As commenter SteveS said in the O Club: Smooth move - bold decision and ass-covering walk-back all in one.
President Obama said on Saturday that he was ready to take military action against Syrian President Bashar Assad, but that he will seek the approval of Congress before carrying out a military strike.
Obama says Congressional leaders have agreed to schedule a debate and vote when they return to session. The president did not say if he'd forgo a strike if Congress disapproves
There's also a small Democrat antiwar group in Congress. Headed by Sheilah Jackson Lee, admittedly. But it'll be interesting to see how that gets spun when Congress comes back into session and deals with this.
#11
Everyone write your Congresscritters NOW. Tell them not only NO, but HELL NO.
There is absolutely no - zero, nada,zilch - legitimate reason to strike Syria right no. Even if Assad was the one using the chemical weapons (not yet proven), all we would be doing is aiding the al Qaeda rebels.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/31/2013 15:33
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#12
Never underestimate the stupidity of congress. Some demorat will slip in the budget increases to the bill. "We will have to pass it to see what is in it"
...Putin said he thinks the chemical attack was a "provocation" by Assad's opponents who wished to draw the United States and other powers into the conflict.
"Common sense speaks for itself: the Syrian government forces are on the offensive, and they have encircled insurgents in some regions, and it would be utter stupidity to give up a trump card to those who have been regularly calling for military intervention. It defies any logic, especially on the day when UN monitors came there," he told reporters.
Putin said he believes Western intervention is only aimed at helping the rebels, which he suggested have recently lost ground to government forces.
...He also praised the British vote not to join in any strike, saying it shows there are people with "common sense there." Translation: get your head out of Saudi ass.
The seven individuals apprehended for trespassing at the Quabbin Water Reserve in Belchertown, Massachusetts, just after midnight May 14, 2013 are part of an "on-going criminal matter," according to the Massachusetts State Police.
In response to a Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA) request for names, addresses, court dates, and charges filed against the seven individuals, the Office of Chief Legal Council for the Massachusetts State Police cited several state statutes exempting the release of information requested.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/31/2013
10:22 ||
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#1
ht to Insty
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/31/2013 10:25
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Simple, (albeit, it overly curious) amateur engineers.
[APNEWS.MYWAY] You simply can't safely bomb a chemical weapon storehouse into oblivion, experts say. That's why they say the United States is probably targeting something other than Syria's nerve agents.
But now there is concern that bombing other sites could accidentally release dangerous chemical weapons that the U.S. military didn't know were there because they've lost track of some of the suspected nerve agents.
Bombing stockpiles of chemical weapons - purposely or accidentally - would likely kill nearby civilians in an accidental nerve agent release, create a long-lasting environmental catastrophe or both, five experts told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named. That's because under ideal conditions - and conditions wouldn't be ideal in Syria - explosives would leave at least 20 to 30 percent of the poison in lethal form.
"If you drop a conventional munition on a storage facility containing unknown chemical agents - and we don't know exactly what is where in the Syrian arsenal - some of those agents will be neutralized and some will be spread," said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, a nonprofit that focuses on all types of weaponry. "You are not going to destroy all of them."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
09:40 ||
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#1
Hell this war is going on terminal hold if we are needing an environmental impacter statement.
#2
Well, if you nuke a chemical weapons site, the chemicals won't be a problem.
Of course, the nuke will create its own environmental problems.
Except that it would set a very dangerous precedent, maybe Congress should insist that Obama file an environmental impact statement for every attack.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/31/2013 12:58
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#3
Good thing we have experts, eh?
Posted by: Kelly ||
08/31/2013 13:16
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So called "experts" in the press are dolts. As if the only weapons available are either HE or nukes.
HE followed-on by FAE. FAE are violent as hell, but they do tend to burn up anything that is aerosolized by the HE. ANd they will probably kill anyone that survived the HE attacks by exposing them to the subsequent FAE overpressure detonation, so to be politically convenient, the FAE will be the cause fo death, not nerve agent.
Of course the FAE will make hella-big beaten areas, as well as making a very big bada boom. So there's the political downside too.
#5
As I recall a FAE is also 'more' effective when contained. So any remaining post-HE structures will serve as concentration vessels for the penetrating FA mix.
[POLITICO] Many of the leaks about U.S. strike plans for Syria, a copious flow of surprisingly specific information on ship dispositions and possible targets, have been authorized as a way for President B.O. to signal the limited scope of operations to friends and foes.
But a number of leaks have been decidedly unauthorized -- and, according to B.O. regime sources, likely emanating from a Pentagon bureaucracy less enthusiastic about the prospect of an attack than, say, the State Department, National Security Council or Obama himself.
"Deeply unhelpful," was how one West Winger described the drip-drip of doubt.
"They need to shut the f--k up," said a former administration official. "It's embarrassing. Who ever heard this much talk before an attack? It's bizarre."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
09:36 ||
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#1
So this administration has spent five years degrading the military and giving out secrets which may have led to the shoot down of a helicopter full of top troops and also the not-rescue in Benghazi. "Your Military"? At best you are a stuttering clusterFk when off script and merely insulted both the civilian contract with government and military oath to the Constitution.
At the same time, taking an active policy of governing by leaking, cynically to set unpopular policy without fingerprints. Those in government and the military either seeking favor or just trying to figure the plan and just following the White House example.
So yeah, great idea. Throw the Pentegon under the bus. Sounds like you have some credibility issues over there already, I'm sure this leak by your unknown sources is going to really help that.
#1
See also DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > FSA TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR CHEMICAL ATTACKS CLAIMING SAUDI COMPLICITY | [Voice of Russia] SYRIAN REBELS ... ... ADMITTING THE WEAPONS WERE PROVIDED BY SAUDIS.
* RAW STORY > SYRIAN REBELS ADMIT GAS ATTACK RESULT OF MISHANDLING CHEMICAL WEAPONS.
* STARS-N-STRIPES > OPINION: US CREDIBILITY AT STAKE AS SYRIA FALLS APART.
* TOPIX, WORLD NEWS > OBAMA LEGACY, US CREDIBILITY AT RISK WITH SYRIA STRIKE.
versus
* WASHINGTON POST > OBAMA NO LONGER COMMANDS RESPECT.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > RETIRED US GENERAL WARNS OBAMA BACKING WRONG GROUP [MusBros in Syria + other Radical Islamists] IN SYRIA, as opposed to the FSA.
MGEN. Paul Vallely, whom also indics or argues in Artic that ...
> Obama is NOT really a "brave person" whom has done or conducted "brave acts".
> Syrian Generals view Obama-led US as "weak" + "impotent".
* DAILY STAR LEBANON > SYRIA ARMY [SAA]DEFECTORS
SAYS STRIKES COULD KILL ASSAD FOES, i.e. anti-Assad fellow soldiers detained or imprisoned in or near ChemWar facilities for suspect loyalties.
#4
I was thinking perhaps a red wire/green wire thing, but this theory is a deliberate attack. I've had to change my BS filters a couple times already, hell the count is anything from 300 to 1500 depending on what time of the day it is. Reporters are saying Sarin, but they also go around saying an M113 is a tank.
They did have the drumbeat on again last night with the late news but it was very neutral.
Anyone else remember a video a few months back where the rebels were showcasing gassing a lab rat?
[Ynet] A suicide kaboom in Afghanistan's northern province of Kunduz killed a district governor, his bodyguards and civilians at a mosque on Friday, government officials said. The group that included the governor of the Archi district were attending a ceremony for a tribal elder who had died the day before, the officals said.
"Officials... were attending a prayer in a mosque when a jacket wallah detonated his explosives," said Enayatullah Khaliq, a front man for the provincial governor.
[Ynet] Jordanian security officials operating on the Jordan-Syria border said that the Jordanian army and US and Western forces have boosted deployement in the border.
The sources reported that "unusual" steps are being taken in preparation for a strike on Syria and any unforeseen scenarios. The al-Hayat newspaper also reported that planes and tanks have arrived at the border area to oversee events in south and north Syria.
[Ynet] An IDF force opened fire toward two suspects riding dune-buggies who entered a restricted zone near the Egyptian border, from the direction of the Sinai Peninsula. After ignoring the force's call to halt, the soldiers opened fire, wounding the two.
One suspect died later from his wounds and the second was taken for medical treatment in Israel. The IDF is investigating the event.
[Ynet] An explosive charge was activated against an IDF force on patrol near the border in the southern Gazoo Strip. No one was injured and no damage caused.
[Ynet] Israeli apology to Turkey over Marmara affair viewed by Erdogan as act of weakness
Less than six months have passed since Israel officially apologized to Turkey, but the gesture can already be defined as a huge mistake. The Israeli government knelt before Ankara and asked forgiveness for a sin it did not commit, and in exchange it received mainly spits in the face.
Prime Minister Erdogan continues to pester us, to despise us publicly and make false accusations against us. He did not release even one conciliatory glance towards us since we admitted - while bowing, as though we were defendants in a public trial -- that we were to blame for the Marmara affair.
"I do not believe Erdogan will continue to attack Israel as he did before," National Security Advisor Yaakov Amidror told Channel 2 on the night of the apology, but Erdogan did continue. As soon as he received the apology Erdogan kicked off a public humiliation festival, and last week he accused us of being behind the coup in Egypt, an accusation which embarrassed even our traditional enemies.
Contrary to its prior commitments, Ankara has yet to return its ambassador to Israel, but it benefits from the thousands of Israeli tourists who returned to Antalya. At this juncture, Turkey can be considered Israel's most bitter enemy in the region after Iran.
What does this prove? That in contrast to the familiar mantra, sometimes it is more important to be right than to be wise. The Israeli instinct to sacrifice values and assets for the sake of good relations with the neighbors is leading it from one failure to another. Netanyahu and Amidror relinquished our honor for the sake of peace, but in the end we were left with neither honor nor peace.
Erdogan interpreted their apology as an act of weakness and concluded from it that he can continue his assault on us. Now one can only hope that we too will reach some conclusions of our own. The apology to Turkey cannot be withdrawn, but we can still take a tougher stance with regards to the European boycott of the settlements. For example, the government can take a deep breath and declare that it is banning the "Horizon 2000" program as long as Europe continues to ban Israeli projects in Judea and Samaria. Europe will think twice before declaring another boycott. It may even cause Erdogan to rethink his attitude towards Israel.
#1
Gee...I wonder if any pressure was put on the Israelis from D.C.?/sarc.
Our one-in-a-billion PrezBozo does absolutely understand the non-Westernized M.E. mindset. Twenty (well, OK, thirty) years ago, this kind of collusion with the enemy would have been unthinkable....
So were bombing Syria because Syria is bombing Syria? And Im the idiot? - Sarah Palin
* President Obama wants America involved in Syrias civil war pitting the antagonistic Assad regime against equally antagonistic Al Qaeda affiliated rebels. But hes not quite sure which side is doing what, what the ultimate end game is, or even whose side we should be on. Havent we learned? WAGs dont work in war.
* We didnt intervene when over 100,000 Syrians were tragically slaughtered by various means, but well now intervene to avenge the tragic deaths of over 1,000 Syrians killed by chemical weapons, though according to the White House were not actually planning to take out the chemical weapons because doing so would require too much of a commitment.
* President Obama wants to do what, exactly? Punish evil acts in the form of a telegraphed air strike on Syria to serve as a deterrent? If our invasion of Iraq wasnt enough of a deterrent to stop evil men from using chemical weapons on their own people, why do we think this will be?
* The world sympathizes with the plight of civilians tragically caught in the crossfire of this internal conflict. But President Obamas advertised war plan (which has given Assad enough of a heads-up that hes reportedly already placing human shields at targeted sites) isnt about protecting civilians, and its not been explained how lobbing U.S. missiles at Syria will help Syrian civilians. Do we really think our actions help either side or stop them from hurting more civilians?
* We have no clear mission in Syria. Theres no explanation of what vital American interests are at stake there today amidst yet another centuries-old internal struggle between violent radical Islamists and a murderous dictatorial regime, and we have no business getting involved anywhere without one. And wheres the legal consent of the peoples representatives? Our allies in Britain have already spoken. They just said no. The American people overwhelmingly agree, and the wisdom of the people must be heeded.
* Our Nobel Peace Prize winning President needs to seek Congressional approval before taking us to war. Its nonsense to argue that, Well, Bush did it. Bull. President Bush received support from both Congress and a coalition of our allies for his wars, ironically the same wars Obama says he vehemently opposed because of lack of proof of Americas vital interests being at stake.
* Bottom line is that this is about President Obama saving political face because of his red line promise regarding chemical weapons.
* As I said before, if we are dangerously uncertain of the outcome and are led into war by a Commander-in-chief who cant recognize that this conflict is pitting Islamic extremists against an authoritarian regime with both sides shouting Allah Akbar at each other, then let Allah sort it out.
- Sarah Palin
We don't usually re-publish Ms. Palin's Facebook comments but this one is trenchant, and goes along with my own thoughts as expressed in another post today. Doubtless there are Rantburg readers who disagree. But someone's going to have to explain to me what the American strategy is for Syria and the Middle East so that I can understand why lobbing a few missiles at them is a good idea.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/31/2013
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"So we're bombing Syria because Syria is bombing Syria? And I'm the idiot?" - Sarah Palin
Sarah for Snark of the Day!
As a guy, I'm all for randomly blowing stuff up. But if we are going to do it under the guise of 'international relations', having an actual goal would be nice. Or to put it in game theoretic terms, After our move and Player 2's move, what comes next?
[BBC] A box containing the head and two human hands covered in blood also had the message: "Kavuludi, you are next". The police say they are interpreting it as a death threat. A most valid interpretation ek se.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
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President Obama on Wednesday described half a century of uneven progress toward colorblind justice, as if thats what Al Sharpton & Co are seeking, colorblind justice. To hear the crowds, they still want the whites to pay reparations.
Want reparations and payment? What then shall we call the so-called the 'Earned Income' tax scheme, Urban abortion centers Planned Parenthood clinics, EBT cards, free cellies, Section 8 housing, Affirmative Action job placement, free college tuition and loan forgiveness, the "right" to home ownership with no down payment, and on, and on.
[CHICAGO.CBSLOCAL] Some people may think a five-year old is too young for sex education.
Administrators with Chicago Public schools do not.
New to the curriculum this year, mandatory sexual and health education for kindergarten classes.
Like every other kindergartener, Angelina Yang is learning reading, writing, arithmetic--and now sexual health education.
"I want to know what kind of education she is receiving before she gets that education," said Angelia's mom, Stella. 'As a parent, I have a right to know."
CPS insists the curriculum will use language children understand and focus on topics like bullying, correct names for external body parts and the difference between appropriate and inappropriate touching. Nice to know that the Chicago Public School system has fixed all its other problems. Graduation rate is now 99% and the average ACT score is 34...
"As you identify body parts, you talk about should you be touched here or not.," said Stephanie Whyte, the CPS Chief Health Officer. "And if someone touches you, and it's uncomfortable, you should tell a trusted adult."
"I'm OK with it," said parent Ayesha Ahmad. "I'd like to believe it's not necessary, but I think our culture dictates you can't start early enough."
Students will also take a look at the different family structures that exist in today's society.
"Whether that means there's two moms at home, everyone's home life is different, and we introduce the fact that we all have a diverse background, " said Whyte. They're bull horning the poor little kids as soon as they're out of diapers. And, naturally, the camel's nose is always its softest part.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
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All the little tykes have to do is turn on the teevee...
#5
doesn't it seem that rather than doing a successful job teaching the basics to kids, the public school teachers, the admin, the unions, and the pols keep expanding the curriculum to be incompetent in even more faddish topics. Do your fucking job right before you take on additional tasks?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/31/2013 9:17
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#6
Uncle Phester: If the pederasts gain momentum, that may just be what reveals to the general public the folly of the sexual revolution.
Oh, and hat tip to james for steering me to this poem.
#9
Uncle Phester, please note the WAPO editorial pleading the case to allow teachers to have sex with their minor students...it's no big deal and certainly not rape.
The Paedophiles will prosper in the enviorment which liberal society has built.
[Al Ahram] Rebel (Tamarod) has distanced itself from comments by its leader about a possible presidential bid by army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi. The group's co-founder, Mahmoud Badr, on Thursday said he had no reservations about backing a presidential candidate from the military, a stance that was later altered by the group's spokesperson.
"Announcing support for a candidate at a time when there is no established plan for elections, no constitution or any official candidates, would be an uncalculated, unreasonable step," Mohamed Shahine clarified via Facebook.
"Our next, primary battle before presidential polls is the constitution," Shahine added.
In a television interview on Dubai-based Al-Arabiya, Badr said he might back a presidential bid by army chief Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, who led the overthrow of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, "if the country is still unstable."
"If there is a stable security situation, I'd rather a civilian president," Badr added.
El-Sisi has repeatedly denied speculation that he plans to run for president, claiming he is not interested in ruling the country.
Shahine also accused Egypt's Moslem Brüderbund of distorting the Arab resistance and the Paleostinian cause "to serve Western and American interests that defend the Zionist state."
"The major goal of the Brotherhood and its followers is to turn the conflict in the region from an Arab-Zionist conflict into a sectarian, Sunni-Shia conflict."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
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[Al Ahram] Security forces engaged in a firefight with unknown gunnies in Giza's Mohandiseen near on Friday evening after the curfew began at 7pm.
A security source told Al-Ahram's Arabic site the exchange started when the assailants opened fire on police forces, who retaliated immediately. No injuries or deaths were reported.
What means that neither side can shoot straight...
The fight erupted a few hours after other festivities had taken place nearby in the same area of Mohandiseen, leaving at least three dead.
The festivities took place between protesters supporting deposed president Mohamed Morsi and police forces in the area.
At least six protesters have been confirmed dead in festivities with security forces on Friday in Giza, Zagazig and Port Said.
Nationwide protests to "reclaim legitimacy" were organised by the Moslem Brüderbund's National Coalition to Support Legitimacy.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[MAGHAREBIA] A Libyan military prosecutor and his brother died in a daytime boom-mobile blast Thursday (August 29th) in Benghazi, Libya Herald reported. The bomb went off as Youssef Al-Asayfer and his brother left a mosque in the Al-Laythi district.
"He joined the revolution early on and he was a good man and well respected," a senior Benghazi military official said on condition of anonymity.
Al-Asayfer was probing several cases involving officials from the Moamer Qadaffy regime, AFP reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
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[Al Ahram] A drone strike Friday killed an Al-Qaeda leader in Yemen, a tribal source said, the latest in a string of attacks on what is considered the bad boy group's most dangerous network.
The source told AFP the early morning strike on a vehicle travelling in Manasseh village in the southern province of Bayda killed Qaeed al-Dhahab and two other men.
Witnesses confirmed the death of Dhahab, a military chief of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who had previously fought with the group in Iraq.
He was the brother of Tarek al-Dhahab, an AQAP leader who in January 2012 with other Death Eaters briefly overran the town of Radah in Bayda province before being killed.
Some 10 drone strikes since July 28 in eastern, southern and southeastern Yemen have killed more than 40 people. They are thought to be carried by the United States, the only country in the region to have drones.
Earlie this month, Yemen said it had foiled an AQAP plot to storm a Canadian-run oil facility at Mina al-Dhaba on the Arabian Sea coast.
The United States had closed some two dozen embassies and consulates in the Middle East and North Africa since August 4 after reported intelligence intercepts from Al-Qaeda suggested an attack was imminent.
Other foreign missions in Sanaa were also closed briefly over the alleged plot, which AQAP has denied as "nonsense and propaganda".
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HUDUR, Somalia -- Heavy fighting erupted in Bakool regional district of El-Barde of southern Somalia between Somali government forces and Al Shabaab militants on Thursday night, Garowe Online reports.
Local reports say that Al Shabaab fighters attacked the town from different directions by seizing some parts of El-Barde shortly. At least ten persons including two civilians and eight others from the opposing sides died in the battle, according to witnesses.
Witnesses also reported that Al Shabaab fighters fled the town after Ethiopian troops reinforced the Somali Federal Government forces.
The fighting lasted for more than one hour, we heard heavy gunfire and mortars hit built up areas in the town, a traditional elder said by telephone from El-Barde.
The Somali Federal Government officials in Bakool region told that the attack on El-Barde was intended to terrorize the locals. Al Qaeda linked Al Shabaab group controls vast vicinity in the region and government forces previously battled Al Shabaab fighters near Bakool regional capital of Hudur.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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[Al Ahram] The United States is still seeking an "international coalition" in response to Syria's alleged use of chemical weapons, despite a vote against military action by British MPs, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel
...The Third Smartest Man In The Room...
said Friday.
"Our approach is to continue to find an international coalition that will act together," Hagel told a news conference.
"If you're interested, give your name to Tiffany and we'll call you within 24 hours."
The UNSC isn't interested, the EU said no, Britain voted it down... My dear sir, you are down to only France, and they agree in principle. And your anti-Zionist administration isn't going to allow Israel to take the lead, even if they were interested. Is there a secret coalition of unknown countries you've got in your back pocket, that you're about to wave about like a clean handkerchief?
Ruritania is in...
But he did not say which countries might be part of an international coalition, and his comments appeared to strike a different tone from earlier statements by White House officials suggesting the US is prepared to act alone.
Hagel said Washington respected the British parliament's stance rejecting participation in any punitive strikes against Syria's regime.
"Every nation has a responsibility to make its own decisions," Hagel said during a visit to the Philippines.
"We are continuing to consult with the British as with all of our allies. That consultation includes ways forward together on a response to this chemical weapons attack in Syria."
He added: "I don't know of many responsible governments around the world, if any, who have not spoken out in violent opposition to the use of chemical weapons on innocent people."
US plans to build an international coalition for a military strike on Syria suffered a blow when the House of Commons in London voted Thursday against the use of force to punish a chemical weapons attack last week outside Damascus.
Asked if there was anything Syria could do to prevent possible US military action, Hagel said he could not speculate.
"I have not been informed of any change in the Assad's regime's position on any issue. I deal with the reality with what we have. I don't speculate on hypothetical situations," he said at a joint news conference with this Philippine counterpart.
Hagel went ahead with his visit to Manila despite the tense showdown over Syria, with US forces prepared to launch punitive strikes against the Damascus regime if ordered by US President Barack Obama I inhaled. That was the point... The US leader has said the alleged large-scale use of chemical weapons by Bashir al-Assad's regime is a threat to US security as well as a crime against the Syrian people.
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#1
US still seeks 'international coalition' on Syria: Hagel
#3
I have read many histories of WWII. On occasion I would read something on a general and he would refer to another general as stupid. This stunned me as I thought how can a person rise to the level of general officer and be "stupid".
I watched Hagel's confirmation hearings.
I realized to my horror that you could be a US Senator and be stupid.
Posted by: Kelly ||
08/31/2013 13:20
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I realized to my horror that you could be a US Senator and be stupid.
Kelly,, I think you spelled President Wrong; it doesn't start with an 'S.'
[Dawn] Criticising the federal interior ministry for inciting hatred and bias, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain Friday appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan to order a probe unmasking elements behind the 'hoax' of Muhajir Republican Army, DawnNews reported.
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[WSJ] The Navy has moved an amphibious ship with helicopters and Marines onboard into the eastern Mediterranean as part of preparations for possible U.S. strikes on Syria, officials said.
The ship joins five Navy destroyers armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles. The amphibious ship was sent as a "prudent precaution," a senior defense official said.
For a map, click here. For a map of Chihuahua state, click here
By Chris Covert
Rantburg.com
A total of five individuals have been killed in ongoing drug and gang violence in southern Chihuahua after a city mayor imposed a curfew in his city to discourage travel in the region at night, according to Mexican news accounts.
Two men were found dead on a road in Guadalupe y Calvo municipality Wednesday, according to a news report which appeared in the online edition of Tiempo news daily.
The victims were found near Alto de Pilares near the Guadalupe y Calvo to El Vergal road, shot to death and in an advanced state of decomposition.
One victim was identified as Victor Manuel Gutierrez Villar, 17.
Meanwhile in Batopilas municipality a man in his 30s was found shot to death in an arroyo, according to a separate news report in Tiempo.
José Valentin Avitia Lopez was found Tuesday evening near the village of Rodeo, apparently shot with an AK-47 rifle.
Another attack took place in Parral Wednesday evening when two individuals were shot in Che Guevara, according to a news report which appeared on the website of El Diario de Juarez.
Wilfrido Revuela Espinoza, 40, died while on his way to medical attention, while Gloria Bustillos Maria Payan, 30, was wounded in the attack.
Further west in Guachoochi municipality a man was found stabbed to death, according to a news report in the online edition of El Sol de Parral.
Mateo Perez Guevara, 43, was found near the village of Santa Anita by local residents.
Mexican Army and Chihuahua state police have been combining resources in the region to conduct checkpoints along roads in Guadalupe y Calvo and in El Vergel municipalities, roads considered to be high value commercial routes, according to a news report in El Sol de Parral.
The area of operation is expected to include much of southern Chihuahua including the Durango-Chihuahua borderlands.
The report tracks an announcement earlier in the week by Chihuahua state Fiscalia General del Estado or attorney general southern delegate Jesus Chavez.
Chavez said that the region was being reinforced as a response to increased violence between local rival drug and criminal gangs which operate in southern Chihuahua.
The violence in southern Chihuahua including in Guadalupe y Calvo and in Ciudad Jimenez prompted the mayor of Ciudad Jimenez to discourage travel at night in his city, according to a news report in El Diario de Chihuahua news daily.
Marcos Chavez said in the report that his police are closing down bars and "asking" people to go home, effectively imposing a curfew in Ciudad Jimenez. His reason is the recent death of a local criminal jefe, Uriel Canton AKA El Doctor, last week.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
[Al Ahram] Six protesters have been confirmed dead after violence flared at rallies in support of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in Giza, Zagazig and Port Said on Friday. Protests to 'reclaim legitimacy' were called for by the Muslim Brotherhood's National Coalition to Support Legitimacy.
The latest deaths on Friday occurred in the Giza district of Mohandiseen during clashes between police forces and pro-Morsi protesters. Tens were injured in the violence, according to Al-Ahram's Arabic news website.
Two other protesters were killed and 22 injured in Sharqiya's Zagazig, medical sources confirmed to Al-Ahram Arabic news website. The Muslim Brotherhood's Ikhwanonline website claims a third person was also killed during the clashes.
Conflicting reports surround how the death occured. Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported they were shot during clashes between protesters and street vendors. However, Ikhwanonline website claims they died after police and armed thugs targeted protesters and besieged those who tried to escape.
In the Suez Canal city of Port Said a protester was killed and 8 injured as fighting broke out between supporters and opponents of the ousted president in the Al-Amin district, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported. It is unclear how the clashes started. Police reportedly mobilised to disperse the crowds.
Three people were reported injured in clashes between Morsi supporters and opponents in Beheira.
Violent clashes were also reported in the district of Sidi Gaber in Alexandria.
Security forces forcibly dispersed protesters in Alexandria earlier on Friday.
Police used teargas to disperse thousands of Morsi supporters in Daqahliya's Mansoura and Upper Egypt's Assiut. In both cities, gunshots were heard from the perimeters of the clashes.
Earlier in the day, security forces dispersed a smaller gathering of Morsi supporters in Mansoura and arrested 15 as they tried to escape into side streets.
The National Alliance to Support Legitimacy released a statement on Wednesday saying that 30 August would be "the beginning of a civil disobedience campaign to pressure the putschists to end the coup."
Egypt's interior ministry announced ahead of Friday's protests that it would use live ammunition against protesters in "legitimate self defence."
The statement comes amid an ongoing crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood and its supporters after security forces forcibly dispersed two pro-Morsi protest camps in Cairo on 14 August, which left hundreds dead and over a thousand injured.
Since then, security forces have arrested hundreds of the group's leaders and members. Senior Brotherhood officials are facing incitement charges.
Police have also announced they will prevent the establishment of fresh sit-ins.
Morsi supporters have been demonstrating for almost two months against the army's overthrow of Mohamed Morsi on 3 July following mass protests against his rule. Turnout on Friday by protesters was larger than protests the previous week, but still smaller than some analysts had anticipated.
A sweeping crackdown on Brotherhood leaders has seen most key figures arrested in recent weeks, impacting the group's ability to organise.
The interim government has accused Morsi supporters of committing "terrorist acts" against its opponents.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
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#1
A sweeping crackdown on Brotherhood leaders has seen most key figures arrested in recent weeks, impacting the group's ability to organise.
The efficiency of the Army 'coup' almost makes one think Morse/MB was 'allowed' to win the election just so the Army could know who its key opposition was.
[Dawn] The Director General of the Sindh Rangers Maj-Gen Rizwan Akhtar on Friday informed the Supreme Court that around 19,000 shipping containers containing weapons and vehicles had gone missing during the tenure of the former minister for ports and shipping.
Um. That seems a great deal, but perhaps they're only small containers.
A five-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, and comprising of Justices Jawwad S. Khawaja, Gulzar Ahmed, Athar Saeed and Azmat Saeed, was hearing the implementation of its judgment in the Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... law and order case.
The chief justice directed authorities to submit a report on the illegal smuggling and theft of duty at Karachi's seaports within the next seven days.
The chief justice also formed a one-member commission, comprising former Curtoms Collector Ramzan Bhatti, and ordered the Federal Bureau of Revenue (FBR) to fully cooperate with the commission in investigating smuggling activities at the ports.
The court also ordered Nadra to complete its task of weapons registration in the shortest possible time.
Friday's hearing -- the third consecutive hearing of the case held at the Karachi registry --was attended by top government officials including the Inspector General Sindh, Additional IG, three Zonal IGs, DG Rangers Sindh Rizwan Akhtar and the Chief Secretary, along with other top official of the Sindh government.
During the previous day's proceedings, the chief justice had noted that a large quantity of arms and ammunition were being smuggled into Karachi through ports and supplied throughout the country.
He had also pointed towards reports of about 19,000 containers containing weapons and vehicles that had gone missing, and had asked DG Rangers Rizwan Akhtar to submit further details on the disappearance.
Presenting his report, Akhtar informed the bench today that the matter of the missing containers was now a few years old and that they had disappeared during the tenure of the former minister for ports and shipping.
Akhtar said that the weapons were taken to the tribal areas and then brought back to the port city. He said that National and Super highways and Hub routes were used in their transportation.
He informed the bench that there were 'hundreds of routes' between Sindh and Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... where there were several security check-posts but no law enforcement personnel to man them.
The DG Rangers said that illegally smuggled weapons previously of the US military troops in Afghanistan were also recovered in Wazoo when he was serving in the restive tribal region.
The DG Rangers also told the court that 78 per cent of the illegal weapons being used in Karachi were foreign-manufactured. He said these included AK-47s and 9mm guns, which were mainly used in murder crimes in the city.
Akhtar also pointed to the lack of proper monitoring at the ports. He said that there was need for scanners as properly scanning thousands of containers was a very difficult task.
The bench had also summoned the Chief Secretary to the court.
When asked how many CCTV cameras were presently installed in the city, the Chief Secretary told the bench that 1200 cameras were currently placed in different parts of Karachi.
However, there is a theory which states that if ever anybody discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable. There is another theory which states that this has already happened... of these, a majority were in need of repair while the rest have been put up in such a way that they are unable to show any clear footage of the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
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[Dawn] The United States released intelligence on Friday to show why it is certain that Syrian forces have killed civilians with chemical weapons and said Washington has a historic duty to act.
As a time window for expected US air strikes beckoned, the White House produced a declassified intelligence report which said 1,429 people including 426 children were killed in the August 21 outrage outside Damascus.
Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... meanwhile made an impassioned case for a "tailored" US response, despite the lack of a United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... mandate, and without help from Washington's closest ally, Britannia where politicians blocked action.
"This is the indiscriminate, inconceivable horror of chemical weapons. This is what (President Bashar al-)Assad did to his own people," Kerry said.
"The question is what are we collectively, what are we in the world, going to do about it?" The White House report said the judgment on the attack was based on "multiple" streams of intelligence including witness reports, satellite data and signals intercepts.
"The United States government assesses with high confidence that the Syrian government carried out a chemical weapons attack in the Damascus suburbs on August 21, 2013," the report said.
"We further assess that the regime used a nerve agent in the attack."
The unclassified assessment, which omitted sourcing and raw intelligence to protect US espionage assets, also debunked the theory, advanced notably by Russia, that opposition forces could be to blame.
"We assess that the scenario in which the opposition executed the attack ... is highly unlikely," the report said.
"Our high confidence assessment is the strongest position that the US Intelligence Community can take short of confirmation."
The report said Washington had intercepted the communications of a senior Syrian official, who was intimately familiar with the operation, soon after rockets started raining down on civilians.
The official confirmed that chemical weapons were used, and was concerned with UN inspectors obtaining evidence, the report said.
Kerry said the US government had repeatedly assessed the intelligence in the report, to avoid the kind of fiasco that erupted over botched covert material used to justify the Iraq war.
"We will not repeat that moment," he said.
And he argued that the world could not ignore the use of some of its most pernicious weaponry on some of its most vulnerable people.
"It matters because a lot of other countries whose policies challenge these international norms are watching," he said.
That included, he said, Iran with which Washington is locked in a long nuclear showdown.
"It's about whether Iran, which itself has been a victim of chemical weapons attacks, will now feel emboldened in the absence of action to obtain nuclear weapons.
"It's about Hezbollah and every other terrorist group that might contemplate the use of weapons of mass destruction."
Kerry also addressed domestic political opinion in his speech, mindful of polls showing little public support for American action in a new Middle Eastern war.
"We know that after a decade of conflict, the American people are tired of war," he said.
"But fatigue does not absolve us of our responsibility.
"History would judge us all extraordinarily harshly if we turned a blind eye to a dictator's wanton use of weapons of mass destruction against all warnings, against all common understanding of decency."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
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#1
Notice nobody talk about IRS scandal, Obamacare implementation, or Chris Lane murder.
#3
Don't you just love the Leadership of the United States?
And its so inspiring to be the Greatest Nation of the Free World.
Makes you want to put on a uniform and serve your country, doesn't it?
But remember you have to give your Word...I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. That I will obey the orders of the President of the United States and the orders of the officers appointed over me, according to regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. So help me God.
You wanted to be a Marine, so now how does it feel to be a Puppet? Ready to give your life for Obama? or Kerry? How about Ronald McDonald?
#4
TF - the oath of the commissioned officers is different.
I, _____, having been appointed an officer in the Army of the United States, as indicated above in the grade of _____ do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservations or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office upon which I am about to enter; So help me God."
You notice a missing phrase in there? Back in the pre-PC military they remembered this oath -
"Ich schwöre bei Gott diesen heiligen Eid, daß ich dem Führer des Deutschen Reiches und Volkes Adolf Hitler, dem Oberbefehlshaber der Wehrmacht, unbedingten Gehorsam leisten und als tapferer Soldat bereit sein will, jederzeit für diesen Eid mein Leben einzusetzen."
"I swear by God this sacred oath that to the Leader of the German empire and people, Adolf Hitler, supreme commander of the armed forces, I shall render unconditional obedience and that as a brave soldier I shall at all times be prepared to give my life for this oath."
The old military didn't want to make the same mistake here that was done there. Loyalty was to the law, not the man.
#5
I suspect that if the President were a Republican he would leading the charge for impeachment.
Like the vast majority of politicians (both Republican and Democrat) he is a piece of s***.
Posted by: Kelly ||
08/31/2013 13:24
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#6
Coming from the guy who trashed the military, threw his medals away, and happily entered negotions with the enemy in contrast to national presteige, spent years arguing against this same policy when W was calling it, chose Edwards as his right hand man and lost to Bush tax cheat lawyer.
Tired of war? This is the non interventionist smart diplomacy post american world, as promised.
[Dawn] The federal government submitted in the Supreme Court on Thursday that intelligence agencies were required to identify the first and second line leaderships of all criminal groups in different communities in the disturbed areas of Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... as well as of a hitherto unknown outfit, Muhajir Republican Army, so that action could be taken against them under the law.
This was stated in a report submitted to a five-judge larger bench by Attorney General Munir A. Malik, who had been asked on Wednesday to inform the court about the stance of the federal government on providing assistance to the Sindh government in normalising the situation.
The bench, which comprises Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, Justice Jawwad Khawaja, Justice Gulzar Ahmed, Justice Ather Saeed and Justice Azmat Saeed, is hearing implementation of its judgment in the Karachi law and order case.
The report said the law and order situation in Karachi was in shambles when the present government took over in June. It said the city was confronted with multi-dimensional threats compounded by a rapid increase in population as over a period of time criminal gangs had matured into formidable syndicates by entering into alliances with terrorist organizations.
"Unfortunately, various facets of these syndicates have succeeded in developing political patronage in various forms," the report said, adding that an "extremely careful and responsible handling is required to disentangle the situation".
The report suggested that an outright major operation should be avoided in crime-infested Lyari ...one of the eighteen constituent towns of the city of Karachi. It is the smallest town by area in the city but also the most densely populated. Lyari has few schools, substandard hospitals, a poor water system, limited infrastructure, and broken roads. It is a stronghold of ruling Pakistan Peoples Party. Ubiquitous gang activity and a thriving narcotics industry make Lyari one of the most disturbed places in Karachi, which is really saying a lot.... at all costs because "it could open an additional front". More visible security forces should be deployed in Kutchhi community-dominated areas.
In addition to the existing coordination, the report said, both Intelligence Bureau and Inter-Services Intelligence should identify the first and second tier leaderships of all criminal groups in different communities in the troubled areas. The IB, through technical and communication intelligence, including geo-fencing, should collect evidence about criminal activities of these ringleaders.
Individuals financing displaced persons in Badin or Thatta also needed to be identified. All-out efforts are needed to identify members of the Muhajir Republican Army and take action against them under the law.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
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[PITTSBURGH.CBSLOCAL] An 82-year-old woman went home Thursday after spending two weeks first in the hospital, and then in rehab.
She was discharged hours after 18-year-old Michael Duku of the North Side was taken into custody on charges including robbery, assault and conspiracy.
Police say Duku and another man shoved the elderly woman to the sidewalk two weeks ago after she attended Sunday church services in Homestead. Duku ran off with her purse.
Rev. Robert Buczak of St. Nicholas Orthodox Church, where the woman has been a long-time member of the congregation, said he paid several visits to the woman since she was assaulted.
Buczak told KDKA-TV's Ralph Iannotti that she's in good spirits, adding, "She suffered a broken shoulder, broken orbital bones in her face and a big cut above her eye. She'll be in a sling for six to eight weeks now."
Buczak said the woman forgives the robbers who attacked her, and then he said he felt "they would have gotten more in church, than they got out of her purse."
Duku was identified by an eyewitness who recognized his mug shot. He was picked up by a constable.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
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#1
Duku could also have been Obama's son
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/31/2013 8:57
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"they would have gotten more in church, than they got out of her purse."
[Dawn] The federal government has decided to withdraw a statement mentioning the existence of a previously unknown bully boy outfit, the 'Muhajir Republican Army', from the report submitted to the Supreme Court on Thursday.
Attorney General Munir A. Malik had presented the report to the apex court when asked about the federal government's stance on providing assistance to the Sindh government in normalising the law and order situation in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... During the National Assembly session on Friday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said that the government was retracting the mention of the bully boy group in the report. He claimed that the report was submitted to the Supreme Court without his permission and that he would apologise to the court for it.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
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[Al Ahram] A policeman and a civilian were rubbed out in a drive-by shooting in Cairo's Heliopolis district early on Friday, Egyptian state TV reported.
Unknown assailants in two private cars opened fire indiscriminateatly at a police unit in El-Nozha neighborhood. Another policeman was injured in the attack.
It was the second such attack in the capital in recent days. On Wednesday, unknown assailants shot up an army/security checkpoint from a rooftop in Giza's Mohandessin district. At least three suspects were tossed in the slammer Drop the heater, Studs, or you're hist'try! after the attack in which no deaths were reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
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[STLOUIS.CBSLOCAL] A lawyer for Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning said in a blog post on Thursday the soldier is doing well as he she goes through processing at the military prison at Fort Leavenworth.
David Coombs wrote that he spoke on Wednesday with Manning, previously known as Bradley Manning, while he she goes through the three-to-four-week period known as indoctrination at the Kansas prison. Coombs, who lives in Rhode Island, also said he plans to travel there in the coming weeks to meet with medical staff and the leadership in the quest to allow Manning to receive hormone therapy and other treatment for his her gender dysphoria -- the sense of being a woman trapped in a man's body.
Coombs went on the "Today" show last week, a day after Manning was sentenced to 35 years in prison for giving government secrets to WikiLeaks, to announce that Manning wants to live as a woman named Chelsea and begin hormone treatment as soon as possible.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
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#1
Leavenworth. The next 35 years as a bend over bowling alley for all your cell mates.
he can dig it.
Who vetted this shirley for Security work? But then the Green Berets or whatever apparently ain't what it used to be. Or the Rangers for that matter.
Army, be all you can be.
Probably totally unfair. Butt then you never know, He does wear a beret. And so does Kerry , by the way.
HOW do men like Alexander Haig and John Kerry rise so high in this country? What IS it that raises such men to the top of our government?
Ever ask yourself questions like that?
For that matter what about Obama and men like John Edwards, the Breck Boy. Men of real achievement and fine character. REAL leaders. Men you want alongside you in a tight place.
#2
Bend over is much more unlikely at the USDB where control is in effect. The inmates don't run the floor there. IIRC the inmate to guard ratio exceeds what you'll find at most civilian lock ups. Also, no sense of humor or distractions. Remember this article is based upon what supposedly Manning told his/her lawyer. Manning is still going through processing and classification at this point and is not among the general population or daily routine. Denial is not a river in Egypt.
#6
3 to 4 weeks indoc for prison? I only got 9 for the USN, and a real job.
How hard can it be to get up, commute 3 feet to the bars, grab the tray of slop, commute 3 feet to the bed to eat, then repeat to get the dishes done?? do that 3x/day plus the overbearing stress of havng to fight the masses to the exercise yard for 1 hour / day.
I see real budget savings in the prison indoc department.
#9
Uncle might be able to save the taxpayers a few bucks by shipping himher it to this place...
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
08/31/2013 12:55
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#10
"Forgot species, Uncle."
I'll take Golden Retriever. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara ||
08/31/2013 14:13
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#11
Ever since that pic with the wig showed up , whenever I read a Manning article, "Rocky Raccoon" starts playing, ".... but everyone knew her as Bradley." Make it stop.
#12
What galls me over this is how the NYT et al. are tripping over themselves to give in to Manning's request demand to be named Chelsea and referred to as "she".
I can demand everyone address me as Lord High Master of All That I Survey, but nobody will listen to me. Why not?
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/31/2013 15:58
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#13
I can demand everyone address me as Lord High Master of All That I Survey, but nobody will listen to me. Why not?
Because the name doesn't really fits you. Now, if you asked people to call you Gwendolyn...
[MAGHAREBIA] Algerian security services placed in durance vile Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! two alleged al-Qaeda members in connection with the 2007 liquidation attempt on former Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, Tout sur l'Algerie reported on Thursday (August 29th). One suspect was caught while visiting his family in Baghlia, corpse-littered Boumerdes province. The other was apprehended in Theniet Nasr, Bordj Bou Arreridj wilaya.
In the 2007 terror attack, a roadside kaboomwent kaboom! on RN 5 a few seconds before the arrival of Ouyahia's convoy. The blast killed two people and injuring two others.
In other security news, a terrorist surrendered to Bouira security services after spending eight years in AQIM's El Farouk brigade.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
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We debate this week the use of chemical weapons in Syria by the regime of Bashir 'Pencilneck' Assad, and the proper response of the world to such use. The US government yesterday declassified a report that suggests very strongly that Assad and his henchmen have used these weapons on the Syrian people, and more than once. Our intelligence experts now have 'high confidence' that this has happened.
This indeed has crossed a red line. That red line was declared, and rightly so, because the use of chemical and biological weapons is qualitatively different than that of the usual carnage of civil war and national war. One is just as dead from Sarin as from a bullet, but the use of nerve gas demonstrates a profound depravity and indifference to the final cost on humanity.
The use of chemical weapons against civilians is abhorrent. It was correctly cited as one of the several reasons why we went after Saddam Hussein. His removal was in part a consequence of his willingness to murder his own people wholesale with chemical weapons.
I do not want my grandchildren living in a world where the use of these weapons by genocidal thugs against innocent people is common-place. That means there must be real consequences when they are used.
The leaders of Great Britain and France, Mr. Cameron and Mr. Hollande, understand this; that is why they have voiced the desire to deal militarily with Bashir Assad. Unfortunately, neither has been able to communicate these stark facts and the need to respond with more than a sternly worded note to their people. The predictable result is that the British and French people aren't willing to go forward in an operation that will spill blood and cost treasure.
Likewise, Secretary of State John Kerry understands this; that is why he stood at a podium yesterday like a district attorney reading an indictment. Mr. Kerry wants to do "something". His instincts are right; his strategy and planning are lacking.
Yes, there must be real consequences for gassing one's people. But in doing so there must be a strategy that is deep, tested and supported by the large majority of our country. It must be applied by leaders who have been consistent and who understand that strategy, and who employ advisors who nurture and refine that plan. It must be supported by our people and not used by one political party as a piñata.
George W. Bush was (mostly) straight-up in why he thought we had to go after Saddam in 2003, and look at the opposition he had. Is it any surprise that Barack Obama, having been demonstrated to the satisfaction of many to be feckless and dissembling on national security issues such as Benghazi, Iran, the NSA and Afghanistan, now has no credibility at home when he says (correctly) that Syria must be punished for crossing a red line in the use of chemical weapons? That if we don't punish Syria then other genocidal thugs will conclude that it is similarly safe for them to trample that red line?
Senator and candidate Obama loudly proclaimed that President Bush could not take our country to war without the consent of Congress. He now schemes to take us to war -- again -- without the consent of Congress. Senator and candidate Obama told us that if only we had a different foreign policy, the Arabic world would reach out to us. It has instead shunned us. Senator and candidate Obama told us that our problems in the world were caused in large part by the foreign policy we had had for the past fifty years. President Obama certainly changed that foreign policy, so that now our friends mistrust us and our antagonists are emboldened.
When our country (and 40 others) attacked Iraq in 2003, progressive Democrats complained vociferously that we had no overall strategy, no plan for the peace, and no exit plan. You'd think that in 2013 the Obama administration would be smart enough to learn from that, and present to us a coherent strategy and some sort of exit plan, as best as can be envisaged today. President Obama has not done that -- either he doesn't trust the American people to understand these issues, or he doesn't believe that he needs approval of the American people, or -- worst of all -- he doesn't have a strategy and a plan.
None of this inspires confidence. Confidence is exactly what we need right now; confidence that our leaders are honorable to an American code, confidence that smart people are being allowed to do their jobs and have the vision to understand the fundamental gravity of these issues, and confidence that people will be held accountable for the actions they take, right or wrong.
President Obama doesn't inspire confidence; therefore we have none.
No one should take joy in this. Our friends and enemies alike will see the lack of resolution and backbone here in the U.S., in Britain and in France and so on, and act accordingly. War is coming.
But do not think that President Obama will act "on behalf of the global community". President Obama either will not act at all because he can't convince us to have confidence in him, or else he will act despite that and his acts will be seen as being done for himself.
That's the worst part of this.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/31/2013
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#1
'Tis a time for Prayer + lots of Ammunition.
Espec iff our Leaders are going to continue busting the Budget-Debt levels + commit the US to
an anti-sosvereign Globalist agenda widout asking the Amer People or US Voters to vote on same.
#2
I don't know if the Brits don't want to participate because it is a bad idea or because BHO has repeatedly snubbed them. (sending back that bust of Churchill doesn't seem so clever now, eh?).
My 2 pesos on how this plays out: Yet Another Scandal starts up and dominates the news cycle. Syria is conveniently forgotten.
#3
My problem, Doc, is that I don't trust our Intelligence - neither their competence nor their honesty.
Look at the case like a criminal detective - who has motive, for starters? Assad might have had motive earlier, when he was desperate, but now? Why use them now, when all it can do is damage your global political position, without gain? And once the decision has been made to use them, why use in a such a limited fashion? Comparable numbers have been killed routinely by 'acceptable' artillery barrages. It doesn't make sense.
Conversely, it makes perfect sense for the rebels to use a limited chemical attack on their own people: the losses are not appreciably different than normal, they are desperate, they are dedicated, and it stands to gain for them essential international support. But do they have the opportunity - do they have such weapons to use? I certainly can't say they can't have them - they aren't that hard to make (crude ones, anyway), there were plenty floating around the mideast the past couple of decades for a few to have been diverted/lost/whatever, and there are those who might supply them, for fee or in sympathy. The rebels would not likely have enough to use as actual weapons against Assad, but as political weapons...
No, I am not convinced.
1) That people were killed by chemicals - though I am starting to.
2) That the chemicals were from weapons.
3) That the weapons were intentionally detonated.
4) That they were detonated by Assad's forces.
5) That our attacking of Assad would make things better, rather than worse.
6) That our various government agencies and people have reliable and accurate information and analysis to answer the questions.
#5
Excellent piece Doctor. My thoughts on the situation unfolding or folder, who knows for sure.
Firstly, there is little to be joyful about in that part of the world and seldom has been. They've been beset with mystery, legend, paranoia, poisoned wells, thievery, child abuse, and murderous death for several millennia. Yes, there is indeed a high level of confidence that a chemical agent release happended. Just how and why it happened appears to still be open to debate. Let the experts at USAMRRID and Porton Down sort it out.
This isn't about chemical weapons, it's about the careless rhetoric of a crass amateur. While they can produce a horrible ghastly death, chemical weapons are vastly overrated as a tool on the modern battlefield.
Substantially more troubling to me are the staggering number of suicides within the ranks of our uniformed service members.
I hope and pray we're not drug into WWIII by a feckless, identity confused, Islamic apologist, motivated by a sense of social justice, fairness, and a longing to follow the death-cult faith of his drunken, runaway father.
#7
Of course it's not a time for joy. We have a psycho (a mixture of the worse attributes of a third world dictator, and an academic sh*thead) about to discover the joys of using the World's biggest military on a whim.
#9
1) That people were killed by chemicals - though I am starting to.
2) That the chemicals were from weapons.
3) That the weapons were intentionally detonated.
4) That they were detonated by Assad's forces.
People were killed, but 90% survived. That means the "Chemical Weapons" were used badly, or were made badly. This makes it look more like the rebels than a government.
5) That our attacking of Assad would make things better, rather than worse.
We can be sure if Assad loses there will be Sunni genocide/ethnic "cleansing". 6) That our various government agencies and people have reliable and accurate information and analysis to answer the questions.
What's been released is totally unconvincing. An intercepted call asking "what's going on?" is taken as evidence. You can tell theirs straw grasping and there's bullshit going on.
#10
Chemical agents or bullets. To kill is to kill. What is the special connotation other than 'different'? Dead is dead.
That if we don't punish Syria then other genocidal thugs will conclude that it is similarly safe for them to trample that red line?
Most of history has been filled with genocidal thugs. Remember we're living in a very unique historical bubble tagged Pax Americana.
Gas? Why not just starve your people to death by the hundreds of thousands - North Korea. Why not just chop them up by the hundred thousand - Uganda. What did the world do?
The only thing that gets done in this world towards peace and containment has largely been done on the American dime and blood. Unfortunately, the 'Someone has got to do something' arm waivers have been generally the exact same people who've been systematically destroying the resource and economic base that made Pax Americana possible for generations. There's very little now to reinvigorate a large military establishment to 'police' the world. Our expensive resources are becoming precious in that once expended are unlikely to be replaced. You don't penny packet it away on every crisis that's now going to pop up as Pax Americana recedes.
One of the unlearned lessons of history is how Justinian exhausted the resources of the Byzantines trying to rebuild the old Roman Empire leaving it unable to then cope with the rise of the Muslim conquest out of Arabia. How did that work out for the world?
1. Barack Obama, during an interview with Charlie Savage on December 20, 2007: "The President does not have power under the Constitution to unilaterally authorize a military attack in a situation that does not involve stopping an actual or imminent threat to the nation."
2. Joe Biden, during a television interview in 2007: "The president has no constitutional authority ... to take this nation to war ... unless we're attacked or unless there is proof we are about to be attacked. And if he does, if he does, I would move to impeach him."
3. U.S. Representative Ted Poe: "Mr. President, you must call Congress back from recess immediately to take a vote on a military strike on Syria. Assad may have crossed a red line but that does not give you the authority to redline the Constitution."
4. U.S. Representative Kurt Schrader: "I see no convincing evidence that this is an imminent threat to the United States of America."
5. U.S. Representative Barbara Lee: "While we understand that as commander-in-chief you have a constitutional obligation to protect our national interests from direct attack, Congress has the constitutional obligation and power to approve military force, even if the United States or its direct interests (such as its embassies) have not been attacked or threatened with an attack."
6. The New York Times: "American officials said Wednesday there was no 'smoking gun' that directly links President Bashar al-Assad to the attack, and they tried to lower expectations about the public intelligence presentation."
7. U.S. Senator Rand Paul: "The war in Syria has no clear national security connection to the United States and victory by either side will not necessarily bring in to power people friendly to the United States."
8. U.S. Senator Tim Kaine: "I definitely believe there needs to be a vote."
9. Donald Rumsfeld: "There really hasnt been any indication from the administration as to what our national interest is with respect to this particular situation."
10. Robert Fisk: "If Barack Obama decides to attack the Syrian regime, he has ensured for the very first time in history that the United States will be on the same side as al-Qaida."
11. Former congressman Dennis Kucinich: "So what, were about to become al-Qaedas air force now?"
12. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem: "We have two options: either to surrender, or to defend ourselves with the means at our disposal. The second choice is the best: we will defend ourselves."
13. A Syrian Army officer: "We have more than 8,000 suicide martyrs within the Syrian army, ready to carry out martyrdom operations at any moment to stop the Americans and the British. I myself am ready to blow myself up against US aircraft carriers to stop them attacking Syria and its people."
14. Khalaf Muftah, a senior Ba'ath Party official: "We have strategic weapons and were capable of responding."
15. An anonymous senior Hezbollah source: "A large-scale Western strike on Syria will plunge Lebanon virtually and immediately into the inferno of a war with Israel."
16. Ali Larjiani, the speaker of the Iranian parliament: "...the country which has been destroyed by the terrorists during the past two years will not sustain so much damage as the warmongers will receive in this war."
17. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: "Starting this fire will be like a spark in a large store of gunpowder, with unclear and unspecified outcomes and consequences"
18. General Mohammad Ali Jafari, chief of Iran's Revolutionary Guards: (an attack on Syria) "means the immediate destruction of Israel."
19. Israeli President Shimon Peres: "Israel is not and has not been involved in the civil war in Syria, but if they try to hurt us, we will respond with full force."
20. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: "We are not part of the civil war in Syria, but if we identify any attempt whatsoever to harm us, we will respond and we will respond in strength."
21. The Jerusalem Post: "The lines between Hezbollah and the Syrian regime are so blurred that Israel will hold Damascus responsible if Hezbollah bombards Israel in the coming days, Israeli officials indicated on Wednesday."
22. Ron Paul: "The danger of escalation with Russia is very high"
23. Pat Buchanan: "The sole beneficiary of this apparent use of poison gas against civilians in rebel-held territory appears to be the rebels, who have long sought to have us come in and fight their war."
24. Retired U.S. General James Mattis: "We have no moral obligation to do the impossible and harm our childrens future because we think we just have to do something."
25. Syrian refugee Um Ahmad: "Isn't it enough, all the violence and fighting that we already have in the country, now America wants to bomb us, too?"
#15
As someone pointed out, chemical weapons today are almost useless against a prepared military force. They have protective gear, remote sensors, and antidotes. Chemical weapons are very effective against an unprepared civilian population. This makes chemical weapons terror weapons.
On the other hand, if Assad had called in an extensive artillery strike, and killed and wounded exactly as many people, Obama would not have complained.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/31/2013 13:10
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#16
The problem is Doc, that you assume Obama is doing this for the "right" reasons. I have a great amount of difficulty believing that. Because you posit this as an act due to qualitative differences, then there mut be qualitative differences in the reasoning. We must clearly be doing the right things, in the right places, the right way for the right reasons. Obama and his administration are singularly untrustworthy of anything other than acting to forward their own political aims, regardless of the good or evil of the act. Same goes for John Kerry, who had shown himself to be a patrician bumbling fool, hardly worthy of trust when it comes to his judgement of any moral matter as weighty as this.
As a former part of our intelligence community, I now deeply distrust the products it produces, because in some places, the integrity of the system, its use, and the people in it, has become quite questionable - many times valuing the politically expedient or desired outcome instead of doing what intel needs to do: present the truth plainly and clearly along with the probable alternatives when things are not completely clear. The national intelligence machinery is misdirected, political and fundamentally broken by ignoring the oath to the Constitution, careerism, fiefdom building in the civilian side, and far too many "Courtney Massengale" types on the military side.
All in all, there is a strong case to be made for distrusting the president, the state department, and the intelligence community, as well as some generals.
Those are significant enough issues to raise serious concerns to allow anyone to oppose strikes in the Syria situation as not meeting the qualitative criteria for a qualitative issue.
If a more "dirty" response were to be considered, then perhaps that might fit the situation - revoke the Carter era executive order and simply decapitate the Syrian regime, as well as the resistance leaders who are associated with Al Qaeda and MB. By bullet or cruise missile. For those are the true authors of the chemical strikes: the baathist regime - and the rebels who would do the same had they they chance to fill the vacuum left by toppling the regime. The reason its a dirty situation is that we left it to rot far too long without taking decisive action early, where smaller efforts (supporting the good factions, etc) produce greater changes to the trajectory of events. We now face the consequences of inaction and inertia.
The biggest shame of it is that the American people have not been informed of this due to the whitewashing and hiding of the truth by our dominant leftist media, who seem willing to continue to lie and distort to protect the Obama administration no matter the cost to the Constitution, Republic or its people.
As for your grandchildren (and mine), its unfortunate, but I doubt they will see such a world. What we can can do is see to it that they do not see such actions here at home, and restore what liberty we can. Entangling ourselves for questionable reasons due to questionable intelligence, under questionable leadership using questionable morals is not the thing to do.
As I see it, we have an arrogant and incompetent president. I trust him slightly more than Assad.
Our long-range strategic planning capability and foreign policy development out of the executive branch is non-existent. The people around BHO don't seem particularly capable either. As Krauthammer said: "It is amateur hour."
A couple of websites summarizing chemical and biological weapons capabilities:
#20
As a former part of our intelligence community, I now deeply distrust the products it produces, because in some places, the integrity of the system, its use, and the people in it, has become quite questionable - many times valuing the politically expedient or desired outcome instead of doing what intel needs to do: present the truth plainly and clearly along with the probable alternatives when things are not completely clear. Old Spook
[Al Ahram] Police have stormed the offices of Al Jazeera in Giza, after hours the authorities banned its Mubasher Misr channel from working in Egypt.
The Qatari-owned news channel's offices in Agouza, Dokki and Imbaba were raided on Friday morning.
On Thursday, the Egyptian government banned Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr from working in Egypt because it does not hold the requisite permits. It was also accused of spreading lies and rumours damaging to national security.
Some observers have criticised the channel for being biased towards the Moslem Brüderbund.
The office of Al-Mayadeen channel was also raided. The channel was founded and is owned by Tunisian-Lebanese talk show host Ghassan Bin Jiddo.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
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[The Hill] The Pentagon's dire fiscal situation due to defense spending cuts under sequestration has left U.S. armed forces unable to afford possible military action in Syria.
"Our military has no money left," Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.), the top Republican on the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement Wednesday. Pounding bullets into EBT cards has consequences.
Due to the $500 billion in budget cuts slated for the Pentagon over the next decade, the Champ's White House "further undermines future military readiness and capabilities" to deal with the growing crisis in Syria and elsewhere in the world, according to Inhofe.
"I cannot support military action in Syria unless the President presents to Congress his broader strategy in the region that addresses our national security interests and the budget to support it," the Oklahoma Republican said in the statement. What "broader strategy" would that be ?
U.S. forces are expected to begin missile strikes against military targets in Syria in the coming days, in retaliation to the reported use of chemical weapons by forces loyal to embattled President Bashar Assad.
The White House has warned that use of those weapons would cross a so-called "red line," triggering an armed response from U.S. and NATO forces.
U.S. warships are already in station in the Mediterranean, off the Syrian coastline, awaiting orders from Washington.
But the Defense cuts under sequestration, which went into effect in March, "has put us on the brink of a hollowed force," according to Inhofe.
With another $52 billion set to come out of Pentagon coffers in fiscal 2014 under sequestration, the Defense Department is in no position, financially, to carry out military action in Syria.
"Our troops are stretched thin, the defense budget has been slashed to historic levels, and we are facing an unprecedented time of unrest across the Middle East," Inhofe said.
"No red line should have been drawn without the strategy and funding to support it," he added.
Inhofe opposition to military action in Syria comes on the heels of Sen. Rand Paul's (R-Ky.) claims that the strikes would not serve any U.S. national security interests.
"The war in Syria has no clear national security connection to the United States, and victory by either side will not necessarily bring in to power people friendly to the United States, Paul said.
Both senators sided with nearly 100 House members, including more than a dozen Democrats, who argue that President Obama would violate the Constitution if he does not get authorization from Congress before launching a military strike in Syria.
Aside from fiscal concerns, Inhofe warned the White House from taking action in Syria, without "thoroughly consulting" with partner nations in the region.
"It is vital we avoid shortsighted military action that would have little impact on the long-term trajectory of the conflict," Inhofe said. Little impact? How about NO impact ?
"We cant simply launch a few missiles and hope for the best," he added.
#1
iNHOFE can say the same thing as per US-vs-CHINA vee China versus Japan-Philippines-India?
Vietnam?
* VOICE OF RUSSIA > CHINA HAS MUCH AT RISK IN THE MIDDLE EAST, BUT NO "REACH" | REUTERS.
Yuuup, which is why I've said that China may likely choose to wage LIMITED WAR, CONVENTIONAL
ONLY TO LIMITED [Tactical?]NUCLEAR, agz US Allies in East-South Asia.
Despite the PLA's operational "rust" + MilTech deficiencies vee the US, China's greatest ace/card may be alleged anti-US, Marxist-Anarchist-Globalist POTUS Bammer + the on-going US Debt, Budget Crises [sequester] + Econ woes.
As complemented or affected by 2015, Nuclear Iran, + Global Nuclear Jihad.
AS PER THE FIRST KOREAN WAR [Chinese Yalu intervention] + TAIWAN WAR SCENARIOS, CHINA + PLA = PROHIBITIVE PLA/COMBAT CASUALTIES IS NOT A MAJOR FACTOR of CONCERN.
China + PLA will fight until China's objectives are successfully achieved no matter the costs.
[POLITICO] Former President Jimmy Carter condemned possible chemical weapons attacks in Syria, but called for a "peace conference" and working with the United Nations, rather than using a military solution. In a statement Friday from the Carter Center, the former president said that the U.N. investigation into possible chemical weapons attacks in Syria is under way and urged against action in the country without U.N. support.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
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#1
jimmy .. crawl back into your peanut silo and drink some billy beer.
[STREAM.WSJ] Shortly before the U.S. disclosed intelligence purporting to show Syria's government used chemical weapons last week, Turkey published details which Ankara said left "no doubt" that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's forces were responsible for a poison gas attack that killed hundreds of people in a Damascus suburb.
The attack was carried out from two separate locations and involved 15 to 20 chemical warheads. The warheads were fired by the 155th Missile Brigade in Qutayfa, 35 km north of Damascus and the 4th Armored Division in Qasyoun Mountain
The news item was released on Turkey's state news agency, Anadolu, shortly after foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference that Turkey had proof of Damascus' culpability. The report, which read like a diplomatic cable and could not be independently verified, detailed the precise time, location and weapons used in the attack, as well as the Syrian brigade which launched it.
According to the report, which you can read here, the attack was carried out from two separate locations and involved 15 to 20 chemical warheads. The warheads were fired by the 155th Missile Brigade in Qutayfa, 35 km north of Damascus and the 4th Armored Division in Qasyoun Mountain, also north of the capital, the news item said.
"From our point of view, totally based on our national intelligence and assessments by our national experts ... there is no doubt that the regime is responsible," Davutoglu told reporters in Ankara, shortly before the disclosure.
The report came as Washington planned to release an unclassified version of its intelligence assessment of the chemical weapons attack, according to U.S. officials. The push for a quick international strike to punish Syria for what the U.S. said was a chemical-weapons attack appeared in disarray on Thursday, after British lawmakers defeated a government motion in support of military action.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/31/2013
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#3
Well then, Turkey has a large army and is sitting right on the border why don't they just march in and take over? I'm sure they could get their friends in Jordan and SA to join in the party.
#4
Because wars are expensive and it costs them nothing if Uncle Sam does it for them. Ideally, the US should help the ummah cleanse non-Sunni infidels from this world, but since you gotta start somewhere, Syria's not a bad place to begin.
#6
Turkey has a large army and is sitting right on the border why don't they just march in and take over?
Turkey's competent senior and mid-level officers are sitting in jail, AlanC . The ones left behind primarily had to satisfy Erdogan's Islamists that they are true believers.
Banks and credit card companies use their access to the banking system to try to kill businesses engaged in the firearms industry. Now, McMillian Firearms is saying they will provide credit card services.
One individual was hurt and one was taken into custody at a shooting in Winston-Salem, North Carolina Friday. The good news is that the other 50 million firearms helpfully did not participate in the shooting.
President Obama bypasses Congress with a new executive order that stops re-importation of firearms into the USA, presumably military surplus firearms. The executive order is aimed at the Civilian Marksmanship program, they say.
Rantburg's summary for arms and ammunition:
Pistol Ammo
.45 caliber, 230 grain, From Last Week: Unchanged
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Ventura Munitions, Wolf Polyperformance steel cased, .37 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1000 rounds: BluCore Shooting Center, P&G Performance, .37 per round
.40 Caliber Smith & Wesson, 180 grain, From Last Week: -.01 each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Georgia Arms, Unknown, .31 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1000, 500 or 250 rounds: LAX Ammunition, reloaded, .28 per round (w/ ammo can)
9mm Parabellum, 115 grain, From Last Week: +.03 each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Tactical Raleigh, Tulammo, steel cased, .28 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 1000 rounds: Battle Bag Ammo, reloaded, .25 per round
.357 Magnum, 158 grain, From Last Week: +.02 each
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Georgia Arms, Unknown .50 per round
Cheapest, Bulk: None
Rifle Ammunition
.223 Caliber/5.56mm 55 grain, From Last Week: +.09 each
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Munire USA, Monarch, steel cased .39 per round
Cheapest Bulk 260 rounds: Cheaper Than Dirt, Tulammo, steel cased, .40 per round
.308 NATO 145 grain, From Last Week: +.05 each
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Munire USA, Prvi Partizan, brass, .70 per round
Cheapest Bulk, 500 rounds: Wideners, Prvi Partizan steel cased, .70 per round
7.62x39 AK 123 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged
Cheapest, 20 rounds: Selway Armory, Wolf WPA, steel core and case, .26 per round
Cheapest, Bulk, 500 rounds: Selway Armory, Brown Bear, steel core and case, .26 per round
Cheapest, Brass casing: Ventura Munitions, Fiocchi, .54 per round
.22 LR 40 Grain, From Last Week: Unchanged
Cheapest, 50 rounds: Gander Mountain, Federal Premium Gold, .10 per round
Cheapest, Bulk, 500 rounds: Cheaper than Dirt, Aguila Match Pistol, .12 per round
Guns for Private Sale
Rifles
.223/5.56mm (AR Pattern Semiautomatic) Average price: $820 Last Week Avg: $1,100
California: DPMS: $800
Texas: R-gun: $800
New York: Armalite C15: $950
Maryland: Smith & Wesson MP-15: $800
Florida: DPMS: $750
.308 NATO (AR-10 Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $1,554 Last Week Avg: $1,539
California: Sig Sauer 716: $1,450
Texas: DPMS w/scope: $1,300
New York: Magnum Research: $1,200 (Same Gun, lower price)
Maryland: DPMS LR-308B: $2,500 (Same Gun)
Florida: Daniel Defense: $1,320
7.62x39mm (AK Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $738 Last Week Avg: $729
California: Saiga: $650 (probably same gun)
Texas: Saiga: $700
New York: Saiga: $895 (Same gun)
Maryland: AMD-65: $695
Florida: Unknown Brand: $750
7.62x54mm (Dragunov Pattern Semiautomatic) Average Price: $1,475 Last Week Avg: $1,425
California: Romak PSL: $1,650 (Same Gun)
Texas: None
New York: None
Maryland: None
Florida: Romak PSL: $1,200
Pistols
.45 caliber ACP (M1911 Pattern Semiautomatic Pistol) Average Price: $634 Last Week Avg: $569
California: Springfield Stainless: $1,100
Texas: Tisas Classic: $450
New York: Thompson: $450
Maryland: Remington 1911: $650 (same Gun)
Florida: American Tactical Imports: $520
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
#1
The executive order is aimed at the Civilian Marksmanship program, they say.
It is my understanding that the CMP turns a small profit each year. Can't have that. I have to ask, when was the last time an M1 Carbine, Garand, or M1A3 was linked to a crime ?
For the thing about corporations, what does that do to the private security companies? Sounds racist.
I wasn't just looking at that warehouse of crated Korean M-1...everyone I told about it who is an afficionado and history buff was excited too. So I ask this question to such steamed leaders:
Does this mean you cannot re-purchase Fast and Furious weapons?
[WASHINGTONTIMES] President B.O. Friday that he sympathizes with Americans' war-weariness but is considering a "limited, narrow" military response to Syria's use of chemical weapons.
"A lot of people think something should be done, but nobody wants to do it," Mr. Obama said shortly after his administration made its most forceful case to date that the Syrian regime of Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators... killed more than 1,400 of its own civilians on Aug. 21 near Damascus using chemical weapons.
"There is a certain weariness, given Afghanistan," the president said. "There is a certain suspicion of any military action, post-Iraq. And I very much appreciate that."
But Mr. Obama said the U.S. and other nations cannot allow a large-scale chemical attack to go unpunished.
"It's important for us to recognize that when over a thousand people are killed, including hundreds of innocent children, through the use of a weapon that 98 or 99 percent of humanity says should not be used even in war, and there is no action, then we're sending a signal," he said. "That is a danger to our national security."
In spite of his strong words, Mr. Obama said he still hasn't decided whether to launch a military strike against Syria.
"I have not made a final decision about various actions that might be taken," Mr. Obama said. "We're not considering any open-ended commitment. We're not considering any boots-on-the-ground approach."
Mr. Obama noted that his administration has consulted with allies and Congress. Key members of Congress received a briefing on Syria Thursday night.
"This kind of attack is a challenge to the world," he said. "We cannot accept a world where women and kiddies and innocent civilians are gassed on a terrible scale."
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
"limited and narrow"
Yep, that describes Obummer's mental ability to a tee.
#3
When/if Obama does make the decision to attack, assuming it is only a cruise missile strike, he should also announce the strike dates, times and target coordinates. But only to the rebels and ordinary people of Syria. That way, they will know not to be there. This will limit the collateral damage to "friendlies".
/sarcasm, if you hadn't figured it out
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
08/31/2013 19:16
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[MAGHAREBIA] Algeria's ruling National Liberation Front (FLN) on Thursday (August 29th) named Amar Saïdani as its new secretary general, APS reported. The 63-year-old former speaker of the National People's Assembly (APN) was the sole candidate for the post, vacant since Abdelaziz Belkhadem quit in January.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Al Ahram] Fierce fighting raged Friday in a town near the Syrian capital that a UN team visited this week to probe deadly gas attacks that allegedly took place there, monitors said.
"Violent fighting is pitting regular armed forces against rebels on the northern and western fronts of Moadamiyet al-Sham," the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"The army is trying to advance into the town," it said, adding that an air raid and a surface-to-surface missile launched by the army had targeted the area southwest of Damascus.
Moadamiyet al-Sham is one of the places allegedly hit by chemical attacks on August 21 that the opposition say killed hundreds, and UN inspectors who are currently probing if the incident actually took place visited the town on Monday.
According to the Observatory, the town was hit by more than 10 air raids and hundreds of missiles and rockets on the day of the alleged gas attack.
Western states blame the regime of Bashir al-Assad for the attack, which also allegedly hit the Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus, but his government strenuously denies any involvement.
The army has for months been trying to take Moadamiyet al-Sham and Daraya -- another Damascus suburb -- back from the rebels, without success.
According to Damascus-based anti-regime activist Ibrahim Shaiban, these two rebel strongholds have been "intensely" bombed since Thursday.
"Regime forces have also dispatched men and tanks as back-up," he said.
On Thursday, eight people -- including at least one woman and a child -- died in Moadamiyet al-Sham bombings, and one person was killed in Daraya.
A top security official in Damascus said the army was "in permanent confrontation with terrorist groups who are in Moadamiyet, and have been for a long time."
The UN team is currently on the final leg of its Syria probe, and on Friday was heading to a military hospital in a Damascus neighbourhood, another security official said.
They are due to leave Syria by Saturday morning, and will report straight back to UN head the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon ... of whom it can be said to his credit that he is not Kofi Annan... .
Posted by: Fred ||
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[BLOGS.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK] George W. Bush was widely mocked by the Left during the Iraq War, with liberals jeering at the "coalition of the willing," which included in its ranks some minnows such as Moldova and Kazkhstan. Michael Moore, in his rather silly documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, went to great lengths to lampoon the Iraq War alliance. But the coalition also contained, as I pointed out in Congressional testimony back in 2007, Great Britannia, Australia, Spain, Italia, Poland, and 16 members of the NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... alliance, as well as Japan and South Korea. In Europe, La Belle France and Germany were the only large-scale countries that sat the war out, with 12 of the 25 members of the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... represented. The coalition, swelled to roughly 40 countries, and was one of the largest military coalitions ever assembled.
As it stands, President B.O.'s proposed military coalition on Syria has a grand total of two members -- the US and La Belle France. And the French, as we know from Iraq, simply can't be relied on, and have very limited military capability. It is a truly embarrassing state of affairs when Gay Paree, at best a fair weather friend, is your only partner. John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... tried to put a brave face on it at his presser today, by referring to La Belle France "as our oldest ally," but the fact remains that his administration is looking painfully isolated.
There can be no doubt that David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... 's defeat in the House of Commons was a huge blow to President B.O., and has dominated the US news networks this morning. The absence of Britannia in any American-led military action significantly weakens Obama's position on the world stage, and dramatically undercuts the B.O. regime. The vote reflected not only a lack of confidence in the Commons in the prime minister's Syria strategy, it also demonstrated a striking lack of confidence in Barack Obama They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them... and US leadership.
In marked contrast to Obama, President Bush invested a great deal of time and effort in cultivating ties with key US allies, especially Britannia. The Special Relationship actually mattered to George W. Bush. For Barack Obama it has been a mere blip on his teleprompter. Bush also went out of his way to build ties with other allies in Europe, including with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, and an array of countries in Eastern and Central Europe. Obama simply hasn't bothered making friends in Europe, and has treated some nations with sheer disdain and disrespect, including Poland and the Czech Republic. He has found common currency with La Belle France's Socialist President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... , an ideological soul-mate, but finds himself in a very lonely position elsewhere across the Atlantic.
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#1
Not at all 'embarrassing' for the Champ. Like a street punk holding a pistol, he rather enjoys the limelight, the sense of power.
Security has been beefed up in Narathiwat province after officials were tipped off that two suspected terrorists insurgents planned attacks in the area. Intelligence reports were received that Muhamakosapi Loma and Paosee Dueramae had devised a plan to bomb and ambush troops attached to Narathiwat Special Taskforce 30. There are five arrest warrants out for the two men are wanted on security charges.
The ambush been planned for today to mark Malaysia's day of independence. The planned assault was intended as a response to security forces having arrested or killed several suspected terrorists insurgents.
Meanwhile, Thailand's National Security Council chief Paradorn Pattanatabut said yesterday he had contacted Malaysian officials to ask Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) representative Hassan Taib to formally submit the group's five demands. The controversial demands include the release of detained terror insurgent suspects and revocation of arrest warrants for those still at large, and the state's recognition of the BRN as a liberation movement rather than a separatist group.
Paradorn said the demands will be reviewed to see if the Thai government can agree to any of them. Officials are waiting for the BRN's response before fixing the date for the next round of peace talks next month, he said.
[Dawn] Member of the National Assembly, Awami Moslem League (AML) chief Sheikh Rashid Ahmad's car was hit by a falling stray bullet late on Thursday night, said the police rejecting the MNA's claim of being attacked.
The stray bullet, falling from the sky, was at terminal end of its trajectory at a low velocity and came at a vertical angle, police investigation revealed on Friday.
That kind of thing is clearly Allah's will, which is why the people, in a pious desire to aid him who they worship, send so many bullets randomly upward for his pleasure. Really, it's not merely about the gun sex.
The bullet partially pierced the top sheet of the car's trunk and got stuck there, said a blurb issued by the police.
The stray bullet, falling from the sky, was at terminal end of its trajectory at a low velocity and came at a vertical angle, police investigation revealed on Friday.
"Preliminary investigation by police has been conducted under the supervision of SSP, SP City and ASP City Islamabad."
Quoting the application submitted at Aabpara Police Station by Sheikh Rashid, police said that he was proceeding to his house located in Rawalpindi in his Toyota Corolla car after attending a TV programme.
Rashid stated in his application that he was fired upon but he remained safe when he reached near Zero Point on the highway at around 10 pm on August 29. The driver disembarked and checked the vehicle and found a bullet in the car's trunk.
On the complaint of Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, First Information Report (FIR) was registered at Aabpara Police Station on Thursday night.
The MNA had informed the media about the incident prior to reporting it to the police, said the blurb. Police were investigating the incident from all angles, it added.
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#1
I fired a bullet into the sky,
It came back down, Allah knows why;
For marksmanship is just a game,
And it's impious to take aim.
Sheikh Rashid Ahmad is a liar,
To say he was receiving fire;
For who has sight so strong and straight,
That it can decipher the wish of Fate?
I hear it hit Sheikh Rashid's trunk;
I guess the aim of Allah stunk.
Next shot, should Allah intercede,
Will find its way to the heart of Rashid.
[STREAM.WSJ] The North Atlantic Treaty Organization's General Secretary Anders Fogh Rasmussen on Friday told media in Denmark that while he is convinced the Assad regime is behind chemical attacks in Syria and that there needs to be international reaction to the use of chemical weapons in Syria, NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... will not participate in the activity.
Mr. Rasmussen's comments, published in the online edition Danish daily newspaper Politiken, came before Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... said the U.S. intelligence community has "high confidence" that the Assad regime was behind a chemical weapons attack and detailed evidence he said proves the Syrian government is to blame for the death of at least 1,429 people, including 426 children.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Picture Obama as a Platoon leader.
No, don't.
Picture Kerry as your Lieutenant.
Now get on the assault helicopter and sing real loud.
[WASHINGTONTIMES] In laying out the case for military strikes on Syria, Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... on Friday had praise for the French, who he called "our oldest ally," but snubbed any mention of the British, who have long believed they enjoyed a "special relationship" with the U.S.
Mr. Kerry was trying to rally world support for retaliatory strikes against the regime of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Oppressor of the Syrians and the Lebs... , and pointing to other nations that have concluded troops loyal to the Assad government used chemical weapons last week.
Mr. Kerry cited Australia, Turkey and the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... -- as well as the French.
"Our oldest ally, the French, said the regime, quote, 'committed this vile action, and it is an outrage to use weapons that the community has banned for the last 90 years in all international conventions,' " Mr. Kerry said.
Absent from his remarks was any acknowledgement of Britannia. On Thursday, the British Parliament voted against military action, questioning the value of the evidence of chemical weapons use.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
Our oldest ally, the French,
I dunno. Some of us are still nursing grudges from the French and Indian War.
Although, at this point, if they want Fort Detroit back, they can have it. Mind the wild dog packs!
[Al Ahram] Tunisia's ruling coalition on Friday met mediators working to end a political crisis sparked by the liquidation of an opposition MP, ahead of planned anti-government protests, an official said.
The mediators have been shuttling between the ruling Islamists and the opposition in a bid to end the political turmoil caused by the killing of opposition MP Mohamed Brahmi on July 25, an attack blamed on hardline Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... The mediators comprise representatives of the powerful UGTT trade union along with members of employers' organization UTICA, the Tunisian League for Human Rights and the national order of lawyers.
A UGTT official said Friday's meeting involved talks with members of ruling Islamist party Ennahda and its allies Congress for the Republic and Ettakatol.
The mediators were due later to hold talks with the umbrella opposition group, the National Salvation Front, which has repeatedly demanded the dissolution of the Ennahda-led government.
It has also refused to negotiate directly before a non-partisan cabinet has been formed.
Ennahda said this week that it would accept the resignation of Prime Minister Ali Larayedh's cabinet, a step the mediators also favour.
But it said that agreement must first be reached on a timetable for fresh elections and the contents of a new constitution, the drafting of which in the national assembly has for month been blocked by political wranglings.
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[Al Ahram] Israel deployed its Iron Dome missile defence system in Tel Aviv on Friday, as the United States weighed military strikes on neighbouring Syria, local media said. Army radio said that a battery of the mobile system was set up during the morning in the greater Tel Aviv area.
News website Ynet said that unlike last November when the interceptor missiles brought down rockets fired from Gazoo, to the south, this time they were pointing north, toward Syria.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said Israel had deployed its Iron Dome system to meet its current security needs.
He did not specify where, but media reported earlier in the week that the military was moving two of its short-range Iron Dome batteries and one battery of the mid-range Patriot missile to northern Israel.
"We have decided to deploy Iron Dome and other interceptors," Netanyahu said Thursday night in a statement as he went into security talks at the defence ministry in Tel Aviv.
"We are not involved in the war in Syria. But I repeat: if anyone tries to harm Israeli citizens, the Israeli army will respond with force," Netanyahu said in other remarks broadcast by Israeli television.
There are fears that if the United States and its allies launch military strikes on Syria, forces of Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Supressor of the Damascenes... or its Lebanese Hezbollah proxies could retaliate against next-door Israel, Washington's key ally in the region.
A poll published by Maariv newspaper on Friday showed 77 percent of respondents saying that if Washington decides not to strike Assad's regime Israel should not take unilateral military action.
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MOGADISHU -- Somali National Intelligence and Security Agency declared that a security operation conducted inside Mogadishus Bakara market netted 27 Al Shabaab members lodging in hotels on Friday, Garowe Online reports. Spokesman for the intelligence agency told the media that they launched the operation after reports disclosed that Al Shabaab members are hiding out in Bakara hotels.
No doubt they raided all the room mini-bars...
According to the head of Federal Governments Banadir Intelligence Mohamed Adan Kofi, among the captured members was a foreigner but he declined to mention his nationality.
The operation was really successful, we captured 27 Al Shabaab members including a foreigner, said Kofi.
In addition, Kofi noted that the security forces recovered shutter guns weapons and ammunitions which were intended to destabilize Mogadishu by the 27 persons.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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For a map, click here. For a map of Tamaulipas state, click here
A total of eight inmates at a prison in Tamaulipas state were killed in a brawl Wednesday, according to an official government news announcement.
A news release posted on the website of Tamaulipas state government said that the fight took place at the Centro de Ejecucion de Sanciones (CEDES) in Nuevo Laredo at around 1800 hrs in the observation area of the prison. The victims were stabbed with homemade stabbing weapons.
The victims were identified as Vicente Hernandez Cervantes, Hector Gabino Cruz, Eduardo Cortes Fernando, Rogelio Valero Quiroz, José Garcia Najera, Alfonso Navarro Morato, Manuel Ruiz Martinez and Pablo Luna Domingo. All had been admitted to the prison less than 24 hours before the fight. The victims had been detained August 15th in Zaragoza colony in Nuevo Laredo for a variety of offenses.
The press release said that five inmates, identified as Lorenzo Quiroz Acosta, Luis Alberto Corral Soto, Hector Torres Ortega, Mario Alberto Gil Ibarra, Pablo Garza Carranza and Gilberto Lopez had admitted their roles in the deaths of the inmates.
Chris Covert writes Mexican Drug War and national political news for Rantburg.com and BorderlandBeat.com. He can be reached at grurkka@gmail.com
[Al Ahram] Five people, including a Syrian army captain, were charged on Friday over deadly attacks in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli ...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn... a week ago, a judicial source said.
Two Lebanese religious figures were also charged over the twin boom-mobiles outside Sunni mosques on August 23, which killed 45 people in the bloodiest attack since Leb's 15-year civil war ended.
Out of the accused, two Syrians -- including a Captain Mohammed Ali -- are charged with "having placed the two boom-mobiles which killed people", said the source, who declined to be named.
Neither of the two are currently in Leb, but if convicted, they face the death sentence.
The three others are Lebanese.
Sheikh Hashem Minkara, the head of al-Tawhid -- a Sunni organization close to the Syrian regime -- is accused of having known about a "terrorist project and not having alerted authorities." He faces three years in jail.
His deputy Sheikh Ahmed al-Gharib and a journalist who had previously done some freelance work for al-Manar, the television channel of the Shiite Hezbollah movement, are charged with having been "part of a terrorist cell that placed... boom-mobiles which went kaboom!" in front of the mosques.
The twin attacks -- which also maimed hundreds -- came just one week after a blast destroyed a densely populated Shiite area of Beirut, killing dozens.
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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
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[APNEWS.MYWAY] You simply can't safely bomb a chemical weapon storehouse into oblivion, experts say. That's why they say the United States is probably targeting something other than Syria's nerve agents.
[Ynet] Israeli apology to Turkey over Marmara affair viewed by Erdogan as act of weakness
[Al Ahram] A drone strike Friday killed an Al-Qaeda leader in Yemen, a tribal source said, the latest in a string of attacks on what is considered the
[Dawn] Criticising the federal interior ministry for inciting hatred and bias, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) chief Altaf Hussain Friday appealed to the chief justice of Pakistan to order a probe unmasking elements behind the 'hoax' of Muhajir Republican Army, DawnNews reported.
[Al Ahram] Six protesters have been confirmed dead after violence flared at rallies in support of ousted president Mohamed Morsi in Giza, Zagazig and Port Said on Friday. Protests to 'reclaim legitimacy' were called for by the Muslim Brotherhood's National Coalition to Support Legitimacy.
In the Suez Canal city of Port Said a protester was killed and 8 injured as fighting broke out between supporters and opponents of the ousted president in the Al-Amin district, Al-Ahram Arabic news website reported. It is unclear how the clashes started. Police reportedly mobilised to disperse the crowds.
Wazoo
[Dawn] The United States released intelligence on Friday to show why it is certain that Syrian forces have killed civilians with chemical weapons and said Washington has a historic duty to act.
[PITTSBURGH.CBSLOCAL] An 82-year-old woman went home Thursday after spending two weeks first in the hospital, and then in rehab.
[Dawn] The federal government has decided to withdraw a statement mentioning the existence of a previously unknown
[STLOUIS.CBSLOCAL] A lawyer for Army Pvt. Chelsea Manning said in a blog post on Thursday the soldier is doing well as 
[Al Ahram] Police have stormed the offices of Al Jazeera in Giza, after hours the authorities banned its Mubasher Misr channel from working in Egypt.
[POLITICO] Former President Jimmy Carter condemned possible chemical weapons attacks in Syria, but called for a "peace conference" and working with the United Nations, rather than using a military solution. In a statement Friday from the Carter Center, the former president said that the U.N. investigation into possible chemical weapons attacks in Syria is under way and urged against action in the country without U.N. support.
[WASHINGTONTIMES] 
[Al Ahram] Fierce fighting raged Friday in a town near the Syrian capital that a UN team visited this week to probe deadly gas attacks that allegedly took place there, monitors said.
the ephemeral Ban Ki-moon
David Cameron
[WASHINGTONTIMES] In laying out the case for military strikes on Syria, Secretary of State 
[Al Ahram] Israel deployed its Iron Dome missile defence system in Tel Aviv on Friday, as the United States weighed military strikes on neighbouring Syria, local media said. Army radio said that a battery of the mobile system was set up during the morning in the greater Tel Aviv area.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
