A pro-Obama group of rabbis says recent statements by the McCain-Palin campaign are "creeping toward hate speech."
In a statement released Thursday, the group of 562 rabbis said that "increasingly those speaking on behalf of the McCain campaign have been demonizing Senator Obama as not being like us."
As an example, the organization notes that a sherriff recently emphasized Barack Obama's middle name of Hussein when warming up the crowd at a campaign rally and that Palin recently said Obama has been "palling around with terrorists."
The statement criticizes the Republican Jewish Coalition for putting "forward a list of people known to be hostile to Israel" and then "dishonestly" suggesting that these people shaped Obama's views on the subject. "The RJC approach harkens back to the classic Republican red baiting tactics of Joe McCarthy and Richard Nixon from the early fifties," the group said in a statement.
Barack Obama's campaign asked the U.S. Justice Department to expand a special prosecutor's investigation to include possible improprieties surrounding reports the FBI is looking into voter fraud in the presidential race.
Obama's campaign attorney said the investigation should look into a leak to the news media that the FBI is probing allegations of voter registration fraud by a grassroots organization called ACORN. The group's activities were denounced by Republican nominee John McCain in the Oct. 15 presidential debate.
Robert Bauer, general counsel to the Obama campaign, wrote to Attorney General Michael Mukasey a day after the Associated Press, citing unidentified law enforcement officials, reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was investigating ACORN. The name is short for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now.
A special prosecutor appointed by Mukasey already is looking into whether improper political considerations influenced the firings of nine U.S. attorneys. At least one prosecutor was fired following Republican complaints that he didn't aggressively pursue allegations of voter fraud against ACORN.
Bauer said the news leaks are part of a coordinated effort by McCain's presidential campaign and Republicans. They are ``fomenting specious vote-fraud allegations and there are disturbing indications of official involvement or collusion,'' Bauer said.
``It is apparent,'' he wrote, that law enforcement officials are serving ``improper political objectives'' that could inhibit voter participation in the Nov. 4 election. The aim is to ``suppress the vote and to unduly influence investigations and prosecutions,'' Bauer wrote.
Mukasey appointed special prosecutor Nora Dannehy to look into the U.S. attorney firings in 2006.
The "people's ticket" ordered a little snack from room service at the Waldorf, as the N.Y. Post's page Six reports:
While he was at a meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Michelle Obama called room service and ordered lobster hors d'oeuvres, two whole steamed lobsters, Iranian caviar and champagne, a tipster told Page Six.
I'd guess the bill for that snack came in at around $350. Iranian caviar ain't cheap even if you negotiate for it yourself. What the hell . . . Your campaign contributions (soon to be your tax dollars) at work.
Does anyone else remember Gerald Ford toasting his own English Muffins in the family quarters of the White House? Michelle's style is a little more Leona Helmsley, who's ad campaign featured a picture of herself in one of her hotels, with the slogan, "a hotel fit for a Queen." Can you do that at the White House?
Ireland's biggest bookmaker said Thursday it would pay out more than 1 million euros (782,776 pounds) on bets that Barack Obama will be the next U.S. president, three weeks before the election.
Dublin-based bookmaker Paddy Power said it made the "unprecedented decision" to pay on bets taken so far, following Wednesday's final campaign debate between Obama and his Republican rival John McCain , which polls judged the Democrat to have won.
"We declare this race well and truly over and congratulate all those who backed Obama," Power said in a statement.
"Although he seemed a little out of sorts in last night's final debate we believe he has done more than enough to get him across the line on November 4."
The bookmaker said the overall betting trend had shown "one-way traffic" for the Illinois senator since the start of the summer, with odds shortening to 1-9, meaning a bet of 9 euros is required to make 1 euro profit.
The odds on McCain winning are 5-1.
Power said it had taken more than 10,000 bets on the 2008 U.S. presidential election, the majority in support of Obama.
In June a wager of 100,000 euros was placed on Obama to win at odds of 1-2, it added.
However, the bookmaker does not always get it right.
In June it paid out more than 80,000 euros in bets that Irish voters would back the European Union's Lisbon treaty in a referendum shortly before the electorate returned a resounding "no."
Ok, Ok, why is this under "Lurid Crime Tales" and what does it have to do with the Politics of the War on Terror?
1. Obama really has committed lurid crimes by repeatedly lying to the U.S. population about who and what he is. FWIW, I think there is now at least an arguable case of Civil Violations of the Federal Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1961, et seq. Obama has formed an association to perpetrate various economic and personal injuries [DONATIONS OBTAINED UNDER FALSE PRETENSES], and is employed by, or associated with, the enterprise. And, he is engaged in racketeering activity, in that he (in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1341) used the U.S. mail to perpetrate fraud and used wire, radio, or television communication in interstate commerce to perpetrate fraud.
2. The guy is a radical socialist who is bent on assuming the office of U.S. CIC to inflict massive damage on the governmental infrastructure of this country; with the resultant effect (probably intentional, to at least some degree) of aiding and assisting the islamofascist radicals who have been at war with this country since at least 1979.
Two 20-something Obama supports get beatup but some little old ladies -- and then whine about it. See Video at link
(Boston Globe) Two Obama supporters told police they were kicked and harrassed when they expressed anti-McCain sentiments at a Sarah Palin rally in Laconia, N.H. By Scott LaPierre, Globe staff
#5
If I were some young "stud" I wouldn't be talking about how I got beat up by some old ladies. I would be keeping my mouth shut & hoping nobody was watching or taking photo's.
Can you imagine if they tried to take this to court?
London, Oct 15 (ANI): Islam should be treated more sensitively by the media than Christianity, according to the director general of the BBC. Mark Thompson claimed that because Muslims are a religious minority in Britain and also often from ethnic minorities, their faith should be given different coverage to that of more established groups.
Given church attendance, wouldn't Christianity be considered a minority in today's Britain?
His comments come after the comedian Ben Elton accused the BBC of being scared of making jokes about Islam, while Hindus have claimed it favours Muslims over other religions, the Telegraph reported.
But Thompson, speaking at the annual public theology lecture of the religion think-tank Theos, insisted the state broadcaster would show programmes that criticised Islam if they were of sufficient quality.
And who decides 'sufficient quality'?
The director general, whose corporation faced accusations of blasphemy from Christians after it allowed the transmission of the musical Jerry Springer -The Opera, also said his Christian beliefs guided his judgments and disclosed that he had never watched the Monty Python film Life of Brian which satirises the story of Jesus.
In his speech last night, Thompson claimed there are now more programmes about religion on BBC television and radio than there have been in recent decades, whereas coverage has declined on ITV. But asked whether it was correct that the BBC "let vicar gags pass but not imam gags", as Elton claimed, he admitted it did take a different approach to Islam, which has 1.6 million followers in Britain, compared to its approach to the Church of England or the Roman Catholic Church.
Thompson said: "My view is that there is a difference between the position of Christianity, which I believe should be central to the BBC's religion coverage and widely respected and followed." (ANI)
Posted by: john frum ||
10/17/2008
17:56 ||
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I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that Islamists tend to explode or behead people when angered whereas Christians write stern letters to the editor.
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government has granted permission to the chief of the Pakistan-based terrorist group, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, to import a duty free bullet-proof Land Cruiser, worth Rs 25 million.
According to the interior ministry sources in Islamabad, the LeT chief, who fears a possible attempt on his life by his external enemies, had sought the government permission to import a duty free bullet proof Land Cruiser in view of the rising number of terrorist acts across Pakistan.
The sources said that after some lengthy deliberations on the issue, the government has decided to give him a go ahead to import a fully armoured Land Cruiser for his use from Dubai. It was for the first time that the leader of a banned jehadi group had made such a request to the government and it is also for the first time that the government has acceded to such a request.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/17/2008
17:51 ||
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Pakistan has taken serious notice of reports that the US Army chief Gen W Casey is scheduled to visit the Siachen glacier in Jammu and Kashmir during his ongoing three-day visit to India.
"Any such visit to an area which is disputed and which is under discussion between Pakistan and India will certainly cast a shadow on the ongoing composite dialogue between the two neighbours," a Foreign Office spokesman told The News daily.
He said there was no official confirmation of the American general's plan to visit Siachen.
In the past, Pakistan has objected to India allowing civil and military expeditions to the Siachen glacier, where troops from both countries have been engaged in a face-off since 1984.
Indian and Pakistani troops regularly traded fire along the Line of Actual Control on Siachen till a ceasefire was put in place along the frontiers in Jammu and Kashmir in late 2003.
However, more troops from both sides have lost their lives due to inclement weather condition than to bullets on Siachen, often described as the world's highest and coldest battlefield.
Gen Casey will be briefed on high-altitude land warfare techniques during his visit to Siachen base camp.
Posted by: john frum ||
10/17/2008
17:23 ||
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"please deliver a pallet-load of STFU to our Pak contacts?"
"yessir"
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/17/2008 20:38
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"The response from Senator Obama and his campaign yesterday was to attack Joe. People are digging through his personal life and he has TV crews camped out in front of his house," McCain told a rowdy crowd at Florida International University. "He didn't ask for Senator Obama to come to his house. He wasn't recruited or prompted by our campaign. He just asked a question. And Americans ought to be able to ask Senator Obama tough questions without being smeared and targeted with political attacks."
Joe Biden and Barack Obama ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/17/2008
16:22 ||
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Joe Biden and Barack Obama ought to be ashamed of themselves.
Ought to be, but they are better than you, me and Joe remember.
Passed to you courtesy of the Rantburg WTF and Don't They Have Better Things to do Department.
Brian Hubbard has regularly cut and weeded the small patch of grass outside his three-bedroom home since he moved in four years ago. He also picks up any litter, rakes the leaves and cleans up after the council contractors have left their grass cuttings.
But he has received a letter accusing him of "encroaching" on council land and been told that he must stop tending to the grass and "return the area to its original state within 28 days" or the work would be carried out at his expense. Sloppy work carried out at his expense.
He said: "I like the place to be tidy and attractive and I know the council's contractors cannot do it all so I decided to help out. "I find it grossly irritating that just because I have taken pride in the area where I live and made it more attractive I have had this threatening letter.
"Whoever would have thought that cultivating the grass, cutting it regularly and raking the leaves off could be described as encroachment? Do they want me to put daisies and dandelions in?
Now that you mention it ...
"The other day there were people smashing glass over the road. I got a broom, went over and swept it up. Is that encroachment? The broken glass is natural. It must be left in its natural state.
"This is a perfect example of an overzealous council wasting taxpayers' money. I'm going to ignore the letter and carry on." It is not an overzealous council. It is a group of morons imitating a council.
Mr Hubbard, a former parish councillor who is retired and in his 70s, lives in the house in the Belmont area of Hereford with his wife, Mary.
He received the letter from Herefordshire Council's parks, countryside and leisure development service last week. The letter, which is dated September 8, orders "the removal of garden tools and furnishings and all vegetation not in keeping with the surrounding area".
It also accuses Mr Hubbard of "blocking gate way access", "undertaking maintenance" and gives him "28 days to return the area to its original state". The letter warns: "If there is still an encroachment issue with the property further action will be taken which may result in the above works being carried out at your expense."
Heather Davies, councillor for the Belmont area, said the Hubbards should be congratulated and not punished for taking pride in their local area. She said: "When I was on my way to see them the road looked a mess because the grass had been cut but the cuttings left. Mr Hubbard always picks his cuttings up. If more people were like that the area would look really nice. We should be supporting him because it's brilliant what he does - not sending him letters like this."
Yesterday a spokesman for Herefordshire Council apologised for the tone of the letter and suggested a meeting to discuss the situation. We don't need a meeting with the council. Just stay out of my face and we will all get along.
He said: "We are aware of Mr Hubbard's endeavours to tend the land next to his home in Dorchester Way and commend him for his public spiritedness. "We apologise if he feels the letter he received from us is heavy-handed. We are happy to meet Mr Hubbard to discuss the issue." "Sod off, Swampy." No, the pic below is not Mr. Hubbard.
That's not an apology. If he felt the letter wasn't heavy-handed would you be sorry?
Keep up the good fight Mr. Hubbard!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/17/2008
14:28 ||
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so how can they charge him for the expenses of letting the grass grow and the litter NOT get picked up? Is the NEA and UAW that strong over there too????
#2
That's in a poll with a 13% advantage for Dems in party identification. IIRC, the Dems have not had more than a 6% advantage in party ID on election day in twenty-five or thirty years.
Posted by: Mike ||
10/17/2008 14:39
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Having quickly scanned the pdf, this seems to be a poll not of likely voters, nor of registered voters, but of all adults. If so, this is actively BAD for Obama.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
10/17/2008 15:08
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Kittens hell, should be shitting porcupines after he sees himself on TV acting the total jackass. Flanked by biden and murtha, palosi asking for another random $300big. Second, buying a 30 minute infomercial and trying to bump a world series game to show it is disgusting. Third, guy should have been gonged on his NAFTA flip around "Oh don't believe it, I just said that because I am campaigning"
I'm a registered Independant. In the local there are candidates who are democrat who I will most likely vote for because they are the best for the job - I also know them to be honorable and competent unlike obama who just laughed at me.
#5
yeah it looks like more demos are voting mccain than republicans for obama, but what I find interesting is that even at this late datethere's still 14% undecided or going for a minor candidate....
Posted by: Marilyn Elminter8499 ||
10/17/2008 16:13
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People who are undecided at this point just don't want to admit they're not voting PC.
Pushing back the world series is not a smart move. Obama's people bought up a bunch of adds within some videogames, that's a smart move. They should have done something similar with the world series. buy up the greenscreen space so that when cameras show the batter Obama is behind the plate but the game is not interupted.
I think his spread the wealth around comments might have hit home to a few people.
#7
When someone mentions the "undecided voter" my mind immediately defaults to........
Sir, this is Colonel Glover. I'm sorry to disturb you at this hour, sir, but we're at Q-2 status. It looks like we've found that lost consignment of Easter eggs. Yes, sir, pretty sure. They've turned up in Louisville. I'm getting confirmations on this from the Louisville Police Department. Louisville, Kentucky, sir. Well, sir, it would be good news, except that the eggs have hatched.
I'm listening to Fox, on which an Obama spokeshole is claiming that the McCain campaign "didn't vet Joe the Plumber."
They must be terrified.
[Late morning update]
Jeff Medcalf visualizes the vetting process in comments:
McCain Rep: Excuse me, sir, but I need to ask you a few questions.
Joe the Plumber:: Why? Are you the police?
MR: No, sir, I'm with the McCain campaign. I need to ask you a few questions, on the off chance that you are playing football in your front yard when Senator Obama decides to make an unscheduled stop to try to talk you into voting for him.
JTP: Oh, that's not a problem: I won't be voting for him, anyway, because I'm afraid he would raise my taxes.
MR: That's not the point, sir. The point is, if he were to stop by and ask for your vote, you might ask him questions.
JTP: So?
MR: He might answer them.
JTP: So?
MR: If he answers a question that he isn't expecting, and without a TelePrompTer to fall back on, he might accidentally tell the truth. And that could embarrass him. And that means that you need to be vetted just in case.
JTP: (dumbfounded look)
MR: So I have this twenty page form for you to fill out, listing your background, education, financial details, professional affiliations, friends, family, voting history, embarrassing incidents from elementary school. You know, standard stuff.
JTP: (slams door)
Posted by: Mike ||
10/17/2008
12:08 ||
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I am Joe the Plumber. The previous small business I worked for would make $250k in 3-4 months. Many small businesses out here will surpass $250k/year and this is in low price po-dunk flyover land, nevermind having a business with 3+ full time plumber emergency call-price income would be.
JTP has a tax leign, so you want to raise his taxes? - huh?
To scoff Joe is to scoff me and the millions of others who want to work and succeed. And its not just what may be considered blue collar labor but also software development, website design, local book publishers, privately owned resteraunts and franchises, and so on. I fully intend to make more than $250k/year with the new business. obama smirks and giggles at the serious allegation of voter fraud then ridicules and belittles me via Joe well then KMA - come vet me you sorry media SOB's I dare ya. Come meet the object of your critique who has started a family, bought an overpriced house, starting a business, and volunteers on average 15 hours a month to fighting fire (no pay).
I too am Joe the Plumber - I don't make 250K a year - nor do I think Obama will set the mark at 250K. Probably more likely 50K or 75K with all the spending he's going to have to do.
I also feel intensely insulted by the media and Obama's goons going through Joe's life with a fine tooth comb while completely ignoring a real liar and terrorist in Bill Ayers and his wife not to mention Obama's own history and lack of experience and his other 'associates'.
In this election we are choosing between Joe the Plumber and Bill the Bomber.
I'll pick Joe the Plumber over Bill the Bomber any day.
#4
They scoff at the Joe's of America at their own peril and they damn well know it. Their Obamesseiah let his big Ivy League yap override his Chicago southside arss. I hope he keeps talking, and talking, and talking, and his party cadre continue to scott at the Joe's.
#7
Let's also keep in mind if JOE is working in Salt Lake City or Nevada or New York where costs of living are different - is the Oboma going to taking that into consideration? Also, by Obama's perspective - how many folks does it take to make up a small business? Devil in the details & for every well intention two unintended consequences.
#8
i am reminded of a conversation i had with my mom in '94 when she was whining that her income tax bill had gone up...
i said "wow.. you should be happy"
she said "Why"
"well, you voted for Clinton and he said he was only going to raise taxes on 'the rich'"
"(perplexed)What does that have to do with anything?"
"Well, looks like you are rich... thought that would make you happy."
needless to say she wasn't happy...
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
10/17/2008 19:38
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Did you get spanked a lot as a child, Abu do you love? ;-)
The Israel Air Force is developing a computerized system to predict where a missile will land with considerable accuracy, very shortly after it is launched. That would enable the Home Front Command to order people into shelters only in a relatively small area, rather than in broad regions of the country.
Currently the country is divided into 10 large districts for the purpose of missile alerts, and at every missile launch, everyone in the relevant district is ordered into shelters. But when the new system is completed, in an estimated 18 months, the country will instead be divided into about 100 districts.
As an interim step, the army hopes to be able to divide the country into 27 districts by next year.
The idea behind the system is that if fewer people have to run for shelter every time a missile falls, the country will be better able to endure prolonged missile barrages, as most people will be able to continue with life as usual. In light of the army's assessment that any future war will include sustained missile attacks, bolstering Israelis' ability to live with such attacks was considered essential.
However, the system is designed mainly for use against medium- and long-range missiles, such as the Syrian Scud or the Iranian Shihab.
Until recently, Israel relied on a system that was developed during the 1991 Gulf War, which could predict a missile's landing site only in very general terms. A slightly more sophisticated system was improvised and put into use during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, but later, the IAF decided to develop a whole new system that would enable relatively precise predictions.
According to army sources, the new system will collect data from numerous sources, including both radar and electro-optic sensors. Inter alia, it will make use of the sophisticated American radar currently being installed in the Negev, which is slated to become operational next month. The data will then be analyzed to determine the missile's path and where it is likely to land, both in order to try to intercept it, and to warn those who will be in danger if the interception fails.
Meanwhile, the Home Front Command has also been working to upgrade its siren system, which warns of incoming missiles. It now says that almost 100 percent of the country is within audio range.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/17/2008
11:27 ||
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The following is a blog entry written on Aug. 30, 2008, by Army Specialist Stephen Fortunato, who was killed Tuesday in Afghanistan when the vehicle he was riding in was blown by up an improvised explosive device. This entry was forwarded to the Globe by his mother, Elizabeth "Betty" Crawford.
If I may
I'd like to say something....Just to get it out there so it is clear.
To all the pampered and protected Americans who feel it is their duty to inform me that I am not fighting for their freedom, and that i am a pawn in Bush's agenda of greed and oil acquisition: Noted, and [expletive deleted] You.
I am not a robot. i am not blind or ignorant to the state of the world or the implications of the "war on terrorism." i know that our leaders have made mistakes in the handling of a very sensitive situation, but do not for one second think that you can make me lose faith in what we, meaning America's sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers in uniform are doing.
I am doing my part in fighting a very real enemy of the United States, i.e. Taliban, Al Qaida, and various other radical sects of Islam that have declared war on our way of life. Unless you believe the events of 9/11 were the result of a government conspiracy, which by the way would make you a MORON, there is no reasonable argument you can make against there being a true and dangerous threat that needs to be dealt with. i don't care if there are corporations leaching off the war effort to make money, and i don't care if you don't think our freedom within America's borders is actually at stake. i just want to kill those who would harm my family and friends. it is that simple. Even if this is just a war for profit or to assert America's power, so what? Someone has to be on top and I want it to be us. There's nothing wrong with wishing prosperity for your side.
I am a proud American. i believe that my country allows me to live my life more or less however i want to, and believe me, i have seen what the alternative of that looks like. i also believe that our big scary government does way more than it has to to help complete [expletive deleted]-ups get back on their feet, a stark comparison to places where leaders just line their own pockets with gold while allowing the people who gave them their power and privilage to starve. I have chosen my corner. I back my country, and am proud to defend it against aggressors. Also, if you dare accuse us of being inhumane, or overly aggressive because we have rolled into someone else's country and blown some [expletive deleted] up and shot some people, let me remind you of just how inhumane we COULD be in defending ourselves. Let me remind you that we have a warhead that drops multiple bomblets from the stratosphere which upon impact, would turn all the sand in Iraq to glass, an d reduce every living thing there to dust. Do we use it? No. Instead we use the most humane weapon ever devised: the American soldier. We send our bravest (and perhaps admitably craziest) men and women into enemy territory, into harms way, to root out those whom we are after and do our best to leave innocent lives unscathed.
...One last thing...a proposal. i know it has been stated time and time again but i just think it is worthy of reiteration. If you find yourself completely disgusted with the way America is being ran, and how we handle things on the global stage, you can leave. Isn't that amazing? No one will stop you! If you are an anarchist, there are places you can go where there is no government to tell you anything. That's right...you are left solely to your own devices and you can handle the men who show up at your door with AKs in any way that you see fit. Just don't try good old American debate tactics on them because you will most likely end up bound and blind-folded, to have your head chopped off on the internet so your parents can see it. However if you insist on staying here and taking advantage of privilages such as free speach and WIC, keep the counter-productive [expletive deleted] to a minimum while the grown ups figure out how t o handle this god-awful mess in the middle east.
#3
Very well said. We owe Specialist Fortunato to hold up our end of the deal he gave his life for. Y'all go out and vote for the warmonger on November 4th, so that his comrades aren't forced home before they finish the job. ;-)
#4
already did. And i feel better about that decision every day.
(i'll make a deal w/ all the Obama Drama Llamas out there -- you're free to bash Bush all you want. In return, i reserve the right to quote selections from my treasured book of Soviet-era Russian jokes daily until they ship me to Siberia!)
#5
How wonderful for a grieving Mother to share this with the rest of the world... Thank you Betty.
and-
What TW said, and this morning my ballot went in the mail.
#1
The mainstreaming of pomo thinking has been largely a stealth project, something Americans do without committing overt acts of academia. We thought we were trying to clear away the cobwebs of shoddy analysis and elite hypocrisy, but all along we were bringing the tools of critical thinking to the masses. Go into any bar in the country, and you'll find somebody unpacking the assumptions in someone else's text.
#1
Good to see that Kucinich is keeping his constituents in line to do their part for "the cause".
I often wonder what our ancestors will say when they look back on these times many years from now.
Probably "were they fucking insane"?
#3
Beavis check out their Wiki Page from time to time. I vandalize the hell out of it about once or twice a month. Check on a Sunday morning before 10:00 a.m.
I remember when TV Guide was in every house. But I also remember rabbit ears and having to get up off my ass to change the channel...
A dollar won't buy you a cup of coffee these days, but it will buy you TV Guide. No, not an issue of the weekly mag -- those go for $2.99 -- but the entire publication.
Yep, $1. The eye-popping sale price was disclosed Thursday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing from TV Guide owner Macrovision, which revealed it had struck a deal to sell the magazine to venture capital firm OpenGate Capital on Monday.
In fact, the deal is even sweeter for OpenGate because Macrovision has also agreed to give the firm a $9.5 million loan to help it run the magazine for the next few years. And who said the credit markets were tight? The loan comes with a 3% interest rate and is due in 2014 -- not exactly stringent terms.
The $1 sale price for TV Guide brings to mind the sale of another once-venerable journo brand: United Press Intl., which was unloaded for a buck by Scripps to two private investors in 1982.
The generous deal with OpenGate underscores Macrovision's stated goal of buying Gemstar-TV Guide Intl. strictly for the technology that fuels its electronic listings guide and the TV Guide brand name. The magazine is projected to lose about $20 million this year, after incurring heavier losses in the recent past.
Once the most widely distribbed mag in the country, TV Guide now has a subscription base of about 3.2 million.
Macrovision is also in the process of unloading the TV Guide Channel cabler, which has failed to drum up any interest among major media players.
#2
I remember when TV Guide was in every house. But I also remember rabbit ears and having to get up off my ass to change the channel...
And three major channels and the local college or university's signal that would eventually morph into PBS. If you were in a major metro area you might even get a couple independents. However, it was when you could compress the event info into a small little publication and cover nearly everything in still readable type that didn't require a magnifying glass.
Kofi. So irrelevant I can't even find his picture in the archives...
DUBLIN (AFP) A US presidential poll victory for Barack Obama would be "phenomenal," former UN chief Kofi Annan said Thursday, adding that whoever wins needs to learn the lessons of the last eight years. Like...what? How to not prevent genocides?
Speaking at a conference on hunger in Ireland, he underlined the need for the United States to work in "partnership" with the rest of the world. ...and asked the waiter for a menu.
When asked if the United States and the world was ready for a black US president, he said: "I think it would be a phenomenal change for the US and for the world. It would introduce a new dynamics (sic) and a new relationship between the US and the world. Whoever wins this presidency will have to come out prepared to work in partnership with the rest of the world," he told reporters. ...and pay for the privilege. Through the nose. And Barry's just the guy to do it.
And he added: "I think we have learned some lessons in the past eight years and I hope whoever wins will bear that in mind." But, now...dinner!
"We live in an inter-related world, we live in the same boat and we are facing problems that are so enormous that no one country, however powerful, can tackle them alone," said Annan. "The only way we can be secure, safe and prosper together is by working together," he added, speaking at a Dublin conference to mark World Food Day. This lobster thermidor is cold! Do you think I'm a Darfurian or something!
[W]e are passing from the Age of Physics to the Age of Biology. It is not quite the case that nothing is happening in physics, but certainly there is nothing like the excitement of the early 20th century. Physics seems, in fact, to have got itself into a cul-de-sac, obsessing over theories so mathematically abstruse that nobody even knows how to test them.
The life sciences, by contrast, are blooming, with major new results coming in all the time from genetics, zoology, demography, biochemistry, neuroscience, psychometrics, and other hot disciplines. The physics building may be hushed and dark while its inhabitants mentally wrestle with 26-dimensional manifolds, but over at biology the joint is jumpin.
Whether it will go on jumpin may depend on the result of Novembers election. There is a widespread feeling in the human sciences particularly in genetics, population genetics, evolutionary biology, and neurophysiology that the next five to ten years will see some sensational discoveries. Unfortunately those discoveries will have metaphysical implications more disturbing than were those of quantum mechanics. Heisenberg, Schrödinger, Pauli, and Dirac may have seriously upset our ideas about matter and energy, but at least they left our psyches and our political principles intact.
Those items may not remain intact much longer. The conceptual revolution among human-sciences researchers has in fact already taken place. This is not widely understood because (a) news outlets are very reluctant to report it, (b) powerful political forces have an interest in suppressing it, and (c) researchers prefer getting on quietly with their work to having their windows broken by mobs of angry protestors.
Most people still think of human-science controversies in terms of nature/nurture. As a matter of real scientific dispute, that is all long gone. Nature/nurture arguments were at the heart of the sociobiology wars that roiled the human sciences through the last third of the 20th century. (The 2000 book Defenders of Truth, by the Finnish sociologist of science Ullica Segerstråle gives a full and so far as I can judge, very fair account.) The dust of battle has pretty much settled now, in science departments if not in the popular press, and nature is the clear victor. Name any universal characteristic of human nature, including cognitive and personality characteristics. Of all the observed variation in that characteristic, about half is caused by genetic differences. You may say that is only a half victory; but it is a complete shattering of the nurturist absolutism that ruled in the human sciences 40 years ago, and that is still the approved dogma in polite society, including polite political society, today.
While those sociobiology wars were going on while E.O. Wilson was having a jug of ice water dumped over his head at an AAAS symposium by people shouting Racist Wilson you cant hide, we charge you with genocide! (1978); while Art Jensen looked set fair to be kicked out of the AAAS altogether following agitation by Margaret Mead et al. because of his 1969 paper on group differences in I.Q.; while Stephen Jay Gould was assuring his readers that Human equality is a contingent fact of history (1985) and Richard Lewontin was celebrating the funeral of reductionism (1983); while Charles Murray was being profiled in the New York Times Magazine as Americas most dangerous conservative (1994) while all that was happening, research results were steadily trickling in, building up the water pressure behind the nurturist dam.
That dam now has more cracks than the surface of Europa and water is spraying out all over. The only thing that could stop a complete collapse would be the power of government
Which might be forthcoming in the event of an Obama victory. The younger generation of human-sciences enthusiasts trend conservative/libertarian, and Obama has them worried. For a glimpse of the kind of discussions that their fears generate, read through the recent thread on Gene Expression here. Samples:
[Sarah] Palin is the most libertarian candidate to run since the Reagan administration were fighting to hold territory, not to take it. We just need to hold off the left till genomics can come through. Were going to be knocking off sacred cow after sacred cow in the next decade or so
The Democrats do not want the genetic discoveries to lead to widespread knowledge about the truth about human differences. The Democrats are really more anti-Darwinian than the fundamentalist Christians who deny the origin of species
We need to step very carefully as we as going up against the official state religion, namely PC, and until we reach critical mass well be convicted in the media and go straight to the gulag rather than be afforded the benefit of a [S]copes trial. [J]ust think of how many fedguv bureaucrats and NGOs owe their livelihoods to the axiom of equality an Obama administration will passionately go after the heretics.
The Lefts restraints on science do not get publicized. Wheres the big research for IQ genes? Wheres the funding for that? Wheres the big research program for psychometrics? The Left strangled that very thoroughly.
#8
You'll never persuade by being rude, Todd dear. And please embed your links so your readers can just click through. It's very easy. The site owner, Mr. Pruitt, very thoughtfully provided a cheat sheet just below the box where one types in one's comments. Really -- even I can do it, so there's no excuse for someone with your superior trained intelligence.
#11
Mike N. Just because you make fun of a candidate doesn't necessarily mean you vote against him. I voted for Bush (the first time)but I've made fun of him plenty of times, cause he's unintentionally funny a lot. So too is McCain--what can I say?
But yes, I HAVE decided to go with Obama this time. I make less than 250K a year, and I don't mind giving him a shot. I don't think he'll ruin the nation quite as the scare tactics would have you believe. Plus--and this is subjective--but some of my values have changed in terms of abortion (I see it now as nobody's business but a woman's in consultation with her doctor), and imposing of Christian values on our government. I lean toward Republicans in terms of gun control, but I can't have it all my way, so I have to pick a side.
#12
There's more from a fiscal point of view (in addition to the social conservative stuff above), but I bet no one here gives a damn why I am voting the way I'm voting, so we'll leave it at that.
I voted for Bush Ah, trying to make that connection. If you surfed here long enough you'd find there's not a whole lot of love for George here. No BDS, but certainly no love and some serious opinions on some of his major actions [re: immigration, bailout, Justice Department carryovers, etc]. So, no mutual identification there.
I make less than 250K a year Oops, that old class warfare meme. I doubt most of the regulars here make something in or around a quarter of that. I for one make less. If you didn't get the message, its the Democrats who are now the Party of the Rich(c), just check the donation records at sources like Opensecrets.org.
...some of my values have changed in terms of abortion (I see it now as nobody's business but a woman's in consultation with her doctor)
My problem with Roe vs Wade is that the Judiciary overstepped its authority and the restraints of the 10th Amendment. Through a house of cards of rationalization they pull 'privacy' through a series of various precedents to arrive at their desired outcome. The state of New York already has law on the books to kick in place if Roe is overturned. I have no problem with that because that is where the authority properly resides. Compare the Civil Rights Act passed in the legislative branch with the decree issued by the court. No one questions the former, but the latter has created an ever greater untenable situation of SCOTUS nominations and reduced the entire judicial nomination process to a destructive element within the government process.
..and imposing of Christian values on our government. Again the evil Christianists meme. For the last hundred years the Christians that have put civil in to civilization. The Socialist morality has given us in the same time frame a 100 million dead in the 20th Century and they're still not satisfied.
We know how you're going to vote. You have an expectation on how most of us are going to. So, why did you bother in the first place other than astroturfing? [rhetorical question].
#16
Todd, despite the fact that you make less than $250K, if you don't think the amount, in aggregate, that you pay in taxes is not going to go up under an Obama + dem congress administration, then you are kidding yourself. That said, I understand the desire to give the other team a shot, since, on the domestic front, the current team has failed so miserably. But again, I don't think you are going to get what you hope you are going to get.
#17
OK Besoeker, just cause you asked, and I'll keep this short.
In terms of fiscal stuff, I do think Obama's plan will cut more taxes for more Americans (including me). McCain is not directly disputing this--all he's saying is that EVERYBODY's taxes should be lower. I don't believe a standard tax rate for all incomes is "fair". I don't think there should be tax breaks for companies pulling down record profits (like oil companies)--simply doesn't make sense to me. I don't think increasing taxes on the wealthier and reducing taxes on the less wealthy makes you COMMUNIST--that's a term used to just strike fear into voters. It's more reasonable to call it socialism, but even that is a huge stretch. Wealthy people would not stop being wealthy because of slightly higher taxes, or lose the incentive to make more money--they'll still make more money, so the basics of our capitalist society will still be intact.
Why tax ANYONE more? Sadly, someone gotta pay for the goverment (starting with that horrible $700 billion bailout). There also needs to be better oversight in general--so we don't face the same lame greed-induced economic meltdowns. This costs money. McCain says he'll cut everyone's taxes. It sounds great; I just don't think it is feasible. Obama has a more workable plan (even if it doesn't fit Republican ideals).
I like Obama's healthcare plan better--and no it's not "evil" after reading the details-I find it more pragmatic, and possibly the only one of the two plans that will maintain employer-provided healthcare.
Basically I think what makes our country great is that we take what's best in different systems (be it capitalism, socialism or whatever else)and apply them (sure, we won't call it socialism cause we'll throw up) in order to create the best overall system to keep us prosperous and the global leader we are. We have the ability to continually morph our government to best fit our nation's needs as a whole. That's what separates us from places like China--and not the fact that they are "Commy Evil" and we're not. We shouldn't turn captitalism or any other system into a religion--that's when we get inflexible and hurt ourselves in the long run.
OK I'll bite that the Democrats are "new" the party of the rich (even if I don't REALLY buy it). Even if so, if they are the party of the rich who don't mind paying more taxes to support the less wealthy, I've got no problem with that.
#20
No one should support the less wealthy. Each should support himself. When a nation operates in a "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need" mode, only the apparatchiks and the nomenklatura benefit. We end up in a situation where everyone pretends to work, and the government pretends to pay us. The whole politics of envy is based on the expectation of equivalence of outcome as opposed to equivalence of opportunity. It becomes increasingly evident that outcomes will not be equivalent on a level playing field because people are not all equivalently capable.
#21
I am not condoning "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need", or pure socialism. It is not black and white in my opinion(no pun intended). There is a grey area. The incentive for the more capable to make more needs to be maintained. A bit more taxes doesn't ruin the system or put everyone on a level playing field. My concern is just for maintaining a minimum playing field that ensures, for example, that equivalence of opportunity for those who may not have the opportunity. I don't think we're at a point where everyone has an opportunity--be it due to lack of health care or a proper education, that affects entire communities. This requires funding, which requires increased taxes on some.
#24
#23 yes, and no tax at all is complete incentive. What's your point? Is THAT your presidential plan? Posted by Todd
Yes, and that is pretty much what we had it prior to the beloved FDR (who would still be president were he alive today). Only the wealthy paid income taxes. The difference then was, those that didn't pay taxes didn't get gummit cheese free money via the socialist IRS "Earned Income Tax Credit." The give-away programs started with FDR. Vote for the Messiah and you'll be headed 'back to the future.' Just my 2 cents worth, while I've still got it and it hasn't been..... spread around.
There goes your entire argument. You like the fact that the wealthy paid and the non-wealthy didn't? Thanks for being way more extreme than I would have ever suggested that I am.
I am more fair than you are. Almost everyone needs to bear the burden of supporting the government, not just rich people--my only change would be to what degree.
#28
Grenter, It was a conclusion based on what was said. Just because I say I'm right, it makes me smug?
And really, why do you have to have the mild insult, Besoeker? Sure I can look up tax payers before FDR, but what is the point? I already accepted that perhaps only the wealthy paid taxes. I was including that in my argument.
#32
I plan to do a write in for Scalia. I would very much like to see McCain win just to see the reaction of astroturfers posing as registered Republicans who have reluctantly decided to vote for the Marxist.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
10/17/2008 17:33
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#33
At $250,000 gross at a 30% profit margin gives me $75,000 net. That gives me 3 employees at $25,000 (minus tat income for mandated health insurance and taxes) which is shipping, books, and phone. Now, each percentage point of tax = $2,500 of money I do not have to put into the business for replacables, maintenence, and growth. That eliminates one employee - so I would have myself and one other having to work 8 hour days in order to take, fill, and ship those orders and make little money for the effort.
Giving me $3000 to hire another employee still sets me back $22,000 EOY.
Its insulting. It is a governor switch on business growth.
#34
And if the rich, however that is defined, make more money then fine - people have to build their cars and planes, cook for them at fancy restaurants, clean their houses, sail their yachts, etc. People make a living off of the rich. People with money like to make the money work by buying stock, starting new businesses which hire people. People with money take trips and buy food and gas which the government makes a cut with various taxes.
Cut the middleman - Congress - because when they get going they spend that money on stupid shit like prison museums, woodstock museums, bailing out their lobbyists, pander to constituants. Congress has already proven itself unable to resist the blank check, pelosi wants more money already after the wildly unpopular bailout (arguable necessary).
#35
Do you find it impossible to believe that people can change their mind? Not everyone is stuck to one view their entire lives. And there you go again with the scare-tactics--"Marxist". The problem is that people hear the same thing over and over again and convince themselves it's true.
#37
OK I'm done for the day. I agree with most of your second post swksvolF. In regards to your first post, I'm confused--it seems you are talking less about taxes and more about that it would be impossible to make any profit regardless.
Obama talks about cutting taxes for 95% of Americans? Since when did 95% of Americans pay fed taxes in the first place? More like 60%. If he meant 95% of taxpayers - that's different - but that's not whate he said - nuance. You can raise a few taxes on those who already pay more than 50% of the tax burden - it's retarded but he can certainly do it. Next, he has not mentioned cutting spending - in fact the inverse is true if he's going to let Pelosi run her games plus the health care crap -- no, I don't believe in universal health care - I'm in the U.S. mil active duty - I can tell you how socialist health care works -- it would be okay if everyone was between the ages of 17-47, few smoked and all were basically within their height and weight standards - HOWEVER - I can't imagine providing it for smokers, alcoholics and all the obese pigs I see in the country. Plus, all the malpractice insurance for every sue happy p.o.s. lawyer and client looking to make a buck - no tort reform means unaffordable health care. I.E. - why the fuck does my chiropractor have to have almost 100K of malpractice insurance to work?? Horse shit. That's partly why his patients are paying $30.00 a pop.
If Obama's going to cut & run on Iraq and Afghanistan both he will still not be able to pay for all this crap -- Hawaii state health care just tanked this week too, btw.
Taxing corporations does not work - that tax gets thrown on to the consumer - CORPORATIONS ARE GENERALY MADE UP OF HUNDREDS OR THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE - not the old bald white guy from the simpsons steepling his fingers together and saying excellent smithers - you libz understand that? You over tax corps and they will start laying labor off in order to maintain the profit margin for share holders - business 101. Or, they will go overseas. The oil companies make a lot of cash - and rightfully so -- supply meet demand. India & china are both ramping up their economies - of course oil is going to cost more. We haven't built a new refinery in over 30 yrs, we haven't really tried nuke and we should've started drilling when Reagan was in office. 50% of our elected leaders are fucking brain dead. If you tax a small business owner like swks was saying they will end up laying an employee off to maintain the profit margin and viability of the company. It is about the profit.
I don't make 250K but I don't want another man's money because one of my fellow American schleps was too stupid to live within their means. Yes, that's right, I said it - doesn't take a fucking genius to figure out a budget or man w/the willpower of Jack Lalane to not buy shit you cannot afford. This also the fault of some Americans buying homes they don't rate, the congressmen pressuring banks to give out loans to otherwise un-suitable candidates and the idiots that took the loans - a pox on all their houses, yes, I'm mean & no, I don't fucking care who has a problem w/that. The gov't needs to adhere to the constitution and then basically stay the fuck out of the way.
Lastly, I love it when people who don't pay any income taxes get to vote on the rights and property of those of us who do. We fought a war over No taxation without representation I feel that the converse is also true. You don't pay federal tax, you don't rate a vote on the prospect of raising my taxes to pay for your ass.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/17/2008 19:33
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#40
Well said, BH6. This Todd individual is dreaming if he thinks he can make the "wealthy" pay more in tax. Given the convoluted tax code we have there will always be loopholes for the wealthy who can afford the expensive legal advice about how and where to place one's money.
Obama knows this extremely well; one of his top advisers, Penny Pritzker, is the primary heiress of a huge family fortune that expanded tremendously in exactly that way. IIRC, they had some 4-500 interlocking business and family trusts incorporated in various Caribbean tax havens that were so tightly tied that even the IRS couldn't untangle the skein. When they sued the Pritzkers they ended up settling for pennies on the dollar because the Pritzkers brought more and better legal talent to bear than the USG did.
Obama has no intention of doing anything to help anyone but Obama and his coterie of cronies. That said, whoever gets elected is going to inherit a sullen, very angry country that is probably closer to civil war than at any time since 1865. It will be almost impossible for the next president to succeed. I suspect the Secret Service may have a tough job just keeping him alive.
#41
Apology accepted, Todd. One leaerns by getting caught at mistakes.
You're wrong about rich people, though. They have more than enough money, so generally they work hard because they enjoy it. But if their taxes go up significantly, many of them decide it's not worth the risk of another heart attack to put in the extra work... or retire. There are an awful lot of baby boomers approaching retirement age, and the senior vice president types are are just deciding on the timing. Granted, that would open up opportunities for advancement for managers all the way down the food chain, but eg. Mr. Wife is already working 70-hour weeks -- as are all his peers -- due to chronic understaffing at his Fortune 500 company, so I don't know that he would accept a promotion which would require even longer hours. Net effect over all: fewer rich people dollars available for taxation, even at higher rates, equal fewer tax dollars collected.
WASHINGTON When Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly deployed to Iraq in February, the violence had fallen so low in Anbar province that he began figuring out how to start closing bases and prepare to go home.
In the last 10 months the Marines in Fallujah have done what was unthinkable before the surge began they have quietly transferred out of one of Anbar province's largest cities. FOX News has learned in an exclusive interview with Kelly from Fallujah that 80 percent of the move is complete. In February there were 8,000 Marines living at Fallujah base. Now there are about 3,000 left. By Nov. 14 there will be none.
"We will shut down the command function here and I will move; my staff has already started to move," Kelly, the commander of Multinational Force-West, told FOX News in an exclusive interview via satellite. "We will turn the lights off here."
They will hand the Fallujah base over to their Iraqi counterparts on Nov. 14, having relocated themselves and thousands of combat vehicles to the desert base of Al Asad to the west. Marines will no longer be seen in city centers such as Fallujah a major step toward leaving Iraq, and one step closer to Iraq's goal of having U.S. troops out of its population centers by mid-2009 one of the key points enshrined in the Status of Forces Agreement being reviewed on Capitol Hill today.
On Wednesday, to little fanfare, the Marines quietly closed down Al Qaim base near the Syrian border. Now it is run by Iraqis.
In Fallujah, where the U.S. Marines once had three large mess halls to feed troops, they are now down to one. The Marines have quietly disassembled the entire infrastructure of the base.
"We probably had several thousand of those large metal containers tractor-trailer containers," Kelly said. "I bet we don't have 200 of them here now."
Of the thousands of vehicles once parked at the base, now there are only 300 left. Their transfer occurred at night, between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m., over the past 10 months so as not to disturb Iraqi drivers and clog the roads.
They dubbed it "Operation Rudy Giuliani" because they were cleaning the streets up and returning Fallujah to normalcy taking down barbed wire and tearing down checkpoints and Jersey walls that made Anbar look like a war zone.
"There is almost no barbed wire left anywhere in Fallujah," Kelly said. An Iraqi no longer sees barbed wire when traveling in and around the city.
Between 300 and 400 concrete barriers that divided the city were removed by Navy Seabees.
One of the big changes Kelly made when he took command in Anbar was to remove fixed checkpoints, and Iraqi vehicles no longer had to pull off to the side when a military convoy was on the road. His troops risked car bombs, but the gamble paid off in what had once been Iraq's most dangerous province. The new road rules instantly lowered the tension between military and locals. Soon he transitioned to moving military convoys only at night, so they would not encounter locals. This also stymied many of the insurgents laying IEDs or roadside bombs, which they often had done at night.
Another change for the better since Kelly arrived in February: He pushed the central government to provide more fuel to the people of Anbar, so the mostly Sunni population is now happier. In February, Anbaris were receiving only 8 percent of their allocation of fuel from the central government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Now it's 90 percent eliminating one of their main gripes.
But perhaps the biggest sign that the situation has changed for the better for Sunnis living in Anbar: With the help of the Marines and the Iraqi police, nearly 100 percent of the eligible voting population were registered a month ago to vote in upcoming provincial elections.
"They seem to add another political party every day," Kelly said. "We didn't have a single security violation of any kind. They're at least going to give the electoral process a shot at least going to give democracy a chance."
The Sunnis, who fueled a large part of Iraq's insurgency, boycotted the last election for Parliament with only 3 percent of Sunnis participating. Now they feel they have a stake in the government.
"This is an amazing indicator as to where this province is," Kelly said.
He and the Marines no longer use violence as an indicator of how much progress they have made. Two years ago they had 400 attacks roadside bombs or shootings at U.S. forces every week. In February it was down to 30 attacks per week. Now it is down to under 12 attacks per week. There hasn't been a Marine death in a few months.
Troop numbers have dropped, as well down by 40 percent since February. About 26,000 Marines still serve in Anbar.
"In Anbar there is no longer an insurgency," Kelly said. "Unless someone does something stupid (for instance, if the Coalition were to accidentally kill a large number of civilians), this place will not go back to the way it was."
In football terms, Kelly says, the Marines are "in the last 10 yards of this fight."
"Could it go back? I don't think so," he said firmly. "We are winning this thing."
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC ||
10/17/2008
09:35 ||
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#1
This is absolutely tremendous news. It's the victorious end of a truly major battle in a very tough war--a war we've all but won. It's a pity that so few Americans will ever hear about it.
Our MSM is so traitorous the vast majority of them ought to be shot and the rest deported.
#2
April 2007 "I believe ... that this war is lost, and this surge is not accomplishing anything, as is shown by the extreme violence in Iraq this week," Reid told journalists.
If they held a senility contest I wonder who would win? Reid or Murtha?
#3
Reid's not senile. He knows what he's saying and why he's saying it. Him and his fellow donks wanted defeat in Iraq just like they want a depression now so they can blame it on Bush and the Republicans and win the White House.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/17/2008 11:15
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#4
The Marines have done a tremendous job in Fallujah---from the fight to the finish now. Their sense of dedication and professionalism is a beacon of light for this country. And unwittingly, it shows the shallowness and depravity of many in Congress, especially the likes of Jack Murtha and Harry Reid.
Without dedicated people like these Marines protecting the nation, parasites like Pelosi, Murtha, Durban, et al, would not get the time of day.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/17/2008 11:47
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#5
But perhaps the biggest sign that the situation has changed for the better for Sunnis living in Anbar: With the help of the Marines and the Iraqi police, nearly 100 percent of the eligible voting population were registered a month ago to vote in upcoming provincial elections. "They seem to add another political party every day," Kelly said. "We didn't have a single security violation of any kind. They're at least going to give the electoral process a shot ... at least going to give democracy a chance."
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/17/2008 12:33
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#7
History will be the judge of whether we won this war or not. But I am hopeful that this is a sign that Iraq can and will emerge from this war a stable and gorwing country.
Should there be peace and the establishment of a persistent democratic process over the next 10 years, the prospects for the country are indeed very bright.
This will be Bush's positive legacy (sorry, but his utter mis-handling of the domestic situation may well overshadow his foriegn policy effort). I very much hope it endures.
#8
The Marines generally leave a legacy behind when they depart an area. In this case, for at least two or three generations, the Iraqis they trained will do their best to be as much like the Marines as they can.
It is more than just the training itself, it is the osmosis from soldier to soldier, the culture, great and small. The concept that we do it this way, because that is the way it is done.
I imagine that the Iraqis will make a lot of deals with the US to continue to have USMC advisers doing quality control in their training programs. Those IA who have worked with the Marines will demand it.
#10
I pray Moose is spot on, but I suppose we'll see. I wonder if it's succeeded in an Islamic setting before - the British history is probably the closest counterpart, with Pakistan and India the obvious data control sets.
I see success in stages, and we're clearly about done with the bare minimum, for us and Iraq, but the ultimate would be an Iraq nationalism completely devoid of the hallmarks of Arab nationalism, and tranquil, if not lucratively friendly commercial relations with Israel - the ne plus ultra canary in the Arab coal mine.
#11
Don Vito Omeling5062: a partial comparison is not with Arabs, because the British never developed Arab armies to any great extent. However, India was a different matter. The Indians and Sikhs were a quick study, and to this day have a very British way of doing military business.
But that was the 19th and early 20th Century way of training. Today, if you were to go to Iraq and to a far lesser extent, Afghanistan, you could probably tell who the American trainers were who trained a particular unit.
The USMC is extremely stylized in its training and operations, and it has been noted that the Iraqis military wants *everything* the USMC has, as far as equipment. Ironically, these Iraqis will probably call those units the Arabic equivalent of "Marine", though they will never go to sea.
Everything the Marines do, even just stylistic things, will be copied and mimicked. I would not be surprised in a few years if the Iraqis develop a similar dress uniform.
Eventually, the Iraqis will have truly "elite" units, prestige units, unique among Arab armies.
#12
This will be Bush's positive legacy (sorry, but his utter mis-handling of the domestic situation may well overshadow his foriegn policy effort). I very much hope it endures.
Remoteman, I'm calling you on that. Please explain precisely how Bush "mis-handled" the "domestic situation".
McCain was right. The economy was in good shape. Last January there was no one mainstream who saw this credit crash coming. Sure, there were a number of worried people. McCain. Bush. A small but persistent group of financial analysts who had been preaching doom so long (over 10 years) that no one was listening any more.
Who do you think Bush is? King of the USA or something? He gave it a good shot, but it was clear that no one was listening or wanted a party pooper around.
Actually, the timing of the crash was remarkably good. Those balls had been in the air for years. I'm not sure how Soros triggered it, but I'm betting he did. Note that I'm not saying he had the power to set up the house of cards; we all did that, from the irresponsible house buyers to the greedy bond buyers in Norway. But there's a good chance he pulled out a couple of cards at the right moment. It didn't take much.
"Funnily enough", in the 90's, several big police operations that targeted (homosexual) pedophile rings in France and in neighbouring countries ended up rounding up neo-nazis, I remember that for two at least, the "Ado 71" and "Toro Bravo" operations.A link between terrorism plots and hardcore child pornography is becoming clear after a string of police raids in Britain and across the Continent, an investigation by The Times has discovered. Images of child abuse have been found during Scotland Yard antiterrorism swoops and in big inquiries in Italy and Spain.
Secret coded messages are being embedded into child pornographic images, and paedophile websites are being exploited as a secure way of passing information between terrorists.
British security services are also aware of the trend and believe that it requires further investigation to improve understanding of terrorists' methods and mindsets. Concerns within the Metropolitan Police led to a plan to run a pilot research project exploring the nature of the link. One source familiar with the proposal said that this could eventually lead to the training of child welfare experts to identify signs of terrorist involvement as they monitor pornographic sites.
Concerns have already been expressed at Cabinet minister level about the risk of vulnerable Muslim youths being exploited by older men. Officers have noted that child sex abuse images have been found during investigations into some of the most advanced suspected plots. However, it is understood that the proposed research project was never implemented because the AntiTerrorism Branch was overwhelmed by the sheer number of cases it was having to deal with.
It is not clear whether the terrorists were more interested in the material for personal gratification or were drawn to child porn networks as a secure means of sending messages. In one case fewer than a dozen images were found; in another, 40,000.
British security sources confirmed that such a link had been discovered in several cases. They noted the contradiction between people supposedly devoted to theocracy and Islamic fundamentalism and their use of child pornography. "It shows that these people are very confused," a source said. "Here they are hating Western decadence but actually making use of it and finding that they enjoy this stuff."
Baroness Neville-Jones, Conservative security spokeswoman and former chairwoman of the Joint Intelligence Committee, said: "The information about a possible link between extremism and child pornography potentially provides useful insight into three things: the methods that extremists use to communicate; the methods they use to target vulnerable people in society; and the techniques they seek to use to conceal their online activities." She added: "There is no doubt that these possible linkages should merit further research."
Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP and chairman of the parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights, said: "This is an important development. We have to do more than just the police work. It needs child protection, criminological and psychological work. It could become a very important weapon in the fight against terrorism." He urged researchers to review cases where terrorists had been convicted to look for this link.
The first British suspicions of a link between child sex abuse and jihadis emerged in London in 2006 when antiterrorism police in two unrelated investigations were shocked to find computerised images of hardcore child pornography. The key case that tipped off the security services to a plausible link involved the "White-chapel Rapist", Abdul Makim Khalisadar. A former Mujahidin and a preacher at the East London Mosque, he was being examined for his links to a hardcore Islamic militant who was later convicted of terrorism. Khalisadar was never convicted of terrorist offences. The other investigation involved a young religiously observant Muslim.
The Times has learnt that a criminal investigation also found child pornography on computers after a raid in 2001 at a mosque run by an al-Qaeda recruiter in Milan. Italian police believe that the images were encoded with messages. At a forthcoming terrorism trial in Spain, the alleged mastermind of a Muslim cell has also been accused of downloading hundreds of child sex abuse pictures and videos.
Meanwhile, police uncovered a right-wing terrorist plot when they raided a home after being tipped off about pornographic images. This June, the Nazi sympathiser Martyn Gilleard was jailed for 16 years after being found guilty of terrorism. Police found 39,000 indecent images of children at his flat in Yorkshire.
Invisible ink for the internet age
-- Messages may be concealed within digital images and audio, video or other files. The method is called steganography, derived from the Greek for "covered writing"
-- Although the average person will not be able to detect the hidden messages by either listening to or viewing a file, the intended recipients can use applications to reverse the steganography process and gain access to the information
-- Experts say that the advancement in encryption technology is outpacing the authorities' abilities to monitor suspected terrorists and paedophiles
-- Italian authorities uncovered files of child abuse images that had been manipulated by a terrorist cell after a raid on the Via Quaranta mosque in Milan in November 2001. Investigators claimed that the terrorist cell encoded the images before sending them to each other
#6
Hiding secrets into the kind of sites who are likely to be scrutinized by the police? Pleaaaaaaaase! They do it because they like it and we should be broadacasting it 24/7 not sweeping it under the rug like the author does.
Propaganda is terror's main weapon and we are doing nothing on this field.
#7
Indeed. Like the tales of serious drug use by captured jihadis in Iraq, this confirms that jihadis are perverted in all aspects of their lives,not merely well-meaning but misguided religious enthusiasts.
#8
They checking the goat breeder sites too?? Sure to be messages there (maybe only love notes, but messages still!)
OT/ any RB'ers seen that Carl's Jr. ad where the guy says he'll marry a goat if can get some such meal for $5. Then they show him and his buddy at the restuarant with the goat in a wedding gown. You just know it gets muzzie boys hard watching it.
#9
More exposed help from the IRA is showing here. The IRA was known to have helped in the initial training of Muzzies in developing road side bombs, specifically detonating techniques. The IRA were the experts in all thing going boom. Then it was uncovered the IRA used pron sites with secure chat rooms to communicate. Finding out the Muzzis are duplicating this is no suprise, except they are too stupid and do it on their favorite pron sites. They should have done it on an all things pork web page.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
10/17/2008 16:11
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#10
The Micks have always liked mischief and explosives.
#11
When I was in N. Ireland years ago, the Brits and the Irish law enforcement broke up an IRA cell that used to launch rockets made from oxygen cylinders across the border, originating in the Republic. A
Nasty hunks of iron they were. Sorta Qassim precursors. The provos were rat ba$tards.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/17/2008 16:18
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The provos were rat ba$tards.
I thoroughly agree. The Brits badly mishandled those scum; they should have been brutally interrogated, tortured and "disappeared" to a man. A "clean" firing squad would have been a far better end than they deserved.
Funny how, when the Loyalist gangs started being better at violence than the provos were, the provo violence rapidly wound down. All those bastards ever understood was force and when they realized they were up against hard boys who weren't going to be constrained by any rules other than the law of the jungle, they suddenly didn't want to play anymore. Cowards.
The Federal Trade Commission won a preliminary legal victory against what it called one of the largest spam gangs on the Internet, persuading a federal court in Chicago on Tuesday to freeze the groups assets and order the spam network to shut down.
The group, which used several names but was known among spam-fighting organizations as HerbalKing, sent billions of unsolicited messages to Internet users over the last 20 months, promoting replica watches and a variety of pharmaceuticals, including weight-loss drugs and herbal pills that supposedly enhanced the male anatomy, according to the commission.
This is pretty major. At one point these guys delivered up to one-third of all spam, said Richard Cox, chief information officer at SpamHaus, a nonprofit antispam research group. . . .
The security firm Marshal Software, which assisted the F.T.C. with the investigation, estimated in court documents that the groups Mega-D botnet named after one of its pill products was made up of 35,000 computers and could send 10 billion e-mail messages a day. In January, the botnet was the leading source of spam on the Internet, the firm estimated. . . .
Suspected separatist terrorists insurgents have shot dead two teenage boys and a man in Thailand's Muslim-majority far south, police say. Two 15-year-old boys were killed and another teenager critically injured in a drive-by shooting in Pattani province on Thursday, police in the restive region said. In a separate attack in the same province that evening, a 32-year-old fruit trader was killed in a teashop.
This is just insane
A Las Vegas man attempted to bring a pipe bomb on board a jet at Long Island MacArthur Airport yesterday morning, federal officials said in court documents.
The suspected pipe bomb that was found in Steven Nobles' baggage "could have functioned. It could have detonated," federal prosecutor John Durham said at Nobles' arraignment in U.S. District Court in Central Islip late yesterday afternoon.
But Nobles' attorney, federal public defender Randi Chavis, said Nobles, 20, had not intended to harm anyone and inadvertently placed the device in his luggage as he was returning to visit his mother after a year of working on Long Island. Oh, we've all done that at least once, you know.
Sources familiar with the investigation said that at this point federal prosecutors and FBI agents do not believe Nobles was bent on terrorism, but, at the very least, displayed poor judgment. I'd say
Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for Eastern District U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell, said it was not clear whether the bomb could have gone off accidentally. FBI agents and Suffolk police were still analyzing the device, Nardoza said.
Federal magistrate Kathleen Tomlinson denied bail to Nobles, pending a hearing today, saying Nobles "certainly was old enough to take into the account the circumstances under which he was operating this morning." As in 'old enough to fly alone.'
According to a complaint filed by FBI agent James McCarthy, Nobles was stopped at 7:28 a.m. by Transportation Security Administration officers during a routine search when they noticed a 7-inch-long knife in his carry-on bag. Nobles was preparing to board Southwest Flight 384 to Las Vegas. That was an accident too.
After searching Nobles' bag, the officers then noticed the bomb, McCarthy said.
Suffolk Police and the FBI were called and part of the airport was temporarily evacuated.
A search of Nobles' luggage found "explosive fireworks, electrical circuit boards, a battery with electrical tape and 14 . . . .22-caliber rounds used in a nailgun to drive nails into concrete," McCarthy said.
McCarthy said in the complaint that Nobles told him that "the device in the carry-on bag was a pipe bomb." Nobles also said he "built the pipe bomb using a metal pipe, fuses and gunpowder from M-80 fireworks, smoke bombs and other fireworks," McCarthy said. In addition, the agent said Nobles told him he hoped that when the device went off it would "cause a giant smoke cloud, a flash of light and hopefully a loud noise," McCarthy said.
However, Nobles "denied intending to detonate the pipe bomb on the airplane and claimed that he had inadvertently carried it to the airport," McCarthy said. Happens all the time.
#2
Is criminal stupidity a crime? I don't care if his intent wasn't terrorism, we go through crazy bag checks and every journalist or stupid idiot like this guy that sends a false-positive through the system should be punished. Maybe a month, maybe a year I don't know but something.
#5
Just another case of a Long Island pipe bomb club member getting careless, I guess. It was either that or join the tennis club, but he didn't have the balls for that.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/17/2008 12:28
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TW, some nail guns - especially ones used to drive nails into dense materials - use a .22 (or larger) powder charge to propel the nail (in this case concrete). It could be used as a weapon (if any of you have been around that DS who just has to shoot nails at a work site) especially at close range like a passenger plane. However this alone is something I would think would need to be declared like a firearm would be; nevermind the knife, pipebomb etc. on an early morning trans USA flight...
#7
Notice that the crack TSA team saw the knife first and THEN found the bomb. If he'd only had the sense to check the knife, he could have gotten the bomb on board.
I'm pretty sure all the TSA staff were the folks who flunked out of toll booth school. Makework program for our under-achievers.
#8
Remoteman: as a former TSA supervisor i can say that there is insufficient data here to support your assetion. Depending upon the terminal layout, it is entirely possible that the bag and the pax were separated and the bag was placed in a queue, while the pax and his carry on went on.
and since all bags checked bags go through a sniffer for explosive residue, it is very likely it would have been caught, even without any alert based on the carry on incident.
i do agree with your assessment of the mentality of the organization as it now exists, however. sadly the go getters that had originally joined at program inception have, for the most part, found better employment elsewhere after getting beat down by Dilbert-like-Pointy-Hair-Boss syndrome. (remember TSA stood up post 9/11, when the economy was in a recession, especially in the airline and related industries, i couldn't buy a job there. but 7 months is all i could take and i bailed.
#9
#3: .22-caliber rounds used in a nailgun to drive nails into concrete
I have personaly used such a nailgun, the charges are blanks and come in a variety of strengths depending on the length you want to drive the nail into concrete.
The Charges look like .22 shorts, either with a cardboard plug colored to indicate strength, or filded over in a conical point thar somewhat resembles a real bullet, but fools absolutely no one as there is no slug.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/17/2008 15:17
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#10
it is nice to know that the FBI has concluded that there is no terrorism here. Even a blind pig can find an acorn once in a while.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
10/17/2008 18:18
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#11
I'd like to ask him where he was on March 6, 2008.
Posted by: DanNY ||
10/17/2008 22:15
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#12
Thank you all for explaining. The silly boy was bringing home lots of ingredients to make a nice boom in the desert. Since they weren't weapons to him, it never occurred to him that anyone else might think they were.
Mr. 'Ten Percent' just figured out what ten percent of zero is ...
China has promised to do all it can to help longtime ally Pakistan overcome its financial difficulties. Reports from Beijing Thursday say Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao made the promise during a meeting with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, who is visiting China.
A spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, Qin Gang, told reporters after the meeting that China is ready to support Pakistan "within its capability." He did not specify what kind of assistance Beijing would provide.
On Wednesday, Pakistan's president and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao signed more than 10 deals on cooperation in areas including economy, trade, mining and agriculture.
Mr. Zardari is seeking economic agreements and assistance in an effort to save Pakistan from economic collapse. The Financial Times newspaper reported that Pakistan's president was to seek more than $500 million in loans from China and a nuclear energy accord. But Chinese state media did not mention any agreements in these areas.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/17/2008
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#1
WORLD MILITARY FORUM > PAKISTAN PRAISES CHINA SUPPORT: A POWERFUL CHINA IS A POWERFUL PAKISTAN.
Also from WMF > BRITISH THINK TANK: CHINA, NOT US, IS THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE US FINANCIAL CRISIS + CHINA'S COMING GREAT DEPRESSION.
#2
SAME > PATTEN: THE FUTURE OF THE US AND CHINA IS "INEVITABLE CONFLICT", as due to China's growing modernization and global influence. EUROPE, however, will still be World No.2 behind the the USA, whose role as ABSOLUTE OR UNCONDITIONAL WORLD/GLOBAL SUPERPOWER WILL CONTINUE -Europe will be sovereign vee US but under variable duress e.g. loss of 20% of Population by end of the century; + INDIA, PAKISTAN, AND CHINA WILL BE VALUABLE NUCLEAR STRIKE TARGETS [ i.e. REGIONAL NUCLEAR POWER]. India rising.
* BRITAIN > FINANCIAL TIMES - THE WEST MUST TAKE THE SOCIALIST ROAD; + REDDIT/TOPIX: US CRISIS THE END OF WESTERN CAPITALISM? + KEENAN: WESTERN CAPITALISM [21st Century -ISM]MUST BE UNDERPINNED BY SOCIALISM, in times of chaos or serious crisis.
#5
China will just counterfeit our money too fund them
Posted by: chris ||
10/17/2008 17:07
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#6
Hey, China, knock yourself out. Try to fill a financial black hole. Good luck t'ye.
On another note, China will finance stuff, like mines, extract the minerals, give Paks a bit of coin for it, and leave an ecological disaster, just like dealing with a cheap whore.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/17/2008 17:33
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#7
Nah, the Chinese won't be contributing any money. They'll just say that they will, and then never pay anything. It's getting scary how well I can predict these attitudes these days...
Unidentified assailants fired nine rockets at a Frontier Reserve Police checkpost on Bara Bridge in Bannu district early on Thursday.
No casualty was reported. Police said two of the rockets hit the bridge on Miranshah Road in Bakakhel area, slightly damaging it.
The police cordoned off the area after the incident and started investigation.
Meanwhile, Peshawar police claimed to have arrested four associates of an arrested accused allegedly involved in blowing up several CD and music centres throughout the province, Online reported. Police said the men were arrested after the alleged mastermind of the bombings, Wakeel Khan, provided information about his aides.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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BBC prints this day after Obama and McCain bring up Columbia at the debate.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Colombian government of blocking investigations into alleged links between paramilitaries and politicians.
HRW was curiously absent when average people were getting gunned down by FARC ...
Thousands of demobilised fighters have given evidence implicating more than 60 of President Alvaro Uribe's supporters, including his cousin Mario.
HRW said Mr Uribe's government was "sabotaging" the investigation - a claim he has denied. The HRW report, entitled "Breaking the Grip? Obstacles to Justice for Paramilitary Mafias in Colombia," claims that Mr Uribe's administration was "jeopardising efforts to secure justice".
"Colombia's justice institutions have made enormous progress in investigating paramilitaries and their powerful friends," said Jose Miguel Vivanco, one of the authors. "But the Uribe administration keeps taking steps that could sabotage these investigations."
'Could'? That doesn't mean that they 'are' doing so. HRW is already weaseling the report.
HRW said such measures included making baseless accusations against members of the Supreme Court, which is running the investigation, and blocking efforts to reform Congress to eliminate paramilitary influence.
The group also said the extradition to the US of 14 paramilitary leaders in May this year had interrupted ongoing investigations.
But it facilitated other investigations into the drug trade.
Mr Uribe has denied any obstruction and said his government had "combated the paramilitaries with more force, effectiveness and decisiveness than any other in Colombia's history".
Several dozen Congressmen, all of them supporters of Mr Uribe, are already being investigated over alleged links with paramilitaries. They were named in the testimonies of demobilised fighters who agreed to confess in exchange for reduced jail terms.
So Hector the Weasel decided name names to get a reduced sentence ...
Mr Vivanco said international pressure was crucial to ensure that efforts made by prosecutors were not "squandered". "The burden is now on the Uribe administration and Colombia's institutions of justice to ensure that paramilitaries, as well as their accomplices, are held accountable," he said.
The BBC's Jeremy McDermott in Colombia says the failure so far to uncover the true nature of the paramilitary activity could be one of the reasons behind a recent growth in such groups. A new generation of paramilitary groups dedicated to drugs trafficking has sprung up, with up to 8,000 members, our correspondent says.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/17/2008
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Is the word of the Human Rights Watch reliable?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/17/2008 11:40
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#2
in a word, "No"
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
10/17/2008 12:12
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CARACAS, Venezuela -- Carmen Godoy is sure the Yankees are plotting an invasion. She's heard her president say so over and over again in the decade he has been in power.
So at yet another pro-government rally -- one at which a band played a rousing version of "Yankee Go Home" -- Godoy expressed relief that four Russian naval vessels will arrive in Venezuela next month for joint exercises with Venezuela's military. "We need help," said Godoy, 52. "We cannot wait and watch what happened to Iraq happen to us."
The message that the Bush administration has evil designs on Venezuela has been a cornerstone of state policy here, frequently repeated in speeches by President Hugo Chavez and other officials, as well as on news shows and in documentaries by the omnipresent state media. But with the president's socialist party facing tough regional elections in November, the government is ramping up the warnings like never before and taking the requisite actions against what officials say are shadowy assassination plots and U.S.-orchestrated destabilizing plans.
Nothing Chavez has done in the past, though, compares to Venezuela's $1 billion weapons deal with Russia and military exercises that are bringing Russian warplanes and ships to the Caribbean for the first time since the Cold War.
Former officials in the Chavez administration, pollsters and political analysts say the president is trying to raise the specter of U.S. meddling and whip up his followers in order to deflect attention from such issues as mounting crime, high inflation and a shaky economy. "This is something Chavez has used to his favor," said Milos Alcalay, who was Chavez's ambassador to the United Nations until 2004, when he resigned. "President Chavez has used his anti-Americanism as a form of government policy, not only internationally but also when faced with a series of errors that he cannot explain."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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#1
Sounds about like time for a fly over and doing some leaflet dropping.
#2
I'm not really pro-American, I'm rather anti-anti-american, as I've found and believe that anti-americanism not only blinds those who follow it, but it's also used to hide false ideologies from being exposed to the light of truth (to use a pretentious wording).
IE, I'm not opposed to anti-americans (and God know they are A-PLENTY here in France) per se, but because of what lurks behind their anti-americanism, be they useful idiots or aware of it.
All this to say that chavez is a perfect illustration of that... his anti-americanism both stem from and hides his marxist (and anti-white) core, and is used to fool the rubes, blinding at least some of them to the fact that the real and worst ennemy of the venezuelan people is, well, hugo the (dangerous) buffoon himself.
#3
America had a chance to remove Chavez when they had their coup. we didn't care enough so why would we bother now that we're invested in Iraq? I think a few Venezuelans have an over-inflated view of their importances.
Travellers from Japan, western Europe and a number of other countries must request authorization to enter the United States on the Internet from January 2009, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Thursday.
These countries are currently exempt from visa requirements to enter the United States for short visits under the Visa Waiver Program, and the new program will keep travel to the United States "visa free" for travelers from VWP countries.
Instead of travellers filling out paper I-94 visa waiver cards en route to the United States, the new measure requires online registration. In a statement, the DHS said mandatory prior visa authorization is required for travelers from January 12, 2009. The service has accepted voluntary visa applications for over two months, since August 1.
"Over 200,000 travelers have sought electronic travel authorization in the weeks since the site went live, and 99.6 percent of them have been approved the vast majority in under one minute," said DHS assistant secretary for policy Stewart Baker. "Obtaining this advance information makes visa-free travel more secure, an enhancement that allows us to expand the valuable Visa Waiver Program."
The new measure is among the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, which sought to promote laws that tighten border security in the wake of the September 11 attacks in 2001. The DHS recommends that applications are submitted as soon as an applicant begins making travel plans. Upon authorization, travelers can enter the United States for 90 days for business or pleasure. The website is https://esta.cbp.dhs.gov.
Instructions on how to obtain travel authorization are available on the website in English and 13 other languages -- Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish. No Arabic. Good.
Citizens of 27 nations -- including several EU member states as well as Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Brunei -- are covered by the Visa Waiver Program.
Posted by: ed ||
10/17/2008
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Also: Sources: US to waive visa rules for 7 countries President Bush will announce Friday that Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and South Korea will be added to the U.S. visa waiver program as early as next month, the aides told The Associated Press.
Posted by: ed ||
10/17/2008 0:18
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#2
B) Have you ever been arrested or convicted for an offense or crime involving moral turpitude or a violation related to a controlled substance; or been arrested or convicted for two or more offenses for which the aggregate sentence to confinement was five years or more; or been a controlled substance trafficker; or are you seeking entry to engage in criminal or immoral activities?
Bureaucrats never change
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/17/2008 0:33
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#3
New method also requires them to identify themselves electronically. Heh.
#5
On-line applicants can begin waiver submission immediately and will automatically be registered to vote in Ohio, which can also be done via the internet or US Postal service.
Posted by: Jennifer Brunner ||
10/17/2008 9:02
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(AKI/DAWN) - Four Pakistani security officials were killed and twenty-six wounded in a rocket and suicide attack on a police station in the troubled northern Swat region on Thursday, a senior police official said.
The official told Pakistani daily Dawn that the police station in Mingora, district headquarters of the restive Swat region, came under a barrage of rocket propelled attack at around 1.30 am local time. The rocket attack was followed by a suicide bombing. "The bomber banged an explosives-laden vehicle into the wall of the police station. But the casualties were mostly caused by the rocket attack," Safwat Ghayyur, Additional Inspector General of Police, told Dawn in Peshawar.
The twin-attacks left three men of Frontier Constabulary and a policeman dead, while among the wounded were fourteen FC and 12 policemen, he said.
The once-tourist hotspot of Pakistan has seen a surge in violence after a May peace agreement between the militants and the secular-nationalist Awami National Party collapsed two months later.
Both sides accuse each other of going back on their words. The military has since been battling to regain the control of the mountainous region with heavy use of artillery and helicopters gunships.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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In a bow to public outrage over a recent spate of U.S.-led airstrikes in Afghanistan that resulted in more than 100 civilian deaths, NATO officials have ordered commanders to try to lessen their reliance on air power in battles with insurgents, NATO and Afghan officials said Wednesday.
Brig. Gen. Richard Blanchette, NATO's chief spokesman in Afghanistan, said commanders are now under orders to consider a "tactical withdrawal" when faced with the choice of calling in air support during clashes in areas where civilians are believed to be present. The goal of the order is to minimize civilian casualties, encourage better coordination with Afghan troops and discourage overreliance on air power to repel insurgent attacks, Blanchette said. "We'll do anything we can to prevent unnecessary casualties, and we'll ensure that we'll have safe use of force. That includes not only airstrikes but ground operations," Blanchette said.
Confusion and controversy over airstrikes have bedeviled the U.S.-led military mission in Afghanistan in recent months. This summer, three U.S. airstrikes in separate parts of the country that killed more than 100 Afghan civilians provoked sharp criticism from Afghan government officials, the United Nations and international humanitarian groups.
According to the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, more than 1,400 Afghan civilians were killed in the first eight months of this year. Of those, 395 were killed in airstrikes by Western forces. The number of civilians killed by U.S.- and NATO-led airstrikes has risen by 21 percent this year, a recent U.N. report said.
U.S. Gen. David D. McKiernan, top commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan, issued the new order early last month. The revised approach came only days after U.N. officials said an investigation into an Aug. 21 airstrike on the town of Azizabad, in the western province of Herat, had revealed that at least 90 civilians were killed when U.S. jets bombarded a suspected Taliban compound there. The U.N. allegations conflicted with accounts initially given by U.S. military officials in Afghanistan, who said their investigation found only five civilians had been killed.
U.S. military officials reversed course, however, after McKiernan called for a reinvestigation of the incident when new evidence emerged. A subsequent independent probe conducted by a top U.S. general concluded that at least 30 civilians were killed in the strike.
The Azizabad attack prompted widespread outrage in Afghanistan and led Afghan President Hamid Karzai to call for a review of the rules of conduct for foreign troops operating in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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#1
in other words they where working too well
Posted by: chris ||
10/17/2008 8:17
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#2
So how many of our guys is this policy change gonna kill?
#5
Which one outranks the other, between Generals Petraeus and McKiernan? I ask because General Petraeus is conducting a review of the Afghanistan situation even now. Surely, regardless of rank, his conclusions will have some weight, even given how political NATO is.
#6
Afghanistan puts the weakness of NATO on display for all to see. Our NATO allies don't have the choppers needed to support the ground troops and perform very selective firing with minimum collateral damage. So they have to depend on aircraft using heavier weapons. This is going to get our guys killed, plain and simple.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) - Former Argentine President Carlos Menem was a no-show Thursday at the opening of his trial on charges of illegally selling arms to Ecuador and Croatia in the early 1990s. Defense lawyer Omar Daer presented a medical certificate attesting to the poor health of Menem, 78, who has been hospitalized three times this year for bronchial and urinary tract infections.
Lawyers did not make opening arguments against Menem, but prosecutors accuse him and 17 former government officials - including his defense minister and air force chief - of violating international arms embargoes by selling artillery, anti-tank missiles, mortars and rifles to Ecuador and Croatia. At the time, a U.N. ban prohibited arms sales to warring parties from the former Yugoslavia, while the Organization of American States banned sales to Ecuador and Peru amid a brief, armed border conflict.
Prosecutors say the defendants conspired to funnel the arms to the countries by illegally redirecting legitimate shipments to Venezuela and Panama. Menem and the others deny the allegations, saying private companies diverted the shipments without their knowledge. "We didn't have a clue about the final destination of the arms," former Defense Minister Oscar Camilion told reporters Thursday.
Menem was arrested in 2001 in the arms case, then freed six months later by a Supreme Court panel largely made up of his appointees. He faces up to 12 years if convicted. But congressional privileges mean that as an elected senator from La Rioja province, Menem would not see jail as long as he holds his seat.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/17/2008
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A bomb has damaged a natural gas pipeline in northeastern British Columbia, police said on Thursday, describing the attack as the second of its kind in the same area in a week.
Energy producer EnCana Corp later said it had stopped a small leak at a "field facility" about 50 km southeast of the town of Dawson Creek, and that the incident was being investigated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
The RCMP said in a statement it was an explosion that "appears to be a deliberate act that left a crater in the ground under the pipeline that carries sour gas."
...
The RCMP's anti-terrorism unit has joined the investigation, but police believe the incident is local in nature. A newspaper in Dawson Creek said the letter complained of "crazy expansion of deadly gas wells in our homelands" and that "we will no longer negotiate with terrorists".
Posted by: ed ||
10/17/2008
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#1
Well, oil price is falling, I guess something has to be done.
#2
The Mounties better get to the bottom of this 'energy terrorism' and quick, before additional acts of sabotage are committed reigniting energy market concerns.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/17/2008 9:32
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#6
Beavis - sour gas has impurities in it, primarily hydrogen sulfide. Most natural gas has SOME impurities in it, but they're in much greater concentration in sour gas. Most of the impurities are "scrubbed" before the gas is piped into the distribution network to cut down on corrosion.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/17/2008 12:20
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#7
I live down wind from there. Why wasn't it in my regular news? Could affect my natual gas supply tyhis winter.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/17/2008 12:22
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Kohat police seized two suicide bombing jackets and arrested 18 Uzbek men separately on Thursday, police said. A statement issued here said that bomb disposal squad seized the jackets from a vehicle they searched on the Indus Highway. The men were moving out of Darra Adam Khel area in two vehicles when the police arrested them at a checkpost. "We arrested these foreign nationals who are of Uzbek origin and look like militants from their appearance," local police official Lal Farid Khan told AFP. Khan said police did not find any weapons on the men, who could only speak Persian. "The police is interrogating these people to know why they had gone to Darra Adam Khel and what was their next destination," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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A suicide car bomb attack on security forces killed three policemen in Balad on Thursday, Salah al-Din police said. "A suicide bomber wearing a police uniform tried to attack al-Mahta police station with his car, but guards discovered and shot him fire" a Salah al-Din police source told Aswat al-Iraq. "The suicide detonated the car near the police station, leaving three policemen wounded and caused material damage to nearby buildings," the source added.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has decided to exempt 250 graft-accused including 11 former ministers and lawmakers in 121 cases from charges due to lack of enough evidence.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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#1
It appears that 250 checks have cleared. I'll bet being on the Anti-Corruption Commission is a pretty lucrative gig.
If an islamic holey man sez it, it must be true. An Indonesian Islamic cleric linked to the three extremists awaiting execution for the Bali bombings said the 2002 attack which killed more than 200 people was the work of the CIA.
Abu Bakar Bashir told AFP the US intelligence agency had fired a nuclear missile at the Bali tourist strip from a ship off the coast. "It has been mentioned as being a micro-nuclear bomb, not a regular bomb... The bomb was made by the CIA, it could be no one else," he said in his house at the Al-Mukmin Islamic boarding school on Indonesia's Java island.
He said the attack was a conspiracy between "America, Australia and the Jews" and the three convicted bombers - Amrozi, Imam Samudra and Ali Ghufron - had been framed.
"The bomb Amrozi set off, the first one, at most it shattered glass and didn't wound people, or at most wounded them a little," he said, sitting on the floor and wearing the white robes and scull-cap of a religious man. Amrozi had been "used by the CIA in coordination with America, Australia and the Jews. The police and the prosecutors aren't brave enough to prove it."
The coordinated October 12, 2002, bomb attacks ripped through packed nightspots at the holiday island's main tourist strip and killed 202 people, mostly foreign visitors including 88 Australians.
Radical Islamist preacher Bashir, aged about 70, served almost 26 months for conspiracy over the attacks before being cleared and released.
Posted by: ed ||
10/17/2008
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#1
...The same bomb we dropped on Iraq during the Gulf War, no doubt.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/17/2008 5:28
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#2
It's not the first time he's mentioned the micro-nuke, and funny thing is, IIRC last time he did I pointed to that (Christian) Conspiracy website; seems like even that bit was lifted from the western anti-NWO crowd (which would make for a great study by people interested in and savyy in detecting memetic warfare, from domestic & foreign players).
Various political and socio-cultural organisations yesterday condemned the removal of the five sculptures of bauls (folk singers) in front of the Zia International Airport (ZIA). They urged the people to launch movement against the fundamentalists who are posing threats to Bengali culture and heritage.
Meanwhile, Bimanbandar Golchattar Murti Protirodh Committee that forced the authorities concerned to remove the sculptures said the government has to begin the task of erecting a hajj minar by October 23 in place of the sculptures removed on Wednesday. They also demanded removal of Mahbub Jamil, special assistant to the chief adviser, for taking initiative to erect the sculptures.
Committee Chairman Mufti Nur Hossain Nurani, also the chairman of Khatme Nabuwat Andolon, at a press conference at a city restaurant said if the government fails to meet their demands they would hold a grand rally at the north gate of the hajj camp on October 24.
The Roads and Highways Department (RHD) and Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (CAAB) were forced to remove the five sculptures in the face of protests of the Murti Protirodh Committee on Wednesday.
"We will not accept anything but a hajj minar at that place and its design must be finalised upon our consent," said Mufti Nur Hossain. He said all khatibs across the country will bring out processions from mosques today demanding punishment of those who took the initiative to erect the sculptures in front of ZIA.
Sculptor Mrinal Haque said the task of erecting the sculptures began about three and a half months back. Almost 50 percent work of the project had been finished at a cost of Tk 50 lakh, said Mrinal, who was supposed to sign an agreement with United Commercial Bank Ltd on Wednesday for getting funds.
A CAAB official said they removed the five sculptures of bauls holding ektara on instructions of the ministry concerned.
Ain O Salish Kendra in a statement expressed concern over the removal of the sculptures and said such incidents raise questions about the present government's commitment to protecting Bengali culture, upholding non-communal spirit and democratic values.
Workers Party of Bangladesh President Rashed Khan Menon and its General Secretary Bimal Biswas in a joint statement also condemned the removal of the sculptures. They said the present caretaker government has compromised with the fundamentalists on various issues but the people will thwart all attacks on the Bengali culture.
Bangladesh Udichi Shilpi Gosthi, Charan Sangskritik Kendra, Jaybangla Sangskritik Oikya Jote and Bangladesh Students' Union also condemned the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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#1
RUSSIA > Attempts to remove statues of LENIN is also causing a ruckus.
Also as per RUSSIA, KOMMERSANT > GEORGIAN THREAT [Covert via Georgian Spec Services operatives = Abkhazian refugees]TO MOSCOW DISCOVERED, PLanned destruction of Russ Govt-Public Buildings, to also includ in SOCHI + ST. PETERSBURG.
Imams of Saudi mosques have failed in guiding young Saudis away from extremist ideologies that pose a serious threat to the security and stability of the country, according to Interior Minister Prince Naif.
"The more than 15,000 mosques in the country constitute the best forums for guidance, but the imams have failed miserably in discharging their duties," Prince Naif said after opening a seminar on Human Rights in Higher Education and Intellectual Security at Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah on Wednesday night.
"Frankly speaking, I would like to say that the imams of mosques, with the exception of the two holy mosques, have not played their desired role (in the fight against extremism)," Prince Naif said.
"The introduction of topics related to human rights in the education or any other area of life does not mean that our society is ignorant or deficient in human values as some quarters have been portraying," Prince Naif told an audience that included Minister of Higher Education Khaled Al-Anqari and Rector of Umm Al-Qura University Adanan Wazzan.
The prince stressed the significant role universities had to play in keeping the young Saudis away from the dangers of destructive ideologies. "Since universities are centers of research, it is their duty to study ways to root out ideas that distort religion and defame the nation," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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#1
Religious Guys whether in Pakistan,Saudi or Iran are the at the core of our problem ie TrueISLAM!!!
Posted by: Paul ||
10/17/2008 5:38
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#2
Maybe they should stick to setting up "pleasure marriages"?
Tift County authorities say a homeowner shot a man after he attempted to force his way into a rural mobile home off Highway 125.
Sheriff's department spokesman David Haire says the homeowner, 33-year-old John Henry Howard Jr., was not hurt during the home invasion. It happened early Wednesday at about 2:30 a.m.
Haire did not identify the suspected burglar, but said his injuries appeared to be serious. The intruder was shot 4 times in the head. He's hospitalized at Tift Regional Medical Center. No charges were immediately filed.
#6
Reminds me of that US soldier and that UK teen who were stabbed through the skull, with the blade stuck deep in, and who not only lived to tell the tale, but were conscious and ambulatory and in fact not impaired while they had an handle protudering out of their head.
Always amazes me to see how living creatures can be resilient, sometimes.
Anyway, after being shot four times in the head (face?), even if he survives, I'm sure the would-be home-invader will have a reminder of what he attempted to do for the rest of his life, in whatever disability or disfigurement this brings, idiot.
#8
The caliber and style of bullet has a lot to do with its performance. A .25, .32 or .38 fully jacketed round, or a round without a lot of powder behind it, could conceivably do little damage. 12 gauge with OO buck is just the thing for home defense. If the spray is wide enough, it essentially damages enough parts to insure instant lack of ambulation, and most likely death. However, anon is right about how tough some creatures can be.
I've seen deer shot with high powered rifles through the neck but missing the spine go half a mile before expiring.
Animals are indeed resilient. Perhaps even thieving ones.
Posted by: no mo uro ||
10/17/2008 6:10
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#10
oh about the smirk about going through another mobile home. he made have lived in a mobile home in but at least he had enough balls too take care of himself and his family.Even though you think everyone in GA lives in mobile home prior too common beliefs they don't. And he just may have been in the dark and wanted too make sure he finished him off
Posted by: chris ||
10/17/2008 8:23
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#14
Yes, 'moose, Phineas is one of those examples I've read about over the years, this one is amazing (even before his radical personality shifts resulting from the brain damage) in that the trauma really was massive, with a big loss of brain matter, yet he survived physically unchanged (lost vision in one eye IIRC).
Earlier this year, there was this article here about that french guy who led a normal life, married with children and all, whose brain was actually a big watery blob surrounded by a thin layer of brain. But, he was a civil servant in the south of France, so he really didn't need any kind of brain activity whatsoever to go through the days, just an heartbeat.
#16
Here in Seattle a homeowner shot a guy trying to boost his car stereo, "aiming for the legs" and kilt him deader than hell with a head shot. Police have not filed charges,...yet.
apologist police spokesperson said that the (dead) perp had a record, but not in King County ( don't know if that is a backhanded way to say they are looking for a way to book the homeowner or not)
#17
Barbara__ headshots can sometimes have little effect - in SF, two labor leaders were both shot in the head (years apart), one with a .22 and one with a .32. No noticeable effect.
That either says something about small calibers vis-a-vis the headshot or the state of SF labor - your call.
on the other hand, 4 rounds of anything to the head ought to have some impact...
(AKI) Four Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes with Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK rebels in the southeastern province of Hakkari on Wednesday and another soldier was killed when a military helicopter crashed, said an army statement, quoted by Turkish daily Hurriyet's website.
Another soldier was killed and 15 others were slightly wounded, including a brigade general, when a helicopter bringing reinforcements to the combat zone crashed due to a technical fault, the army statement said.
The five PKK rebels were killed in operations in two separate provinces near the Iraqi border - Hakkari and Sirnak - the army said. Eighteen PKK militants were killed in military operations carried out in the region after the clashes, Hurriyet reported.
Turkey, a NATO member has staged almost daily artillery operations and airstrikes against PKK rebels in southeastern Turkey and northern Iraq since a PKK attack killed 17 soldiers earlier this month, the worst attack on the military in over a year.
PKK rebels have stepped up their deadly attacks against Turkish security forces in recent weeks.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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#1
ION IRNA/TOPIX > seems IRAN is claiming that a combined arms MILEX held near Iran-Turkish border was meant to show it could attack ISRAEL???
#2
IRAN is claiming that a combined arms MILEX held near Iran-Turkish border was meant to show it could attack ISRAEL???
They may be able to LAUNCH an attack upon Israel, but the consequences for the mad mullahs would be something less than what they would have expected. I don't think either Turkey or Iraq would allow Iran free passage through their nations, even to attack Israel.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/17/2008 12:15
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(AKI) - Attacking American and Israeli websites by hacking and sabotage is allowed under Islamic law and is a form of 'Jihad' or holy war, top Muslim scholars have decreed.
The religious edict (fatwa) issued by a committee from the highest authority in Sunni Islam, Egypt's Al-Azhar University in Cairo, was published on the website of the Islamist Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood movement on Thursday.
"This is considered a type of lawful Jihad that helps Islam by paralysing the information systems used by our enemies for their evil aims," said the fatwa. "This Jihad is not different from the armed one. In fact, it might be more important if you consider the global dimensions of the Internet. Whoever wins this war will become the strongest in the realm of information," the fatwa continued.
The Muslim Brotherhood praised the fatwa, which comes in response to dozens of questions from radicals asking to be allowed to destroy Israeli and United States websites.
Last week, the news website of Dubai-based Arabic TV network al-Arabiya was attacked by suspected Shia hackers, who posted a burning Israeli flag to the site.
Beneath the flag, a message in Arabic and English read: 'Serious Warning - if attacks on Shia websites continue, none of your websites will be safe.'
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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#1
Time for another "accidental" cable cut in the southern Med.
Posted by: ed ||
10/17/2008 0:44
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(SomaliNet) Ethiopian soldiers are among some 41 people killed in heavy clashes as violence continues to dominate war-torn Somalia.
According to reports, heavily armed insurgents fired mortars at two military bases in the region, in Somalias town of Baidoa, 250 kilometers southeast the capital Mogadishu, killing at least 20 Ethiopian soldiers and seriously injuring 35 others, Press TV correspondent in Somalia reported on Wednesday.
Witnesses say the Ethiopians reacted by shelling residential areas, which left at least 11 civilians dead.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/17/2008
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The trial of the alleged leader of a radical Islamist cell accused of plotting a series of killings and links to al-Qaeda has begun in Morocco. Abdelkader Belliraj was one of more than 30 people, including six Islamist politicians, arrested in February. Mr Belliraj is also accused of killing members of the Jewish community and an imam in Belgium in the late 1980s.
His lawyer said he would plead not guilty. He said his client was employed by the Belgian secret services.
Which means what, exactly ...
The BBC's James Copnall reports from Rabat that the lawyer, Mohamed Ziane, made an impassioned plea for improved conditions for his client, who he said had been held in solitary confinement since his arrest in February.
The heart (urp) bleeds ...
Mr Belliraj and others arrested in February have been accused by the government of plotting a series of killings within Morocco.
Mr Ziane accepted that his client was found with weapons originally sent to Islamists in Algeria, and that these had later returned to Morocco. But he also said he had been working for Belgian intelligence services.
"Belliraj says he visited the world, and terrorist organisations, in concert with the Belgian authorities, including military security," he said. "He says this, and I will repeat it: Belliraj defended Belgium, now it's up to Belgium to defend him."
Family members and friends of the six politicians demonstrated outside the court, chanting: "We're all against political arrests."
Several of the politicians came from moderate Islamist parties. The son of one of the politicians, Mustapha Moatassim, said his father was not guilty. "[He] doesn't believe in violence or terrorism, and he loves his country very much," said Abdesalam Moatassim.
Thanks son ...
Some political parties and human rights groups have sprung to the defence of the politicians, our correspondent says.
There was widespread concern when two ministers appeared to suggest in February that all those arrested were guilty. For this reason the trial is expected to be closely followed, though a verdict is unlikely before next year.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/17/2008
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Taliban fired at a military helicopter in the Muhammad Gat area of Safi tehsil in Mohmand Agency on Thursday, but there were no casualties. The attack followed a gun battle in the Sagai area. The Taliban fled after troops stationed at the security forces base camp in Muhammad Gat retaliated. Dawn News said the political administration banned government officials from entering the agency because of abduction threats. An NNI report said seven Afghan suspects were arrested in the agency during a search operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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#1
why where they arrested and not neutralized?
Posted by: chris ||
10/17/2008 7:58
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I suspect it was one of those brand new Pakistani military helicopters, chris.
A grand jirga of Kurram Agency consisting of parliamentarians, tribal elders and the political administration on Thursday brokered a peace deal between the warring Shia and Sunni sects. brokers peace between warring sects [click!]
brokers peace between warring sects [click!]
brokers peace between warring sects [click!]
brokers peace between warring sects [click!]
brokers peace between warring sects [click!]
brokers peace between warring sects [click!]
brokers peace between warring sects [click!]
Under the agreement signed by a 15-member committee from each side and 23 members of Hangu jirga, bodies of the people killed during clashes and the kidnapped persons will be swapped in the presence of the political administration. Closed roads in the area would be re-opened and around 700 displaced persons would be allowed to return home. Supply of food and medicines would also be ensured in the area.
Addressing a news conference following several days of deliberations, the political agent, jirga members and elected representatives from the area expressed confidence that the accord would herald peace in the agency. the accord would herald peace in the agency[click!]
the accord would herald peace in the agency[click!]
the accord would herald peace in the agency[click!]
the accord would herald peace in the agency[click!]
the accord would herald peace in the agency[click!]
the accord would herald peace in the agency[click!]
Under the agreement, bunkers would be vacated and handed over to the Frontier Corps (FC) and the accord violators would be fined Rs 60 million and the violation treated as an anti-peace move. According to the understanding reached by the jirga members, the grand jirga would visit Kurram Agency on October 25 to ensure the implementation of the agreement by the two sides. Another jirga would be held on November 2 to further ensure implementation of the peace deal.
Kurram Agency Political Agent Azam Khan proposed that the government should provide massive development funds to the agency to counter its backwardness. "Who yew callin' 'backwards,' yew varmint?"[click!]
"Who yew callin' 'backwards,' yew varmint?"[click!]
"Who yew callin' 'backwards,' yew varmint?"[click!]
"Who yew callin' 'backwards,' yew varmint?"[click!]
"Who yew callin' 'backwards,' yew varmint?"[click!]
"Who yew callin' 'backwards,' yew varmint?"[click!]
"Who yew callin' 'backwards,' yew varmint?"[click!]
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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Somali Islamists say they will attack Kenya if it goes ahead with plans to train 10,000 government troops. "We will order all our holy warriors to start the jihadi war inside Kenya," said spokesman Sheikh Muktar Robow.
Who remains alive because ...
Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula has been quoted recently offering the training to beleaguered government forces.
The warning comes as insurgents have again battled government troops and peacekeepers in the capital, Mogadishu. At least five people have been killed, residents and doctors say.
A witness told the BBC there were clashes near an African Union peacekeeping base at the strategic K-4 junction and that mortars were used. The Islamists have increasingly targeted the AU peacekeeping force in recent months, as well as the government and their Ethiopian allies.
The K-4 junction is strategically placed in the south of the city linking the airport and the presidential palace, and some AU peacekeepers are based there. The witness said he could see houses on fire, and heavy gunfire could be heard in the background.
On Thursday, Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi said Ethiopia would review its position in the coming months, but would stay longer if Somali politicians showed "readiness for peace".
Even if Ethiopian troops left, he said, they could still return if the powerful Islamist militia al-Shabab threatened to take power. "Whenever there's a threat posed, we will come back to break their backs," he said. "Any government is preferable to the Shabab. It's in the interest of Ethiopia and the Somali people to prevent them from coming to power."
Mr Meles said Ethiopian troops would remain in Somalia "at least until the African peace force is fully deployed."
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/17/2008
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There is some recent reason to be cautiously optimistic of Pakistani action starting in the Tribal Areas, US General David McKiernan told Reuters on Thursday.
He said the outcome in Afghanistan would also be tied to FATA. "Ultimately the outcome in Afghanistan will not be a military outcome, it will be a political outcome."
He said foreign militants had imported sophisticated tactics to invigorate the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan but Western pessimism over the conflict was unwarranted.
The increase in violence over the last year was due to the resurgent Taliban being forced to shift tactics to "small scale, asymmetric, more complex attacks", on soft targets like civilians, aid workers and government officials, he said, adding while there was "uneven progress" around Afghanistan, "to say we are losing or the Taliban are winning is simply not true".
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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A French court has accused a top Algerian diplomat of complicity in the 1987 killing of a dissident in Paris, prompting sharp words from Algeria's government yesterday.
Ali Mecili, a lawyer active in Algeria's human rights movement, was killed by three gunshots in the foyer of his Paris apartment, and colleagues at the time accused the Algerian government of involvement. This August, more than 20 years after the killing, Algerian diplomat Mohamed Ziane Hasseni was arrested at an airport in the French port city of Marseille, based on an international arrest warrant issued by a French judge.
A Paris court confirmed Tuesday that preliminary charges have been filed against Hasseni, the chief of protocol at Algeria's Foreign Ministry. Hasseni is no longer in custody but he is under judicial supervision and barred from leaving France.
The next day, Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci paid an urgent visit to France to express Algeria's "disapproval" and "deep preoccupation" over the charges. Algeria's foreign minister pressed his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner to make sure French authorities "take all necessary measures to settle this issue rapidly," the Algerian Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued to The Associated Press.
They could shoot Hasseni tomorrow ...
Algeria "awaits a just verdict that will confirm the evident innocence of a high-ranking civil servant (who has been) unfairly questioned," the ministry said.
The French Foreign Ministry confirmed Wednesday's meeting but would not comment on what was said.
This article starring:
Mohamed Ziane Hasseni
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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Scratch one more ship funded from the 313-ship fleet. For the third time in 2008, a Littoral Combat Ship previously funded by Congress has been canceled, and funds will pay for cost overruns.
#1
Lockheed doesn't know how to build boats. Need to leave it with Northrop (who doesn't know either in the main part of the company, but they bought the companies that did know, in MIss and Va)
#2
ION WAFF.com > US EYES REACTION FORCE THAT ROCKETS INTO SPACE [space assault].
IIRC, ROGER MOORE as James Bond 007 in MOONRACER [astro-suit laser space battle scene]???
*TOPIX > AIR FORCE TIMES > seems GUAM's AAFB may expect to see UAV units here. among other, as per the much-anticipated MIL BUILDUP. THE USDOD-USAF is still considering dev of LR "PERMANENT ORBIT" OR NEAR-PERM UNMANNED STRIKE BOMBERS FOR STRATEGIC MISSIONS.
IIRC again, SPACEWAR > PTERODACTYL-LIKE UAVS TO CONTROL AIR, LAND, AND SEA; + SCIENCE USES ADVANCED NANO-TECHNOLOGIES TO DEFEAT MILITANTISM AND GLOBAL WARMING.
T-REX to FLIPPER and SNAKES, VOLTRON SUITS to ROBO-INSECTS.
D *** NG IT, MORIARITY, don't mess wid FLIPPER - he's armed wid LASERS + HELLFIRE LOWBOWS, etc now!
#3
SIGN OF THE APOCALYPSE NO **** > JIMMY's LITTLE GREN PET TURTLE IS NOT WHAT IT SEEMS, besides also being unregistered in the OWG Patriotic Turtle = Hero of the USSA Database???
#4
The Pentagon is programming both Obama and a recession into the equation, and is funneling money into protected high value programs. They figure they might have to weather four or eight lean years.
Hopefully, in the boom years, they created a huge reservoir of black budget accounts that they can feed from now.
Posted by: online poker ||
10/17/2008 10:25
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#6
I wish it were that easy Anonymoose. The services are budgeting via a Planning Programming Budgeting and Execution System (PPBE) for the produces a Program Operating Memorandum or POM for short. It's a five year projection document. There is some latitude for shifing funds but the system is pretty closely monitored. The services are betting on a McCain victory. If McCain loses, well, all bets are off on the entire DoD budget. Remember Obama's promise to "look carefully at ALL governemnt programs?" The midnight basketball dollars have to come from somewhere.
#9
can anyone explain too me what in the hell Joseph Mendiola is talking about in ANY of his post. please
Posted by: chris ||
10/17/2008 17:23
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#10
I wish it were that easy Bseoeker. The Navy doesn't have a flippin strategy. They want to build a fleet to fight an enemy that doesn't exist and won't build a fleet to attack the one that does. The are lost at sea without an astrolab. It appears their sole purpose in life is to make the Air Farce look good.
#11
I'm kind of wondering why we have a navy anyway if they can't/won't take down a bunch of scurvy Somali pirates. If they won't take those clearly delineated bastards/threats to civilization down, who in Hell will they fight?
#12
can anyone explain too me what in the hell Joseph Mendiola is talking about in ANY of his post. please
Poor chris. There are lots of special contractions in JosephM posts, many of which I suspect he learnt in the Service, others of which are from mathematics, I believe. From #2:
ION = in other news
WAFF.com > = at the site waff.com he saw an article about...
IIRC = if I recall correctly, a standard internet abbreviation
then he talks about one of the James Bond movies. JosephM has an encyclopedic memory of films and television shows.
I'm not sure what *TOPIX refers to, that may be a news amalgamation web site.
AIR FORCE TIMES = the AF newspaper, presumably on-line
seems GUAM's AAFB may expect to see UAV units here. among other, as per the much-anticipated MIL BUILDUP. THE USDOD-USAF is still considering dev of LR "PERMANENT ORBIT" OR NEAR-PERM UNMANNED STRIKE BOMBERS FOR STRATEGIC MISSIONS.
JosephM lives on Guam. The air force base may get UAV 'pilots' if there is a hoped-for military build-up that the US Dept. of Defence/Air Force is pondering. Long range there may be bombers in permanent orbet flying out of there (I think -- that's something I know absolutely nothing about).
The last bit, addressed to Moriarty, is just JosephM being silly.
JosephM, please correct where my attempted translation of your dense prose style is incorrect. Thank you!
In the auditorium at the Joint Staff College at Camp Rustumiya, Baghdad, 64 new Iraqi army officers gathered for their graduation ceremony. One by one they marched to the front, stamped to attention and received their new badges, as well as a gift-wrapped mobile telephone.
Chief of Staff Gen Badurkhan Zebari Babakir was there, and with him the commander of the Nato Training Mission in Iraq, Gen Frank Helmick.
Gen Babakir told the graduates that the new armed forces were "proud to provide a safe environment for the Iraqi people".
Gen Helmick cautioned the new officers "not to revert back to the way it used to be - but do things they way they should be".
He emphasised an essential difference between the new Iraqi army and the military that served under Saddam Hussein, always fearful of their mercurial leader. He said officers were now "free to express their opinions, free to suggest better ways of doing things".
I asked the general if he was confident that the new army was ready to take full responsibility for security in Iraq. "We're not where we want to be," he replied, "and we're not where we need to be, but thank goodness we're not where we used to be."
One of the new officers, Maj Basim, joined the Iraqi army 15 years ago. He spent the 2003 war in the elite Republican Guard, much of the time in and around Saddam Hussein's home town of Tikrit. But now, Maj Basim assured me, "the army works for the people, not against them".
In addition to military training, the officers have had courses in international relations, human rights and the law. The civics tutor at the staff college is Prof Assam Munad. As the Iraqi army becomes a large disciplined force, Prof Munad is concerned about the "lack of civilian control" over the military. "It's very risky," he said, "the army may put their noses into politics - and they shouldn't".
But if they do, there is much better organised potential opposition to the military here than there ever was under the tightly controlled regime of Saddam Hussein. The Shia militias might see the new well-trained officers as a Trojan Horse - a way of levering supporters of the old regime back into power.
The militias are quiet at the moment, but they have not been disbanded, and if suspicions about the Iraqi army are nourished, it isn't hard to imagine a new phase of violent confrontation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/17/2008
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#1
the army works for the people, not against them
If they manage to pull this off, it will be the ONLY Arab Army to do so in the hsitroy of the region.
#3
Ah, there's the danger of the persistence of the ancient regime. For all the fine words of the Constitution which would eventually be ratified, little note is made of the departure of tens of thousands of Tory Crown Loyalists hounded and driven from the newly independent United States. There is a difference between tolerant and stupid.
Oil prices have slumped further, with Brent crude sliding under 67 dollars a barrel -- the lowest level for more than 15 months. That's $1.675 per gallon for crude. Add 50 cents for refining and transport, taxes and tags, and it translates to $2.18 a gallon for gasoline.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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Getting there.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
10/17/2008 7:58
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No worry. It'll rise back once the plans for offshore drilling, etc. are dumped.
#3
Still several hundred thousand barrels per day of production from the Gulf of Mexico off line from the hurricanes. Supply is down, prices are dropping, what does that say about demand? Dropping faster. Both US and foreign demand. And of course speculative demand - somebody got left holding that $140/barrel bag (probably we taxpayers as part of the bailout.)
#5
I keep asking and nobody can tell me, where did those speculators keep all that oil they were hoarding? There sure must be a lot of empty oil tanks right now.
#7
Where's that tariff I've been calling for to hold imported oil at a $60 baseline? (And put the resulting revenue into energy infrastructure?)
Nah, let the cartels take it to $25 again and wipe out all the companies that have been investing in alternatives. Don't forget the cartels pump oil for less than $5, they can hold it down for six months and then jack it back up. That should do it.
The only bright spot is that Iran and Chavez might not survive the oil crash. The Saudis will be fine (and pleased with the outcome).
Fazlur Rehman, the chief of his own government-allied faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, criticised the government's counterterrorism efforts during Thursday's in-camera parliamentary sitting on national security -- coming out as a spokesman for Taliban.
Calling for a truce, he offered to mediate between the government and the Taliban "if the government sincerely wants to resolve the issue".
Sources familiar with the proceedings said Fazl criticised the government for 'blindly following US policies' and strongly opposed the military operation in Swat and the Tribal Areas.
"Of the government's policy of three Ds (dialogue, development and deterrence), our party believes in the first two," a Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl legislator quoted him as saying.
He came down hard on the government's statement that seminaries were breeding terrorism, saying the previous regime had adopted the stance to malign religious schools at America's behest. Talking about the increasing incidents of US incursions into Pakistan, he said the government had compromised the country's sovereignty.
PML-N: Earlier, opening the debate, Opposition Leader in the National Assembly Nisar Ali Khan grilled the government for pursuing former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf's policies on the war on terror. He demanded that Musharraf and his officials who formulated the policy be summoned in parliament.
He repeated the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz's demand that the government make public any secret agreements between the former president and the US, and formulate a 'national policy' to fight terrorism through parliament.
He said law and order could worsen if the government did not change its policies including its counterterrorism strategy.
Opposition leader in Senate Kamil Ali Agha proposed forming a committee with equal representation from the opposition and the government to hold dialogue with all stakeholders in FATA, 'including militants'.
The committee should then put together a joint resolution for the parliament to adopt.
He admitted that the policy framed by Pervez Musharraf had failed, but claimed the present government was following it 'more vigorously'. He also demanded parliament be briefed on the agreements and dialogue with militants so far.
FATA legislator Munir Khan Orakzai asked the government to stop the military operation and engage tribal elders to restore peace in the troubled areas.
Leader of the House in the Senate Raza Rabbani defended the government's three-pronged strategy and rejected the allegation that his government had been following Musharraf's policies, saying it had instead called the parliamentary session to develop national consensus on dealing with terrorism.
The debate will resume as the house meets again at 10am today (Friday).
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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#1
In lieu of money, he'll take his payment in doughnuts.
Prison guards seized grenades and handguns from Taliban after they revolted in the Timergara district jail in Lower Dir on Thursday.
Four policemen made hostage were rescued, said Lower Dir police chief Fida Hussain Shah. He said that nine hand grenades, 37 pistols and 14 mobile phones were seized. "Had we not opened fire they would have broken out," prison official Mumtaz Burney told AP, adding an investigation was under way to find out how the weapons were smuggled into the prison.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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#1
my first guess would be guards smuggled the arms into the jails like they do in US with drugs
Posted by: chris ||
10/17/2008 7:57
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Or maybe the ISI interrogator brought them in. Or maybe the warden. Watch for the guards who seized the weapons to be the ones fired.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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Iff the Globalists, etc. desire SOCIALIST WORLD ORDER IN THE ABSENCE OF LESS-THAN-ABSOLUTE/TOTAL VICTORY GEOPOL CONDITIONS, then America = Amerika should expect the econ morass to continue BEYOND the 2009-2016 POST-DUBYA PERIOD.
IMO THIS MEANS ISLAMIST MILITANTISM AND OTHER RADICALISMS MUST BE GENER EMPOWERED, NOT WEAKENED!
Iraqi Interior official on Thursday said his ministry would announce the names of individuals implicated in killing a lawmaker loyal to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, in upcoming days. "The arrested wanted individuals admitted their involvement in killing MP Saleh al-Eikili", Maj. Gen. Abdelkarim Khalaf, chief of National Command Centre in the Interior Ministry, told Aswat al-Iraq.
However, the interior official stressed the Ministry "would not announce the names until al individuals involved in the killing operation are arrested".
PM Nouri al-Maliki ordered setting up a commission of inquiry headed by Interior Minister to probe the killing of MP Saleh al-Eakili from the Sadrist bloc and to bring the perpetrators to justice". Al-Eikili died of his wounds after his car was hit with a roadside bomb on the perimeters of Shiite slum Sadr City. The MP was a senior member of al-Sadr's political bloc, which has 30 seats in the 275-member parliament. The Shiite cleric's cease-fire order to his militia has been a key factor in a sharp decline in violence over the past year.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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The meltdown in the global financial system may spare Al Qaeda. It is thought to have access to strong potential funding sources - and thus might dodge fallout from the global crunch devastating others. One principal reason the groups may avoid fallout now is because they have been forced to pull away from banks, relying instead on less-efficient ways to move money. The methods, including hand-carrying money and using informal money-transfer networks called hawalas - likely will shield extremists from the current banking system turmoil.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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#1
thay also may have invested in gold
Posted by: chris ||
10/17/2008 7:56
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Hummm... : gold + diamonds + opium + local fingers in various traffiking (from drugs to counterfeiting, to arabian wild honey or arabic gum)... plus of course, the never-ending money from muslim charities, and generous arab millionaires, and probably monnies from various intelligence (iran, pakistan???). Looks realistical?
#4
Maybe the Saudi oil barons have their own version of a bailout for jihadist underway.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/17/2008 9:34
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If they are so rich, why were they begging Al Qaeda in Iraq for money not so long ago? The opium trade belongs to the Taliban; what odds they'd give over the loot they worked so hard for to a bunch of free-loading Arabs?
#6
#5: If they are so rich, why were they begging Al Qaeda in Iraq for money not so long ago?
Why spend your own money, if you can get some sucker to buy it for you?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/17/2008 15:22
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See WAFF.com > MUSLIMS PRPEPARE TO TAKE OVER EUROPE FROM WITHIN; + NEPAL's MAOISTS: PURISTS OR PRAGMATISTS. More popularly known as "Iff You can't kill 'em, join 'em" [or marry them, then kill 'em]. Iff Fascists = Limited Communists, Capitalists = Limited Socialists, etc. IS THE TALIBAN = "MTV" AL QAEDA???
Lest we fergit, "ASSASSIN'S MACE" + ANTI-US "LOCAL/WAR ZONE" STRATEGEMS > GREATEST FOCII = MEDIUM FOR VICTORY REMAINS EMPHASIS ON SUBJECTIVE OR SURREAL POLITICAL AND INFORMATION WARFARE, NOT COMBAT OR EVEN HI-TECHNOLOGIES, ETC.
E.g. TOPIX/IRNA/OTHER > WORLD IS SEEING THE RISE/ADVENT OF NEW REGIONAL POWERS, as due in part to [anti-US/Western?]Local Nationalism, Ethnicism, Regionalism, etc.
#8
ION COUNTERRORISM BLOG > REPORT: PARIS SUSPECTS RUSSIA IS ARMING HIZBOLLAH [via Syria]. Bulgarian INTEL found suspected Hizb-destined Russ arms aboard a cargo ship headed for SYRIA???
Renewed fighting between the Congolese army and forces loyal to a renegade general has displaced more than 100,000 people in the eastern part of Congo since August, according to U.N. officials, who described the situation as "catastrophic."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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The only thing catastrophic is that nobody's giving those 100,000 people guns and ammo to fight back.
The Useless Nitwits in non-action again.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/17/2008 20:18
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Gen. David H. Petraeus has launched a major reassessment of U.S. strategy for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and the surrounding region, while warning that the lack of development and the spiraling violence in Afghanistan will probably make it "the longest campaign of the long war." The 100-day assessment will result in a new campaign plan for the Middle East and Central Asia, a region in which Petraeus will oversee the operations of more than 200,000 American troops as the new head of U.S. Central Command, beginning Oct. 31.
The review will formally begin next month, but experts and military officials involved said Petraeus is already focused on at least two major themes: government-led reconciliation of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the leveraging of diplomatic and economic initiatives with nearby countries that are influential in the war.
The review comes as Petraeus, who led a counterinsurgency effort credited with drastically reducing attack levels in Iraq, faces widespread expectations that he will find a way to arrest escalating violence and U.S. troop casualties in Afghanistan, fueled by growing militant havens in Pakistan.
It also coincides with the Bush administration's own urgent reassessment of Afghanistan strategy amid pessimism that the situation there is rapidly deteriorating. Indeed, some senior administration officials have expressed concern that Petraeus is casting his net too widely with a regional review at a time when Afghanistan and western Pakistan desperately need rescuing.
In appearances this month in Washington, however, Petraeus has sought to manage expectations of any repeat of the Iraq performance in Afghanistan -- often suggested by Republican presidential candidate John McCain -- stressing that Afghanistan is not Iraq, and that while some concepts are "transplantable," Afghanistan has daunting challenges likely to require a far lengthier effort. "The effort in Afghanistan is going to be the longest campaign of the long war," Petraeus said in a meeting yesterday with Washington Post reporters and editors.
Parts of Afghanistan have "actually been spiraling downward throughout the course of this year," Petraeus said last week at the Heritage Foundation. "The biggest lesson of counterinsurgency is that every situation is unique. You have to be very careful to have that nuanced understanding . . . of the circumstances on the ground," he said.
Petraeus is recruiting a brain trust of advisers, much as he did for Iraq, taking the studious approach that has become the hallmark of the four-star general who holds a doctorate in international relations from Princeton University.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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#1
If has a bit of extra time, could he assemble a "brain trust of advisors" and have a look at the US economy? Current and former politicians of either political party need not apply.
#1
RIAN > RUSSIAN ANAYLSYS EXPECT OBAMA TO BECOME PRESIDENT [next US], due to Obama in their analysis winning all three POTUS debates + general elex trend + US Financial Crisis [protractive, Bush WOT-induced]. RUSSIANS > MCCAIN = BUSH, thusly few Amer Voters desire to see another GOP = BUSH in the White House come Jan 2009???
A suspected U.S. missile strike near the headquarters of a top Taliban leader in Pakistan's tribal areas Thursday killed six people and injured five others, according to Pakistani intelligence officials and residents.
The attack occurred late Thursday morning, said Ikramullah Mehsud, a resident, when an unmanned U.S. Predator drone fired several missiles on two homes in the town of Ladha in the tribal area of South Waziristan. A Pakistani intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the bombardment killed at least two extremist commanders who are believed to be of Arab origin. "The others killed were most likely local militants, but we don't have any information about the owners of the two houses that were bombed," the intelligence official said.
In the wake of faltering Pakistani efforts to control the flow of insurgents across the border into Afghanistan, U.S. missile attacks on Islamist insurgents sheltering in the rugged mountainous tribal areas of Pakistan have become more frequent this year. There have been 12 such attacks on Pakistan's tribal areas since August. Most of the recent missile strikes have occurred in the tribal areas of South and North Waziristan, which are believed to be the main operational bases for top al-Qaeda leaders.
But Thursday's attack in South Waziristan was notable because it marked the first aerial assault in more than a year on a well-known redoubt of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, according to another Pakistani intelligence official. The official said there was no indication that Mehsud was nearby when the attack occurred, but residents told authorities that several Arab men believed to be allied with the Taliban had been seen in the area of the attack recently.
U.S. intelligence officials have named Mehsud as the mastermind behind the Dec. 27 suicide bomb attack that killed former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Mehsud has denied responsibility for her death. With an estimated 25,000 Islamist insurgents united under his command, Mehsud is, nonetheless, considered by many military and intelligence experts to be one of Pakistan's most powerful Taliban commanders.
Concerns about the spread of the Taliban insurgency inside Pakistan reached new heights last month after a spectacular suicide bomb attack on a Marriott Hotel in Islamabad killed more than 50 people and injured about 250. Rising security concerns have been a topic of debate among Pakistani lawmakers who met this week in a closed-door session to discuss a recent military briefing about insurgent activity in the country.
In recent months, Pakistan has evolved into the new frontline in the U.S.-led war on Islamist insurgents in the region. On Wednesday, top U.S., Pakistani and Afghan military officials met in Islamabad to discuss cooperative efforts to combat insurgents on both sides of the 1,500 mile border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. It was the second time in recent months that the top NATO commander, Gen. David D. McKiernan, has met in Islamabad with the Pakistani army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, and the Afghan army chief, Gen. Bismullah Khan.
McKiernan, in a written statement released Thursday, said Pakistan, Afghanistan and NATO must work together to close gaps in military efforts to crush the insurgency. "We most close those seams and work together to give the insurgents no place to hide," McKiernan said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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#1
When there is an explosion in a place like that I never know whether to believe reports that it was a US missile or to guess it was actually a red wire-green wire work accident for which we are a scapegoat. Either way is good.
#2
The other possibility, Glenmore, is that we've "loaned" the Pakistanis one of our Predators, and only every OTHER attack is carried out by one of ours. As long as Meshud doesn't suspect, it's ok.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/17/2008 13:28
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The ISI must be livid... unless they've decided to give us the Al Qaeda foreigners in hopes of preserving their pet Taliban.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq's alleged No. 2 leader, who the U.S. military said died this month after a gun battle with American forces in northern Iraq, was a Swedish citizen designated as a terrorist by the United States, the United Nations and the European Union, a U.S. official said Thursday.
The intelligence official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Muhammad Moumou, 43, a Moroccan native, was the man U.S. military officials in Baghdad identified Wednesday as Abu Qaswarah.
U.S. officials say Moumou, who was born in the Moroccan city of Fez and obtained Swedish citizenship in 1994, was a close associate of al-Qaeda in Iraq founder Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2006.
Moumou was the Sunni insurgent group's top commander in northern Iraq, where violence has continued to rage even as al-Qaeda in Iraq has suffered significant setbacks in Baghdad and other former strongholds.
He appears to be the first European citizen to have held a top role within al-Qaeda in Iraq, a largely Iraqi insurgent group that U.S. intelligence officials say is led by non-Iraqi Arabs. He played a key role in recruiting and deploying foreign fighters in Iraq, the U.S. military said.
Posted by: ed ||
10/17/2008 0:20
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Just shows you the whole sorry mess western national identities have became over the last few decades. He was not a swedish citizen, for crying it out loud, he was a moroccan who lived in Sweden, and was given ID papers by the swedish STATE. He certainly WAS NOT a citizen, and even less a swedish man.
#8
StrategyPage Oct 9: A man killed during a raid on the 5th was revealed as Abu Qaswarah, the number two al Qaeda leader in Iraq. Qaswarah is a Moroccan who migrated to Sweden in the 1980s and had a Swedish passport. He has a wife and five kids in Sweden, and has long been active in Islamic radical activities. But he never did anything illegal in Sweden, so the police there could only keep an eye on him. But two years ago, the deteriorating (al Qaeda) situation in Iraq prompted Qaswarah to go to the front, where he was useful recruiting and moving terrorist recruits into Iraq. He proved an able terrorist leader, and rose through the ranks, until a U.S. Special Forces operator put a bullet into him. Qaswarah then detonated his suicide vest, killing several nearby women and children.
Posted by: ed ||
10/17/2008 23:29
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(AKI) - Spanish police have arrested at least 18 terror suspects of Moroccan origin with alleged links to Al-Qaeda in the provinces of Catalonia, Andalucia and Madrid on Thursday, reported Spanish media.
The suspects helped some of the suspects in the deadly bombings of Madrid commuters in March 2004 to escape and were allegedly in charge of recruiting militants and financing Islamist activities, prosecutors allege.
The raids were carried out in the northeastern town of Santa Coloma de Gramanet where eight suspects were nabbed. The other arrests took place in the towns of Badalona near Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Valles and Villanova i la Geltru among others. The raids were ordered by top Spanish prosecutor Baltasar Garzon.
The Madrid bombings on 11 March 2004 were Europe's worst terror attack since the 1988 Lockerbie bombing in Scotland. A total of 191 people were killed and 2,000 were injured when 10 rucksack bombs exploded in four crowded commuter trains.
Twenty-one people, including a number of North Africans, were sentenced to over 40,000 years in jail for their roles in the attack. It was carried out by a loosely knit group of Al-Qaeda-inspired Muslim militants and occurred three days before the country's general election.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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(AKI) - At least 600 illegal immigrants arrived to the southern Italian coast on Thursday aboard three vessels. The would-be migrants arrived to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, said Palermo's port authorities and were being rescued by Finance Police and Italian Coast Guard authorities.
The arrival of the immigrants follow a previous one on Wednesday, when at least 250 immigrants arrived to Lampedusa.
More than 22,500 illegal immigrants have landed on Lampedusa so far this year - more than twice the number that arrived over the same period of 2007, according to remarks by Italian Interior Ministry Roberto Maroni.
Last week, hundreds of illegal immigrants were airlifted from the southern Italian island of Lampedusa to temporary reception centres on the mainland. The move was taken after the arrival on Lampedusa of over 1,000 illegal immigrants in 12 separate landings, which left the island's identification and holding centre overflowing.
The number of illegal migrants heading for southern Mediterranean countries such as Italy aboard people traffickers' boats surges during the warmer months from April to October.
Lampedusa is a tiny island that is closer to Africa than the European continent and a favourite drop off point for the people smugglers. Hundreds arrive each week in search of a better life in Europe aboard people smugglers' boats which mostly set sail from North Africa.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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First, execute the captain and crew of the vessel that brought them there for piracy. Then, run 'em back and dump them on the Libyan shore and tell Libya that they'll be held responsible for any other vessels sailing from their ports that bring illegals over.
Power-sharing talks in Zimbabwe between Robert Mugabe, the president, and Morgan Tsvangirai, his rival the prime minister designate, have again become deadlocked over control of the country's ministries.
After nearly eight hours of talks on Thursday, Nelson Chamisa, a spokesman for Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MC), said negotiations had stalled. "We have reached a deadlock over key ministries," Chamisa said. "What we seek to achieve is the equitable distribution of key ministries," he said. "There has been some movement, but not enough to seal the deal.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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Zimbabwe Power Sharing is now the African equivalent of Palestinian Unity.
Iraqi police on Thursday said an ordnance disposal team defused two roadside bombs in Baghdad. "Intelligence tips reported by civilians led an ordnance disposal team to defuse two roadside bomb planted by unknown individuals in a school in Sadr City district.
Sadr City and surrounding areas were long dominated by al-Sadr's Mahdi Army militia and where the site of fierce clashes between U.S.-Iraqi forces and Shiite extremists earlier this year. The area has been relatively peaceful after al-Sadr declared his cease-fire and the Iraqi security forces assumed control in late May.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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At least 13 Muslim guerrillas were killed on Thursday when Philippine aircraft dropped bombs on a fortified rebel position in a southern marshland, an army spokesman said.
Major Randolph Cabangbang said dozens of rebels from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) were also wounded when soldiers called in an air strike to flush out guerrillas hiding behind thick concrete bunkers and trenches in the Datu Piang area. "Bombs were dropped from planes and rockets were fired from helicopters to soften the ground," Cabangbang said, adding the air strikes helped ground troops take the rebel position without much resistance.
"We did not lose any soldier in the attack, but we were told the rebels suffered heavy casualties. Based on our intelligence, 13 were killed and 30 were wounded in the attack." Colonel Marlou Salazar, a brigade commander in Maguindanao province, said the rebels have been using a network of concrete irrigation canals as trenches and foxholes. "They were also digging bomb shelters under some concrete houses in a number of abandoned communities," he told reporters, adding about 60 rebels were in the area where planes dropped 500-pound bombs.
Nearly 300 people have been killed in two months of fighting between security forces and renegades from the largest Muslim rebel group in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic state. The fighting has displaced more than 500,00 people. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court ruled to strike down the deal as unconstitutional, making it more difficult for the two sides to return to peace talks.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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Aswat al-Iraq: About three policemen and four civilians were killed in clashes between police and gunmen in Missan on Thursday, a security source said. "Three policemen including an officer and four civilians during clashes that erupted between a police patrol and gunmen in Kumeit district, 25 km north Amara," a Missan police source told Aswat al-Iraq. "The clashes broke out when the police patrol raided a house in Kumeit district searching for wanted individuals," the source noted.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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#1
I can't quite figure out this story. Did police raid the house of civilians, who then shot at the police, who then engaged in shootouts with those civilians and a total of 3 police and 4 civilians were killed? Or did the gunmen get away and four bystanders get killed?
A grand jirga here on Thursday formed a 700-strong lashkar (volunteers' militia) and 100 committees for therestoration of peace in the area. The jirga was held at the Bisham Police Station and was attended by nazims, political and religious leaders, and elders of the area. District Police Officer Iqbal Khan Marwat sought help from people in maintaining peace in the area and said the Taliban were disgracing Islam and Muslims. He also urged the religious leaders to play their role in restoration of peace. The participants vowed to flush the Taliban out of the town and support the police in maintaining peace and order.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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An Afghan policeman hurled a grenade and opened fire on a U.S. military foot patrol in eastern Afghanistan on Thursday, killing an American soldier and raising fears that insurgents have infiltrated the police. It was the second attack by a policeman on U.S. soldiers in eastern Afghanistan in less than a month.
The patrol was returning to a base in Bermel district of Paktika province when they were attacked by the policeman, who was standing on a tower, the military said. The soldiers returned fire, killing the officer.
Training of the police force and the Afghan national army are key elements in the U.S. strategy of dealing with a vicious Taliban-led insurgency that has spread in many parts of the country.
Militants in Afghanistan have in the past disguised themselves in police or army uniforms when attacking Afghan and foreign troops, but real policemen were responsible for the attacks Thursday and last month. Then, an officer opened fire at a Paktia police station, killing a soldier and wounding three before he was fatally shot.
Posted by: ed ||
10/17/2008
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#1
The soldiers returned fire, killing the officer
Good policy. Better policy would be killed by gutshot. Best would be death due to delayed medical response to gutshot due to a deniable overabundance of caution.
#2
as long as another one is dead, by the way, this has nothing too do with the article but them always calling others civilians. those civilians support the insurgents and the kiddies grow up too be more insurgents
Posted by: chris ||
10/17/2008 7:54
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#4
I'm curious about these Afghan police who turn on US soldiers. It seems certain to me that they intend to die for their efforts. Did they join the police with a small-scale suicide as their primary mission? Or did they hope to gain valuable information. or what? To try to kill at most 3 or 4 of their enemy for their own life seems inefficient to me. Surely, they could wait for mess hall times, field meeting times, riding with the troops times and others that might provide a greater potential target. Does anyone reading this have an idea of the profile(s) for these idiots?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/17/2008 12:19
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#5
that is their profile. they are idiots
Posted by: chris ||
10/17/2008 17:01
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#6
my take on this (pure speculation) is that the Afghan policeman may have been confused as to who was approaching/moving and had not gotten the info that the group he fired on was friendlies. for all intents, he could have believed he was engaging a Taliban patrol and just made a poor decision.
the other suggested motives here are equally likely, but my personal motto is "never attribute to malice what is easily explained by stupidity"
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
10/17/2008 18:44
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(AKI) - Germany's lower house of parliament on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to increase by 1,000 the number of troops it can send to Afghanistan and extended the mission's mandate by 14 months.
Under a previous parliamentary mandate, Germany was allowed to send up to 3,500 troops to Afghanistan. Thursday's vote increases that number to 4,500. Germany is one of nearly 40 countries that have deployed troops to Afghanistan within the 50,000-strong NATO-led peacekeeping mission (ISAF).
But the move by Chancellor Angela Merkel's ruling coalition to extend Berlin's participation in a NATO peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan is unpopular with German voters, who are mindful of the rising violence in the war-torn country.
Morale among German soldiers is at a record low as they face mounting attacks from a resurgent Taliban.
Maybe if they were allowed to defend themselves ...
During the past year, the security situation has deteriorated across Afghanistan, including the north, where German soldiers are stationed. German soldiers in northern Afghanistan daily run the risk of "being caught in an explosion or being shot at," said an unnamed officer, quoted by Germany's DPA news agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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#1
Still Barney Fife, only one bullet and must be kept in their pocket.
#2
Not the Army, those who send them with arms attached
Posted by: European Conservative ||
10/17/2008 0:37
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#3
Definitely not the troop's fault. Blame the politicians. Ditto for French, Brit, Dutch, etc. troops. These guys would all kick ass if permitted. Don't paint the troops the piss yellow coward color of their politicians.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
10/17/2008 7:54
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#4
Whiskey Mike: that is a good thing to keep in mind.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
10/17/2008 11:38
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Thailand and Cambodia have agreed to conduct joint military patrols after Wednesday's border clashes left two Cambodian soldiers dead.
The move comes after both sides held lengthy emergency talks in the aftermath of skirmishes at the disputed border area near the 900-year-old Preah Vihear temple. General Wiboonsak Neeparn, the Thai regional commander, said both countries would keep troops and artillery in the region. Marga Ortigas, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from the disputed border, said there was no formal ceasefire agreement.
Several soldiers on both sides were also wounded during Wednesday's gun battles. Thousands of Cambodian villagers in the area near the Preah Vihear temple have fled their homes amid fears of more violence.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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Sri Lanka's military on Thursday stepped up attacks against suspected Tamil Tiger positions in the island's north where intense ground battles have been raging for months, the defence ministry said.
Airforce jets bombed an arms store and a command centre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north, the ministry said. It gave no details of casualties.
The latest air strikes came as ground troops were battling to capture the northern town of Kilinochchi, 330 kilometers north of the capital Colombo, where the Tigers maintain their political capital. The defence ministry was yet to release details of overnight ground battles. The ministry has been releasing daily tolls from the northern battle field where security forces said they were on the outskirts of Kilinochchi.
Meanwhile Artillery shelling and fighting which erupted in northern Sri Lanka on Thursday forced a United Nations convoy carrying food and aid to more than 230,000 refugees to turn back, officials said. The UN convoy was only the second to enter the war zone, where Sri Lanka's military is battling separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, since the government last month ordered most aid agencies out, saying it could not guarantee their safety. The 50-truck convoy had left Vavuniya, 250 km northeast of the capital Colombo, at midday carrying 750 metric tonnes of food to a growing number of people trapped by fighting. "There was fighting close to the convoy and we decided to turn back," said UN spokesman Gordon Weiss in Colombo. "Right now we are trying to get security assurances from both sides so we can start the process again tomorrow," he added. Growing numbers of people had fled an intensified military offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and have become trapped between rebels who won't let them leave and an army whose offer of safe passage they distrust.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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A two-day meeting of the Pak-Afghan 'mini jirga' would be held on October 27 and 28 in Islamabad in which representatives from the two countries would exchange views on the on-going war on terror. Sources said the grand jirga had decided to institute a 'mini jirga' to meet regularly, but its meeting was delayed due to various issues. They said the forthcoming meeting was extremely important, as relations between Kabul and Islamabad have improved after the new government took over in Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/17/2008
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#1
So, if a "jirga" is a big meeting, a "mini jirga" is like, a regular meeting? Sounds fair.
BAGHDAD (AP) - A looming split between the two Shiite parties that dominate Iraq's government threatens efforts to win parliamentary approval for a security pact with the U.S. and could set the stage for a major struggle for power in the oil-rich Shiite southern heartland.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa Party and the Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council led by Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim have been allies since the 2003 fall of Saddam Hussein's Sunni-led regime. Now they are rapidly turning into bitter rivals, raising the specter of a weakened Shiite front ahead of two key elections next year.
The security agreement, reached after months of tortuous negotiations, would allow U.S. troops to remain here after their U.N. mandate expires Dec. 31. It is critical to ensuring Iraq's security until government forces are capable of taking charge of the fight against insurgents. A draft has been completed and the government is preparing to submit it to parliament for final approval - which U.S. officials believe is by no means certain.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/17/2008
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Blackwater Worldwide today announced that its 183 foot ship, the McArthur, stands ready to assist the shipping industry as it struggles with the increasing problem of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and elsewhere.
The dramatic increase of pirate attacks on merchant vessels in the Gulf of Aden has led to parallel cost increases for the shipping industry. Shipping insurance has risen tenfold this year alone. With the added danger pay offered to crews willing to make the journey, pirate ransom demands that reach into the millions, and lengthy negotiations for hijacked ships, if left unaddressed the cost of the piracy boom to the shipping industry -- and consumers buying their goods -- will only increase.
"Billions of dollars of goods move through the Gulf of Aden each year," said Bill Matthews, Executive Vice President of Blackwater Worldwide. "We have been contacted by ship owners who say they need our help in making sure those goods get to their destination safely. The McArthur can help us accomplish that."
Some shippers have taken the step of arming their crews, or hiring private security to ride onboard cargo ships. Rather than having armed guards on a cargo vessel, the McArthurs ability to accompany a ship and deploy helicopters to patrol the area provides a safer option for the shipping industry.
The McArthur was reconfigured and modified in 2006 and is now a Blackwater Worldwide Maritime Security Support Craft. The McArthur is a multi-purpose maritime vessel designed to support military and law enforcement training, peacekeeping, and stability operations worldwide. It is fully equipped with a helo deck and can store 4,100 gallons of helo fuel. Blackwaters aviation affiliate can provide the helicopters, pilots, and maintenance required to support escort missions in the Gulf of Aden. The Full Meal Deal.
As a company founded and run by former Navy SEALs, with a 50,000-person database of former military and law enforcement professionals, Blackwater is uniquely positioned to assist the shipping industry in the Gulf of Aden and elsewhere.
The International Maritime Bureau estimates that more than 70 ships have been attacked off Somalia since January. As of October 15, 2008, 11 ships and 200 crew members were still being held for ransom.
The US Navy and Royal Navy have both advised shipping companies to protect their ships. The French are already using private contractors for these purposes. This is the next logical step based on those calls. Unless the citizens of the US are ready to push the US Navy to make this a top priority, something that requires political action, this is seen as one of the limited but cost effective ways for the shipping industry to respond. Go to the link for a pic of the McArthur.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/17/2008
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#1
ION NOT-PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, TOPIX > ISRAEL: HIJACKED IRANIAN CARGO SHIP WAS A GIANT DIRTY BOMB!?
#7
I would tell Blackwater to leave the villages to NATO so nothing messy could be filmed/used as propaganda. But otherwise I didn't want to see any prisoners.
#8
This whole thing got blown out of proportion when the pirates actually got some booty. Disfunctional Euros at work again. They don't seem to learn that no ransom is the only sensible, compassionate solution.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/17/2008 10:25
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#9
The pirates use normal people's sense of humanity as a tool against them for profit, by threatening harm if they are not paid ransom. But once their victims turn against them and they or their families are harmed, they usually back off. They understand violence, so give it to them.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/17/2008 11:17
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#10
"stands ready"... so no one has actually hired them yet.... well another couple of captures and I'm sure they'll have some business.
#11
good too hear, maybe some pirate ass will finally get kicked like it should have been in the first place. Hell it would be cheaper for the US gov. just too hire them too do it instead of having our damn ships just sit their and watch for a month at a time
Posted by: chris ||
10/17/2008 17:12
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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.
A pro-Obama group of rabbis says recent statements by the McCain-Palin campaign are "creeping toward hate speech."
NEW YORK TIMES to endorse Obama in Sunday editions...
I'm listening to Fox, on which an Obama spokeshole is claiming that the McCain campaign "didn't vet Joe the Plumber."
WASHINGTON When Marine Maj. Gen. John Kelly deployed to Iraq in February, the violence had fallen so low in Anbar province that he began figuring out how to start closing bases and prepare to go home.
The Federal Trade Commission won a preliminary legal victory against what it called one of the largest spam gangs on the Internet, persuading a federal court in Chicago on Tuesday to freeze the groups assets and order the spam network to shut down.
CARACAS, Venezuela -- Carmen Godoy is sure the Yankees are plotting an invasion. She's heard her president say so over and over again in the decade he has been in power. 
(AKI/DAWN) - Four Pakistani security officials were killed and twenty-six wounded in a rocket and suicide attack on a police station in the troubled northern Swat region on Thursday, a senior police official said.
In a bow to public outrage over a recent spate of U.S.-led airstrikes in Afghanistan that resulted in more than 100 civilian deaths, NATO officials have ordered commanders to try to lessen their reliance on air power in battles with insurgents, NATO and Afghan officials said Wednesday. 
An Indonesian Islamic cleric linked to the three extremists awaiting execution for the Bali bombings said the 2002 attack which killed more than 200 people was the work of the CIA.
(AKI) - Attacking American and Israeli websites by hacking and sabotage is allowed under Islamic law and is a form of 'Jihad' or holy war, top Muslim scholars have decreed. 
The trial of the alleged leader of a radical Islamist cell accused of plotting a series of killings and links to al-Qaeda has begun in Morocco. 
A grand jirga of Kurram Agency consisting of parliamentarians, tribal elders and the political administration on Thursday brokered a peace deal between the warring Shia and Sunni sects.
Somali Islamists say they will attack Kenya if it goes ahead with plans to train 10,000 government troops. "We will order all our holy warriors to start the jihadi war inside Kenya," said spokesman Sheikh Muktar Robow.
A French court has accused a top Algerian diplomat of complicity in the 1987 killing of a dissident in Paris, prompting sharp words from Algeria's government yesterday.
In the auditorium at the Joint Staff College at Camp Rustumiya, Baghdad, 64 new Iraqi army officers gathered for their graduation ceremony. One by one they marched to the front, stamped to attention and received their new badges, as well as a gift-wrapped mobile telephone.
Oil prices have slumped further, with Brent crude sliding under 67 dollars a barrel -- the lowest level for more than 15 months.
Fazlur Rehman, the chief of his own government-allied faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, criticised the government's counterterrorism efforts during Thursday's in-camera parliamentary sitting on national security -- coming out as a spokesman for Taliban.
Gen. David H. Petraeus has launched a major reassessment of U.S. strategy for Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and the surrounding region, while warning that the lack of development and the spiraling violence in Afghanistan will probably make it "the longest campaign of the long war." The 100-day assessment will result in a new campaign plan for the Middle East and Central Asia, a region in which Petraeus will oversee the operations of more than 200,000 American troops as the new head of U.S. Central Command, beginning Oct. 31. 
A suspected U.S. missile strike near the headquarters of a top Taliban leader in Pakistan's tribal areas Thursday killed six people and injured five others, according to Pakistani intelligence officials and residents. 
BNP has taken an initiative to resolve internal disputes as part of its preparation for the upcoming parliamentary election slated for December 18.
(AKI) - Spanish police have arrested at least 18 terror suspects of Moroccan origin with alleged links to Al-Qaeda in the provinces of Catalonia, Andalucia and Madrid on Thursday, reported Spanish media.
(AKI) - At least 600 illegal immigrants arrived to the southern Italian coast on Thursday aboard three vessels. The would-be migrants arrived to the southern Italian island of Lampedusa, said Palermo's port authorities and were being rescued by Finance Police and Italian Coast Guard authorities.
Iraqi police on Thursday said an ordnance disposal team defused two roadside bombs in Baghdad. "Intelligence tips reported by civilians led an ordnance disposal team to defuse two roadside bomb planted by unknown individuals in a school in Sadr City district.
At least 13 Muslim guerrillas were killed on Thursday when Philippine aircraft dropped bombs on a fortified rebel position in a southern marshland, an army spokesman said. 
Aswat al-Iraq: About three policemen and four civilians were killed in clashes between police and gunmen in Missan on Thursday, a security source said. "Three policemen including an officer and four civilians during clashes that erupted between a police patrol and gunmen in Kumeit district, 25 km north Amara," a Missan police source told Aswat al-Iraq. "The clashes broke out when the police patrol raided a house in Kumeit district searching for wanted individuals," the source noted.
(AKI) - Germany's lower house of parliament on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to increase by 1,000 the number of troops it can send to Afghanistan and extended the mission's mandate by 14 months.
Sri Lanka's military on Thursday stepped up attacks against suspected Tamil Tiger positions in the island's north where intense ground battles have been raging for months, the defence ministry said.
A two-day meeting of the Pak-Afghan 'mini jirga' would be held on October 27 and 28 in Islamabad in which representatives from the two countries would exchange views on the on-going war on terror. Sources said the grand jirga had decided to institute a 'mini jirga' to meet regularly, but its meeting was delayed due to various issues. They said the forthcoming meeting was extremely important, as relations between Kabul and Islamabad have improved after the new government took over in Pakistan.
Blackwater Worldwide today announced that its 183 foot ship, the McArthur, stands ready to assist the shipping industry as it struggles with the increasing problem of piracy in the Gulf of Aden and elsewhere.
