The Senate Intelligence Committee has launched what its chairman called a "pre-emptive" examination of U.S. intelligence on Iran as part of an effort to avoid the problems that plagued America's prewar assessments on Iraq. Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., said in an interview Friday that he had sought the unusual review because the erroneous prewar claims about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction had made lawmakers wary of the CIA's current assessments on Iran. "We have to be more pre-emptive on this committee to try to look ahead and determine our capabilities so that you don't get stuck with a situation like you did with Iraq," said Roberts, who also voiced concern about current intelligence on the insurgency in Iraq.
The White House has made it clear that Iran will be a focus of U.S. foreign policy in President Bush's second term. In his State of the Union speech earlier this week, the president identified Iran as "the world's primary state sponsor of terror, pursuing nuclear weapons while depriving its people of the freedom they seek and deserve." A recent CIA report concludes that Tehran is vigorously pursuing programs to produce nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The aim of the Senate review, Roberts said, is to ensure that any weaknesses in American intelligence on Iran are being disclosed to policymakers, and that U.S. spy agencies have adequate resources to fill gaps in collecting information on the Islamic republic.
Roberts said the review was in its early stages and that the committee had not reached any preliminary judgments about the quality of U.S. intelligence reports on Tehran's alleged weapons activities. Senior aides on the committee stressed that the panel was not opening a formal investigation or inquiry. Rather, they said that the review of intelligence on Iran was part of a broader shift in the way the committee approaches its oversight responsibilities, toward anticipating problems rather than investigating intelligence failures after they occur. Roberts said the review of U.S. efforts to spy on Iran would largely take place behind closed doors, involving interviews with analysts and intelligence officials, and a review of classified documents. Aides said that unlike the committee's review on Iraq -- which culminated in a 500-page public report containing harsh criticism of the CIA -- there was no plan to go public with its findings on the quality of intelligence on Iran. The real purpose is threefold: to make sure that the CIA (and State) is no longer occupied by Islamophiles or insolent schoolboys; to give all the other intelligence agencies a chance to disagree *now*, rather than later; and to totally neutralize any John Kerryism if we do go to war with Iran--if you vote "yes" you darn well better mean "yes".
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
02/05/2005
9:54:35 AM ||
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Not to mention sending a clear signal to the mullahs .....
Posted by: too true ||
02/05/2005 12:46
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there was no plan to go public with its findings on the quality of intelligence on Iran.
No doubt there'll be an 'unplanned' release of the findings.
We'd never heard of Augsburg College, which turns out to be a Lutheran institution in Minneapolis, until we got wind that it plans a "Nobel Peace Prize Forum" next Friday and Saturday. On the program for Saturday is the following seminar (at bottom of page):
Fighting Terrorism with Empathy: a Model for Peace
Amy Nell Concordia College
The word terrorism strikes a deep nerve among Americans today--having sparked an entire nation to the defense of its country and the subjugation of those who stand in opposition. One of these men who stand in opposition is the man who planned the September 11 attacks. In November 2004, Osama Bin Laden released a tape giving his recipe for a healthy nation. This seminar would dissect his message and use audience participation in doing so. Discussion points would include counterterrorism methods, the possibility of peace, empathy etc. The aim of this seminar would be to help understand the position of Osama Bin Laden as presented in the video and explore in what ways the origins of terrorism are to be found, not in some foreign citizen, but in the actions we take out of fear, hate and retribution.
Notice that these idiots have "empathy" only for mass murderers, never for their victims. Anyway, who is this Amy Nell character who blames America for terrorism, and what are her academic credentials? There are several institutes of higher education called Concordia, including one in Montreal that is known for various anti-Semitic outrages, but Nell seems to be from the one in Moorhead, Minn., where she is--we kid you not--a photographer for the student newspaper.
We're of two minds about nonsense like this. On the one hand, the whole thing is silly and inconsequential. If America can survive "Fahrenheit 9/11," it can withstand the blatherings of Amy Nell. Indeed, one of the great benefits of free speech is that the very exposure of such flapdoodle discredits it--and, if you have a dark sense of humor like we do, often in quite entertaining ways.
On the other hand, higher education is at least arguably a serious and important institution, and inasmuch as a college degree is a necessary credential for many jobs, it is also a powerful institution. In some ways society would be better off if colleges and universities were run by serious people.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/05/2005
9:49:24 AM ||
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"where she is--we kid you not--a photographer for the student newspaper." Hey if Ward Churchill can claim to be a Native American, Clinton was the first Black President, why can't a obscure student photographer lead a forum on fighting terrorism. Maybe she has an 'Honorary Terrorists Card" or some other 'Street Cred' that only she knows about.
#3
Heck, if that college is dumb enough to let her do a seminar & people are dumb enough to show up & take it serious then that's fine w/me. Never try to legislate stuipidity, it's too damned funny to watch.
(2005-02-01) -- Just hours after Islamic militants in Iraq threatened to behead a kidnapped U.S. soldier doll, the camouflaged action figure was rescued in a daring nighttime operation by a toy George W. Bush action figure.
The nine-inch-tall replica of the president left Andrews Air Force Base in a scale model of Air Force One within minutes after the Pentagon learned of the kidnapping from a picture on an Islamic website.
The top-secret flight was reminiscent of the life-size president's Thanksgiving visit to Baghdad in 2003. During the long trip, the presidential doll was programmed to say intimidating things in Arabic, and reportedly spent several hours practicing his kung-fu grip.
Even as the mission was secretly under way, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-MA, went before the Senate to call for the immediate withdrawal of 12,000 military action figures from Iraq.
Upon hearing of the Bush doll's successful mission, Sen. John Kerry, D-MA, warned against "overhyping" the significance of the apparently heroic deed.
Posted by: CrazyFool ||
02/05/2005
9:49:13 AM ||
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I was expecting a picture, but the highlighted "ScrappleFace" immediately brought a smile to my face. The fact he tied in Kennedy and Kerry in this parody just nailed it!
The Palestinian Authority will announce a formal cease-fire with Israel at next week's summit in Sharm e-Sheikh, PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) said Thursday. Abbas is expected to hold a series of meetings over the next few days with senior PA and Fatah officials to prepare for the summit. Many Palestinians here expressed hope that the summit would mark the beginning of a new era in relations with Israel. "The most important thing is to secure the release of all the prisoners held in Israel," said a top Fatah official.
I'd say the most important thing is to stop killing people. That's how those beauzeaux got to be in prison in the first place. Any release should be the very last occurrance...
"The people want to see real changes on the ground, and such a step would restore their confidence in the peace process. It will also boost Abu Mazen's status." But a newspaper editor cautioned against "excessive optimism," saying it was premature to talk about a major breakthrough.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
9:20:23 AM ||
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Today it's a ceasefire. Two days ago Abbas said "Jerusalem will again belong to the Muslims". I guess he's planning some miraculous negotiations.
http://rantburg.com/poparticle.asp?HC=&D=2/3/2005&ID=55476
Posted by: Tom ||
02/05/2005 10:47
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I think he's got two sides to his mouth and speaks out both of them, sometimes simultaneously.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005 10:48
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From the Pakistan Christian Post, answers given in an interview with Rehman Faiz, president of the Lahore unit of Amnesty International. He is active in promoting inter-faith dialogue in Pakistan and is the editor of the recently launched inter-faith journal Insight.
.... Things began to change in the late 1970s, when general Zia ul-Haq come to power and used a particular sect for promoting his own goals. He was supported in this by the USA and Saudi Arabia, which shared common interests and objectives with the then Pakistani army establishment.
At exactly the same time, the Shia Islamic revolution took place in neighbouring Iran, which had a major influence on the Shia population of Pakistan as well. Meanwhile, the establishment's support for the Deobandi sect as a sort of official Islam led, as a reaction, to the formation of the Tehrik-e Nifaz-e Fiqh-e Jaffria(TNFJ)in April 1979, by the Shias of Pakistan under the joint initiative of Mufti Jafar Hussain and Allama Syed Mohammad Rizvi. In order to display its strength, the TNFJ organised a massive demonstration of Shias in Islamabad in July 1980. It was the first demonstration of its type by the Shias in the history of the country. Following this, the Anjuman Sipah-e Sahaba (later called the Sipah-e Sahaba Pakistan or SSP) was set up in 1984, with the support of the then Pakistani establishment, in order to counter the rising force of certain Shia groups, who were said to have been backed by the Iranian intelligence. The sympathy of many Shias towards the Bhutto family helped set off alarm bells in the higher circles of the Pakistani government. Equally worried were forces like the USA and Saudi Arabia.
Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, a semi-educated khateeb who had received his religious education at the Darul Uloom, Kabirwala and the Khair-ul Madaris, Multan, was the founder of the SSP. To begin with, the SSP was not a violent organization, but within a few years it merged as a brutal outfit, leading to a major escalation of Shia-Sunni violence. Outside forces also supported and funded Shia-Sunni discord to achieve their goals. This has been recognized by several Pakistani scholars themselves. The daily Nation, in a report published on 20 January, 1995,quoting a confidential report of the Home Department of Punjab, stating: "[Under Zia], the Saudi Government started backing the Deobandi school of thought and, in the wake of the Afghan war, supplied funds and arms to the Deobandis. Indirectly, the USA and a few other Western countries also supported the SSP to counter the growing Shia and Iranian influence in this region". ....
The Mohajir Qaumi Movement [later renamed as the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM)] was set up in the 1980s by Altaf Hussain in order to counter the activities of the Sindu Desh movement under the late G.M. Syed, as well as to undermine the popularity of Benazir Bhutto and her Pakistan People's Party (PPP). When the MQM went out of the control of the establishment during the first term of Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto (1988-90), the establishment tried to weaken Altaf Hussain's popularity amongst the Mohajirs by trying to divide the Sunni and Shia migrants from UP and Bihar. But after failing to do this, a splinter group of the MQM was set up, the MQM Haqiqi(Real)in order to counter the MQM.
The SSP was armed, and its activists were trained and then inducted into Afghanistan in order to fight against the Russians. Among other Deobandi jihadi organizations involved in the war against the Soviets in Afghanistan were the Harkat ul-Jihad al-Islami(HUJI) and the Harkat-ul Mujahideen (HUM), which are considered to be the offspring of the SSP. Likewise, the Jaish-e Mohammad (JEM), which was formed in 2000 through an apparent division in the HUM.
In 1988, the Iranian intelligence, it is said, encouraged the Shias of Gilgit in the Northern Areas to rise in revolt and demand the creation of a separate 'Karakoram' province for the Shias. General Zia inducted jihadi tribal hordes into Gilgit, where they carried out a large-scale massacre of the Shias. Moreover, the SSP of Punjab was allowed to open an office in Gilgit, to rally round the Sunnis in the area against the Shias. This resulted in the spread of sectarian terrorism to the Northern Areas, before which it had limited mainly to Punjab and the NWFP. Then, in 1994, Alaf Hussain's MQM re-organized itself in interior Sindh. To counter this, the SSP, which had been largely restricted to Punjab, was inducted into Sindh in order to reinforce the position of MQM (H). This resulted in the spread of sectarian terrorism to Sindh as well. ....
As far as the current government is concerned, it appears to have taken some solid steps in a positive direction, including proscription of violent sectarian groups and imprisonment of many of their activists. This is one of the outcomes of the decision of General Pervez Musharraf to take part in the US led 'war against terrorism'. The decision has totally changed Pakistan's foreign policy, which has also impacted on the way in which Pakistan relates to Afghanistan and Iran, besides also having a positive influence on India-Pakistan relations.
The current upsurge of sectarian violence, especially in Balochistan, does not seem related to any 'internal agenda' of the government. Such violence does not provide any strategic benefit to the government. On the contrary, it badly harms its own policy. To me it seems perhaps a result of the dejection that violent groups in Afghanistan and along the Pakistan-Afghan border are today facing. This may also be a reaction to what they see as Shia support to the USA, especially in Afghanistan and Iraq. Whatever the reason might be, it is the duty of the government of Pakistan to provide protection and security to all its citizens. Repeated violence of the same sort and at the same places clearly points to major loopholes in the governmental system and gross negligence, which need to be urgently addressed. .....
In 1947, there were around 245 madrasas in Pakistan. In April 2002, Dr. Mahmood Ahmed Ghazi, the Minister of Religious Affairs, put the number of madrasas in the country at 10,000, with some 1.7 million students. In an analysis paper for the Brookings Institution in 2001, P.W. Singer estimated the number of madrasas in the country at 45,000.
However, if we look at the other side of things, we do have a lot to be optimistic about, such as the positive intentions of the current government and the emerging support for peace among many young Pakistanis. ....
Madrasas have played a major role in the rise of Shia-Sunni sectarian intolerance in Pakistan. In 1947, there were around 245 madrasas in Pakistan. In April 2002, Dr. Mahmood Ahmed Ghazi, the Minister of Religious Affairs, put the number of madrasas in the country at 10,000, with some 1.7 million students. In an analysis paper for the Brookings Institution in 2001, P.W. Singer estimated the number of madrasas in the country at 45,000, although he did not cite any source for this.
Both Shias and Sunnis have their own separate madrasas. Since the Sunnis form the majority of the population of Pakistan, Sunni madrasas are far more numerous. Among the Sunnis, the three major maslaks (schools of thought), the Deobandis, the Barelvis and the Ahl-e Hadith (Salafis), as well as the Jama'at-e Islami, have their own separate madrasas. The number of madrasas in the country increased rapidly during General Zia ul-Haq's rule (1977-1988). In the course of the war in Afghanistan against the Soviets, the United States sent in money, arms and ammunition to Afghan fighters, and much of this found its way to several madrasas. The Saudi organization, Harumain Islamic Foundation, is said to have generously helped the Ahl-e Hadith, because of which it emerged as a powerful force. The Lashkar-e Taiba, an organization that had been active in fighting in Afghanistan and Kashmir, is associated with the Ahl-e Hadith. In recent years, the influence of the Deobandis has also increased, as the Taliban were trained in their seminaries. It should be remembered that the number of Deobandi madrasas is the highest, and they are thought to be the basic source of manpower and resources for anti-Shia vehemence in Pakistan. ....
Except for a very small minority, there are no social differences between common Shias and Sunnis. Hence, one can confidently claim that Shia-Sunni conflict is limited to a fraction of the ulema and some of their followers, and that it is not widespread and deep-rooted among the common people. ....
In the early 1980s incidents of sectarian violence occurred primarily in the interior of Punjab, especially in the areas of Jhang, Multan, Bahawalpur, and Muzaffar Garh, etc.. However, with the passage of time it spread to other major cities such as Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Quetta and Sargodha. There have also been incidents of Shia-Sunni violence in Peshawar, Gilgit and Karachi. Today, the areas of acute sensitivity are Quetta, Jhang, Lahore, Faisalabad, Multan and Bahawalpur. .....
This article starring:
HAQ NAWAZ JHANGVI
Sipah-e Sahaba Pakistan
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/05/2005
9:16:55 PM ||
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The Hamas Movement could positively deal with a truce if and when the Zionist entity released all Palestinian prisoners interned in the Zionist jails and halted its aggressions on the Palestinians, said Khaled Mishaal, chairman of the Hamas Movement's political bureau. "Calming down isn't the major issue. It's only a step forward. The basic issue is that we should reach a stage at which we could end the occupation, stop the Israeli aggression, and realize the national project and all legitimate national rights," he added. "Realizing the truce depends on two main factors: The first is the Israeli position and readiness to meet the Palestinian terms. The second is the US administration's ability and/or readiness to pressure the Israeli party to abide by the Palestinian rights," he elaborated.
When asked about his attitude to the quartet summit to be held next Tuesday in the Egyptian winter resort of Sharm Al-Sheikh, he replied,"We look at such a summit meeting as a positive step. Of course, we still adhere to our permanent stance that the Zionist entity must set free all Palestinian captives and stop all forms of violence against our people. This all what we want, which is an expression of the Palestinian overall stand". Mishaal pointed out that the "Israeli" stance would be examined during that meeting, and affirmed that the Palestinian factions were only concerned with the Zionist entity's commitment to the Palestinian conditions to be put forward at that same summit. "As long as the Palestinian people didn't see a light looming in the horizon heralding that they would get rid of the occupation and regain their lands and looted rights, they would inevitably pursue resoluteness and resistance of the Zionist occupation," he pointed out.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
KHALED MISHAAL
Hamas
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
9:15:10 AM ||
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How about plan 'B'? That is, build a wall between us, and for every missile you lob over, we lob over accurate counter-battery fire? The neat part is that if you stop, we stop. Oh, and if you touch the wall, we kill you. If Paleos wish a right to return to where you live, fine and dandy. Don't be a stranger.
#4
"Realizing the truce depends on two main factors: The first is the Israeli position and readiness to meet the Palestinian terms. The second is the US administration's ability and/or readiness to pressure the Israeli party to abide by the Palestinian rights," he elaborated.
Notice the complete lack of compromise on the part of the Paleos in that statement. It's all what the US and Israel have to do - no actions by the Paleos in this "deal" at all.
I'd say Plan B looks fine at this point.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
02/05/2005 15:38
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Mishaal: Calming down depends on "Israel's" readiness to meet Palestinian conditions
Yawn.
How about Paleo action for once that has substance to it???
A Palestinian Authority official has predicted that US President George Bush's efforts to resolve the Palestinian-"Israeli" strife will fail.
Good chance of it. Hamas is going to do their best to make sure that happens...
Azmi Shueibi, PA Minister of Youth and Sport, said during a press interview Friday that Bush's efforts were insincere and motivated by parochial political considerations, not a genuine desire to force "Israel" to come to terms with Palestinian rights. "I think he is only trying to give the impression that he is doing something about the conflict. But I don't think he is sincere. We have to remember that Bush is the first American president to lend legitimacy to Israeli Jewish-only settlements and say that Palestinian refugees have no right to return to their homes."
Also the first American president to come out in favor of a Paleostinian homeland, but we won't go into that...
Shueibi said Bush was speaking in abstract and vague terms about democracy in the Middle East and Palestinian statehood.
Sounded neither abstract nor vague to me, Bub...
"If he is truly honest and truly serious about peace, he should force Israel to carry out UN resolutions." Bush in his State of the Union Address Wednesday night made no mention of the "Israeli" occupation of the Palestinian homeland although he said he reasserted his commitment to the creation of a Palestinian state. Bush said he would ask Congress for $350 to the Palestinian Authority to help bolster the government of PA President Mahmoud Abbas. However, Shuebi said "money alone" wouldn't help Abbas. "Even if they gave him all the money in the world, this wouldn't help him, because the problem here is the Israeli occupation of our homeland."
"Nobody suffers like we do!"
This article starring:
AZMI SHUEIBI
Palestinian Authority
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
9:12:01 AM ||
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"Even if they gave him all the money in the world, this wouldn't help him, because the problem here is..." that major Palestinian powers view peace with Israel to mean extermination of Israel. Not only that, but Abbas is not what he appears to be. Remember his comment that "Jerusalem will again belong to the Muslims and worship will continue in Jerusalem until doomsday" of two days ago?
http://rantburg.com/poparticle.asp?HC=&D=2/3/2005&ID=55476
Posted by: Tom ||
02/05/2005 10:40
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PA Minister of Youth and Sport That would be the gentleman in charge of the summer terrorist training camps for children?
Actually, I'd say Khartoum is the key to Sudan peace. If Darfur was the only place on fire, then Darfur would be the key. But Bashir splits his time between oppressing people and putting down rebellions. You'd almost think the two were connected or something.
A senior UN envoy has said a landmark peace agreement ending Sudan's two-decade-old war in the south will crumble if violence in Darfur persists. Jan Pronk, the UN special envoy in Sudan, urged the UN Security Council on Friday to approve his request for 10,000 troops and 755 police to enforce the new north-south peace deal, which would change the structure of the Khartoum government and army.
That would be point zero, I'd guess. Everything else that would happen would come after that. And nothing else will come until that's done...
But he said: "I am convinced that without a solution in Darfur, the north-south will not remain a sustainable peace agreement." Pronk and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan have urged the Security Council to adopt one resolution on the peacekeepers as well as the Darfur crisis, where pro-government militia have looted, killed and raped and made two million people homeless.
I dunno. I think that, rather than peacekeepers like they have in DRC, an army of occupation might be more to the point. They obviously are incapable of keeping their own house in order.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
9:06:16 AM ||
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No, no, no! Justice for the Palestinians is the KEY to Sudan peace!
#2
Ya know, we really haven't tested the MOAB in a simulated combat situation yet. Wonder if one can be strapped under the belly of a B-2? I know it's too big for the bomb bay. Maybe a fleet of C17s, escorted by F/A-18s, could drop a couple dozen on Khartoum. I'd bet the fighting in the south and in Darfur would end REALLY quickly after that...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/05/2005 15:40
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10,000 troops and 755 police?! Where are these people to come from?
From the Pakistan Christian Post
.... The Story of Hanifan Bibi starts when on evening of 12th Jan 2005 Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan (SLMP) come to know through Mr. Joseph Francis, Coordinator CLAAS, that some Christian were taken to the General Hospital being seriously injured. The Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan team reached General Hospital and met Pervaiz Kala Masih 25, Kala Surjan Masih 58, Hanifan Bibi W/O Kala Masih 55 and Kashif Aslam Masih 17, who were seriously injured, sobbing and crying. Hanifan Bibi was very seriously injured. Her face was swollen and dark blue, red spots on her face were visible. Her back, buttock and ribs were seriously injured and swollen. She was weeping bitterly and heaving sighs. She was beaten brutally with bats and iron pipes.
Aslam Masih told "Hanifan bibi had been working in Saeedan Batni's house in Iqbal town as a maid servant. On 10th Jan. 2005, Saeedan Batni with Mohammad Baber, Mohammad Amjaad, Mohammad Rashid in car # LRB-5259 and other car was without # plate came to Hanifan's house. They broke the door of Hanifan Bibi's house and took Hanifan Bibi, Pervaiz Masih, Kashif Masih and Kala Masih to an unknown place. Moreover, Aslam said, " After two days we saw the car # LRB 5259 in the police station in which Kashif Masih, Hanifan Bibi, Kala Masih and Pervaiz Masih were kidnapped." He said, " When we went to the police station Factory Area, Cantt. Lahore, we saw gangsters who kidnapped their dear ones were sitting with Mohammad Shahid Iqbad (Member Provincial Assembly) taking tea with SHO.
Kashif Aslam Masih told Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan team " When we were taken to some unknown place, our eyes were kept closed with a piece of cloth, we were kept closed in an unknown place. There were empty wine bottles in a large number. Some heavy physique gangsters were present there. Moreover, 16,17 young girls were also sitting over there. I came to know later that four/five girls were Christians". Kashif told that " my clothes were taken off, they hanged me by tying my feet with cord and turned my body upside down on the ceiling. Those cruel people started beating me with hot iron pipe. While Pervaiz and Kala were beaten with sticks, pipe and bats. They kicked us very brutally and cruelly."
Kashif told SLMP team "when they were beating Hanifan bibi, they were continuously saying that she did not bring Christian girls so this was her punishment. We would implicate you in the case of stealing and you would be sent to jail. Sometimes, they said, "If you would ask your family members to arrange for 4 hundred thousand rupees, then you would get rid of this torture". Kashif told (weeping bitterly) "they put red chilies on the wooden stick and inserted in the anus." "I got severe injuries on my sex organs." Kashif Masih told SLMP team that "kidnappers burnt my body with hot iron."
Hanifan Bibi told Sharing Life Ministry Pakistan's team that those cruel people took off my clothes in front of my husband, son and nephew. They put bottle of wine on my lips and said " take this wine" they took off my clothes and made movie and took photographs". "They beat me with wooden stick and rods very cruelly; they kept us hungry and thirsty for two days." "They took us to police station to implicate us in the case of stealing."
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/05/2005
9:02:53 PM ||
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Palestinian Authority chief Mahmud Abbas has held talks with the revolutionary council of his Fatah faction, days before the Palestinian leader meets Israeli prime minister. Abbas on Saturday conducted talks with more than 100 members of his Fatah party, and a top aide said the aim of the summit on Tuesday was to declare a mutual ceasefire between Palestinians and Israelis. "The revolutionary council of Fatah is holding an important meeting in the presence of Abu Mazin (Abbas) to discuss the summit, political and security questions and the results of contacts with Israel," said Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rudaina.
"We intend to work so that a mutual ceasefire can be declared between the Palestinians and Israelis at the Sharm al-Shaikh summit," he said. "We are also demanding the liberation of 8000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and hope to be able to sort out the differences in this respect in 48 hours," he added.
This article starring:
NABIL ABU RUDAINA
Palestinian Authority
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
8:57:33 AM ||
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From Compass Direct
Muslim militants pronounced a death sentence on five Christian students expelled from public schools in November for conducting an evangelistic outreach. The families of two of the students, Miss Hanatu Haruna Alkali and Abraham Adamu Misal, were attacked on January 26 when militants went to their family homes in the state of Gombe in northern Nigeria intending to kill them. A sister of Alkali, who asked not to be named, reported to Compass from Gombe that Muslim militants have attacked the house several times. Family members fear for their lives.
Rev. Oludare Aliu, national coordinator of the students' ministry of the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA), confirmed the report. "Muslim militants went to Gombe to ⊠kill Hannatu, but fortunately, she was not at home at the time. The family was held at gun point. Hannatu's father happens to be a former military officer. He wrestled with the militants and was able to disarmed one of them who had a gun. While he was fighting them, one of the militants stabbed Hannatu's mother with a knife. She has been treated for the wounds." Alkali is now in hiding.
"Also, the militants attacked the family of Abraham Adamu Misal; he has already escaped and is now in hiding. We are yet to get details about the whereabouts of the other three students," Aliu added.
Alkali, Misal, and three other Christian students (Habakkuk Solomon, Hankuri Gaya, and a student identified as Uzochukwu) were expelled by the authorities of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University (ATBU) and the Federal Polytechnic in Bauchi for sharing the gospel with Muslim students. According to officials in the two schools, Muslims in the schools complained that the Christian students blasphemed the prophet Mohammed. Sunday Nache Achi, a student and president of the campus chapter of ECWA students' ministry at ATBU in Bauchi, was murdered over the incident on December 8, 2004. He was not part of the group of Christian students conducting the gospel outreach.
In January, representatives of the Christian Association of Nigeria in Bauchi called on the Nigerian government to carry out investigations into the murder of Achi and bring to justice those who killed him. They also demanded the reinstatement of the five expelled Christian students and the removal of the head officials of the two public schools for contributing to the conflicts between Muslim and Christian students.
On January 25, Muslim leaders in Bauchi held a press conference. They called on all Muslims to defend Islam and to resist the demand by Christian leaders that the Muslim militants who killed Mr. Achi be brought to justice. Alhaji Muhammad Dan Madami, who led the conference, said the Muslim leaders opposed the reinstatement of the Christian students and supported the activities of the Muslim militants. He also said the Nigerian government must not remove the heads of the two schools, both of whom are Muslims. "The incidents [Christian evangelism outreach to Muslim students] in both ATBU and Federal Polytechnic Bauchi were meant to deliberately provoke the Muslims," Madami said. Therefore, all Muslims must be prepared to defend their religion "and the person and good name of the prophet of Islam, Mohammed, at all times."
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/05/2005
8:56:57 PM ||
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An oil pipeline linking two of Iraq's major refineries has been attacked, the second such attack in three days, police and oil sources said. "The pipeline linking the Baiji refinery to that of Dura, in the capital, was sabotaged west of the city of Samarra," a local police officer said. He said the sabotage on Saturday was carried out with a 10kg explosive charge on one of a cluster of eight pipelines bringing oil to the capital from the Baiji refinery, about 190km north of Baghdad. Baiji refinery official Majid Mamnun confirmed the attack and added that the repairs would take up to a week. A similar attack was perpetrated in the same area on 2 February. Relentless attack on the country's oil industry by fighters opposed to foreign troops have cost Iraq $7 billion to $8 billion in exports since the March 2003 US-led invasion.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
8:56:31 AM ||
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Four Iraqi soldiers have been killed in a motorcycle bomb near the southern city of Basra, as violence elsewhere left another seven Iraqis and two US troops dead. "The booby-trapped motorbike exploded as the patrol passed by. Four soldiers were killed and their vehicle destroyed," captain Farid al-Tamimi said. The attack took place behind the general hospital in al-Risala neighbourhood, in the centre of Basra, the country's second largest city on Saturday. British forces sealed off the site after the blast.
Running out of cars, are they?
Two children were also killed when a landmine exploded on Saturday in Samarra, north of Baghdad, security and medical sources said. Two Iraqi soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb attack in the same city, which US-led troops raided in October in an effort against resistance fighters ahead of the landmark elections. In further unrest in Samarra, another soldier and a civilian were killed during clashes between Iraqi security forces and fighters in the city centre, police lieutenant Husain Abbas said. In nearby Dhuluiya, a soldier was killed and four civilians wounded in clashes, police captain Amjad Saad said.
Meanwhile, a roadside bomb blast killed two US soldiers and wounded five near the northern Iraqi town of Baiji on Friday, the US military said on Saturday. Earlier in the day, another roadside bomb blast in the same area killed one American soldier and wounded seven.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
8:53:08 AM ||
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From Compass Direct
Christian pastor Hamid Pourmand went on trial before a military court in Tehran last week, charged with deceiving the Iranian armed forces about his religion. It was the first time Iranian authorities have produced Pourmand, 47, arrested five months ago when police raided a church conference in Karaj, near Tehran. Although the nine other pastors and 76 laymen detained with him were all released within a few days, the Assemblies of God lay pastor has remained under incommunicado arrest since September 9, 2004. .....
Together with his wife and two children, Pourmand was living in Bandar-i Bushehr, a port city on the Persian Gulf in southern Iran. In addition to his military duties as a colonel in the army, he was the volunteer lay pastor of a small Assemblies of God congregation in the city. Pourmand converted from Islam to Christianity nearly 25 years ago. Shortly after the Islamic revolution, Iranian laws had been passed to prohibit non-Muslims from serving as military officers. But according to his family and Christian acquaintances, Pourmand had never concealed his religious conversion. Rather, he was widely liked and respected for his honesty, one friend told Compass.
Pourmand reportedly declared in court last week that he had documented proof, in the form of a letter, that the army knew he had become a Christian before he was ever given officer rank. It is expected that regardless of the outcome of his deception charges before the military court, Pourmand will now be forcibly discharged from the Iranian army.
During last week's trial, the Christian prisoner was informed that he would be transferred back to Bandar-i Bushehr, where he will face trial on two separate charges of apostasy and proselytizing. During the hearing, court officials declared that for many years Pourmand had belonged to an "underground" church through which "many Muslims" had deserted Islam and become Christians. .....
The world's only theocratic regime, the Islamic Republic of Iran maintains harsh suppression of local evangelical churches and various house-church movements accused of evangelizing Muslims. Since 1990, several ex-Muslims who converted to Christianity have been either assassinated or executed by court order, under the guise of accusations of spying for foreign countries. Under Iranian law, apostasy is listed along with murder, armed robbery, rape and serious drug trafficking as a capital offense.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/05/2005
8:52:58 PM ||
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A Yemeni court has sentenced to death the leader of a group of 15 men found guilty last year of bombing a French supertanker. Fawaz al-Rabiai told the court in December the men had given a pledge to al-Qaida leader Usama bin Ladin to kill Americans. He had previously been sentenced to 10 years in jail, a verdict that surprised some Yemeni observers. The court on Saturday also upheld a death penalty that had been passed in August against one other member of the group. The sentences of two others were raised from 10 to 15 years, while the rest - with jail terms ranging from three to 10 years - stayed the same.
G'bye! Give our regards to Himmler!
The Limburg bombing off Yemen's coast in October 2002 killed one of the crew of 25 and ignited a fire on board the supertanker loaded with 400,000 barrels of Saudi Arabian crude oil. The court sentences included guilty verdicts upheld for other activities, including a plot to kill the US ambassador to Yemen and to attack Western embassies. It was not clear whether any of the men would turn to Yemen's high court, which has the power to overturn rulings. "God is great, there is no god but God and America is the enemy of God," the men shouted after sentencing. "(We) were very close to Shaikh Usama bin Ladin. We had given our pledge to Shaikh Usama to kill Americans," al-Rabiai said in his final statement to the court in December, in the clearest admission yet of the group's ties to Bin Ladin.
This article starring:
FAWAZ AL RABIAI
al-Qaeda in Yemen
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
8:49:34 AM ||
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(2005-02-05) -- A day after ruling that New York City must allow homosexual marriages, a state judge today declared traditional heterosexual marriage unconstitutional.
"Homosexual marriage rests on the bedrock of judicial opinion," wrote Justice Doris Ling-Cohan, "But heterosexual marriage finds justification in little more than religious myth, antiquated tradition and a few unconstitutional state and local laws. These are all hollow arguments when compared with the firm foundation provided by a growing number of judges."
In a 57-page ruling, Judge Ling-Cohan ordered the state of New York to "cease and desist issuing marriage licenses to counter-sex (man-woman) couples and to dissolve of all existing counter-sex marriages."
Barring an appeal, the ban takes effect in 30 days.
Posted by: Korora ||
02/05/2005
8:31:50 AM ||
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#3
While the piece is satire, the point is accurate: The judiciary has created a theory which permits it to be able make any law which suits the fancy of the individual judge. The process is called "substantive due process", a phrase which encapsulates a contradiction: there is substantive law (a directive or prohibition) and procedural law (time limits for filing a response, the form of the pleading, et cetera). The phrase âdue processâ refers to the procedure by which the government acts: the procedure must be âdueâ, that is, fair or rational.
The Courts performed this rather silly trick: (1) âDue processâ means âfair processâ. (2) âProcessâ means âlawâ. (3) âDue processâ means âfair lawsâ. (4) âFairâ means whatever I happened to like. (5) Therefore, if I donât like the law, itâs not âfairâ. If itâs not âfairâ, than it is âunconstitutionalâ.
In short, a phrase that merely meant that the government canât take my property or life without some kind of a fair procedure now means the judge can make-up anything, literally out of the judgeâs own imagination. Thus, the decisions of the entire electorate, previous courts, the legislature, are irrelevant if the judge does not like the outcome. The judge merely needs to say, ânot fairâ, and the law is âunconstitutionalâ. This is called reading the constitution like a âliving documentâ.
#4
# 3 how correct you are - When I read the story I thought unconstitutional right away, but could not think of how to compose what I needed to say.
a whole new set of statutes needs to be written on
homosexual marriage. Am I correct??
Andrea Jackson
Posted by: Andrea ||
02/05/2005 13:23
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A âstatuteâ cannot resolve the issue, because there is a hierarchy of law: At the top is the US Constitution; next, the constitutions of the various states. If a provision in a state constitution conflicts with the federal constitution, the state constitution loses. A constitution always trumps a statute. Likewise, a state statute always loses to the federal constitution. (There is a bizarre California Supreme Court case which holds that a state statute must be âbalancedâ against the federal constitution in certain circumstances). There is a complicated set of issues involving the interaction between state and federal statutes and the potential for a federal statute which conflicts with a state constitution.
Statutes are much easier to pass into law than amendments to constitutions.
I have not read the decision, but it seems that the New York judge found that the state statute conflicted with her idea of âfairnessâ in the state constitution. The decision was most likely made under the state constitution, as opposed to the federal constitution, to avoid federal review of the question. (I am guessing on this point, but it is the typical technique to avoid a federal review.)
There is an additional problem: Appellate courts (those courts above the trial level) are well-known (among lawyers) to actually make-up facts to suit their decision. But that is a different issue . . .
Senior members of U.S. special operations forces will receive bonuses of up to $150,000 for staying in the military, an increase designed to keep the commandos from bolting to the more lucrative private sector. The policy, announced by U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., provides an array of bonuses and incentives to experienced members of Army Special Forces, Navy SEALs, and Air Force pararescuemen, plus a few other specialties. "We are taking a lead role in the global war on terrorism, and it's just important we do everything we can to support these professionals," Maj. Ken Hoffman, a spokesman for the command, said Friday.
The largest bonus, $150,000, would go to senior sergeants, petty officers and warrant officers who sign up for an additional six years of service. Personnel who sign up for shorter extensions would receive smaller bonuses, down to $8,000 for one year. About 1,500 operators are eligible. About 7,000 enlisted special operators at a midlevel rank or higher would receive $375 a month in additional pay, and senior operators with 25 years of experience would receive $750 a month more.
The skills of these troopers are in high demand in the war on terrorism. Depending on their specialty, they are trained in close-quarters combat, hostage rescue, combat search and rescue, hunting terrorists, and forging alliances and working with foreign and guerrilla forces overseas. Some are capable of operating in wilderness areas for extended periods. They are also extremely difficult and expensive to train. Some candidates for special operations forces, drawn from elsewhere in the military, wash out because of the extreme physical and mental challenges.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tipper ||
02/05/2005
8:19:02 AM ||
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#1
Yeah, great. I understand supply and demand, but I always get an uneasy feeling from the historical record of pretorian guards regardless of good intentions the whole thing starts with. Just be careful.
OTOH, right now we have a non-functioning, inept and badly run CIA. The SOC guys, in contrast, are capable, active, motivated and effective.
We **need** guys like this. It's these guys who will deal with Babyface Assad, the mullahs and others. And as a result, the people in Iran who want to be free, prosperous and just go about their daily business will happily do so, rather than resent the US for occupying their country and killing a lot of them.
It's not for nothing that Rummy bypassed a shitload of generals to pull up a SOC guy out of retirement to be Army Chief of Staff.
Posted by: too true ||
02/05/2005 10:33
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GT7229: Yeah, great. I understand supply and demand, but I always get an uneasy feeling from the historical record of pretorian guards regardless of good intentions the whole thing starts with. Just be careful.
The Praetorian Guards were entrusted with the safety of Rome. They had the best of everything. Special Forces troops get the garbage. It's portable garbage, but still garbage - automatic rifles, mortars and transport helicopters, at best. They don't have tanks, artillery, APC's, jet fighters, bombers, navy battlegroups, attack helicopters or the nuclear triad. The Praetorian Guard they're not.
#4
The bottom line is that the Special Forces are light infantry that would be chewed up by regular combined arms units. They succeeded in Afghanistan because of air and naval aviation support. In Mogadishu, if they hadn't been supported by Army Aviation - Apaches and Kiowas - they would have been massacred. By contrast, the Praetorian Guard were an army by themselves, not just a couple of battalion-sized units.
#5
pay them the money and call it well spent - it is
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2005 11:34
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The other thing GT7229 ignores is that the SOC don't scale up easily. It takes a whole lot of specialized training to make a special ops guy, and despite the high qualifications for even attempting the training, a large percentage don't make it all the way through.
These are guys with incredible physical fitness, combat skills, language/culture expertise and no protection via the Geneva Conventions. The one or two I've known are also low-profile, quiet guys.
You get that way when you do things that take your squad 3-4 weeks of intense group contingency planning per DAY of mission.
Not that many of the people we face right now respect the Conventions anyway, but the SOC guys know that they are NEVER covered when on a mission.
But -- they're at the heart of our posture right now. (Note to non-SOC guys: you count too.) The SOC secured the oil pipelines and airfields in the early days of the war in Iraq, I don't doubt they are doing things on the Syrian border (and will do more if Babyface doesn't get his act together) and probably are making friends here and there in the land of Darius.
Posted by: too true ||
02/05/2005 12:58
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Praetorian Guard?
Last I looked, the SP wasn't guarding any Consuls. If we had any. They're out building and leading native auxiliaries. That's their job.
One of the blogosphere's greats calls it quits. Here's an excerpt from the farewell message:
Well, friends and foes of The Diplomad, the time has come; it's time to say thanks and good-bye. Above all we want to thank great sites such as Chrenkoff, Power Line, Betsy's Page , and Ex-Pat Yank that gave us a boost in our early days. . . . It's been fun; the postings from the readers have been great (except for the idiot trolls -- the same ones who collapsed our hotmail account and made it useless.) But for a variety of personal and professional reasons it's time to stop (we might blog again under a different name; might not.) Lest any of you think so, we have not been threatened or shut down; the State Department goons are not knocking at the door. It's just time to do something else. I wonder if "host nation sensitivities" played a role--but that's purely speculation on my part.
The Chief Diplomad urges all of you to read the very well written brother sites at Daily Demarche and New Sisyphus (maybe they'll let us put up an occasional posting.) We've heard that our Republican cousins over at USAID might be starting a blog, too, so keep an out eye for it.
Thank you, sir, for your service--not just for the blog, but for all you do for our country, and for the people of the world, out there in the Far Abroad.
If you, like me, enjoyed reading the Diplomad, click the link and leave him a thank-you in the comments.
He's welcome to post here any time.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/05/2005
7:40:58 AM ||
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#1
Does he plan to take this opportunity to go into rehab?
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/05/2005 8:23
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#2
Too bad it didn't work for you.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/05/2005 8:29
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Does he plan to take this opportunity to go into rehab?
It's apparent Mike S. hasn't even read the blog he is dissing.
What a loser, that Mikey boy is!!!
Posted by: too true ||
02/05/2005 10:00
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I fully understand. Blogging is extremely time-consuming. This is why journalists have an edge. They actually get paid for the highly-imaginative fiction and opinion they put out on the news pages.
A GRAVE holding 30 bodies has been found in the garden of an opulent villa where sadistic parties are said to have been hosted by the Iraqi general known as Chemical Ali, writes Adam Nathan. Police who found the grave say General Ali Hassan alMajid, a cousin of Saddam Hussein who got his nickname from the gas attacks he mounted on the Kurds of northern Iraq, used to entertain house guests with a "party game" that involved shooting prisoners tied to metal posts in the garden.
Major Jasin Hamed Taleb, 43, a police intelligence officer, said local farmers had witnessed several such killings and had shown him a site in the garden where they had seen bodies being buried. "We had not noticed the site and it was not until you were on it that you could smell the bodies," he said.
Photographs of the mass grave have been sent to prosecutors in Baghdad to be used as evidence in al-Majid's trial, which is expected to begin in May. Iraqi sources in Baghdad said the former general would face charges in connection with the suppression of the Shi'ite uprising in southern Iraq in 1991 as well as the gassing of the Kurds in Halabja, in the north, in 1988.
It has emerged that tapes of al-Majid threatening in his distinctive high-pitched voice to cut up his victims "like cucumbers" are likely to be broadcast in court. The tapes, which record al-Majid's foul-mouthed tirades at Ba'ath party meetings, are part of a large body of evidence handed to prosecutors. Al-Majid, number two in America's pack of cards depicting the most-wanted members of Saddam's regime, is heard vowing to swamp Kurdish villages with clouds of poison gas. He says so many will die that troops will have to "bury them with bulldozers".
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005
7:23:53 PM ||
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Lovely. Ramsey Clark defending the perp? Would be par for the course
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2005 19:26
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There is nothing as impotent as an idea whose time has passed.
#3
Okay now, who thinks we should have left Iraq alone? Raise your stinking hands. NYT? WaPo? Jacques?
Posted by: Tom ||
02/05/2005 20:11
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I remember back in 1991 when Bush 41 called a halt to GW1 in the face of media pressure about the so-called Highway of Death; and I remember thinking then, "Man, we're gonna regret this someday, we shoulda kept on going and taken out Saddam."
Sigh. I suppose there might have been good reasons why we stopped when and where we did-- but when I read articles like this I sure can't remember them.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/05/2005 20:23
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#5
30 bodies in the garden is a tiny portion of the horror. Never forget:
http://massgraves.info/
Posted by: Tom ||
02/05/2005 20:27
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Remember, folks -- the Europeans are refusing to help recover mass graves because the mass murderers just might be executed.
Europe: Regretting the Fall of Naziism Since 1945!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/05/2005 21:16
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#3 Okay now, who thinks we should have left Iraq alone? Raise your stinking hands. NYT? WaPo? Jacques?
Kerry? Boxer? Teddy K?
Posted by: Janos Hunyadi ||
02/05/2005 21:29
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You dont honestly think the regular MSM (ABC/CNN/NBC/CBS/BBC/etc...) will give this *any* coverage do you? Why having panties on your head is *much* *much* worse!
Algeria's armed forces have killed four Islamic militants during a sweep on a rebel stronghold in the west of the North African country, security sources said on Thursday. Army units confiscated three Kalashnikov AK-47 rifles during the raid on Tuesday in the Saida province, some 300 km (190 miles) west of the capital Algiers. Security sources also said one soldier died and three more were injured when they clashed with rebels in the Sidi Bel Abbes province on Tuesday evening. Three rebels died in that attack.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005
7:22:49 PM ||
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Aslan Maskhadov's claims that he is ready to halt terror attacks and begin negotiations are aimed at drawing international attention, Chechen President Alu Alkhanov told Interfax on Thursday. "Maskhadov has never met his commitments, even when he was president of Ichkeria," Alkhanov said. "We have no grounds whatsoever to think that his new claims that he is ready to cease terrorist warfare are true," he said. "The statements of Maskhadov are directly linked to intensified actions by the Chechen police and federal anti-terrorist agencies in Chechnya," he said. "The Chechen administration is open to dialog with anyone who wants peace and is ready to help us stop terrorism, but neither Maskhadov nor Basayev have ever shown such a disposition," Alkhanov said.
This article starring:
ASLAN MASKHADOV
Chechnya
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005
7:21:24 PM ||
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First question: The aim of our operation in Beslan was to stop the war, stop the genocide of the Chechen people, and withdraw the Russian occupying troops. The results achieved in Budennovsk were not reached because unlike that time the Russians were prepared for the operation, although in both cases the officers and soldiers and methods were practically the same.
Paraphrase: (many storms at Budennovsk, 6 œ hours non-stop, only stopped for new ammunition, 130 people killed. More than 100 people civilians killed in the storm⊠Only difference that in Beslan more ammunition and more powerful. But also then more or less free press that could effect public opinion. When the choice was to stop or to destroy the hospital with people inside they had to stop because their every step was being watched by the press and the whole world. Said at Budennovsk not to kill but to stop the war)
We came there not to kill people but to stop the war, and if it works out that way to force the Russian leadership to kill its own civilians, if only through this to force the lying and vain world to understand what is really going on, to lay bare our wound and pain, because people don't see what is happening in Chechnya. They see it only when huge actions like this one occur on the territory of Russia itself.
To be honest I didn't plan Beslan. We planned the operation in Moscow or Leningrad, and wanted if we could to carry it out even in two places simultaneously. But the lack of finances didn't allow us to plan that operation in the centre of Russia. So we chose Ossetia, because Ossetia is Russia's fortpost in the North Caucasus, and all bad that comes to us comes from the territory of Ossetia, with the silent consent of its population. We're also not delighted by what happened there. To be honest I am even shocked by what happened there, and am still in a state of shock after it because I didn't expect that cruelty from the Russian leadership. I thought that if we work through all options, if we don't leave the Russian leadership with a single chance for a bloodless resolution of this problem, they won't kill children. This is what I thought and you can say I was cruelly wrong.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005
7:19:15 PM ||
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U.S. troops in Iraq have detained three French militants and police here rounded up 10 of their comrades from a group that sent raw youths from Europe to take part in the conflict with America, officials said Friday. The first confirmed capture of European Islamist fighters turns attention on the increasing movement of militants from countries such as Italy, Germany, France and Belgium to Iraq, European officials say. Several of the recruits reportedly have died in Iraq, but investigators were unaware Friday of any being held by U.S. forces other than the three Frenchmen.
The makeup of the group illustrates the evolving profile and speedy radicalization of Iraq-bound extremists, authorities said. "This is a new and spontaneous generation," said an official in the French Interior Ministry. Unlike previous militants, they had never been to Afghanistan or Bosnia, considered traditional training grounds for Muslim extremists.
Although the case was first reported Friday by French media, U.S. troops captured two of the Frenchmen in the battle to retake Fallouja in November, the official said. A third man was captured in Mosul, he said. U.S. military sources confirmed that they were holding three French nationals in Camp Bucca, a detention facility in southern Iraq. The suspects from Paris are a mixed group with Arab, African and French origins, officials say. Only their 23-year-old leader, Farid Benyettou, has previous ties to extremist networks, officials and a defense lawyer said. Group members financed their journeys themselves and hoped to join Abu Musab Zarqawi because they had heard about him on television, officials said.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
ABU MUSAB ZARQAWI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
CHEKHU DIAKHABI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
FARID BENYETTU
al-Qaeda in Iraq
PETER CHERIF
al-Qaeda in Iraq
THAMER BUCHNAK
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005
7:08:38 PM ||
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Here is how it works: The older jihadis are the smart ones. They figured out real quick in Afghanistan that it was better to be the guys pulling strings on puppets wwwaaayyyyy beyond the reach of the guns while some other poor schmendrick gets his a$$ swappedw with his head by a 500 lbs bomb.
The only old jihadi is a smart jihadi and they are the ones doing the recruiting.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
02/05/2005 22:55
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U.S. and Iraqi security forces may have come close to capturing Iraqi al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the past two weeks and are weakening his network, Iraq's interior minister said on Thursday. "We are following him," Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib told Pentagon reporters in a video conference from Baghdad. "I think we missed him twice or three times, but hopefully next time we will be able to capture him. I think we arrived a bit late. Maybe we missed him by one hour. ... You know, he is not staying in one place. He is moving from one area to another. So, we will get him -- very soon, hopefully."
Rumors of al-Zarqawi's capture have surfaced in recent weeks, including reports a month ago that he had been apprehended in the insurgent stronghold of Baquba, north of Baghdad. The minister declined to provide details of the latest raids, including where they occurred and whether they involved joint U.S.-Iraqi operations. But he said al-Zarqawi's support network had been weakened with the arrests of more than 350 "terrorists" in the three weeks before Sunday's election.
This article starring:
ABU MUSAB AL ZARQAWI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005
6:59:37 PM ||
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A BRITON released from Guantanamo Bay has admitted being interviewed for advanced-level terrorist training in Afghanistan by two senior Al-Qaeda leaders and later volunteering for a "martyrdom operation". Feroz Abbasi believes he was singled out because of his western background, which would have allowed him to plan an attack without arousing as much suspicion as Arab militants. He says he was prepared to take "actions" against Jewish and American military targets as part of his personal commitment to jihad, or holy war.
Abbasi's revelations are contained in a 150-page handwritten "autobiography" obtained by The Sunday Times from the US authorities. The document, in 12 chapters, provides the most comprehensive insight to date into Afghanistan's terror camps, which have been used to train thousands of Islamic extremists, some of whom are now living in western countries as Al-Qaeda "sleepers". Abbasi, 24, describes how a lack of self-esteem during childhood spurred him into militancy and led to him enrolling in courses in Afghanistan. They ranged from basic firearms training with a Kalashnikov rifle to mountain and urban warfare and intelligence gathering. He claims that other British Muslims received similar training and explains how he was captured, having been abandoned by Al-Qaeda fighters during the Afghan conflict with America and its allies. Abbasi, of Croydon, south London, wrote the statement at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in 2003. It was used as evidence at a US military tribunal at Camp Delta before his release.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
ABU HAFS
Lashka Askari
DAVID HICKS
FEROZ ABASI
al-Qaeda
IBN SHEIKH
al-Qaeda
MUHAMAD ATEF
Lashka Askari
SAIF AL ADEL
Lashka Askari
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005
6:53:18 PM ||
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Investigators probing alleged corruption at the United Nations oil-for-food program are scrutinizing thousands of pages of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's documents, including e-mail and phone records, to determine whether he exerted influence in securing a contract for a Swiss company that employed his son.
Paul Volcker, the head of the independent investigation, confirmed the document search and told The Associated Press that new information had led investigators to delay publishing their findings about Annan's son Kojo, whose activities have embroiled the U.N. chief in the growing scandal. "There were things that came along that threw us back," Volcker said in an AP interview.
Dr. Mohammed al-Jibouri, Iraq's trade minister, said on Saturday that more has yet to be revealed on specific individuals' roles in the scandal. He did not specify any names in his comments, made to Associated Press Television News. "There are a lot of names, and I hope there will be some fairness on that _ not to shut out the light, and put this in the dark, under the carpet," al-Jibouri said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/05/2005
6:51:14 PM ||
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#1
It sure looks like a cover-up.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/05/2005 20:05
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#2
Say "EU" and the AW shows up. Say "Kojo" and AW #2 shows up. Next AW #2 will refer you to #79...
Posted by: Tom ||
02/05/2005 20:14
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#3
There are many degrees of cover-up.
The questions, Mr. Sylwester, are whether or not anything of substance will be 'found', whether the 'names' are the perpetrators or just ones chosen to be tossed from the troika, and whether or not the 'names' face justice or are allowed to avoid apprehension.
The organisation's track record doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
A member of the Georgian presidential clemency commission has committed suicide, police said Saturday, just two days after the death of Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania. He didn't have the clemency vision thing.
Officials denied any political connection between the victim and the late prime minister. A total coincidence. Government officials have died in office like flies since the time of that great Georgian Stalin
Georgy Khelashvili, 32, was found dead of a gunshot wound at his home Friday night. Even before the suicide of Khelashvili, many Georgians wondered whether authorities were telling the truth about Zhvania's death Who? Who doubts the authorities in Georgia? ,
as Georgia has a history of political intrigue and violence. Compared to what? Venice Tudor and Stuart England, Chicago?
Khelashvili was a member of the state presidential commission on pardons. Perhaps he'd been neglecting those duties. Some people can be very impatient.
Initial media reports said he was also a member of Zhvania's former United Democrats political bloc. Officials confirmed Friday that Zhvania died of carbon-monoxide poisoning, apparently as a result of an improperly ventilated space heater at the apartment of a friend, who also died. The Prime Minister gave space heaters to all his closest friends so he would be warm on visits.
Zhvania's body was scheduled to be moved from his mother's home later Saturday to Tbilisi's Holy Trinity Cathedral, where a funeral will be held Sunday.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/05/2005
6:14:58 PM ||
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Closing in on Kojo
UNITED NATIONS The Manhattan district attorney has launched a criminal probe into Benon Sevan, the U.N. Oil-for-Food chief who investigators said had "serious conflict of interest" while overseeing the program. Sources close to the case told FOX News that District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, who has been investigating financial relationships within the Oil-for-Food program, planned to probe the activities of Sevan, who has been accused of receiving about $1 million worth of lucrative oil vouchers. A report released Thursday pointed to significant management problems within the United Nations surrounding the $60 billion Oil-for-Food program. The report by a U.N.-authorized committee headed by Paul Volcker said that Sevan had "seriously undermined" the integrity of the United Nations. "Our conclusion is he placed himself in a serious conflict of interest," Volcker said at a news conference. "Our investigation continues into what other implications there may be if any." Morgenthau's investigation into Sevan, whose diplomatic immunity, the U.N. said, won't be lifted unless it's requested by Volcker or a prosecutor, marks the first step toward prosecution of the official.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/05/2005
6:05:19 PM ||
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#1
Looks like they are zeroing in on Kojo as well - For example, an article published in the Times of London late last month detailed contact between Kojo Annan and Hani Yamani, the son of a former Saudi oil minister, in a failed bid for an oil-for-food deal. The paper quoted two unnamed "business associates" of Yamani, who claimed Kojo traveled to Morocco to help finalize the $60 million oil sale which later fell through.Link
#2
phil, I just posted an article about that from Newsday. It appears Kojo is not being 100% cooperative.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/05/2005 18:52
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I guess the Law and Order episode will be on in March. Doink-Doink!
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
02/05/2005 21:47
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"PAUL VOLCKER: Now first and obviously the most disturbing finding is the accumulation of evidence that the Director of the Office of the Iraq Program, Mr Benon Sevan, in fact did repeatedly solicit oil allocations for a small trading company called AMEP (African Middle East Petroleum)."
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2005/s1296027.htm
Posted by: Tom ||
02/05/2005 21:52
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...Sevan, whose diplomatic immunity, the U.N. said, won't be lifted unless it's requested by Volcker or a prosecutor...
M'thinks any such lifting will occur within hours- of Mr. Sevan's flight landing in Cyprus.
#6
Seems there is a problem with lifting the diplomatic immunity. He lands in Cyprus.... he's in Cyprus's hands, and they have to give him up for any legal prosecution.
Five militants surrendered to Kuwaiti security forces who surrounded their hideout on Saturday in the oil-rich Gulf Arab state which is battling a surge in al Qaeda-linked violence, state media said. State television said security forces continued to search the area in Sulaibiya suburb, some 13 miles northwest of the capital Kuwait City. "Five terrorists holed up in a house in Sulaibiya area have surrendered," the television reported, saying two of the men were Saudi nationals and three were Jordanian.
Analysts say the country is in a better position to crush militants because of its small size compared to its much bigger neighbor Saudi Arabia where al Qaeda has staged spectacular attacks against Western and government targets. State news agency KUNA said security forces also raided a camp in the area of Amghara near Sulaibiya. Security sources told Reuters that blasts reported earlier as gunfire were in fact caused by teargas lobbed by police. Initial reports indicated there were no casualties, they added. Kuwait's Energy Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah said he believed the situation was under control in Sulaibiya. Asked if the raids would continue, the minister told reporters that Kuwait was in a region with a terror problem and "we will be a part of this."
Authorities have boosted security around oil and other vital sites after militants were believed to be planning attacks in an area housing Kuwait's largest refinery and a U.S. military camp. Kuwait is coordinating security issues with Saudi Arabia. Security sources say Kuwaitis linked to militants in Iraq and Saudi Arabia are behind the violence. On Saturday, senior security officials from Kuwait and Bahrain, another U.S. ally, met to boost security coordination and exchange of information between the two Gulf states.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005
6:02:06 PM ||
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We may yet end up with Team America before all is said done ... Saudi Arabia, hit by a wave of attacks by suspected Al Qaeda fighters, used a counter-terror conference yesterday to call for an international centre to combat and pre-empt terrorism. "I call on all countries to set up an international centre for combating terrorism. Those working in it would be experts in this field," Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz told delegates from some 50 countries and international bodies at the start of the four-day gathering. The centre would "exchange and pass information instantly in a manner compatible with the speed of events and prevent them (terror attacks) before they occur," he said.
The crown prince's proposal for a global centre was backed by Arab League chief Amr Moussa, who said the league was prepared to help set it up. Abdullah said the fight against terror was linked to the fight against arms smuggling, drug trafficking and money laundering. "Hence, it would be difficult to prevail in our war on terror if it does not include a decisive confrontation with these three criminal networks," he said. Arab, Islamic and Western states are attending the conference. The US delegation is led by homeland security adviser Frances Townsend, and the British team by Edward Oakden, special representative for counter-terrorism. Also attending are the United Nations, the European Union and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, whose Secretary-General, Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, called on the UN to "issue a resolution prohibiting the linking of terrorism with any religion." The tolerant message of Islam "is not represented by the spurious slogans raised by those... who emerge from the caves of darkness and which are exploited by the enemies of Islam to tarnish its image," Abdullah said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005
5:59:29 PM ||
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#1
If muslims have anything to do with it, it will be co-opted by terrorists the first day it is in operation.
#2
called on the UN to âissue a resolution prohibiting the linking of terrorism with any religion.â We solve the problem by banning anyone from saying there is a problem. Brilliant!
#3
Yeah, I am sure that we will be able to come to a consensus real quick with our arab counterparts during a crisis. This counter terrorism conference is another mad hatters's tea party with good catering.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/05/2005 18:59
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In related news, John Gotti called for a crack down on organized crime.
NATO helicopters have found the wreckage of an Afghan airliner that crashed into a mountain top during a snow storm near Kabul two days ago with 104 people on board. Authorities said on Saturday they were still searching for any survivors, after saying earlier all 96 passengers and eight crew had been killed, and were investigating the cause of the crash of the Boeing 737. Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah said in a statement his guerrillas had not shot down the plane and that the group was very saddened by the crash.
The airliner had been flying to Kabul from the western city of Herat, a busy route for Afghan businessmen and foreign aid workers. It disappeared off radar screens three minutes after turning away from the capital's airport due to poor visibility. Nine Turks, four Americans, an Italian naval captain, two other Italians and an Iranian were reported to have been among those on board. Six of the crew were foreigners, four of them Russian, the Russian Interfax news agency said.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
MULLAH DADULLAH
Taliban
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005
5:57:12 PM ||
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Al-Qaeda-linked militants who had fought four gun battles with Kuwaiti security forces in the past month, had plotted to kidnap and execute US soldiers and Westerners, a newspaper reported on Saturday. Nasser Khlaif al-Enezi, a senior member of the group who was killed on January 30, "plotted to kidnap US soldiers and Western civilians, execute them and film the process," his brother Amer, the alleged leader of the group, told interrogators, reported Al-Qabas daily. Amer said that his brother had received training on such operations while he was in Iraq fighting against the US-led coalition troops, said the paper quoting sources close to the investigation.
Nasser also received instructions from "armed terrorist groups" in Iraq to attack US military convoys on their way to Iraq from bases in Kuwait in attempts to obstruct supplies headed for Baghdad, the daily said. The alleged executions were supposed to have taken place at a house in Umm Al-Haiman, south of the capital, which is close to the largest US military base at Arifjan and is also near US supply lines. Security forces raided the house on January 15, killed a Saudi militant and arrested three other militants while an unspecified number fled. In a closed doors session on Tuesday, the government told parliament that documents seized from the group indicated that the militants had plotted attacks on US military convoys, Western civilian targets and the headquarters of the State Security Agency, said Kuwait's secret police.
Security for US military convoys that use the emirate as a passage to neighbouring Iraq, has been boosted with more Kuwaiti police cars accompanying the convoys. Traffic has been stopped on some occasions. There are around 25,000 US troops stationed in Kuwait, a staunch US ally, which serves as a transit point for coalition forces moving in and out of Iraq.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
AMER KHLAIF AL ENEZI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
NASER KHLAIF AL ENEZI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005
5:55:48 PM ||
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Kuwaiti security forces are hunting a number of key militant suspects after a recent spate of Al Qaeda-linked violence in the Gulf state, security sources said on Friday. Confessions of captured militants revealed they were planning suicide attacks against US forces in Kuwait as well as Kuwait's state security forces, the sources said. Kuwaiti security killed five suspected Al Qaeda militants and captured three, including the group's leader, on Monday in the fourth such gun battle in the country last month.
State security officer Hamad al-Samhan, one of three police, wounded in the clash, died in hospital on Friday, the sources said. Kuwait's leaders had vowed to finish off the militants behind the violence, mostly Kuwaitis with links to jihadists in neighbouring Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The militants were being hunted based on information gathered from the interrogation of captured militants who include Amer al-Enezi, the cell's suspected spiritual leader who is believed to have Al Qaeda links, they said. The suspects being pursued include two senior militants -- Kuwaitis Khaled al-Dosari and Mohsen al-Fadli -- both sought for previous suspected involvement in extremist activity.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
AMER AL ENEZI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
KHALED AL DOSARI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
MOHSEN AL FADLI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005
5:54:32 PM ||
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It is "inevitable" that Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network will try to stage an attack in London, the British capital's new police chief said in an interview. Sir Ian Blair's warning in the Daily Telegraph newspaper echoed similar concerns expressed a year ago by Sir John Stevens, his predecessor as Metropolitan Police commissioner. "It is inevitable that terrorists connected with Al-Qaeda will attempt to carry out an atrocity in London," said Blair, 51, who took over as Britain's most senior police officer on Tuesday. "I know that because they have. It is difficult to calculate whether it is inevitable that they will get through."
Al-Qaeda, perpetrator of the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington in 2001, is regarded by the British government as "the most significant terrorist threat" to the nation. Besides day-to-day policing in greater London, the Metropolitan Police is responsible for anti-terrorist operations all over Britain. Blair told the Daily Telegraph that he backed the introduction of identity cards in Britain, saying they would help identify suspects in anti-terrorist raids. He also called for telephone wiretaps to be allowed as evidence in terrorist trials. Stevens, who has retired, spoke of the "inevitability" of an Al-Qaeda attack on London shortly after the Madrid commuter train bombings in March last year in which 191 people died.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005
5:53:16 PM ||
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Elements of al Qaeda remain in Pakistan, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday, adding that unless more was done to stop the flow of recruits into militant groups the war on terror would never be won. U.S. Undersecretary for Defense Douglas Feith, in Pakistan for talks on security and defense issues, said disrupting and destroying terrorist networks was not enough. "We also have to address the flow of people into the ranks of the terrorists organizations," he told a news conference after talks with Pakistani defense officials in the garrison city of Rawalpindi adjoining Islamabad. "If we don't stop that flow of people into the ranks of terrorist groups, then we are never going to win the war."
But hundreds of al-Qaeda militants are still hiding in Pakistan's mountains bordering Afghanistan and in major cities. Feith said the Pakistani government was focused and quite active in tracking and pursuing the remnants of al Qaeda, including those groups that fled from Afghanistan. But he added: "To win the war, we have to deny terrorists what they need to operate, we have to deny them what they need to survive."
Feith said Islamabad's long-running effort to acquire more F-16 fighter aircraft from the United States was being considered. It was one of many issues discussed Thursday. "Pakistan has been developing various ideas about its priorities in defense trade," he said. Pakistan's Defense Secretary Hamid Nawaz Khan earlier told reporters the two sides had made tangible progress on many issues. He did not give any details. "There is a lot of hope in the air," Khan said. The Pentagon notified the U.S. Congress in November of three proposed arms sales to Pakistan worth $1.2 billion, including eight P-3C Orion surveillance aircraft Islamabad says would be used in the hunt for militants on its border with Afghanistan. In June, Washington declared Pakistan to be a major non-NATO ally, making easier for it to acquire U.S. arms.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005
5:50:18 PM ||
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... The terrorists had to do something to revive their plummeting prestige. That they resorted to clumsy frauds is not a sign of strength. "The captured toy story could be pretty significant," said the Web logger John Hinderaker (Power Line). "The terrorists need, more than anything else, to be seen as awesome, terrible figures. If they stop inspiring fear, they are finished. So the one thing they cannot stand is ridicule. Their pathetic effort to pass a doll off as a captured American soldier will [make] them laughingstocks throughout the Arab world."
It's also interesting that the terrorists turned to the news media to recover lost momentum. Journalists who fell for these hoaxes may merely be idiots, and their silence about the implications of the hoaxes may simply be the by-product of embarrassment. But more to the point, why are major media so quick to disseminate anything that a terrorist group, or purported terrorist group, releases? For the terrorist, it is like being given millions of dollars in free advertising.
The major media have from the beginning exaggerated the strength and popularity of those they mislabel "insurgents," to the disgust of American soldiers. "I'm tired of hearing the crap, the whole, well 'We are barely hanging on, we're losing, the insurgency is growing," Marine Sgt. Kevin Lewis told Dan Rather, in Iraq for the election. "It's just a small amount of people out there causing the problems. It's a small number, and we're killing them."
The scandalous remarks of Eason Jordan, CNN's top news executive, last week at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and the failure of the major media to report them suggest the distortions are deliberate. Mr. Jordan told a panel that the U.S. military had killed a dozen journalists in Iraq, and that they had been deliberately targeted. When challenged, Mr. Jordan could provide no evidence to support the charge, and subsequently lied about having made it, though the record shows he had made a similar charge a few months before, and also earlier had falsely accused the Israeli military of targeting journalists. Mr. Jordan's slander has created a firestorm in the blogosphere, but has yet to be mentioned in the "mainstream" media. Gee, I wonder why not.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/05/2005
5:23:14 PM ||
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An article from Policy Review, titled Idealism at the UN, by Michael J. Glennon, a professor of international law at the Fletcher School of Law & Diplomacy, Tufts University, and the author of Limits of Law, Prerogatives of Power: Interventionism After Kosovo
In ... 2003 .... United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan ... proceeded to appoint a group, the "High-level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change" to recommend reforms. The panel consisted of former governmental officials and in pursuing its task met at various points around the world. Hopes ran high that its ideas would breathe new life into an organization that needed, in Annan's word, "radical" change. In December 2004, it issued its report.
For a Burkean realist with any sense of institutional conservation, making the most of the United Nations is a useful project. Lots of capital, financial and otherwise, has been invested in the organization over the past 60 years. To the extent possible, humanity should profit from its investment. Even if the objective were merely to advance individual states' national interests, the UN may be a useful tool for doing so. In any event, it is hard to fault an organization that recognizes the need to reform itself, especially one that has borne the hopes of humanity so heavily as has the United Nations.
Realists, Burkean and otherwise, must also recognize that there are times when a project needs to be either written off in toto or broken up and the useful pieces salvaged, the ineffective allowed to die. It's fairly common for businesses to get caught up in white elephant projects, obvious and sometimes spectacular failures, and keep on slugging because of that reluctance to walk away from the sunk costs. The same occurs with government, as anyone knows who's listened to NPR...
Sadly, however, the core recommendations of the panel's report, concerning the use of armed force, rest upon wishful thinking rather than empirical evidence. The report evinces a view of a world governed by objective, universal morality rather than by competition for power and shifting national interests. .... The report, in short, exhibits all the familiar shortcomings of old-style Platonic idealism, ignoring the real-world incentives and disincentives to which states actually respond.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/05/2005
3:31:36 PM ||
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A story titled Madrassa-e-Yusufiye, by Biju Abdul Qadir
He re-read the paragraphs that he had scribbled down one last time.
Arabic had never been his particular strength. At least, not in the way that English was. Sadly, to Max's thinking, this was despite the fact that he had just missed being born in a nation that had Arabic as its mother tongue; despite the fact that he had almost all the happiest memories of his childhood and upbringing in a country that wholly belonged to a culture that is, and a people who still are, out and out Arab; despite the fact that his neighbourhood friends and their families with whom he mingled and lived in those wonderful growing up years were all Arabs or Arab expatriates living in the United Arab Emirates. There were Palestinians, Egyptians, Jordanians and even Somalis, he remembered. All of them Arabs who, with their innate sense of hospitality and brotherhood, made him feel for the land where he grew up as if it were his second home: his home away from home; who made him feel that the faces that sat around him now rocking in the now-violent, now-gentle motion of the train on its rails represented the poorer half of humanity: poorer for all the warmth and hospitality that was, to the Arabs he had known, second nature.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/05/2005
3:08:35 PM ||
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In Abu Ghraib prison
Pervert soldiers gathered
For an orgy of human flesh
Iraqi detainees enduring masochism
American and British sadism
Will launch a spectral war
By those with inhuman dusty minds
resting on their beastiality
* * *
The sex starved G.I's
And debauched homo-generals
Like white sharks
Dressesd as a doves
for playful lesbians
Rattling the bars of inner cages
Scars inflicted by the neo-devils
reflect the smiling faces of evil
Iraq is no longer a living souls
Dead, buried and degraded by the ghouls
The poem continues.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/05/2005
2:50:45 PM ||
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#1
homo-general? Is that above, or below, brigadier?
#2
Is it true you work for the State Department, Mikey? If so, do you think you should be quite so anti-American?
Posted by: Tom ||
02/05/2005 20:35
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#3
Someone here suggested that Condi should take a broom to the State Dept. I think a fire hose would be better. And if MS (damn appropriate initials, BTW) really does work there, she should start with his office.
#6
Re #3 (PBMcL) Condi should take a broom to the State Dept. .... If MS (damn appropriate initials, BTW) really does work there, she should start with his office.
I have two jobs. I work in the administration of a home-health-care business in Hackensack, NJ. And I work as a self-employed translator, translating mostly documents for the US Department of Justice's Office of Special Investigations.
I never worked in the State Department. I was in the US Air Force from 1978 to 1992, separating in the rank of major. Then I worked as a self-employed translator. I began working also in the home-health-care business in January 2003.
When I was in college I applied to work in the State Department. I passed the written test, was interviewed, and was not selected. That's as close as I got.
.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/05/2005 23:33
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#7
Hey, this stuff is better than what most English professors put out...
LOL.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/05/2005 23:34
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A story titled There Once Was A Great False God Called America!, by Lewis Attiyatallah.
..... The location is Afghanistan in the spring of 1634 H and the author endeavors to reflect how history will view the events of our times.
SCENE 1
Students of knowledge sitting around their Sheikh after Asr Salaah. A respectable sheikh with a black turban, he sits with his big white beard giving him the appearance of awe and majesty. The sheikh said: Praise be unto Allah, and may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon our prophet Muhammad, upon his family and all his companions and those who befriend him, the following:
Read! Oh Omar bin Ahmed bin Lewis bin Attiyatallah.
He praises Allah and then reads. "The author of the book (Encyclopedia of false idols) said: Under the chapter Alif, (America)...and some (in Arabic writing) brought forward the Yaa' before the Raa':
The author said: It has been told to us...that behind the great ocean there once was a false God called (America). .... To create her, they brought slaves from Africa, builders from China and scientists from all around the world. She eventually became so great and famous and all knew of her, that she eventually became worshipped on this earth as an idol besides Allah. People worshipped her out of fear and want.
We have also been told that if she became angry at anyone, she would send bolts of fire from her land and she would destroy that land and burn their crops and offspring. If she was pleased with anyone she would shower him with money, women, wine, and worldly delights which words cannot describe. There were also those who worshipped her out of love, adoration and godliness.
IT was the moment Manuel Musu dreamed of - his daughter Manny, 5, the girl who captured Australian hearts when her life was smashed apart by the Jakarta Australian Embassy bomb blast, walking for the first time since the terror attack. Manny's beaming face tells a story of triumph as she holds the hand of her Aunt Esti, her mother's sister, in her father's photographs of the moment. She has overcome her grief following the death of her mother, Maria Eva Kumalawati, in the September 9 blast, endured months of agony with shrapnel still spread through her body, and defied the medical odds to take her first steps. Mr Musu, 31, said he choked back tears as he photographed his daughter's short but brave journey. "It happened just a few days ago," an emotional Mr Musu told The Sunday Mail. "It was a late Christmas present, but it was perfect." Manny will soon return to Singapore for an operation to remove a piece of metal wedged 7cm inside her brain. If it remained there it would always endanger her life. Mr Musu said that after the operation he planned to take Manny to her mother's grave in Jakarta, and to visit Maria Eva's other sisters in the Indonesian capital.
Manny, five, made world headlines when it emerged her genetic father was Australian police constable Dave Norman, 25, the result of an affair with Maria Eva, 27, which Mr Musu knew nothing of. After weeks of confusion that loomed as an international tug-of-war for Manny's custody, Mr Norman and Mr Musu agreed that she should be raised in Italy by Mr Musu, the only father she has known.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
02/05/2005
2:38:02 PM ||
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#3
I think I saw a recent discussion of a WW2 tank regiment that was paralyzed by mice eating through the wires, but I forget whose tanks these were.
(The post was titled "The Mouse that Roared..." I'll have to see if I can dig it up.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
02/05/2005 17:25
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#4
That was a German unit on the Russian front that had all the wiring eaten by mice. Could this be called Weapons of Mouse Destruction?
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/05/2005 19:04
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#5
We all remember Pravda from the Cold War era. But now, maybe they aren't as bad? I'd certainly give them a chance versus someone like, oh, CBS.
I believe the USSR also had a Dog Mine. They would feed dogs under tanks, so they associated tank = food. They would then put strap-on explosives (like a splodeydope) and send them into the front lines. The problem was that the dogs associated food with Russian tanks...
#6
The mouse-eating-wire event took place November 1942 during the battle of Stalingrad in the German 57th Panzer Corps, which was by that time little more than a battalion.
I keep posting these emails not simply because they obviously make me feel that four and a half years of daily work was well worth it, but because they give me hope in general about the future of discourse in this country. Here's one that is also testimony to what blogs have been able to do in dislodging some settled prejudices:
As I read the letter you posted today ("One more" February 3) I decided that I, too, must tell you about the difference your writing has made in my life. I hope I'm not too late--I've been thinking about writing to you for over a year, but I always talked myself out of it. Today I find myself compelled to tell you my own humble story.
While I was raised in a fairly conservative family, I came of age during the '60s. I met my husband while we were both campaigning for Eugene McCarthy for president. We were married the week of the Democratic convention in Chicago. I changed from being oblivious about politics to being a serious left-wing, anti-war, Republican-hating straight party-line Democrat. I believed every word that Noam Chomsky wrote. It was all so simple: Republicans wore black hats; Democrats wore white hats. All of my friends believed unquestioningly that peace, love, agnosticism, secularism, enlarged federal programs, and reduced military budgets would save the world form the evil American empire.
Continued on Page 49
#1
Depends on her answer to the only important question.
Posted by: Bruce ||
02/05/2005 12:55
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#2
Sorry, Sully --- fanmail notwithstanding, I still think you're an egocentric ripoff artist. But then, the little peepuls who donated to your comfortable vacation fund weren't too smart so perhaps it's a fair market exchange.
Posted by: too true ||
02/05/2005 13:00
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#3
Sullivan zigged when he shoulda zagged. I am happy for this writer that she found solace with conservatism, and I am torn she credits Sullivan for that, but I believe also she is blinded by the mangificence of Sullivan's brilliance.
#7
"...From that day forward, I started to read intelligent conservative writers to try and understand a world-view totally unlike anything I had learned in my politically correct â60s college education."
I think this has been happening much, MUCH more than the Democrats figured on.
By taking absurd positions with regard to the WoT, the Dems made a lot of people extremely uncomfortable; and those people started looking elsewhere for information and opinion. Some started liking what they heard from the conservative side. And some started asking, "if the Democrats have been bullshitting me about the war, what else have they been bullshitting me about?" And for some of those people, the answer has been, "damned near everything."
My own transformation occurred a long time ago, back during the Clinton years, and was not as extreme a transformation as this woman's; but I know the process.
The Dems are in a heap of trouble, I think, for they've only just begun to pay for their mindless, reactionary opposition to everything Bush does.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/05/2005 16:51
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#8
From your keyboard to G*d's ear, Dave D.
Posted by: too true ||
02/05/2005 17:41
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#9
I've had my moments of utter disgust when reading Andrew's hysterical panic. However, I don't think conservatives should waste their time scorning him for his 'betrayal.' There have been many bad news days, so many setbacks and tragedies. On those days, one must steel one's resolve, knowing that this is the nature of the world, how sh#t happens. Watching Sullivan lose his nerve and embrace Kerry and defeatism was an ugly sight and I wont forget it.
But ultimately we must remember that he is not the enemy and we shouldn't waste time excoriating him, or the other pathetic Democrat Hawks like Tom Friedman - annoying as they are. They are still in favor of Iraqi democracy and fighting to save Western Civ. from the barbarian hordes (inside and out), even if they have a distorted view about what it will take to do it. He has a big audience and reaches people like me when I was younger, i.e. potential conservative who have simply never been exposed to conservative views, except as ugly caracitures to be used as objects of derision in the Leftist morality play.
There are so many people with views far more worse than Sullivan's.
Posted by: Prince Abdullah ||
02/05/2005 19:36
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For me the key was not one person's blog (I started from the Wall Street Journal's site), but the links to other sites. And from there outward. After 9/11 the things I read on the conservative sites better fit the reality I was reading about in various non-U.S. newspapers (Arab News, Lebanon Daily Star, Jerusalem Post, Frankfuerter Allgemeine Zeitung -- which was slow reading for me! -- etc) than what I was reading in the New York Times and hearing on NPR. It gave me something to do while waiting to see if Mr. Wife would ever be able to come home from Switzerland, where he'd landed 9/9/01.
Am I still as idealistic as before? Don't bother to answer, we all know :-) But I've discovered that those who call themselves Liberal are not the white-hatted ones they told me they were. Like Churchill, it is not I that moved, but the Party.
And despite Mr. Sullivan's rejection of the whole anti-gay marriage thing, he spoke clearly of conservatism to that new audience when it counted, after 9/11. Those people, like the reader in the article, had already made the conversion when he went wobbly, and nothing he or the Democratic Party tries now is likely to change that. He did a great deal of good when it was needed, and I think very little harm afterward. I wonder if it is this realization that drives him to blogging hiatus...
Some non-Muslims, especially those who do not know the basic principles and teachings of Islam, may wonder about the title of this article as Islam has been wrongly used as a synonym for terrorism and most Westerners consider Muslims terrorists. Actually, Islam has nothing to do with terrorism. Terrorism is an international phenomenon and is found in every country and society. All divine religions have categorically rejected terrorism.
E pur se muove...
Terrorism briefly can be defined as aggression committed by individuals and groups or countries against people including their religions, intellect, honor and land. Terrorism and extremism are the products of wrong thinking. Socioeconomic factors as well as enmity also breed terrorists.
Terrorism briefly can be defined as systematic attacks against civilian and non-military government agencies with the intent of destabilizing society by inducing fear and uncertainty in the populace for the purpose of imposing the perpetrator's idea of how things should be. The attacks can include indiscriminate bombings and murder, but also robbery, rape, mob violence, intimidation and other crimes.
In this article I would like to focus on Islam, which has been unjustly described by those who are uninformed as a religion of violence and oppression.
That could be because Islam or at least certain schools of it is a violent and oppressive religion. If you're looking for a root cause, it's because Islam, alone among major religions, punishes words with actions, usually the imposition of a death sentence.
Actually, if we had learned its teachings as explained in the Holy Qur'an and Sunnah and practiced them in our lives there would be no terrorists in our midst.
Posted by: tipper ||
02/05/2005
11:23:08 AM ||
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Yeah, I know, but I couldn't resist, such a target rich environment after all.
Allah honored human life in general. Nobody is allowed to kill a man *without a genuine reason.*
-which allows them to kill innocent folks & then make up any reason for it they think is genuine.
"In this verse, Allah did not restrict his honor to Muslims, rather it covers all mankind."
-Time to put down the bong. De jour vs. de facto.
Allah has prohibited Muslims from abusing the deities being worshipped by other communities.
-I thought the Taliban were the most into the koran? I guess they screwed up when they torn down the statues then didn't they?
Islam respects all human beings despite the differences in their faiths and ideologies *as long as they do not attack Muslims.*
-Oh, so that explains it. *Attack* being the interpretive verb. If the islamo-nut feels that he's been verbally slandered by an infidel or psychologically tempted by western decadence he easily rationalizes it as an *attack* on islam and therefore must kill said infidels in order to restore face. I get it now. How stupid of me. Clear as mud.
#2
This is the socio-religious pathology that muslims use to justify islamic terrorism. It simply calls terrorism just and names it self defense. It labels anyone or thing that looks at islam sideways as an attack on Islam. I got half way through and realised this was an apologia for islamic murder and gave up. You can't win and argument against this type of psychological pathology. The only way to treat it is to disinfect the host and sterilize the space they occupy.
#4
Interesting .com. I can't pollute my closed mind with that religiosity even with the quite interesting annotation however. The islamoids will have to burn in hell by themselves.
I would rather spend my time looking a pictures of naked wemmins. I have a good enough grip on Islam. They want me dead for who I am, what I think and my unwillingness to submit. They hate my country and label it as a work of Satan. It's all I need to know. My self preservation mode is in operation against islam. I can put up with Christians telling me I am going to hell. They are not desirous or willing to hasten my death as a tenet of faith. Islams practitioners more than willing to kill for their perverted moon god cult.
A must-read, IMO. The multicultist Islam-appeasing Government and government agents' betrayal of those who reject Islam is their dirtiest crime. Slightly EFL.
THE first brick was thrown through the sitting room window at one in the morning, waking Nissar Hussein, his wife and five children with a terrifying start. The second brick went through his car window. It was a shock, but hardly a surprise. The week before, another brick had been thrown through the window as the family were preparing for bed in their Bradford home. The victim of a three-year campaign of religious hatred, Mr Hussein's car has also been rammed and torched, and the steps to his home have been strewn with rubbish. He and his family have been regularly jostled, abused, attacked, shouted at to move out of the area, and given death threats in the street. His wife has been held hostage inside their home for two hours by a mob. His car, walls and windows have been daubed in graffiti: "Christian bastard". The problem isn't so much what Mr Hussein, whose parents came from Pakistan, believes, but what he doesn't believe. Born into Islam, he converted eight years ago to Christianity, and his wife, also from Pakistan, followed suit.
While those who convert to Islam, such as Cat Stevens, Jemima Khan, and the sons of the Frank Dobson, the former Health Secretary, and Lord Birt, the former BBC Director-General, can publicly celebrate their new religion, those whose faith goes in the other direction face persecution. Mr Hussein, a 39-year-old hospital nurse in Bradford, is one of a growing number of former Muslims in Britain who face not just being shunned by family and community, but attacked, kidnapped, and in some cases killed. There is even a secret underground network to support and protect those who leave Islam. One estimate suggests that as many as 15 per cent of Muslims in Western societies have lost their faith, which would mean that in Britain there are about 200,000 apostates. I would guess that number's going to rise. The younger generations know that Islam has nothing to offer them in Western society. The young are far more likely to be MINOs than immigrant parents.
For police, religious authorities and politicians, it is an issue so sensitive that they are accused by victims of refusing to respond to appeals for help. It is a problem that, with the crisis of identity in Islam since September 11, seems to be getting worse as Muslims feel more threatened.
Continued on Page 49
Britain's hopes of drumming up $50 billion a year in aid for Africa suffered a serious setback on Friday when the United States rejected London's plan. Even Europe's backing seemed to be fading as both Italy and Germany said they would prefer something less ambitious than the proposal British finance minister Gordon Brown put to a meeting of the Group of Seven rich nations. But former South African president Nelson Mandela said he would accept no half measures. It was an outrage to let Africa sink further into disease and poverty, he said. "We are here to claim justice," the frail 86-year-old told the G7 ministers. "Do not delay while poor people continue to suffer," he said, demanding a full write-off of African debt and $50 billion extra a year in aid for the next decade... We have a right to 600 Billion of your dollars! Reparations for colonization! We need more palaces!
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
02/05/2005
10:10:37 AM ||
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#1
But former South African president Nelson Mandela said he would accept no half measures.
#2
Darfur, Rwanda, Somalia, Uganda under Idi Amin, the racist dictator Mugabe now... The list goes on an on of Africans pissing in thier own wells then screaming for someone to come fix things - all the while cursing those who are fixing things as White Devils, and trying to shift the blame to the outsiders for they horrors the inflict on themselves.
Tell ya what Mr Mandela. You get a handle on all the slavery, brutalism and racist tribalism by Africans against Africans that is running rampant across Africa especially in the totalitarian dictatorships, then we will talk aid.
Until then: Its your problem, you broke it, you fix it. Not the symptoms (the deaths and famine), but the root causes of problem itself (your tribalism).
Because until you so stop being tribal racists (and beginto see the real problem is not us, but YOU!), sending you aid is like feeding a starving gorilla and then handing him a fully loaded machine gun.
#4
show us Bob's head on a pike and we'll throw you a bone. Until then, STFU and get your house in order
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2005 11:32
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#5
mandela is a dingleberry on the butthole of Africa. He's a communist, always has been a communist, always will be a communist. PISS ON HIM! And, PISS ON AFRICA! The problems they have are of their own doing. As long as they adhere to the principles of communism/socialism, no amount of aid, (U.S. taxpayer money), will do anything but intensify their suffering. In short.....FUCK 'EM AND FEED 'EM FISH HEADS.
Posted by: Tom Dooley ||
02/05/2005 11:43
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#6
mandy's an asshole, always has been. How about we write off their debt but no new aid package, deal?
Posted by: Tom ||
02/05/2005 13:06
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Until then: Its your problem, you broke it, you fix it.
I dunno, King Leopold had a hand in it.
So did the Germans in South-West Africa. So did the French and the Brits. I suppose you could blame Brazilians, Americans and assorted New World governemnts, too, if you were rigorous in your scorekeeping.
Fact is, the Euros didn't do Africa any favors over the last five centuries or so. The worst thing, even worse than Leopold, may have been inflicting socialism on Africa. Damn that Marx guy.
I wouldn't mind at all helping Africa, particularly those Africans who have had the scales fall from their eyes. I see little nuggets of hope here and there and would like to encourage that.
But Mandela's extortion (for that is exactly what it is)? Nope, no way.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/05/2005 13:49
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It was an outrage to let Africa sink further into disease and poverty, he said.
And were we to try telling these guys how to clean up their act and run their show, it's almost a certainty that we'd be accused of meddling, or worse, imperialism.
You need a refresher on African history: the late 19th century colonization was an effort to protect blacks against Muslim slavery (or at least that how it was sold to the public). So much for the white man doing nothing for Africa. And whatever the afterthoughts of those cold monsters called statemen your average British or French believed it was doing Africans a favour. And before you sneer remember that it was not African doctors who brought a cure against paludism and it was not African Army the one who stopped the slaver raids (except in Rwanda) or put an end to the bloodbaths perpetrated by the Zulu Kings: hundreds of thousands dead mostly by impaling.
Of course it was bad to bring the Africans to what was none of their business ie WWI and the German and Belgian colonization were particularly brutal, greedy and times genocidical but as I said not evrything was bad.
#12
JFM is right. Much of what passes as history is little more ideology. Go back and read contemporary sources and you will find people were constantly asking why colonies cost so much and gave so little return and the arguments in return were its our duty to help them. The term 'white man's burden' was not originally ironic.
#13
Most African colonies were freed in the 1950s or 1960s. It's been nearly 50 years. Any problems are of their own making.
We bombed German and Japan flat in 1945. There was starvation and people freezing in '46-47. The much-vaunted Marshall plan was a far smaller amount of money than we've given to these kleptocracies. Yet, they were back on their feet and beating the pants of RCA and GM in under 30 years.
The difference was the culture. I can't see Africa ever becoming a decent place without a change in the culture.
Perhaps the problem with colonialism was that it didn't last long enough and the imperial states weren't aggressive enough in forcibly re-making the societies.
#14
Darfur, Rwanda, Somalia, Uganda under Idi Amin, the racist dictator Mugabe now... The list goes on an on of Africans pissing in thier own wells then screaming for someone to come fix things - all the while cursing those who are fixing things as White Devils, and trying to shift the blame to the outsiders for they horrors the inflict on themselves.
Tell ya what Mr Mandela. You get a handle on all the slavery, brutalism and racist tribalism by Africans against Africans that is running rampant across Africa especially in the totalitarian dictatorships, then we will talk aid.
Until then: Its your problem, you broke it, you fix it. Not the symptoms (the deaths and famine), but the root causes of problem itself (your tribalism).
Because until you so stop being tribal racists (and beginto see the real problem is not us, but YOU!), sending you aid is like feeding a starving gorilla and then handing him a fully loaded machine gun.
#15
Darfur, Rwanda, Somalia, Uganda under Idi Amin, the racist dictator Mugabe now... The list goes on an on of Africans pissing in thier own wells then screaming for someone to come fix things - all the while cursing those who are fixing things as White Devils, and trying to shift the blame to the outsiders for they horrors the inflict on themselves.
Tell ya what Mr Mandela. You get a handle on all the slavery, brutalism and racist tribalism by Africans against Africans that is running rampant across Africa especially in the totalitarian dictatorships, then we will talk aid.
Until then: Its your problem, you broke it, you fix it. Not the symptoms (the deaths and famine), but the root causes of problem itself (your tribalism).
Because until you so stop being tribal racists (and beginto see the real problem is not us, but YOU!), sending you aid is like feeding a starving gorilla and then handing him a fully loaded machine gun.
#1
" The school says they need to do this because of the new social climate."
Kind of like global warming.
Posted by: Matt ||
02/05/2005 9:54
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Oh geez, it's been a long time since the Dutch went bananas. When it does happen, however, I would suspect that it's much like a German on methamphetamine.
#6
They deny access to students who have flags on their bags or cloth. The school says they need to do this because of the new social climate. But they say prohibition is a big word, they do it in consent with the pupils...
This guy is contradicting himself. We deny access to those with a flag but we dont prohibit the flag? He also says they dont do it out of fear but because of the social climate (i.e. to avoid the violence from the Moroccans?).
#7
That the issued even had to be raised is pathetic. Do Dutch schools not fly the Dutch flag outside on their premises? If so, are they going to take that down because it may "upset" some students of moroccan descent? Fucking pussies.
Posted by: Weird Al ||
02/05/2005 11:40
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#9
Sounds like the Dutch Dhimmitude is ahead of schedule.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2005 11:41
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#10
Insane. Moroccans are taking over the country and the school admininstrators are helping aided by the government and elected Politicians. Freaking pussies.
#11
I just got off the phone with the Netherlands. Everyone is back peddling like mad on this now. Some adults have apparently stepped in and taking control. The Dutch are used to consensus they need it because they live in such a small space. They just haven't learned it's not part of islamic culture. In Islamic culture you do as the religious authorities say and thats it. You don't need nor are you encourage to think for yourself or reach a group decision. Allah has already made all you decisions for you and your Imam will let you know what it is. That just isn't the Dutch way of doing things.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan demanded speedy prosecution of Sudanese officials and militiamen guilty of crimes against humanity in Darfur, as members of the Security Council came under renewed pressure to tackle the issue at last.
"But it's not genocide! No, no! It's... ummm... something else!"
The push to end what has been labelled the world's worst humanitarian crisis gained impetus after a UN panel released a report Monday that said government-backed militias were still conducting rape, mass killing and wanton destruction in Darfur. The Security Council, and by extension the United Nations, have been dogged by allegations that they are standing by and doing little as thousands of people die in Darfur. Annan said Wednesday that on a recent trip to Abuja, Nigeria, he warned Sudanese leaders to rein in the so-called Janjaweed militia or face punishment — possibly including sanctions.
Oh, no! Not sanctions! Think of the children!
He said that leading suspects in the killings, whose names were provided to him in a secret annex to the report, must be tried urgently. "I think the commission was right in saying that it is important that urgent action be taken, and the perpetrators be brought to justice," Annan said. "They have to be prosecuted."
That implies somebody is going to round them up and bring them to court. And that the Sudanese gummint is going to stand by with its Islamic thumb up its butt while that's happening. Is Jimmy the Greek still around? I need somebody to figger the odds on that happening...
#2
What are they going to do, sanction Sudan on wheat imports? That would be inhuman! Just think of all the militia who won't be able to steal the food from those who need it! How will they make a living!?
Posted by: Charles ||
02/05/2005 8:12
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#3
I suggest a cooling off period and the formation of a committee of stakeholders to do an indepth study of this region and its problems. Denmark is nice in the spring. Is there a UN approved caterer there?
We'll let out bid for the conference, but mine will be thousands less than anyone in the world could possibly do it. In fact it so so low the only food I could bring to Denmark, Muslims won't eat, hell, my dog wouldn't even eat it and he's a dog!
How I will get my money is from charging registration fees plus a banquet fee, my cut, plus a little ( and a nice hooker for Dada ) for others, I can take that ITT course on Petroleum Engineering, so I can get into other oil deals.
A successful transition to democracy in Iraq would increase pressure for change in Iran, a leading Iranian clerical dissident said on Wednesday. Mohsen Kadivar, whose views have earned him time in jail, also urged Iraq not to follow the Iranian model of granting ultimate power to a senior cleric. "I think the Iraqis can make what we wanted to create but were unsuccessful: a real Islamic Republic," he said in an interview. "By that I mean a republic with Islamic values, democracy with Islamic values ... (where) the clergy has no special rights."
It seems to have been done in Kurdistan. Maybe it'll work in Iraq as a whole...
"If they have a good government with Islamic democracy and without any special or divine rights for the clergy, the Iranian government won't be able to justify its situation to the Iranian citizens," the 45-year-old philosophy professor added.
Which is why they're determined it's going to fail...
His views echoed those of Iran's leading clerical dissident Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who told Reuters last month that Iraq should learn from Iran's experience and not allow clerics to take a political role for which they are unqualified. After the Islamic revolution toppled the US-backed Shah in 1979 Iran erred by adopting the system of velayat-e faqih, or "rule of the Islamic jurisprudent," whereby a senior cleric, or supreme leader, was accorded ultimate power over all state matters, Kadivar said. "We replaced a kingdom with an Islamic kingdom," he said.
Goddammit. Every time I get on a role, expounding on how Islam is incapable of anything but rule by holy men and convoluted, self-contradictory logic, we have a day like today: Bahraini women demonstrating for their rights, Egyptians demonstrating against hereditary rule, the Kuwaitis on a serious Bad Guy hunt, the Kurds making the pseudosecular Turks look like conniving, brutal bastards, and Danish imams telling the Hizbis to piss off. Then we have this guy pop up, taking his life in his hands to express his opinions, and the opinions actually make sense and hold out hope for Iran, of all places. Good luck to him, and I will now attempt to return to my practice of actually thinking, rather than just reacting to the continuous steam of hackneyed cupidity and vitriol that's the normal day in the Muddle East.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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#1
Three years ago, as Rantburg and other sites really started disseminating information about Salafism, and before knowledge of it entered the mainstream, I Googled "wahabi" and came up with three or four pages of nothing but anti-wahabi websites (mostly Sufi and Shia would be my guess).
Shiite theologians had actually done a lot of work to try and reconcile Islam with modernity before the Shah fell. Even Khomeini's son has taken that position.
Most Germans and Japanese behaved pretty well after we rooted out the Nazis and militarists. Of course the Muslim world has other problems.
I think that besides Islam, the other real problem in the Middle East is the herd mentality. What tipped me off was the opinion polls. Results would keep coming back in the high 90's. No population is that homogenous in thought. When the pollsters arrive, _someone_ (mullah/sheikh/mukhabarat -- you pick) is putting the word out on the street to answer in such and such a way. We have to break the tribes. Only then does change come.
#2
11A5S - Amen. Tribalism as a major root cause for grief (from corruption to jihadi support networks) is certainly spot-on, IMHO. One guy can make an entire region either a sanctuary - or a hotzone - as happened in this story yesterday - the only positive thing I've seen about tribes in years. Hell, I think all of Africa can be added to the M.E. as proof of your point. Being from the wrong side of the river, from one bend to the next, seems to be grounds for murder.
#3
The reason the western world has advanced is because we have got rid of the tribalism . Every place the tribalist mentality flourishes is backwards and steeped in ignorance.
The US is the ultimate anti tribalist society. We are anti tribalism and pretty much anti class. That is why we are so far ahead of Europe. They still are very class based societies.
#6
TW, I am not sure I am, if so, so be it, but considering that I lived in Europe for the first 30 years of my life, is it unreasonable to accept that I know my pappenheimers? :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2005 12:05
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#10
All I can tell you Frank G is look at that sheite hole Oakland. The state had to step in a run the bankrupt school system, It's the home of "ebonics" and Jerry Brown is the Mayor. Most people wearing Raiders jerseys are gang bangers, live in the Bario or getto. Tribalism at work.
Kuwaiti security forces are hunting a number of key militant suspects after a recent spate of al Qaeda-linked violence in the U.S.-allied oil-rich Gulf state, security sources said on Friday. Confessions of captured militants revealed they were planning suicide attacks against U.S. forces in Kuwait as well as Kuwait's state security forces, the sources said. Kuwaiti security killed five suspected al Qaeda militants and captured three, including the group's leader, on Monday in the fourth such gun battle in the country last month. State security officer Hamad al-Samhan, one of three police, wounded in the clash, died in hospital on Friday, the sources said.
Kuwait's leaders had vowed to finish off the militants behind the violence, mostly Kuwaitis with links to jihadists in neighbouring Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The militants were being hunted based on information gathered from the interrogation of captured militants who include Amer al-Enezi, the cell's suspected spiritual leader who is believed to have al Qaeda links, they said. The suspects being pursued include two senior militants -- Kuwaitis Khaled al-Dosari and Mohsen al-Fadli -- both sought for previous suspected involvement in extremist Islamist activity. "The raids and searches continue," one source told Reuters. "There are wanted people whose names are mentioned during the interrogations and they may have links to this network." He said militant suicide bombers had been planning to target U.S. convoys and other U.S. citizens in the country.
This article starring:
AMER AL ENEZI
Peninsula Lions
KHALED AL DOSARI
Peninsula Lions
MOHSEN AL FADLI
Peninsula Lions
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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Iranian officials have criticised US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's speech, saying her comments were inaccurate.
Comes as a surprise, huh?
Speaking to Aljazeera from Tehran on Friday, adviser to the Iranian President Muhammad Shariati said Rice's comments were not warmly welcomed. "We reject the accusations Rice has directed at Iran, particularly those related to Iran's acts in 'destabilising the region' ," he said. "All her accusations were inaccurate as Iran has neither dealt with the Taliban nor Saddam's regime, but their relations with past US administrations have been friendly."
That's why we took them apart, of course. They just got too friendly...
Rice had said that a pre-emptive strike against Iran is not on the agenda adding that Iran needs to live up to its obligations and agree to verification inspections. But Iran maintains that it has the international right to possess nuclear technology like any other nation. "How come a country that has approved a non-proliferation treaty on nuclear arms could not have the right to possess peaceful nuclear technology," Shariati said. In her speech, Rice said that attacking Iran was not a current option as diplomatic talks were ongoing: "The question is simply not on the agenda at this point; we have diplomatic means to do this," she said.
"If that doesn't work, they'll think they've met a steamroller up close and personal...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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Iranian officials have criticised US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's speech, saying her comments were inaccurate.
Well of course they were inaccurate, she said Iran wasn't a target!
#2
Notice how they didn't criticize her lack of burqa wearing, lack of staying at home barefoot & pregnant, and her inherent female immorality stirring them to no emotion other than abject fear? I guess that means that they just don't "respect" her as much as one of their chattel servants they call mothers, wives, and daughters.
#4
How great is the fact that Bush's right hand woman happens to be a non-burqa wearing Afro-American female who's threatening to lay the beating on the Mullahs - perfect, keep the head warmers off balance with a little chocolate thunder.
We should deal with devious ideologies intellectually before launching security operations, Cleric Dr Mohammed Al-Awadi told Al-Watan. Describing terrorism as a crime, which is present in all religions, Dr Awadi said "such criminal actions have resulted in devious ideologies, which have been accumulating for a long time." This is a complicated problem, which involves social and ideological issues, he added. He also said "causes of such problems can change quickly. Sometimes they are intangible and hard to identify."
"We must locate the intellectual roots of this problem, their internal and external causes, psychological and security behaviours, international policies and religious beliefs, if we want to identify such misguided ideologies and their sources," Dr Awadi continued. Stressing all these factors must be identified and studied before security confrontations are launched, he said "according to Islam any person has the right to adopt any of such thoughts. However he doesn't have the right to impose his belief on others, especially if his beliefs are wrong." If any misguided person attempts to spread his ideology we have the right to discuss his thoughts and correct him if necessary, Dr Awadi added. "Citizens should not misuse the current exceptional security circumstances to settle personal disputes as this is not the right time for miscalculated heroic acts," Dr Awadi said. "All of us are in the same boat and we must cooperate to seal all holes to ensure the boat can sail safely."
This article starring:
MOHAMED AL AWADI
Learned Elders of Islam
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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Translation: it's all the fault of the Jooooooooooooooossssssssss.
Bahrain Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Shaikh Mohammad Bin Mubarak Al Khalifa appealed to the regional countries to "confront extremist ideologies," which are threatening the region. "We know there are Friday sermons, fatwas, and [religious] camps that collect money, a good part of which goes to support extremist ideology. We ourselves should confront these terrorist tendencies. We should not just sit there and blame the others," he said.
Eventually we'll come for them, you know. We're actually still in the very early stages of the War on Terror.
However, he stressed that the region's religious teachings had nothing to do with the rise of militancy. "Our schools teach religion. They don't teach our children how to kill people," he said.
But your holy men do. Your neighbors do. Your culture — or at least that of the Lions of the Desert — does. The desert hard boyz have been beating up on their civilized coastal cousins for thousands of years. You really don't have to take it, you know.
On Iraq, he said Bahrain was "happy" that last Sunday's elections were successful. He criticised the factions that boycotted the elections, saying that anyone who wants to end the occupation should enrol in the political process in that country.
Posted by: Fred ||
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US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives here at the weekend facing the tough task of allaying Turkish fears that an independent Kurdish state — Ankara's long-standing bete noire — is taking shape in Iraq as Washington turns a blind eye.
Yep. That eye's blind. Hain't been able to see out of it since, oh... 'bout March, 2003.
Ties between the two NATO allies have failed to fully recover since hitting an all-time low prior to the US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, when Turkey stunned Washington by denying it access to its territory to mount an attack on Iraq from the north. Analysts fear new tensions may be now looming, with Ankara increasingly frustrated over what it sees as US reluctance to rein in Kurdish moves to take control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq as part of a suspected plot to break away from Baghdad. "The issue of northern Iraq is of vital importance for Turkey. The Americans say they understand Turkey but when it comes to action on the ground there is no reason for trust," said Bahadir Koc from the Ankara-based ASAM think tank.
Lemme see, here. The Kurds stood by us, did what they promised to do, and they've been friends to us. The Turks... ummm... make good coffee.
Independence-minded moves in northern Iraq, Ankara fears, will embolden separatism across the border in southeastern Turkey, where a Kurdish rebellion has already claimed some 37,000 lives. Turkish suspicions were reinforced when large numbers of Kurds said to have been expelled from Kirkuk under Saddam Hussein were allowed to settle and vote in the city in last week's elections, despite protests by rival ethnic groups that many of them have no bonds with Kirkuk. As the Kurds braced for large political gains, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan slammed the United States this week, charging that "forces who say they came to the region to bring democracy have preferred to remain indifferent to anti-democratic ambitions."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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Erdogan slammed the United States this week, charging that "forces who say they came to the region to bring democracy have preferred to remain indifferent to anti-democratic ambitions."
#2
Erdogan ought to be in Paris crying on Chiraq's shoulder instead. Ol' Jacko's always been...shall we say, historically sympathetic to "anti-democratic ambitions" in that neighborhood.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
02/05/2005 3:24
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Condi to Recep:
"You know, Recep, I was pricing Turkish rugs for the new office, and, you know, with the duties and taxes and all, they're just...so damned expensive. Crying shame, really...we'd signed that free-trade agreement with the Aussies, and some of us were thinking that 'TAFTA' had a nice ring to it..you know, 'Trans-Atlantic Free Trade Agreement'?
Oh, well, I'm sure Jacques and Gerhard were so grateful for your support...maybe they'll only make you wait five years before telling you Turkey'll get EU membership about the same time the Winter Olympics are held in New Guinea..."
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
02/05/2005 3:41
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#4
When I saw that headline, I was thinking someone was preparing dinner.
#5
Turkey lost any chips they might cash in in a stoopid bid for EU/French love. Typically they now adopt the "you need to make nice to us to earn our love back". F*&k em. Kurd power!
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2005 11:40
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Some 155 female motorists have been issued citations over the last two days for wearing veils while driving, say sources. On Tuesday, under the instructions of Assistant Undersecretary for Supportive Security Services at the Interior Ministry Maj. General Thabet Al-Muhanna said the General Traffic Department activated a traffic law, passed in 1984, which bans veiled women from driving. Sources said Director of the General Traffic Department Brigadier Suleiman Al-Muhailan decided to activate the law to prevent terrorists from escaping security check points by wearing veils. "Traffic patrols have intensified their campaign in the implementation of the law resulting in the issuance of citations to 155 female motorists within two days," they added.
I wonder how many veiled gentleman drivers they've stopped to date...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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Department Brigadier Suleiman Al-Muhailan decided to activate the law to prevent terrorists from escaping security check points by wearing veils.
"Um, I gotta mustache 'cause I got one of them hormone problems?"
#2
Heh, Pappy, this reminds me of the traffic safety study that the Saudis commissioned some years back to find out why their accident rate was so high. The conclusion, written by bona-fide Western professionals, was that the kaffiyeh headgear cuts their field of view so dramatically. Doh! And on top of that they're just damned shitty drivers with no regard for traffic laws and almost no understanding of basic physics to boot, heh. Double Doh!
#3
As a chase car security driver/PSD I've driven many a frantic mile (kilometer?) stuck to the rear end of a a hard car in Kuwait, and the traffic (Especially in the 2 lane crop traffic circles)borders on madness. For a person to drive without his/her full faculties would be nucking futs. It's as if you are engaged in a video game of chicken with the other drivers at 120 kmh. After a 45 minute drive from HQ to the Ministry of Defence, the hard car driver is cool as a cucumber, but the chase car driver/PS3 is soaked with sweat from the intensity of the mission.
#4
It can be like that in Israel, too. I drove there for a couple of weeks while on business years ago. 3 land highways: north, south and chicken lane.
Posted by: too true ||
02/05/2005 12:52
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#5
Ah, .com - don't forget the traffic rotaries, where one enters driving with the left hand on the wheel, and the right hand pressing the horn.
After one trip from the RSN base to a hotel and back, I was ready to go back to the minefields for my own safety.
MP Mohammad Al-Saqr has requested the government to disclose names of MPs who recently met senior officials in the Ministry of Interior with the offer to accept the surrender of fugitive radical Islamists on condition they will not be treated as suspects but state witnesses, reports Al-Seyassah daily. Al-Saqr says these MPs must be referred to the Public Prosecution after stripping them of their parliamentary immunity.
Picked up on the Soddy holy men's trick, did they? Only it's not Soddy Arabia...
Meanwhile, interrogations with Amer Khlaif Al-Enezi, believed to be the leader of the so-called Peninsula Lions revealed the two fugitives Mohsen Al-Fadhli and Khalid Al-Dosari played key roles in offering protection and logistic services to members of terrorist cells by providing them food, ammunition and moving them from place to place. Amer also admitted to issuing a fatwa to his followers on the need to kill security forces if they attempt to arrest them saying it justifies the death of their 'comrade' Fawaz Al-Otaibi who was shot by a member of the cell on Jan 10, 2005, during a Maidan Hawalli shootout between security forces and terrorists. A State Security policeman also died in the incident.
Otaibi was friendly-fired? Hadn't heard that. Can't be too good for recruiting...
Shaikh Farhan Obaid from the Islamic Heritage Revival Society described Amer Khlaif as a fanatic and a radical "who has misunderstood the concepts of Islam," reports Al-Rai Al-Aam daily. Obaid said the society with the approval of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs earlier held a seminar and the participants were surprised to learn Amer Khlaif and some of his followers were humiliating lecturers accusing them of cowardice for forbidding jihad in Iraq.
He sounds like a real subtle kind of guy, doesn't he?
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has called for the reinstatement of multi-party democracy in Nepal in the wake of a political crisis sparked by the royal sacking of the government.
Well, that should do it...
The Himalayan nation was plunged into crisis after its King Gyanendra sacked the government and seized power, declaring a state of emergency and later installing a 10-member pro-royalist cabinet. Mr Downer said in a statement that the developments were of concern to Australia. "The action is contrary to the principles of multi-party democracy and is a setback to hopes for lasting peace and stability in Nepal," he said. "Australia supports the immediate return to multi-party democracy and respect for civil liberties and freedom of expression."
I don't think it's going to do any good. Gyanendra's a nut.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
02/05/2005
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Are we sure this guy's Nepalese? He looks like Herb from Accounting...
Australia secretly forced a senior Israeli diplomat to leave the country, and neither Israel nor Australia wanted to comment about the matter, according to a newspaper report. The Sydney morning Herald said the effective expulsion of the Canberra-based diplomat - described as a consul in Israel - was covered up for several weeks. But it said the matter had come to light in a report in the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv. It said inquiries about the story were met by no comments from the Australian government.
The Ma'ariv newspaper speculated there might be some connection with last year's scandal in which two alleged agents of the Israeli spy service, Mossad, were arrested in New Zealand. The arrest came after they were caught trying to fraudulently obtain passports. The Sydney Morning Herald said it had been told by a source close to the Israeli cabinet that the reason for the incident must have been serious, given the friendly relations between the two countries. It came ahead of a scheduled tour of Australia by Israeli President Moshe Katsav early next month. The paper said the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade summoned a senior embassy official to a meeting at which it requested the immediate recall of the consul. It said if Israel did not withdraw its diplomat voluntarily, steps would be taken to declare him persona non grata and to initiate proceedings for his deportation. In response, the Israeli Foreign Ministry instructed the diplomat to pack his bags and return home immediately.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
02/05/2005
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Bet there's gonna be some arrests in Australian intel agencies.
The United Nations vowed to discipline two officials implicated in a report that detailed conflicts of interest and flawed management in the UN oil-for-food program, while the man leading the investigation warned that more revelations were forthcoming.
So they haven't actually disciplined him, they've just vowed to do so...
The interim report, released Thursday, zeroed in on the chief of the oil-for-food program, Benon Sevan, saying Saddam Hussein's regime awarded oil allocations in his name to a trading company between 1998 and 2001. It said Sevan had "seriously undermined the integrity of the United Nations" and suggested he may have received kickbacks, possibly using an aunt to mask his trail. Sevan has denied he ever received any money.
"No, no! Certainly not!"
Based on the report, Secretary-General Kofi Annan will discipline Sevan and another UN official, Joseph Stephanides, who may have "tainted" bidding for an oil-for-food contract, said Mark Malloch Brown, Annan's chief of staff. Allegations that the United Nations itself was enmeshed in corrupt practices in the program led Annan to appoint former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker to investigate. Several US congressional teams are also looking into it. Volcker told the Associated Press that the investigation found no "systematic mismanagement" of the oil-for-food program. But he said there were serious problems. "It is not the whole story by a long shot," Volcker said at a news conference to release the report. Despite Sevan's claims that he never recommended any companies for oil vouchers, Volcker's Independent Inquiry Committee said it had evidence that Sevan asked Iraq to give a small Swiss-based oil company, African Middle East Petroleum Co. Ltd. Inc. the opportunity to buy oil. The company, known as AMEP, received the allocations and earned $1.5 million from them. The report did not say Sevan received kickbacks, but said it was suspicious of $160,000 he said he received from his aunt in his native Cyprus from 1999-2003. The report questioned this "unexplained wealth."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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I'm sure Koffi will speak quite sharply to Sevan (for not giving him a bigger cut).....
DANVILLE, Pa. - Geisinger Medical Center has settled a lawsuit filed by a woman who alleged that a surgeon left a 4-inch metal instrument in her uterus. The lawsuit filed in Montour County Court alleged that Dr. Samuel Owusu operated on Lori Klinger, now 35, in November 2002. The suit alleged that two days after her surgery, the instrument - sharp on one end with a rubber bulb on the other - emerged from her vagina.
"Oh! There it is! I was wondering where that got to!"
Hospital officials disputed Klinger's account of the instrument, saying that it was a "small, blunt, rubber-like, screw-on tip of a medical instrument." The hospital also contended that the instrument was not left in Klinger's uterus but that it became dislodged in her vagina. Lori Klinger on Thursday said she stands by her account. Neither she nor Geisinger officials would comment about the financial details of the settlement. Klinger, of Fernville, had sued on seven counts for a possible total of $350,000.
Posted by: muck4doo ||
02/05/2005
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Good thing they didn't discover it -em- some other way.....
#5
Did he finally go in for a sex change operation? He's got to be getting pretty old; Korea was 50 years ago.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/05/2005 10:24
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#6
Reminds me of the time my wife had a hysterectomy, oophorectomy and tube removal and the doc left an ovary behind. "Hmm, it's been six months and still no menopause. That's odd." One CAT scan later: not only did they forget the ovary, but it now has a golf ball sized cyst on it. Morons. By the way, is that Coke or Pepsi in that pic?
Posted by: Up The Hill Backwards ||
02/05/2005 18:51
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#7
Reminds me of the time my wife had a hysterectomy, oophorectomy and tube removal and the doc left an ovary behind. "Hmm, it's been six months and still no menopause. That's odd." One CAT scan later: not only did they forget the ovary, but it now has a golf ball sized cyst on it. Morons. By the way, is that Coke or Pepsi in that pic?
Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the president of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), said on Friday that sardars (tribal chiefs), capitalists and generals were exploiting people to protect their interests.
"Holy men don't do that sort of thing. We'd never think of such a thing!"
Speaking at a seminar organised by the MMA on the eve of Kashmir Solidarity Day, Qazi who is also the ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, said the MMA would launch the second phase of agitation that would organise caravans and million marches to get rid of these exploiters who had compromised the country's interests for theirs. He called Kashmir's liberation an unfinished agenda of the partition of the subcontinent. "The independence of Pakistan is incomplete without Kashmir's accession to Pakistan. We support the Kashmir struggle politically and militarily," he added. Qazi said that Kashmiris launched their armed struggle for their self-determination after the world bodies including the United Nations had disappointed them. He said that more than 90,000 people had been killed and 25,000 women raped during an armed struggle in Kashmir. "We will not let the government forget Kashmiris' sacrifices," he said.
Now, I've been watching the carnage in Kashmir for three years and a bit. Most of the corpses I've seen have been caused by the jihadis, most of whom are Paks. I think the 90,000 figure that Qazi and Hafiz Saeed are so fond of slinging are mostly Bad Guyz, which I'll admit is a considerable pile of used flesh.
He said India had always said that Pakistan had occupied a part of Kashmir while Pakistani generals were talking of Kashmir's partition on regional and ethnic grounds. "The people of Pakistan and Kashmir will never accept [President Pervez] Musharraf's formula," he said.
This article starring:
QAZI HUSEIN AHMED
Jamaat-e-Islami
QAZI HUSEIN AHMED
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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Isn't that James Randi with a lampshade on his head?...
About 10 Darfur rebel commanders have renounced leadership of the main movement in Sudan's west, rebel officials said yesterday, raising fears that negotiations for a cease-fire in war-torn Darfur could stutter. The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) is the largest of two main rebel groups fighting the government in Darfur, demanding a more equal distribution of wealth and power. Any splits in its leadership could hurt already fragile talks to end the conflict.
A statement issued on a Sudanese website earlier this week, signed by SLA commander Jumaa Mohamed Haggar, said the military field command had renounced the leadership of the movement, which is based in the Eritrean capital Asmara. "We will very soon be announcing a new secretary-general and chairman," Haggar's head of office told Reuters from Darfur yesterday, confirming the web statement. The SLA chairman and secretary-general both confirmed the statement but said it posed no threat to the movement.
The humanitarian coordinator for the movement, Suleiman Adam Jamous, told Reuters he had traveled to meet the commanders, but was still waiting to start talks with them. "There are several commanders with Haggar. There may be 10 of them," Jamous said by telephone from Darfur, adding he did not think it was a serious threat to the movement. Asked why the commanders had said they had no confidence in the leadership, Jamous said: "Because of their absence I think." After years of tribal conflict two main rebel groups, the SLA and the Justice and Equality Movement, took up arms in early 2003 accusing the government of neglect and of giving Arab tribes preferential treatment. They say the government armed Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, who the international community hold responsible for widespread rape, and the looting and burning of non-Arab villages. Khartoum admits arming some militias to fight the rebels but denies any links to the Janjaweed, calling them outlaws.
In that case, we'd expect the gummint to hunt them down and kill them all, wouldn't we?
Posted by: Fred ||
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Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said it was more efficient for Australia to continue to coordinate its tsunami aid directly with Indonesia rather than go through the United Nations. Downer said that regardless of Friday's report revealing corruption in the UN's oil-for-food program in Iraq and highlighting major flaws in the global body, Australia was always going to deal directly with Jakarta. "It's not that I don't trust them (the UN), we do put money into the United Nations, but in terms of getting the optimal outcome, we think in the case of Indonesia, being a next door neighbour, the optimal outcome is going to be a bilateral program," Downer told the CNN TV network in London. "Indonesia is a sovereign country, they will make their own decisions ultimately on how money is spent. They are the principal coordinating authority for tsunami relief and rehabilitation. The UN agencies can provide assistance as well and we obviously welcome that and in some cases we provided money for people like UNICEF and the World Food Program. But I do not think, at the end of the day, you can brush aside the responsibility of the individual national governments to coordinate relief within their own countries."
Posted by: God Save The World ||
02/05/2005
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Iwonder how all this OFF corruption and other UN shenanigans will affect those little coin envelope collections on international flights? I always empty out my pockets for UNICEF.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/05/2005 6:32
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#2
UNICEF is probably the most corrupt and incompetant of the UN agencies - An independent audit in 1994 by Booz, Allen, & Hamilton found bloated overhead costs, lack of financial control and a proclivity for luxury travel accommodations and overstaffing.Link
#3
On Halloween when I used to see the little kids with the UNICEF boxes, I wanted to ask them if they knew what kind of outfit they were shilling for, but I just said, No Thanks. Now I'm in Red America and the parents are a little more careful with whom they let their children associate.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/05/2005 7:26
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#4
The UN is actually less a disaster than the EU. The reason for this is a reflection of their charter, their constitution. The UNSC actually *does* help, in an indirect manner, to govern the activities of the UNSC members, the ones that really call the shots in the world (granted, a bit out of date: its membership should be the US, Russia, China, Europe, India, South America and Africa). But this only comes from the intentions of its members, not from the UN charter, which has little power over its members. The EU, however, has allowed the intentions, good or bad, of its members, to be subverted by a federal bureaucracy that has only *its* intentions, and *its* disgusting, bloated and monstrous constitution as *its* guide. This means that while the UN is a bloated, mostly inert joke filled with feckless and corrupt bureaucrats ignored by everyone, the EU is ruled by them.
#5
The EU, however, has allowed the intentions, good or bad, of its members, to be subverted by a federal bureaucracy that has only *its* intentions, and *its* disgusting, bloated and monstrous constitution as *its* guide.
1) Can you tell me a *single decision* which the so-called "bureaucracy" managed to pass without the consent of the majority of the member-states? Even one? Or indeed a single decision passed over the objection of even a sizeable *minority* of member-states?
2) For purposes of accuracy, until such time as the constitution actually becomes a reality, use the word "treaties" instead of "constitution".
granted, a bit out of date: its membership should be the US, Russia, China, Europe, India, South America and Africa)
South America? Africa? Europe?
How, pray tell, will these be "members", unless each of them has a common foreign policy and a single external representation? At this point you aren't objecting merely to the membership of the UNSC, you are objecting to the national division that exist in these continents.
#6
Oh great, Anonymoose, you've summoned the Attention Whore.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/05/2005 14:53
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#7
Speaking of attention whores, everyone look at this thread, #79. This was Tom's comments up until 9 p.m. yesterday. I didn't include the ones he added in the last three hours before midnight or all his "It's all about meeeeeeee" comments. You'll have to imagine that his entire commentry yesterday was considerably longer.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/05/2005 15:14
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#8
I have NEVER made any "It's all about meeeeeeee" comments, Attention Whore #2.
Posted by: Tom ||
02/05/2005 15:16
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#9
Bwahahahaha - maybe I did? Gonna spend all day collecting my comments MS? Hee hee
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2005 15:17
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#10
It's strting to look like someone fell of the wagon. Perhaps it's time to go back to AA or NARCONON.
Posted by: trolling for allen ||
02/05/2005 15:19
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#12
7. CE 3063, pp. 634-35, 638; cited in Mike Sylwester, "Jack Ruby, Smuggling
with and Spying on Communists" available here:
8. Ibid.
9. 14 H 503; Sylwester.
10. Sylwester.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. 15 H 289; Sylwester.
14. 15 H 300; Sylwester.
15. 15 H 316; Sylwester.
16. Ibid.
17. Ibid.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid.
20. 9 HSCA 524-86; Sylwester.
21. Ibid.
22. Ibid.
23. David Scheim, *Contract on America,* 221; Sylwester.
24. Maurice Halperin, *The Taming of Fidel Castro*; Sylwester.
25. Hall Exhibit No. 3; Sylwester.
26. Sylwester.
27. Seth Kantor, *Who Was Jack Ruby?*, pp. 132-4.
28. Ibid.
29. cf. Edward Jay Epstein's *Inquest.*
30. Weberman Web site.
31. Ibid.
32. 14 H 341.
33. Ibid.
34. 14 H 359.
35. 14 H 343.
36. Ibid.
37. Ibid.
38. Ibid.
39. 14 H 346-9.
40. Carol Hewett, "Methinks Thou Dost Protest Too Much!", available HERE
You without Fred's sight are nothing. Otherwise you wouldn't spend so much time here putting up with the abuse.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/05/2005 17:26
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#15
Otherwise you wouldn't spend so much time here putting up with the abuse.
besides that dark need for it that you don't talk about...not even with Mommy
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2005 18:14
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#16
Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
A name
I call Aris!
Fa!
A long long way to run.....
So!
What Mikey doing Here?
La a Note to follow Mikeys So
Tee!
A lot lot lot like MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
#17
You without Fred's sight are nothing. Otherwise you wouldn't spend so much time here putting up with the abuse.
I wonder what you think your silly attempts at psychoanalyzing earn you. "Putting up the abuse" might be a more torturous task if it had more of a sting in it to hurt *me*.
But the worse it's been it's when the attitudes here made me depressive (and thus angry) about the chances of our civilisation to survive -- even personal attacks have more *annoyed* me because of the pettiness of the people who can't see the bigger issues because of the smallness of their minds and the kindergarten-attitude of their ego-games.
And such chances of civilizational survival won't magically increase if I close my ears and hum real loudly against the babble of the people who would doom us all with their idiocy.
Me without Fred's site am nothing? Am afraid that once again it's not a ego game, Mrs Davis -- or I wouldn't have asked Fred to make a decision on whether to tell me to take a hike or not.
Even letting aside the personal pursuits and fannish communities, there are many political forums around, Mrs Davis. I've commented in many places before Fred's site and I'll comment again after it. But once again it's not an ego thing for me, Mrs Davis -- it's a team play in a game of civilizations.
Me without participation in political forums would actually have a bit more time to do things I really enjoy doing -- reading books, writing stories, reviewing movies. And if I cared more about cheers rather than an attempt at actual effect in political discourse, I'd have stuck with such fannish communities as appreciated my presence -- like interactive fiction or HP fanfic or Tolkien newsgroups or whatever.
#19
like interactive fiction or HP fanfic or Tolkien newsgroups or whatever.
Damn, I'm sorry didn't think about that.
Posted by: abu Me ||
02/05/2005 18:25
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#20
Now see? That's what I'm talking about? I see the level of intelligence in Frank G's and "Von Trap"'s posts, people who assume that anything that challenges them must be an ego-driven troll, and thus know that America is most probably doomed. It's red-state Republican core is too arrogant and stupid and closed-minded to change.
#25
Frank, it was I who told you about May. So, it's really kinda pathetic that you keep on repeating, seemingly against me, information I've myself offered freely. This time you didn't even went into the bother of googling, I *told* y'all about May.
#28
When Aris first arrived at RB he drove me nuts. Then for a long time he bored me and I ignored any thread he was in. But recently I have developed a morbid fascination in his posts. It's like watching a house fire. You know its going to end badly and you have much more important things to do, but you can't tear yourself away.
#29
strangers in the night
me me me me me me me me
bobo bo bob bob bobobbobob beeee!
of nitwits in the night.
Posted by: abu FrankS ||
02/05/2005 18:51
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#30
Now see more examples of RRR (retarded reactionary right) idiocy? People who think that fanfiction is shameful or childish, but find nothing wrong with their anonymous cowardly trollish kindergarten attempts at bullying.
And you Mrs. Davis, still thinks the problem is my contribution, not theirs. Typical RRR reasoning -- the outsider's to blame, the one who holds the different opinion or the one who asks the questions that are difficult to answer.
Such attitudes will doom us all and you don't see it. Carry on.
#31
More fan fiction! More Fan Fiction! It good for MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Have you considered a part in the new Star Trek? There's a small speaking part for an neo-Agean, meantion MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
Posted by: abu FrankS ||
02/05/2005 19:07
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#32
1) Can you tell me a *single decision* which the so-called "bureaucracy" managed to pass without the consent of the majority of the member-states? Even one? Or indeed a single decision passed over the objection of even a sizeable *minority* of member-states?
-To be honest, none that I know of (or could google) that have actually passed into law.
Here's one that worries some eu civil lib groups & a lot of corporations, but it's just a proposal, not a law yet. *If* it becomes a law, seems bad for civil liberties, just imo.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1334371.stm
Here's another about computer patents that seems to have passed into law and some member states were not crazy about. I'm not familiar w/the issue so can't add anymore then what's in the article. Looks like it's gonna get overturned or was. Maybe someone more familiar w/it can get me up to speed.
Pakistani police and intelligence agencies have arrested a Tunisian national suspected of links with Al-Qaeda, security officials said yesterday. The suspect, who identified himself as Abdul Qayum, was arrested late on Wednesday while shopping in a smart district of Peshawar, capital of North-West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan. "He was being monitored for some time and tracked down to a shop and picked up from there," the official said."During the interrogation he said his name was Abdul Qayum, we are looking for more details."
This article starring:
ABDUL QAIUM
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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The Iraqi insurgent group the Army of Ansar al-Sunna said on Friday it had killed 29 Iraqis and taken seven prisoner when it ambushed a 50-strong Iraqi police convoy this week, an Internet statement said. "The lions of God yesterday set a trap for a National Guard convoy at Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad ... after a fierce battle the mujahideen killed 29 people, burned four trucks soldiers were riding in, and took seven prisoner," the group said in a statement dated Friday, posted on an Islamist Web site. Guerrillas on Thursday killed two policemen, wounded 14 and left at least 16 missing in the Abu Ghraib area near Baghdad, on the worst day of violence since last Sunday's election.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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#1
Damn! Ice all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turds!
OTOH, This reminds me jihad-spun stories Mikey posts with a such a glee.
#3
TH1864: Do the iraqi national guard have weapons or they just riding around with sticks and bulhorns?
This kind of thing happens to the Russians all the time. The reason they have fewer casualties is because there are fewer Chechen holy warriors. This is why the low level of American casualties is such a wonder to the jihadis. They thought our boys would be easy meat. Turns out it's easy, much easier, to target the locals. Our boys are just so good that it's less trouble to target them with mines.
TH, it's gonna take time but it will happen. Prolly more a result of good intel on the part of the jihadis then lack of firepower on the part of the iraqi ng's. However, as I was not there, who knows exactly how it came down.
#5
Jarhead: Prolly more a result of good intel on the part of the jihadis then lack of firepower on the part of the iraqi ng's.
I would expect it's the result of better training and experience on the part of our boys. GI's get ambushed, too - but they shoot straighter than the opposition. Our guys also have the advantage of supporting fire from aerial and ground artillery, meaning that the opposition really can't stick around to exploit their successes against our guys. I don't think the Iraqis have that benefit - we just don't trust them enough to fire at their request.
Also many Muslim armies have a kind of fatalistic Insha'allah (God willing - i.e. it is in the hands of God) kind of perspective, meaning that they don't train as hard as they should. Still, in time, they should get better, as they get more experience.
A leading Iraqi Kurd told Turkey it had no right to meddle in Iraq's affairs and said any military intervention by Ankara aimed at stalling the creation of a Kurdish state would end in "disaster".
Turkey has expressed alarm at what it sees as a drive by the Kurds of northern Iraq to cement their autonomy and possibly to seek full independence from Baghdad. Ankara fears such moves could reignite separatism among the Kurds of southeast Turkey. Turkey is especially concerned that the Kurds may wrest control of the oil-rich city of Kirkuk at the expense of local Arabs and Turkish-speaking Turkmen. It has said it reserves the right to take unspecified action to protect its interests.
"Turkey should not intervene in our domestic affairs. The result of such an intervention would be a disaster for all parties," Masoud Barzani, head of the Kurdistan Democratic Party, told CNN Turk in an interview late on Thursday. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and other senior officials have stepped up their criticism of the Kurds since last Sunday's historic elections in Iraq, saying Ankara could not stand idly by if Kirkuk fell into Kurdish hands.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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#1
"...Ankara could not stand idly by if Kirkuk fell into Kurdish hands."
Lol. Of course you can - and you will. You are not party to the situation in Iraq, Period. Full stop. Attend to your own affairs - stop trying to distract your citizen with this canard - they require your attention.
And, BTW, if the Kurds (which inhabit a rather sizable chunk of Turkey) chose to join their fellow Kurds in a new Kurdistan, well that would be peachy with most freedom-loving people. And your old empire would shrink a bit more. Life's a bitch, sometimes.
The Kurds have survived and maintained their identity under someone's boot-heel for 500 years. I'm beginning to think they are the most deserving group in all of the Middle East to get a shot at freedom and self-rule. And Kirkuk is definitely part of the majority Kurdish areas.
Sucks to be Turkey, today. Pissed away all of their goodwill, NATO capital, and US tolerance for a pig in a poke with France. Great job there, Tayyip. My sympathy reservoir is utterly dry.
#2
The Kurds have survived and maintained their identity under someone's boot-heel for 500 years.
Longer, I believe. I read Xenephon's "March of the Ten Thousand" a few years ago, and at one point they had to walk through a mountainous area between the Euphrates plain and the Black Sea while being constantly harassed by fiercely independent, rather nasty locals. Not Islamic Kurds, but I'd bet they're ancestors.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/05/2005 0:31
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RC - Prolly right, bro. I dug up an authoritative timeline for them once (lost in 2 computer changes since, sigh) which showed that for more than 500 yrs they had been a continuous homogeneous population under the name of Kurds - so that was why I used that line. Truly a remarkable march through history to have maintained their identity as they have. And what they do with their freedom (under the no-fly zones, for instance) is very impressive. I'm amazed by them, considering everything they're endured.
#4
com, Kurds are descendands of Medes, a north-western iranic folk related to Circassians of Northern Caucasus. They have been established as an ethnicity already at about 1100 CE (Saladin/Salah al Din Yusuf Ibn Ayyub -- 1137â1193). So it is more than 5 centuries, at least 9.
#6
Everyone thinks this Turkish anti-Kurd bandwagon is being pulled by the Islamist government but fail to recognize the influence here of the Armed Forces. Yes, there has been some reform such as taking away the automatic parliment seats to senior officers but the AF are still the real deal in Turkey even if it is pro-western, part of Nato and trying to get into the EU. To think that the AF in Turkey will sink back into political obscurity is to ignore their constant presence in stabilizing this country to the secular middle. It would not suprise me to see them back in the main picture soon if this kind of crap keeps up.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/05/2005 6:22
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#7
The Kurds could relieve some of this tension by improving their relationships with the Turkmen in the area. One of Turkey's major concerns is to protect their own ethnic relatives in Iraq.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/05/2005 8:45
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As usual, I suspect deeper meanings. Please note the *value* of the occassional Turkish mumbled threat: it is a continual pressure for the Kurds to remain part of a federal Iraq, a de facto Kurdistan, rather than having the emotional gratification of being a de jure Kurdistan, and having the enmity of Sunni and Shia Iraq, Turkey, Syria, *and* Iran. In other words, who benefits from this Turkish threat? The U.S.; *and* the saner heads among the Kurds who understand the value of federalism; *and* the Turks, who now value the Kurds as their second largest trading partner after Europe. It also keeps the Kurds in Syria, Turkey and Iran from going into open revolt in the hopes of breaking off their lands to join a greater Kurdistan, as onerous an idea as was greater Serbia 20 years ago.
#10
an actual opinion by MS! And a true one at that! Omens and Portents⢠to be sure....
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2005 11:57
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I concur Mike, that sounds like a logical ajenda for the Turks. Especially since borders between nations in that region IIUC are more permeable & not seen the same as borders in western countries. Or, it's just a ploy for a casus belli for the underlying economic situation. Or, maybe legitimately both?
#12
I wouldn't dissmiss the Turkish concerns too quickly. If they say they will do something, they mean it. Secondly, from what I have read, the Kurds haven't exactly treated the Christians in Norther Iraq with much kindness or respect.
Several dozen Egyptians have demonstrated against a fifth term for President Hosni Mubarak.
Dozens? That doesn't sound encouraging.
Thousands of police kept the protesters apart from tens of thousands of visitors attending the Cairo International Book Fair in the suburbs of the Egyptian capital on Friday.
Thousands of police for dozens of protesters?
"Enough!" said one banner, in an apparent reference to Mubarak's 24-year rule and his expected decision to run again later this year. "No to the Renewal [of Mubarak's mandate]," the demonstrators chanted. "No to heredity," they said, referring to speculation that if Mubarak, 76, does not stand his eldest son Gamal will be anointed in his place. Under the Egyptian system, parliament will elect a single candidate for the presidency in May, whose name will then be put to a referendum in September.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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Dozens? That doesnât sound encouraging.
No, but it's a start. Some people obviously don't buy the arabic fatalistic credo "it's the Allan's will".
Bahrain has said the current tension between the United States and Iran over the Islamic Republic's nuclear programme must not lead to a military confrontation.
It doesn't have to. But neither can the current situation continue.
Manama wants to see the issue left to the International Atomic Energy Agency to decide the appropriate course of action, Bahrain Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Shaikh Mohammad Bin Mubarak Al Khalifa was quoted yesterday as saying. "Iran has accepted the IAEA's inspection and we hope the UN watchdog would do its job and avoid any confrontation," he said in an interview with Bahrain newspapers in Abu Dhabi on the sidelines of His Majesty King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa's visit on Wednesday to the UAE. "We have always called for a Middle East free from weapons of mass destruction. But we also say let the IAEA deal with this issue," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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Of course, they become "target numero uno" once the s**t hits the fan. They are the main naval support base for the gulf as well as logistics and tactical support for SFO.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/05/2005 6:13
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"But we also say let the IAEA deal with this issue."
Seems to me that was how we got into this situation in the first place...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/05/2005 8:08
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I wonder where our next command posts and naval facilities will be.
We had a quiet presence in Qatar long before we officially moved the force command there from Arabia. But port facilities are more visible and take much longer to build -- plus there are fewer attractive places to build them.
Ultimately, the possibility of sea-based mobile centers has promise. The expense is huge, though, and it will take time to develop them.
Posted by: too true ||
02/05/2005 8:14
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What I am hearing from Bush/Rice is Mullah ruled Iran with nuclear weapons is an unacceptable situation and must/will be stopped. However, the means have yet to be determined. I am fully in agreement with this assesment and await news on the means.
#5
Okay fellow RB hard chargers, time for a hypothetical - how does this one end?
a) Iran complies w/the EU3's negotiations?
b) Bush beats Khamenei in arm wrestling match, Iran turns into peaceful representative democracy.
c) As soon as Iraq is stabilized U.S. backs fifth column and students in Iran to overthrow mullahs.
d) Khamenei calls U.S. "big headed dragon." Bush shrugs sends precision air strikes.
e) All of the above.
Well, that's the way the Soddies are spinning it, anyway...
Saudi Arabia should be allowed to experiment with democracy at its own pace and not be criticized as a dictatorship, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday. "Obviously countries are going to move at their own pace, they are going to move toward the liberalization of their politics in the context of their own traditions, religious, historical and others," she told a news conference at the end of her talks with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. "No one can seek to impose a particular model or a particular set of solutions to the question of how one answers the universal aspirations of people for liberty, the simple right for people to be able to say what they think," she said.
On the other hand...
"But we do expect that there should be movement toward reform in all of the countries of the Middle East." Rice said that building democracy often takes time, as it did in the United States, when equal rights were not immediately extended to groups such as women and blacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
I think she's right -- and more importantly, I think we have a stake in the Saudis not imploding.
Not an excuse for status quo, which is clearly untenable anyway. But let's make this a controlled detonation, not a runaway nuclear event. Makes the cleanup easier and keeps the costs down.
Posted by: too true ||
02/05/2005 7:06
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#2
controlled detonation I like that term. I think the middle east holds a lot of surprises over the next few years. One is the controlled dismantling of the saudi regime. The good news is they get to keep Mecca.
#3
too true: While the sight of the adult male members of the House of Sa'ud decorating the lamp-posts in Riyadh would be gratifying in so many ways, you're right--a "controlled detonation" is better. I suspect we've been seeing one in progress for the past three and a half years.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/05/2005 7:28
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Once again, I think this is a mask of everybody's true intentions. If the US wants SA to have a slow evolution from dual monarchy and theocracy to democracy, the *last* thing it's going to do is let it take place in a natural, Darwinian manner. Instead, the US will intertwine its efforts into every single nuance of the process, to insure that it is as dull as a planning & zoning meeting, not some disaster like the fall of the last Czar, or the Shah of Iran. The optimum result will be the retention of the smart & powerful faction of the Saud family keeping much power and wealth, but through democratic means, and the purging of the stupid & weak parts of their family along with those Wahabbis who pretend to power, which is most of them; and an evolution of the national religion to middle and upper class Sufist Islam.
WOMEN will gather outside the Justice Ministry today in a show of solidarity against discrimination. They will also call for the dismissal of the General Prosecutor. The demonstration is being organised by the Women Petition Committee in co-ordination with human rights and civil society groups. It starts at 10am.
Committee president Ghada Jamsheer said that women were often discriminated against when their cases were dealt with by either the General Prosecution or Sharia courts. "There are many women who have been affected because of this and many are living miserably because of these biased decisions," she said. "We will also call for the removal of a Sharia judge, whose decisions have been always against women and has a long history in controversial decisions, which were in favour of men, rather than being fair." Ms Jamsheer said that a petition would be signed and sent to His Majesty King Hamad with a list of wishes women hope to be granted. They include the urgent establishment of the Personal Law (family law) and stop Sharia judges from issuing official marriage certificates at home. They say these should be issued by a special office at the ministry, open 24-hours-a-day.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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Kurdish political leader Jalal Talabani announced he would seek the office of either president or prime minister when the new National Assembly convenes. Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan, made the announcement at a joint news conference with the leader of the other main Kurdish faction, Massoud Barzani. Talabani and Barazani said the Kurds should get one of the two posts in the new elected Iraqi government. "We as Kurds want one of those two posts and we will not give it up," Talabani said.
Meanwhile, the chief UN envoy met with the leader of main Sunni political party yesterday, amid mounting efforts to convince the wary minority community to participate in the next government. Ashraf Qazi expressed the hope that parties which boycotted Sunday's polls, in particular Sunnis, would "participate in drawing up the constitution ... and our efforts will continue in this direction."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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#1
And the Sunni Arabs at Gulf News down in Dubai, UAE, hope to whip up Iraqi Arab, both Sunni & Shi'a, opposition by shouting it from the proverbial rooftop - as if it's inappropriate. Second day running for this Kurd-scare bit - maybe they want to make better friends with the Turks at the same time. If the Kurd slate garnered the second or third highest vote total, as appears to be the case, then this is nothing more than the customary reward, one of the top posts. That it seems to hack the Sunni Arabs is merely icing, IMHO.
Wait and see what the vote total are, boyz, then live with the obvious results. It's called democracy, Arabs. Take a good look - you'll be seeing more of it around soon.
#2
Here's da beef:
Preliminary results from 15% counted Iraqi election votes place Sistaniâs United Iraq Alliance in 42% lead, followed by 34% for united Kurdish list and 20% for Allawi group. Of 8 million vote, 2 million cast by Kurds.
I am not surprised by the Kurdish share, but Allawi was estimated that he would take about 8%.
Well, it is still 85% of votes to be counted, so the number may change a bit, but I would like to see Allawi in the next government with a substantial portfolio, as his group with Kurds would make a nice counterballance to Shia dominance.
#3
I am surprised by the Kurdish share. 34% of 8 mill votes is 2.7 mill. While all ethnic numbers from Saddam's Iraq are suspect. It indicates the Kurdish population is higher than commonly supposed. May also be substantial immigration from Turkey, Syria and Iran (which I strongly suspect).
The media always talks about shiias and Kurds as separate when in fact large numbers of Kurds are shiias (and all are either sunni or shiia). They are clearly Kurds first and Shiias/Sunnis second. It remains to be seen whether the Arab Shiias are Arabs first (and find common cause with the Sunni arabs). BTW Debka called this day after the election.
#5
All indications are Iraqi Kurdistan is booming economically. If I was a young Kurd in Iran, Iraq, or Turkey I know where I would be heading. Its not hard to see why the Iraqi Kurds scare the sh#t out of the Turks.
#6
It indicates the Kurdish population is higher than commonly supposed.
It may also indicate that they may have had higher turnout due to 1) a higher level of security making it less risky to vote, 2) having already introduced democracy they may better "get out the vote" programs, and 3) given their experience with voting, they may have advanced vote generating systems like those used in Seattle and Milwaukee.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/05/2005 7:19
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There is a rumor that Allawi group plans to make a coalition with Kurdish group, which would form a majority government. Would be interesting to watch as this develops.
#8
Mrs. D, they may also have hidden their numbers under Saddam and had difficulty getting people down from the mountains to register and then again to vote. IOW, the registration figures might have been misleadingly low.
A Kurdish / Allawi coalition would be interesting. It might put pressure on the Shia to remain moderate (if it didn't polarize them into a theocratic stance). The really subtle pressure would be on the Sunni Arabs -- they would HAVE to make an alliance with one or the other group.
My sympathy reservoirs seem to be all dried up and the warehouse is backordered.
Posted by: too true ||
02/05/2005 8:12
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Four Egyptian policemen were wounded in a gunbattle on Friday with Bedouin in Sinai believed to be sheltering key suspects in the bombing of three Red Sea resorts last year, security sources said. Security forces have since Wednesday besieged about 100 armed Bedouin in the Ras Sudr area of central Sinai, 150 km (94 miles) east of Cairo, and the shooting intensified late on Thursday, the sources said. One policeman was wounded by a bullet in the back and three others were injured when the Bedouin opened fire on their police car, causing it to overturn, they added.
The sources said they believed the Bedouin were sheltering two fugitive bombers, Mohamed Ahmed Saleh Fulayfel and Hammad Gumaa, and three others wanted for questioning over the blasts four months ago. Police say the Bedouin were armed with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. A gunbattle between the Bedouin and police in the same area on Tuesday wounded one policeman and killed another suspect, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. Two other suspected bombers were killed in the Taba attack when their bomb went off early. Egypt has said they were not part of a wider militant network or linked to al Qaeda.
This article starring:
HAMAD GUMAA
Tawhid wal Jihad
MOHAMED AHMED SALEH FULAIFEL
Tawhid wal Jihad
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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Danish Muslim leaders yesterday rejected a radical group's call to boycott elections next week which Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who backs the war in Iraq and has clamped down on immigration, is expected to win. Rasmussen swept to power in 2001 with promises to clamp down on asylum-seekers. He has sent 500 troops to southern Iraq to support the US-led war, which initially had broad backing but is now losing popularity among Danes, according to polls. Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir ("Party of Liberation" in Arabic), which is outlawed in many countries, called for an boycott of Tuesday's elections because democracy is "in contradiction to Islam". But the Danish Muslim Society said 21 imams had advised voters to follow their own conscience.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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Well, ummah has never been homogenous, there's a myriad of sects, too many to count... granted, most are not with a heavy membership.
It seems that some imams do get it that if they don't oppose wahhabi encroachment, there may be not much Islam to speak of in 50-some years.
If the real moderates manage to turn jihad into da "internal struggle" thingie, I can live with that.
For a while. Because time will come again when some fuquetard would interpret it again that it means "kill the infidel wherever you find him".
I maintain we need a believable deux ex machina to deal with contingencies in this regard.
Does anyone know about a reliable teleportation device that has a pattern recognition built in?
Found some more cannon fodder for his army, has he?
Iraqi Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr has called on his community's senior religious leaders to insist on a timeline for a US troop withdrawal. "This is a message from Sayid Muqtada. I call on all religious and political powers that pushed towards the elections and took part in them to issue an official statement calling for a timetable for the withdrawal of the occupation forces from Iraq," Sayid Hashim Abu Raghif told worshippers gathered for Friday prayers in the Shia city of Kufa.
"Helmut, speaking for Boskone! Out!"
Al-Sadr, who earlier belittled last week's vote, said he would no longer refrain from commenting on political developments in Iraq after keeping quiet for months, according to a statement Abu Raghif read from al-Sadr to thousands of worshippers.
This article starring:
MOQTADA AL SADR
Mahdi Army
SAIID HASHIM ABU RAGHIF
Mahdi Army
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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I like this picture of Mooky better:
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/05/2005 0:22
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I recall Sistani jumped back on the Jet of Peace and humped it back from London just in time to demand a truce - just before Tater and his few remaining thugs were to be rooted out of the Ali Baba & 40 Thieves Shrine in Najaf by Iraqi troops backed by Jarines and the 1st Air Cav. As far as I can tell, that's the only reason, heh.
He's got plenty of time before we pull out of Iraq to find a date for the US Pullout (Party). Maybe he can call one of those Jordanian escort services?
I think its a ploy- he wants be seen as dateless, so he can ask Condi Rice out, rrrrwaarrrrhwrrrr!
#7
If I heard correctly, Tater's party drew well south of 1% of the vote in the election last week . . . making Tater the Pat Buchanan of Iraqi politics: "an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Posted by: Mike ||
02/05/2005 7:09
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#8
an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing
#10
STFU Tater, your a second string bush league day-shifter. You've got no stroke and don't call shit anymore. Go back to fondling goats and slappin' around your momma, that's about your speed, buffet jockey.
#11
I don't think he's smart enough to be scared. He should be, though. Sistani and his crew ain't pushovers, and may just decide to quiet him down permanently. High "crossfire" potential. Bad accident prone...
Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder last night pro-mised to deepen Germany's commitment to Iraq and offer wider help in its reconstruction following landmark elections there. "We have a lot of experience with building functional institutions for countries," Schroeder said after talks with visiting US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "And this is a kind of assistance that we would like to make available to the Iraqi government if it is desired," he said.
Schroeder suggested however that Germany would not send troops to Iraq in line with a long-term commitment not to play a military role in the war-torn country. He said that Germany would continue to train Iraq's fledgling security forces outside of the country. German politicians said Rice's visit could help pave the way to improved US-German relations, strained by the war in Iraq. Hans-Ullrich Klose, a foreign relations expert for Schroeder's Social Democrats, said: "I increasingly see the chance for tensions between some European countries and the US government to improve in the near future."
Posted by: Fred ||
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Ah, the realpolitik! Is Schroeder affraid that CDU/CSU will sweep the next elections? The 'hate merkins' card was not that great card now, Gerhard, wuz it?
#5
Yup, and he's trolling to see if we can give him some more outrage that will divert peoples' attention from the truly lousy economic shape they're in.
Posted by: too true ||
02/05/2005 12:49
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With the international anti-terrorism conference set to open today, security has been beefed up around the venue as well as Mariott Riyadh, site of the media center, and Royal Conference Palace, where the government's guests have been accommodated.
Certainly an inviting target for Bad Guyz, isn't it?
All vehicles passing by those sites were being screened, creating traffic jams in the areas. Security has been so tight that calls placed at the Royal Conference Palace, where VIP guests are staying, were not forwarded even to their aides. Security personnel, including those of the special forces, have been deployed at all strategic places. Over 300 international and local journalists will be covering the event, according to a spokesman of the Ministry of Information and Culture. He said correspondents of news agencies from around the world have arrived for providing live coverage. Saudi TV has set up its own production units at the media center, which is fully equipped with wireless transmission facilities for relaying news and photos.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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Isn't this the same as the Windsor's having an anti-monarchy conference at Buckingham Palace?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/05/2005 6:10
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Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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#1
finish the wall and then release more - see how they actually like the thugs back in circulation
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2005 0:05
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#2
ignore the attention whore Syria can't feel that comfortable with the US and Israel on either side, and Israeli jets doing flybys over the capital and palace. Time to ratchet up the pressure and get the Baathists uncomfortable.;-) May can't come too soon. cue porn music: twangy guitar and bass nice picture - what is that? the Hokey Pokey? I got ya big dragon head, right here, Ali, ya big pussy the Islamists didn't come for democracy, LH. I seriously doubt they think that a Jew should have a say in their view of desired societal change, and all you wymens with uncovered ankles....cover up or else! looked like sarcasm to me, Dan out on DVD april 5th - plunk down the cash PD! it's tough to get back into the Juche-mood....possibly spring training needed great choice as visa guy...idjits. Time to clean house with a broom, Condi nope, AP - I bet Joooooo occupation of the oppressed innocent Paleos does, tho' as an unemployed gigolo I'd appreciate any references.... liked him a lot in "Outlaw Josey Wales" as well.... good actor and sounds like a good man as well. RIP I hope they don't fire him for his stupid free speech usage. Fire him for his doctored resume, fine. Firing him for his speech will only make him a martyr, when he should be the object of scorn and ridicule and when's the last time you did that on the battlefield, you ignorant backassward coward? Kinky's a kick. I saw this on Imus, and the great Asleep at the Wheel played as well.... I hope he goes and puts them on the spot. If they try to arrest him, it'll be the end of NATO and US protection over Germany. End the bases there. flaming bags o'dog poop every couple nights
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/05/2005 0:23
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#3
The red-headed stepchild of RB begs for more attention - on Fred's dime.
#4
Sounds more like someone fed some of yesterday's posts into a Markov Chain program.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/05/2005 0:32
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#5
Palestinians urged Israel yesterday to expand a prisoner release to ensure the success of the forthcoming summit as Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon accused the Palestinians of doing little to combat âterror.â
Lemme see here. Israel greets unilateral Palestinian demands with a flat turndown. Quite obviously Sharon's brain is still firing on all cylinders. "Demands" are usually accompanied with concomitant concessions. No concessions, no demands met. I realize this is difficult for the Palestinians to comprehend but reality is full of niggling little details like this.
Israel disappointed the Palestinian leadership by refusing to include those jailed for deadly attacks among the 900 prisoners whom Prime Minister Sharon and top Cabinet ministers agreed on Thursday to release in a goodwill gesture.
Israel didn't "disappoint" anyone. The Palestinians, as usual, set themselves up for failure by making unrealistic demands. Asking that known killers be released to commit even more mayhem really doesn't count as a noticeable bargaining chip unless it is accompanied by significant concessions towards making a lasting peace. This is nowhere apparent.
Meanwhile, Sharon said in a telephone conversation with his Norwegian counterpart Kjell Magne Bondevik yesterday, âThe Palestinian side hasnât done a thing except to deploy its forces in Gaza before taking significant steps in the war on terror.â
Sufficient reason not to release a whole bunch of skilled combatants.
BIG CLUE: The Palestinians should stop insisting upon major Israeli gestures without providing substantive moves on their own part. Otherwise, continued fence building and more targeted hits upon terror leaders will remain the norm. Logic is such a cast iron b!tch.
#8
"reality is full of niggling little details like this"
Lol, Zen! They never do, and never will, get it. Only one of the two populations will come out of this alive, unless some serious magic occurs in Paleoland, IMHO.
Mikey has 2 sides. 1) I don't like jihadis - and his posts in that vein are simplistic and uninformed. 2) I love the UN - and his posts in that vein are blind dogma - again insubstantial, pointless, uninformative. People who have a link they believe substantiates an argument, yet still post the entire text from that link - you recognize Mikey's MO in this description right?, as if volume make the point, are bandwidth hogs, attention whores, and trolls.
He's a troll - absolutely and clearly proven in the link he gave and in this thread, today. He brings zero substance to RB.
No offense meant to you - and thank you for your attention. ;-)
Back to the topic.
Back before an utterly shitty day in 2001 I was known as Mr. Nice Guy, you just won't believe how nice. Since then, as Desert Blondie correctly recognized, I'm a Bad Man. (I still assume that was meant as a compliment! :-P)
Not that I was librul before, I were not. But one may say that on that shitty day, I was mugged, albeit in a symbolical fashion. This is just a backdrop from which my opinions are formed.
Baleos want prisoners returned? I would oblige, but with "Ooops, there has been a terrible accident" kinda routine, as the jihad-minded convicts would be already assuming the room temp, before handing them over.
#18
as usual, MS posts someone else's words and opinions without offering his own. Kofi's butt boy
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2005 12:00
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#19
They Palestinian want convicted killers released. I doubt that is about to happen. They need to get over it.
As far as bandwidth sucking attention whores go. I pay my own way. I suggest that someone else do the same and use the Amazon or PayPal links. Better yet FOAD.
#21
At least Aris posts his own thoughts, Mike.
Isn't there something around the State Department that you can do to undermine American efforts around the globe, or don't they let you anywhere near the important stuff?
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/05/2005 13:51
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#25
ah c'mon dad! we wuz only funning!
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2005 13:54
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#26
Well, this looks like just the latest instance of the Paleo habit of trying to induce the Israelis to do everything, while the Paleos themselves do little or nothing.
#29
And they were eating their lunch, 'cause they
had little (wuz they premium salties?)lunch sacks, and they were drinking coke. The
main reason I remember 'em is, (youse paying me) after the last shot (BANG!) I
recall hearing and the car went down under the triple (good surgeons there)underpass there, I heard a crash of glass, and I looked
over there, and the kids had thrown down their coke
bottles, and commenced to jitter like in them UN moviesjust threw them down and just started running (ole black keds down fail me now)
towards the back and I ... Of course, I don't see
anything unusual in that because everybody else was
running that way, 'cause when I look over on my left
side, the people on the hill were all running back the
same way too.
Head of the Chechen State Council Taus Dzhabrailov believes that the information about the death of warlord Shamil Basayev is mere rumors.
Drat. Rats. Phooey.
"I cannot either confirm or refute this information. I think that so far it is mere rumors," Mr. Dzhabrailov said in an interview with RIA Novosti on Friday, commenting on the reports in some mass media about Basayev's possible death. Mr. Dzhabrailov expressed the opinion that "for pacifying the situation Basayev's death would be very useful both for Chechnya and Russia on the whole."
The power structures in Chechnya share the opinion of the head of the State Council. "This information is most likely rumors spread, apparently, at the instructions of Basayev himself to have a breathing spell for himself and his band," a source in the republican power structures told RIA Novosti. He did not rule out that now Basayev might undergo a medical treatment somewhere abroad. The Russian law enforcement bodies do not have any data about Basayev's death, the source said.
This article starring:
SHAMIL BASAIEV
Chechnya
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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#1
Hope spring eternal. My hope is to see this bastards corpse swinging at the end of a rope. Hearing he got sploded or shot dead isn't the kind of revenge I need. I have hopes of him getting a pigskin lined coffin as well.
Iran's judiciary said yesterday it was not pursuing Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi, after investigations showed that a private complaint against her did not merit being taken to court. "The case was reviewed by the investigation department, and it turned out that the claim of insult was not valid. The investigator has decided to drop the case and Ebadi has been informed," Tehran's public prosecutor, Saeed Mortazavi, was quoted as saying by student news agency ISNA. In January, Ebadi said she had been summoned to appear before a branch of the feared Revolutionary Court to "provide some explanations" on her activities or else be arrested.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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Passing as unsaid: the assumption that the "Revolutionary Court" has any right to call her on what she said in the first place.
Mind you, I'm not fond of what she said. But she has a right to say it, and the bozos on the court are fascist assholes.
Not that the IAEA not finding anything makes me sleep any better at night.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005
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Whoa Nellie! An Egyptian-born head of the IAEA is unable to find any evidence of an Egyptian drive towards nuclear weapons. Shuckey darn, I suppose all of my concerns can now be laid to rest ... NOT!
#3
Zen - Lol - here I was, all innocent and trusting, and you've turned the world on its head, lol! Mebbe I should take Mikey's Prozac... I was considering giving it back to him, but I dunno now...
In the real world it seems people with an obvious conflict of interest customarily recuse themselves and allow others to perform such investigations. But it's Mikey's beloved UN, so it must be okay. I've never seen such a lip-lock on the naughty bits before. Poor freak's gonna get lockjaw, if not AIDS.
#4
In the real world it seems people with an obvious conflict of interest customarily recuse themselves and allow others to perform such investigations.
.com, please try and remember that in this modern world there's a lot of people who aren't on speaking terms with the truth.
Anyone who unquestioningly accepts Islamist regimes getting access to nuclear technology has partaken of a Kool Aid so powerful as to make Jim Jones' concoction look like soda pop.
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.
We'd never heard of Augsburg College, which turns out to be a Lutheran institution in Minneapolis, until we got wind that it plans a "Nobel Peace Prize Forum" next Friday and Saturday. On the program for Saturday is the following seminar (at bottom of page):
The 
A senior UN envoy has said a landmark peace agreement ending Sudan's two-decade-old war in the south will crumble if violence in Darfur persists. 
Palestinian Authority chief Mahmud Abbas has held talks with the revolutionary council of his Fatah faction, days before the Palestinian leader meets Israeli prime minister. Abbas on Saturday conducted talks with more than 100 members of his Fatah party, and a top aide said the aim of the summit on Tuesday was to declare a mutual ceasefire between Palestinians and Israelis. "The revolutionary council of Fatah is holding an important meeting in the presence of Abu Mazin (Abbas) to discuss the summit, political and security questions and the results of contacts with Israel," said Palestinian Authority spokesman 
An oil pipeline linking two of Iraq's major refineries has been attacked, the second such attack in three days, police and oil sources said. "The pipeline linking the Baiji refinery to that of Dura, in the capital, was sabotaged west of the city of Samarra," a local police officer said. He said the sabotage on Saturday was carried out with a 10kg explosive charge on one of a cluster of eight pipelines bringing oil to the capital from the Baiji refinery, about 190km north of Baghdad. Baiji refinery official Majid Mamnun confirmed the attack and added that the repairs would take up to a week. A similar attack was perpetrated in the same area on 2 February. Relentless attack on the country's oil industry by fighters opposed to foreign troops have cost Iraq $7 billion to $8 billion in exports since the March 2003 US-led invasion.
Four Iraqi soldiers have been killed in a motorcycle bomb near the southern city of Basra, as violence elsewhere left another seven Iraqis and two US troops dead. "The booby-trapped motorbike exploded as the patrol passed by. Four soldiers were killed and their vehicle destroyed," captain Farid al-Tamimi said. The attack took place behind the general hospital in al-Risala neighbourhood, in the centre of Basra, the country's second largest city on Saturday. British forces sealed off the site after the blast.
A Yemeni court has sentenced to death the leader of a group of 15 men found guilty last year of bombing a French supertanker. 
A GRAVE holding 30 bodies has been found in the garden of an opulent villa where sadistic parties are said to have been hosted by the Iraqi general known as Chemical Ali, writes Adam Nathan. Police who found the grave say General Ali Hassan alMajid, a cousin of Saddam Hussein who got his nickname from the gas attacks he mounted on the Kurds of northern Iraq, used to entertain house guests with a "party game" that involved shooting prisoners tied to metal posts in the garden.
Algeria's armed forces have killed four Islamic militants during a sweep on a rebel stronghold in the west of the North African country, security sources said on Thursday. Army units confiscated three Kalashnikov AK-47 rifles during the raid on Tuesday in the Saida province, some 300 km (190 miles) west of the capital Algiers. Security sources also said one soldier died and three more were injured when they clashed with rebels in the Sidi Bel Abbes province on Tuesday evening. Three rebels died in that attack.
U.S. troops in Iraq have detained three French militants and police here rounded up 10 of their comrades from a group that sent raw youths from Europe to take part in the conflict with America, officials said Friday. The first confirmed capture of European Islamist fighters turns attention on the increasing movement of militants from countries such as Italy, Germany, France and Belgium to Iraq, European officials say. Several of the recruits reportedly have died in Iraq, but investigators were unaware Friday of any being held by U.S. forces other than the three Frenchmen.
U.S. and Iraqi security forces may have come close to capturing Iraqi al-Qaida leader 
A BRITON released from Guantanamo Bay has admitted being interviewed for advanced-level terrorist training in Afghanistan by two senior Al-Qaeda leaders and later volunteering for a "martyrdom operation". 
Investigators probing alleged corruption at the United Nations oil-for-food program are scrutinizing thousands of pages of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's documents, including e-mail and phone records, to determine whether he exerted influence in securing a contract for a Swiss company that employed his son. 
A member of the Georgian presidential clemency commission has committed suicide, police said Saturday, just two days after the death of Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania. 
Five militants surrendered to Kuwaiti security forces who surrounded their hideout on Saturday in the oil-rich Gulf Arab state which is battling a surge in al Qaeda-linked violence, state media said. State television said security forces continued to search the area in Sulaibiya suburb, some 13 miles northwest of the capital Kuwait City. "Five terrorists holed up in a house in Sulaibiya area have surrendered," the television reported, saying two of the men were Saudi nationals and three were Jordanian. 
Saudi Arabia, hit by a wave of attacks by suspected Al Qaeda fighters, used a counter-terror conference yesterday to call for an international centre to combat and pre-empt terrorism. "I call on all countries to set up an international centre for combating terrorism. Those working in it would be experts in this field," Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz told delegates from some 50 countries and international bodies at the start of the four-day gathering. The centre would "exchange and pass information instantly in a manner compatible with the speed of events and prevent them (terror attacks) before they occur," he said.
Kuwaiti security forces are hunting a number of key militant suspects after a recent spate of Al Qaeda-linked violence in the Gulf state, security sources said on Friday. Confessions of captured militants revealed they were planning suicide attacks against US forces in Kuwait as well as Kuwait's state security forces, the sources said. Kuwaiti security killed five suspected Al Qaeda militants and captured three, including the group's leader, on Monday in the fourth such gun battle in the country last month.
Elements of al Qaeda remain in Pakistan, a senior U.S. defense official said Thursday, adding that unless more was done to stop the flow of recruits into militant groups the war on terror would never be won. U.S. Undersecretary for Defense Douglas Feith, in Pakistan for talks on security and defense issues, said disrupting and destroying terrorist networks was not enough. "We also have to address the flow of people into the ranks of the terrorists organizations," he told a news conference after talks with Pakistani defense officials in the garrison city of Rawalpindi adjoining Islamabad. "If we don't stop that flow of people into the ranks of terrorist groups, then we are never going to win the war." 
Some non-Muslims, especially those who do not know the basic principles and teachings of Islam, may wonder about the title of this article as Islam has been wrongly used as a synonym for terrorism and most Westerners consider Muslims terrorists. Actually, Islam has nothing to do with terrorism. Terrorism is an international phenomenon and is found in every country and society. All divine religions have categorically rejected terrorism.
Britain's hopes of drumming up $50 billion a year in aid for Africa suffered a serious setback on Friday when the United States rejected London's plan. Even Europe's backing seemed to be fading as both Italy and Germany said they would prefer something less ambitious than the proposal British finance minister Gordon Brown put to a meeting of the Group of Seven rich nations. But former South African president Nelson Mandela said he would accept no half measures. It was an outrage to let Africa sink further into disease and poverty, he said. "We are here to claim justice," the frail 86-year-old told the G7 ministers. "Do not delay while poor people continue to suffer," he said, demanding a full write-off of African debt and $50 billion extra a year in aid for the next decade...
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan demanded speedy prosecution of Sudanese officials and militiamen guilty of crimes against humanity in Darfur, as members of the Security Council came under renewed pressure to tackle the issue at last. 
A successful transition to democracy in Iraq would increase pressure for change in Iran, a leading Iranian clerical dissident said on Wednesday. 
Kuwaiti security forces are hunting a number of key militant suspects after a recent spate of al Qaeda-linked violence in the U.S.-allied oil-rich Gulf state, security sources said on Friday. Confessions of captured militants revealed they were planning suicide attacks against U.S. forces in Kuwait as well as Kuwait's state security forces, the sources said. Kuwaiti security killed five suspected al Qaeda militants and captured three, including the group's leader, on Monday in the fourth such gun battle in the country last month. State security officer Hamad al-Samhan, one of three police, wounded in the clash, died in hospital on Friday, the sources said. 
Iranian officials have criticised US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's speech, saying her comments were inaccurate.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives here at the weekend facing the tough task of allaying Turkish fears that an independent Kurdish state — Ankara's long-standing bete noire — is taking shape in Iraq as Washington turns a blind eye. 
Some 155 female motorists have been issued citations over the last two days for wearing veils while driving, say sources. On Tuesday, under the instructions of Assistant Undersecretary for Supportive Security Services at the Interior Ministry Maj. General Thabet Al-Muhanna said the General Traffic Department activated a traffic law, passed in 1984, which bans veiled women from driving. Sources said Director of the General Traffic Department Brigadier Suleiman Al-Muhailan decided to activate the law to prevent terrorists from escaping security check points by wearing veils. "Traffic patrols have intensified their campaign in the implementation of the law resulting in the issuance of citations to 155 female motorists within two days," they added.
Foreign Minister 
Australia secretly forced a senior Israeli diplomat to leave the country, and neither Israel nor Australia wanted to comment about the matter, according to a newspaper report. The Sydney morning Herald said the effective expulsion of the Canberra-based diplomat - described as a consul in Israel - was covered up for several weeks. But it said the matter had come to light in a report in the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv. It said inquiries about the story were met by no comments from the Australian government.
The United Nations vowed to discipline two officials implicated in a report that detailed conflicts of interest and flawed management in the UN oil-for-food program, while the man leading the investigation warned that more revelations were forthcoming.
DANVILLE, Pa. - Geisinger Medical Center has settled a lawsuit filed by a woman who alleged that a surgeon left a 4-inch metal instrument in her uterus. The lawsuit filed in Montour County Court alleged that Dr. Samuel Owusu operated on Lori Klinger, now 35, in November 2002. The suit alleged that two days after her surgery, the instrument - sharp on one end with a rubber bulb on the other - emerged from her vagina.
About 10 Darfur rebel commanders have renounced leadership of the main movement in Sudan's west, rebel officials said yesterday, raising fears that negotiations for a cease-fire in war-torn Darfur could stutter. The 
Foreign Minister 
Pakistani police and intelligence agencies have arrested a Tunisian national suspected of links with Al-Qaeda, security officials said yesterday. The suspect, who identified himself as 
The Iraqi insurgent group the Army of 
A leading Iraqi Kurd told Turkey it had no right to meddle in Iraq's affairs and said any military intervention by Ankara aimed at stalling the creation of a Kurdish state would end in "disaster". 
Several dozen Egyptians have demonstrated against a fifth term for President 
WOMEN will gather outside the Justice Ministry today in a show of solidarity against discrimination. They will also call for the dismissal of the General Prosecutor. The demonstration is being organised by the Women Petition Committee in co-ordination with human rights and civil society groups. It starts at 10am.
Kurdish political leader 
Four Egyptian policemen were wounded in a gunbattle on Friday with Bedouin in Sinai believed to be sheltering key suspects in the bombing of three Red Sea resorts last year, security sources said. Security forces have since Wednesday besieged about 100 armed Bedouin in the Ras Sudr area of central Sinai, 150 km (94 miles) east of Cairo, and the shooting intensified late on Thursday, the sources said. One policeman was wounded by a bullet in the back and three others were injured when the Bedouin opened fire on their police car, causing it to overturn, they added. 
Danish Muslim leaders yesterday rejected a radical group's call to boycott elections next week which Prime Minister 
Iraqi Shia leader 
Chancellor 
With the international anti-terrorism conference set to open today, security has been beefed up around the venue as well as Mariott Riyadh, site of the media center, and Royal Conference Palace, where the government's guests have been accommodated. 
Head of the Chechen State Council 
Iran's judiciary said yesterday it was not pursuing Nobel Peace laureate 
