Veteran jihadis are being employed by private security companies, sources told Daily Times on Thursday. "Almost half of the guards in security companies are jihadis and most of them have fought in Afghanistan," sources said.
"Here's your cap and your boom vest, Mahmoud! Anybody tries to get in, you explode!"
"Hokay, boss!"
A Home Department official said, "We are investigating." He said the security companies would be asked to send a record of their employees and their place of deployment. "The information from companies will be counter checked," he said. "The companies will also be asked to give details of their clients and weapons. We will set up a special cell in the home department to monitor security companies," he said. The official said 120 companies had been given licenses and 86 had companies non-objection certificates. Pakistan Security Services Association's Punjab President Col (r) ZI Farrukh said, "Those who have given up jihad for good should not be discouraged."
"The security companies usually do not employ jihadis, but can make a mistake. A government notice is sufficient to scrutinise the security staff in the companies," he said. "Jihadis are not going back. They are going to stay and get jobs. It is better they work with the companies and are monitored," he said. He said the government should locate jihadis who are not working with security agencies but are working privately. "People have employed private guards. The police don't have their details. The police should have a verification of every guard. There are persons who have weapons and are employed by the companies in and outside Lahore. Government should collect their details as well, " he said. The Punjab government is introducing a new security culture by involving security companies. So the jihadi guards could create problems, sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
9:47:39 AM ||
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Are you now, or have you ever been a Jihadi?
Posted by: Abu McCarthy ||
10/16/2004 10:43
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The United States is contemplating tightening economic sanctions on Syria to put pressure on Damascus to pull troops out of Lebanon. US administration officials on Friday said the additional sanctions were also aimed at forcing Syria to crack down on "terrorism". (It's rather difficult for Aljazeera to get a grasp on the definition of Islamic "terrorism", being so deeply intertwined as a Arab media outlet.)
"The application of additional sanctions under the Syrian Accountability Act is an option," a senior official said. "No final decision has been made". In May, President George Bush imposed a series of sanctions on Syria, including a ban on US exports other than food and medicine. He accused Damascus of supporting terrorism, pursuing weapons of mass destruction and failing to stop anti-US guerrillas from entering Iraq. But some US lawmakers said Bush did not go far enough and were pressing him to go a step further. They pointed to a report earlier this month by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, which stated that Syria had failed to meet a Security Council demand to pull its estimated 14,000 to 17,000 troops out of Lebanon. The Bush administration is already pursuing action in the United Nations. On Thursday, the United States and France introduced a draft Security Council resolution intended at putting fresh pressure on Syria over its troops. The draft would ask Annan to report every three months on the issue as a follow-up to a 2 September council resolution that demanded all foreign troops leave Lebanon.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
9:44:10 AM ||
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The Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court (SC) on Friday dismissed appeals by convicted rapists after observing that a victim's failure to resist did not mean the case could be treated as zina (adultery). The Shariat Bench rejected the defence's arguments that females alleging rape had actually engaged in adultery because there was no indication of resistance. Justice Dogar observed that under the Hudood Ordinance, rape could occur even if there was no evidence of resistance by the victim.
One appeal was filed by Mazhar Bashir, a tutor convicted of raping his 18-year old female student in November 2001. The trial court sentenced him to 7 years in prison. The Federal Shariat Court upheld his conviction. He then appealed his conviction before the Shariat Appellate Bench of the SC. His counsel, Shaikh Khizar Hayat, argued that the raped woman was an educated girl who was in good health and could not have been raped had she resisted.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
9:42:38 AM ||
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...I have GOT to get a pair of glasses, I thought for a second that somebody was concerned about Zima here in SC...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/16/2004 12:59
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Pakistani soldiers were fanning out across mountains near the Afghan border on Friday in search of Al Qaeda-linked militant chief Abdullah Mehsud, after commandos killed five of his men who had been holding two Chinese engineers hostage, AP reported. A senior security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the army was "using all its resources" to hunt down and capture Abdullah. Army spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan said on Friday investigators were still trying to determine the nationality and identity of the kidnappers. Earlier on Thursday, Maj Gen Sultan dispelled the impression that the army action against the captors of two Chinese engineers was taken in haste, AFP reported. "If both the Chinese were killed, people would have said that the army didn't take any action and that was why they were killed," he told the BBC. He clarified that force was not used in haste; rather the action against the captors was taken after all options had failed and action was taken on the sixth day of the kidnapping. Meanwhile, rescued Chinese engineer Wang Ende reached China on Friday, APP reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
9:41:09 AM ||
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"They are also looking for his brother, Abdullah Oblongata."
Pakistan Awami Tehrik (PAT) Chairman Dr Allama Tahirul Qadri on Friday announced his resignation from the National Assembly to protest the passage of the two-offices bill that allows President Pervez Musharraf to continue as army chief beyond December 31. "I hereby resign from my National Assembly seat, NA 127, under the illegal rule of the uniform," Dr Qadri said in his resignation statement, adding that he felt insulted to sit in a house which passed a bill to perpetuate the rule of a dictator.
G'bye. Don't forget your briefcase and Koran.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
9:39:22 AM ||
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Islamic clerics on Friday told President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz that they would consider issuing a decree that suicide attacks on mosques and imambargahs were un-Islamic.
"Yeah. We'll think about it. We'll let you know."
"Unless they ain't authentically Moose-limbs. You know, like us. Then it's okay."
Talking to the Daily Times after a meeting with the president and prime minister at the former's camp office in Rawalpindi, Coordination Secretary of the Ithad-e-Tanzimat-e-Madars-e-DinyaQari Hanif Jalandhry said the clerics were urged by the president and premier to issue a decree that suicide attacks on mosques and imambargahs were un-Islamic. "The mullas made it clear to the president and the prime minister that they would only consider it," he said, because they would have to consult scholars authorised to issue such decrees. He said the consultations would be held soon.
"We'll have to look it up in the Koran. I don't recall no rules against killing people, but we'll check..."
Minister of State for Religious Affairs Dr Amir Liaqat Hussain told a private television channel that the clerics pledged to issue a decree calling suicide attacks on Shia and Sunni mosques un-Islamic. When asked about the state minister's claim, Mr Jalandhry said the clerics had not given any such assurance. He said the president and the prime minister were told that the clerics would help the government eliminate extremism from the country. He said that the president also said stern action would be taken against any writer, printer or publisher responsible for material that encouraged sectarian violence. The president and premier criticised the recent wave of terrorism strongly and said it was inconceivable that a Muslim could kill another Muslim during prayer, a press release said. "We have to forge unity in our ranks, shun discord, develop trust and understanding and stop issuing fatwas (decrees) against each other. We have to prevent extremists from imposing their views on others because Islam encourages tolerance and peace and well-being of all," the press release from the two leaders said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
9:33:53 AM ||
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In Iraq 5 chruches were bombed today, for the kick off of Ramadan. Any edicts, fatwas or just a couple of words here and there on that little issue?
....Didn't think so...
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004 9:48
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And these assholes call it a Religion. Just kill the stupid murdering islamofascists wherever you find 'em. No negotiating, no bargains, no compromising and absolutely no pity.
Some 100 people from Afghanistan and Pakistan, recently arrested in Iraq, were pilgrims who had been abandoned at the border by their Iranian tour guides, Iraqi officials have said. "We have 49 men, 26 women and 37 children who were seeking refuge in some Iraqi villages after they were left stranded on the border," said Mahmud Abd al-Aziz, the commander for the national guard in Munziriya, a town northeast of Baghdad.
"Kids! We've got a surprise for you! Guess we're we're going on pilgrimage this year? Iraq!"
"Oh, boy, Dad! Can we cut somebody's head off?"
The pilgrims had paid their guide 50,000 dinars ($35) to take them to the Shia city of Karbala, 110km south of the Iraqi capital. Instead of reaching Iraq's holy sites, the group was arrested by Iraqi border guards during searches of outlying villages between 11 and 14 October, said Cpt Faisal Abd al-Karim, who helps to guard the Diyala border. The pilgrims were initially detained at the border guard's base but were later moved to a lodging in a mosque in Munziriya.
"Youse guyz can doss here, in our local holy place. Y'gotta go outside to smoke, though. An' keep them kids away from the rocket launchers. They ain't toys, y'know."
He said 135 Afghans and Pakistanis were captured in the operation. A large weapons chache, including Kalashnikovs and rocket launchers, was also seized. Abd al-Aziz, however, explained that the arms belonged to the villagers and not the pilgrims.
"Hey! Put that back! My Grandaddy gimme that rocket launcher!"
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
9:25:15 AM ||
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If I was one of those pilgrims I would sue the travel agent for abandonment, pain, suffering....oh, and don't forget Humiliation (TM). [damn....alt+0153 not working]
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/16/2004 12:03
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AP try this: &_trade_; (remove the underscoresâ¢)
Posted by: Old Grouch ||
10/16/2004 12:29
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A new bird flu outbreak has surfaced in southern Vietnam, raising renewed fears over the disease that has killed 31 people in Asia this year, officials said on Saturday. Authorities in the southern province of Long An have culled more than 2,300 chickens after about 250 birds from two farms in a village there died from the disease on Sept 30, said Mr Nguyen Duy Long, head of the province's animal health bureau. The entire village has been disinfected and the provincial government has banned the sale and transportation of poultry to or from the affected district for 30 days to try to prevent the virus from spreading, he said. No additional outbreaks have been reported since then, he said.
Long An, about 60km south-east of Ho Chi Minh City, was one of the worst-hit provinces in earlier bird flu outbreaks. Saturday's Tien Phong (Pioneer) newspaper reported that police on Wednesday in the northern province of Lan Son had seized 3.5 tonnes of chickens smuggled in from neighbouring China. The birds were later destroyed, the report said. Bird flu has killed or forced the cull of more than 43 million poultry in Vietnam. It has also jumped to humans, killing 20 here and 11 in Thailand.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
9:22:16 AM ||
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American & Coalition forces must be extra vigilant during a solid month of 'peaceful Ramadan', since the jihadist thugs have certainly made it crystal clear they are intent on inflicting greater terror & murder in Iraq & world-wide.
As far as the Muslim serial killer, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, GOOD HUNTING MARINES!
Five churches were damaged in a series of successive bombings overnight on Saturday, the second day of Ramadan, or Muslim fasting month, a spokesman for the Iraqi Interior Ministry said. "There were five explosions caused by improvised bombs near to these churches," said Colonel Adnan Abdul-Rahman. The bomb attacks took place in a quick succession over an hour and a half starting at 4:00 a.m. at St. Joseph Church in the Nafaq Al-Shurta area, added the spokesman. It was apparently that the attacks were coordinated against the country's small Christian community. The other churches hit were St. Jacob's Church and St. George's Church in the Doura neighborhood, the Church of Rome in the Karrada neighborhood and St. Thomas Church in the Mansour area, Rahman said, adding there was no casualties in the attacks and all the churches had slight damage.during Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month which began on Friday.
Meanwhile, a rocket hit a luxurious hotel in central Baghdad that houses foreign contractors and diplomats early Saturday, witnesses said. The rocket landed in the parking lot of the Mansour Hotel, a five star hotel on west bank of the Tigris River, smashing nearby windows, but there was no immediate casualties reported. Saturday was the second day of Ramadan, or Muslim holy fasting month. US and Iraqi authorities had feared that insurgents could launch massive assaults in name of this traditional occasion for bloodshed.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
9:16:44 AM ||
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So they spotted by the moon, did they?
Posted by: Rafael ||
10/16/2004 16:04
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should be: ..spotted the moon..
Posted by: Rafael ||
10/16/2004 16:05
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Two US soldiers and five civilians have been killed in separate attacks across Afghanistan. In the latest attack late on Friday, five people including a policeman were killed after a remote-controlled bomb exploded in eastern Afghanistan near a truck supplying food to US bases, an official said. The truck had previously been stopped and set on fire by Pakistanis suspected Taliban fighters in the eastern Kunar province and the blast happened after a crowd had gathered, provincial governor Said Fazil Akbar Agha said on Saturday. "A remote-controlled bomb killed five people including one policeman and injured the district police chief late Friday," he said. The explosion was on the main road in the Dap area of Asmar district of Kunar province some 125km east of the capital Kabul. "The incident occurred after a truck supplying food to US bases in Kunar was stopped and set on fire by enemies of Afghanistan," the governor said. "District police went to the site and villagers were there as well when the remote-control bomb went off."
Meanwhile, it was announced on Saturday that two US soldiers were killed in Afghanistan. The attack happened on Thursday in Uruzgan province, north-west of Deh Rawood, where a US military base is located. "Two coalition soldiers were killed and three wounded when their patrol was struck by an improvised explosive device," Major Mark McCann, a US military spokesman in Kabul, said in a brief statement. Another US official confirmed the casualties were American soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division. Uruzgan Governor Jan Muhammad Khan reported the incident on Friday. He said that a remote-controlled mine detonated under an American vehicle on patrol in the Kishi area of the province's Charcheno district on Thursday afternoon. He said that one US soldier was wounded. In response, a US helicopter opened fire on the suspected attacker as he fled on a motorbike, killing him, the governor said, adding that American and Afghan forces had stepped up patrols in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
9:16:00 AM ||
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The Andhra Pradesh government yesterday urged the Naxalites to leave the path of violence and adopt the constitutional path and work for finding solutions to the people's problems within the country's legal framework.
Criminy, that sounds like a blurb for Star Trek: Enterprise.
In his opening remarks at the first ever talks with the People's War and Janashakti Naxalites, Home Minister K. Jana Reddy made an impassioned plea to the Naxalites to join the mainstream and suggest solutions to the problems confronting the people and the state within the confines of the law of the land.
The two sides signed a cease-fire agreement, which will remain in force for the next three months. Though the two sides are adhering to the cease-fire declared in mid-June this year, this is the first time they have formalized the truce. The copy of the four-page speech, delivered by Jana Reddy at the closed-door meeting with the Naxalite leaders, was made available to waiting media persons at Dr. Marri Channa Reddy HR Institute, the venue of the peace parleys, in the evening. Jana Reddy, who is leading an eight-member official delegation at the talks, said that "the government hopes to create a situation where there will be no need for use of arms. Our constitution and law give all freedom to the people to raise their problems and protest in a manner which will not disturb peace." "The revolutionary parties should eschew the path of armed struggle and take the path of the constitution. We want the talks to solve the people's problems. The government has neither ulterior motive nor hidden agenda in pursuing peace process. Its only aim is to usher in lasting peace and rule of law so that the aspirations of people can be fulfilled," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
9:14:16 AM ||
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German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi clashed over Iraq during their first-ever meeting in Tripoli while German business leaders yesterday touted for business in the oil-rich former pariah state.
In the latest visit by a Western leader since Libya returned to the international fold last year, Schroeder held two hours of talks with Qaddafi in a traditional Bedouin tent after arriving late Thursday. The two leaders disagreed over Iraq, with Qaddafi blaming the United States for the continuing violence there and called for US troops to withdraw, while Schroeder expressed doubts over the wisdom of a sudden pullout, a German official said. The two men were also at odds over the US role in the Middle East. However, they agreed on the importance of developing relations between Germany and Libya following a deal last month for Libya to pay compensation to 168 mainly German survivors of an attack on a Berlin nightclub.
Libyan Foreign Minister Abdelraham Shalgham told reporters Thursday that Schroeder's trip was "very important for the development of relations with Western states, especially with Germany". Aside from the politics of the visit, Schroeder is accompanied by 25 leaders of German industry who are seeking business in the north African state. The chancellor said at the opening ceremony that the rebuilding of Libya's infrastructure "offered great opportunities" for German industry. Schroeder spent yesterday morning opening an oil drilling well operated by German company Wintershall in the desert hundreds of kilometers south of Tripoli.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
9:12:05 AM ||
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Peace talks between Darfur's rebels and the Sudanese government, which had been scheduled to restart in Nigeria next week, have been moved to the Libyan capital Tripoli, the African Union Chairman said yesterday. President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, who as the AU's current chairman hosted a first round of talks in Abuja in August and September, announced the switch at a briefing on the crisis for Western ambassadors, his office said. "Talks on Darfur earlier slated for Abuja had to be switched to Tripoli to secure the attendance of neighboring countries whose cooperation was crucial to lasting peace," it said in a statement, without elaborating. Although the text did not say when the talks were due to restart, an official in the Nigerian president's office told AFP that they will resume in Tripoli on Oct. 21. The previous round in Abuja was suspended for one month on Sept. 18.
Take your time. They're only Africans. There are lots more where they came from, and they don't feel pain like you do...
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
9:10:45 AM ||
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A top US official said in remarks published yesterday that a Syrian failure to comply with UN demands to pull out its troops from neighboring Lebanon would be a "serious problem."
"Uhhh... How serious?"
"Very serious."
"We are determined to seek the implementation of (UN Security Council) Resolution 1559" which calls for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Lebanon, deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs David Satterfield was quoted as saying. "And Syria's failure to implement it (resolution 1559) will be a serious problem," Satterfield was quoted in Lebanese newspapers as telling LBCI satellite television Thursday. "We are now trying to see whether Syria's cooperation is serious. We will not wait forever for Syria and we want to see it act." Resolution 1559, co-sponsored by the United States and France and adopted last month, also called for an end to outside interference in Lebanese internal affairs in a clear reference to Syria's domination of its smaller neighbor. The day after the resolution was adopted, the Lebanese Parliament amended the constitution to extend by three years the term of office of President Emile Lahoud, a Damascus protege.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
9:08:51 AM ||
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Either (a) carpet bomb the bekka valley or (b) send in Marines and Special Forces to secure said valley.
The Israeli Army began pulling troops out of northern Gaza last night after a 17-day offensive that left 120 Palestinians dead and 450 wounded. Palestinian witnesses said nearly all the 200 Israeli tanks and armored vehicles withdrew from the area and the remaining forces began moving to the outskirts of Jabaliya and Beit Lahya refugee camps. Israel launched its northern Gaza raid, one of its biggest and bloodiest in four years of intifada, after a rocket salvo killed two children in the border town of Sderot on Sept. 29. A military source said the redeployment was meant to ease restrictions on Palestinian civilians during Ramadan. The source said Israel would continue to hit rocket launchers in the area.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
9:06:58 AM ||
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French prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into comments by a leading far-right politician who questioned whether the Nazis used gas chambers in the Holocaust, judicial sources said yesterday. Justice Minister Dominique Perben called for the inquiry after Bruno Gollnisch, a professor of Japanese at the University of Lyon, questioned how the gas chambers were used in the war time slaughter of Jews and how many Jews were killed. "I want to reiterate that I think the comments made by Mr Gollnisch are absolutely unacceptable and intolerable," Perben said.
Gollnisch, a European deputy who is also the No 2 man in the National Front party of extreme-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, said on Monday he recognised gas chambers had existed. But he said he thought historians still had to decide whether they were actually used to kill Jews. He also called for an open debate about whether the total of Jews killed in the Holocaust was six million as stated.
France's anti-racism laws have made denying the Holocaust a crime, punishable by fines and even prison. Gollnisch would be summoned before a judge soon, the judicial sources said. On Monday, Gollnisch said serious historians no longer accepted all the judgments of the post-war Nuremberg Trials of leading Nazis as being fair. "I don't know if I will lose my chair as professor of Japanese or even be put into prison for saying that, but I stand by it," he said. Gollnisch, who studied law and political science at Kyoto University in Japan, holds a chair for Japanese language and civilisation at the Lyon university named after Jean Moulin — the hero of the French Resistance murdered by the Nazis in 1943. Reuters jh NZP
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
8:50:32 AM ||
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Yesterday on Rantburg there was an article on the Guardian's attempt to influence Clark county voters by encouraging their readers to e-mail the voters. A learned professor was asked for his opinion: "Retired Wittenberg University political science professor Richard Flickinger said people should view the letters as an expression of concern from a group of people rather than that group trying to sway the vote."
Yeah, right. He's got a terminal case of bluff and bullshit.
Now another professor is questioning the Holocaust. There must really be something about higher education that makes some people incapable of rational thought.
Iran says it will reject any proposal to drop uranium enrichment, a step European Union diplomats are proposing to end a row over whether Iran is seeking atomic weapons. "Any proposal which deprives Iran of its legitimate right to a fuel cycle is not acceptable," Hossein Mousavian, Iran's head of foreign policy on the Supreme National Security Council, told state television on Saturday. The ruling mullahs are treating this E.U. attempt is a total joke. It's time for phase two.)
However, he said he was not responding to a specific offer. "We have not yet received the text of the proposal and have to see what it contains to assess it," he said. Uranium, if enriched to a low level, can be used to fuel nuclear power stations such as the one Iran is building at the southern port of Bushehr. If enriched further it can be used in nuclear warheads but Iran denies accusations by Washington that it has military nuclear ambitions and argues its atomic programme is solely dedicated to meeting booming demand for electricity.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
8:45:06 AM ||
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I guess they didn't like the original "Shock And Awe", and are waiting for the sequel!
October 15, 2004: The war on terror is running into some strange problems. In the Sahel (the semi desert region between the Sahara desert and the jungles of Central Africa), there have been centuries of banditry and rebellion (the two activities often get mixed up.) Now Islamic radicalism has been added to the mix. Young, poor, armed tribesmen are the primary recruits for all forms of organized violence. Now, as American troops train local soldiers to be more effective at patrolling their arid borders, they are finding that the "enemy" is elusive, unpredictable, and not your text book terrorist. Al Qaeda has discovered this as well, and has also found that local gunslingers always have their loyalty up for sale. If the Americans come in offering more money, the al Qaeda members are toast. As a result, bucks, not bullets, has proved to be the most effective weapon along the Sahel.
Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, public opinion is becoming more tolerant of Islamic terrorists, mainly because there have been no terrorist attacks for months, and more critical of American anti-terror efforts. In the last year, Saudi police have killed or arrested ten of their "26 most wanted" Islamic terrorists. The Islamic terrorist organizations in Saudi Arabia are on the the run. But in the past 17 months, Islamic terrorism in Saudi Arabia has left over a hundred dead (mostly foreigners) and over 200 wounded. The Saudis like to think that, if the U.S. had not gone into Iraq, there would have been no outbreak of terrorism in Saudi Arabia. Most Saudis are willing to tolerate Islamic terrorism as long as it is not practiced in Saudi Arabia. For decades, this has been the attitude in Europe as well, and American operations in Iraq are criticized for "stirring things up." Many Saudis, Europeans, and even Americans, see Islamic terrorism as just one of those things, nothing to get too agitated about. Historically, this is correct. But the 911 attacks crossed the line for many people. Moreover, the ability, and eagerness of, terrorist groups to obtain weapons of mass destruction, has raised the ante. So the world is divided into those who want to treat Islamic terrorism as a police issue, and those that want to root out the support for the terrorists, and reduce the possibility of spectacular attacks using chemical, biological or nuclear weapons. Each camp considers the other out of touch, and there is little possibility of a meeting of the minds. Sort of like religion; you take a lot of it on faith.
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2004
8:03:09 AM ||
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The major centers mentioned here are of the opinion that if they just watch the terrorists then they will play by the established rules.
A watched pot never boils, right?
This watched pot was well on its way to exploding.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
10/16/2004 9:15
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We tend to forget that the classic "evil empires" of World War II Germany and Japan, and Stalin's Soviet Union, were propped up by the enthusiastic support of millions of people. The same thing is happening with al Qaeda and Islamic terrorism. A truly horrendous evil has seized the imaginations of millions of Moslems. They willingly and energetically support the use of murder and terror against the "infidel" (non-Moslem.) This is a very ugly story, with a lot of very ugly details, and that's probably why it doesn't get covered much.
The Internet has made it possible to see more of this, because Islamic radicals have found the Internet a cheap way to reach supporters who can either provide cash, or volunteers for terrorist activities. While more young Moslem men use the Internet to view porn than to seek out terrorist web sites, there are enough terrorism enthusiasts out there to keep the terrorism sites jumping. But these sites (which can be found via a Google search for jihad and "al Qaeda") make it clear how dark the dark side it. While many of the sites are in Arabic, they contain lots of illustrations that make it very clear what these people are all about.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2004
7:59:26 AM ||
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Officials denied a report that Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been captured in Fallujah. A Reuters witness said tanks could be seen moving on a highway just outside Falluja and were shelling suspected guerrilla positions. Hospital officials in the city said three peope were killed by the U.S. air strikes. Iraq's U.S.-backed interim government has said it will launch a major offensive in Falluja unless the city hands over Zarqawi and his militant followers. The U.S. military denied reports by Kuwait's official news agency KUNA on Saturday that Zarqawi and nine other militants had been captured by U.S. forces during raids on homes in Falluja on Friday. "We have heard those reports and we do not believe they are true," Lieutenant Colonel Steve Boylan, a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad, told Reuters. "We have been in contact with the marines based around Falluja and we have heard nothing about those reports through our channels."
Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group claimed responsibility for Thursday's suicide bombings that killed up to four Americans in the heart of Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, seat of the government and home to the U.S. and British embassies. In another challenge for the U.S.-backed interim government, a group led by Zarqawi vowed to attack foreign trucks bringing petrol and diesel into Iraq. A Tawhid and Jihad pamphlet, shown to Reuters by an Oil Ministry official, said non-Iraqi trucks bringing in imported petrol and diesel would be "subject to destruction." Residents said U.S. forces bombarded western Falluja, destroying a house and killing a baby girl on Saturday. Reuters television footage showed the dead infant in hospital with its arm blown off. Three other children and a woman were injured.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
7:51:06 PM ||
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BRITAIN has taken an important step towards healing the scars of World War II by publicly acknowledging the horrors of RAF bombing raids carried out on the cities of the Third Reich. The gesture comes shortly before a state visit to Germany by the Queen and marks a new stage in relations between the two countries. The Queen will host a concert in Berlin in November to raise money for the final restoration of Dresden's Frauenkirche (Church of Our Lady), destroyed in an Allied bombing raid in February 1945.
Another raid was recalled in a moving ceremony in a cathedral in the north German city of Brunswick. Britain's ambassador to Berlin, Peter Torrey, paid tribute to the 560 victims of the RAF's raid, exactly 60 years ago, on Brunswick. "It was a bleak and terrifying moment in the modern history of Brunswick," said Sir Peter in the nave of the cathedral. "How can we explain to our children the madness that was unleashed in those days? How can we explain that such a beautiful and historical city as Brunswick became the target of attacks from the air?" Tears ran down the cheeks of survivors of the attack in the congregation. Never before has a representative of the British Government given voice to their suffering. "This is a highly significant moment for our city and for relations between our two countries," said Werner Hempel, the cathedral dean.
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Posted by: tipper ||
10/16/2004
7:30:09 AM ||
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#1
BZZZZTTTT
Dumb.. Hitler and his people bombed the hell out of the UK during WW2. The crimes Germany commited against the Russians are unexcuesable. The Genocide against Jews and other undermenchen proclude making apologies. We rebuilt Germany and made her part of the modern west. That is enough. Germany can't be allowed to forget it's past.
Sorry this is just plain wrong.
#2
It's an exaggeration to say that the Germans bombed the hell out of Britain. They didn't do that, although not for lack of trying. British raids on Germany killed far more than German raids managed. As 'Bomber' Harris put it: Germany sowed the wind, and reaped the whirlwind. No apologies necessary. The mass bombings stand as punishment for German instigation of the conflict, and a as painful reminder of the consequences of starting such an utterly unjustifiable war of aggression. The bombing would have been stopped sooner, and lives wouldn't have been taken by the hundreds of thousands, had Germany relinquished stolen lands, released enslaved people, stopped butchering Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals, Slavs, etc. etc., and surrendered earlier.
#4
Gurnica, Warsaw, Rotterdam, etc. Those who invented terror bombing directed not at military targets but populations really show chutzpuh expecting an apology from those who they practiced it against.
Posted by: Don ||
10/16/2004 20:10
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#5
Franco-Prussian War of 1870
World War 1
World War 2
Can't blame the first two on Hitler, must be something in the water. Oh, and one more thing. Don't make us come in there again.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/16/2004 12:46
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A young Muslim railway worker who claims he was sacked after a row over the length of his beard has brought what is believed to be the first case against an employer under new laws which ban discrimination on religious grounds. Unfair treatment on grounds of race and sex have long been illegal but Tony Blair's government extended legislation to cover religious discrimination last year, probably in an attempt to placate Britain's 1.6 million Muslim population which has felt vulnerable in the wake of the Iraq war. For many years, Muslims have campaigned for legislation to ban religious discrimination but successive governments have stood out against this, partly because of the difficulty in finding a legal distinction between mainstream religions and "cults". The rarely used law on blasphemy covered only Christianity.
An employment tribunal in London is now being told that Mohsin Mohmed, 23, a customer services assistant, was sacked from his job with Virgin West Coast Trains after he refused to cut his beard. He was asked repeatedly to trim his beard by senior Virgin staff at Euston, a mainline London station. When Mohmed, from Ilford, Essex, refused to serve alcoholic drinks to customers in the first-class lounge, a manager suggested he should wear gloves.
Mohmed told the hearing he reduced his beard to "one fist length" — about four inches — but at the end of a six-month probationary period he was sacked anyway in February this year. He has now brought a claim of racial and religious discrimination and harassment against Virgin West Coast Trains. He has been growing his beard since he was 18, Mohmed told the tribunal. "According to my teachings a male from the Islamic faith cannot trim his beard shorter than a fist length," he said.
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Posted by: tipper ||
10/16/2004
6:47:45 AM ||
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#1
Britainâs 1.6 million Muslim population. God save the Queen and everyone else.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004 15:46
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#2
"Never trust anyone with a Beard"(â¢). Note that I Have been on strike against Gillette since 1970.
Posted by: dorf ||
10/16/2004 18:58
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#3
âAccording to my teachings a male from the Islamic faith cannot trim his beard shorter than a fist length,â he said.
Muslims who cut it any shorter were âin reality sinningâ, he commented.
Yet another reason why Islam should become a historical footnote. Preferrably, in the immediate future.
For my entire life I have always attempted to maintain a sense of religious tolerance. At this point, Islam's endless atrocities and vicious oppression of women have become nothing more than a constant outrage against modern civilization and I now hope to see it dismantled in my lifetime.
However much I detest discrimination, I am on the verge of simply hating Muslims, one and all. Normally, I would be appalled at my current descent into intolerance if it weren't for the single fact that Islam is the direct cause of a majority of this world's problems.
These twisted f&%ks want to restart the Holocaust's genocide. Should Islam fail to immediately outgrow this infantile fixation upon exterminating all of the Jews, I say we should let such extinction begin, starting and ending with this world's entire Muslim population. Let them taste their own bile for a change. Islam's antagonism for all other cultures should be their death knell.
DESPITE his imprisonment, Saddam Hussein is still showing himself capable of macabre surprises. The remains of infants have only now been found in his mass graves, and an elaborate bribery network was exposed last week. Now, a link to terrorism has finally been unearthed. While the world remains fixated on the absence of weapons of mass destruction (WMD), the other evils of his regime are being systematically exposed - for the few who are still interested in them. But the documents revealing he passed £40 million of oil vouchers to Palestinian terrorists show that, in the war on terror, Saddam was a legitimate target. His was one of the few regimes that gave insurgents the financial oxygen needed to survive.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) has used many names, but is still little heard-of. Its most infamous atrocity was the "black September" attacks in 1970, when members hijacked four aircraft bound for New York. It is committed to extinguishing Israel, and its commitment to violence has meant it standing defiantly aside from the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) - whom it believes sold out to the cause by agreeing to the Middle East peace process. Officially listed as a terrorist organisation by British and American governments, it is exactly the kind of organisation which Saddam Hussein was long accused of supporting. But no-one was able to prove it until the documents of his dictatorship started to be unearthed.
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Posted by: tipper ||
10/16/2004
6:36:10 AM ||
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#1
great article. Seems strange to read logic and truth printed in a MS outlet. Author: FRASER NELSON. I haven't heard of him before.
Since September 11 Britain has been warned of the 'inevitability' of catastrophic terrorist attack. But has the danger been exaggerated? A major new TV documentary claims that the perceived threat is a politically driven fantasy - and al-Qaida a dark illusion. Andy Beckett reports Since the attacks on the United States in September 2001, there have been more than a thousand references in British national newspapers, working out at almost one every single day, to the phrase "dirty bomb". There have been articles about how such a device can use ordinary explosives to spread lethal radiation; about how London would be evacuated in the event of such a detonation; about the Home Secretary David Blunkett's statement on terrorism in November 2002 that specifically raised the possibility of a dirty bomb being planted in Britain; and about the arrests of several groups of people, the latest only last month, for allegedly plotting exactly that.
Starting next Wednesday, BBC2 is to broadcast a three-part documentary series that will add further to what could be called the dirty bomb genre. But, as its title suggests, The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear takes a different view of the weapon's potential. "I don't think it would kill anybody," says Dr Theodore Rockwell, an authority on radiation, in an interview for the series. "You'll have trouble finding a serious report that would claim otherwise." The American department of energy, Rockwell continues, has simulated a dirty bomb explosion, "and they calculated that the most exposed individual would get a fairly high dose [of radiation], not life-threatening." And even this minor threat is open to question. The test assumed that no one fled the explosion for one year.
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Posted by: tipper ||
10/16/2004
6:12:10 AM ||
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Albeit the world thinks Machiavel is dead
Yet was his soul but flown beyond the alps.
And now the Guisse is dead, is come from France
To view this land and frolic with his friends ...
#3
We, the people living today, will never know the whole and complete history of these times. How strong is the Al Qaida organization and does it control and coordinate the each and every one of the Ismalist groups. Probably not but even the best intelligence available cannot say what is fact and what is misimformation deliberate or otherwise. The best stance in my mind is to prepare for what is imaginable without throwing the economy into depression. We will never be perfectly safe, but we must take reasonable precaution. Is the course we are on the best method? Maybe not, but we have to go with what we know and can do.
Posted by: Old Fogey ||
10/16/2004 14:06
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In other words; Hope for the best...but prepare for the worst.
The attack Thursday in Uruzgan province, northwest of Deh Rawood, where a U.S. military base is located, occurred less than a week after Afghanistan held landmark elections which passed off largely peacefully despite threats of attacks by Taliban-led rebels who had vowed to sabotage the vote. "Two coalition soldiers were killed and three wounded when their patrol was struck by an improvised explosive device," Maj. Mark McCann, a U.S. military spokesman in Kabul, said in a brief statement. (These tragic deaths of fighting heros combating the worst form of evil are not in vain.)
Another U.S. official confirmed the casualties were American soldiers from the 25th Infantry Division. About 18,000 U.S. soldiers make up the vast majority of the coalition forces hunting Taliban and al-Qaida fighters in southern and eastern Afghanistan. Uruzgan Gov. Jan Mohammed Khan reported the incident on Friday. He said a remote-controlled mine detonated under an American jeep on patrol in Kishi area of the province's Charcheno district on Thursday afternoon and that American and Afghan forces have stepped up patrols in the area. He said just one U.S. soldier was wounded. McCann denied a report from Khan that a U.S. helicopter had opened fire on the suspected attacker as he fled on a motorbike, killing him. "No U.S. helicopter was involved in the incident," the spokesman said. McCann said that with the two deaths on Thursday, 105 U.S. soldiers have died in or around Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom, launched after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
6:06:10 AM ||
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RealClearPolitics Poll AverageSM
3-Way Race: Bush/Cheney vs Kerry/Edwards vs Nader/Camejo
Send This Page to a Friend | Graph: RCP Historical Poll Average
It would seem that W is going to pull this out, thank God!
Poll Date Bush/
Cheney Kerry/
Edwards Nader/
Camejo Spread
RCP Average 10/12 - 10/15 48.8% 45.4% 1.6% Bush +3.4
Time (865 LV w/leaners) 10/14 - 10/15 48% 47% 3% Bush +1
Newsweek (LV) 10/14 - 10/15 50% 44% 1% Bush +6
ABC/Wash Post (1203 LV)* 10/13 - 10/15 50% 47% 1% Bush +3
Zogby (1211 LV) 10/13 - 10/15 48% 44% 1% Bush +4
TIPP (786 LV) 10/12 - 10/15 48% 45% 2% Bush +3
CBS News (760 LV) 10/9 - 10/11 48% 45% 2% Bush +3
ICR (763 LV) 10/9 - 10/11 48% 43% 2% Bush +5
CNN/USAT/Gallup (793 LV) 10/9 - 10/10 48% 49% 1% Kerry +1
Time (886 LV w/leaners) 10/6 - 10/7 46% 45% 4% Bush +1
GW/Battleground (1250 LV) 10/3 - 10/7 49% 46% 0% Bush +3
AP/Ipsos (944 LV)*** 10/4 - 10/6 46% 50% 2% Kerry +4
Marist (642 LV) 10/4 - 10/5 49% 46% 1% Bush +3
Fox News (1000 LV) 10/3 - 10/4 47% 45% 1% Bush +2
ICR (762 LV)** 10/1 - 10/5 51% 45% 2% Bush +6
ARG (800 LV) 10/2 - 10/4 46% 46% 2% TIE
ABC News/WP (1169 LV) 10/1 - 10/3 51% 46% 1% Bush +5
CBS News/NYT (561 LV) 10/1 - 10/3 47% 47% 1% TIE
Zogby (1036 LV) 10/1 - 10/3 46% 43% 2% Bush +3
Pew Research (801 LV) 10/1 - 10/3 49% 44% 2% Bush +5
CNN/USAT/Gallup (772 LV) 10/1 - 10/3 49% 49% 1% TIE
Newsweek (1013 RV) 9/30 - 10/2 45% 47% 2% Kerry +2
SHU Poll Inst. (1003 LV) 9/27 - 10/2 48% 43% 2% Bush +5
Battleground (1000 LV) 9/27 - 9/30 51% 44% 1% Bush +7
LA Times (1100 LV) 9/25 - 9/28 51% 45% 2% Bush +6
CNN/USAT/Gallup (758 LV) 9/24 - 9/26 52% 44% 3% Bush +8
IBD/TIPP (649 LV) 9/22 - 9/27 45% 45% 2% TIE
ABC News/WP (810 LV) 9/23 - 9/26 51% 45% 1% Bush +6
Pew Research (948 RV) 9/22 - 9/26 48% 40% 2% Bush +8
Time (877 LV) 9/21 - 9/23 48% 42% 5% Bush +6
FOX News (1000 LV) 9/21 - 9/22 46% 42% 1% Bush +4
Battleground (1000 LV) 9/20 - 9/23 50% 45% 0% Bush +5
Marist (630 LV) 9/20 - 9/22 50% 44% 2% Bush +6
CBS News (931 LV) 9/20 - 9/22 51% 42% 2% Bush +9
AP/Ipsos (931 LV) 9/20 - 9/22 52% 45% 1% Bush +7
Pew Research (989 RV) 9/17 - 9/21 45% 42% 3% Bush +3
NBC News/WSJ (787 LV) 9/17 - 9/19 50% 46% 1% Bush +4
Zogby (1066 LV) 9/17 - 9/19 46% 43% 1% Bush +3
IBD/TIPP (650 LV) 9/14 - 9/18 45% 42% 2% Bush +3
ARG (LV) 9/7 - 9/21 47% 46% 1% Bush +1
CBS News (1048 RV) 9/12 - 9/16 50% 41% 3% Bush +9
CNN/USAT/Gallup (767 LV) 9/13 - 9/15 54% 40% 3% Bush +14
Battleground (1000 LV) 9/12 - 9/15 49% 45% 1% Bush +4
Pew Research (725 LV) 9/11 - 9/14 47% 46% 1% Bush +1
Harris (867 LV) 9/9 - 9/13 47% 48% 2% Kerry +1
Newsweek (1003 RV) 9/9 - 9/10 49% 43% 2% Bush +6
IBD/TIPP (674 LV) 9/7 - 9/12 46% 46% 3% TIE
Zogby (1018 LV) 9/8 - 9/9 46% 42% 2% Bush +4
Time (857 LV) 9/7 - 9/9 52% 41% 3% Bush +11
AP/Ipsos (899 LV) 9/7 - 9/9 51% 46% 1% Bush +5
FOX/Opin. Dyn. (1000 LV) 9/7 - 9/8 47% 43% 3% Bush +4
ABC News/Wash Post (LV) 9/6 - 9/8 52% 43% 2% Bush +9
Pew Research (745 LV) 9/8 - 9/10 54% 38% 2% Bush +16
CBS News (909 RV) 9/6 - 9/8 49% 42% 1% Bush +7
CNN/USAT/Gallup (778 LV) 9/3 - 9/5 52% 45% 1% Bush +7
Newsweek (1,008 RV) 9/2 - 9/3 52% 41% 3% Bush +11
Click Here for More Polling Data
*ABC News and Washington Post use different likely voter models for the same field data, RealClearPolitics will use the Washington Post model when the two are different.
**To date we have not included the ICR poll in our RealClearPolitics averages. However, after speaking with the polling director at ICR we are now comfortable that the methodology of the poll is sound and merits inclusion along with the other polls in our average. (ICR has rounded this poll to 51-45 to better reflect the spread between the candidates.)
***This poll was originally reported as a head-to-head number, Thomas Riehle, the director of the poll with AP-Ipsos, brought it to out attention Oct 11, that it was a 3-way poll, and we have fixed the error.
****Democracy Corps is a Democratic Polling Firm
Send This Page to a Friend
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Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
10/16/2004
6:01:08 PM ||
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#1
RealClear Politics has another page today that shows the Electorial Votes: Bush 264 - Kerry 237
(270 Electoral Votes Needed to Win). That leaves 37 EV tied or unaccounted for. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/Presidential_04/RCP_EC.html
So, don't sell that bear skin just yet, rjb; however, your optimism is appreciated.
#2
best poll? Watch where they show up to energize voters. Kerry's still trying to get the base in blue states (WI) and Bush is hitting blue states as well(Ore., Wi, PA, NJ)
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/16/2004 19:04
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#3
Hugh Hewitt had an interesting angle on this that the polling companies do not have the correct model for what is really happening out there.
Two things should swing this W's way.
1) Strong Catholic vote for Bush.
2) Apathetic Union/Black vote for Kerry.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
10/16/2004 19:08
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#4
I have always thought it was Bushs' to lose. The fact that he is showing up in the NJ socialist sh*thole next week tells me this place is in play, despite all of the stolen Bush lawn signs and scratched cars with Bush stickers on them.
#6
I think a backlash against last-minute moonbat antics will guarantee Bush's win. It's one thing to see a constant barrage of plainly one-sided media claims about Repub cheating, quite another to see the real attempts at intimidation and interference around polling places on election day. A lot of voters will run the gauntlet and decide to defy the moonbat authoritarians and manipulators where they still can, in the privacy of the voting booth.
Prosecutors dropped the charges Friday against six men arrested for protesting the Abu Ghraib prison-abuse scandal by stripping down to their thong underwear and forming a human pyramid during a visit by President Bush.
whew...Justice Has Been Served.
Lancaster County District Attorney Donald R. Totaro said prosecutors would not have been able to prove the defendantsâ actions served "no legitimate purpose" a requirement under the stateâs disorderly conduct law. "The mere presence of unwilling viewers does not determine whether unwelcome views are prohibited from public forums," he said, [and that] pressing charges "would only serve to advance the agenda of six protesters through a very public forum."
"Not to mention that I thought they looked really hot in their undies..."
American Civil Liberties Union attorney Paula Knudsen, who represented one of the defendants, said: "Weâre pleased that the charges have been withdrawn and that the district attorney recognized the importance of the First Amendment values at stake." The men, ages 18 to 32, were arrested along the motorcade route during a July 9 visit by Bush to an elementary school in Amish country, about an hour west of Philadelphia. They were recreating an image from photos taken inside the prison near Baghdad in which Iraqi prisoners were abused by U.S. captors. Knudsen said East Lampeter Township Police violated the defendantsâ constitutional right to free speech. If convicted, the men could have received up to 90 days in jail and a $300 fine.
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan (AP) - Russian President Vladimir Putin cemented Moscow's military presence in the former Soviet republic of Tajikistan, signing a deal Saturday to establish a permanent base for troops deployed there since before the Soviet collapse.
Putin said Russia would strengthen its military contingent in the country after he and Tajik President Emomali Rakhmonov signed the agreement creating the base for Russia's 5,000-strong 201st Motorized Rifle Division. The base in the Tajik capital Dushanbe is part of Russia's attempts to reassert its influence in strategic, energy-rich Central Asia in response to the United States' higher profile in the region since the Sept. 11 attacks.
For impoverished Tajikistan, the deal means economic help: Russia agreed to forgive $330 million in debt and pledged $2 billion in government and private investments over the next five years.
Putin praised the "strategic partnership," Russia's ITAR-Tass news agency reported. The two countries agree that "the stable functioning of the Russian base and its strengthening - and we intend to strengthen our military presence in Tajikistan - will be a guarantee not only of the stability of Russian investment in Tajikistan but also of the stability of Tajikistan itself," Putin said, according to the Interfax news agency.
Rakhmonov praised the agreement for "lifting a weight" from impoverished Tajikistan to foster future economic development.
Most of the money Russia has promised under the deail will fund two large hydroelectric stations and an aluminum factory. Tajikistan and Russia have been negotiating the Dushanbe base for months, and the talks were believed to have been delayed by Tajik demands for payment. The two presidents reached agreement this summer.
The unit's commanders will be based in Dushanbe, while some troops will be posted in the cities of Kulyab and Kurgan-Tyube.
Russia also signed an agreement taking full possession of a space monitoring system in Tajikistan, which can track objects 24,800 miles above the Earth. The system, located 7,260 feet above sea level, takes advantage of the area's fine weather and the atmosphere's high transparency - conditions not found elsewhere in the former Soviet Union, Russian officials said.
The presidents also agreed to a timetable for Russia to turn over responsibility for guarding sections of the Afghan border to Tajik forces. Russia has helped guard the border since 1993, and Saturday's agreement envisions those Russians withdrawing by 2006. The border is a major trafficking route for illegal drugs from Afghanistan, the world's largest opium producer.
The Russian bear is on the move.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/16/2004
5:53:30 PM ||
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Securing an oil supply? Now why would they do that?...
A new assessment by a Washington think-tank released on Monday claiming that Pakistan's nuclear-weapons arsenal "now appears large enough to rival that of India" has revived the controversies and debates surrounding India's nuclear policy and its objectives.
In a paper on the world's fissile-material stocks, David Albright and Kimberly Kramer of the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) estimate that Pakistan now has between 55 and 90 nuclear weapons compared with 55 and 110 in India. Israel and North Korea, listed among other current de facto weapons states, have between 110 and 190 weapons and between two and nine weapons respectively... Part of a rather rambling article which has some tidbits about the India-Pakistan relationship.
#1
There's one tiny little difference about the Jew bomb tho..... THEY'RE ARE HAVE FUSION!
Posted by: abu Buchannan ||
10/16/2004 18:16
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#2
ummm ....huh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/16/2004 18:30
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#3
If Pakistan and India have parity in terms of weapons,then this would force India to alter its nuclear doctrine. They would need to consider having a portion of their weapons in a launch on warning state.
The prospects for a large hole in the middle of the Indian sub continent just increased.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
10/16/2004 19:01
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"Nuclear Dead Heat"
Somebody thought long and hard to come up with that title...
The army refuses to allow over 100 activists, who came to the village of Azawiyah to help in olive harvest, to enter sealed military zone. Israel Defense Forces troops denied the entry of more than 100 Israeli left-wing activists who had come to assist in an olive harvest, into the village of Azawiyeh in the northern West Bank on Saturday morning. The army said it feared a violent confrontation would ensue between the pro-Palestinian groups and settlers living in the nearby settlement of Eli. Security forces have declared the area a sealed military zone and will not allow the activists to enter it. Police have so far arrested three of the people who entered the area. Military sources say they have suggested that the activists help picking olives in areas where there is no threat of clashes with settlers but the activists refused. The rest of the story in the link
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
5:37:05 AM ||
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Military sources say they have suggested that the activists help picking olives in areas where there is no threat of clashes with settlers but the activists refused.
The 'Palestinian' Authority had shown an "unacceptable" performance in trying to prosecute those behind the deadly bombing of a U.S. convoy entering Gaza last year, the U.S. State Department said Friday. "We haven't seen them demonstrate either the will, much less the capacity, to investigate the case seriously," department spokesman Richard Boucher said. "We have seen statements from time to time by Palestinian officials that they know who did it. And if that's true, then they should take immediate action to arrest and prosecute whoever did it," Boucher said.
Three American security guards were killed when a roadside bomb exploded on October 15, 2003 as the convoy was entering Gaza, and the United States has since demanded the Palestinian prosecute those responsible. The three guards were contractors from the security firm DynCorp and were protecting the convoy on its way to interview Palestinian candidates for Fulbright scholarships. The Palestinians have arrested suspects in connection with the attack, but the United States has been suspicious of the credibility of those arrests. "At the time that they made those arrests we expressed certain skepticism that they had arrested the people who were really responsible for these crimes, and felt that there was further serious investigation and action that needed to be taken," Boucher said.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
5:34:10 AM ||
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#1
Do we still give any $$ to these guys. Cut off the $$ until we see positive proof of something.
#2
I don't trust State or USAID on this one. We need to find out if any more tax moolah is going to these enemies. After all, we were giving aid to the Norks in 2000 thru 2002, under GWB administration. I would not trust State as far as I can see.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/16/2004 12:23
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Relatives of soldiers who refused to deliver supplies in Iraq say the troops considered the mission too dangerous, in part because their vehicles were in poor shape. The Army is investigating up to 19 reservist members of a platoon that is part of the 343rd Quartermaster Company, based in Rock Hill, S.C. The unit delivers food, water and fuel on trucks in combat zones.
Convoys in Iraq are frequently subject to ambushes and roadside bombings. Some of the troops' safety concerns were being addressed, military officials said. But a coalition spokesman in Baghdad said "a small number of the soldiers involved chose to express their concerns in an inappropriate manner, causing a temporary breakdown in discipline." The military said troops are being interviewed but have not been detained while an investigation continues. But the relatives said they were told the soldiers had been confined.
Teresa Hill of Dothan, Ala., who said her daughter, Amber McClenny, was among in the platoon, received a phone message from her early Thursday morning saying they had been detained by U.S. military authorities. "This is a real, real, big emergency," McClenny said in her message. "I need you to contact someone. I mean, raise pure hell." McClenny said in her message that her platoon had refused to go on a fuel-hauling convoy to Taji, north of Baghdad. "We had broken down trucks, non-armored vehicles and, um, we were carrying contaminated fuel. They are holding us against our will. We are now prisoners," she said. Hill said she was later contacted by Spc. Tammy Reese in Iraq, who was calling families of the soldiers. "She told me (Amber) was being held in a tent with armed guards," said Hill, who spoke with her daughter Friday afternoon after her release. Her daughter said they are facing punishment ranging from a reprimand to a charge of mutiny.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Destro ||
10/16/2004
5:33:22 AM ||
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One of the protection for the American servicemember that Congress has put into Title 10 is the following. It is a bit of a nuclear handgrenade, but if you are in the right, it will become part of the official file of any officer who misuses/abuses troops.
Sec. 938. Art. 138. Complaints of wrongs
Any member of the armed forces who believes himself wronged by his
commanding officer, and who, upon due application to that commanding officer, is refused redress, may complain to any superior commissioned officer, who shall forward the complaint to the officer exercising
general court-martial jurisdiction over the officer against whom it is
made. The officer exercising general court-martial jurisdiction shall
examine into the complaint and take proper measures for redressing the
wrong complained of; and he shall, as soon as possible, send to the
Secretary concerned a true statement of that complaint, with the
proceedings had thereon.
Posted by: Don ||
10/16/2004 8:37
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#2
so he has his sister call the press. I think that's a bigger breakdown in the discipline than refusing the order.
One of the complaints mentioned is extremely valid. Reserve and Guard units are given the oldest, most worn out equipment unless only new items are available. Certainly these trucks and HMMV's are not of the latest, armored variety.
But it is beginning to stink like this group decided it would be somebody else that died, not them.
It is possible that a 1st SGT needs to whip out his ass kicking boots and stop being polite.
It is also possible that we need to find our balls and shoot somebody (the ringleaders) for cowardice on the face of the enemy.
(okay, it may not quite qualify, but mutiny looks obvious).
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
10/16/2004 9:19
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#4
hmmm..on second thought no. If the press weren't as outright hostile to the military as it is, it wouldn't be a problem. That's a problem with the press, period.
#7
I'm going to withold judgement on this one until I know more; given the performance of the media, and their agenda, I'd say we don't know anywhere near enough about this yet.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
10/16/2004 10:12
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#8
Jame R is talking awfully brave for someone on this side of the Atlantic (shooting people...). He has found his balls they are in the States. There is not enough info on this out yet - if proper security was not provided for the convoy - the convoy commander may have a point. If he is moaning about deadlined trucks as the primary reason then he needs to be busted to an E I owe you one.
#10
No, CrazyFool it isn't a Hillery gram. That part of the UCMJ was incorporated long before Hillary was cleanuping her sock puppet for president. Actually have posted it in my office and unit bulletin boards during my tenure back in the 70s and 80s. Always felt respect was a two way street and never feared any potential complaint against me.
There will be an investigation. It is interesting with the complaint that they had hand-me-down and second hand equipment that in yesterday's post the information included the statment "The mission was carried out by other soldiers from the 343rd, which has at least 120 soldiers, the military said." I expect they had the same type of equipment as those who refused to execute the mission. The question becomes if the specific vehicles this section had on hand were in such a condition to inhibit completion of the mission. A vehicle can be redlined for something like missing a fire extinguisher or not having the latest modification work order completed. Things which a commanding officer can wave, along with assuming consequences for doing so, but that is what they are supposedly paid for. Will probably have to start checking some mil oriented sites to get something of the official investigation for particulars.
Posted by: Don ||
10/16/2004 14:16
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#11
Kerry uses this event to attack Bush in 5..4..3..
#13
JP, you are correct that shooting someone at this point would be extremely hasty. It is simply a possibility.
Don has made some very good points about deadlining vehicles for use. Specifically that it can be for some, well, specious reasons.
If I am mystically interpreting what I heard on NPR this afternoon then there is actually thought and consideration going into the investigation. Rare in military circles due to the nature of command . . . .
BTW, JP, being in the US may be temporary for such as I. Though I still have roughly 1-1/2 to 2 years of training before the KYARNG regards me as useful, my wife has been in for 13 years and there has been scuttlebutt that her unit (KYARNG) will be deploying in 2006.
Having put much thought into joining the military and not taking the duties that I am to shoulder as light one (I will be an officer) it is not lightly that I suggest the execution of fellow soldiers.
It is wrong to send soldiers out with substandard equipment when the best stuff is right there. But if you hang your fellow soldiers out to dry because you are scared of getting shot at . . . well, you volunteered to be where you are, yes?
Remeber that the heroe faces fear and dies but once. The coward dies a thousand deaths, even though he does not lose his life.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
10/16/2004 18:05
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JR Yeah - I have seen Active Duty soldiers knock the headlights off if thier vehicles to keep from going on convoys. It does happen. I've been in since 1982 and see things in a different light than you for now (don't pontificate until you have walked the walk). Leadership is clearly the issue - whether it is a problem at the battalion level or at the squad level is the question. The extremes could be defined as volunteering to serve and balking at being wasted in a foolhardy mission by an incompetent staff officer or "hanging your fellow soldiers out to dry and letting someone else pull your mission for you." The jury is still out. As a sidenote most of the Reserve Component equipment is just as serviceable as the Active Component. And KYARNG units and VaARNG units are among the best in the NG -
A Jewish cemetery in a small German city was discovered vandalized Friday by a woman visiting a grave, police said. Nazi swastikas and other illegal and anti-Jewish symbols were scrawled onto grave stones. There was no immediate indication of suspects, and it was not clear how long the graffiti might have gone undiscovered. Juelich is in the German state of North Rhein-Westphalia.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
5:30:44 AM ||
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A third consignment of relief supplies for Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad has been delivered by trucks travelling across the Sahara desert from ports on Libya's Mediterranean coast. The UN refugee agency UNHCR said the eight-truck convoy bringing tents, blankets, sleeping mats, cooking oil and sugar, arrived in the Chadian town of Abeche earlier this week after a two-week journey from the Libyan capital Tripoli. The aid shipment was sent by the Gaddafi International Foundation for Charity Association (GIFCA), a charity linked to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. This organisation pioneered the trans-Sahara route, which includes over 1,000 km of unmarked desert tracks, by sending two trucks to blaze the trail in June. More on this story in link:
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
5:24:55 AM ||
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Tokyo Gas Co is getting inquiries from potential customers who seem to be interested in getting a fuel cell system at any price and want to know when the company is going to market it. "We've certainly decided to market it but haven't made anything definite, such as its price or product name," said Hiroaki Kobayashi, head of the planning group at the research and development headquarters of Tokyo Gas. "Furthermore, the number of units to be marketed will be limited at first," he said.
The initial unit, being jointly developed with Matsushita Electric Industrial Co and Ebara Ballard Corp, will have 1 kilowatt in generating power and a tank capable of storing 20 liters of hot water. It will have a power generation efficiency of 31% and heat efficiency of 40%. There are a variety of fuel cells being developed, including the solid high polymer type that is at present the most advanced in development for home use. It works by extracting hydrogen from town gas and its big advantage is that it can utilize existing facilities, such as piping. The developers hope this type of fuel cell will be mass produced in units that are small and light.
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Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
5:19:57 AM ||
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#1
We need this in the US. President Bush has financed a lot ofresearch in this area. Could you imagine getting us off of imported oil and reducing the coal we need to burn for electricity?
#3
It isn't competitive in the US where coal is cheap. But Japan uses oil, gas, or nukes to generate electricity. So the fuel cell is competitive when waste heat used to heat water (saving electricty) is factored in.
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2004 8:09
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"...potential customers who seem to be interested in getting a fuel cell system at any price ..." This is an important point that is also true in the US. People want this alternative and say they are willing to pay more for it. There may be a tremendous market when these products become available.
Posted by: Canaveral Dan ||
10/16/2004 8:46
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#5
For the umpteenth time, fuel cells are not an energy source. They are a means of storing energy generated from other sources. Because we will never achieve a 100% efficient fuel cell, they will INCREASE ENERGY (OIL, COAL, NUCLEAR) DEMAND.
#6
The efficiency in such systems lies in how they are used. As phil_b mentions, they are not more efficient in terms of volume usage. But they do fulfill the needs of the far left environmentalist wackos . . . .that is, they put fewer pollutants DIRECTLY into the atmosphere. But they will increase demand, not just from being less efficient. But the same reasons that Americans use more fuel when their cars get more efficient. They _feel_ good about not using as much, then they drive farther, using more fuel . . . increasing the problem.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
10/16/2004 9:26
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OS, I agree, I think there' a great potential for job creation here when this technology starts to hit. Anything that helps us get away from oil dealings w/the soddies is a plus imho.
#8
bwaaahhhaaaaaa! That's got to strike fear in the hearts of the Saudi's. Fuel cells may not be efficient yet, but they are the future. The sooner we get there, the sooner the Saudi's can start selling off their "educational" assets abroad and stop funding jihad.
Saudi's are making a huge mistake by allowing the cost of oil to run up. As oil hits $54 a barrel, executives everywhere dust off those old proposals for alternative energy sources and give them a second look and they are starting to look a whole lot more cost effective than they did before.
#9
Phil_B just being a meanie. We can run our fuel cells on free hydrogen from seawater thru our Phish carbureators and teflon engines and achieve 3900 mpg.
#11
phil_b wrote: For the umpteenth time, fuel cells are not an energy source. They are a means of storing energy generated from other sources. Because we will never achieve a 100% efficient fuel cell, they will INCREASE ENERGY (OIL, COAL, NUCLEAR) DEMAND.
Shame on you Phil for bringing the first and second laws of thermodynamics into a discussion on energy! We should make energy policy based on hope, hype, and emotion. ;-)
#12
I don't see where anyone mentioned free energy. This fuel cell uses natural gas who total energy efficiency (elec+heat) is greater than if the same amount of natural gas was used by an electric power plant.
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2004 11:31
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#13
"It will have a power generation efficiency of 31% and heat efficiency of 40%."
Coal fired or gas fired electric generating plants can't achieve this sort of efficiency?
#14
I agree with 2b - anything that starts the weaning process is a good thing, and given the twitchiness in the oil markets it might be enough to start prices headed the other way.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/16/2004 13:04
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I have a machine that requires no power to run and will run continuously. I am selling shares.
But weaning off of oil is good but at the current time all our transport runs on oil. So what is a mother to do.
A PROVINCIAL ban on pit bulls is a happy end to a terrible story for Louise Ellis. Ten years ago, she stood over her 5-year-old daughter's unconscious, bloodied body as a pit bull held the young girl's face in its iron jaws. "That had to be the most terrifying, horrific experience of my life, and having legislation enacted to rid these beasts from my society I think is the right thing to do," Ellis said. Moments before she recounted the event yesterday, Ontario's Attorney General Michael Bryant confirmed plans to ban the controversial breed and crack down on irresponsible owners of any dangerous dog. Bryant said he's heard enough to be convinced the dogs are "ticking time bombs" and "inherently dangerous animals."
"For every family that tells me their pit bull is a pussycat, I'd like to introduce them to the family in Sudbury who regretted that judgment," he said during an impassioned speech. "Enough is enough," Bryant said. "We cannot have these animals walking the streets, the fields or the family rooms of Ontario." Within the next month Bryant will be introducing proposed legislation to initiate the ban and impose heavier fines and up to six months' jail time for owners of vicious dogs. The new law will also strengthen search-and-seizure powers, enabling officials to enter property without a warrant under situations deemed to be an emergency. The ban would be phased in over three months once legislation is passed. After that , no pit bulls can be bred, sold, imported or possessed in Ontario.
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Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
5:15:23 AM ||
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At the request of Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood, the Justice Department has initiated an investigation following a report that 46,000 New York City voters are also registered to vote in Florida and that as many as 1,000 may have already voted in both states in the same election. On August 24, the New York Daily News published the results of an investigation by reporter Russ Buettner. Buettner determined that 46,000 New York City residents are also registered to vote in Florida. Of these, the investigation "found that between 400 and 1,000 registered voters have voted twice in at least one election." This is a federal offense punishable by up to five years in jail.
Not surprisingly, these twice-registered New York voters are overwhelmingly Democratic, 68% to only 12% registered as Republicans. Another 16% did not list a party affiliation. This would mean about 31,280 are Democrats, while only about 5,520 are Republicans, giving the Democrats a 25,760-voter advantage among those who--at least theoretically--could vote illegally in both New York City and Florida on November 2. In 2000, Bush beat Gore by only 537 votes in Florida--thus securing an Electoral College victory.
The Daily News cited by name only six people who had voted in both New York and Florida in at least one previous election. Ironically, of these six, the paper identified two as Republicans and only one as a Democrat, with no party affiliations given for the other three. On October 4, Florida Secretary of State Hood announced that the U.S. Justice Department and the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission are investigating the Daily News's revelations, and that she did not believe New York was the only state whose residents were double-registering in Florida. "The FBI has assured us that the Department of Justice is investigating this issue," Hood was quoted in the Tampa Tribune. "Today I met with the chairman of the U.S. Elections Assistance Commission, and their general counsel has been reviewing it. . . . We are sure there are other states involved." In an August 26 letter, the Tribune reported, Hood told the FBI that federal action is "necessary to send a strong message that this type of illegal behavior and manipulation of the election franchise will not be tolerated."
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
5:09:36 AM ||
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#2
This crap eats away at the trust and integrity that underlies a democratic system. Time to arrest and indict the offenders.
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2004 8:24
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No, this is the first time its come up -- I imagine most offenders had no idea it was illegal. Offer amnesty to those who confess and de-register in one state or the other. Then follow up with convictions and high fines for those who double-voted or don't take the amnesty. In the meantime, sequester all votes from the the 46,000 and all others discovered.
#4
I should have been more clear. I was thinking about the vast increase in fraud we are reading about this election cycle, and not about arresting the double voters (yet). I was thinging more in terms of the folks tearing up voter registrations of the other party, folks mass signing voter cards for dead people/names from the phone book, shots fired/intimidation tactics at campaign offices, and those pre-emptively claiming fraud.
As for those who double vote, fine them. Even better if they can be made ineligible to vote in the next election cycle.
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2004 11:08
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"I imagine most offenders had no idea it was illegal."
What a steaming crock of excrement! How can you possibly believe that? I think it is extremely unlikely that more than a handfull realize that they did anything wrong.
Most of these people knew exactly what they were doing. Round them up and LOCK them up. We need to start enforcing our laws, and we need to make an example of these people.
Most of this crap would not be happening if people knew that there was high probability of being prosecuted and incarcerated.
-AR
Posted by: Analog Roam ||
10/16/2004 11:09
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#6
Thier vote should be thrown out with the trash.I ain't buyin the"Didn't know it was illegle"crap.
#7
I do not crock my excrement, Analog Roam. I flush it.
The 46,000 from New York City are clearly Snowbirds -- they probably were just trying to make sure they could vote wherever they were come November, just like they have complete wardrobes at each home, fully stocked pantries and furniture. My Snowbird friends travel back and forth with just a carry-on containing their latest prescriptions and a change of clothes in case they get delayed along the way. This is nothing like the latest perfidy of enrolling the dead and the dogs.
I do agree, though, that the snowbirds, at least, wouldn't have done it if they'd realized it was illegal. And they will be relieved to de-register, just like they've chosen one home as their primary residence for tax purposes. Publish an announcement on all TV, radio and newspapers about an eg. one-week amnesty to regularize their status, and that will likely take care of much of the problem, leaving the hard-core criminals exposed for prosecution.
#8
Trailing wife, how could you possibly believe that? You don't think they've ever heard of "one man, one vote"? You don't think they know they shouldn't get two votes. Give me a break! Send them to the slammer.
Posted by: Tom ||
10/16/2004 11:44
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#9
Tom, there is a big difference between being registered to vote in two locations, and actually voting in both. I agree that those who vote more than once should be locked up. AND pay a heavy fine to pay back society for the cost of searching out and invalidating the illegal ballots. But not those who are merely illegally double-registered, especially if they take the opportunity to regularize their situation.
Remember in a number of states voters are not asked to prove whom they are with a driver license or any form of ID, it's the trust system, which is a ticket to corruption & election board/voter fraud.
The Dem's political machine has had lots of well-funded practice over the years.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004 12:41
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"...as many as 1,000 may have already voted in both states in the same election..."
Lock 'em up.
Posted by: Tom ||
10/16/2004 16:19
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#12
"...as many as 1,000 may have already voted in both states in the same election..."
Aren't there lists of which voters voted where and *whether* they voted at their registered location?
Instead of phrases like "as many as 1000" and "may have", why not simply compare the lists and see which ones and how many have indeed done so?
Easy enough to tell then, whether they did it intentionally or not.
#13
early voting just started, Aris, and Absentee (as most might've done) aren't in yet. Compare and disqualify those who've voted twice. Hard to explain or justify, f*&k em
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/16/2004 18:56
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The world's largest car maker is getting a little smaller. General Motors says it will lay off 12,000 people from its money losing European operations. That is about one fifth of its European workforce. The cutbacks will hit hardest in Germany, and are part of an effort to trim more than $600 million in costs. GM has reported losses for its European car making operations since 1999.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
4:43:50 AM ||
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#1
Cuts in Sweden too. Any GM factories in France and Spain?
#2
Good - no sense in lowering inverstor profits subsidizing these socialist yoodles..and i always thought it was a bad move for GM to buy volvo car manufacturing. the swedes got the best deal there..got rid of thier money losing volvo car operations and kept their profitable volvo defense operations.
Posted by: Dan ||
10/16/2004 13:42
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Economics lesson for the Euros: In the real world (as opposed to yours), companies that lose money scale back their operations (and hopefully reassess what they're doing) or go out of business.
Just a little friendly advice for you sophisticates from the American cowboys....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/16/2004 22:42
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The leader of Zimbabwe's largest opposition party was acquitted of treason charges Friday by a High Court in Harare. The judge said their was not enough credible evidence to convict the politician, Morgan Tsvangirai. But analysts in Zimbabwe and opposition activists say while they are celebrating the acquittal, it's still too early to conclude that Zimbabwe's justice system has returned to independence. Morgan Tsvangirai was found not guilty of plotting to assassinate President Mugabe and stage a coup. The not guilty verdict was unexpected in Zimbabwe, where the ruling party allegedly interferes regularly in political cases.
Still, Mr. Tsvangirai says celebrations to mark his acquittal must be tempered with reality. "We feel relieved," he said. "I think it was unexpected because of the political environment in which we operate. But we cannot celebrate yet, because the political climate has neither improved nor are there any signs of improvement." There was no immediate reaction to the verdict from the Zimbabwe government. More via the link:
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
4:40:03 AM ||
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#1
Acquitted? Holy shit!...
Er, I'd be kinda careful walking through doors, pal.
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/16/2004 17:21
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Acquitted? Holy shit!... Er, I'd be kinda careful walking through doors, pal.
. . . or eating things that were not made by his own hands . . . or starting the car . . . or walking in wide open spaces . . . or being alone with any one of his supporters . . . you name it, he should grow eyes in the back of his head. Mugabe has proven himself capable of perifdy and assasination is just like breathing for him.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
10/16/2004 18:08
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North Korea has accused the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency of taking sides in discussing nuclear activities on the Korea peninsula. A North Korea foreign ministry spokesman told Pyongyang's official Korean Central News Agency that IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei employed a double standard last week when he called North Korea's nuclear development far more serious than revelations South Korean scientists had conducted secret nuclear experiments. The unnamed spokesman said North Korea cannot overlook what he called the 'irresponsible attitude' of Mr. ElBaradei, who he said was ignoring reality and forgetful of his duty. South Korea recently admitted its scientists had conducted a plutonium-based nuclear experiment in 1982 and a uranium enrichment experiment in 2000.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
4:38:15 AM ||
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Good grief! make a couple of milligrams of fissile material and the Norks go nuts. They will milk this cow till it dies. And the SKors came clean on the issue.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/16/2004 12:09
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Eritrea has banned the sale of petrol to the public because of the rising price of oil on world markets. Information Minister Ali Abdu Ahmed said diesel would remain available, but petrol had to be conserved for essential use. Earlier this month petrol went up by 40% and diesel 25% after a month of fuel rationing. Shortages are widespread as the country struggles to pay off debts incurred during its border war with Ethiopia. "Our priority is to provide petrol to public services and development programmes in the best interest of the nation," Mr Ahmed told AFP news agency. The suspension of the sale of petrol should not provoke anxiety says Ali Abdu Ahmed Information minister
(Is this guy for real?)
"We do not want superfluous consumption.
(sounds like Jimmy Carter) We cannot let the people with money consume all the petrol," he said. (What about enough gas to drive to work?) Eritrea imports all its refined fuel products and is short of foreign exchange after buying large quantities of modern aircraft to use in the war, which ended four years ago. The border between Ethiopia and Eritrea has been closed ever since, depriving Eritrea of access to its natural markets. Ethiopia used to be Eritrea's largest export market and the fees charged for the use of its Red Sea ports used to bring millions of dollars into the nation's coffers. The minister did not indicate when the suspension would be lifted. (Oh...wonderful. Is this a preview ..?
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
3:46:20 AM ||
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#1
A little reminder that the world's poor suffer disproportionally when the economy is poorly, and enjoy disproportionally when it goes well (the difference between starving and eating being so much more dramatic than choosing between McDonald's and La Petite Pierre).
#2
(the difference between starving and eating being so much more dramatic than choosing between McDonald's and La Petite Pierre).
Hear! Hear! I'm stealing that.
#3
The difference between starving and eating must be particularly dramatic when your country, that can only produce a fourth of the grain that it needs, spends money on modern fighter aircraft to defend a disputed border-zone of near-worthless land. This dispute still has potential to flare up again, in which case Eritrea will be using its limited petrol for military purposes. "...petrol to public services and development programmes in the best interest of the nation..." Would the military be a public service or a development programme?
Posted by: Tom ||
10/16/2004 11:01
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Too true, Tom. I'd vote for development programme -- I suspect they'd spend more on the newest and bestest if they could find any spare cash under the sofa cushions.
#5
I am not familiar with Erithean history but watching developments in the Sudan, Nigeria, and other African nations makes me despair.
In Africa it seems that if you canât defend your property it will be taken. The militarization of one tribe leads to surviving tribes militarizing.
Where would you put your money, a development program so your people can grow their own food or a military program so your peopleâs food wonât be stolen? In a tribal culture âyour peopleâ arenât identified by national borders. Many people may be starving in a nation while the rulerâs âpeopleâ are doing just fine.
#6
If Ethiopia isn't exporting through Eritrea, how are they doing it? Djibouti? Puntland? Wonder how they're doing this. They might have decided that after the border war, the best way to punish the Eritreans is economically. If that's the case, it's working.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/16/2004 13:36
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The Chirac government, The E.U. 'superstate' corp, Kerry's brownshirts, the leftwing media, the U.N. crowd & all those in the 'America-Is-Always-Wrong Club' have fed the the world a Big Lie in that Saddam ended all aspects of Iraq's germ and chemical weapons programmes (wmd) either just after the Gulf War or sometime during the U.N. inspections.
None of these people covering for Saddam & themselves, will ever admit Saddam not only 'trucked' his so-called wmd into Syria 3 months prior to the 2003 Iraqi war, but Saddam was also paid 32 million dollars in U.S. Dollars & Euros for the re-located wmd. Some of the very same foreign officials 'assisting Saddam with the 'U.N.'s 'Oil-for-Food' programme also 'assisted' Saddam in banking his millions.
The Bush bashers will also remain silent on Saddam during the late 1990's having a real sweet crude oil deal with Syria's Assad, in which additional lucrative kickbacks were paid to many of the same players. Well, it's all being reviled now, one investigative report after the other. Saddam should just spill the beans and sing like a bird. Iraq Survey Group head does not rule out Saddam's transfer of WMD
At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Oct. 6, Charles Duelfer, an adviser to the CIA, did not rule out Saddam's transfer of Iraqi missiles and weapons of mass destruction to Syria, reports Geostrategy-Direct, the global intelligence news service. Duelfer agreed that a large amount of material had been transferred by Iraq to Syria before the March 2003 war. "A lot of materials left Iraq and went to Syria," Duelfer said. "There was certainly a lot of traffic across the border points. We've got a lot of data to support that, including people discussing it. But whether in fact in any of these trucks there was WMD-related materials, I cannot say."
The Iraq Survey Group, headed by Duelfer, said Russia, Syria, Jordan and other arms suppliers were paid from Iraqi oil revenues. A CIA report, authored by the Iraq Survey Group, identified Russia and Syria atop a list of 12 arms suppliers to Iraq until the U.S.-led war against Baghdad started in March 2003. The report listed Russia and Syria above North Korea — regarded as the leading missile proliferator to the Middle East — as leading suppliers to Baghdad. Jordan was the third largest supplier of weapons to Iraq. After Jordan came Belarus, China, India, North Korea, South Korea, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Ukraine, France, Romania and Turkey. The report said these countries were involved in both "weapons of mass destruction and arms-related procurement."
The report said Saddam diverted money from the U.N. oil-for-food program to pay for both conventional and nonconventional weapons and components. The report said state-owned companies in Russia and Syria defied U.N. sanctions and supplied weapons and platforms to Baghdad. The report said Syria also served as the leading route for illegal arms supplies from Europe and other countries. Several of Iraq's neighbors were said to have joined in the secret military effort to aid Baghdad. The report — based on interviews with senior Iraqi officials and 40 million pages of documents and classified intelligence — cited Jordan and Turkey as leading suppliers to the Saddam regime.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
3:33:59 AM ||
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#1
...Actually, if Saddam was one-tenth as smart as the thinks he is, he'd get a message to President Bush: you take the death penalty off the table and arrnage for a reasonably comfy exile somewhere, and I name names, places and dates.
Or alternatively, he IS as smart as he thinks he is, and is just waiting to be asked...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
10/16/2004 4:02
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Mike I was thinking the very same thing.
A plea bargain could be approved by the Iraqi government & U.S. officals {{if}} Saddam names of all the French, Germans, Russians & if there are American & British contacts, names, bank account numbers, everything.
Which of his germ and chem weapons went to Syria & who assisted in moving the wmd.
Any drug deals he was linked with.
His mega-oil deals with Assad.
All al-Qa'ida contacts.
A total sum of what he paid Hamas to blow up Israelis.
Which terrorist groups or individuals he allowed safe haven for from the 1970's onward.
All data on his own nuclear & germ-chemical programmes with the French, Russians or other nations.
All those linked in re-labeling Iraqi crude oil, naming those in the U.N, Opec, etc.
Was Saddam himself playing the oil markets each time his oil supply was 'threatened' with cut-offs to the West by him, and how many millions he profited personally each time the energy market rose and fell.
It's a forgone conclusion some ceo's will not want Saddam speaking the whole truth when it comes to global oil industry and Iraqi exports. It's too bad.
Will the Iraqi general public go for any legal deal sparing Saddam's life in light of the countless mass murders he participated in directly or ordered?
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004 4:35
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#3
I've been pointing at these things for months (re: Syria).
Secondly, if we wish, Saddam could "suicide" with a bit of planning if we want him to. And once he is "dead", we can take him anywhere. Under survellance. Get the data. Then he really dies.
#4
But whether in fact in any of these trucks there was WMD-related materials, I cannot say."
He cannont say. That would mean, in the context of this article that he's not allowed to reveal that, yes, there were weapons of wmd's transferred to Syria, because he's not allowed to say that.
#5
Mark and Mike, this sounds good. Please arrange ASAP.
OldSpook, after we've pumped Sammy dry and he's off to 'exile', you know what to do. Make sure it's painful.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/16/2004 14:10
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#6
Sounds like a Vast Rant-Wing Conspiracy to me.
Posted by: Tom ||
10/16/2004 14:28
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#7
Vast Rant-Wing Conspiracy--there they go again.
The WMD stocks did not just vanish into thin air. The facilities that were dismantled and the chem/bio weapons went somewhere. The most likely places are the Bunkers in the Bekaa Valley, the Al Qaeda navy via Syrian ports and into Assad's arsenal.
No, we don't have proof that stands up in a court of law, but we do have the common sense God gave us. We just have to use it.
This isn't about left, right or neo con, this is about survival in a war.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
10/16/2004 19:14
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THE US has designated the Iraqi insurgent group of Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi a "foreign terrorist organisation" and slapped on sanctions, a day after it claimed responsibility for deadly twin attacks in Baghdad's Green Zone.
Seems like the sort of thing they should have done with the first boom, certainly at least with the first head that came off...
At the same time, US and Iraqi troops hunting Zarqawi encircled the rebel city of Fallujah as residents protested that Iraq's most-wanted man was not there. The hunt meanwhile continued for Zarqawi, who on Thursday claimed two bombs that ripped through Baghdad's once-impregnable Green Zone, home to the US embassy and Iraqi government, killing at least five people. More than 1000 US and Iraqi ground troops formed a ring around Fallujah after blistering air strikes overnight that left at least eight people dead. They "have taken up vehicle checkpoints ... with the purpose of channelling anti-Iraqi forces through these main points of passage, identifying and detaining them", marine spokesman Lieutenant Lyle Gilbert said. He refused to say if marines would enter the city.
#2
Sheikh Khaled Hamoud was arrested by US troops at a mosque near the city, according to a colleague, Sheikh Abdul Hamid Jadu. After initially refuting the allegations, a spokesman for the marines later said that they have been detaining suspected insurgents or those suspected of assisting them. But he refused to confirm whether Sheikh Hamoud was among those detained.
I heard he and the city's chief of police were nabbed sneaking out the back door...
I guess a minivan loaded with the kids, clothes, and valuables now qualifies as a "mosque"
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/16/2004 11:09
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#3
Just stick a mini minaret on your VW microbus and, voila! You have a PortaMosque. Push the envelope, see if the Merkins will bite, heh heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/16/2004 12:18
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#4
Just stick a mini minaret on your VW microbus and, voila!
Next on MTV Iraq, "Jihad My Ride!"
Posted by: Steve ||
10/16/2004 13:21
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Marine father now in good condition
NAPERVILLE, IL — When Marine Sgt. Joshua Horton saw his newborn quintuplets for the first time through a home-video, he reached out his hand and touched the TV screen. Although he hasn't been able to touch the babies in real life because he is in a hospital across the country, Horton and his wife, Taunacy, hope to be together the first time doctors allow them to hold their new children. The three girls and two boys born Monday at Edward Hospital in Naperville are still too fragile to be held — but they are progressing well for being 10 weeks premature.
And their 28-year-old father, who arrived in the United States the same day the babies were born after he was injured during combat in Iraq, has been upgraded from critical to good condition at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland. Horton, an Aurora police officer, is expected to be released in the next three weeks, hospital officials said. Doctors determined the injuries to the right side of Horton's torso and his right leg were from shrapnel, a jagged piece of hot metal from a handgun or bomb that would have traveled toward him at a very high speed.
The Oswego couple talked on the phone Friday morning for the first time since the babies' birth — "a very emotional and special moment" for them, Taunacy said at a press conference at Edward Hospital. Taunacy was released from the hospital Friday and said she looks forward to spending time with her two other children, Sean, 7, and Shaleigh, 5, whom relatives had been watching in the absence of Taunacy and her husband. The babies, who each weigh less than 2 pounds, will stay in the hospital for at least 10 more weeks. They have not yet been named because Taunacy wants to review her ideas first with her husband. "They are beautiful, and they look just like their older brother and sister, and each has their own personality," Taunacy said. "There's still a long road ahead for these angels — and hurdles along the way — but we are very hopeful, and glad they are doing so well."
Preemies typically stay in the hospital until the date their mother would have been at full-term. The quints will remain in critical but stable condition throughout the first weeks of their lives, as risks for complication decline but remain possible. Each baby has its own primary nurse and they are all constantly monitored by medical staff. Against most odds, none of the babies have had any major complications during their first 72 hours of life. There are only 51 sets of surviving quints in the United States, said Dr. Julie Jensen, Taunacy's obstetrician/gynecologist. "There is a better chance of losing all five than maintaining all five," Jensen said.
The Hortons were aware of the risks involved with having quintuplets but decided against reducing the number of babies. "We had many very tearful meetings. It was a very, very difficult decision for them," Jensen said. "They wanted the best for their babies, but they knew there was a chance of losing all five." The babies were delivered through Caesarean section after Taunacy's uterus had partially abrupted, a condition in which the placenta pulls away from the overstretched uterine wall, causing blood to fill the sacs where the babies were held. If doctors hadn't delivered the babies before Taunacy had a complete abruption, all five babies would have died, Jensen said. Doctors also concerned that Taunacy would lose too much blood. She ended up losing two to three units of blood. Losing one unit is typical, said Donald Taylor, director of maternal fetal medicine at Edward.
The first three babies came out relatively easily, but the placenta started to come out before the other two babies were delivered. That would mean blood flow to the remaining two babies would be lost. Doctors quickly pulled out the last two babies before allowing the placenta to come out, Jensen said. All five babies were delivered in about two minutes. About five hours passed between the time of the placental abruption to the delivery, and about 30 medical staff helped with the process, Jensen said. "(We) were smiling under our masks the whole time" because the babies were delivered so well, Jensen said.
Dr. Bob Covert, director of Edward's neonatal intensive care unit, said Taunacy kept asking, "Are they OK? Are they alive?" after the babies were born. Nurses immediately took pictures of the babies to show Taunacy, and the mother was able to see the babies later that night. All the babies were breathing on their own right away but were immediately put on ventilators, Covert said. The doctors' goal is to get babies off the ventilators because healthy breathing often is a sign that the rest of the body systems are functioning well, Covert said. Three of the quints are now off their ventilators, he said. That the babies have made it 72 hours without having bleeding in their brains — a common problem for premature babies that can lead to cerebral palsey or cognitive problems — is a "major step," Covert said. "They have reached a couple of very important milestones," he said. "I'm very optimistic they'll do very well." If the babies make it to 14 days, their survival rate will increase to more than 90 percent, Jensen said.
However, doctors said that any baby born at this stage is at risk for abnormal development in the future. "It will be a roller coaster ride — highs and lows are normal and happen with every extremely premature baby," Taylor said. "The babies continue to progress with time . . . we still have to worry about them." For now, Taunacy is proud to display the five bracelets around her wrist, each matching a bracelet on one of her five tiny babies — which she refers to as "beautiful" jewelry.
She and her husband have a positive outlook for the future of their family. "We know that, when we decided to have these five babies, that (God) would bless us and lend us strength to get through this, regardless of what might happen," Taunacy said. Monetary donations for the family can be sent to: The Horton Five, c/o Harris Bank, P.O. Box 6201, Carol Stream, IL 60197-6201, or be made in person at any Harris Bank. Anyone with in-kind donations is asked to contact the office of Illinois Lt. Gov. Pat Quinn at (312) 814-5220.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
2:01:39 PM ||
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Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) ||
10/16/2004
19:34 ||
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#1
The crux:
Mrs. Heinz Kerry paid $798,820 in state and federal income taxes in 2003, approximately 35 percent of her gross taxable income, according to figures and federal tax forms she released today.
Mrs. Heinz Kerry paid $627,150 in federal income taxes on gross taxable income of $2,291,137, primarily from dividends and interest she receives from Heinz family trusts. In addition, she paid an additional $171,670 in state income taxes and had $2,781,791 of tax exempt interest income from state, municipal and public entity bonds.
#2
Note the $2.78m tax-exempt interest income for the bag lady.
Maybe she should campaign against that. Most people won't even make that much money in their lifetime (i.e. under $70k per year over 40 years), while paying 30+% total taxes on their earned income.
(I admire and appreciate people who have a lot of money, except when they use it to destroy the country.)
#4
Geez, didn't her late husband, a republican
try to replace a vegetable from our children's
school lunch programs with ketchup arguing that
ketchup was a vegetable ?
Why are republicans so brain dead ?
PA Minister for Negotiations Saeb Erekat called for an international investigation into the "massacre" perpetrated by the IDF in the northern Gaza Strip. In an interview with the PA's Voice of Palestine radio station, Erekat urged the Quartet to launch an investigation into the IDF operation and to dispatch international monitors to the Gaza Strip. Erekat claimed that the operation was an excuse for Israel to reoccupy the Gaza Strip.
"Mahmoud! Are they gone yet?"
"Yes, effendi! They are gone!"
"You're sure?"
"Yes, effendi!"
"Okay, then..."
Hamas reacted to the redeployment by announcing that the IDF had been defeated and that it would continue to launch rocket attacks on Israel. The movement said 50 of its men were killed during the operation. "The Israeli army is withdrawing after being defeated and disgraced," said a statement issued by the Izzadin Kassam, the armed wing of Hamas. "The brutal and most violent campaign has completely failed and did not achieve its goals. The Palestinian resistance fighters were able to teach the enemy harsh lessons in resistance and sacrifice."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
1:59:05 PM ||
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Hamas reacted to the redeployment by announcing that the IDF had been defeated and that it would continue to launch rocket attacks on Israel.
Wrong answer, guys.... ***sigh*** These guys are programmed to jiihad and self destruct, whichever comes first. The leadership and middle management will just have to be eliminated before there is a glimmer of hope for the Paleostinians. The sooner the funding for the fundos can be eliminated, the sooner this idiocy will end.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/16/2004 14:54
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good thing they are working on those fuel cells ;-)
Hottest Magazine News of the Week: Family Circle announced the winner of their First Lady Cook-off. It's first lady Laura Bush, whose Chocolate Chunks overtook Teresa Heinz Kerry's Pumpkin Spice cookie with 67% of the vote. When the "polls" closed almost 17,000 Family Circle readers had voted. The magazine says the ballot count was supervised and audited by the accounting firm BDO Seidman. This is serious stuff. That's because the results of the First Lady Cook-off has predicted the last three presidents. This year the cook-off was almost as contentious as the campaign. That's because Ms. Heinz Kerry, dare we say it, flip-flopped on her recipe, claiming that it wasn't really hers. She told NPR's Susan Stamberg, "I never make pumpkin cookies. I don't like pumpkin spice cookies." And that, folks, is a perfect summary of the campaign.
Posted by: someone ||
10/16/2004
1:50:42 AM ||
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#1
"I like chocolate chip cookies, but I'd make them better."
#2
According to the NBC Morning program which insomniacs like me watch DownUnder, THK's first recipe 'didn't work' and the Pumpkin cookies (someone elses recipe) were substituted untried at the last moment. I thought it nicely encapsulated the Left's economic policies.
#3
Finally, some trivial aspect of life on Earth for which Skeery didn't have a PLAN. Or, perhaps, he did and this serves as fair warning that his PLANS don't / won't work. As for Taarayzaah, she prolly had too many of her gin raisins that day.
#4
family circle prolly didn't want THK's initial submission recipe of gin and oatmeal raisin cookies, I have it on good authority she went to her backup recipe - the ever popular pumpkin spice cookie ball thingy.
'Chaudhrys were after me!'
As reported by Insaf, ex-PM Mir Zafarullah Jamali stated that he used to receive lists of appointees to the cabinet from the president. Jamali was inducted to keep the Punjabis out of contention for the PM's job. He was threatened from the start that if he did not do as directed he would be sacked. The order for the appointment of Faisal Saleh Hayat, Naurez Shakoor, Rao Sikandar, Raza Hiraj and Major Tahir Warraich came directly from the president. Jamali said a Gang of Four in the Chaudhry circles got Kabir Wasti to write a letter of accusations about him to the president. Jamali went to Chaudhry Shujaat and told him to get this shatoongra (small Satan) off his back or he would sort him out. President Musharraf would lose his temper on the MMA and delivered long lectures. Nazeer Naji wrote in Jang that President Musharraf had given a chit to Ijazul Haq for the ministry of overseas Pakistanis, but Mr Jamali gave him religion ministry instead. This had offended the president.
Absconding 'naib khateeb' threatens 'fatwa'
According to Jang, the absconding naib khateeb of Lal Masjid Islamabad had sent a video message to a gathering of Imran Khan's Tehreek Insaf saying that he had absconded because he was not willing to be arrested and kept in custody. He said allegations against him of being linked to Al Qaeda were false. He said the other person implicated in the case, Maulana Abdul Aziz, khateeb of Lal Masjid had only issued a fatwa against the Wana Operation. He said MMA's Maulana Fazlur Rehman and Tehreek Insaf's Imran Khan should sit down and analyse the statements issued by the three ministers accusing him of being an agent of Al Qaeda.
Ahle Hadith have nine splinters
According to Khabrain, a 9th splinter in the wahhabi religious party Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith had appeared after one leader Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer quarrelled with the big MMA leader Prof Sajid Mir and decided to start up his own new party.
Mengal's rebellion
Writing in Jang, Irshad Haqqani stated that while the Senate Committee would do well to discuss the Balochistan issue with Sardar Ataullah Mengal, it should keep in mind that he has recently demanded Balochistan's autonomy not under the 1973 Constitution but in the light of the 1940 Muslim League resolution asking for 'sovereign states'. Mengal also wanted the Balochistan projects like the Gwadar port handed over to Balochistan. He also wanted all revenue handed over to Quetta and then negotiated for the central share from it. He did not want non-Balochistan domiciled citizens of Pakistan to have the right to vote in Balochistan.
Sacred name on 'zanana' cloth
According to daily Pakistan, the people of Alipur Chaththa were outraged when one cloth merchant sold a piece of ladies' cloth with the name of the Holy Prophet PBUH on it. A wave of anger (leher daur gayi) ran through the markets and the people came out to protest this latest occurrence. One honourable cleric said that this was a conspiracy of the yuhud-o-hunud (Jews and Hindus) and the government should at once uncover the culprits behind the printing of the cloth. The public protested on the roads for some time.
Hameed Gul admits wrong
Quoted in Nawa-e-Waqt, ex-ISI chief General (Retd) Hameed Gul said that he was wrong when he condemned Nawaz Sharif for opposing the Kargil Operation. The Kargil Operation was wrong (jhak mari gayi) but Nawaz Sharif was in no position to stop it. He said Pakistan should stick to the Kashmir position and not be too scared of offending the Americans.
Liaquat's problems with Jinnah
Former chief secretary Punjab, SK Mehmood, told daily Pakistan that prime minister Liaquat Ali Khan developed problems with governor general Quaid-e-Azam after 1947 on the question of settling refugees from India. He said there was an over all policy for settling them agreed at the top, but Liaquat Ali Khan wanted his own constituency carved out in Karachi by giving them special attention. The Constituent Assembly constituencies were mostly located in India. Because of these bad relations the Quaid was not looked after when he travelled from Balochistan to Karachi and died on a road in Karachi. He said Bhutto was partly to blame for the fall of Dhaka. He was unfairly hanged after Punjabi judges on the Supreme Court bench wanted him hanged and the non-Punjabi judges were opposed to hanging him. He said Bhutto was not bodily harmed before his hanging.
Kenya doesn't love Pakistan
Writing in Khabrain Wajahat Ali Khan stated that when he checked for Pakistani books in Kenya's biggest library he found that there was not a single book on Pakistan or from Pakistan in the library while there were 35 books on and from India. He added that there was not a single copy of the Holy Quran in the library.
ARD plays clever card
Writing in Jang Nazeer Naji stated that by nominating PMLN's Makhdoom Javed Hashmi as its candidate for premiership against Mr Shaukat Aziz, the ARD had cleverly challenged the MMA. It was apparent that the real foe of the clergy was the PPP and not the party of Nawaz Sharif. ARD had played a clever card by challenging the MMA to oppose Makhdoom Javed Hashmi. Haroonur Rasheed wrote in Jang that Makhdoom Javed Hashmi came from a middle class family with divine origins. His forefather was a nobleman of Multan who married a daughter of Muhammad Tughlaq, the ruler of Delhi. His father Muhammad Shah owned only five squares of land. Hashmi was a brave man who started with a religious party and like Liaquat Baloch was for a time an admirer of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.
Musarrat Shaheen was PAT member
According to Khabrain, Pakistan Awami Party (PAT) of Allama Tahirul Qadiri revealed that film actress Musarrat Shaheen was a member of PAT but it was not greatly disturbed by the fact that she had now joined PML. Ms Shaheen had announced at the time of offering herself to the PML that she was not a member of PAT. The party also published a photograph of the great actress submitting her party membership form to Allama Tahirul Qadiri.
Muhammad and India
Writing in Nawa-e-Waqt, Hamid Sultan stated that in all the libraries of the world the name of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH was written with the required words of reverence but not in India. At first India too followed the practice of showing reverence but now India used Muhammad simply without any show of reverence like PBUH. In India people who have visited the railway stations have noted that drinking water is designated as 'Muslim water' and 'Hindu water', which means that Muslims are not allowed to drink the same water as the Hindus. Many Pakistanis are misguided when they propose friendship and trade with India.
Khalid Sheikh Muhammad and Dr AQ Khan
Writing in Nawa-e-Waqt, Irfan Siddiqi stated that in an American book on Pakistan's nuclear programme it was revealed that Dr Qadeer Khan's smuggling of nuclear secrets was revealed by Al Qaeda mastermind Khalid Sheikh Muhammad after his arrest in Pakistan and his handing over to the United States. Khalid Sheikh revealed that AQ Khan was involved in international nuclear smuggling.
Oil on water colours, Pakistani style
Writing in Khabrain, Khalid Masood Khan stated that when he was in Manchester he had occasion to attend a function celebrating August 14. Pakistani painter Agha Nisar was exhibiting his water colours when the meal was served. The Pakistani crowd rushed to the dishes and one Pakistani resident lady took down a painting, laid it face down on the table, and put her dish of oily chawal on it. The white mayor of the town went up to her, took her aside and rescued the painting. In another function the announcer kept alive the audience's interest by announcing that food would be served soon. When the lunch boxes were served in their seats the resident Pakistanis snatched more lunch boxes than their share from the trays. Some residents grabbed a lot of lunch boxes and were found gorging themselves. Some British Pakistanis saw that the lunch boxes wee being raided and went for the kitchen instead and began eating there. The columnist observed that in the UK the white citizens observed the principle of lining up for their turn. But Pakistanis were still following the wild tradition of back home.
To break Pakistan
Daily Nawa-e-Waqt editorialised that retired Indian General Murli Dhar should be praised for speaking the truth when he said after crossing into Pakistan that in his 38 year career in the Indian army he was busy discussing with Indian politicians ways and means to break Pakistan. The general said that India had killed 70 thousand people in Kashmir and if there was an Indo-Pak war the two countries would be destroyed in quick time by atom bombs.
Pakistani Laila in Indian film
Daily Khabrain stated in its film column that Pakistani actors were now attracting publicity by saying that they had been invited to act in Indian films and were no longer proud of acting in Pakistani films. On a Lahore set, famous Pakistani actress Laila was acting in Wehshi Haseena (Savage Beauty) when she said that she would soon be going to London to act in an Indian movie. She said she was going to London instead of Bombay because the part required shooting in London.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
12:37:00 PM ||
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#1
shatoongra
naib khateeb
leher daur gayi
jhak mari gayi
It's lunchtime...and all of a sudden I'm craving Indian food...
#2
Well, Emily, I can see now where Fred gets some of his Anonymous name codes.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/16/2004 14:31
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a 9th splinter in the wahhabi religious party Markazi Jamiat Ahle Hadith had appeared after one leader Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer quarrelled with the big MMA leader Prof Sajid Mir and decided to start up his own new party.
Via Dhimmi Watch Please see article for what was done to these boys:
Garang, whose arms were chopped off
Garang Deng Akuei, lost one eye Courtesy CSI
Nyibol Deng was scalped (CSI)
Boys claim abuse, rape, death threat, forcible conversion
ABYEI MOU, Sudan, May 3, 2004 — 56 boy slaves were liberated at the end of April from the cattle camps of Arab nomads in the borderlands between northern and southern Sudan. Their liberation was a joint action undertaken by CSI and the Arab-Dinka Peace Committee based at the borderland market town of Warawar.
The boys had been abducted during government sponsored jihad slave raids against Black African, non-Muslim communities in northern Bahr El Ghazal.
Upon releasing the slaves, the head of the Baggara cattle camps between the Bahr el Arab and Lol Rivers, Shegir Al Agar, claimed that the boys had been very happy with their masters, whom they affectionately called "father."
However, interviews with the boys revealed a clear pattern of physical and psychological abuse. They reported cases of beatings, stabbings, boy rape, racial insults, death threats, and forcible conversion to Islam.
A 12-year-old slave named Piol recalled:
My master (Ibrahim Mohammed) told me not to ask about my mother and father, and ordered me to call him "father." Whenever I displeased him, he beat me. Once he hit me on the head with a cow's horn. Another time, he burned me on the arm. Sometimes he refused to allow me to eat. Ibrahim's son, Khalid, also bullied me. He threw stones at me, and called me "dog," "bastard," and "slave." Ibrahim made me go to Koranic school. The teacher, Mohammed Razik, said that we should forget about the religion of our people and become Muslims. Otherwise, we would be infidels.
CSI encountered two slaves who were not released by their masters. Osman was in the bush looking after cows, and Majok Miir was making tea for cattle camp masters. Shegir Al Agar reported that there were many more slaves in the area.
The Baggara will start moving their cows and slaves back to their home areas north of the Bahr El Arab River later this month when the rainy season begins. They had brought their cattle south of the river last February, during the dry season, in search of water and pasture land.
Slavery is an internationally recognized crime against humanity. In the spring of 2002, a U.S. government-sponsored international Eminent Persons Group charged Sudan's Islamist regime of using slavery as a weapon of war against Southern Sudan.
At the beginning of his mission, U.S. Special Envoy for Peace in Sudan, former Sen. John Danforth, identified the eradication of slavery as a pre-condition for a just and lasting peace.
However, the issue of slavery has not yet been placed on the agenda of the peace talks between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Army. CSI's President, Revd. Hans Stuckelberger, has pledged that "CSI will continue its campaign to eradicate slavery in Sudan until the last slave is free."
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2004
12:28:10 PM ||
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#1
Boy! I sure am glad the MSM is covering this!
Can you imagine what would happen if they and the UN ignored it?
More than three decades ago, the Pentagon created two pills to ward off a lethal virus infecting boot-camp recruits. But defense officials abandoned the program in 1996 as too expensive. Now recruits are dying, thousands are falling ill, and the military is desperately racing to bring back a vaccine it once owned. A top Pentagon official called it "a major screw-up," hobbling U.S. efforts to rapidly deploy troops abroad. The respiratory virus now infects up to 2,500 service members monthly — a staggering 1 in 10 recruits — in the nation's eight basic-training centers, an analysis of military health-care records shows...
#1
Dr. Margaret Ryan, a commander at the Naval Health Research Center in San Diego and an expert on the virus, calls the vaccine lapse "indefensible."
Original vaccine manufacturer Wyeth Laboratories warned as early as 1984 that it would stop churning out pills costing $1 each unless defense officials allocated $5 million to repair a deteriorating production plant.
Wyeth executives shuttered the facility in 1996. A military health budget later gave a reason: "suppression of program to pay higher priority items."
The Pentagon's unwillingness to spend $5 million on health care is now costing taxpayers tens of millions of dollars to remedy.
1996, eh? Let's see that's also about when the government started buying vaccines, at the lowest price possible, so that all children would be vaccinated and everybody was in a frenzy to sue drug companies over getting some life threatening disease from the DPT vaccination. And now everybody is in an uproar becasue an English company can't produce enough flu vaccine. At least the Amerikkkan drug companies aren't making obscene profits any more.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
10/17/2004 6:33
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Authorities on Friday arrested a Syrian-German businessman wanted by Spain on charges he helped fund the al-Qaida terrorist network for years and who is seen in a video at a mosque with some of the Sept. 11 hijackers, German officials said. Mamoun Darkazanli, 46, was taken into custody in Hamburg on a Spanish warrant and is being held for possible extradition, city judicial spokeswoman Sabine Westphalen told The Associated Press.
The wheels of justice are finally turning, s-l-o-w-l-y
German police questioned Darkazanli shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on the United States once it emerged that three of the suicide hijackers lived and studied in Hamburg. He was freed for lack of evidence and continued to live in the port city.
"I'm not the droid you're looking for."
"He's not the droid we're looking for. Go on about your business."
The Bush administration has unfairly labeled his Hamburg-based trading company a front for terrorism. Darkazanli was one of the first people to appear on U.S. suspect lists after Sept. 11, but has denied any links to al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden or the attacks.
"Bin Laden? The tall fella with the turban and the AK-47? Talks to himself a lot? No, can't say I ever heard of him."
Spanish authorities allege that Darkazanli was "one of the key figures of the al-Qaida terror network" and "the permanent contact person and assistant of Osama bin Laden in Germany," Hamburg authorities said in a statement. He is accused of having given logistical and financial support to the network in Spain, Germany and Britain since 1997, the statement said. The U.S. Treasury Department ordered a freeze of his personal assets and those held by his import-export company. German officials followed suit and placed him under formal inquiry, but until now refrained from arresting him. He first caught the attention of German investigators in 1998 when they learned he had power of attorney over a German bank account opened by bin Laden's suspected financial chief, Mamdouh Mahmud Salim. Darkazanli said his dealings with Salim were a one-time business deal in the mid-1990s that fell through.
"He's a liar and a cheat. I gave him zakat for a proper jihad, and all he did with the money was buy winter coats for some stupid widows and orphans. And bunny chow. You would not believe the amount of bunny chow."
Darkazanli, a Syrian native, faces up to 12 years in prison in Spain if convicted of charges of membership in a terrorist organization. German authorities arrested him because he was a flight risk, the statement said. It did not elaborate. Darkazanli did not respond to the charges after his arrest, but said he would contest extradition, the statement said.
"I been readin' the papers. Those Spaniards are nutz!"
Darkazanli is alleged to have been involved in the purchase of a ship for bin Laden, handling administrative details, and paying bills. He also allegedly traveled to Kosovo in late 2000 on an al-Qaida mission, Hamburg authorities said. A Spanish Interior Ministry spokeswoman stressed that he is not linked to the March 11 train bombings in Madrid, but is known to have belonged to a Spanish al-Qaida cell. He is among 41 suspects - including bin Laden himself - who have been indicted by Baltasar Garzon, a Spanish judge investigating al-Qaida. Darkazanli was indicted in Sept. 2003 with 34 others. The last six have been indicted over the last year.
I hope Judge Garzon has 24-hour security. He's pissed off a lot of terrorists lately. Probably some government officials too.
He made several visits to Spain in the late 1990s and had connections with suspected members of the cell, including the leader, a Syrian national called Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, according to the indictment. Darkazanli was among several people identified in a wedding video shot in a Hamburg mosque that was believed to have been a recruiting center for al-Qaida operatives. The video of the October 1999 wedding of Said Bahaji shows grainy scenes of Sept. 11 al-Qaida suicide pilots celebrating. Visible in the video were Mohamed Atta, believed to have piloted one of the Sept. 11 jets into the north tower of the World Trade Center; Marwan al-Shehhi, the suspected pilot of the jet that hit the south tower; and Ziad Jarrah, the suspected pilot of the hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.
#4
Stop inciting hate and endangering Americans on US soil.
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US ground troops advanced on the Iraqi rebel bastion of Fallujah on Friday after a night of deadly air assaults...Before dawn, 1,000 US group troops, along with tanks and Iraqi special forces, rumbled toward Fallujah in a bid to flush out Zarqawi, said to be the top Al-Qaeda operative in Iraq, after attempts to hammer out a truce collapsed.
"Units are pushing forward... Their mission is to disrupt the enemy's ability to conduct terror attacks in this area of operations, specifically in the city of Fallujah... They'll do whatever it takes to accomplish that," said marines spokesman Lyle Gilbert.
The deployment was the biggest around Fallujah, the epicentre of the insurgency, since last April when marines and rebels battled to a draw in the community of 200,000 people, leaving it in the hands of radical Islamists for months.
Gilbert declined to say if the troops had yet entered the rebel bastion, but a storming of the city loomed after Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said Fallujah should surrender Zarqawi, a Jordanian-born fighter with a 25-million dollar price on his head, or face a military assault.
Adding to the tensions, a senior religious figure from the rebel stronghold, Sheikh Mahmud Abdel Aziz, called for protests over the US operations and warned of "holy war" if the onslaught continued... AFP report, so take cum grano salis.
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
10/16/2004
11:11:31 AM ||
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a senior religious figure from the rebel stronghold, Sheikh Mahmud Abdel Aziz, called for protests over the US operations and warned of "holy war" if the onslaught continued...
Well, bring it on. This is what we should have done in April. If we are serious about it this time (and General McInerney sounds like he means business), we could crush this entire stronghold in a couple of weeks. Stay strong, General, and don't read the papers!
#5
I think feint, as do others. Fallujah will be the final holdout and suffer the worst (as it should be). Wait til after the election and level this shithole
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/16/2004 18:44
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#6
Haven't they already declared holy war on us? Regardless, a Bush win translates into the Fallujah crater.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono ||
10/16/2004 19:04
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a senior religious figure from the rebel stronghold, Sheikh Mahmud Abdel Aziz, called for protests over the US operations and warned of "holy war" if the onslaught continued...
Yeah, whatever, I've got your "holy war" right here.
A sad movie and a night of heavy drinking led a south Georgia man to set his house on fire, the man told police. Charles Alton Adams, 32, walked into the Crisp County Law Enforcement Center shortly after midnight Thursday and told deputies he had burned down his mobile home. He said that after watching the movie, he drank nine or ten beers and decided to set fire to pillows on his bed. Adams did not tell authorities the name of the movie. Any guesses?
#6
He told deputies that after watching "The Day After Tomorrow," a special-effects extravaganza depicting deadly natural disasters caused by global warming, and drinking nine or 10 beers, he decided to set fire to pillows on his bed.
And just think: he'll be voting for Kerry, too. Fucking idiot...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
10/16/2004 7:25
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#7
Dave - I think you've identified why he felt he had nothing to live for.
#9
I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention, but ISTR that the movie was kind of a dud? From the trailers I've seen (very frequently on the Weather Channel, which likes to talk about "global warming") it looked about as scientifically serious as a Godzilla flick.
If the political ignorance of Hollywood types is disgusting, their scientific ignorance is downright horrifying.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
10/16/2004 8:04
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#10
This is the type who would drill a hole in his head if he had a headache.
#16
Day after Tommorow? Lol. A 2nd rate movie. By the way why were they burning books in the library instead of busting up the furniture?? I also thought the temperature drop at "10 degress a second" !! was pretty lame. Lets see in 40 seconds we are at absolute zero!! Also the question back to the Prez saying if he had done something sooner, like global warming or whatever occurs over night. Well enough dissecting of a somewhat fact flawed action movie. Why anyone would get depressed looking at this movie is beyond me. I'm going out now and burn some hydro carbons.
Posted by: Bill Nelson ||
10/16/2004 12:28
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The only person who might have been depressed enough to burn down his own house after seeing that bomb would have been Dennis Quaid's agent. I either forgot or didn't realize what a rotten actor he is.
KCNA -- The Korean nation should firmly establish its Juche character if it is to achieve concord and reunification, breaking through ordeals and difficulties standing in the way of the cause of reunification.
Um, I thought they already had juche.
Rodong Sinmun Friday says this in a signed article. To establish the Juche character in accomplishing the cause of national reunification means that the Korean nation independently settles all the problems arising in the struggle to achieve the reunification of the country in conformity with the desire and interests of the nation, the article notes, and goes on:
In order to preserve the cause of independent reunification and lead it to victory it is imperative for the Korean nation to resolutely reject outside forces' interference in its internal affairs and independently resolve all the problems arising in achieving reunification by its concerted efforts. The Korean nation should firmly establish the Juche character in accomplishing the cause of national reunification so as to meet foreign forces' aggressive and anti-reunification challenge and more dynamically push ahead with national reconciliation, unity and reunification process. Flunkeyism and dependence on foreign forces are fundamentally contrary to the era of reunification after the publication of the June 15 joint declaration. It is impossible to stop outsiders from interfering in and obstructing the cause of reunification and promote reconciliation, unity, cooperation and interchange between the north and the south as long as flunkeyism and dependence on foreign forces remain.
The establishment of the Juche character makes it possible to put an end to flunkeyism and dependence on outsiders. The united struggle of the Korean nation firmly armed with the Juche character is a decisive strength to do away with flunkeyism and the idea of depending on outsiders. Only when the Korean nation establishes the Juche character in the movement for reunification can it strengthen the driving force of reunification in every way, foil flunkeyism, dependence on foreign forces and anti-national pro-American cooperation and continue to step up the advance of the era of independence and reunification with the might of national cooperation. The establishment of the Juche character is the lifeline for the cause of national reunification. The Korean nation should push aside all challenges to reunification by the might of Juche, the might of unity, and push forward the cause of independent reunification.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
11:03:53 AM ||
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#1
I really wonder if these fools are trying to cut off their Chinese masters. Pride goeth before a flunky fall.
#6
What about White Slag? We need White Slag, too.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/16/2004 12:11
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Ah, I haven't had a good dose of juche in a while.
Do they have an auto-generator for this stuff - like the business-speak generators you can find on the web? Just plug in a general topic (e.g. unification, US bellicosity, etc) and a length and push START.
#10
Sounds more like a subtle slap at Kim Il Jung. There's a significant number of NK military and political leaders who remember the good old days of Kim Il Sung. They think his offspring is, essentially, a heretic to Juche. But they won't attack him directly.
Problem is, Juche requires cult-like devotion to the leader and there's really no one who can be considered a replacement without violating Juche.
Fun stuff.
#11
Right-o Pappy. How can you inspire a personaity based cult based on a puffy-haired pervert like Kimmy? And you cannot hang onto the dead, like Mao, or Lenin. Years after their departure from this veil of tears, you just have no Juiche left. Like a crab without any meat.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/16/2004 14:38
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This KCNA article is actually addressed to the South Koreans, with "flunkeyism" (i.e., kowtowing to the Americans) being today's "heresy du jour".
It's not completely clear whether this is the standard garbage to fill the Rodong Sinmun's pages or if it's in response to a recent relevation in the Southern press of the existence of contingency plans in the South to be exercised if North's current regime were to fall.
Posted by: Michael Sheehan ||
10/16/2004 15:40
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Posted by: Frank G ||
10/16/2004 18:20
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It's possible that it could be addressed to SK. If it is, saying that the only way for reunification to occur is to adopt North Korea's political philosophy is a definite non-starter.
A pathetic performance, marred by lack of any obsequitiousness to Fearless Leader or mention of Army First policy. The grass diet is most likely a contributing factor...
Maybe my reading comprehension's off because I've been so busy this week, but for the life of me, I can't find where the text supports the headline...
Two former Lebanese hostages returned home from Iraq, and their employer said a U.S. bombing that wounded both men, killed their Iraqi driver and their kidnappers had allowed them to escape.
Maybe the headline refers to the driver?
Charbel Karam Haj and Aram Nalbandian, who work for a travel agency, were kidnapped Sept. 18 along with their driver, Ahmed Mirza, as they drove on a highway between Baghdad and the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, 40 miles to the west. The kidnappers and Mirza were killed Wednesday when U.S. forces bombed the building in Fallujah where the three were being held, Fadi Yassin, the travey agency's owner, said at Beirut's airport after flying back from Baghdad with Haj and Nalbandian. "Haj and Nalbandian were removed from under the rubble by some Fallujah mujahedeen (holy warriors)," Yassin said.
And then, rather than continue with the process of cutting their heads off, they shipped them back to Lebanon?
He said Haj suffered a fractured hip and Nalbandian had a broken ankle. They were taken to the American University Hospital. Nalbandian said he and Haj did not expect to make it out alive. "We were expecting death every minute," he said. Haj, who said he was in great pain, refused to speak with journalists. Nalbandian said the men were treated poorly shortly after the kidnapping, "but things improved later." He said the captors told them that British hostage Kenneth Bigley was being held captive in the same building, but they never saw him. Bigley and two Americans captured with him were beheaded; the Tawhid and Jihad group, led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
10:53:03 AM ||
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Hmm, I guess our intel is pretty good... even if we didn't know hostages were in that building, we apparently knew some bad guys were there.
Posted by: V is for Victory ||
10/16/2004 12:32
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Yeah, it's gotta be the driver.
Note, BTW, that the headline could as easily have been "US BOMBING KILLS KIDNAPPERS, FREES TWO LEBANESE HOSTAGES."
Just sayin'...
Posted by: Old Grouch ||
10/16/2004 12:36
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MSM is just resorting to outright lies now. At least they are still trying to leave themselves some plausible deniability when challenged. I wonder if in another week or two if they will just drop all pretenses and just show photoshops of Bush superimposed over Nazi death camps.
The Arab news translation service MEMRI reports in a breaking-news crawl that Osama bin Laden met with Saddam's Italian attorney in the al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad in 1998:
"Saddam's Italian attorney Giovanni de Stafano told a London-based daily that a meeting was held between himself and Osama bin Laden at the Rashid Hotel in Baghdad in 1998. (al-Sharq al-Awsat)"
Big hat tip to Kevin McCullough. I have yet to find an English-language link to al-Sharq, even though it's based in London, nor have I seen this break anywhere else in the English-language media. Needless to say, if this report pans out, it puts a completely new light on our efforts to depose Saddam -- not so much for those of us who understand the strategic necessity of removing Saddam, but for those who can only think tactically.
More to come ...
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/16/2004
10:51:47 AM ||
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Could it be the October Surprise? I'm following this too on my site.
A Japanese court on Friday convicted two men of illegally exporting equipment that could be used to make missile fuel to Iran. One man, the president of Tokyo's Seishin Enterprise Co., was given a suspended prison sentence of 2 1/2 years. The other, Seishin's former South Korea branch manager, was given a suspended 1 1/2-year prison term. The court also ordered the company to pay a $134,000 fine. The two were found guilty of violating foreign exchange and customs laws. The suspended sentences mean they won't go to prison unless they commit another crime during the terms of their sentences. The court said the two men illegally exported two grinders, which can be used to produce solid fuel for rockets and missiles, to Iran in 1999 and 2000 without obtaining export permission from the government. They were arrested in June 2003.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
10:50:28 AM ||
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Switzerland approved on Friday the handover of bank documents to the United States on the source of a donation to a U.S.-based Islamic charity suspected of money laundering and recruiting terrorists over the Internet. The supreme court's decision allows Swiss authorities to override banking secrecy and provide documents, including those for a $300,000 transfer made May 14, 1998, from a Geneva bank to the Michigan-based Islamic Assembly of North America. The decision was in response to a February 2003 U.S. government request for judicial assistance in its investigation of the assembly and its Idaho-based Saudi computer expert for suspected money laundering for terrorist financing.
The Lausanne-based court did not name any suspects, but it was clear one of them was Sami Omar Al-Hussayen, a Saudi who studied at the University of Idaho. He was acquitted last June by a U.S. District Court in Boise, Idaho, of U.S. charges he used his computer skills to foster terrorism on the Internet sites he ran for the assembly. The Swiss court said U.S. officials claimed the computer expert ran six bank accounts in the United States and used them to channel large sums to the assembly or its members.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
10:48:57 AM ||
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A Lebanese newspaper published on Friday a statement purportedly from al-Qaida claiming responsiblity for deadly bombings in Egypt's Sinai peninsula. It was the fifth separate claim in the attack and could not be verified. The statement, allegedly issued by al-Qaida's media office and signed "International Islamic Front," was e-mailed Thursday night to Sada al-Balad, an independent newspaper, which published it on the front page Friday.
The other claims came from "Muhammed's Army — The Military Wing of the Palestinian Resistance"; the Brigades of the Martyr Abdullah Azzam, which said it was affiliated with al-Qaida; the Tawhid Islamic Brigades; and Jamaa Al-Islamiya Al-Alamiya, or World Islamist Group. No group offered details of how it carried out the attack. The newest statement said the attacks "are not al-Qaida's first response to the pulse of the holy intefadeh (Palestinian uprising) and will not be the last." It said the explosions were retaliation for "policies of the U.S. administration, which aim at subjugating all the countries of the region and leading them to normalize ties with the Zionist enemy." Sada al-Balad, Arabic for "echo of the country," hit the newsstands in Lebanon in December. It does not follow a political line and is owned by Lebanese business executives.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
10:44:56 AM ||
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One of the alleged ringleaders of the March 11 train bombings in Madrid was identified Friday as one of seven suspects who blew themselves up during a police raid on their apartment. Forensic tests confirmed that Allekema Lamari, an Algerian who Spanish authorities described as "the emir of the train bombings," was among the dead, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Police searching for suspects in the train bombings raided the apartment in the Madrid district of Leganes on April 3. All seven people inside blew themselves up, killing one police officer and wounding 15 other policemen. Lamari's was the last of the bodies to be identified. Spanish authorities identified the body using saliva samples taken from Lamari's parents Mohammed and Teldja Lamari, the statement added.
The ministry described Lamiri as one of the ringleaders. In 1997, he was arrested by Spanish authorities and convicted of belonging to an Algerian extremist group. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison, but was released in 2002 when his sentence was reduced. He became a prime suspect of the March 11 bombings when his fingerprints were found on a book of Quranic verses found at the Leganes apartment during the investigations led by the National Court. DNA tests on clothes in car that had been used by the alleged bombers also led police to suspect Lamari. The other suspected terrorists killed in the April suicide blast were identified as: Tunisian Serhane Ben Abdelmajid, Moroccans Jamal Ahmidan, Asri Rifaat, Abdennabi Kounjaa, and Rachid Akcha and Oulad Akcha, brothers who were also from Morocco. Officials say several of the seven were ringleaders of the attack.
How many ringleaders do you need for a single attack?
Another suspect, an Egyptian called Rabei Osman Ahmed who is currently in Italian custody awaiting extradition to Spain, is also suspected of helping mastermind the Madrid train bombings.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
10:40:28 AM ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
10:39:52 AM ||
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Fred---what we need on the Acme Surprise Meter is a little round red push-to-test button that would put the needle in the green, just to make sure that the meter works. BTW, do you have a jpeg file of that picture that is a meg or so in size. My drafter at work wants to put the surprise meter on a t-shirt. LOL!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/16/2004 12:07
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I'll look. I think I still have the .png that I built it from.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004 13:19
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A 14-member observer group representing French-speaking nations led by Norbert Ratsirahonana, a former prime minister of Madagascar, said the poll was generally "well organized" and had taken place "in accordance with legal provisions and regulations."
Gee . . . you think that the French speaking nations are as gullible as the real French? Or is it just me?
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
10/16/2004 18:10
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A total of 70,000 people are estimated to have died in Sudan's western Darfur region, with hundreds still dying every day, a top UN official said on Friday. David Nabarro, who heads the World Health Organization's (WHO) health crisis inaction group, gave the new overall figure, saying malnutrition and disease meant the monthly fatality rate was about 10,000. The previous overall death toll had stood at 50,000. People were dying despite the aid effort and the world continued to underestimate the crisis in Darfur, Nabarro said. The United Nations says the area is the scene of the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
#1
Isn't the UN having a conference in the near future on this? Did they pick the linen yet for the table settings? Emily, didn't you mention something about this recently?
These people in Darfur need protection first, before the aid rolls in.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/16/2004 1:32
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They'll hold the conference once the orders for the fois gras and champagne are placed.
Everyone knows that you cannot have a proper summit without the proper application of foi gras, champagne & caviar. Must have the fish eggs.
Place settings are far more important than you might imagine. Just consider what might happen if you place the French ambassador next to the the US ambassador. The Frenchman might surrender to the US before the negotiations have begun. Then how could he surrender to the Sudanese like we are arranging for him to?
Lots of details that must be done right.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
10/16/2004 9:30
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JR, actually, they don't put the french amb next to the german amb anymore for that very reason, sometimes they put the brit or merikan amb in between them just to make sure.
#8
Guys, guys...you gotta keep it in perspective. At least they're getting the numbers right (/sarcasm off/). What bean counters...people like this should be shot along with the goons doing the genociding.
Posted by: BA ||
10/16/2004 20:34
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A Kuwaiti publisher launched the country's first privately owned television station Friday, ending decades of government monopoly of broadcast news media. AlraiTV, which broadcasts by satellite, features news, dramas and movies as well as religious programs. Its name translates as "Opinion TV." "On this station, we are pioneers of freedom ... and openness," Jassem Boudai, the station's main owner, said in an editorial Friday in the newspaper Al-Rai Al-Amm, which he also owns. He promised objective reporting and talk shows void of "sensationalism."
I love this. In many ways it's as significant as the Afghan elections. The more freedom and openness the Gulf States implement, the worse Soddy Arabia looks. Eventually, even the Soddies won't be able to ignore the fact that the neighbors are civilized and they're the poor relations.
I guess that'll be when the Soddies decide the Kuwaiti's are not islamic enough and start subsidizing "insurgents".
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
10:35:53 AM ||
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Protesters set fire to barricades and gunfire rang out in Haiti's troubled capital as loyalists of President Jean-Bertrand Aristide marked the 10th anniversary of his return from exile. At least 54 people have been killed in Port-au-Prince during two weeks of shootouts and beheadings that have only further thrown the country into turmoil since Aristide was ousted yet again and sent into exile in February and devastating floods left 200,000 people homeless. Former Haitian soldiers who hold sway over much of the countryside are threatening to deploy into Port-au-Prince over the objections of the interim government, which is backed by an overextended and beleaguered U.N. peacekeeping force.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
10:34:26 AM ||
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Jeez I hate these new fangled things, where in my name is the cold boot button?
Posted by: The Lord God Almighty ||
10/16/2004 11:18
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Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia called the offensive in northern Gaza "part of a series of planned Israeli attacks to bring our people to their knees, but this will never happen."
It's kind of hard to be brought to your knees when you've just had your legs cut out from underneath you.
Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of thugs. The collective boil on humanity's backside known as Palestine needs to be lanced and cauterized. Preferrably, without anesthesia.
A Fallujah delegation offered Saturday to resume peace talks with the government if the United States ceases attacks against the city and releases the chief negotiator. "We are ready to resume talks," delegation member Khaled Fakhri al-Jumeili told reporters. "We suspended the talks because we felt that the Iraqi government, especially Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, was meeting the demands of the Americans." He said that if attacks and airstrikes stop, "we are ready to meet the demands of the Americans return to the negotiating table."
Sheik Abdul Hamid Jadou, another delegation member, added that the delegation also wanted its chairman, Khaled al-Jumeili, freed. Witnesses said he was arrested by the Americans on Friday after prayers at a village south of Fallujah. Talks between Iraqi officials and Fallujah clerics had been underway for weeks to restore government control in the insurgent stronghold 40 miles west of Baghdad. The talks broke down Thursday over the government's demands that the city hand over Jordanian-born terror mastermind Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whom the Fallujah leadership maintains is not in the city.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/16/2004
10:31:03 AM ||
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too little, too late - surrender Zarqawi and those responsible for killing teh American contractors and doing car bombs and we might not level the town...
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/16/2004 10:48
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Squeeze them like a grape now. Grab hold of their necks and squeeze. Do not let up until the fur ball is coughed up.
Posted by: Capt America ||
10/16/2004 11:40
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David Warren says there is a rumor that Zarqawi has been nabbed. He's doubtful, but the rumors out there and damn it would be nice.
#4
These clerics are now sweating all the secondary explosions that are starting to occur in mosques.
Posted by: Tom ||
10/16/2004 11:46
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Great point about the mosques being "fair game" changing the rules of the game. No place for the cockroaches to hide. America, stay strong and put the hammer down in the hugest possible way---make Fallujah the tipping point in Iraq. Don't give a rats ass what the press----MSM, and especially the Europeans---say about it.
#7
I think the Fallujah leaders and negotiators now understand the Iraqi government doesn't play the same mind games anymore. This is what happens when you suspect the talks that your survival depends on.
#10
It's becoming repetitive, but...
Kill 'em, Kill 'em all
One does not negotiate or compromise with evil. How can you when your enemy believes his/her god will provide an eternal reward for killing non-believers (everyone except the true believers)?
Fallujah, a city within Iraq, is negotiating with the current government of Iraq, about whether or not it has to follow the rules laid down to it by its own government.
Sounds a little like San Francisco telling the rest of the USA that it is seceding from the Union (not that we'd miss Baghdad By The Bay).
Also, what the hell is this bullshit about Fallujah negotiating for anything anyway? Don;t these asshats realize they lost the war? Maybe a B-52/B-1 droplight strike as a friendly reminder is in order here.
This doesn't violate my rule of not commenting on American politics, because I am commenting on other people commenting on American politics.
DEMOCRATIC presidential hopeful John Kerry today proclaimed that the world wants President George W. Bush out of the White House and the return of the US "they know and love". In a new swipe at Republican Bush's muscular foreign policy, Mr Kerry renewed his pledge to return the US to the internationalism that marked its foreign policy for the second half of the 20th century. "The world is waiting for the United States of America they know and love," Mr Kerry told a late-night rally of at least 5000 supporters in the mid-western state of Wisconsin. Actually large parts of the world would love to see a column of US troops. Its their corrupt and incompetant governments that don't want to see them.
"But you know the United States of America is most effective ... when we have friends and allies by our side and we move with other nations." Correct Mr. Kerry!
Mr Kerry told the crowd, braving chilly temperatures and sleet, that their judgement on election day, November 2, would be watched around the globe. Correct again!
"The world is waiting for what you are going to do. You don't just get to chose the president of the United States, you get to decide the leader of the free world." Three out three - he's doing well.
Mr Kerry has accused Mr Bush of ruining long-term US alliances with his policy of pre-emptive strikes against potential threats to the US, and with his invasion of Iraq. From what I can see, it strenghthened the Alliances worth having, UK, Australia, Poland, Japan, etc.
Global opinion polls show that Mr Bush's policies have stirred global resentment and that much of the world would prefer Mr Kerry as the next US president. A collaborative polling exercise involving 10 newspapers around the world, including The Sydney Morning Herald, showed hostility directed not only at the Bush administration but also at the image of the US. The project, initiated by Canada's Quebec-based La Presse newspaper, included France's Le Monde, The Guardian of Britain, Japan's Asahi Shimbun, Russia's Moscow News, Mexico's Reforma, Israel's Haaretz and Spain's El Pais. Note they are all left of centre.
They found that voters in eight out of the 10 countries - excluding Israel and Russia - want to see Kerry, the Democratic challenger, beat Mr Bush in the election. Interesting the Russians want Bush. Also interesting SMH - an Australian newspaper - didn't mention the Australian result. I wonder why!
Their findings, the product of identical polls taken in September, also suggested the Bush administration was facing isolation and hostility rarely seen among its closest allies. Standard Left wing bullshit conclusion. Politics is a process resulting in a poll. Taking polls outside that context is little more than manipulation. The Left made identical arguments about Howard in Asia. Howard won and will be welcomed with open arms next week in Indonesia. Its a big lie. FWIIW, My personal view is, despite the MSM spin Bush will win in a landslide.
Posted by: phil_b ||
10/16/2004
1:02:18 AM ||
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I heartily support Kerry running for president of the world. Just so long as he gets the hell out of the US. I suggest he start in Vietnam. He seems to have done his best work there.
Posted by: ed ||
10/16/2004 8:20
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"The world is waiting for the United States of America they know and love."
Ah, yes. The same "love" that was expressed just a few days before 9/11 at the U.N.'s "World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance" in Durban, South Africa from Aug. 31 through Sept. 7, 2001. The week-long hatefest conducted by the United Nations against both the United States and Israel; the conference that turned into such a grotesque, extravagant exercise in America-bashing we walked out on it.
To me, the attack on 9/11 was simply "Durban By Other Means"-- a different expression of the same sentiment.
Sorry, but I don't place any value on this kind of "love", and I'm not going to vote for this lying bastard who's trying to tempt us with it.
"Stronger At Home, Respected in the World"??? Don't bet on it. If we're stupid enough to elect John Kerry, we'll REALLY get to know what the world's contempt feels like.
And if we elect him, we'll deserve every bit of it.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
10/16/2004 8:33
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#3
When Kerry stated 'the World' does he really mean France?
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004 9:18
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#4
#1 When Kerry stated 'the World' does he really mean France?
Posted by: Mark Espinola 2004-10-16 9:18:25 AM
No, no. Just sKerry's head. That is the whole world. Isn't it?
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
10/16/2004 9:33
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#5
Does this include Japan - who Kerry insulted?
Or Poland - who Kerry insulted?
Or Britain - who Kerry insulted?
Or Australia - who Kerry insulted and interfeared in their election?
Or any of the other nations who joined us in Iraq?
No it includes France and Germany (the only ones who matter in JFK's eyes) who were bribed. Or Iran or Syria who simply want to kill us.
Kerry does more damage to our allies then our enemies!
#6
"waiting for the United States of America they know and love,".America,the Sleeping Giant,was asleep on 9/10/.The giant is now awake and doesn't like the old status quo.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
10/16/2004 10:52
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#10
,,i,,
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/16/2004 10:52
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#11
I think this is a weak argument which has been a centerpiece of the Hanoi John campaign. The average Joe and Jane Doe don't care all that much if we are liked in the world. In fact, I would be bet that most people don't give a hoot about what France et al think of us. Just the fact that France is hostile to us is enough for me to vote for W.
Posted by: Bill Nelson ||
10/16/2004 10:58
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#12
Kerry / Edwards - A Stronger America Al-Qaida.
#14
That's the love? FUCK THE LOVE, GIMME THE FEAR!
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
10/16/2004 15:42
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#15
Kerry like EUrope just doesn't understand. The USofA is a different place now. The pre 9/11 USofA doesn't exist. The Islamo-Facsists know it but the rest of the world mostly doesn't get it. If the "world" and John Felcher Kerry thinks we are going back there they are wrong
#16
"The world will never love us. They may respect us, they might one day fear us, but they will never love us, for we have too much audacity."
-- Theodore Roosevelt (attributed)
Posted by: Charles ||
10/16/2004 23:04
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#18
Not to nitpick, but I have 2 or 3 cents worth to toss into the mix...
It's the regimes in power in France and Germany who have made those countries, particularly Germany, perfidious faux allies.
The French people, of course, have been indoctrinated to hate and subvert all things American for generations, but people such as Sabine Herold can turn that around - there are some people who are neither stupid nor part of their intelligentsia / elitist wankers. JFM reminds me of this fact every time he posts - for he "gets it" and has a killer grasp of history - and he is anything but an anti-American elitist pud-puller. He rocks, in fact.
Far fewer Germans are so fooled. Sure, they have their PCism which appeals to the twits and the young (Think: Green... Think: Nader...), just as we do, but on average - they know shit from shinola. I'd equate the people with the UK - they're just a decent leader away from such cooperation and collaboration. All we have to remember is that they are far closer to us than not. I hold great hope for repairing our relations with Germany - after Shroeder is kaput, and assuming Skeery isn't elected. TGA makes the case perfectly every time he drops by - and spills those insider insights! Another sterling example of clear-thinking and a rock-solid man who rocks, heh.
So. Thanks, JFM & TGA - you guys help me keep perspective and focus on the real causes.
#19
Kerry doesn't have any business dealing with countries in which he feels free to cut down and then later plans to ask to take over the war and the rebuild effort in Iraq--(if he becomes president). I won't be voting for him. If you want to know what he has lied about, go to factcheck.org ;If you want to know why any politician lies it's at factcheck.org too. I'll save you some time, Kerry and Bush justify not telling the truth via the first amendment of the constitution--freedom of speech. If you don't believe me look it up on fact check.org.
A strong nation should be built on truth and strength. The world is getting a message from Bush right now "Don't mess With the U.S."
What message are they getting from Kerry?
Israel is guilty of severe human rights violations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, including "wanton destruction" of houses and infrastructure, according to a United Nations report obtained by The Associated Press. The annual human rights report is to be presented to the U.N. General Assembly later this month. The 18-page report was prepared by John Dugard, the U.N. representative for human rights. It charges that while some of Israel's actions in the Palestinian areas can be explained by security concerns, many cannot. This is unthinkable! Israel protecting herself? This can't be? It's SO similar to Warsaw 1943. It's shocking! I am absolutely mystified Jews would actual protect themselves, mind boggling! Fighting back against demented Islamists who relish the thought of self-detonating on every city bus in Israel?
This guy, John Dugard, the U.N. representative for human rights, really needs to study up, first hand, on the deadly effects of an Arab fired Qassam rocket smashing into to some unsuspecting Israeli's living room.
During operations in the Gaza Strip, Israel engaged in "massive and wanton destruction of property," the report said. "Bulldozers have destroyed homes in a purposeless manner and have savagely dug up roads, including electricity, sewage and water lines." The report is dated August 12, well before the current Israeli operation in northern Gaza, the largest in four years of fighting. The report criticizes repeated Israeli operations in the Rafah refugee camp on the Gaza-Egypt border. Israel says its operations in Rafah are essential to stop arms smuggling. Many arms smuggling tunnels have been uncovered in the area. Continues in link:
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004
10:15:13 AM ||
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#1
Memo to John Durgard:
Homes and property can be rebuilt.
Lives cannot be replaced.
Why do you think the Jews go after the property....and the Palestinians go after the Jews?
Yeah, I know, this requires thinking on your part, but try to pull your head outta your ass for just one second......
One Woman Treated for Hysteria in Rocket Attack
21:23 Oct 16th, '2004 / 1 Cheshvan 5765
(IsraelNN.com) It is now being reported that at least three mortar shells pounded the southern Gush Katif community of Nâvei Dekalim a short time ago. One woman is being treated for hysteria. There are no physical injuries being reported.
An Israeli policeman examining a Qassam rocket
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
10/16/2004 15:57
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#5
bulldozers that act on their own initiative
If you can build unmanned aerial vehicles, you can certainly build unmanned bulldozers. /me looks forward to seeing packs of autonomous killdozers roaming the countryside.
#6
Maybe they can be programmed to sniff out and destroy Kassams as well. Then, together with unmanned aerial support, no Israeli soldier will have to even enter scumsites like Gaza.
#7
27,000 billiard ball sized 'pebbles' in the reactor . . . that's a whole lot of 8-ball . . . 7875 sq. ft. to be exact. Seems big at first blush. But consider that they would not fill the room upstairs from where I am sitting. Multiply that by enough capacity to turn out 300 mw . . . (tikkity-tak on caliculator) . . . 236000 sq ft (roughly) to have enough capacity to fulfill what they are shooting for. That is just reactor space, not the associated generating capacity (turbines, etc).
If each plant was small enough you could reduce losses on transmission (which is significant in the US grid, although nobody likes to talk about it) then you could be quite efficient. If there really is no boom on pebble-beds (which I have heard before).
Guaranteed to piss off current nuke-builders, though, if China pushes patent rights.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
10/16/2004 19:12
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#8
right...China respects patent rights
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/16/2004 19:42
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#9
Comments...
Pebble-bed reactors have been theorized and actively designed for years (John Ringo uses the idea in his Posleen novels).
The reactors are designed around enriched uranium ball-bearings wrapped by some absorbent material (usually graphite, but a lot of other things will work).
Coolant is usually helium (presumably liquid, but it's better and cheaper than liquid sodium which has nasty secondary properties). It can get expensive though.
Good points - it can't go critical or even meltdown. Lose the coolant, the reactor bed just sits there.
Also, China doesn't/cannot own the patent rights. It was, so far as I know, developed here in the good ole' USA - not that the environmentalists would ever let us build another nuke plant no matter what the safeguards or guarantees.
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.
At the request of Florida Secretary of State Glenda Hood, the Justice Department has initiated an investigation following a report that 46,000 New York City voters are also registered to vote in Florida and that as many as 1,000 may have already voted in both states in the same election. On August 24, the New York Daily News published the results of an investigation by reporter Russ Buettner. Buettner determined that 46,000 New York City residents are also registered to vote in Florida. Of these, the investigation "found that between 400 and 1,000 registered voters have voted twice in at least one election." This is a federal offense punishable by up to five years in jail. 
THE US has designated the Iraqi insurgent group of 
Authorities on Friday arrested a Syrian-German businessman wanted by Spain on charges he helped fund the al-Qaida terrorist network for years and who is seen in a video at a mosque with some of the Sept. 11 hijackers, German officials said. 
