its entrenched bureaucracy. I hope President Sarkozy can change the attitude of the French governing class (and MSM) regarding the United States, but until I see evidence that such changes have taken place, I will continue to "(mis)trust, but verify". French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is indeed an honorable man, and understands the world we currently inhabit, instead of the dream world the rest of the French governing class seems to live in. The best thing France can do to prove itself truly on the right track is to cooperate with the investigation into the "oil for palaces" schemes of the UN and Saddam Hussein, and punish those Frenchmen who are guilty of aiding and abetting those criminals.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/20/2007 14:51
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#11
Does this mean the wife and I can start drinking White-Star again?
#12
When no one from the ENA or ENS is in the French administration, then will it be possible for us to be allies. Until then, the French elite will continue to assure that France's primary foreign policy goal is to subvert America, regardless of what it's President wants, just as the Department of State/CIA runs its own independent foreign policy.
More and more countries are now eager to learn from the Indian Army's experience in dealing with counter terrorism and insurgency operations. The Indian Army, will hold as many as 10 joint military exercises with countries ranging from Maldives, Seychelles, Thailand and Mongolia to Russia, UK, China and, the US, during this year, Indias leading English daily "The Times of India" reported Sunday. The focus of these exercises will be counter-terrorism, in urban and rural settings, The Times of India said.
The Indian Army has held around 20 joint exercises with the US over the last five years. Along with the navies and air forces, almost 50 Indo-US military exercises have been held during the last five-six years.
The Indian Army's Counter-Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School at Vairengte in Northeastern state of Mizoram is popular among the foreign armies for guerrilla warfare training.
The exercise with the Royal Thai Army, named "Maitree", will be held in India from September 1-19 to share experiences in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism, The Times reported.
#1
I think the US is developing a pretty good counter-insurgency record in Iraq and Afghanistan, in spite of the self-imposed limits of current rules of engagement. I would like the US to develop its own counter-insurgency school. India indeed has a lot of experience with insurgent groups, and some success. They manage to hold the "Line of Control", and keep the insurgency in the Assam area under control, but their success against the Communists in Uttar Pradesh isn't so hot. The communists in Nepal are on the verge of establishing control there. India's making the same mistake the US is - attacking the symptoms (terrorists) instead of the disease (State sponsorsship of Islam-based terrorism).
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/20/2007 14:37
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#2
India's making the same mistake the US is - attacking the symptoms (terrorists) instead of the disease (State sponsorship of Islam-based terrorism).
Spot on, OP! Now, would someone please use an icepick to engrave tattoo this on the forehead of every American politician? Swatting hornets will never get rid of the hivemind nest.
#3
welllll gotta agree there, Zen... ice-pick thick is a little much, though I'd offer Barbara Boxer as the Guinea Pig for the experimental trial. Can't hurt....
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2007 22:40
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South Korea and the United States kicked off their annual joint military drill Monday despite strong protests from North Korea ahead of a summit between the neighboring rivals. The Ulchi Focus Lens drill, which runs through Aug. 31, comes as the two Koreas prepare for the second summit between their leaders since the peninsula was divided after World War II. The first summit was in 2000.
The Korean leader's summit and the military exercise were originally due to overlap, but the summit has been rescheduled to Oct. 2-4 because of extensive flood damage in the North. The joint military exercise - conducted every year since 1975 - is largely a computer-simulated war game, involving about 10,000 US troops in South Korea
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007
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#1
Stand ready, the Norks are pissed. They just might throw the 25 million right back in the US's face. They won't...Ohh...ok?!
#3
Just be glad we aren't taking the drill north of the 38th parallel, Kimmie. Not like you could do anything to stop us if we really wanted your country anyway...
The family and legal team of a British resident jailed in Spain as a terror suspect claim he is the victim of the Spanish equivalent of Guantánamo Bay.
As if Zappie and the Socialists are capable of anything tougher than the comfy chair ...
Mohammed Fahsi has been detained for more than 18 months after being arrested by Spanish police who claimed to have struck a blow against a recruiting network that was sending suicide bombers to Iraq.
Mr Fahsi, 40, was granted residency in Britain two years ago after marrying a Nottingham primary school teacher, Khadija Podd. They have three children. She said: "They detained him and the other members of the legal mosque association which worked in tandem with the town council, near Barcelona," said Ms Podd who has been married to Mr Fahsi for 10 years. "Then they took him and the others to a detention centre in Madrid, where they tortured them for four days."
"They made him sit in that chair the entire time, the infidels!"
While her Moroccan-born husband is being treated well in Mansilla de La Mullas prison near León, she said that when he was first arrested, he and others suffered "cold, sleep deprivation, extreme light, beating, threats, forcing them to denounce their religion, trying to coerce them to lie and incriminate fellow detainees".
Ms Podd, a graduate in philosophy and comparative religion from King's College London who met Mr Fahsi when teaching in Spain, said that one of the lawyers in the case referred to Spain as "the other Guantánamo".
"It's pretty shocking that these sorts of abuses are going on in Spain," said Clive Stafford-Smith, a human rights lawyer, who has been following the case. "The parallels with Guantánamo are manifest and the British government should be acting to get him out, too. We are talking about human rights not British rights and the British government should be standing up for human rights everywhere."
not to mention a more equitable allocation of ponies.
Asked about the torture allegations a spokesman for the Civil Guard said: "Absolutely not. You have to have evidence before you make these types of accusations ... Lots of people make complaints like this. It has become very normal. This is the first line of defence of the criminal." He denied prisoners were kept naked and said they might be blindfolded while being moved from one place to another.
Posted by: lotp ||
08/20/2007
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Posted by: Chief torturer Los del Río ||
08/20/2007 3:01
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#5
This false accusation of torture just points out the death wishes of the Liberals in the UK and Europe. Liberalism doesn't allow for defense in the face of those who would destroy you. Instead you make up claims of torture where none exists. Fools.
Police said an Egyptian hijacker who commandeered a Turkish passenger plane together with a Turkish citizen had received training at an al-Qaida camp and wanted to be flown to Iran and to join al-Qaida in Afghanistan, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported Monday.
The two men, wielding a fake bomb and claiming al-Qaida ties, hijacked the plane early Saturday after it took off from northern Cyprus, and held passengers and crew hostage for more than four hours before surrendering peacefully at Turkish Mediterranean resort Antalya.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007
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#4
Turkey, Iran, and Pakistan once created the Regional Cooperation and Development agency to work together to strengthen the economy of all three nations. The Mullahs backed out after they took over in 1979. I wouldn't be surprised to see them try to re-create that agency, and to work with Turkey and Pakistan again. Iran needs both nations for economic reasons, and would love to strengthen military ties - expecially any that would shut out the US. My guess, the answer to Jack's question is "Yes".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/20/2007 14:16
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Iraqi Kurdish officials expressed deepening concern yesterday at an upsurge in fierce clashes between Kurdish guerrillas and Iranian forces in the remote border area of north-east Iraq, where Tehran has recently deployed thousands of Revolutionary Guards.
Jabar Yawar, a deputy minister in the Kurdistan regional government, said four days of intermittent shelling by Iranian forces had hit mountain villages high up on the Iraqi side of the border, wounding two women, destroying livestock and property, and displacing about 1,000 people from their homes. Mr Yawer said there had also been intense fighting on the Iraqi border between Iranian forces and guerrillas of the Kurdistan Free Life Party (PJAK), an armed Iranian Kurdish group that is stepping up its campaign for Kurdish rights against the theocratic regime in Tehran.
On Saturday the Iranian news agency Mehr said an Iranian army helicopter which crashed killing six Republican Guard members had been engaged in a military operation against PJAK. Iranian officials said the helicopter had crashed into the side of a mountain during bad weather in northern Iraq. PJAK sources said the helicopter had been destroyed after it attempted to land in a clearing mined by guerrillas. The PJAK sources claimed its guerrillas had also killed at least five other Iranian soldiers, and a local pro-regime chief, Hussein Bapir.
"If this escalates it could pose a real threat to the Kurdistan region, which is Iraq's most stable area," said Mr Yawar, who said he expected the Iraqi government and US officials in Iraq to make a formal protest to Tehran about the "blatant violation of Iraqi sovereignty".
The escalation of tensions in northern Iraq came as a senior US army officer renewed allegations of Iranian support for Shia militias in the south. Major-General Rick Lynch told reporters in the capital that up to 50 members of the elite Revolutionary Guard corps had crossed into Iraq and were training Shia militia members.
Analysts believe PJAK is the fastest growing armed resistance group in Iran. As well as the 3,000 or so members under arms in the mountains, it also claims tens of thousands of followers in secret cells in Iranian Kurdistan. Its campaigning on women's rights has struck a chord with young Iranian Kurdish women. The group says 45% of its fighters are female. Iranian authorities regard the group as a terrorist outfit being sponsored and armed by the US to increase pressure on Iran.
On a recent visit to PJAK camps in the Qandil mountains the Guardian saw no evidence of American weaponry. The majority of its fighters toted Soviet-era Kalashnikovs. In an interview Biryar Gabar, a member of the leadership committee, said the group had no relations with the Americans, but was "open to any group that shares our ideals of a free federal democratic and secular Iran."
Posted by: lotp ||
08/20/2007
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#1
Iranian authorities regard the group as a terrorist outfit being sponsored and armed by the US to increase pressure on Iran. On a recent visit to PJAK camps in the Qandil mountains the Guardian saw no evidence of American weaponry. The majority of its fighters toted Soviet-era Kalashnikovs.
#2
Nevertheless Pappy, Let's see just how long Super "W" turns the other cheek on this one. He's primed for alittle Iranian butt kicking, but it's getting awfully close to the time to 'fish or cut bait'! Less of course he'd like to see the Mullahs establish a beachhead in northern Iraq for future 'chess moves'!
#3
I am not for sponsoring terrorists or terrorists activities like we did in Afganistan against the Soviets.
Look how that has come back to bite us.
So I would not want to support any group using terrorist activities.
But if thousands of IRG are threatening on the border, and since they should be considered terrorists,
they should be considered an appropriate and an attractive target for JDAMs.
Posted by: Push over pushes back ||
08/20/2007 3:42
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#4
I think it would be smart to start a hot war all along the Iraq/Iran border and get the well trained Iraqi forces into it. Give our air superiority something to do and scare the shit outta Basher de Asshat.
#5
Additional info: Iranian troops are reportedly massing along the northeastern stretch of the Iran-Iraq border near Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, sources in Hajj Omran town in the northern Arbil province said Sunday.
The unnamed Kurdish source said Iranian forces looked about to launch a large-scale offensive targeting members of the Kurdish workers' party and the Party for Freedom and Life known as PJAK.
Members of the 'rebel' groups, who fiercely oppose the governments of Iran and Turkey, are said to be based near mountains that stretch along the borders with Iran.
On Saturday, unconfirmed Iranian reports had said that they succeeded in shooting down an Iranian helicopter involved in military manoeuvres in northeastern Iran.
#7
Hasn't the US government (i.e. State Department) bought up a whole bunch of knock-off AK-47s and then a whole bunch of them disappeared? Would the reporter be able to tell these from genuine Soviet era Kalashnikovs?
#8
four days of intermittent shelling by Iranian forces had hit mountain villages high up on the Iraqi side of the border
What is it going to take for Iran to finally be on the receiving end of a major smackdown? Especially hilarious is the following:
Iranian authorities regard the group as a terrorist outfit being sponsored and armed by the US
How priceless. One of this world's principal terrorist sponsors squawking about how the USA sponsors terrorism. Iran has run up such an enormous kharmic tab whereby not even first use of nuclear weapons against them could possibly justify accusations of "terrorism".
If I were not so used to Islam's incredible levels of cognitive dissonance, this might have surprised or amused me. Instead, all it does is confirm how woefully inadequate our responses have been to Iran's constant provocations. There is no reasonable explanation for why Tehran's mullahs are not all taking one huge collective dirt nap.
#9
I've gotta agree that there has to come a time (very soon) to publicly confront Iran and smack the shit off their smile. IEDs can work for others, you know? Collapse of their economic system is an option. Killing of Iranian forces shelling across an international border is order one. Once the cars are idle due to refinery/shipment stoppage, let's see who "punches" who
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/20/2007 22:32
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#10
Its about time to start poisoning some of these guys.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
08/20/2007 23:58
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Iran warned the US on Sunday evening that "the Persian Gulf will become Hell for the enemines of Iran if they attack the Islamic republic," Army Radio reported. According to a leader of the Iran Revolutionary Guard, "our forces are only getting bigger."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007
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#2
Bet he got the attention of the US Navy.... they got lottas guys and gals left out of this latest fight, and I imagine, lottas old and new toys they are practicing with, and like any good football team, want to "smack pads with someone other than my team." Can just hear the whispers -- "Bring it on."
#5
Yea, but that 'Tit For Tat' by the Iranians will be a bear for the US; being that they have said that all parts of the Straits are covered by their mobile missiles; it's interesting to see what will happen should the US react further than just watching their movements, especially since three of the carrier groups are playing away from the field at the moment!!
#12
especially since three of the carrier groups are playing away from the field at the moment!!
According to the Navy's website the Eisenhower is in the gulf and the Truman is somewhere in the Atlantic (at a guess, closer to Gibralter than to Brazil). That's ~85 Navy planes in theater and another ~85 that can probably be moved into the Mediterranean quickly.
Moreover the B2s can fly in from a long distance away, with midair refueling. There are B2s in the continental US, Alaska and Guam (with facilities in Diego Garcia that we used in 2003-4 and could use again I think). It's a 30 hr flight if they come all the way from Whitman AFB, but the planes are designed to allow the crew to manage that.
I left out the subs, but there are likely several lingering within useful range.
So can you tell us exactly where these assets are and how they are planned to be used? Heh, sorry. I was having flashbacks to the first Gulf War. I watched a reporter ask that question at a briefing. The briefing officer (air force general, IIRC) paused for a moment and then, to his credit, simply said I can't comment on that. It was my first realization of just how stupid reporters are.
#17
I recall P. J. O'Rourke saying something to the effect that if you grouped all college students by major, and then lined them up by IQ, the J-school students would be standing next to the El-Ed majors.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2007 12:00
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#18
According to a leader of the Iran Revolutionary Guard, "our forces are only getting bigger."
But not as big as ours, dipshit.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2007 12:13
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#19
Big E in the hood as well as the Ike from what I heard.
#20
I suspect that US plans would involve heavy aerial bombardment, aimed at both eliminating the nuclear threat and reducing mullah power. Qom is a legitimate target because ALL terror preparations issue from that islamic center. Unfortunately for Ahmadinjad, military professionals co-exist with Basij parasites. I believe that the professional class is embarassed by the mullahs. Persian exile websites refer to the Khomeinist tyrants as: "Arabist parasites." In fact, the poorest of the 12 top Ayatollahs has assets worth over $100,000,000. Rafsanjani is worth $1.5 billion, and all his family money has been seized through sweetheart contracts. The phony "prophet" of Islam claimed that his fake deity ordered a turnover of 20% of all booty to him. Shiites account for a "khums" tax, payable by taxpayers to their parasitic elite. Iran is not a tough nut to crack, and occupation will not be necessary. We have to be mindful that a post Ayatollah regime will likely be even closer to Russia and China than the existing one. All the more reason to stay in Iraq. I predict that the surgical strike will begin when Winter sets in. US troops will have no involvement in the inevitable bloodbath.
Detectives investigating the attempted car bombing of Glasgow airport have recovered a "claim of responsibility" written by Kafeel Ahmed, who died from burns he suffered in the attack, the Guardian has learned. Ahmed, 27, suffered more than 90% burns after he drove a Jeep laden with improvised explosives into the airport terminal, in Britain's first attempted suicide car bombing.
Evidence recovered pointing to his role in June's attempted attacks in London and Glasgow includes an email message sent just before the Glasgow attempted bombing, talking of martyrdom; CCTV footage from one of the failed car bombings in London showing a man relatives say is Ahmed, running away; evidence from a computer he used, showing visits to bomb-making websites; and his mobile phone from the smouldering Jeep.
The attack on Glasgow on June 30 came a day after two car bombs failed to go off near a crowded nightclub in the West End of London. On June 30, Ahmed sent a text message to a relative just after 1.30pm which contained a link to an email and a password to access it. Two hours later the engineer, who was born in Bangalore, crashed the Jeep into the terminal. Those who have seen the email regard it as Ahmed claiming responsibility for the attempted attacks on London and the one he was about to stage in Glasgow. According to a source, Ahmed says his actions were carried out in the name of Allah. Ahmed writes that his relative would be shocked to read what he is about to tell him about his involvement in terrorism, praises God, and says he wants martyrdom.
Hokay, you got it.
Initial evidence points to the relative opening the email at 4.50pm on the Saturday, 90 minutes after Ahmed had rammed the airport. From the email, the source said, it was clear he was expecting to die. The flames that engulfed the vehicle were quickly put out, allowing Ahmed's mobile to be recovered. He is believed to have used the mobile to send either the text message or the email to his relative.
A Whitehall source said it was believed that Ahmed decided to attack Glasgow after fearing police would soon hunt him down, which meant that the planning was rushed. The Guardian understands that police have CCTV images that show Ahmed apparently running away from the scene of the first London attack, and scurrying away from a car the terrorists meant to explode. Relatives shown the images are said to be nearly certain it is him.
Police have also seized his computer and found evidence it had been used to scour websites on the construction of bombs and explosives. Ahmed died at Glasgow Royal Infirmary on August 2.
The other man in the Jeep, the Iraqi doctor Bilal Abdullah, has been charged with conspiring to set off explosions "of a nature likely to endanger life or cause serious injury". Two other people have been charged over the attacks. A Jordanian doctor, Mohammed Jamil Asha, is charged with conspiring to cause explosions. Ahmed's brother, Sabeel Ahmed, 26, is charged with withholding information that could prevent an act of terrorism.
Posted by: lotp ||
08/20/2007
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#1
Wish granted! Kafeel had, I think, a preview of his next stop while in the hospital bed. The horned houris' (whether horny is not that cetain) no doubt awaited his arrival with anticipation.
#7
I'm curious about the UK muslim apologists. I wonder if they're convincing themselves:
The email was planted
Poor Kafeel was set up
Kafeel isn't a true muslim
Mossad
CIA
MI5
Kafeel IS a true muslim
The UK deserved it
They're probably convinced ALL of the above is true (muslims haven't demonstrated a great deal of critical thinking on this subject to date, and have an interesting knack for believing divergent facts -- even in the face of clear evidence)
#13
Gotta wonder why its not reported that the relatives did not freely provide the info; maybe they did, but it reads to me like it had to be ferretted out by the police. that makes the relatives accomplices, or at least accessories to my way of thinking.
I believe they call this "The Carter Plat du Jour"...
KAZAKH president Nursultan Nazarbayev's party won every seat in a new parliament yesterday after a flawed vote that the opposition said turned the clock back to Soviet rule.
The 88.05 per cent margin of victory for Mr Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party in Saturday's vote came in a poll that did not meet international standards, election monitors said. Six other parties in the poll failed to reach a seven per cent hurdle required to enter the lower house, including the main opposition All-National Social Democratic Party (ANSDP) which received 4.62 per cent of the vote. "As an experienced observer I can tell you I have never seen a democratic country with one political party in parliament," Lubomir Kopaj, of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, told a news conference.
Bolat Abilov, one of the ANSDP's leaders, said: "This is absolutely absurd. We're going back to the Soviet Union, back to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union."
OSCE monitors recorded incidents of votes for other parties being counted for Nur Otan, a failure to let observers see ballot papers or move freely during the count, and a failure to comply with correct counting procedures.
#3
Buses -- it's all about buses. Dallas sent 200 school buses to San Antonio on Saturday.
I commute IH-35 from about 30 south of Austin. This morning, going south was first, probably about 30 charter buses, then about 25-35 Austin school buses.... then I looked up, sorta on a hilly portion, and there must have been another 75 Austin school buses in the center lane, headed south. Awesome sight!
Buses from the city, state, and military were on standby for possible evacuations, including a fleet of 700 sent by the governor's office. Another 600 buses were on standby in San Antonio.(or, at least heading to San Antonio)
This is what they are preparing for -- San Antonio is ready for 40,000 already. In Washington, R. David Paulison, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said up to 100,000 people might have to be evacuated from the state's southeastern coast and its immigrant shantytowns near the Mexican border. The storm is on course for northern Mexico, but could shift and hit the region around Brownsville, Texas, Paulison said.
MIRANSHAH, Pakistan - Pakistani helicopter gunships pounded suspected militant hideouts near the Afghan border Sunday, killing 15 militants, most of them foreign fighters, the military said. The death toll is 15 now. They are all militants, the majority of them foreigners. They are mostly Uzbeks, chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.
The general confirmed earlier reports that two women had been killed in the operation targeting two suspected militant compounds in the restive North Waziristan region, adding that they were members of militant families.
Earlier a local administration official and security forces told AFP on condition of anonymity that two children were killed along with the women when the attack demolished a house near the town of Mir Ali. It was a targeted operation against militants, insisted Arshad.
Four helicopters carried out Sundays attack, which lasted for more than two hours, the general said. The attack was launched after credible reports that some foreign elements were using the compounds as hideouts, said Arshad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2007
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The Palestinian Authority security forces have failed to thwart Hamas's efforts to create new armed cells in the West Bank, a senior PA security official here said Sunday. Hamas's armed wing, Izzadin Kassam, had become "very active" in some parts of the West Bank despite a crackdown order by ineffectual PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas against the group, he told The Jerusalem Post.
Meanwhile back at the ranch, unconfirmed reports said Jibril Rajoub, an Abbas confidant and former PA security chief, recently held secret talks in Damascus with Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal in a bid to resolve the Hamas-Fatah dispute.
Oh I'll bet that went well.
Rajoub, who is being mentioned as a possible successor to Abbas, also held talks in Cairo with top Egyptian political and security officials on ways of ending the crisis. Fatah officials have strongly denied they were engaged in any form of talks with Hamas.
The security official in Ramallah said Hamas gunmen were working in coordination with other armed groups in the West Bank, including ones belonging to Fatah, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Islamic Jihad. "We are very worried about what's happening in the West Bank, especially in Nablus, where Izzadin Kassam appears to have resumed its activities after a long lull," the official said. "In recent weeks the group has been launching almost daily attacks on Israeli military patrols... particularly in the northern West Bank."
Almost like they're living up to what they preach ...
PA security forces have rounded up nearly 200 Hamas activists in the West Bank since Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip in June, but most of the detainees are not linked to Izzadin Kassam. "We are going after the wrong guys," the official said. "We are detaining journalists, university students and low-level political operatives. Meanwhile, Izzadin Kassam is establishing secret cells and acquiring more weapons."
Let's face it, Fatah couldn't find its collective hind end with either hand.
The Fatah-controlled PA security forces have also failed to gather sufficient intelligence about Hamas's attempts to recruit West Bank residents to its paramilitary Executive Force, he said.
PA officials are convinced Hamas is secretly trying to establish an Executive Force in the West Bank as a first step toward overthrowing Abbas's regime.
Sorta like how they did Gaza.
PA security officials said earlier this month they had uncovered a Hamas cell in the Bethlehem area whose members had received instructions from the Hamas leadership in Syria to establish an Executive Force unit. The 13-member cell was led by Nader Muhammad Jubran. But after three weeks of questioning, Jubran and his cohorts were released from prison. A PA security commander in Bethlehem told the Post the men were released because of lack of evidence.
"See, I told you coppers you ain't had nuttin' on me! Nuttin!"
The PA security forces will continue to follow the movements of the cell members to make sure they don't pursue their plans to establish a security force, he said. "The cell was operating on direct instructions from the top Hamas leadership in Damascus," the security commander said. "Some of the Hamas men have been receiving assistance from Fatah gunmen and this is very worrying."
He said a cell belonging to Izzadin Kassam was behind the assassination attempt on Col. Idris Ja'bari, the commander of the PA security forces in Halhoul, near Hebron, earlier this month. Ja'bari was critically wounded when gunmen shot him outside his home. He had been responsible for the detention of scores of Hamas activists in the area over the past two months.
Armed bandits kidnapped 30 passengers, including an education ministry official, on Chabahar-Iranshahr road in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan on Sunday, an informed source said.
Semi-official "Fars" news agency said that the bandits also attacked a number of passing cars, set them on fire, wounded some of the passengers and took some people hostage. The agency's reports said that the bandits have abducted the director of the education ministry's regional office in Chabahar, Ali Zare'ee, who was on a mission to Zahedan. A local ministry official said that Zare'ee had been accompanied by a Balouch expert at the time of abduction, who was freed by the hostage-takers. "Yet, they abducted Zare'ee, because he is a Fars (and not a Balouch)," Mahmoud Keshani said. According to Keshani, people believe that the abduction has been exercised on the basis of a premeditated plan, considering that Zare'ee has been the only official among hostages.
The ISNA and Fars news agencies said 30 people were taken hostage, while the state broadcaster said 12 people were seized and taken across the border into Pakistan. Colonel Mohammad Javad Asna-Ashari said the perpetrators belonged to a[n Al-Qaeda] group led by Abdolmalek Rigi, who Iran has blamed for several other attacks in the south-east of the Islamic republic.
In February Jundollah (God's Soldiers), a shadowy Sunni Muslim group led by Rigi, claimed responsibility for an attack on a bus owned by Iran's Revolutionary Guards that killed 11 people.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
08/20/2007
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Afghan police freed a German hostage from a Kabul neighborhood and arrested a group of kidnappers early Monday, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said.
The raid freed a 31-year old German captive who was abducted from a restaurant on Saturday, said Zemary Bashari. "A group of kidnappers were arrested," Bashari said. He did not provide any further details about the operation in western Kabul, not far from the area where the woman went missing. A spokeswoman for Germany's Foreign Ministry in Berlin confirmed the woman was "in safety at the German Embassy" in Kabul. She declined to give any further details.
Hat tip LGF.
Following are excerpts from a debate between Egyptian liberal Sayid Al-Qimni and London Islamist Hani Al-Sibai, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on July 10, 2007:
Hani Al-Sibai: These cancerous cells that have spread through the nation's body, which are the garbage and refuse of the obsolete secular ideology, are the source of corruption, and the reason for all the disasters that befell this nation. These are ideological microbes that are alien to this nation.
[...]
Sayid Al-Qimni: We live in a region that does not know what democracy is. In democratic countries, people participate in elections, and the rule changes hands peacefully from the government to the opposition, or vice versa. Here, on the other hand, people prepared cars and bombs, in order to booby-trap the former and blow up the latter. We have no democracy to begin with. We don't understand the meaning of democracy.
Interviewer: But there are attempts to have democracy, Dr. Al-Qimni. There are attempts to have democracy and people like you are thwarting them. This is what happened in Palestine.
Sayid Al-Qimni: No, there are no such attempts.
Interviewer: There are attempts. There were elections in Palestine.
Sayid Al-Qimni: The ballot box alone does not constitute democracy. The ballot box is just a box made of glass, and nobody knows what goes on inside. People put a piece of paper in it. By no means does the ballot box constitute democracy. We are the prey over which two types of [predators] compete: Ruling families and military governments, on the one hand, and Islamic dictatorships, on the other hand. These two types of dictatorships compete over us, the prey.
When the mufti of the government bans a certain book, the mufti of the [Islamist] groups bans a movie. The former places a ban on words, and the latter places a "ban" on an entire person, by killing him. The women wear a uniform like soldiers. You see them in the street, and they all look like soldiers. The government whips anyone who goes to the police station to file a complaint. The Islamists legitimize whipping. If you legitimize whipping, why are you angry when the government does it? How can you be angry at the government for whipping you, when you are the ones legitimizing the whipping? Whipping is part of Islamic law.
When you go to the mosque they humiliate you, saying: "You are responsible for what happened to the nation." This poor man merely came to fulfill his religious duties, and they pile this dirt on him in the mosque. They humiliate him and attribute all the sins of this nation to him. All the nation's defeats are due to this wretched man's defiance of God. They are constantly setting new red lines. Is there such a thing as red lines in democracy? The government has its own red lines, the ruling families have their own red lines, and so do the military and the Islamists. I also have red lines, but it's useless.
As you've said, these people issue fatwas about saliva, about the urine of camels, about the urine of the Prophet, and so on... Look, all these people, this entire process, all the candidates, the people who won the elections, the people who helped them succeed they all belong in the madhouse.
Hani Al-Sibai: Hamas cleaned up the filth and dirt that had existed in Gaza. Then they plotted against it. They want the elections to give rise to Mahmoud Abbases and Muhammad Dahlans.
[...]
What has become of Kemal Ataturk's Turkey? Go to Europe, and you will see. Most of the Turks here are drug dealers, outcasts. Moreover, the English here have a custom. On Christmas, they eat what they call "turkey." Imagine, they call it "turkey," and they serve it as food at the table. This shows the kind of hatred that is deeply rooted in the West they serve the Turkish, Ottoman, Muslim man as food at the table, for entertainment and as a sign that they have slaughtered him. What has become of Turkey? It has not entered the E.U., and it does not belong to either the East or the West. When Erdogan and his people ruled in Istanbul, people did not have to worry about security matters. The E.U. and all the transparent organizations in the world testified that their hands are clean and that they are not corrupt. This is why the people elected them, and this is why the military intervened now.
[...]
The Islamists are always the ones who help people, and save them from their plight. They are active, and that is why they are envied by these microbes, which have spread their ideology throughout our countries. These Islamists, even in Jordan... Take any place in the world, and you will see that the Islamists are the masters of the world. There are no real men except for the people of Islam. Look at the people who give reason to hold the head of Islam high. In politics they are the masters. In the battlefield they are the masters. They are the ones who rub in the mud the nose of the occupation forces in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Palestine, and throughout the world. The perpetuality of the conflict makes them strong. In contrast, what is the contribution of those who are devoid of any ideology, whose faith has been deformed, who are divorced of their religion? What have they contributed? The only thing they have contributed is destruction. They are evil omens for their peoples. They lead their people to hell. The masses must vomit them from their midst. They should be placed in public squares, so that people can hit them with their shoes and spit on them. Their place is with the occupiers.
Interviewer: We got the idea. Thank you very much.
Sayid Al-Qimni: This man uses filthy and nauseating language. To hell with him.
Hani Al-Sibai: My tongue is sharp, and has no flaw, and my sea is too vast for your buckets, Qimni.
Sayid Al-Qimni: You are completely insane. Go away. Go. What, all the garbage dumps were closed and they had to go [to] the sewage to get you?
[...]
Our colleges and universities are not recognized in the world. The universities of Cairo and Ein Shams are ranked below 3,000 in the world. We do not have education. Look at the universities today all you can see is the hijab and niqab. You see a single pupil peering through an eye of a needle. What is this a centaur. [2x4: meant probably a cyclops]?
Posted by: twobyfour ||
08/20/2007
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#1
A turkey is not my faved food, but this part caught my attention:
Moreover, the English here have a custom. On Christmas, they eat what they call "turkey." Imagine, they call it "turkey," and they serve it as food at the table. This shows the kind of hatred that is deeply rooted in the West they serve the Turkish, Ottoman, Muslim man as food at the table, for entertainment and as a sign that they have slaughtered him.
I promise that from now on, I'll make a point of eating turkey at least once per week.
Do you happen to know if there is some kind of a dessert called Mohammed or Mousselman, so I can have a more ballanced meal?
Posted by: Chief torturer Los del Río ||
08/20/2007 3:04
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#5
"The only thing they have contributed is destruction .....they lead their people to hell", etal. Article > Totalitarian Correctness, Hatred, Selfishness, Revenge and Greed, etc manias may cause Muslims, good or evil, honest or corrupt, to destroy the Mahdi-Messiah-Imam [Jerusalem, Mecca?], at the very time they need him the most.
All together now, D *** NGED CARS PLUS COMMERCIALS, D *** NG PRINCE and PURPLE RAIN"! Guam Taotaomonas have known since the 1960's about "December 8th", .....@etal > D *** NG IT, DIDN'T EVERYBODY???
#7
Do you happen to know if there is some kind of a dessert called Mohammed or Mousselman, so I can have a more ballanced meal?
Eat croissants... note that over the last years, I've found that croissants are less and less shaped as crescents, but rather are increasingly straight. On one hand, this may just be a byproduct of mass-production, that is making them easier to stock and move; on the other hand, I wonder if there couldn't be some kind of cultural subtext (inconscious or conscious, from the industrial bakeries???) to remove that anti-islam meaning in this viennoiserie (you "eat islamic crescent").
Am I paranoid? Schoolbooks are alytered to fit the eurabian agenda, history is revised to give islamic roots to Europe and european cultures, cellphone companies websites proposes to give you the arab version of your first name, teevee shows mostly interracial couples with white wimmen and arab/african men (white european men are gays, wimps or old),... is it really paranoia when they're actually after you?
#10
they serve the Turkish, Ottoman, Muslim man as food at the table, for entertainment and as a sign that they have slaughtered him.
Unfortunately, Turkey isn't the only country victimized by our Imperialist brutish insensitivity. Examples are everywhere! We should really clean up our act:
Oman, all this talk of food is making me Hungary.
Iran over as soon as I smelled your cooking.
Jamaica nuff for me? Why yes, I would like some coffee.
Just one Cuba sugar, though.
Your out of cream? Why don't you just milk Macao to get Samoa?
Bring me some booze instead. Lots of it, because I really want to Taiwan on.
This is what you call food? It's nothing but Greece.
#11
How about just drinking beer, wine or whiskey.
The Koran seemed to be ambiguous about this but during the midevil period, Muslim theology experts discovered that the 'I have given you clear guidance' Koran really meant to ban alcohol.
#12
Moreover, the English here have a custom. On Christmas, they eat what they call "turkey." Imagine, they call it "turkey," and they serve it as food at the table. This shows the kind of hatred that is deeply rooted in the West they serve the Turkish, Ottoman, Muslim man as food at the table, for entertainment and as a sign that they have slaughtered him.
Whereas in Turkey they call the same bird "hindi", i.e. Indian.
#16
Turkey is the modern name for the remnant of the Ottoman Empire. The turkey bird has been so named since before the British got thrown out in 1776. There's also a bird called the Turkey Bustard (never seen one). The turkey is an import to Britain - the original Christmas offering was either a goose or a ham. Just another piece of made-up nonsense to seethe about.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/20/2007 23:51
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The cabinet agreed on Sunday to support the extension of the UNIFIL mandate in southern Lebanon, although the Foreign Ministry said the multinational force would not receive any additional concrete powers in the new mandate.
Foreign Ministry director-general Avraham Abramovich told the cabinet that the members of the UNIFIL force - put in place as part of a cease-fire agreement following the Second Lebanon War last summer - were not prepared to increase activity against Hizbullah, insofar as closing the border with Syria and enforcing an arms embargo.
However, Abramovich noted that despite the lack of action, the UN will reiterate its demand that Hizbullah immediately release kidnapped IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, and call for a weapons-free zone south of the Litani River.
Earlier this month, The Jerusalem Post reported that Israel has been working through diplomatic channels to insert several changes in the UNIFIL mandate in Lebanon to make sure that international forces in the South patrol more in urban areas. The mandate of the 13,600-strong UN peacekeeping force is due to expire at the end of August.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/20/2007
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#1
As long as Israel gives the good guys with the blue helmets a preemption warning when the 'fat hits the fan' (to save alittle UN face), I don't care if they gave the UNIFIL slingshots and stringed tin cans, it's only a hill of beans on their part anyway! Besides it works both ways, they can turn the other cheek to Hizbollah, and whisper little sweet nothings the Israeli way too!
NEW DELHI Indias 40-month old United Progressive Alliance government is in turmoil. The government is likely to fall, much ahead of its full five-year term in April 2009 with its key ally, the Communists, putting the Congress-led UPA on ultimatum over the India-US nuclear deal.
Political parties yesterday called for fresh parliamentary elections even though frantic attempts are being made to save the coalition from its untimely perish. However, if the UPA government tactfully manages to save its rule, they will have to let go the nuclear deal with the US forever. This could mean an end to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singhs tenure with the UPA government as well. Under the aegis of its chairperson and Congress President Sonia Gandhi, the UPA is likely to look for a change of prime minister, sources close to Sonia Gandhi said yesterday.
Besides, it is said Dr Singh has unwittingly triggered the present crisis. Dr Singh may have been advised poorly on how to handle his political allies by mentors, but if the deal is scrapped then he would be in an embarrassing position to tell Washington that the much sought-after Indo-US pact is dead.
If the the communists the Left parties having 59 seats in Parliament withdraw support, the government would fall with the country going for fresh polls. The Congress high command is of the view that scrapping of nuclear deal would mean key modification in Indias foreign policy objectives, and to placate the Left, Dr Singh may offer to quit.
Congress sources said Dr Singh did offer to resign once, but Sonia Gandhi along with UPAs non-Left allies are keen that the decision on this be taken as a last resort. Congress is looking to find a middle ground with the four Left parties the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the Revolutionary Socialist Party and the All India Forward Bloc but to no avail so far.
Dr Singh, a pro-economic reforms veteran, has never been a favourite of the Left parties for obvious reasons. Dr Singh also propagated a pro-US foreign policy very much on the lines of his Congress party that kicked off such a strategy of opening to the West way back during the pre-reform years of the then prime minister Narasimha Rao.
Dr Singh recently said that the nuclear deal was not renegotiable under any circumstances. Peeved by the manner the Left parties issued political diktats to his government even when supporting the regime from outside, he dared them to withdraw support. Now if the government does decide to scrap the deal, he would have to give up his job, it is believed.
Dr Singh is supposed to be a political prime minister having experience in executive more than in politics. It is said if the Left parties are made to conciliate by the Congress to save the government then Dr Singhs authority will be in question. Dr Singh has stood up with grit for the nuclear deal saying it is in the interest of the nation.
His angry outburst against the aggravated communists telling them to take-it-or-leave-it has cast a shadow on his political image, if not his capable administrative skills as an honest and refined economist. If he resigns, the Congress may find it difficult to convince the world its global standing of being pro-reforms, if he stays with nuclear deal being intact then it could be worse.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/20/2007
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#1
Internal politics John?
The article suggests he was advised poorly but Dr Singh couldn't be this "witless" in parliamentary arts could he be that slo?
It ISN'T possible that the US was aware of.. or played with the Commies.. is it?
[no hell no!~:)] or knew of some shenanigans a'going on during negotiations?
thanks in Advance John, I rely on you too much.. so much that when anyone asks me a question on India or Pakland I tell them I'll have to get back to them. LOL!
.
Posted by: Red Dawg ||
08/20/2007 3:06
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#2
Manmohan Singh is more of a "babu" (a bureaucrat) than a "neta" (politician).
He has no political base. He is PM precisely because of this. He is a seat-warmer for the "young prince" - Rahul Gandhi.
A more powerful Congress politician (like the Defense or Foreign ministers) would be a threat to the succession plans of Sonia Gandhi.
They are unsure of how many votes the opposition BJP and their allies may get and a loss of political power now may doom Rahul's chances forever.
So the interests of India itself play second fiddle to political machinations.
Singh may very well fall on his sword.
This would be just another compromise the Congress has made in their deal with the devil (the Communist Party of India (Marxist)).
The CPI(M) has forced the Indian government to slow down the pace of economic reform - delaying SEZs (which would employ millions of desperately poor Indians in new manufacturing jobs), preventing labor reforms (which would also increase employment but hurt the unions), blocked FDI (foreign investment) in retail.
Chinese interests (the CPI(M) obey their masters in Beijing faithfully) have prevailed over the objections of the Indian intelligence agencies.
Over 1000 Chinese engineers are now in Andra Pradesh working on a pipeline project - as if India lacked engineers.
So Singh may be sacrificed so that Rahul has his chance in a few years.
Posted by: john frum ||
08/20/2007 7:43
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#3
john, when I started reading your post I wondered if you would mention the Chinese and, sure enough, you did. With the Chicoms lurking around maybe it's better if we don't do this deal.
This being Afghanistan Pakistain, both claims are probably correct.
Baitullah Mehsud, a militant commander leading the insurgency in South Waziristan, on Saturday announced scrapping his peace agreement with the government. It has been the governments policy to force Mujahideen to scrap the peace deal. We tried our best to keep the agreement intact, Zulfiqar Mehsud, a purported spokesman for the commander told Dawn on telephone. The government violated the agreement, carried out air strikes and moved troops into our area, he said.
Mr. Praline: Never mind that, my lad. I wish to complain about this parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.
Owner: Oh yes, the, uh, the Norwegian blue...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?
Mr. Praline: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!
However, a senior government official said a jirga that went to meet militants on Saturday had negotiated a ceasefire that would lead to cessation of hostilities. Senator Saleh Shah from South Waziristan also said the agreement was intact. He said the statement of the militants spokesman had been misinterpreted by the media. The senator said he had talked to the spokesman who had denied having announced scrapping the agreement.All that the spokesman said was that the government could imperil the peace agreement by deploying forces and conducting operations, Senator Shah said.
Owner: No no he's not dead, he's, he's restin'! Remarkable bird, the Norwegian Blue, idn'it, ay? Beautiful plumage!
The government had signed a six-point peace agreement with Baitullah in February 2005 under which he had agreed not to protect and assist foreign militants, target government functionaries and installations or block work on development projects. In return, the government had granted amnesty to the commander and his supporters.
Militants in North Waziristan have already pulled out of a peace agreement they had signed with the government in September last year.
A group of militants belonging to the Ahmadzai Wazir tribe in South Waziristan said Baitullahs announcement would have no bearing on their truce with the government in Wana region. Baitullahs spokesman accused the government of breaching the agreement and killing his supporters in military actions over the past few days.
Mr. Praline: All right then, if he's restin', I'll wake him up! (shouting at the cage) 'Ello, Mister Polly Parrot! I've got a lovely fresh cuttle fish for you if you show...
(Owner hits the cage)
Owner: There, he moved!
Mr. Praline: No, he didn't, that was you hitting the cage!
Owner: I never!!
Mr. Praline: Yes, you did!
Owner: I never, never did anything...
Claiming responsibility for Thursdays attack on security forces in Jagmalai area in which 11 soldiers were killed, the spokesman said Baitullahs fighters would continue their activities against the government and its forces. We attacked the security forces in Jagmalai, killed many of them and destroying their vehicles and Mujahideen will do it again and again, unless the government reviews its policy, he said.
Mr. Praline: (yelling and hitting the cage repeatedly) 'ELLO POLLY!!!!! Testing! Testing! Testing! Testing! This is your nine o'clock alarm call!
(Takes parrot out of the cage and thumps its head on the counter. Throws it up in the air and watches it plummet to the floor.)
Mr. Praline: Now that's what I call a dead parrot.
Owner: No, no.....No, 'e's stunned!
Mr. Praline: STUNNED?!?
Owner: Yeah! You stunned him, just as he was wakin' up! Norwegian Blues stun easily, major.
Mr. Praline: Um...now look...now look, mate, I've definitely 'ad enough of this. That parrot is definitely deceased, and when I purchased it not 'alf an hour ago, you assured me that its total lack of movement was due to it bein' tired and shagged out following a prolonged squawk.
Owner: Well, he's...he's, ah...probably pining for the fjords.
He, however, denied involvement of his group in the kidnapping of 16 men of the Frontier Corps on Aug 9, one of whom was found beheaded later.
An official of the South Waziristan administration said the 21-member jirga led by tribal parliamentarian Maulana Merajuddin met militants in Emar Raghzai and succeeded in effecting a ceasefire. They were sent in three vehicles with white flags, the official said.
He said the jirga also had held meetings in Barwand and it was heading back after succeeding in its efforts. The jirga had tacit approval of Baitullah Mehsud, the official claimed. He said that militants had agreed to let military convoys held up at two points move and to withdraw their fighters from mountain peaks. As a goodwill gesture, he said, the militants allowed an army helicopter to retrieve bodies of the soldiers killed on Thursday from Jagmalai.
Things are going well, the official said. But since the area is so big, it obviously would take time for the militants to relay the message around. There is now calm, he said.
The official said the militants had taken exception to the army setting up checkpoints, although they had no objection to troops movement in accordance with the February 2005 agreement. We have been working on new peace arrangements with Baitullah Mehsud for the past 18-20 days but the Pakistan-Afghan jirga came and then it took the government a while to take stock of the situation and move ahead, an official in Peshawar said.
The British embassy in the Sudanese capital Khartoum closed down its visa and consular sections today and tomorrow, due to heightened fears that Western interests may be attacked, a diplomatic source said on Sunday. The embassy has also suspended its public services as a precautionary measure, after Sudanese police found three caches of weapons in the capital during the past week. Police arrested 20 Sudanese in connection with the caches, which contained grenades and ammunition.
In a statement to reporters, Sudanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ali Al-Sadiq voiced Khartoum's understanding of the procedures taken by the embassy. Yesterday, Britain had warned its citizens from traveling to Sudan because of fears that Western interests might be targeted.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
08/20/2007
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Top|| File under: Govt of Sudan
#1
Bout Time, If the Sudanese can't abide by the rule of Law; keeping the peace; let um bite it out to the last man, woman and child; then split the country into shares with the good neighbors that border her! The US should follow suit; the west is too valuable for the 'scum of the dust' that region represents. Let Putty and the Chicoms sort it out.
RADICAL Iraqi cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has pledged to commit his forces and followers to help the United Nations if it replaces American and British troops in Iraq, according to an interview published today. Speaking to The Independent newspaper from his movement's headquarters in Kufa, south of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, Sadr said that he would "support the UN if it comes and fixes my teeth replaces the American and British occupiers".
"If the UN comes here to truly help the Iraqi people, they will receive our help in their work. I would ask my followers to support the UN as long as it is here to help us rebuild our country.
"They must not just be another face of the American occupation."
Sadr, who enjoys popular grassroot support among The Independent's editorial board Iraqi Shiites, is a powerful political player in Iraq's embattled government led by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. His anti-American views have frequently seen his Mahdi Army militia clashing with US soldiers since the US-led March 2003 invasion to topple Saddam Hussein.
I don't think the Coalition forces were fighting with Tater's *views*. We were fighting against Iran's proxy army and brownshirt thugg wannabes. Pfeh.
Sadr told the newspaper that the British army's downscaling in Iraq was a sign that it had given up and was defeated, saying: "They are retreating because of the resistance they have faced. Without that, they would have stayed for much longer, there is no doubt."
The Independent's reporter nodded his head sagely in agreement, muttering "Yes, yes."
He also warned that Britain's involvement in Iraq had endangered its citizens at home: "The British put their soldiers in a dangerous position by sending them here, but they also put the people in their own country in danger.
"They have made enemies among all Muslims and they now face attacks at home because of their war. That was their mistake." Britain has about 5500 troops in Iraq, most of whom are based in the southern city of Basra. Sadr said that Basra would become a safer place after the British military left.
On domestic Iraqi politics, Sadr said that Mr Maliki's days as Iraqi leader were coming to a close. "Al-Maliki's government will not survive because he has proven that he will not work with important elements of the Iraqi people ... The prime minister is a tool for the Americans and people see that clearly," he said. "It will probably be the Americans who decide to change him when they realise he has failed. We don't have a democracy here, we have a foreign occupation."
Sadr also denied American claims that he was being armed by Iran.
"Splendid interview, old chap. I really must be off now, deadlines won't wait, y'know!"
Posted by: tipper ||
08/20/2007
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Top|| File under: Mahdi Army
#1
Along lines of IRAN + SCO - ITAR-TASS > PUTIN GENUINELY HOPES FOR RUSSIA-CHINA STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP.
#2
He also warned that Britain's involvement in Iraq had endangered its citizens at home: "The British put their soldiers in a dangerous position by sending them here, but they also put the people in their own country in danger.
"They have made enemies among all Muslims and they now face attacks at home because of their war. That was their mistake."
Does he think "all Muslims" will love him and Iran's cause if his words lead the British government to decide that all non-citizen Muslims must be expelled... possibly followed by many citizen Muslims?
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
08/20/2007 9:10
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#6
Sadr and the UN have one essential trait in common. They are both staunchly anti-American. There is nothing else they need to cement a mutually satisfying relationship. Why Sadr is able to persist in his continuing theft of oxygen is totally beyond me. He should have been dead within 24 hours of those contractors' bodies being hanged from that bridge.
#8
Not killing this shitbag is one of our biggest mistakes in Iraq. We've set an example that you can build a military outside of government control and that you can then use that military to fight us directly or indirectly and that you can use your militarily backed political power to undermine our and Iraqs political efforts as well.
Iraq should have long ago hung this guy for treason.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
08/20/2007 11:14
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#9
Sadr pledges to join work with UN
There, fixed that headline.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
08/20/2007 12:05
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#10
Sadr said that Basra would become a safer place after the British military left.
I can't wait to see how that pans out! I have bookmarked this article for future reference.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/20/2007 13:29
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
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A NEW children's computer video game that enables youngsters to re-enact last year's Hizbollah-Israeli war, is being sold in Bahrain, it emerged yesterday. Special Force 2 is being sold in Bahrain for BD6 and can also reportedly be purchased at stores in Lebanon, Syria and the UAE for around $10 (BD3.78).
Authorities have uncovered multiple al-Qaida terrorist plots targeting government institutions in the port city of Aden, a security official said Saturday.
PRISTINA, Serbia: Seven inmates escaped from a high-security prison over the weekend in western Kosovo, and police backed by NATO helicopters launched a manhunt throughout the province, authorities said Monday.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. media reporting of the war in Iraq fell sharply in the second quarter of 2007, largely due to a drop in coverage of the Washington-based policy debate, a study released Monday said.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The father of a man killed when hijacked Flight 93 crashed in Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001, wants his son's name withheld from a victims memorial because of renewed concerns that its design is centered around Islamic symbolism.
Its nano-sized pores can not only collect pollutants like a sponge but they also act as air pockets.
Saudi Arabia's veteran foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has undergone neck surgery in New York, the official news agency said late on Saturday. The report from the Saudi Press Agency said the senior member of the ruling Al Saud family, who has been foreign minister since 1975, was treated successfully on Friday to remove bone calcification. It said the prince would return to Saudi Arabia after a convalescence period. He could head the Saudi delegation to a Middle East peace conference including Israel later this year, if the leading Arab-Muslim power agrees to attend. The Saudi Foreign Ministry says Prince Saud was born in 1940 making him one of the younger figures among the key players in the royal family.
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal central leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday that the recent Pak-Afghan peace jirga was meaningless without the Taliban's presence in it. "The Taliban are the real stakeholders, and not Pakistan and the Afghansitan government. No one can even think of peace in the region until the Taliban's importance is accepted", he said while addressing an annual Dastar Bandi in Darvesh Masjid. 
Egyptian Interior Ministry said Sunday its organs arrested 18 activists of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group in Alexandria and Sharqiya governorates. "Crackdown against the group led to the arrest of 18 activists and seizure of organizational documents belonging to the banned group," Egypt's state-run Middle East News Agency (MENA) quoted sources of the ministry as saying. The crackdown is part of "perfect security strikes" against underground group to abort its plans and future moves," the sources pointed out.
The military stepped up its retaliatory offensive yesterday by killing several Abu Sayyaf militants, including two of the suspects behind the beheading of soldiers last month.Western Mindanao Command chief Lt. Gen. Eugenio Cedo said troops overran an Abu Sayyaf training camp in the mountain village of Silangkum here where bodies of several Abu Sayyaf gunmen were found. Troops have recovered at least six body counts, including the two leaders who were among the suspects in the beheading of the Marines last month. This does not include those bodies seen littered by the clearing forces, Cedo told a news conference here yesterday. Cedo said yesterdays clash here involved about 80 Abu Sayyaf gunmen. He added that hundreds of troops are pursuing the rebels who survived. The bodies of slain rebels were scattered around the battle scene, he said. 
Yemen security forces arrested an Egyptian suspected of having links with Al-Qaeda and involvement in recent bombings in Mareb which killed European tourists. Rai News website quoted security sources as saying Sunday that 
KABUL - President Hamid Karzai led Afghanistans Independence Day celebrations on Sunday with a call to the countrys young people to educate themselves to preserve their freedom.
Two soldiers have died during gun battles with Islamic extremists in a Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, a senior military official said Sunday. 
KABUL - A soldier with the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was killed Sunday while escorting a convoy in southern Afghanistan, the force said in a statement. The soldier died from wounds suffered when the convoy was hit by a bomb, which sparked a firefight with militants, an ISAF spokeswoman told AFP.
The United States will soon send trainers to help the Palestinian Presidential Guard improve its security capabilities, the US State Department said yesterday in a statement. 
The family and legal team of a British resident jailed in Spain as a terror suspect claim he is the victim of the Spanish equivalent of Guantánamo Bay. 
Police said an Egyptian hijacker who commandeered a Turkish passenger plane together with a Turkish citizen had received training at an al-Qaida camp and wanted to be flown to Iran and to join al-Qaida in Afghanistan, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported Monday. 
Iraqi Kurdish officials expressed deepening concern yesterday at an upsurge in fierce clashes between Kurdish guerrillas and Iranian forces in the remote border area of north-east Iraq, where Tehran has recently deployed thousands of Revolutionary Guards.
Detectives investigating the attempted car bombing of Glasgow airport have recovered a "claim of responsibility" written by Kafeel Ahmed, who died from burns he suffered in the attack, the Guardian has learned. Ahmed, 27, suffered more than 90% burns after he drove a Jeep laden with improvised explosives into the airport terminal, in Britain's first attempted suicide car bombing.
KAZAKH president Nursultan Nazarbayev's party won every seat in a new parliament yesterday after a flawed vote that the opposition said turned the clock back to Soviet rule. 
MIRANSHAH, Pakistan - Pakistani helicopter gunships pounded suspected militant hideouts near the Afghan border Sunday, killing 15 militants, most of them foreign fighters, the military said. The death toll is 15 now. They are all militants, the majority of them foreigners. They are mostly Uzbeks, chief military spokesman Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP.
The Palestinian Authority security forces have failed to thwart Hamas's efforts to create new armed cells in the West Bank, a senior PA security official here said Sunday. Hamas's armed wing, 
Armed bandits kidnapped 30 passengers, including an education ministry official, on Chabahar-Iranshahr road in Iran's southeastern province of Sistan and Balouchestan on Sunday, an informed source said.
Afghan police freed a German hostage from a Kabul neighborhood and arrested a group of kidnappers early Monday, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry said. 
The British embassy in the Sudanese capital Khartoum closed down its visa and consular sections today and tomorrow, due to heightened fears that Western interests may be attacked, a diplomatic source said on Sunday. The embassy has also suspended its public services as a precautionary measure, after Sudanese police found three caches of weapons in the capital during the past week. Police arrested 20 Sudanese in connection with the caches, which contained grenades and ammunition.
