The man who for two years led Iran's nuclear negotiations has laid out in unprecedented detail how the regime took advantage of talks with Britain, France and Germany to forge ahead with its secret atomic programme.
In a speech to a closed meeting of leading Islamic clerics and academics, Hassan Rowhani, who headed talks with the so-called EU3 until last year, revealed how Teheran played for time and tried to dupe the West after its secret nuclear programme was uncovered by the Iranian opposition in 2002.
He boasted that while talks were taking place in Teheran, Iran was able to complete the installation of equipment for conversion of yellowcake - a key stage in the nuclear fuel process - at its Isfahan plant but at the same time convince European diplomats that nothing was afoot.
"From the outset, the Americans kept telling the Europeans, 'The Iranians are lying and deceiving you and they have not told you everything.' The Europeans used to respond, 'We trust them'," he said.
Revelation of Mr Rowhani's remarks comes at an awkward moment for the Iranian government, ahead of a meeting tomorrow of the United Nations' atomic watchdog, which must make a fresh assessment of Iran's banned nuclear operations.
The judgment of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is the final step before Iran's case is passed to the UN Security Council, where sanctions may be considered.
In his address to the Supreme Council of Cultural Revolution, Mr Rowhani appears to have been seeking to rebut criticism from hardliners that he gave too much ground in talks with the European troika. The contents of the speech were published in a regime journal that circulates among the ruling elite.
Chutzpah.
He told his audience: "When we were negotiating with the Europeans in Teheran we were still installing some of the equipment at the Isfahan site. There was plenty of work to be done to complete the site and finish the work there. In reality, by creating a tame situation, we could finish Isfahan."
America and its European allies believe that Iran is clandestinely developing an atomic bomb but Teheran insists it is merely seeking nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Iran's negotiating team engaged in a last-ditch attempt last week to head off Security Council involvement. In January the regime removed IAEA seals on sensitive nuclear equipment and last month it resumed banned uranium enrichment.
Iran is trying to win support from Russia, which opposes any UN sanctions, having unsuccessfully tried to persuade European leaders to give them more time. Against this backdrop, Mr Rowhani's surprisingly candid comments on Iran's record of obfuscation and delay are illuminating.
He described the regime's quandary in September 2003 when the IAEA had demanded a "complete picture" of its nuclear activities. "The dilemma was if we offered a complete picture, the picture itself could lead us to the UN Security Council," he said. "And not providing a complete picture would also be a violation of the resolution and we could have been referred to the Security Council for not implementing the resolution."
Mr Rowhani disclosed that on at least two occasions the IAEA obtained information on secret nuclear-related experiments from academic papers published by scientists involved in the work.
The Iranians' biggest setback came when Libya secretly negotiated with America and Britain to close down its nuclear operations. Mr Rowhani said that Iran had bought much of its nuclear-related equipment from "the same dealer" - a reference to the network of A Q Khan, the rogue Pakistani atomic scientist. From information supplied by Libya, it became clear that Iran had bought P2 advanced centrifuges.
In a separate development, the opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) has obtained a copy of a confidential parliamentary report making clear that Iranian MPs were also kept in the dark on the nuclear programme, which was funded secretly, outside the normal budgetary process.
Mohammad Mohaddessin, the NCRI's foreign affairs chief, told the Sunday Telegraph: "Rowhani's remarks show that the mullahs wanted to deceive the international community from the onset of negotiations with EU3 - and that the mullahs were fully aware that if they were transparent, the regime's nuclear file would be referred to the UN immediately."
The Iranian reformist Internet daily Rooz reported on March 2, 2006 that "the Iranian martyrdom-seeking [i.e. suicide] forces have launched a website, http://www.esteshhad.com/index.php , called 'To Die as a Martyr,' and have declared an alert among the Iranian martyrdom-seeking forces."
The following are excerpts from the Rooz report:
"Thousands of Young Martyrdom-Seeking Iranians are Counting the Minutes Until They Can Give Their Souls"
"The website of the Iranian martyrdom-seekers began its operations by declaring an alert amongst the Iranian martyrdom forces... The site also demanded that the Iranian martyrdom-seeking forces intervene in Iraq and protect the Shi'ite holy places [there]."
Rooz quoted from an article posted on the site: "The World Islamic Organization's Headquarters for Commemorating the Shahids has set as its goal the unification of the forces of struggle in the Islamic world, in order to confront the heresy [i.e. the forces of the West] and the occupying Zionism. The Headquarters hereby warns the egotistical and debased occupying enemies in Iraq that thousands of young martyrdom-seeking Iranians are counting the minutes until they can give their souls for the sake of their holy places, and until they strike the lightning blow of their sacred rage upon the heads of the agents of world arrogance [i.e. the U.S. and the West].
"Headquarters demands that high-ranking officials of the [Iranian] regime permit the martyrdom-seeking forces to go to Iraq, in order to fulfill their religious obligation and to defend the sacred precincts of the four cities holy to the Shia [Najaf, Karbala, Kazemin, and Samarra]..."
"Headquarters Spokesman Muhammad 'Ali Samedi... Claimed That So Far... 53,900 Have Signed Up"
Rooz added that the martyrdom-seekers website enjoyed the support and aid of prominent figures amongst "[Iran's] conservatives." No names were mentioned. The report continued: "The site includes a form for registration and membership in the Iranian martyrdom units, as well as an appeal to martyrdom-seekers to join the organization. [It states]: 'Please refrain from indicating your home phone number. If you don't have a mobile phone, wait to be contacted by us via email. The next stages of the registration will be sent to you via email.'"
Rooz added: "Previously, the registering of young Iranians for the martyrdom units had been perceived [primarily] as psychological warfare against the West; however, the operation of the martyrdom seekers website, the continued activity of the World Islamic Organization's Headquarters for Commemorating the Shahids, and the call to join Iranian martyrdom units indicate that organized and planned activity is afoot.... Headquarters spokesman Muhammad 'Ali Samedi... has claimed that so far... 53,900 have signed up."
"The Planners of This Apparatus for Suicide Missions Have Succeeded in Attracting More Iranian Women and Girls Than Men"
"With the launch of its operations, the Headquarters website also posted religious justification for martyrdom operations, and registration for volunteers. In this section of the site, titled 'A Religious Commandment,' it states: 'According to Dr. Yousef Al-Qaradhawi, there is a consensus among clerics that when the enemy attacks one of the Muslim lands, jihad becomes an obligation incumbent upon all. [In such a case,] a woman can participate [in jihad] without her husband's permission, and a son without his father's permission...'"
Rooz wrote further that "the news items published about the headquarters of the Iranian martyrdom-seekers... indicate that the planners of this apparatus for suicide missions have succeeded in attracting more Iranian women and girls than men. The posting of the photos of the Palestinian women who carried out martyrdom [operations], and the presentation of photos of martyrdom-seeking women without the hijab [head and body covering] at this apparatus's registration locations, all while emphasizing Koran verses about equality between men and women [in jihad], indicate that the directors of this apparatus are more interested in recruiting Iranian girls and women."
Rooz also pointed out that billboards have been out up in various places across Tehran: "One showed the photos of eight Palestinian women martyrs, and another showed a photo of the martyr Reem Saleh Al-Riyashi, who [in January 2004] carried out a martyrdom operation even though she was the mother of two children. All this was in order to devote special attention to [recruitment of] young Iranian women."
Rooz also notes that the "Religious Commandment" page of the website offers Muslim women religious justification for exposing their hair: "Should a Muslim who seeks martyrdom be compelled not to maintain her [head] covering in order to carry out the important thing that she has undertaken [i.e. martyrdom], she will commit no crime. One of the principles of Islam is that in time of need, some prohibitions become permitted..."
#2
Bear in mind that in many traditional Islamic societies, it is often difficult for widowed women who fail to remarry, or women whom refuse of fail to follow Islamist practice, e.g. marrying the man their families picked for them, to have "honor" in society. Many chose to die becuz in their society's eyes they might as well already be dead.
#3
So, in this case, where it helps absolutely no one, Iran is there to help. None of those mullahs deserve any less than the chaos they have waged over these past few years. It is going to get tough but Iraqis will prevail.
Let's just hope they give their souls in ridding the great people of Iran of their leaders.
PRESIDENT George W Bush yesterday warned General Pervez Musharraf, Pakistans military leader, that he must improve his intelligence-gathering to defeat Al-Qaeda and the Taliban in the war on terror. His comments were made amid concern that Islamabads grip on the militants within Pakistans borders may be loosening.
On the last leg of his Asian tour, the American president reiterated his support for Musharraf, who seized power in a military coup in 1999, but urged him to embrace democracy in the campaign against terrorism.
The best way to defeat Al-Qaeda is to share good intelligence, to locate them and then be prepared to bring them to justice, Bush said.
Despite the evident strains in the Washington-Islamabad relationship, Bush told Musharraf that the two countries had developed a broad and lasting strategic partnership.
Theres a lot of work to be done in defeating Al-Qaeda, the president said.
The contentious issue of sharing intelligence was highlighted in January, when an American missile aimed at Ayman al-Zawahri, Al-Qaedas deputy leader, killed at least three foreign militants and a number of civilians in a Pakistani border village. Pakistan claimed it had received no notice of the attack, which prompted countrywide riots.
Many Pakistanis continue to oppose Musharrafs alliance with the Bush administration and yesterdays visit provoked days of demonstrations.
Police detained hundreds of activists and Islamabad resembled a ghost town under the security clampdown. Bush barely moved outside the vicinity of the presidency building and nearby US embassy, where he batted in an impromptu cricket match with a local boys college.
A rather better-known cricketer, Imran Khan, the former Pakistan captain turned politician, was among the opposition activists gagged during the visit. Prevented from leaving his home, Khan described Musharraf as a toady and a lackey of US foreign policy.
At the heart of Musharrafs problems are his difficulties in bringing any sort of control to Pashtun-controlled Waziristan and the rebellious tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.
Osama Bin Laden is thought to be hiding in the border area and Bush said Pakistan needed the equipment necessary to move quickly without tipping off the enemy. He said Musharraf was training special forces for the purpose. Its important to stay on the hunt, he said.
A suicide bomber killed an American diplomat and three other people near the US consulate in the southern city of Karachi on the eve of the talks.
Bushs comments highlighted growing concern in the West about Pakistans relations with its Afghan and Indian neighbours. Musharraf himself conceded there has been some slippage with both.
Before Bushs visit, Musharraf claimed several senior Al-Qaeda figures, including a Chechen militant, were among 45 killed in a raid by Pakistan army helicopter gunships on Waziristan. But the move backfired when tribal Taliban militants drove into Miranshah, the provincial capital, in armoured trucks and took control.
Even as someone who has difficulties with many aspects of President Bushs policies I found myself on his side last week when the streets of Delhi and Mumbai filled up with the sort of people who oppose him. They were a motley crew. A melange of Marxists, Islamists and well-meaning loonies of activist genre and if they should ever be in a position to create the world of their dreams it would be a totalitarian, Marxist, Islamist theocracy. How scary is that? Give me the US of A any old time. It is a free society as is our own, and we would like to keep it that way.
While President Bush and our Prime Minister were signing the historic nuclear agreement, anti-American protesters used television to enunciate their worldview. It is a simple one. Everything American is bad and George Bush is the biggest terrorist and mass murderer. Pretty rich coming from Marxists and Islamists. On the mass murder front how does Bush compare with Chairman Mao and Comrade Stalin? Osama bin Laden? Saddam Hussein?
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Arundhati Roy, who has the unique ability to approach politics through fiction instead of reality, made the amazing claim that she and the Marxists she marched with represented popular Indian sentiment while Bush was speaking only to a few caged rich people in the Delhi zoo. She uses words so imaginatively she must go back to writing fiction. Politics and economics are not her forte or she would not have blamed the American President for Indias new economic order, which in her view is garroting the poor. It has escaped her notice that in the days before India opted for a new economic order there were twice as many garroted poor people than there are today.
At least she was not carrying a placard supporting Ayotollah Khomeini. This was left to more Islamist protesters who appeared to have confused the American President with the Danish cartoonist. The largely Muslim rally in Mumbai came together mainly to express rage against the cartoons apparently without noticing that they have nothing to do with Bush. TV anchors had a hard time explaining the situation to their viewers.
The protesters had a cartoon quality and a serious one. The serious aspect is that Indian Muslims who have so far stayed away from the Islamist war against the West now seem to be joining in. When was the last time Muslims came out in such large numbers to protest against anything? In doing so they showed that they were at odds with the general sentiment of the country. Recent polls indicate that most Indians feel no resentment against the United States and many think of it as the promised land. The largest number of foreign students in American universities come from India and in the global war against terrorism most Indians think we are on the same side as America.
As for Dr Manmohan Singhs Marxist supporters, it is time that he asked them whether they seriously believe that Iran going nuclear is good for India but India coming to an agreement with the United States on nuclear energy is bad. What kind of twisted logic is that? Not only was last weeks nuclear agreement very much in Indias interest but, as the Prime Minister said, we made history. More is the shame that he could not persuade his commie friends to be more dignified in their protests. It is extremely bad behaviour to call a visiting head of state a mass murderer and considering how well our Prime Minister was received in Washington last July it is unfortunate that leftist bullying tactics prevented President Bush from addressing Parliament.
How would we have reacted if our Prime Minister was invited to a foreign capital city and called a mass murderer on account of the situation in the Kashmir Valley? How would we have reacted if our Prime Minister was prevented from addressing the American Congress because a small group of badly behaved congressmen shouted and screamed? If the protests in the streets were bad, the behaviour of Marxist MPs on the doorstep of Parliament was disgusting and should not have been permitted. He is the biggest killer of humanity, shrieked one CPI(M) MP, and we will not let him spread his tentacles on our soil.
Let us not pretend either that this is acceptable, democratic protest, because it is not. In all the years I have covered politics in Delhi I have never seen a foreign head of state called a mass murderer, and in the bad old days when Moscow dictated Indias non-aligned foreign policy there were many visiting dictators for whom that term could have been appropriately used.
Posted by: john ||
03/04/2006
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WHEN Major-General Axel Tüttelmann, the head of Natos Airborne Early Warning and Control Force, showed off an Awacs early warning surveillance plane in Israel a fortnight ago, he caused a flurry of concern back at headquarters in Brussels.
It was not his demonstration that raised eyebrows, but what he said about Natos possible involvement in any future military strike against Iran. We would be the first to be called up if the Nato council decided we should be, he said.
Nato would prefer the emphasis to remain on the if, but Tüttelmanns comments revealed that the military alliance could play a supporting role if America launches airstrikes against Iranian nuclear targets.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will tomorrow confirm Irans referral to the United Nations Security Council for possible sanctions.
Iran insists it is developing peaceful nuclear energy, a claim regarded as bogus by America and Britain, France and Germany, which believe it wants to develop nuclear weapons. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejads remarks about wiping Israel off the map have added to fears.
America and Israel have warned that they will not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. If negotiations fail, both countries have plans of last resort for airstrikes against Irans widely dispersed nuclear facilities.
Porter Goss, the head of the CIA, visited Recep Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey, a Nato country, late last year and asked for political, logistical and intelligence support in the event of airstrikes, according to western intelligence sources quoted in the German media.
The news magazine Der Spiegel noted: Washington appears to be dispatching high-level officials to prepare its allies for a possible attack.
Nato would be likely to operate air defences in Turkey, according to Dan Goure, a Pentagon adviser and vice-president of the Lexington Institute, a military think tank.
A former senior Israeli defence official said he believed all Nato members had contingency plans.
John Pike, director of the US military studies group Globalsecurity.org, said America had little to gain from Nato military help. I think we are attempting to bring the alliance along politically so that when all diplomatic initiatives have been exhausted and we blow up their sites, we can say, Look, we gave it our best shot.
A senior British defence official said plans to attack Iran were pure speculation. I dont think anybody has got that far yet, he said. Were all too distracted by Iraq.
Israels special forces are said to be operating inside Iran in an urgent attempt to locate the countrys secret uranium enrichment sites. We found several suspected sites last year but there must be more, an Israeli intelligence source said. They are operating from a base in northern Iraq, guarded by Israeli soldiers with the approval of the Americans, according to Israeli sources.
The commander of Israels nuclear missile submarines warned Iran indirectly in a comment to an Israeli newspaper last week that we are able to hit strategic targets in a foreign country.
The Israelis fear Iran may reach the point of no return at which it has the capacity to enrich uranium to bomb-grade purity in the next few months. The Americans are more interested in the point at which Iran is close to developing an actual bomb, thought to be at least three years away. I suspect he's just saying what a lot of European military people are thinking, as in "screw this, I'm with the Americans."
Al-Qaeda ideologue Ayman al-Zawahiri has attacked the West for insulting the Prophet Mohammad, in video footage shown by Arab TV network Al Jazeera.
Zawahiri urged Muslims to boycott countries that had published cartoons caricaturing the Prophet.
The cartoons were deemed blasphemous by Muslims and unleashed violent protests across the world.
Zawahiri also endorsed the Palestinian militant group Hamas' election win and urged Muslims to attack the West. He accused the outgoing Palestinian administration of betrayal.
"No Palestinian has the right to give away a grain of the soil," Zawahiri said. "The seculars in the Palestinian Authority have sold out Palestine for crumbs... Giving them legitimacy is against Islam."
He urged Hamas to "continue the armed struggle" and reject agreements struck between its predecessors in government and Israel, describing them as "surrender accords".
In a reference to cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad printed in several European newspapers, Zawahiri said the West had committed deliberate blasphemy and was guilty of double standards.
"They did it on purpose and they continue to do it without apologising, even though no one dares to harm Jews or to challenge Jewish claims about the Holocaust nor even to insult homosexuals."
He also singled out domestic Western policies he said discriminated against Muslims.
"In France a Muslim father cannot prevent his daughter from having sex because she is protected by the law, but this same law punishes her if she covers her hair," he said.
He called for strikes against Western nations, as well as pro-Western Muslim governments, like those of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt, Pakistan and Tunisia.
"Inflict losses on the crusader West, especially to its economic infrastructure with strikes that would make it bleed for years," he urged.
"The strikes on New York, Washington, Madrid and London are the best examples," he said.
#1
"In France a Muslim father cannot prevent his daughter from having sex because she is protected by the law, but this same law punishes her if she covers her hair," he said.
Then why don't you just leave and go back to Algeria, Morocco, Lebanon, etc. Go. Now. Put up a friggin fence a play "Sharia Law" til you all kill each other."
Canada has become the biggest exporter of oil to the United States with the re-opening of a pipeline from Alberta to Oklahoma.
Crude oil from Alberta`s tar sands began flowing this week from the Calgary, Alberta-based Enbridge Corp.`s facility through a 650-mile stretch of steel from Chicago to Cushing, Okla.
For years the pipe, which used to be owned by BP, carried Gulf of Mexico crude to northern markets, but as the Gulf supply dwindles, the crude is flowing in a different direction, the Houston Chronicle reported Saturday.
The line has an initial capacity to transport 125,000 barrels of oil a day, but can be expanded easily, the report said.
Exxon Mobil is also working on a pipeline reversal that would bring Canadian crude down to Gulf Coast refiners instead of flowing Gulf oil north to Midwestern markets.
Canada outranks Mexico, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia as oil exporters, and will likely double its oil production in the next decade, thanks to production from the oil sands.
#1
I will assume that getting the oil flow from Canada to the US smoothly sorted out is one of the steps on the "pre-attack checklist" that the US Government must be running through right about now. Bush's visit to Pakland must be another checklist item, to wit: "Perv, we're getting ready to drop the hammer, and we're going to be doing so in concert with Israel. Things are going to get ugly in fundamentalist circles, so you're Islamcists are probably going to be pushed beyond 'critical mass' for an explosion. How you preapare is up to you, but you might want to start cleaning housw now, before the shit hits the fan. Remember my comments back in September 2001 - you're either with us, or against us."
What else might be on that checklist? Military movements will take place in the last couple of weeks before D-Day. But - what else comes before then?
Helicopter gunships fired on pro-Taliban tribesmen who clashed with security forces Saturday near the Afghan border, leaving at least 49 people dead, in the aftermath of a military strike on a suspected militant hide-out.
Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, the army spokesman, said 25 militants were killed in Miran Shah and 21 in Mir Ali, but he added the toll could be higher than that. Three security forces also died and about 10 were wounded, he said.
Intercepts of radio communications between militants involved in the fighting in the towns of Miran Shah and Mir Ali in North Waziristan tribal region suggested 80 or more fighters had died, security and intelligence officials said on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to comment to media.
The violence came as President Bush visited the capital, Islamabad, about 190 miles to the northeast, and voiced solidarity with Pakistan's President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in fighting terrorism.
Pakistan has deployed about 80,000 forces along the Afghan frontier, but has failed to assert the government's control in the tribal regions that have resisted outside influence for centuries.
Waziristan is known as a hotbed of Al Qaeda and Taliban militants who draw support from the local Pashtun tribal people. Many of the rebellious tribesmen involved in Saturday's unrest were believed to be Islamic students who are sympathetic with the hard-line Taliban militia.
#4
"The US President is coming, everyone! Look busy!"
Posted by: Phil ||
03/04/2006 19:47
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#5
Stirred em up purty good I think, lots of street and alley acton. Maybe it's time for weekly visits from Bush impersonator contractors, a ten city tour, a Pakland goat ranch, etc. Blackwater drivers, pilots, and shooters. Kinda like the flying Elvis's.....
#6
The $64,000 question is what Bush said to Musharraf behind closed doors. I'm hoping it was something along the lines of "This is way too slow. Either you clean up Pakistan, or the Indians and Americans will clean up Pakistan -- take your choice."
WASHINGTON The Army said Saturday it will launch a criminal investigation into the April 2004 death of Pat Tillman, the former professional football player who was shot to death by fellow soldiers in what previous Army reviews had concluded was an accidental shooting by members of his own unit.
Col. Joseph Curtin, an Army spokesman, said the Defense Department office of inspector general had reviewed the matter at the Army's request and concluded that a criminal probe was warranted.
Members of the Tillman family were notified on Friday, Curtin said.
Curtin said the scope of the new investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation Command, had not yet been determined in detail.
A Pentagon official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the new investigation has not been formally begun, said it would focus on possible charges of negligent homicide.
#2
Holy cow. More cursing the darkness. War is a bitch, bright young people get killed. Sometimes they get killed by the enemy, sometimes they get ahead of the forward edge of the battle area.
Dead is dead.
#3
I thought that at first, but what's the upside for the Army in bringing this up again? They must have something nasty on somebody to take all the rehash of negative publicity and hurt they will cause the Tillmans.
#5
this is NOT what Tillman would've wanted, exactly the opposite message from his financial/career (and yes, life) sacrifice.
Attack of the ankle-biting TET assholes
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2006 20:54
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#6
Bad sh*t happens in wartime. My dad told me that the most dangerous time he ever had was on Okinawa. They told him to take his amphib to a certain sector. He went there, sunset came, nobody else there. The US navy shelled the place all night. They got literally tossed about by shells up to battleship sized rounds. The next morning a patrol came up, and said, "what the hell are you doing here??" Dad said that they were ordered here last night. They said that someone screwed up, the navy shells the area every night to keep the Japs away.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/04/2006 23:09
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#7
e-Yup. Wrong place, wrong time. Loose lips sink ships. Sometimes you are just part of the diversion.
A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest chemical element yet known to science. This new element has been tentatively named "UNium."
Kofi wanted "Annonium" but dropped it when he learned he couldn't get royalties.
UNium has one neutron, 12 assistant neutrons, 75 deputy neutrons, and 224 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons.
Since UNium has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected as it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A tiny amount of UNium causes one reaction to take over four days to complete when it would normally take less than a second.
It also chokes all parking slots within 4 square miles.
UNium has a normal half-life of four years; it does not decay but instead it undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, UNium's mass will actually increase over time since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.
This characteristic of moron-promotion leads some scientists to speculate that UNium is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration. This hypocritical quantity is referred to as "Critical Morass." You will know it when you see it.
Commonly found in western Europe, Critical Morass conditions also obtain in parts of Africa and Scandanavia. Not to be confused with Chaotic Morass, which is found in Russia.
When catalyzed with money, UNium becomes Bureaucracium, an element which radiates just as much energy since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.
A single particle so heavy that it is capable of absorbing a blackhole by itself. Such a feat that observers can't tell the difference between the two.
#10
They should have mentioned its quarks. All originally supposed to be "diplomos", many of which were also "winos"; in fact several prominant groupings include "nepotos", "nemotos", "bozos", "flunkies", "lickspittles", and matched pairs of subordinate quarks called "pedos" and "childmos", that it emits periodically when agitated, but otherwise seem to do nothing other than degenerate in unstable conditions.
UNium is ironically stable inside of a shell created with Americanium, from which it tries to steal electrons that few other elements are willing to provide, while at the same time it is both tremendously repelled by Americanium and tries to make it more like Europium, an element of similar class, but more lightweight, older, less energetic, and tending to decay faster.
In turn, for the most part "red" Americanium is far more repelled by UNium than is "blue" Americanium. However, Berkellium, an element often supposed to be Americanium, but isn't, is very strongly attracted to UNium, but it is too unstable to do much of anything, being filled with "radicos", "homos", and "lezbos".
AN urgent anti-terror operation has been launched in Melbourne only 10 days before the Commonwealth Games begin.
Senior intelligence sources have told the Sunday Herald Sun that agents are watching known associates of suspects identified during the anti-terrorist sting, Operation Pendennis, which culminated in the arrest of 19 men in Melbourne and Sydney in December.
They have also focused on radical Islamic convert Gregory Middap, also known as Helmut Kirsch. Kirsch has a history of violence and was a member of the right-wing National Action group before converting to Islam.
The far left, the far right and the Islamacists have all converged into one slime mold.
ASIO has raided his North Melbourne hostel, which looks after homeless people, and released prisoners on at least one occasion, in 2003 after Kirsch visited Afghanistan. The sons of bitches were holding prisoners in the hostel?And security services are monitoring Preston-based fundamentalist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Ah, yes ... our buddies HuT.
At the same time, suspected terror cells are being investigated in Canberra and Perth.It has emerged that the Games security blitz, the biggest in Australia's history, will cost about $200 million as 2600 Australian Defence Force troops are deployed across the city.
A massive operation aimed at vetting Games tourists and athletes is also in progress. Federal agents will work with police and intelligence agencies from around the world, combing the visas and details of the thousands of athletes and tourists coming to Melbourne. Overseas agencies have been passing on information about people and plans that may represent a threat to the Games.
The ASIO and AFP activity comes as the Games security effort steps up.
Several of Australia's frontline fighter jets, the F/A-18s, will arrive in Melbourne this week, with pilots authorised to shoot down any rogue aircraft.
Good. Ozzies have more balls than the Germans.
Black Hawk helicopters, which have been flying over Melbourne on training runs, will also be at work, ready to drop special forces soldiers at a moment's notice. Officials will also put in place a 75km radius no-fly zone before the Games begin.
Ships will be ready to sink vessels that may be planning to use the Yarra River as a staging post for an attack on the MCG and an Australian Navy warship will be on alert in Port Philip Bay.
Crucial sites such as the MCG, Parliament, Federation Square and the Sports and Aquatic Centre will be under 24-hour CCTV surveillance. Connex has also installed transparent rubbish bins at city train stations. The bins will enable authorities to see bombs or other suspect packages easier.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A Pakistani millionaire held at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay testified that he met osama bin laden twice, and the al-Qaida leader called himself "a prophet."
The testimony of New York Institute of Technology graduate Saifullah A. Paracha was included in thousands of pages of transcripts released Friday by the Pentagon
because of a successful Freedom of Information Act lawsuit by The Associated Press. F*ck the associated press.... they are hurting this country, b/c they only really print bad news. And worse yet, all for the sake of making President Bush look bad. The associated press and many Americans don't fully realize we are at war.
Paracha testified in English, beginning with a joke about a doctor, an engineer and a politician. He said he owns seven businesses, including a news agency, a construction agency and a manufacturing company in Pakistan and travel agencies in New York, Washington, San Francisco, and Chicago
His son has been convicted in New York of aiding terrorists.
In 1999, Paracha said, he met bin Laden in Afghanistan. The following year, he returned to Afghanistan to interview bin Laden for his news agency, Universal Broadcast Ltd.
"He delivered (preached) the Quran, and said he was a prophet," Paracha said. "He said very nice things, very impressive."
But Paracha denied all the accusations raised in the January 2005 tribunal, conducted to determine whether he was properly classified as an "enemy combatant." Those accusations included money laundering for al-Qaida, plotting to smuggle explosives into the United States and recommending that nuclear weapons be used against U.S. soldiers.
Paracha said he had written to President Bush and other U.S. officials when his son, Uzair Paracha who faces up to 75 years in prison after his November conviction in New York for providing material support to terrorists, was arrested in May 2003.
Saifullah Paracha said he was "illegally, immorally" arrested at Bangkok's airport in July 2003 and held for several days with his hands and legs bound and his eyes and ears covered before being flown to Afghanistan. He was detained there for 15 months.
"I was never in hiding, and offered my availability. It was very ugly and unprofessional how I was picked (up)," he testified.
Paracha, who said he lived in the United States from 1971 to 1986, said he repeatedly offered his services to his interrogators.
"I can help control terrorism," he said.
The U.S. Air Force colonel running the hearing, whose name was crossed out in the transcripts, told Paracha he eventually would have a chance to pursue his case in American courts.
"I've been here 17 months would that be before I expire?" Paracha asked.
"I would certainly hope so, especially since you are under the care of the U.S. government," the colonel said.
Paracha said he did not know why he was arrested, and that none of the charges against him were valid.
"Am I being considered human being or animal, or is USA my god?" he wrote in a handwritten plea to the tribunal. "I am not your slave." this guy should be happy he is not shot in the head immediately and that we have law and order in America.
#4
If bin Laden really is calling himself a prophet, his neck is due for a date with a rusty sword. After all, we all know Mohammed was the last, final, ultimate prophet, and none may come after him.
#5
"Paracha said he did not know why he was arrested, and that none of the charges against him were valid."
Apparently he doesn't know the charges, but he denies them anyway.
"Paracha testified in English, beginning with a joke about a doctor, an engineer and a politician."
We engineers aren't taking any more crap. Fry him.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Plagued by a series of helicopter and jet crashes in recent months, the Navy said Friday it will ground all its aircraft for half a day next week for an internal safety review.
The safety stand down will affect 3,800 aircraft and thousands of naval aviation personnel, including aircraft on 12 carriers around the world. It is the first time since September 1997 that such a pause in flight operations across the Navy has been ordered.
Grounding the flights is not related to any specific equipment or flying problem, the Navy said, but is a way to refocus on safety, risk management and other procedures.
Since October 1, there have been nine major crashes that resulted in loss or life or of the aircraft. Nine aircraft were destroyed and 10 naval aviators were killed. During the same period a year ago, there were eight major crashes.
All naval aviation squadrons will be required to complete the safety review by the end of next week, but no particular day is being designated.
The most recent accident occurred Friday, when a Navy jet crashed in the remote northeastern corner of Oregon. The pilot was rescued after ejecting.
In early February, another Navy aviator was rescued after his F/A-18 Hornet jet crashed into the water near Key West, Florida. And in late January, a pilot and his student were killed when their training plane crashed just south of Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas.
Besides, this gives good cover to put the MM off guard on that day...
Posted by: DanNY ||
03/04/2006
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From Powerline -- scroll to Friday.. as John says "It's interesting how odd it seems to read accounts of President Bush that are written by people who don't hate him.
Based on my review of Indian newspapers, President Bush's visit to that country was a success. Little of the coverage was devoted to the inevitable protests, and it lacked the snarky tone of virtually all mainstream American press coverage of anything the President does.
If you go to Power Line News and run your cursor over the Indian subcontinent on the newspaper map, you can access approximately ten Indian newspapers, all in English. Their accounts of the President's visit are generally consistent. The Tribune writes:
Mr George W. Bush today wooed India like no other US President had ever done before and admitted that he had been dazzled by India.
Like a seasoned Indophile, he reeled out facts after facts, with a liberal sprinkling of quotable quotes from two great makers of India Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to convey to his countrymen back home that India had arrived. The United States and India, separated by half the globe, are closer than ever before, and the partnership between our free nations has the power to transform the world.
The Hindu writes that "Bush gets a glimpse of rural India":
"A brief visit to Hyderabad on Friday gave US President George W. Bush a glimpse of how India's rural economy sustains itself and, contrastingly, how young and modern-looking entrepreneurs plan to compete with the world's best in industry.
Mr. Bush saw the use of simple and cost-effective technologies by farmers to improve yield and innovative methods to market their produce when he visited the Agricultural University named after an eminent son of the Andhra soil Prof. N. G. Ranga. Harking back to the days he spent at his ranch in Texas, the US President tried his hand at a tiller, a rake and a moisture-testing meter.
Barely 30 minutes later, he was at the gleaming premises of the Indian School of Business, a management school supported by the Wharton and Kellogg Business School of the US, talking to a group of 16 young entrepreneurs, where he stated, quite significantly for India, that the US "rejects objections against outsourcing of jobs." He said the US was looking at the 300 million strong Indian middle class for business opportunities.
Perhaps for the first time, Mr. Bush saw the simple Indian wooden plough and posed for photographs with it slung across his right shoulder. Amused by a jumbo-size pumpkin, Mr. Bush lifted up to his chest and parodied as if he was going to fall under its weight. He spent time at the premises of the National Seed Project talking to progressive farmers, learning the intricacies of operating a handloom for weaving silk sarees, besides talking to women of self-help groups who informed him of how the 6.20 lakh SHGs had raised hundreds of crores of rupees by saving one rupee a day.
With no other public interaction in his four-hour-long itinerary, Mr. Bush did all the right things that pleased the hosts like lifting up a child, Venktaramana, in his arms, pecking the cheek of a woman in the midst of a field and obliging women with countless photographs. He displayed interest in export of mangoes to the US, the Chief Minister later said."
It's interesting how odd it seems to read accounts of President Bush that are written by people who don't hate him.
You can read Indian blogs, too, like this one:
These protestors are idiots. They do not know the interests of India. It is in our interst that Iran is not nuclear. We need sofisticated wepons, Nuclear energy plants, Technology, capital to build this country to meet and exceed Shanghai levels. Thats the way forward. Not protests, engagement with Bush and the US.
#1
Years from now, in retrospect, Bush II will be regarded with awe because of his amazing talent at "strategery". That new word is actually appropriate, because what he does seems to transcend ordinary strategy so far that it becomes a different thing altogether.
Before he had even announced he was running for president the first time, he had already sewn up every big money dime in the republican party. His nomination was assured before step number one. That is "strategery."
Again, before he had announced, the "family ranch" was being constructed in Crawford, Texas, as a "Texas White House". Finishing touches were put in place just before he was sworn in. Again, "strategery". From day 1 in office, the ranch was ready for a president and all of his visitors and official needs.
His administration had pre-planned every possible contingency for Gulf War II at least a year before we launched. Had circumstances changed, it would have been moot, but they did not change. Ergo, when the much-maligned "Mission Accomplished" banner was unfurled, the mission *had* been accomplished.
Though it seemed reconstruction of Iraq was disordered, this was not the case. Deception as to progress was always the rule, not to conceal problems, but to conceal successes.
Right now, Iraq has not been a real issue for over a year, preparations for Iran have been what has been taking place with US forces in Iraq. Though Iraq has not been ignored, the great minds have long been scheming every possible contingency for the future.
This too, is "strategery"
As is his India-Pakistan whistle stop tour. Even as he does everything right to seduce the Indians to American friendship, he is laying the groundwork for incredible relationships in the future. Relationships of immense, perhaps irreplaceable value to the US. For events that might not take place for 20 years down the road.
#2
I think there will be alot of BDS animosity among the professional academics who they trot out to define "best and worst" presidents. It will ultimately take past our lifetimes before the challenges, and responses he made, are accurately evaluated. He will be a top 10, like Reagan. I just wish he'd take tighter reins on spending and get the tax cuts made permanent
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2006 17:26
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#3
My guess is that he's very clear about his priorities. If it takes throwing wads of money at programs to keep enough congress critters on board with his WOT, he'll do that.
I don't like the levels of the deficit spending, but I'm not sure I think he's wrong overall. A major terror hit in the US - 10,000 to 100,000 dead immediately or in the weeks afterwards - would do about as much damage to the economy, if not more.
9/11 did a bad enough job on NY's economy. I have the mixed fortune to have moved here just a year before the attacks. Our daughter worked a few blocks away from the towers.
That job vanished, companies moved out and the mess in Albany got even worse as a result. The current Fed Reserve chief looks like he wants to monetarize the debt, which is an iffy proposition, but if China won't deal with the renimbi it may make sense to do a little of that.
#5
I guess keeping those grannies and old vets in lawn chairs peering through Ziess 7x50's across the Rio Grande must be a "strategy" too. I'd like to see him get his head into tbe immigration and border protecton game.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2006 19:52
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#7
He displayed interest in export of mangoes to the US, the Chief Minister later said.
Not as silly as it looks: When God took the Garden of Eden to heaven, He left behind the mango tree to remind the children of Adam of the Paradise he lost.
-------
One of Bush's strong points is his humility: He's willing to let others take the credit for what he does provided that the real beneficiaries get helped. In that dimension, he beats James Earl Carter.
(*BTW, I will start referring to James Earl Carter by his full name, and not his desired dimunitive, because only Presidential assassins get the "full name treatment".)
#3
Will someone explain to me why using hydrogen in an electric car with fuel cells is an amazingly wonderful idea but using that same hydrogen in an internal combustion engine isn't? I mean, we wouldn't have to wait 10 years for cars that burn hydrogen instead of gas. All the extra research and expense is try to and make the fuel cell thing work.
#5
I agree that hydrogen is a pretty sucky alternative fuel. I think it just shows that GM is still 20 years behind the technology curve, in that hydrogen looked pretty reasonable in the 1980s.
However, there are just some killer alt fuel techs that have come out in the last few years.
A recent one that is simplicity itself just came out of MIT--run waste CO2 through an existing type of algae to make mostly biodiesel, also some ethanol, at about a tenth of the cost of conventional biodiesel made from crops. Every industry that makes waste CO2 could make serious money from what they now throw away. In the process, the algae consume about 60% of the waste CO2.
Then, instead of combusting your biodiesel, you use a fuel cell, which extracts a LOT more energy from it than with internal combustion.
Biodiesel gives you a lot more raw power than hydrogen, is safer to use, uses less space, and can be used in existing gas stations. Even the transition is easier, because there are already a bunch of diesel automobiles out there already.
The gas station doesn't care if you burn it or use it in a fuel cell, so there is no big market gap either waiting for cars that use it, or stations that provide it.
#6
Firstly, Hydrogen is essentially a way of storing energy. You cannot mine it, you have to make it in a manner that consumes energy. Regardless of form, it can be seen as a way of charging a battery.
Second, hydrogen is highly explosive so having it in fuel tanks is not a great idea. I believe most schemes for putting it in cars involve pushing it into a solid matrix of some sort to avoid this problem.
Third, when you hear "hydrogen car" think lots more nuke plants because that's how we would have to get the electricity needed to make hydrogen. Not that I'm against nuke plants. Even if Hydrogen takes a long time, we can use them to charge our pluggable hybrids.
Fourth, one issue I do not often see discussed about electric cars is what to do for a heater. Some combustion is helpful to use the waste heat for warming vehicle occupants, that's why I think pluggable hybrids are a good start.
The one legit concern about Hydrogen, besides economics which can change, is that it's really hard to seal hydrogen containers and pipes because the molecules are so tiny. Therefore lots of it will leak into the atmosphere. This is potentially a problem as we do not know what that would do to the atmospheric chemistry. Unlike "Global Warming" which is largely junk science, there is valid concern with Hydrogen as it's not naturally occuring.
The answer to your question is that fuel cells don't have the emissions issues associated with internal combustion engines. Unfortunately, arguments for fuel efficiency tend to get conflated with pollution standards with your typical environmentalist not usually understanding the difference.
Also, pure hydrogen is not explosive just to be technically correct. Once it mixes with oxygen up to the appropriate level, look out! However, one thing that hasn't been brought up is how corrosive hydrogen tends to be (very).
Moose,
Not sure where you're getting your data, but the per molecule energy extract is far smaller in a fuel cell than in combustion. After all, when a molecule passes through the fuel cell membrane, it is stripping off an electron, whereas combustion is actually breaking apart the chemical binding.
#11
Cars powered by hydrogen in fuel cells -- great stuff: Domestic energy, if you don't have to import LNG for natural gas to make the hydrogen. Low emissions, if you don't count the radioactive wastes associated with the nuke plants. Very efficient, if you don't count the inefficiencies in the hydrogen production. Say, that gives me a great idea -- maybe we could make hydrogen from ethanol!
#12
Dreadnought: Internal combustion is terribly wasteful, and efficiency varies considerably at different engine speeds and loads. Fuel cells with nanotech are pushing way beyond their previous efficiency of 40-60%, and their efficiency is straight line, independent of engine speed and load.
So practically speaking, fuel cells give you a reliable output probably better than internal combustion.
#13
I sometimes wonder if we could import something like 5-10% less oil just by switching all the motor vehicles that use otto cycle engines to diesel instead.
Posted by: Phil ||
03/04/2006 19:50
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#14
We could do that _today_ instead of ten years from now, at a lot less expense, but alternative energy schemes always seem to be about something that we "know" will be attractive ten years from now rather than the multitude of little steps we could do today.
Posted by: Phil ||
03/04/2006 19:51
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#15
Electricity. Batteries. Perhaps flywheels. Use what resources we have in abundance to generate it. Add in nuclear power. Already have the plants to generate it. Already have the distribution network. Just need battery advances (capacity, weight, lead enviro issues) to make it so.
More efficient, yes, given the upper limits of the Carnot cycle, but that's missing the point. The fuel cell process more efficiently translates the energy of that stripped electron, but that amount is much smaller than combustion. And power density is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for using the fuel cell for general auto use.
#17
JAB, any hydrogen emitted would combine with free oxygen to form water- ie H2+2(O2)=2H2O. In general, since in the long term our fuel will be more manufactured than extracted, we should be experimenting with as wide a range as possible of fuels and sources. Economies of scale may come out of a combination of processes.
#18
First of all, Hydrogen isn't all that dangerous, compared to gasoline.
Next, converting to diesel would save nearly zero barrels of oil. While you get more energy out of a gallon of diesel, you also can get fewer gallons of diesel than gasoline out of crude. That wasn't true 100 years ago, but now that refineries use "cracking" to turn heavy hydrocarbons into light ones, you can get more gasoline than diesel (and more of either than fuel oil).
Former U.S. Congressman Randy "Duke" Cunningham, who pleaded guilty last year to taking $2.4 million in bribes, was sentenced by a federal judge on Friday to eight years and four months in prison.
It was the longest prison sentence ever given a U.S. congressman, prosecutors said, topping the eight-year sentence given in 2002 to Ohio Democrat James Traficant for bribery, tax evasion and racketeering.
Cunningham, a decorated Vietnam War pilot and eight-term California Republican who tearfully resigned from the House of Representatives in November, was also ordered to pay $1.8 million in restitution.
"After years of service to my country I made a wrong turn,"
More than one. This guy's path was as crooked as the hind leg of a skunk that got run over several times.
Cunningham, 64, told a packed San Diego courtroom before his sentencing. "No man has ever been more sorry. I could have said no and didn't. It was me, Duke Cunningham, and it was wrong."
Prosecutors had asked U.S. District Judge Larry Burns to give Cunningham the maximum of 10 years in prison, while defense lawyers had sought six.
In choosing the middle term, Burns cited Cunningham's "profound medical problems" -- which include prostate cancer, thyroid problems and bad knees -- war service and expressions of remorse.
poor baby. This SOB suborned the defense contracting process and I am not inclined to have sympathy for his sorry ass.
"I was impressed by what you said the day you pleaded guilty and again today," Burns told Cunningham. "I don't know if you're ever going to be able to atone for what you did, but you can atone to your family."
'WELL-DESERVED'
With credits for good behavior behind bars, the judge said, "you will be out before you are 71 years old." Cunningham was expected to undergo a medical evaluation before he is sent to a federal prison.
"Today's sentence is a sad but well-deserved ending to Mr. Cunningham's political career," prosecutor Jason Forge said after the hearing. Cunningham's plea agreement calls for him to cooperate with prosecutors in an ongoing investigation.
In pleading guilty, Cunningham admitted taking cash, antiques, a yacht, vacation expenses and money for his daughter's graduation party from several defense contractors between 2000 and 2005.
House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an Illinois Republican, said in a statement that Cunningham's sentence "should send a strong message that no one is above breaking our nation's laws, including the Members of Congress who make them."
Hastert added: "It is my hope that Congressman Cunningham will spend his incarceration thinking long and hard about how he broke the trust of the voters that elected him and those on Capitol Hill who served with him."
The Cunningham investigation has spread to the Central Intelligence Agency, where the CIA inspector general has opened a probe into executive director, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo.
Foggo, the third-highest official at the CIA, has been reported in the U.S. media to be friendly with a businessman accused of receiving Pentagon contracts through Cunningham's influence. But CIA officials said there was no suggestion of impropriety in any of Foggo's dealings.
President Jalal Talabani on Saturday underscored the need for a unity government in Iraq after a spasm of sectarian killing and said he had been assured U.S. forces would remain in the country as long as needed "no matter what the period."
His comments came after a bomb exploded at a minibus terminal during morning rush hour in a southeastern Baghdad suburb, killing seven people and wounding 25, one of a string of explosions in the capital and elsewhere.
The violence shattered the relative calm brought by Fridays' driving ban in Baghdad and its outskirts, which helped avert major attacks on the day Muslims congregate for the most important prayer service of the week.
Talabani spoke to reporters after meeting with Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command.
Abizaid said he was "very, very pleased with the reaction of the Iraqi armed forces" during the crisis unleashed by the Feb. 22 bombing of a sacred Shiite shrine in Samarra and reprisal attacks against Sunni Muslims that pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war.
"We should understand that the terrorists are trying to create problems among the Iraqi people that can lead to difficulties between various groups," he said after a separate meeting with Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari. "We should not fall into their trap. We are stronger than they are. We will ultimately prevail."
Later, Abizaid warned that Iraq can expect more bombings like the one in Samarra.
He blamed Al-Qaida terrorists for the blast and said it marked a clear and successful change in tactics by the group in its campaign to ignite civil war among Iraqis.
"I expect we'll see another attack in the near future on another symbol," Abizaid said during a stop in Qatar after his two-day trip to Iraq. "They'll find some other place that's undefended, they'll strike it and they'll hope for more sectarian violence."
The surge of violence, which has killed at least 500 people since last week, has tangled negotiations to form a new government after December parliamentary elections and threatened American hopes of starting a troop pullout this summer.
Talabani said Abizaid assured him that U.S. forces "are ready to stay as long as we ask them, no matter what the period is."
He said the U.S. commander also stressed that "a strong national unity government made up of all blocs in parliament will help in stabilizing Iraq and bringing peace."
However, Talabani said his Kurdish followers and their allies will fight against a second term for al-Jaafari.
Sunni, Kurdish and some secular politicians have asked the Shiite United Iraqi Alliance, the largest bloc in parliament, to nominate another candidate. They accuse al-Jaafari of failing to rein in attacks against Sunni mosques and clerics in the aftermath of the bombing of the Shiite Askariya shrine.
"With all our respect to Dr. al-Jaafari, we asked them to choose a candidate who is unanimously agreed on by Iraqis," Talabani said. "I want to be clear, it is not against Dr. al-Jaafari as a person. He has been my friend for 25 years. What we want is consensus."
Talabani said he hoped to announce soon a date for parliament to convene. But there is little indication a government will be ready by then. As the largest bloc in parliament, the Alliance gets the first chance to form a government, but it must be approved by two-thirds of the 275 lawmakers.
Al-Jaafari's supporters in the United Iraqi Alliance have vowed to resist moves to replace him. But other Shiite leaders are troubled by his close ties to radical young cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, whose support was key to al-Jaafari's nomination by a single vote in a Feb. 12 Shiite caucus.
Two lawmakers from al-Jaafari's Dawa party and a senior aide to the prime minister visited the Shiite holy city of Najaf on Saturday to seek the endorsement of Iraq's most revered Shiite spiritual leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
"His eminence stressed two points: first, the importance of the Alliance, its survival and its unity, and second, the necessity of adhering to the decisions that came out of the Alliance," lawmaker Jawad al-Maliki said after the meeting.
Hundreds demonstrated Saturday in Amarah and Najaf, in Iraq's southern Shiite heartland, in support of al-Jaafari's bid for another term.
Iraqi soldiers and police backed in one neighborhood by a Shiite militia the United States wants disbanded enforced a driving ban that brought relative peace to Baghdad streets Friday.
But as normal traffic resumed Saturday, so did the violence.
The bus terminal blast occurred at the height of the morning rush, setting three minibuses on fire and damaging nearby market stands, police Capt. Ali Mahdi said. The attack struck in a region where 19 people were killed when gunmen stormed an electricity substation and brick factory Thursday night.
Another bombing targeted an Interior Ministry special forces patrol in the Salman Pak area, 10 miles southeast of Baghdad, killing two commandos and wounding two others, police Maj. Falah al-Mohamadawi said.
In Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of the capital, a bomb exploded in a busy commercial area near a shop that repairs radios and tape players, killing a young girl and injuring eight other people, police said.
In the south, a Shiite lawmaker was seriously wounded when gunmen in two speeding cars fired on his vehicle near Basra, Iraq's second-largest city. An aide for Qasim Attiyah al-Jbouri was killed and two bodyguards injured, police Capt. Mushtaq Kadhim said.
The attack against al-Jbouri, the former head of Basra's provincial council who ran for parliament on the United Iraqi Alliance slate, was the second in 10 days. Gunmen on Feb. 24 kidnapped three of his children but freed them unharmed hours later.
Police also found at least four more handcuffed, shot-up bodies dumped in Baghdad and south of the capital.
Escalating border violence turned deadly Thursday night as Border Patrol agents shot a man who fired upon them. It was the first fatal shooting in the Border Patrol's Yuma sector in six years, according to the agency.
The shooting occurred at 11:28 p.m. at County 18-1/2 Street and the Colorado River, an area where hundreds of illegal aliens have been robbed at gunpoint. A man believed to be an accomplice of the deceased man was arrested for allegedly being involved in these robberies.
"The last fatal shooting here was maybe six years ago, and nobody remembers the one before that," said Yuma sector Border Patrol spokesman Chris Van Wagenen. "It's very rare."
Border Patrol agents were patrolling in the area when they were confronted by an armed suspect who fired at least one round at them, according to the Sheriff's Office and Border Patrol. Agents returned fire, striking the man, who died at the scene.
The name of the deceased has not been released because next of kin have not been notified. The Mexican Consulate has been contacted for assistance.
After the shooting, Border Patrol apprehended Diego Armando Mendieta De La Torre, 20, of Mexicali who is a suspect in the robberies.
"It's our hope that we've at least caught two," Wilmot said. "We know there are more suspects involved. We've had reports of from one to five suspects, depending on the size of the group being robbed."
YCSO said De La Torre would be booked into Yuma County jail for a charge of participating in a criminal syndicate. Other charges may be sought later.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is conducting a federal investigation of the shooting, the Border Patrol's Critical Incident Team is doing an internal investigation and YCSO is conducting the criminal investigation. Wilmot said detectives were interviewing people Friday and working to find others involved in the armed robberies.
Since 2004, 195 people have been robbed in this same area of the border, Wilmot said. The numbers have skyrocketed from 25 in 2004 to 56 in 2005 to 114 already this year. And those numbers only include illegal aliens who were later apprehended by Border Patrol and reported the robberies hundreds of others may have been robbed and never reported it.
Van Wagenen said the agents who fired on the man have been placed on administrative leave. He said he did not know how many agents were there or how many rounds had been fired.
While in the past it has been rare for shootings to occur, Van Wagenen admits that such an incident is not a surprise considering the increased violence on the border. The Border Patrol says it has seen a significant increase this fiscal year in assaults against agents and crimes against illegal aliens.
"We knew the violence was going to get worse as smugglers get frustrated. We knew it would get worse before it gets better," Van Wagenen said.
Wilmot said the body of the dead man will be sent to Tucson for autopsy. He said YCSO's investigation was expected to be lengthy.
The Border Patrol said it is fully cooperating with the YCSO and FBI on their investigations.
#4
....as Border Patrol agents shot a man who fired upon them. The mope shuddda stuck with throwing stones. Notice how the BPs aim improves when they're returning gunfire.
In a Wednesday story, The Associated Press reported that federal disaster officials warned President Bush and his Homeland Security chief before Hurricane Katrina struck that the storm could breach levees in New Orleans, citing confidential video footage of an Aug. 28 briefing.
The Army Corps of Engineers considers a breach a hole developing in a levee rather than an overrun. The story should have made clear that Bush was warned about floodwaters overrunning the levees, rather than the levees breaking.
The day before Katrina, Bush was told there were grave concerns the levees could be overrun.
It wasnt until the next morning, as the storm made landfall, that Michael Brown, then head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said Bush had asked about reports of breaches. Bush did not participate in that briefing.
#1
It won't matter. Jay Leno was on a jag this week about "Bush Knew and Didn't Care". Unfortunately, millions form their opinion from the rantings of a late night comic.
Posted by: ed ||
03/04/2006 15:37
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#2
Oddly enough I don't care dickall about Jay Leno. Then again, more people watch Leno than read blogs so I reckon some folks are bound to watch and take him to heart.
#3
I made the connection when I heard about overtopping. The MSM simply assumed overtopping and breaching were the same. Why ask?
Overtopping is a wave over the top, and can eventually lead to breaching, if it goes on long enough. Overtopping puts a puddle in a few backyards; breaching - well, you saw it - ten feet of water everywhere.
Overtopping, breaching - pretty much the same thing to the simple-minded press. Or...maybe they did it on purpose?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/04/2006 16:41
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We've been seeing a number of submitted articles that we can't forward to Rantburg because they don't have a link to the source. Unless you are submitting personal opinion to page 4, please be sure you put the whole URL in the source box on the poster page. Just copy it from the top of the window in your browser that's open to the story and paste it in the poster box.
New details from ABC 11 in Raleigh, N.C., about the Muslim man who plowed into students on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus today:
The driver of an SUV that plowed into a group of pedestrians at UNC-Chapel Hill on Friday told police it was retribution for the treatment of Muslims around the world, according to ABC News.
It happened around noon Friday in front of Lenoir Hall on the campus, in a common area known as the Pit. Paramedics took six people to UNC Hospitals. Five had been released by Friday evening and the sixth was not expected to be admitted.
Officials say none of the people were seriously injured. Three refused treatment at the scene.
Chapel Hill police say they arrested the suspect, Mohammed Reza Taheriazar, 23, of Chapel Hill, shortly after the incident. Several witnesses were able to give police the rented Jeep Cherokee's license plate number.
Police said they would charge Taheriazar, a psychology major who graduated from UNC last semester, with several counts of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill.
...Sources say Taheriazar told police he was seeking retribution for the treatment of Muslims around the world, according to ABC News justice correspondent Pierre Thomas. Taheriazar apparently told police he tried to rent the biggest SUV he could find to use in the attack.
By Friday afternoon, a police SWAT team had surrounded a Carrboro apartment complex where Taheriazar reportedly lived.
Taheriazar is a native of Iran and a December 2005 UNC graduate, according to the Raleigh News and Observer.
Yesterday, I meant to post "He's Iranian and pissed off at a cartoon slipped under his door." But thought that was a little low reaction for an educated psychology student. Wish I had.
#1
A psych grad and an Iranian, ya say? I hope Michelle Malkin or someone follows up on this story. There is a lot more info that needs to be known about Mo. It is important that we know the background leading up to this incident. In other words, we need to learn a lot mo about Mo.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/04/2006 13:19
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#3
Yesterday, I meant to post "He's Iranian and pissed off at a cartoon slipped under his door." But thought that was a little low reaction for an educated psychology student. Wish I had.
You didn't take into account his religion.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
03/04/2006 13:39
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#4
Is there something about the name 'Mohammed' that makes people act crazy? It seems like roughly half the terrorists and other Islamic crazies are named Mohammed. Or are half of Muslims named Mohammed?
#5
A lot are. Just as Christians (or those from what used to be Christian cultures) tend to be named for Christian saints: John, Joseph, Paul, Phillip, James, Peter .....
#6
From what I've read, it's very difficult to 'accidently' drive into the location listed. It's away from the street; you have to want to ram a SUV in there. This guy is going to go down hard.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2006 14:39
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#7
there will be a news conf at 3 (PST? EST?) according to Fox - he challenged the authorities to see what he had in his apt...
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2006 14:44
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#8
Yeah, the Pit is off the street. This guy intended to kill people.
Posted by: UNC grad ||
03/04/2006 14:46
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#9
Yes he did. The Pit is not a thoroughfare, its an off-street "patio" kinda feel.
One pissed off visa student failed jihadi. Rented the biggest SUV he could get, but just couldn't go the mile for explosives and blowing himself up, so he takes a pass through a park to hit people with his big car. Oh, brave Lion of Islam.
Later threatened he had a bomb in his room (maybe mentioned wearing a belt) to make up for the lack of effect. Not quite the case. Poor little failed jihadi - Psych grad, can he point to his chapter in the texts?
Time to eject the foreign students from some lands - money be damned.
#10
He's going to wish he were sent to Guantanamo.
Posted by: ed ||
03/04/2006 15:53
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#11
according to Fox - no bombs, traps, etc. in the Apt....authorities not releasing what they did find tho'...
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2006 16:10
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#12
Kinda shoots the theory about lack of education, economic conditions, and opportunity being the root cause of the problem now doesn't it. American history and geography were obviously not two of his undergradute electives. He could not have picked a worse state to pull a gutless stunt like this. I hope he enjoys his cell, he'll be a very old man before his release from the NC system.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2006 16:20
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#15
This cartoon that was published Feb. 9 by the Daily Tar Heel, the UNC student newspaper, is what has the Chapel Hills Muslim community stirred up. It's that ROP thing again; believe my way or I'll kill you. I'll feel sorry for him the day a Catholic Cathedral opens in Riyadh or Tehran for that matter. Chuck Asay is on to something this cartoon.
BTW Malkin is already on this.
#17
Couldn't believe it...today on Fox News Michael Isikoff of Newsweek, chided the Dailey Tarheels for printing the Mohammed cartoon since it incites violence. They were talking about this crazy Iranian. Isn't Isikoff the same SOB who wrote the "koran in the toilet" story that led to many dates in Pakistan and Afghanistan? Talk about hubris!
#18
A North Carolina Muslim angry about alleged US policies ags Muslims, versus a Taliban wid a GED whom weirdly and msyteriously got into Yale - more PC evidencia and fodder for the MSM and Lefties that America attacked itself on 9-11. The Left wants war and revolution in America, and for America to be under OWG, anti-Sovereign, and under anti-American American Socialism by any each all and every means necessary, solely and jointly, but severally when it comes to the Left, and includ but not limited to self-suicide blamed on ourselves.
A stunning investigation of bribery and corruption in Congress has spread to the CIA, ABC News has learned.
The CIA Inspector General has opened an investigation into the spy agency's executive director, Kyle "Dusty" Foggo, and his connections to two defense contractors accused of bribing a member of Congress and Pentagon officials.
The CIA released an official statement on the matter to ABC News, saying: "It is standard practice for CIA's Office of Inspector General an aggressive, independent watchdog to look into assertions that mention agency officers. That should in no way be seen as lending credibility to any allegation.
"Mr. Foggo has overseen many contracts in his decades of public service. He reaffirms that they were properly awarded and administered."
The CIA said Foggo, the No. 3 official at the CIA, would have no further comment. He will remain in his post at the CIA during the investigation, according to officials.
Two former CIA officials told ABC News that Foggo oversaw contracts involving at least one of the companies accused of paying bribes to Congressman Randall "Duke" Cunningham. The story was first reported by Newsweek magazine.
One of the Olde Hands, huh? Lessee how this goes, of course, but I can't help but note that investigation seems to be a perfectly acceptable course of action for corruption, SOP, but sedition and treason are not. Yet.
After a three-month stalemate, Massachusetts House and Senate leaders yesterday agreed to charge assessments on businesses that do not provide health insurance to their workers, clearing the way for the Legislature to enact a sweeping healthcare bill and make the state eligible for $385 million in federal Medicaid money... Next, hopefully, they will follow Taos, NM in raising the minimum wage to $15/hr.
#2
Congress should make it clear there will be no state bailout by Fed money when the house of cards comes crashing down. You wanted a socialist state - you got it... (except for Raj, who's gonna move to Vermont)
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2006 14:19
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#3
There's no provision in the Constitution for expelling a state from the Union, is there? Shit...
#5
I was half kidding, and got the wrong town. In Santa Fe, they decided to use the minimum wage to keep out new development.
In February 2003, Santa Fe, New Mexico enacted a minimum wage ordinance. Beginning January 1, 2004, the ordinance will require an $8.50 per hour minimum wage for all businesses and nonprofit organizations with 25 or more employees. The wage will rise to $9.50 per hour in 2006 and $10.50 per hour in 2008. Tips earned by employees can be counted towards the minimum.
While not $15/hr, that amount was originally proposed, again, not especially for workers, but to keep out new businesses.
An interesting note is that a New Mexico court upheld the creation of a *city* minimum wage higher than that of the State of New Mexico, which is still significantly higher than the federal minimum wage.
Zimbabwe will amend its mining laws to allow the government to demand a 51% share in some foreign-owned mines, an official announced on Friday. "The government wants to be an active participant in the mining business ... In effect I am saying the principles to the Amendments of the Mines and Minerals Act have been presented and approved by Cabinet," Mining Minister Amos Midzi told reporters in Harare.
The amendments will be tabled before Parliament for final approval before July, Midzi added. He said this would allow the government to hold a 51% shareholding in each of the foreign-owned mines in the energy mining sector, which includes minerals such as coal, uranium and methane gas. The government would initially take up a 25% share which would gradually be increased to 51% over a period of five years, Midzi said. "The modalities of achieving the 51% shall be: 25% non-contributory immediately after promulgation of the Act. The balance shall be achieved within five years." The same would apply to platinum, diamond and gold mines.
Zimbabwe's mining sector has seen the closure of at least 13 mines in the past six years, according to the Chamber of Mines, an organisation representing mining firms. The sector has been hard-hit by an acute shortage of spare parts fuelled by a foreign exchange crunch, spiralling inflation, a free-falling currency, erratic power supplies and higher production costs.
Zimbabwe has seen its mining sector stagnate after President Robert Mugabe last year warned that the government would demand a 50% stake in all mines. The mining sector last year earned $626-million, representing 44% of Zimbabwe's total foreign currency revenues, according to Reserve Bank figures. Remember Bob's motto: "If you can't steal it or f*ck it, piss on it."
#2
When Mugabe uses the term "government" he actually means he and his lovely wife Grace. It will be interesting to see how the game plays out between Mugabe and De Beers.
A French special forces officer was killed in clashes with Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan, the defence ministry and the military said in a joint statement. The statement gave no details of the death of the officer of a marine commando unit, the second French soldier to be killed in action in Afghanistan.
Some 200 French special forces troops under US command are fighting guerrillas of the former Taliban regime in southeast Afghanistan, the statement said. Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie had sent her condolences to the family of the dead officer, who was not identified.
#1
We do a lot of France bashing here, but this is a sad reminder that Nato is with us in Afghanistan. It's the right thing to do, but they deserve our thanks and respect. Rest in peace.
#5
May their memories be for a blessing, as their lives have been for us all. Merci beaucoup, gentilehommes! (Please ignore spelling, vocabulary and grammar errors -- I only know enough French to buy chocolates in Belgium.)
Bolivar State (near the border with Brazil) in Venezuela has Uranium deposits. Guess where the Iranians are building the cement plants and other enterprises?
Oh, Lawsy, I am so surprised. I feel faint, I'd best go lie down.
They started with an agreement to build tractors, but Iran and Venezuela have quickly moved to oil, cement, homes, auto parts, shipbuilding and perhaps even nuclear energy.
The new friendship between the two deeply anti-American governments was further cemented last month as Iranian Parliament speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel headed a delegation that visited Venezuela and drew expressions of support from populist President Hugo Chavez. "It's a natural byproduct of their confrontation with the United States," said Armando Duran, a columnist and former Venezuelan foreign minister. "Chavez looks for an alliance with those who confront the U.S."
That works both ways.
Iran is not the first or last openly anti-Western Middle Eastern government that has warm relations with Caracas. As an OPEC member, Chavez courted Libya leader Moammar Gadhafi and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and last month endorsed the Palestinian government of Hamas, which Washington and Europe regard as a terrorist organization.
We should remind Q-man of the consequences of going up against us. He seemed to understand that once upon a time.
But few countries are as embroiled in as serious an international controversy as Iran, accused of seeking nuclear weapons. Venezuela joined Cuba and Syria as the only countries to vote in the International Atomic Energy Agency last month against reporting Iran to the U.N. Security Council.
Chavez's support for Tehran has proven to be a thorn in the side of efforts to control Iran's nuclear program. And it strengthens his anti-American credentials at a time when he's gearing up for a reelection bid in December. Speaking at a ceremony in which he unveiled the first 400 tractors produced by the Veniran Tractor plant in the southeastern state of Bolivar, Chavez chalked up his country's warm relations with Tehran as "the product of multilateralism, of a multipolar world."
Most commercial agreements are in their initial stages and include a cement factory, oil exploration in the Orinoco River belt, and housing for the poor. The two countries are also establishing a joint operation to build oil tankers and liquid natural gas tankers, and have created a $200 million fund to finance future social and economic projects.
Hugo is blowing through money at a fast clip, isn't he?
But it's clear that the relationship is meant to extend well beyond commercial ties. "The visits that they've made; the declarations they've made. They talk of political commonalities and ideological conceptions that make them long-term allies," said Maria Teresa Romero, a professor of international relations at the Central University of Venezuela in Caracas.
The Caracas-Tehran ties have been causing concern in Washington. Addressing the House International Relations Committee last month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice highlighted the Venezuela-Cuba-Iran relationship and described the two countries as Iran's "sidekicks." Days earlier, Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte told the Senate Intelligence Committee that Venezuela is "seeking closer economic, military, and diplomatic ties with Iran and North Korea."
Not everyone sees the Caracas-Tehran ties as going beyond mutual political support and a bit of commerce. "So far, it's a stage of exploration and posturing, and certainly could turn into something more serious. But it's very hard to predict right now," said Michael Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based think-tank.
Mr. Shifter then put his head back into the sand.
Chavez, who has expressed interest in obtaining a nuclear reactor from Argentina, is fostering what he calls a 21st Century socialist revolution. In concert with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, he is also trying to build a Latin American bloc that opposes U.S. trade policies in the region.
U.S. officials accuse Chavez of ruling with an increasingly authoritarian hand at home while financing hand-picked candidates in foreign elections; they describe current State Department policy as designed to contain his hemispheric ambitions. Shifter cautioned that Chavez's relations with the likes of Iran will make it hard for any future State Department officials to argue for a more friendly approach to Chavez. "This is going to make it much more difficult for those in State who have been advocating a more pragmatic relationship with Venezuela," he said.
Just made my way to the front page, and check this quote out:
U.S. President George W. Bush gains reassurances from Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf that Pakistan is doing everything it can to help in the so-called war on terror -- and that both sides will remain in close coordination in the hunt for al Qaeda terrorists.
Of course, this cute little phrase is absent from the main article. No dig too subtle to omit from a story.
The narrative of Katrina needs wholesale revision, and mainstream news organizations are starting to work on it. There were not 200 murders at the Superdome; there appear to have been exactly zero. Local authorities did not lose control there or at the Convention Center. The more than 30,000 residents at emergency shelters during the first week of Katrina were tired, hungry, miserable, and without proper sanitary facilities but were in no danger of dying. As for the rest of the city, help was rarely late, delayed, or inadequate. Thats the true story and there are tens of thousands of rescued people who will testify to it. This failure of the MSM will not be reported with the same drama or volume as the original slanders. The real story here is that the MSM acts as America's enemy not only abroad but at home as well. I thank Fred et al for Rantburg which is a healty antidote to the MSM poison.
Unlike befuddled city and state officials, the Coast Guards man in charge, Rear Admiral Bob Duncan, was literally on top of the situation: He flew in with the first crews, watched the first rescue himself, and spent the day in the air observing and directing operations. People are most in need right after the storm goes through, he explains. When they feel comfortable going up on the roofs of their houses, we hope a big orange helicopter is waiting.
Absent those early rescues, thousands would in fact have died, in line with the mayors prediction. With all communications knocked out, says Sheriff Valteau, it was a reasonable estimation. . . . The mayor didnt know what was going on in the field. It was impossible for him to know how many hundreds of citizens were out there saving people.
It was impossible, as well, for the media, which were getting most of their information from City Hall. What audiences across the country saw as a breakdown of relief efforts was in fact a breakdown of media relations. Instead of marveling at the courage and endurance of rescuers, television spread lurid rumors of near-parodic depravity: gang violence (with AK-47s!), murder (200 slain, stacked, and frozen!), rape (women, children, babies!), sniping at helicopters, and rampage at the Superdome. Mainstream publications have since shown these reports to be false; since most of what the media did report was dead wrong, no one should be surprised that there was a parallel failure to report what went right. And this isn't true just in NOLA.
On this score, the biggest lie worse than the urban legends haunting the Superdome was that help was slow to arrive. Rescuers say that on Monday, when the levees failed and water surged through the city, they saved thousands who were in danger of drowning and that they simply could not have arrived any sooner. Not enough resources? Admiral Duncan says one of his biggest problems was that so many helicopters were operating, they risked crashing into one another.
As yet, there is no official hard count of how many were saved, nor has any central authority spoon-fed definitive numbers to the media. But clearly, success left a deep statistical footprint. The Washington Post, in a poll of survivors who relocated to Houston after staying through the storm, said 40 percent roughly 40,000 to 50,000 people, if the sample is representative reported that they had been rescued by the Coast Guard, Air National Guard units, or local police and firemen in boats.
The Coast Guard a branch of the much-maligned Homeland Security Department was far and away the main player. It claimed more than 24,000 rescues, and evacuated another 9,000 from hospitals and nursing homes. The Coasties got there first with the most 16 search-and-rescue helicopters. Equipped with night-vision gear and hoists, these first units, joined by many more, ran 24 hours a day, every day, for a week. Preliminary reports showed that on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, the Coast Guard rescued 3,000 to 5,000 people from rooftops. The operation grew to hundreds of boats and 50 helicopters. Even barges were commandeered to load hundreds of survivors at a time who were stranded on broken levees.
According to Coast Guard Lt. Chris Huberty, who flew a Dolphin chopper on the night shift almost from the beginning, another reason relatively few lives were lost was that crews carefully selected who was brought to safety first. Wed put a rescue swimmer down to determine who needed to be taken away, he recalls. Id see three women, all healthy adults, and a guy in a wheelchair who was a diabetic; Id say he needs insulin, lets get him out of here first. The others might have to wait. He says that by setting these priorities, the Coast Guard teams were able to get a pretty good handle on the stranded sick, injured, and elderly in just a couple of days.
Huberty deeply resents TVs characterization of the black residents of New Orleans. As many bad stories as you hear about looting, there were plenty of people sacrificing for others, regardless of their demographic. I cant tell you how many times a man would stay behind an extra day or two on the roof and let his wife and kids go first. It broke my heart. Wed go to an apartment building and youd see that someone was in charge, organizing the survivors. Wed tell him, We can only take five, and theyd sort out the worst cases. It happened many times that the guy in charge was the last to leave.
#2
Speaking as one of those who evacuated, the real story of Katrina is that millions of our fellow Americans gave us a helping hand when we needed it, and are continuing to do so to this day. Thank you. And in my case a special thanks to the people of Jackson and Little Rock, who could not have been more hospitable, and to the 'Burg regulars, whose offers of help have been deeply moving (you know who you are.)
Posted by: Matt ||
03/04/2006 11:46
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#4
Matt found what so many find - we Americans are a bitchy fractious bunch that pull together pretty damn well (except for the Ward Churchill assholes) when needed. That's community writ large - there's always some bad apples...
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2006 14:15
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#5
Headlines are, well, headlines. Retractions and corrections, if they ever come, a buried.
I wish this guy well - and offer my thanks to those who helped each other and those who came to help and saved so many - both are but whispers in the partisan political cacophony. BDS has done far more damage than will ever be recorded.
I agree - there's a good chance the Dems will take one or the other house in Congress in 06 and perhaps the WH in 08 as a result of this shit. An awful lot of ordinary people have been taken in by the deliberate smear stories.
Anyone else remember the discussion at Daily Kos right after the 2004 election? He and his buddies swore they would throw every charge they could at Bush - ESPECIALLY if it was false.
Looks like they're succeeding. To say I'm disappointed with that a bunch of people on the right, as well as in the center, have been taken in is ... an understatement.
#7
Agree! Why can't they (GOP) get their collective heads in the game and come up with a long-range PR strategy? They appear to be just sitting around, waiting for the next crisis to occur. Are Howard Dean, Der Hilderbeast, and Kennedy THAT difficult to dance with>
#8
The MSM has a lock on the info channel for a large majority of Americans. We here in the blogosphere are few - and fewer still are the sane among us - just look at the traffic figures for Kos, et al, and compare to RB, LGF, et al.
Actually, were common sense actually an extinct instinct, it would be far far worse than it is. Flyover America has, so far, literally saved this country from disaster in spite of the insanity they've been fed and brow-beaten with non-stop for the last 6+ years (to make sure the 2000 election is included). Though it has been a close-run thing.
It hasn't hurt that the Dhimmidonks are approximately equal to alQ and the MMs in their grasp of reality and PR, but they are succeeding.
The kimchi will get deeper down the road, methinks, especially if they actually begin to listen to intelligent Dhimmidonk operatives - there are a few...
Right now, perversely, I'd say Kos and Dean and Pelosi and Reid are actually our (the sane people's) bestest buddies. Go figure, huh?
#1
Both El Nino and La Nina are naturally occurring cycles, although there is much speculation among climate scientists that man-made global warming may make them more frequent and more vicious and that this trend may have already started. [then again, it may have not started a trend, heh.]
Well, that statement alone ought to be good for a bunch of scientific grants to study it.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/04/2006 13:39
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#2
academic ticks on the grant teat, led by Gorebots and enviro ....oops meant to do an all-caps JM rant
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2006 15:37
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#3
I blame bush.
I don't know why, but I can't find any other culprit, so I'll pin it on him.
President Bill Clinton once called South Asia the most dangerous place on Earth, with two nuclear-armed countries locked in a seemingly intractable battle over Kashmir. Yet, as President George W. Bush visits South Asia this week, theres little urgency on Kashmir. This general calm is understandable: Talks between India and Pakistan are ongoing, the national cricket teams compete regularly, and a bus line now connects India and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
It is a false spring. Behind the facade are the very conditions that produced the 1999 India-Pakistan war and the 2002 border crisis. Both of those confrontations arose from Islamabads dangerous belief that it could talk peace with New Delhi and at the same time fuel a guerilla war in Kashmir. When he visits with President Pervez Musharraf this week, Bush should make clear that Washington is watching closely.
Theres a lot to see. Terrorist infiltrations into Kashmir from Pakistan resumed during the summer of 2005. When pressed, the Pakistani authorities argued that its best efforts could not stop entirely the flow of Islamic militants into Indian Kashmir. Indias restraint is the only thing preventing against yet another escalation of tension with unpredictable consequences. But New Delhis patience cannot be taken for granted. Bush should make clear to Musharraf that he sees the Pakistan-funded jihadis in just the same way he sees al Qaeda.
In the aftermath of 9/11, Pakistan understood that terrorism had become, at least temporarily, unacceptable. It joined the war on terror and turned itself, once more, into a frontline state. In practice, however, Pakistan drew a distinction between militants active in Kashmir and international terrorists. The latter could be traded for international goodwill, but the former had to be preserved to keep leverage in Kashmir.
Pakistan employed some political theater to get Washington to accept this Faustian bargain. Specifically, Musharraf had to convince the United States that Islamic militants were growling at the gate of power in Pakistan and that only strong support would save him. Pakistans October 2002 legislative elections provided the opportunity. Voting was rigged in favor of pro-government parties and the requirement that candidates have a college degree was redefined to allow madrasa (religious school) graduates to compete in elections. This allowed religious parties obtain a representation much larger than their actual electoral weight. As a result, alone or in coalitions, the MMA, a coalition of six Islamists parties, obtained majorities in the legislatures of the provinces of Baluchistan and the North West Frontier Province while garnering only 11 percent of the votes at the national level.
The message to the international community was simple: Dont pressure me too much, or I may be overthrown by Islamists. It worked. The West adopted a lenient attitude on the restoration of civilian rule and accepted that Pakistan only had a limited ability to control militants in Afghanistan and Kashmir. The apparent rise of Islamists made the military regime look like a moderate stalwart against extremism.
The other key component of Musharrafs strategy was to make a show of peace talks with India. Pakistan took the blame for the 1999 Kargil war and the escalation of tensions in 2002. Contrary to Islamabads traditional belief, international interest in the Kashmir issue benefited India, not Pakistan. To reverse this trend, it was necessary to bring India back to the negotiating table without giving up anything substantive. To maintain credibility, Pakistan has been forced to reduce the violence in Kashmir measurably for a period of time. Jihadi organizations used this period of forced relative inaction to indigenize themselves by recruiting young Kashmiris. In the spring and summer of 2005, violence in Kashmir resumed, initiated by supposedly new terrorist organizations such as Al-Nasreen, Al Afreen, and Al Mansoor, cover names for the more traditional and Pakistan-supported groups, Hizbul Mujahedeen, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, Jamaat-ul-Mujahedeen, and Al-Umar.
But the real test of Pakistans commitment to ending terrorist infiltration comes every spring and summer, as Kashmirs winter snows melt. Last year, it failed that test. The Indian Army and even sources close to the militancy indicated that infiltration and terrorism had resumed on a large scale in Kashmir. In a particularly gruesome July incident, militants stormed a village and slit the throats of five Hindu men, while car bomb blasts appeared in the Kashmir Valley for the first time during the same period. After the October earthquake in Kashmir, terrorist outfits and radical organizations participated in relief operationsand helped legitimize their presence. The supposedly banned Lashkar-e-Toiba, the Jamaat-i-Islami and the Jamaat Ulema Islami are now operating freely in Kashmir.
Pakistan will not change its position on Kashmir, so the United States must change its stance on Pakistan. When asked whether a paradigm shift on Kashmir is possible, Pakistani officials privately assert that nothing more than a cold peace can be expected. Given this environment, it is essential for Bush to understand that the Pakistani army is not the best protection against Islamic extremism but, rather, one of its causes. The fear of an Islamist takeover should stop distorting the administrations dealings with Pakistan, and Bush should make clear to his host that regional terrorism is no more acceptable than the global variety.
Peaceful regime change in Pakistan is the only reasonable hope for sustainable peace in South Asia. Not only should Pakistans army get out of politics, it should promote the civilian institutionssuch as courts and legislaturesthat will cement democratic practices. The benefits of Musharrafs support in the war on terrorism are being cancelled out by military rule in Pakistan. Americas long-term interest in South Asia isnt served by support for a military regime that winks at terrorists.
Frédéric Grare is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Posted by: john ||
03/04/2006
06:50 ||
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#1
Sheesh, he's not asking much there is he... None of what he suggests is in the answer set has a snowball's chance in Hell of happening - unless PakiWakiLand & Islam cease to exist.
This is, when distilled to its essence, about Islam, not just PakiWaki perfidy, ISI / Army influence, and the most fractured and factionalized joke of a society on the planet.
Why dither about it like this? "Earning" a paycheck?
A driving ban Friday brought the Iraqi capital a day of relative calm, a rare period of peaceful streets enforced, in part, by a Shiite Muslim militia - one of several armed groups the U.S. military wants abolished.
Thousands of Shiites - frisked by Mahdi Army militiamen in yellow button-down collar shirts and armed with Kalashnikov rifles and metal detector wands - knelt in prayer at a huge outdoor service in Baghdad's Sadr City slum.
The militia that kept order Friday was the same force that went on a rampage of reprisal attacks against Sunni Muslim mosques and clerics after the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra.
Thursday night, after a deadly bomb attack in the poor Shiite neighborhood, police and aides to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr announced the radical leader's militia, the Mahdi Army, would help government security forces patrol Sadr City.
The government decision to legitimize joint patrols with the Mahdi Army - which had been going on anyway - appeared to have tacit U.S. military approval, even though American forces have fought several protracted battles with the Shiite fighters for control of southern holy cities and the Sadr City Shiite stronghold.
Acceptance of the higher profile for the Mahdi Army, if only for a time, signaled the extreme importance U.S. authorities have put on quelling more than a week of deadly sectarian violence after the Samarra bombing.
The Americans took pains to stay out of the conflict - but there was criticism, nevertheless.
Abdul-Salam Al-Kubaisi, a spokesman for the Sunni clerical Association of Muslim Scholars, suggested U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad might share blame for the violence along with some Shiite religious leaders.
Two days before the gleaming dome atop the 1,400-year-old Askariya shrine was bombed, Khalilzad had warned that the United States would not continue to support institutions run by sectarian groups with links to armed militias.
Sunnis accuse Shiite militiamen operating in the ranks of the Interior Ministry, which controls the police, of widespread abuses.
In a teleconference briefing with reporters in Washington on Friday, the U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey, said he believed "the crisis has passed." He added that the militias were "a long-term challenge, a long-term problem and there's no silver-bullet."
Casey said the military hoped some militia members would, over time, be integrated into the Iraqi government forces.
"What we find is that, with the right leadership, even if someone has been a member of a militia, they generally respond favorably and work to support the unit's efforts."
The spasm of violence after the Samarra bombing has further tangled negotiations to form a government and, as a result, threatened American hopes of starting a troop pullout this summer. Sunni, Kurdish and some secular politicians have launched a campaign to deny Shiite Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari a second term.
Nevertheless, Casey said he still planned to issue an assessment this spring on the possibility of starting to withdraw U.S. forces.
The Friday lull in violence followed a night of carnage in two southeastern Baghdad suburbs, where some 50 gunmen stormed an electricity substation and a brick factory nearby where they slaughtered Shiite factory workers in their sleep, police said. The attacks raised Thursday's death toll to 58.
In much of the country Friday, worshippers walked in peace to mosques to offer prayers and listen to sermons, in which some imams - both Shiite and Sunni - called for unity and an end to violence.
"There is no difference between Sunni and Shiite," Sheik Hadi al-Shawki told Shiite worshippers in Amarah, 180 miles southeast of Baghdad. "We have to unite and not let the terrorists divide us."
But anger at the Americans and the Iraqi government found its way to pulpits on both sides of the Shiite-Sunni divide.
In Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, thousands of Sunnis gathered in the Grand Mosque, spilling into the streets and courtyard around the nearby Askariya shrine. Cleric Ahmed Hassan al-Taha accused U.S. forces and their allies of stoking the tension between majority Shiites and minority Sunnis.
"Iraqis were living in harmony until the occupiers and those who came with them arrived in this country. They are responsible for igniting sectarianism," al-Taha said.
Hundreds took to the streets after services in the southern Shiite stronghold of Basra and marched to the Iraqi South Oil Co., threatening to disrupt exports unless the government provides better protection and greater support to local authorities and private militias.
Security forces sealed off Baghdad, preventing most vehicles from entering or leaving the city of 7 million. Armed police and soldiers in bulletproof vests manned checkpoints across the capital, preventing most cars and motorcycles from leaving their neighborhoods.
Downtown was largely deserted. Most shops and gas stations were closed, though small groceries were open. Dozens of young boys turned parts of Baghdad's usually busy Saadoun Street into improvised soccer fields, looking clearly unhappy when the odd car disrupted their games.
A daytime curfew and vehicle restrictions last weekend helped curb the worst of the sectarian killings, but attacks resumed this week.
In scattered attacks Friday, a mortar shell slammed into a market south of Baghdad, killing one person and wounding another. And police found three handcuffed, blindfolded, bullet-riddled bodies across the country.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
01:25 ||
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Chechnyas rebels have slammed Hamas, saying leaders of the Palestinian group had given their blessing to the murder of the Chechen people by meeting top Russian officials, Reuters reported.
The Islamist militant group, which swept to victory in Palestinian elections in January, is currently visitng Moscow in a bid to win support from a major foreign power since it is shunned as a terrorist group by Israel and Washington.
Chechen separatist leaders said the group had sold out its principles, and showed itself as hungry for power as corrupt officials who governed the Palestinians before.
We regret this decision of Hamas. In observing convention, the leaders of Hamas will squeeze the hand of the killers of 250,000 Muslims of Chechnya, among which are 42,000 Chechen children, said Movladi Udugov on web-site www.kavkazcenter.com.
Russian troops have fought for 11 years to crush Chechnyas separatists. Although fighting has waned, soldiers and police still die daily in clashes with rebels.
Udugov, who heads the rebels information service, was using a casualty figure for the 11-year Chechen war several times higher than most estimates, although observers agree that savagery on both sides has killed thousands of civilians.
Their chosen path could once again push the Islamic movement into a political dead end and ideological degeneration. In the end, Hamas risks becoming another Yasser Arafat, Udugov said, referring to the former Palestinian leader whose administration was widely criticised as corrupt.
Russia has said it will press Hamas to accept the road map which seeks to achieve Israeli-Palestinian coexistence and says Hamas must recognise the Israel and renounce violence.
Udugov, who represents the wing of the Chechen rebels that has conducted the worst attacks on civilians of the war, said Hamas was naive to think that the friendship of President Vladimir Putin could give the movement recognition.
It is naive to expect that Putins Russia can be some kind of political partner for the Palestinian people. It is not the communist party that now sits in the Kremlin, but people who have committed appalling crimes, he said.
Akhmed Zakayev, who lives in London and represents the separatists less radical wing, said the visit showed that Hamas did not care about the cause of fellow Muslims in Chechnya.
People justifying the murder of the Chechen people could in no way be seen as friends or comrades of the Chechens, he said in comments on another rebel web-site www.chechenpress.info.
What benefit could the Chechen leaders gain from contacts with a movement that with all its strength tries to establish contacts with the Chechens deadliest enemies.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
01:24 ||
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As E&P noted earlier this week, several newspapers and news bureaus have questioned The Washington Post's blockbuster assertion on Monday that around 1,300 Iraqis had been killed in sectarian violence in the country in recent days. The Post had come up with the number after one of its reporters visited the main morgue. Other news outlets, as well as Iraqi officials, pegged the number much lower, between 300 and 400 dead. Such estimates have often proven far off, however.
Now the dispute threatens to grow more serious. The Post has stood by its reporting, today attributing its numbers to "morgue workers." It charged that offiicals are under "pressure" to keep numbers lower. It has also cited one Gen. Ali Shamarri, described as an official in the Iraq Interior Ministry's "statistics department," as endorsing a count of at least 1,000 dead.
But Thursday night, in a memo to his editors someone posted on the Romenesko site at www.poynter.org, Knight Ridder's Washington editor, Clark Hoyt, raised questions about Shamarri and the 1300 number, calling it a "troubling issue." Indeed, a Google search turned up no mention of Shamarri until this past week. Other news outlets, including The New York Times, cited him in stories but it is unclear if anyone else actually spoke with him, or merely used the Post as a source.
Friday night, Knight Ridder moved a story that concluded:
"In two days of reporting, Knight Ridder reporters have been unable to locate anyone in the interior ministry with Shamarri's name. Shamarri is a tribal name, though, and it's possible that the official in question could use another name, or that the ministry is pressuring him not to come forward. But no one from the Shamarri tribe with that rank and first name could be located in the statistics department or in other parts of the ministry's main offices.
"David Hoffman, the Post's assistant managing editor for foreign news, said that while he wouldn't talk about his paper's sources, he was 'very confident in the validity of the story, and in the soundness of the sources - and I know who they are.'
"Hoffman also said that while some could differ about the precise death toll, he was confident that the general thrust of the Post's report - that more than 1,000 Iraqis died during that critical time - was accurate."
Earlier, Knight Ridder's Hoyt had written:
"Our reporting in Baghdad -- and reporting by other news organizations -- so far has been unable to verify the Post story. The Post quoted officials at the city morgue in Baghdad as saying that they had logged 1,300 bodies of people killed as a result of the sectarian fighting. But when our correspondent examined the books at the morgue, he could find only about 250 bodies logged in as killed in the violence. Our story, quoting the Iraqi Cabinet, said the death toll was 379, which would have included those 250....
"In Baghdad, our correspondents attempted to interview Gen. Shamarri to confirm the Post's account of violence more widespread than previously believed. They were told that no person by the name of Ali Shamarri worked in the statistics department, nor anywhere else in the ministry. We've communicated this finding to the Post."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
01:23 ||
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#1
It's like the NYT's are writing the stories for the AP and the Washington Post these days.
#4
Was the WAPO's "field reporter" a leftover Baathist intelligence agent assigned to the WAPO prewar? Much like Time's Vietnam office was staffed by Vietcong and NVA intelligence. The press is naive and destructive.
Posted by: ed ||
03/04/2006 9:24
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Come on, guys, let's not be too hard on the WaPo. Surely, somewhere on the planet there are 1,300 dead people. They may not all be in Iraq, but that's just quibbling over the geographic distribution. Are we going to bash them for one teensy factual error in their story? This *is* the mainstream media after all. If you want facts, go to an encyclopedia. Or Popular Mechanics.
What I want to know from the WaPo is what ever happened to Bat Boy?
Venezuela begins training a vast army of civilian reserves today to fight off the attack its Left-wing president, Hugo Chavez, says the United States is plotting against it. The oil-rich state aims to teach up to two million volunteers, from the unemployed to office workers, shop assistants and housewives, basic military skills such as marching in step or shooting to kill. If it reaches that size, the force will be the largest civilian reserve army in the Americas, double the size of Washington's reserves.
Remember Sammy's 7 million man Quds Army? That worked well, didn't it? Being experienced, apparently, only with South American armies, Hugo doesn't understand this, but (at the risk of repeating myself): There's a difference between a soldier and a man with a gun. A well-trained and well-led army will beat the rabble waving guns 10 times out of 10.
Its creation will further inflame relations between Venezuela and the US, already characterised by insults and tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats. Mr Chavez, a former paratrooper, has warned repeatedly that the "imperialist enemy" will attempt to crush his socialist revolution in this enormous South American country, which supplies the US with 15 per cent of its oil.
And it looks from here like he's intent on making that happen.
At one military parade Mr Chavez, first elected in 1998, called on his countrymen to prepare for an "assymetric war" against the world's most powerful nation. "If somebody meddles with Venezuela, they'll repent for 100 centuries," he said. "If we have to fight a war to defend this country, we'll make blood flow."
In the normal course of business, U.S. officials mention Venezuela about once every six months or so. Hugo's indulging his delusions of adequacy. He's trying to build the U.S. as the bogeyman to keep the rubes in line. We're distracted by much more important things than another tin-hat dictator at the moment, but at some point we won't be.
Many see the populist leader's warnings as just more of his rabble rousing, anti-American rhetoric. Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, has dismissed any idea of an attack on Venezuela as "ridiculous".
It is at the moment. If Hugo keeps traveling the road he's taken it won't be.
But what began as a war of words is escalating into a more serious confrontation. For example, Mr Chavez has been buying military hardware, including Russian helicopters, 100,000 AK-47 rifles and Brazilian and Spanish equipment he says Venezuela needs to defend itself.
Against... ummm... us?
In response the US warned this week that Venezuela's creeping militarisation could destabilise Latin America, setting for the recent election of a string of Left-wing leaders. John Negroponte, the US national intelligence director, also sounded the alarm at Venezuela's forging of "economic, military and diplomatic ties with Iran and North Korea". These are both members of what the Bush administration has denounced as "axis of evil" regimes suspected of sponsoring terrorism and with an unhealthy interest in weapons of mass destruction.
And Hugo's obviously decided which side he's on.
Mr Chavez claims Venezuela, along with Brazil and Cuba form an "axis of good", united against President George W Bush, the "world's only terrorist". He has even threatened to stop oil supplies to the US. "I will sting those who rattle me, so don't mess with me, Condoleezza," he said recently, blowing a mock kiss to the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice.
Condoleeza could end up messing with him.By the time he's worked his way up the list of clear and present dangers she'll likely be president. She may not have a lot of patience for cliche South American dictators, no matter how gaudy their sashes.
Such strident defiance of the world superpower, seen by many as a bully which has economically raped and pillaged the region for decades, has made Mr Chavez hugely popular.
Gee. Golly. Gosh. I wonder what the Telegraph's opinion is of the U.S.?
In the grimy, litter-strewn capital Caracas his face beams out from posters whipping up national pride and warning the gringos: "Watch out, Latin America is coming."
Wow. 20-foot posters. That's never been done before, has it?
"The people stand firm with their Commander," one poster reads, with Mr Chavez, known by his supporters as El Commandante, giving a military salute.
Is he wearing a tin hat?
"Chavez is the people" reads the slogan under another Che Guevara-like image. Willing "Chavistas" (supporters of the president) are queuing up to enlist in the new reserve force. Many believe their main mission will be more social than military, providing assistance to the poor and first aid in emergencies.
They'll also be used as bully boys to suppress any real freedom...
Many work for the state and some have met informally for months, marching without weapons around car parks and sports grounds, their group leaders calling themselves sergeants and colonels and wearing T-shirts saying "Combatant of the Revolution".
Betcha that gets 'em lots of chicks, too...
During their training over the next five months, they have been told they will be drilled to be "mentally and physically prepared" for all kinds of attack. In return they will receive a monthly income of about 16,000 Bolivares (£4.30) and in some cases, social benefits including free clothes and shoes.
Sounds an awful lot like the SA...
"Venezuela is changing, Latin America is changing and America does not like it," said Alfredo Carquez, who signed up as a reservist in January. "We are not aggressive but we have to be ready to defend ourselves. If I have to, I'm ready to use a gun to defend the people."
Alfredo's little corner of Latin America is merely reverting to type. I have no idea why they're so enamored of men on horseback. Maybe it's in the genes.
Another recent recruit who combines his new role with a day job at a state-owned oil firm, said: "Until very recently, the military anywhere in Latin America was associated with oppression, dictatorship and murder. But now we are learning that military can be on the side of the people."
Looking forward to a bit of murder, rape and mayhem of his own, is he?
But many Venezuelans see Mr Chavez, not the US, as the real threat. They are increasingly afraid the civilian reserves will be used to intimidate and, if necessary, suppress the opposition as he campaigns to win six more years in power later this year.
Gee. Golly. Y'think?
A message written in the dusty window of a Caracas van sent a silent plea to the US not to invade but to rescue the Venezuelans from their maverick leader. "We are counting on you, Condoleezza. Intervene, please."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
01:16 ||
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For example, Mr Chavez has been buying military hardware, including Russian helicopters, 100,000 AK-47 rifles and Brazilian and Spanish equipment he says Venezuela needs to defend itself.
Ummmm, from who?
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/04/2006 8:07
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"Watch out, Latin America is coming."
We know, it's almost planting time, beware the new border guards in your quest for illegal jobs.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/04/2006 8:13
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In return they will receive a monthly income of about 16,000 Bolivares (£4.30) and in some cases, social benefits including free clothes and shoes.
You know, I was being Snarky in the comments above until I read this line, about ten bucks a month, and maybe some new shoes and clothes? Ye Gods what abject poverty.
We can end this shit permanantly by simply allowing the migrant workers from Venezuela to earn a seasonal non-transferable "Workers Visa"
His army will evaporate like the morning dew.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/04/2006 8:21
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It's pretty obvious that this bird has Napoleonic intentions--South American style. This can mean any number of pipe dreams and Castro ambitions. But, in the final analysis, it means turning Venezuela into an enterprise whose sole purpose is to support Chavez, and to heck with anybody else.
#5
You know, I'm a bit slow this morning, I just had a HE WANTS TO DO WHAT? moment.
He's taking pesants (The only folks poor enough to be interested) and teaching them how to use guns?
Hell, he's funding his own revolution, there's no need to do anything at all here, just ignore Chavez for a year or so, and deal with the new rulers.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/04/2006 8:30
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People's Army = Dignity Batallions...and we ALL remember how effective THOSE were in stopping the Yanquis. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dignity_Battalions
BTW, how is Mr Noriega these days?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/04/2006 12:26
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Pretty depressed. His prison health care doesn't cover dermabrasion.
I think that Hugo wants to do in Latin America what the Saudis did in Dar Al Islam. He's got lots of money and he thinks that he can array Latin America around his pole (Freudian pun intended) if he can find the right ideology. He's tried indianismo, socialism, and bolivarismo, whatever the hell that is.* I sometimes think that the only real ideology that get folks excited in Latin America is corruption. I don't believe that he has enough dinero to buy off everyone down there. If he could get his hands on the drug _and_ the oil money and if he could leverage off the Cubans' security apparatus, he might have a shot at putting together a real Saudi-style, post modern empire. Fortunately for us, he is a moron.
* I'm being somewhat coy here. Bolivarismo should scare folks somewhat. Remember, Bolivar wanted a federated Spanish Latin America. His original rebublic was composed of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. So there is some definite imperialist overtone's to Hugo's rhetoric.
#19
But wait! There's more ...
Call right now and get a free elastic tummyband.
That's right, we'll include this girdle high quality elastic stomach minimizer FREE when you purchase the amazing Suzanne Summers Sash-ay Exercise Program ...
The United Nations is asking the United States and other nations with big militaries to provide tactical air support for an ill-equipped African Union peacekeeping force in Sudan's Darfur region.
'Other nations with big militaries'? Who would that be?
With the security situation deteriorating on the ground, the AU force will need more international support in the coming months, even if its mission eventually is to be taken over by a U.N. force, Annan wrote U.S. Ambassador John Bolton in a Feb. 23 letter seen by Reuters on Friday.
At the U.N. Security Council's request, Annan has begun planning for a shift from an AU force to a larger and better equipped U.N. mission for the troubled area. But Sudan has begun lobbying AU states to reject a changeover to a U.N. mission from the AU force, which numbers about 7,000 troops and is known as AMIS.
Under pressure from the Khartoum government, AU foreign ministers at the last minute put off for a week a planned Friday vote to invite the United Nations to take over.
Then they'll put it off for another week. Annd then another.
Even if the shift is approved soon, Security Council members and U.N. planners say it could then take eight to nine months to assemble and deploy the new force.
As opposed to the 82nd Airborne, which can put a brigade anywhere in the world in 24 hours.
In the interim, AMIS must get the international help it needs to keep functioning, Annan told Bolton. "Given the continued and serious deterioration in the security situation in Darfur, the support to AMIS should perhaps include the provision of new and additional capabilities including close air support," he said. "I would be grateful if governments in a position to provide such capabilities at short notice could consider this possibility," Annan said.
U.N. officials said Annan was referring to a need for combat helicopters and their crews. Although his letter did not directly ask the United States for the helicopters, Annan counts it among the countries able to provide them, they said.
Washington has declared the conflict in Darfur to be genocide and has pushed hard for rapid U.N. deployment there. A resolution adopted by the U.S. Senate on Friday urged President George W. Bush to take swift action in Darfur.
Annan has repeatedly called on wealthy nations such as the United States to contribute more than just money to an eventual U.N. force in Darfur. But the Bush administration has yet to say what it could provide beyond help with the planning.
If they would let us run it and leave our hands unbound, I could think of ways of solving the Darfur problem rather quickly ....
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
01:14 ||
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#1
The United Nations is asking the United States and other nations with big militaries
#5
Security Council members and U.N. planners say it could then take eight to nine months to assemble and deploy the new force.
Not only do these UN guys have no shame, but they do not have a clue. I am somewhat clued in on logistics, not an expert by any means. But I could easily have a fully catered spread over there in a week. I do not see what the problem is.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/04/2006 11:21
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"...other nations with big militaries...governments in a position to provide such capabilities...countries able to provide them...called on wealthy nations..."
#9
Alaska Paul, yep, you can have the catered spread in a week, but the five star resort will take a little more time. You don't expect them to be in tents, do you?
#10
I don't know, I think it would be appropriate to send in a dozen AC-130 "Spectre" gunships, with F/A-18 fighter protection, for a few months. It would only take one two-ship mission to teach one large group of Jangaweed that they're not the "greatest fighting force on Earth", and that their Allan won't protect them from real firepower. That seems to be a lesson the entire Arab world needs to learn, and consistently fails to grasp. Of course, I'd insist the rules of engagement be established by the Pentagon, not Turtle Bay, and that operational control be assigned to the local US commander. Otherwise, this has possibilities.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/04/2006 16:15
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Also, do not forget absolute immunity from the ICS or no deal. That is the biggest danger of any of these UN "requests", that they are being used as a backdoor method to get the US into the ICS.
European Union negotiators yesterday walked away empty handed from talks with Iran two days before its nuclear programme is due to be discussed by the United Nations nuclear watchdog.
The eleventh hour meeting was attended by a senior Foreign Office official, the French and German foreign ministers and the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, at Iran's request.
The Iranians reiterated their demand to be allowed to continue "laboratory research" into uranium enrichment, a key technique Iran would need to master before it could build a bomb.
Iran's demand is regarded as unacceptable by the United States, Europe and Russia.
On Monday, Iran's behaviour will once again be under review by the International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-nation board of governors in Vienna.
A month ago, the same board showed unusual unity in voting to report Iran to the UN Security Council - a first step to possibly imposing sanctions on Iran. But, at the same time, the board gave Iran one last month to prove it was suspending uranium enrichment work and to return to the negotiating table in good faith. That deadline ends on Monday.
Russia's foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, expressed disquiet at the prospect of Iran's case heading to the Security Council, saying such referrals had a tendency to escalate crises.
Europe had ruled out the use of force, Mr Lavrov said, but not the United States.
Russia has offered Iran a face-saving route out of the current stand-off, pretending to believe Iranian promises that it is only building a civilian nuclear power programme.
Russia has offered to enrich uranium for that peaceful programme on its own territory, then export it to Iran - but only at the level of enrichment suitable for power generation. A bomb would require much more concentrated fuel.
However, talks on that offer this month have failed, in the face of Teheran's insistence on maintaining a research capability for enrichment.
That insistence and other evidence have led France to conclude that Teheran has already "taken the decision to put itself in a position to build a bomb", as one senior French official put it.
France believes Iran already has all the materials needed to build a nuclear weapon and wants to master the techniques for building one, the official told a group of reporters.
France also believes that Iran began talks with Europe in 2003 as a tactical ruse, while it was patiently and secretly acquiring weapons technology.
In early 2005, by French assessment, Teheran decided that the talks with Europe, involving a suspension of enrichment research and regular IAEA inspections, were holding back their work.
It is believed that later last year the newly elected president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, decided to start a run towards making a bomb.
Britain now finds itself in the unusual position of being the most dove-like of the three European powers, insisting on the merits of continued dialogue for the sake of dialogue, while France and Germany argue that Iran seems determined on arming with nuclear weapons.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
01:14 ||
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Odd though it may sound, somewhere in Baghdad a man is working in secrecy to edit new Arabic versions of Liberalism, by the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises, and In Defense of Global Capitalism, by the Swedish economist Johan Norberg. He is doing this at some risk of kidnap, beating, and death, because he hopes that a new Arabic-language Web site, called LampofLiberty.org -- MisbahAlHurriyya.org in Arabic -- can change the world by publishing liberal classics.
Odder still, he may be right.
Intellectual isolation is a widespread Arab phenomenon, not just an Iraqi one. Some of the statistics are startling. Interviewed by e-mail, he asks to be known by a pseudonym, H. Ali Kamil. A Shiite from Iraq's south, he is an accomplished scholar, but he asks that no other personal details be revealed. Two of his friends have been killed in the postwar insurgency and chaos, one shot and the other "slaughtered." Others of his acquaintance are in hiding, visiting their families in secret. He has been threatened for working with an international agency.
Now he is collaborating not with foreign agencies but with foreign ideas. He has made Arabic translations of all or parts of more than two dozen articles and nine books and booklets. "None," he says, "were previously translated, to my knowledge, for the simple reason that they are all on liberalism and democracy, which unfortunately have little audience and advocators in the Middle East, where almost all publishing houses and press outlets are governmental -- i.e., anti-liberal."
Kamil's work is anonymous out of fear, not modesty. Translating Frederic Bastiat's The Law, he says, took 20 days of intense labor. "I am proud of that, especially when I knew that the book has never been translated before. This is one of the works my heart is aching for not having my name in its front page."
Asked how he began this work, he recounts meeting an American who was lecturing in Baghdad on principles of constitutional government. The message struck home. "Yes, you could say I am libertarian," Kamil says. "I believe in liberty for all, equality and human rights, freedom and democracy, free-market ethics, and I hate extremism in everything. I believe in life more than death as being the way to happiness."
Intellectual isolation is a widespread Arab phenomenon, not just an Iraqi one. Some of the statistics are startling. According to the United Nations' 2003 "Arab Human Development Report" five times more books are translated annually into Greek, a language spoken by just 11 million people, than into Arabic. "No more than 10,000 books were translated into Arabic over the entire past millennium," says the U.N., "equivalent to the number translated into Spanish each year." Authors and publishers must cope with the whims of 22 Arab censors. "As a result," writes a contributor to the report, "books do not move easily through their natural markets. Newspapers are a fifth as common as in the non-Arab developed world; computers, a fourth as common. "Most media institutions in Arab countries remain state-owned," the report says.
No wonder the Arab world and Western-style modernity have collided with a shock. They are virtually strangers, 300 years after the Enlightenment and 200 years after the Industrial Revolution. Much as other regions may be cursed with disease or scarcity, in recent decades the Arab world has been singularly cursed with bad ideas. First came Marxism and its offshoots; then the fascistic nationalism of Nasserism and Baathism; now, radical Islamism. Diverse as those ideologies are, they have in common authoritarianism and the suppression of any true private sphere. Instead of withering as they have done in open competition with liberalism, they flourished in the Arab world's relative isolation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2006
01:04 ||
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#1
"We must make a death fatwa against the evil, infidel crusader Thomas Paine!"
#5
Translate and circulate great literature. Millions of copies. Even better than cartoons! Thirsty minds might find other ideas appealing. Particurarly when they find they are not alone in their thinking.
#6
There's something innately satisfying about corrupting and co-opting someone else's intelligensia.(sp?) Especialy after what the soviets did to our "Intelektualshuls".
Tremble and despair Tyrants, for your doom is nigh!
Posted by: N guard ||
03/04/2006 11:01
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Maybe some linguist can clarify. Is it true that the Arabic definition of "Intellectual Innovation" is the same as "Heresy"?
MUNSHIGANJ, Mar 3: A top terror of Dhaka city was killed in an encounter between his cohorts and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) at Sreedharpur of Shekharnagar here early Friday, reports UNB.
I think they use Fred's name generator on their towns.
The deceased was identified as Kala Faruk, 45, son of Chunnu Miah of Baroikhali village in Sreenagar Upazila. He was wanted on twelve systems in a double murder and other criminal cases, police said.
And his mother definitely didn't love him.
RAB arrested Faruk from his village home along with his one accomplice Pappu Thursday morning and recovered a gun from his possession.
"Hoo boy, youse carrying a gun 'round here Kala? That's going to cost youse. Why don't youse come wit us to the station."
According to his gibbering confessional statement, RAB took him to Shekharnagar, 50 km away from the town, at about 5 am to recover hidden arms.
A little late in the morning, but they had the travel time -- wonder if the RAB gets a mileage allowance?
As soon as the law enforcers along with Faruk reached nearby Sreedharpur, his cohorts opened fire on the elite force forcing them to return the fire.
And no one got hit. It's like an Italian war movie.
Faruk was caught in the encounter while trying to flee and died on the spot, said the elite force.
The RAB sensibly decided that no autopsy was needed, since they had already established, as it were, the cause of death.
RAB recovered one pistol and one shutter gun from the spot.
After which the shutter gun was carefully put back into its molded case.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2006
00:59 ||
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No word on the fate of accomplice Pappu. I'm getting worried...
The Secret Service is not the only agency losing sleep over President Bush's trip to Pakistan. In many ways, the security challenges of the trip pale in comparison to the many riddles and incongruities that other parts of the foreign policy bureaucracy have been trying to overcome regarding this trip.
First and foremost among the administration's preoccupations is to fully understand the nature and structure of the terror threat in Pakistan. The bombing Thursday in Karachi illustrates a fundamental and irreversible mutation in the nature of al Qaeda. Although it is still too early to formally identify the perpetrators, and as in the London bombings we may never fully uncover the attack's trail back to Osama bin Laden or his lieutenants, it is safe to assume that the attack is the product of a phenomenon best described as the "Pakistanization" of al Qaeda.
While it was created in Pakistan in 1988, and with important input from several Pakistani clerics and veterans of the jihad against the Soviets, al Qaeda remained for many years essentially an Arab organization, drawing mostly on Ayman al Zawahri's Egyptian terrorist networks and bin Laden's Saudi and Yemeni recruits.
Turkey said yesterday it would shortly scrap the death penalty in times of war, bringing it into line with the European Union, which it aspires to join. Turkey abolished the death penalty in peacetime in August 2002 as part of a package of human rights reforms aimed at persuading the EU to open membership talks.
The talks began last October but are expected to last many years. The policy will come into effect on June 1. Turkey has executed no one since 1984.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2006
00:43 ||
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OK, we've purged our laws of common sense. Can we sit at the table with the popular kids now?
#2
Lol, ryuge - nailed it, heh. This groveling performance is rather sad, methinks. 20 years ago, Turkey had stones and spine and was a trustworthy ally. Today, they're just a schizophrenic mess.
On Monday, February 27, Tunisian President Zine Abidine Ben Ali released over 1,600 prisoners by official pardonsome 70 of them considered to be Islamists from the outlawed al-Nahda (awakening) movementmany of whom had been jailed on terrorism-related charges.
Nearly 1,300 of the prisoners were released unconditionally, while 359 others were released on unspecified conditions. The government statement announcing the release also mentioned that 260 of the freed prisoners were released under special conditions that they report to the government and take other unspecified measures to ensure that they do not re-offend (Radio Tunis, February 26).
The Tunisian government did not provide the identities of all those released. Unnamed sources within the government confirmed that these 260 were mainly from al-Nahda. Military and civilian courts had previously sentenced 100 leaders and senior members from the movement to lengthy sentences, many of them life-terms.
Al-Nahda was established and is led by Rachid Ghannouchi, a former leader of al-Jamaa al-Islamiyya (the Islamic Group), and then the Islamic Tendency Movement, which later became al-Nahda. Ghannouchi serves as the chairman of al-Nahda from London, where he has been living as a political refugee since 1991. He has been sentenced to life in absentia on multiple occasions by Tunisian courts. While using language favorable to supporters of democracy and liberalization, Ghannouchi firmly intends to establish an Islamic republic in Tunisia.
In addition, al-Nahda has received funding from al-Taqwa Bankthe financing group run by Idris Nasreddin that has been named as a financier of terrorism by the U.S. and UN.
A statement on the al-Nahda website said that 75 of their members were among the released prisoners. Another statement on their website provided telephone numbers of some of the released prisoners, "for those brothers who wish to send them [the freed prisoners] congratulations"an indication of a grass-roots nature to their movement.
They also issued a separate release on the fate of another group, "the Internet Prisoners"a group of youth from the southern city of Zarzis. The al-Nahda statement said that the group was released two days after the others, without any comment on the delay or quiet release. The youth were sentenced last year to sentences ranging from 10-30 years for visiting banned Islamist websites.
It appears that al-Nahda intends to mobilize Tunisians following the pardon to gain support for political expression in Tunisia and to pressure the government for reforms. This may be a legitimate cause of concern for growing extremism in Tunisia, however, as many analysts have tied the group to radical Islamist groups in the Middle East.
President Ben Ali has repeatedly stated that he fears al-Qaeda and other like-minded extremist groups are trying to gain a foothold in Tunisia. Yet, the motives behind this move to release previously-considered extremists are not entirely clear. One possibility is that Ben Ali believes al-Nahda and their sympathizers are weaker and that he is ultimately better offby his move to pardon the prisoners, many of whom were considered political prisoners both domestically and internationally. Of greater importance than this, however, is external pressure from the U.S.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld visited Tunisia as part of a North African tour on February 11. He said Tunisia had been a constructive partner in the campaign against global terrorism and that he did not believe the country was at great risk for al-Qaeda to take up roots. Yet, a senior official traveling with Rumsfeld told the Washington Post, "As with Egypt, we're nudging Tunisia to be creative and reform-minded, and it's delicate."
The commentsalong with the speech Rumsfeld delivered at the Council on Foreign Relations in which he admitted to falling behind in the media warseem to indicate a shift in U.S. policy toward allies in the war on terrorism. In the larger picture, it is quite possible that the Pentagon now believes that tyrannical political climates serve jihadi recruiters, and are ultimately counter-productive for combating terrorism.
Ben Ali's pardon is the most significant step toward openness in Tunisia in the last ten years. In doing so, he is gambling that the potential instability generated from the release of these prisoners is outweighed by the effects of the pardon. For the decades under Ben Ali's rule, human rights organizations have strongly criticized his clampdown on freedom of expression in Tunisia. Moreover, while Tunisia's prosperity and stability in relation to other Middle Eastern countries has allowed the system to stay in place, Ben Ali's move to release the prisoners may be in response to a growing discontentment with the status quo.
There has not been any significant violence in Tunisia since al-Qaeda members carried out a suicide bombing in 2002 at a synagogue on the resort island of Djerba that killed 14 people, most of them German tourists. It may be that the momentum Ben Ali gained from that incident has died out, or that he is acting in response to U.S. pressure to reform. Yet in either scenario, if greater numbers of Tunisiansyouth in particularare now able to access more information from the Internet, something must compete with jihadi-themed websites if Tunisia is to keep extremism at bay.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
00:42 ||
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Conventional national militaries train, think, and fight according to their doctrine. To date, however, America and the West have not sufficiently appreciated that al-Qaeda, too, is fighting the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan according to a doctrine of its own. That doctrine has been developed from the group's experiences during the Afghan war against the Red Army, and has matured through each of the insurgencies in which bin Laden's fighters have since been involved, from Eritrea to Xinjiang to Mindanao. In presenting their doctrine, al-Qaeda's strategists also have tipped their turbans to the significant lessons they have learned from Sun Tzu, Clausewitz, Mao, General Giap, and even Ahmed Shah Masood, as well from the training manuals of the U.S. and UK Marines and Special Forces. Ironically, al-Qaeda strategists have discussed all of these matters for years in their Internet journals, but this discussion has garnered little interest in Western essays.
The corpus of al-Qaeda's writings on the development and application of its insurgency doctrine is too diverse and voluminous to discuss in a single article. For present purposes, it will suffice to look at some of the insurgency-related work of five of the group's strategists: the late Abu-Hajer Abd-al-Aziz al-Muqrin, Abu Ubyad al-Qurashi, Abu-Ayman al-Hilali, Abd-al-Hadi, and Sayf-al-Din al-Ansari. These writings discuss the need to conduct the political and military facets of an insurgency in tandem. They are especially worth reviewing now because of the success al-Qaeda is having in using its doctrine against U.S.-led forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, a success that has prompted U.S. Defense Secretary Rumsfeld to rename the Global War on Terror as the "Long War" and to publicly lament that al-Qaeda is beating the U.S. in the political war being fought in the media. The essays used herein to analyze al-Qaeda's insurgency doctrine were published between January 2002 and February 2004 in the al-Qaeda Internet journals al-Ansar, al-Neda, and Mu'askar al-Battar.
The mayor of a southern Philippine city was shot dead Friday by two unidentified gunmen, one of whom was later killed, the military said.
Three other people were injured in the attack on Luis Biel, the mayor of Isabela City in Basilan province, according to the armed forces' southern command. "The victims had just stepped out of city hall when two gunmen blocked their way and started firing at them," the southern command said.
Provincial health officer Nilo Barandino said Biel died while being treated in hospital. One of Biel's security escorts shot and killed one of the gunmen, but the other man managed to escape.
Police are still trying to determine the motive behind the attack, including the possibility that it could be linked to Biel's order to demolish a mosque built on government land.
Brilliant, officer, simply brilliant. How do you do it?
Muslims in Basilan have protested Biel's order, based on a 1989 local court decision.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
00:39 ||
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Basilan has had relative peace for the last couple years. The growth at Port Isabella due to commerce is amazing, and a good model for other places. They were pushing the squatters back to make room for a shopping center and there is a small mosque there. They offered to build another one but some of the muzzies there objected. The shooter killed him over it. No doubt the bulldozers will be fired up today and clear off the land.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
03/04/2006 1:49
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Around 500,000 Venezuelans will start a four-month military training programme today to turn them into members of the country's territorial guard. They are the first group of a total of 2m Venezuelan civilians who have so far signed up to become armed reservists. By the summer of 2007, Venezuela is likely to have the largest military reserve in the Americas, which is expected to be almost double the size of that in the United States.
The huge recruitment drive is part of President Hugo Chávez's plan to create a people's army that would answer directly to him in the event of civil unrest or an armed conflict. General Alberto Muller Rojas, one of the members of the army high command who helped to devise the new thinking in military strategy being adopted by Venezuela's leftwing government, said: "If for example the United States were to invade Venezuela one day, and that's what many people are expecting, the only way we could repel such an attack would be a full scale guerrilla war against the foreign aggressors.
A bunch of civilians with guns wouldn't stop our guys if it came to that. But they would be handy for intimidating their neighbors.
"Our professional army only numbers 80,000 soldiers, so we would need to use civilians like in Iraq to fight the Yankee forces."
Professional military men are shaking their heads.
Top military officials are confident that a reserve force of 2m, or one in five adults, would be sufficient to dissuade any country from invading Venezuela, the world's fifth biggest oil exporter and fifth biggest supplier of crude oil to the US.
Many of Venezuela's state-owned companies, such as the oil giant PDVSA, have started their own territorial guard units. However, they are being asked to join the formal training programme offered by the armed forces.
Richard Arrais, 40, a marketing executive who works at PDVSA's headquarters in Caracas, has his own office and works in a nine-to-five job Mondays to Fridays. But once a week he and his friends meet up as reservists. He said: "Since January we've been holding informal meetings to discuss military tactics and to receive courses such as first aid.
"But the training starting this Saturday will be tougher. There will be drill, weapons training and assault courses, as well as a military exercise in the countryside."
Mr Arrais and others like him say they are happy to give up every Saturday in defence of their fatherland and the values of President Chávez's socialist revolution. They believe internal opposition forces and the United States could strike at any moment.
Swallowed the party line whole, did he?
So far service in the territorial guard is voluntary. But the Venezuelan parliament is studying proposals to make it obligatory for all Venezuelan adults to join the territorial guard.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2006
00:38 ||
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Territorial Guard = Republican Guard.
Numbers no longer count. Warfare has once again leap an envolutionary level. Its quality, skill, and ruthless application of force. If we learned one thing about the Iraq enterprise, it is that if we're going to 'do' someplace like Venezuela, best to first win the civil war at home and then go get the foreigners. Though I suspect the hot civil war is not too far off, on the lines of Bloody Kansas.
TWO of the terrorists behind the 2002 Bali bombings continue to plot attacks from their hideout in The Philippines and regularly use satellite phones to contact extremists in Indonesian prisons and in Malaysia.
Dulmatin and Umar Patek, along with four or five fellow militants and their wives and children, have been hiding in the jungles of the southern Philippines where they continue the fight against the West, according to terror expert and International Crisis Group Southeast Asia director Sidney Jones.
But they are keeping in touch with their counterparts throughout Southeast Asia.
"They are ringing and they talk to their friends in Indonesian prisons and their friends in Malaysia," Ms Jones said.
The US State Department has offered $US10million for the capture of electronics expert Dulmatin and $US1million for Patek.
Both were leading extremists in the terror network Jemaah Islamiah, however, Ms Jones said they were now working closely with the Philippines militant force Abu Sayyaf.
Dulmatin, a veteran of the Afghan jihad, had been recruited as an Abu Sayyaf commander, she added.
JI and Abu Sayyaf have been linked with Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'ida network, and Dulmatin's experience in assembling the Bali bombs may have been drawn upon in The Philippines.
Nicknamed The Genius, the 35-year-old Indonesian is thought to have been a protege of master bomb-maker Azahari bin Husin, the JI leader who was shot dead by police in Java last year.
A team of Australian Federal Police officers is in The Philippines to help hunt for the militants, who have twice been reported dead. Ms Jones said the terrorists' hideout had been found in the past, and air-strikes carried out, but no trace of their bodies had been found.
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo last month ordered the Philippines military to track down Dulmatin and Patek, who experts believe have evaded capture by frequently moving camp.
"They are actively engaged," Ms Jones said. "They are writing materials about the jihad in The Philippines which are posted on websites, they are making CDs in Arabic to seek money in the Middle East and they are trying to recruit new people for pay-as-you-go training."
An extremist now on trial in Jakarta for providing assistance to terrorists helped Patek and Dulmatin flee Indonesia shortly after the 2002 Bali bombings. Abdullah Sunata told police Patek had sent him seven guns in April or May 2004 to use in the Indonesian province of Ambon, where sectarian conflict raged until 2002, and where sporadic violence has continued.
Australian Federal Police Commissioner Mick Keelty said in Jakarta this week that capturing Dulmatin and Patek was crucial in the fight against terror.
The bombers are high on the list of Asia's most wanted men, following the 2002 Bali blasts which killed 202 people, including 88 Australians.
Dulmatin allegedly helped assemble the bombs used at the Sari Club and Paddy's Bar, and Patek is believed to have been an assistant field co-ordinator for the operation.
CHICAGO - The interrogation tactics of Israeli security forces were put on trial in a US courtroom Friday as part of the prosecution of an American citizen accused of funneling million of dollars to the radical Palestinian group Hamas.
Lawyers for Muhammed Salah argued that any statements made to Israeli security forces must be suppressed because they claim they were obtained through torture and are therefore inadmissible in a US court. What happened to him was shocking to the conscience, defense attorney Michael Deutsch told the court as he described beatings, sexual assault, sleep deprivation and other psychological and physical strains imposed upon his client.
Doesn't offer any evidence for it, naturally.
Prosecutors repeatedly called Salah a liar and said they would call several members of the Israeli security forces as witnesses to prove that Salah was not tortured. Judge, there is no purpose, no benefit to these witnesses voluntarily coming to subject themselves and their governments personal and national security interests to aggressive probing about an Americans claim of torture if they did the things that Muhammed Salah says, said assistant US attorney Joe Ferguson.
Salah spent nearly five years in an Israeli prison in the mid-1990s after admitting he committed a number of crimes on behalf of Hamas. He was charged by US prosecutors in August 2004 with operating a 15-year racketeering conspiracy in which he provided material support to terrorists along with Abdelhaleem Ashqar of Virginia and Hamas leader Mousa Marzook, who is considered a fugitive living in Syria.
Salah was arrested at a military checkpoint in January 1993 and has accused Israeli soldiers of beating him, blindfolding him and driving him around for hours before taking him to an interrogation center in Ramallah.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2006
00:32 ||
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Who needs Twinkies when he has EZT (evil zionist thugs)?
Decisions made by a capable Iraqi government and executed by capable Iraqi security forces have limited damage and saved lives during recent violence, a Multinational Force Iraq spokesman in Baghdad said today.
"The Iraqi government, at the point of crisis, decided to impose certain emergency measures," Army Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch told reporters during a news conference. "They relied on the Iraqi security forces to implement those measures. "
To date, beginning with the Feb. 22 bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, there have been 33 attacks on mosques across Iraq, Lynch said. The attacks destroyed a second mosque and caused significant damage to seven others.
In response to the Shiite-vs. -Sunni sectarian violence, which has resulted in the confirmed deaths of 319 civilians and 21 mostly peaceful protests, the Iraqi government put its security forces on full alert. It also relied on curfews and a vehicle ban in Baghdad, measures that worked to dampen violence during last year's constitutional referendum and elections, to keep violence from escalating out of control, Lynch said.
Civilian murders increased after the officials lifted the curfews and vehicle ban, Lynch said, because the enemy also used the down time to prepare for surge operations. However, the general added, the measures probably saved many lives.
"Over the last three days, just inside Baghdad, we've seen seven (vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices), one suicide attack and one IED," he said. Seventy-one civilians were killed in those attacks and 62 were injured.
Lynch said despite the increased attack level, "it could have been much, much worse. "
Ongoing joint operations in Anbar province are focused on disrupting the insurgency and defeating Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's network, which is orchestrating these attacks to incite sectarian violence, Lynch said.
The operation is continuing with good effects, he said. For example, one 30 miles northeast of Fallujah on Feb. 27 uncovered an al Qaeda facility used for training and bomb making.
"Detailed planning and execution led to the apprehension of 61 members of the Zarqawi network in Iraq, to include some of his critical facilitators," Lynch said. "Inside this facility was clearly indications of bomb making (and) munitions. Many weapons were confiscated. "
However, Lynch said, operations in Anbar, Iraq's largest province, also must "work to meet the needs of the people in that province. We've seen great outreach from the national government to the provincial government in al Anbar. "
Improving security is a main issue, he said. Officials have decided that Anbar, by the end of the year, should have an 11,330-person strong police force representative of the province. The current police force totals 3,300, Lynch said.
"There's going to be an active recruiting . . . and training program to outfit the al Anbar police with folks from al Anbar," he said, adding that two Iraqi army divisions are in the province as well.
Lynch said the people of the province as well as the national government want residents to fill the ranks to bring those divisions up to their desired end-strength.
Anbar's governor and its council also have submitted a list of reconstruction projects they want completed. The Iraqi prime minister has dedicated $75 million to these projects.
"So we're seeing progress in al Anbar, not just along on the security line," but also on the governance line and the economic line,' Lynch said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
00:28 ||
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But, but, isn't there a civil war?
Posted by: Captain America ||
03/04/2006 0:42
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Yeah, the NYT promised a civil war. So where's the civil war?
#4
Speaking of civil wars and 48 hours, wonder if they got the Z man, or was it rumor?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/04/2006 11:34
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If we did, it will be more than 48 hrs I think. Gotta coordinate all the quick-turn raids .... although I think this one, like Saddam, is a sociopathic sadist and will hold out against initial interrogation.
Days of bloodshed between religious sects in Iraq show that the United States still has work to do to achieve a new, broadly representative Iraqi government, a top State Department official said Friday.
Sectarian attacks and reprisal killings that began with the bombing of a revered Shiite mosque are troubling, but do not necessarily portend further violence or civil war, James Jeffrey, senior adviser for Iraq to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said in an Associated Press interview.
"It indicates that the path to national reconciliation and the path to a national compact that we're striving so much for has a ways to go," Jeffrey said. "It means we better continue working and work harder on it."
Jeffrey said that al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is the "likely suspect" in the mosque bombing, although he said there is no clear evidence of that. He added that although neighboring Iran is trying to increase its political pull among Iraq's factions, "we see no specific line that leads you directly to Iran in any of what happened in the last week and a half."
Earlier Friday, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq said the situation has improved but conceded a major new terrorist attack would threaten stability anew.
"Now, it appears that the crisis has passed," Gen. George Casey said in a briefing from Baghdad with reporters at the Pentagon. "But we all should be clear: Iraqis remain under threat of terrorist attack by those who will stop at nothing to undermine the formation of the constitutionally elected government."
He added, "I think it's safe to say that a major attack, particularly on a religious site, would have a significant impact on the situation here coming in the next couple of days."
Casey said officials routinely hear about probable terrorist activity. He would not confirm reports that intelligence has picked up warnings that a high profile attack in Iraq is being planned by al-Qaeda.
Casey said he still plans to make recommendations on troop withdrawals to the administration this spring. But he said Iraq's sectarian militias are a long-term problem for the government, and "there's no silver-bullet quick solution to it."
During the violence sparked by the mosque attack, there were increased problems with private armed militias, particularly lapses by Iraqi security forces. Casey said that while Iraqi forces responded fairly well, there were several instances where militia members were allowed to pass through security checkpoints.
"It will take a holistic effort to get at the militia issue," he said. "I do not believe that we will ultimately succeed until the Iraqi security forces, the police and the military, are the only ones in Iraq with guns."
In the short-term, he said Iraqi forces must continue to try to integrate the militia into the security forces.
"This incident and its aftermath has highlighted for the Iraqi government the need to deal with the militia issue in the very near future," said Casey. He called it "a difficult few days here in Iraq that came at a very sensitive time."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
00:26 ||
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A section of the 1,600 page book authored by Abu Musab al-Suri , The International Islamic Resistance Call, was recently distributed to jihadist forums by the Global Islamic Media Front, an al-Qaeda mouthpiece. The chapter titled: Oil Among the Poor People and the Mockery of the Rulers, elaborates upon the disparity between the wealth of those Persian Gulf states from oil revenue and the depravity of a vast majority of their respective peoples in terms of socioeconomic status, education, and health. Al-Suri argues that this is due to the legendary historical racket that the West has been running, chiefly led by America, the NATO-membership European countries and Russia and further, he states that these nations are the Crusader enemy that invades us today, funding the wars that kill our children with our own money. Thus the West, in collaboration with the double-agent Muslim governments that serve both the Crusader and their own private interests, are stealing the oil wealth and subjugating the Muslims.
Al-Suri cites historical examples of Western encroachment in the Middle Eastern economy and politics in Syria, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Kuwait, as he portrays oil and the desire for the control of its Gulf reserves as detrimental to the Ummah, or Muslim nation. He states that the Ummah, has lost its will for it has been usurped by America and the West, which infiltrate their school curriculum and mosque sermons, and render them impotent before their rulers, who are in turn impotent before the West.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
00:24 ||
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usurped by America and the West, which infiltrate their school curriculum and mosque sermons
Darn! I sure wish that was true!
Crusader enemy that invades us today, funding the wars that kill our children with our own money. Thus the West, in collaboration with the double-agent Muslim governments that serve both the Crusader and their own private interests, are stealing the oil wealth and subjugating the Muslims.
Haha! Cause and effect don't seem to be a strong in the Arab cognitive toolkit. Oh, well, I would be all for developing our oil and other sources of energy so we don't steal buy oil from the Arabs anymore. They can then drink it. You know, "One glass of oil per day keeps the crusader away!"
LONDON Libyan authorities released 130 political prisoners on Thursday, including 83 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Libyan activist said. Ashour Shamis, who is based in London, told Reuters the prisoners were freed in the capital Tripoli. Two of them had been sentenced to death and 10 to life imprisonment in a trial in 2001.
Libyan Justice Minister Ali Omar Abu Bakr confirmed the releases, but denied they were political prisoners. The detainees set free today numbered 130, he told reporters in Libya. But we want to say Libya did not have and does not have political prisoners in its jails.
Membership of a political party constitutes treason in the oil-exporting country.
In Cairo, Egypts opposition leader Mohamed Mahdi Akef welcomed the move as the opening of a new chapter in reforms and the spreading of liberties. Small batches of political detainees have been released in recent years on behalf of the Gaddafi Charity Foundation, a group run by the Libyan leaders son Saif Al Islam which aims to improve Libyas human rights record and image abroad.
London-based rights group Amnesty International in April 2005 published a catalogue of what it called Libyas human rights abuses and urged Gaddafi to follow through on promises to establish a normal criminal law procedure. Amnesty became the first international human rights group to visit Libya in 15 years when its research team met Gaddafi and other officials in March 2005 amid Tripolis efforts to rejoin the international community after three decades of isolation.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/04/2006
00:24 ||
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All this spring cleaning is starting to look like a trend.
A Department of Defense official on Wednesday called the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, vital to strategic intelligence collection and defended the Pentagon's decision not to allow United Nations representatives access to detainees.
The United Nations on Feb. 15 released a study critical of the Guantanamo Bay facility, alleging that detainees have been abused. The authors of the report have come under fire for not visiting the military base while conducting their research.
The U.N. rapporteurs have said they declined the Pentagon's invitation to tour the facility because they would not have been granted access to interview detainees, a standard procedure for U.N. human rights investigators. "Human rights rapporteurs do not have a legal right to have access," said Brian Del Monte, deputy director of the Office of Detainee Policy, at a Wednesday event sponsored by the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. He said the International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross (ICRTC) is the only outside organization with the authority to meet with detainees.
The Geneva Conventions mandate that the ICRTC must have access to visitors, according to the Red Cross website. Defense Department spokesman J.D. Gordon said ICRTC officials have visited Guantanamo Bay every three months for about a week at a time and have had private, confidential meetings with detainees.
Jennifer Daskal, an advocacy director for Human Rights Watch who participated in the panel discussion with Del Monte, questioned why U.N. investigators were not allowed to meet with detainees. "If there's nothing to hide," she asked, "then why weren't the U.N. rapporteurs granted access?"
Del Monte replied that the Defense Department takes "the principled stance that the mandate of the Red Thingy Cross is important and that mandate should not be diluted." "It's not that we believe they have some nefarious aim," he said of the U.N. "It's not that we're afraid of what the detainees might say."
Daskal also criticized the Defense Department for holding detainees she described as "low level" and "cannon fodder." She said information released by the Pentagon implies that many detainees are unimportant and unable to provide good information to intelligence gatherers.
They were still caught in an area where people were shooting at our people.
Daskal was referring to a Feb. 4 report in the National Journal that examined government files on 132 detainees. It concluded that, "most of the 'enemy combatants' held at Guantanamo - for four years now - are simply not the worst of the worst of the terrorist world."
Del Monte said the National Journal report was based on a "small sample of the evidence" and that "the information that is made public is not all of the information." He said the interrogation of detainees has produced information on terrorist recruiting efforts and combat strategies. "It is in their training -- the detainees -- to lie," Del Monte said, suggesting that the suspects would play down their connection with the Taliban or al Qaeda in order to be released.
Retired Sgt. Maj. Steve Short, who was stationed at Guantanamo Bay for 53 weeks and briefly served as the superintendent of Camp Delta, agreed that detainees are not held any longer than necessary. "The last thing we wanted to do was have more people to take care of," Short said. In his time at Camp Delta, Short said he "never once observed an inappropriate act" by a U.S. service member against a detainee.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
00:22 ||
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I may get a few people mad at me for saying this, but there is not a single allegation that can be made against Dubai World and the UAE that is not doubly or tripply applicable to the National Shipping Company of Saudi Arabia. To go after one while ignoring the other is the equivalent of straining a gnat while swallowing a camel.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
00:19 ||
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Damn it, man, shut all the ports immediately. The Soddies, ChiComs run amock.
Let's wrap ourselves up in plastic wrap so we keep the naughty people out.
Posted by: Captain America ||
03/04/2006 0:33
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Think of all them foreign airlines, piloted by funky foreign folks flying in like family! It's wrong! Those aircraft are also full of exotic folks you wouldn't have for a golf partner, America for Natives!
#6
LOL 6! like Vijay Singh! I mean...Singh??? Indian, right? ...NO! Fijian! How confused is that sh&t?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2006 14:21
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This reminds me of a snowball fight. Every time the demodonks pop up to throw snow at W about the DPW thingy, we should bring up the borders and the anti-Patriot Act bullshit. The donks just can't have it both ways. Either we cover the borders and ports and listen to international calls, or we shut the phug up and wait for a splodydope to splatter.
Anti-U.S. protests erupted in several Pakistani cities Friday, with crowds burning American flags, chanting "Death to Bush" and scuffling with police shortly before the U.S. president was to arrive for a two-day visit. Other Pakistanis demonstrated against cartoons of Prophet Muhammad as radical Islamic groups called a strike that shut shops and businesses some towns.
The government promised ironclad security for Bush's visit, with one official saying hundreds of army commandos and paramilitary troops would be patrolling the capital. "We have made foolproof arrangements for the safe stay of President Bush and we do not think there will be any problem," said Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema, a senior Interior Ministry official who also coordinates with U.S. authorities on counterterrorism issues.
Police in the southern city of Karachi used tear gas and clubs to stop about 1,000 people from marching on the U.S. Consulate, witnesses said. The stone-throwing crowd came within 200 yards of the building. The protesters burned U.S. flags and chanted, "Pakistani nation wants head of Bush!"
In Rawalpindi, a city just outside the capital of Islamabad, hundreds of police swung batons to chase off about 1,000 protesters on a major road about five miles from where President Bush's plane was expected to land on a flight from neighoring India.
As Bush wrapped up his visit in India, an anti-U.S. protest in the Indian city of Lucknow turned into a clash between Hindus and Muslims that left one person dead and 12 injured, police said. The violence erupted when dozens of armed Muslims tried to force Hindu shop owners to shut their stores to protest Bush's visit, Senior Superintendent of Police Ashutosh Pandey said.
In Rawalpindi, some Pakistanis chanted "Killer go back" and "Death to America" during the 30-minute protest. One demonstrator had a bloody forehead, and police stuffed at least five others into a van, an Associated Press photographer on the scene said. The demonstrators were supporters of the Imamia Students Organization, a Shiite Muslim group. Some trampled on the U.S. flag, while others carried Bush portraits with his face crossed out in red.
In Chaman, a southwestern town on the Afghan border, between 4,000 and 5,000 people protested peacefully. They shouted, "Go back Bush! Bush, dog!" and "God is great!"
A similar rally by about 3,000 people took place in the northwestern city of Peshawar. About 300 university students rallied in Islamabad, burning an effigy of Bush. Some carried signs that said, "Go back, go back big Satan Bush." Javed Rahman, one of the protesters, said: "We are protesting against the coming of Bush because we hate him. He is the killer of so many innocent people, so many innocent Muslims."
The students also burned a Danish flag, in protest of the Muhammad cartoons first published in a newspaper in that European nation.
More than 600 people, most of them students, staged a rally in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan's portion of Kashmir, to protest the cartoons. Some wore white shrouds with bands reading, "We can sacrifice our lives to protect prophet's dignity." Four men stood on a busy street in the eastern city of Lahore with a sign reading "Boycott all goods from Denmark." They were surrounded by a dozen police within minutes and taken away in a pickup truck.
Officials also snatched an anti-Bush sign from a woman on the same street and ordered her away.
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, a coalition leader, told reporters in Lahore that it also was protesting the visit by Bush, saying coalition supporters would greet the U.S. president with black flags.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
00:17 ||
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Then they all went home and beat/abused their wives/sisters/daughters.
#3
From a poem by Mohammed Iqbal, the poet-philosopher of Pakistan, who first voiced the idea that muslims of the Indian subcontinent should have their own state - a "land of the pure"
You are the ones without any worldly skills
You are ones who are careless about their own fate
You are the dried field which thunder cannot alight
You are the ones who would sell their ancestors
Without wordly skills, damn straight...
All you can do is seethe....
Posted by: john ||
03/04/2006 6:39
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I would say it's Bush who's went to the "Belly of the Beast". Osmma just sits in from of a plain screen, so no one can tell where they bought the material from. The Guttless wonder.
Police are preparing a sketch of a suicide car bomber who struck outside a US consulate in Pakistan, killing a US diplomat and three other people, a police official said yesterday. US authorities have named the two consulate staff killed in the explosion in downtown Karachi on Thursday as David Foy, a facilities maintenance officer, and his Pakistani driver Iftikhar Ahmed. Another 52 people were also injured by the blast.
Karachi police chief Niaz Siddiqui said investigators were preparing a sketch of the bomber based on surveillance camera images from the consulate and neighboring Marriott Hotel, as well as eyewitness accounts of survivors. Another police investigator said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the probe that footage from the closed-circuit cameras revealed the bomber to be a man in his 30s with a trim beard.
The bomber parked a white Toyota Corolla sedan in a street linking the consulate with the hotel which is commonly used as additional hotel parking space, he said.
In the footage, the bomber is seen arguing with a paramilitary soldier seconds before he rammed his car into Foy's sports utility vehicle as it drove by, the official said. The bomber's car had a falsified chassis number and stolen license plates, the official said.
Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao told Pakistan's Geo television yesterday that the consu-late's security camera revealed the bomber parked his car 20 minutes before he reversed into Foy's SUV.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
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Is this sketch a before or after boom?
Posted by: Captain America ||
03/04/2006 0:35
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Zacarias Moussaoui was sitting in jail when the hijacked planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and in a field in Pennsylvania. Now, the government wants him executed for that day of terror because he did nothing to stop it.
After the jury is selected Monday, prosecutors will argue that even though Moussaoui wasn't there, he should be held accountable for the murders of nearly 3,000 people on Sept. 11, 2001. Their task, on its face, is formidable: Federal law says people can be executed only for killing someone or participating in a violent act that directly caused a death.
Yet legal experts say prosecutors stand a reasonable chance of securing a death sentence for the only person convicted in the United States on charges stemming from Sept. 11. The reason: Moussaoui's own words. When he pleaded guilty, he acknowledged that he had lied to the FBI when he was arrested a month before Sept. 11 "to allow his al-Qaeda brothers to go forward."
Relying on that admission, prosecutors will argue that Moussaoui might as well have pulled the trigger -- because if he had confessed his knowledge of the plot, the hijackings could have been stopped. "I think they have a good case, given his own statements," said Andrew McBride, a former federal prosecutor who has tried numerous death penalty cases. "He admits that he lied to further the conspiracy. Legally, that probably makes it."
Dozens of suspected insurgents attacked a small town near Baghdad at dusk on Thursday and killed at least 25 people and possibly many more, police and a local politician said yesterday. Police recovered 21 bodies, mostly of Shia migrant workers, from a brick factory at Nahrawan, municipal council leader Alaa Abdul Sahab Al Lamy told Reuters. A further four were brought from the local power station, he added.
It was one of the bloodiest incidents after 10 days of sectarian violence that have pushed Iraq to the brink of civil war following the bombing of a Shia shrine on February 22. Police and Interior Ministry sources in Baghdad said they could not confirm a total death toll but said nine guards at the power station were killed along with many factory workers. This was a sectarian attack, Lamy said, adding that police feared further bodies might still be found at the brick plant. We understand there are bodies everywhere around the factory, in the fields, one Interior Ministry official in Baghdad said. The police cannot retrieve them all because they are afraid to venture in without more military protection.
More than 50 gunmen, believed to be insurgents allied to Al Qaeda and based in Diyala province, entered the town between 5pm and 6pm, several police sources said. They attacked and destroyed the local power plant, killing nine people, before US and Iraqi army units responded. As the gunmen withdrew, they entered the brick factory and began killing people working there.
Sounds like a slip-up in the response.
A US military spokesman in Baghdad said he was unaware of the incident.
Lamy said that of the 21 people whose bodies had been recovered from the factory and brought to the police station in Nahrawan, one was a woman and three were children, including a girl aged about six. Many of the dead had a single bullet wound to the forehead. Many brick factories in the area, where Sunni insurgents have been very active, employ Shia workers from southern Iraq.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
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A high-level meeting between Iran and the European Union yesterday failed to reach an agreement that would prevent the nuclear dispute from reaching the United Nations Security Council.
But European diplomats appeared to hold out hope of further Iranian compromise over the next few days, before the Security Council discusses the issue.
One senior European diplomat described the atmosphere in yesterday's talks as "better than usual", and said Tehran seemed "more eager to reach an agreement".
At the meeting - requested by Ali Larijani, Iran's top nuclear negotiator - Tehran offered to suspend industrial-scale uranium enrichment for two years but insisted on continuing with its "nuclear research", including a small-scale pilot enrichment plant.
The proposal, which repackaged ideas Tehran had put forward in the past, was rejected by the so-called EU3 - France, Germany and the UK.
European governments have insisted that Iran stop all "research" work as well, before entering into full-scale talks over the future of the nuclear programme.
But while last year the Europeans wanted a 10-year suspension of all enrichment, diplomats suggested yesterday that the UK, France and Germany were willing to make a deal with Tehran that would include only a two-year suspension.
"Today's meeting came at a very critical point in time. Time is running short. If we want success [by negotiations], we have to get it now," said Frank-Walter Steinmeier, German foreign minister. "The International Atomic Energy Agency board deliberations on Iran's nuclear programme will happen next week and they will be of great significance - either we'll achieve a deal enabling renewed negotiations or the matter will be referred to the Security Council."
John Sawers, the political director at the British Foreign Office, told reporters in Vienna that if Iran had something new to offer, the European side would be prepared for another meeting.
"There's an open door for more talks, for listening to further ideas," said another European diplomat.
"But we have to have a resumption of full suspension and something new, such as a rigorous definition of research."
The Security Council's five permanent members decided to report Iran to the UNearlier this year after Tehran announced that it was resuming uranium enrichment for research. But they agreed to delay the step until after the board of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN's nuclear watchdog, meets next week.
Diplomats expect the Security Council - which is set to discuss Iran the following week - will adopt a gradual approach to pressure, starting with a statement calling on Iran to abide by all the resolutions of the IAEA.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006
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"There's an open door for more talks, for listening to further ideas," said another European diplomat.
Well there certainly is that. If you want to keep talking while you are being weakened, infiltrated, isolated, and surrounded, hey, knock yourselves out. Un-freakin' believable. I feel like I'm living in 1936, watching Chancellor Hitler working his diplomatic magic, while Chamberlain works for a nifty little paper agreement that will solve everything.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/04/2006 13:34
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Diplomats expect the Security Council ... will adopt a gradual approach to pressure, starting with a statement calling on Iran to abide by all the resolutions of the IAEA.
Did I miss something? Is this story from last year?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/04/2006 15:47
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Why shouldn't the Euros keep talking? They believe the Americans will go in and fix everything. And they will get to tsk tsk the bloody Americans in the process.
Posted by: ed ||
03/04/2006 15:56
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Israeli "Counter-Terrorism Leadership" warned on Friday Israelis against visiting Arab states, especially Egypt and Jordan. The leadership said that this warning was issued after they received intelligence about "global Jihad" cells planning to carry out bombing operations against Israeli embassies and tourists in Arab states. Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, cited an Israeli official as saying that terrorist activities have recently increased in Arab states sharing borders with Israel. The newspaper said that Jordanian security forces foiled an attack on tens of Israeli tourists in an Amman hotel, noting that an Al-Qaeda cell infilterated into Jordan last week.
Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal, on a current visit to Russia, described his talks on Friday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as constructive and frank. Meshaal, speaking at a news conference with the Russian Foreign Minister, said the discussions were good, constructive and candid. "These discussions underscore the wisdom of the Russians of inviting the Hamas delegation to Moscow," he said.
"Yasss, yasss. We told him to dance, and we won't kill him. Yet."
Hamas is aspiring to establish comprehensive peace in the Middle East, provided that it be just, ensures rights of the Palestinian people and withdrawal of the Israelis from the Palestinian territories. "The Palestinian people do not wish to wage wars on any nation and no one is tilting toward the war option," Meshaal said, adding that the organization "was extending its hands to the international community for help to end the Israeli aggression and occupation." He affirmed that Hamas would succeed in forming a cabinet capable of conducting reforms and combating corruption. UPDATE...Apparently, the conversation *was* rather frank. The non-Kuwait news version:
Palestinian election winner Hamas must recognize Israel's right to exist and abide by interim peace deals with the Jewish state, Russia told the militant group during a first day of talks on Friday. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he had insisted all demands made by the Quartet of Middle East mediators -- Russia, the United Nations, United States and European Union -- must be respected.
"That means above all the need to stick by all existing agreements, the need to recognize the right of Israel to exist as a partner in negotiations (and) the need to reject all armed methods of settling political questions," the Interfax news agency quoted him as saying after talks with Hamas leaders. Although the visit was a setback for U.S.-Israeli efforts to isolate Hamas, Russia's mediation was seen by some in the West as a chance to push the group toward a more moderate stance. In Israel, interim Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he had received assurances from Russian President Vladimir Putin that Moscow would "limit contacts" with Hamas.
MIRANSHAH: Senior Taliban commander Maulvi Abdul Khaliq issued on Friday a new executive order to bar tribal elders and spies from visiting the North Waziristan political administrator. The order, which comes a day after hundreds of Taliban seized government buildings, was passed during Friday sermons in Miranshah, said eyewitnesses. I ask all tribal chieftains and spies to not visit the political agent, said Khaliq. He added the Taliban Shura would recommend punish to violators of the order. However, the Taliban leader allowed laymen to visit the government offices to address their problems.
I guess we could say they're pretty openly taken over. Perv can't even maintain the fiction of control anymore.
A statement from the Governors FATA Secretariat named the cleric as masterminding Thursdays occupation of key government buildings in Miranshah where state writ was almost non-existent. The mastermind of (Thursdays) disturbance was Maulvi Abdul Khaliq, who is running Darul Uloom Gulshan in Miranshah. He called the people to come out on streets against the government.
As in "revolt against the gummint."
This man has lost so much popularity because of his extremism that people did not allow him to lead the funeral prayers for a local tribesman, Muhib, killed in Wednesdays clash in Saidgai, the statement read.
But somehow he's ended up in charge, hasn't he? Maybe you should send in the army and kill him?
Also, the cleric supporters detained a local tribal journalist for a news report against him. Abdul Samad, correspondent of Peshawar-based Urdu daily in Miranshah, was called to the clerics seminary for the statement that the Governors FATA Secretariat issued late on Thursday evening, the newspapers management told Daily Times. Our correspondent was allowed to go home after clarifying that he had nothing to do with the statement. The cleric has also banned the sale of three Urdu newspapers that carried the official statement, the management added.
Right. Maybe you should get a tribal lashkar together.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2006
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Still alive an well. Boggles.
Posted by: SPoD ||
03/04/2006 0:07
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Ain't that one hell of a beauuutifool picture. Where's the Hellfires when we need them.
#3
We don't need Hellfires in Waziristan, we need a hundred or so B52s with big iron bombs, every day for a year. The survivors (if there are any) can emigrate to Syria or Iran, where we plan to do the same thing in another year. Once the inbred, arrogant, and ignorant are removed from Waziristan, Pakistan can then give it to the Bugtis as a rest and recreation area. Who knows, we may even warn them about the land mines we've dropped along with all those iron bombs.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/04/2006 16:35
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looks like Woody Allen in mufti and fake beard
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2006 16:58
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I agree, OP. Waziristan has been a haven too long. Make it hot for the Jihadis there. Take them out or drive them out to Iran. This festering area is making it hard to progress with things in Afghanistan. No safe haven for them. They must always be on the run.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/04/2006 23:16
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A nationwide strike called by the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal hit Pakistan yesterday as US President George W. Bush flew from New Delhi to Islamabad in the evening on the last leg of his South Asian tour. Extraordinary security measures were in place for the US president s visit.
Kind of appropriate, given that literally millions of turbans want to kill him...
Bush flew in to the Chaklala military air base from New Delhi on board Air Force One and was received by Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, television footage showed. He was accompanied by his wife Laura Bush at the start of his two-day visit. The couple waved as they descended the steps of the giant blue and white plane, before Bush was handed a bouquet of flowers. They were then flown to the US Embassy in Islamabad by a US helicopter.
Definitely not on a Pak helicopter!
Security levels have been raised to high alert and several areas and roads declared as red zones in the capital with paramilitary troops equipped with electronic and manual surveillance tools patrolling the city. He is expected to discuss progress in the war on terrorism in his talks with President Pervez Musharraf today. I will meet with President Musharraf to discuss Pakistans vital cooperation in the war on terror and our efforts to foster economic and political development, Bush said in India before departing.
Bush also gave reason for Pakistani opposition groups to hope that Washington will push Musharraf to move faster to strengthen democratic institutions ahead of a general election next year. I believe that a democratic, prosperous Pakistan will be a steadfast partner for America, a peaceful neighbor for India and a force for freedom and moderation in the Arab world. A White House official later said Bush meant to say Muslim world.
Police in the city of Karachi fired tear gas to disperse hundreds of protesters trying to march on the US Consulate where on Thursday a suicide car bomber killed himself and three other people including a US diplomat, a witness said. Dozens of protesters were detained after they threw stones at police vehicles a kilometer from the US mission. The largest protest was in Multan in the central Punjab province where the opposition leader in the National Assembly, Maulana Fazlur Rahman, addressed a 10,000-strong crowd.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2006
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Amid extremely high security measures in Islamabad that left parts of the city almost deserted, Mr Bush was driven from the US embassy to Gen Musharraf's compound on Saturday in a long convoy watched over by four helicopters
The BBC's Zaffar Abbas, who is in Islamabad, says US and Pakistani attack helicopters have been hovering overhead since early in the morning.
Posted by: john ||
03/04/2006 6:42
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He had to visit the Mush. If he falls, the entire region will go up in flames.
#6
Heh heh...nice one CH. But, can you grow pinot in those climes?
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/04/2006 12:03
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At least President Bush had a good (some say historic) India trip.
Seems to have enjoyed himself...
Pres. Bush and Indian PM Singh
As did Dr. Rice.
Indian President Abdul Kalam is to the right of Laura Bush.
The Men in red at the back are the Indian Presidential Bodyguard, the oldest regiment in the Indian Army, raised in 1773 as the "Governor's Troop of Moghals"
Posted by: john ||
03/04/2006 12:10
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That pic of Bush watching Condi's entrance has been circulating heavily, sometimes with a snicker. From what I've read, she's become pretty much a member of the family and both Bushes admire and like her a lot.
I gotta admit this president puts his nominations where his mouth is. Condi carries far more weight in forming international policy than Maddsy ever did.
Locals in Bagmara of Rajshahi and Atrai, Raninagar of Naogaon demand the government trace and hunt down those who aided and abetted militant kingpins Abdur Rahman and Bangla Bhai in killing at least 22 people and maiming hundreds in 2004. In reaction to the high profile capture of Rahman, a number of victims of brutal violence by Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) and Jagrata Muslim Janata Bangladesh (JMJB) yesterday said the ones who backed Abdur Rahman and JMJB operations commander Siddiqul Islam alias Bangla Bhai in carrying out a reign of terror in the region must not be allowed to get off scot-free. "You will find at least one victim a house in Bagmara and Atrai. So many people have been maimed for nothing," a college teacher had said, describing the situation after JMJB operations in 2004.
A host of policemen were guarding Abdur Rahman when he first came out in public in Naogaon and Rajshahi in late April, 2004 said sources. Bangla Bhai had already burst onto the scene earlier on April 1 the same year. On May 4, 2004, Rahman held a press conference at Bhawaniganj Women's College in Bagmara. JMB Majlish-e-Sura Members Abdul Awal, Salauddin, Ataur Rahman Sunny and Khalid Saifullah were accompanying him at that time. Bangla Bhai had introduced Rahman as his spiritual leader and chief of his organisation. Over a dozen policemen and a huge number of cadres were surrounding him throughout the conference.
Rahman claimed that his outfit was on a mission to cleanse sarbaharas in the region. "I had talks with some local lawmakers and politicians as well as some government officials. They were assisting us," he told the gathering recorded on videotapes. After the press meet, he stayed in Bagmara for a few more days at the house of Ramjan Kaya. During the stay, he met local BNP and Jamaat leaders and addressed a women's gathering.
Rahman had been in control of the vigilante operations that left a trail of horror in less than two months. Bangla Bhai and his men were operating, following his instructions. He was also in charge of the main JMJB concentration camp in Atrai of Naogaon.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2006
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A senior Pakistan Muslim League leader has advised President General Pervez Musharraf to allow Foster BrooksAkbar Bugti, the Baloch nationalist leader, to leave the country on medical grounds, sources told Daily Times.
If I was Perv, I'd have him suffer a "terrible accident."
However, they said that Interior Minister Leslie NielsonAftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao strongly opposed negotiations or reconciliation with Bugti after the failure of previous attempts, made in the past to normalise the situation in Dera Bugti.
Good for Sherpao. He's got no illusions about the old man...
The Baloch leader has fled his hometown and is hiding at an undisclosed location, they added. Recently, several criminal cases were registered against Bugti for killing FC officials and destroying national installations.
So dispose of him. He's a festering sore.
During a recent meeting on Balochistan chaired by President Musharraf, the ruling coalition leader said the government should allow Bugti to leave the country. He said Bugti was an old man and could be persuaded to leave the country on medical grounds.
I'd describe him as an evil old man, myself...
The government will face a strong backlash from tribal leaders if security forces killed the Baloch leader, he added.
The more reason for the unfortunate accident.
If Nawaz Sharif can be exiled to Saudi Arabia why not Akbar Bugti to another country. Sherpao told Daily Times that the government would not hold any negotiations with Bugti because he had violated previous agreements and sabotaged the dialogue process. Asked if Bugti would be arrested and tried by the court of law, the interior minister did not reply directly.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2006
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LAHORE: Immigration officials on Friday arrested a Belgian national on terror charges at Lahore Airport while he was trying to board a plane for Islamabad. Micha Ballen is wanted by Belgium for involvement in several crimes and is believed to be a terrorist. He came here from London on February 7 by a Gulf Air flight and was staying at a seminary near the city.
Ballen is originally from Rwanda but is also a Belgian national, a security official told Daily Times. The Belgian embraced Islam a few years back after establishing links with a religious outfit in Pakistan, he said. Intelligence agencies intercepted his e-mails which showed that he is connected to militant outfits and wanted to join in their activities.
Both the Belgian and Pakistani governments were chasing Ballen and had distributed his sketches among security officials at the countrys airports. He was scheduled to go to Islamabad on Friday evening and praying in a mosque at Lahore Airport when an immigration officer recognised him and informed the Airport Security Force.
Posted by: Fred ||
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How long was he in London? Were the British chasing him too? Should they have been?
Isn't it funny how all roads lead back to Pakistan. Every time.
A Sudanese minister has said his country might pull out of the African Union if the AU's Peace and Security Council approves replacement of the AU force in Darfur with a UN force, Aljazeera reports. Alsammani al-Wasilla, Sudan's minister of state for foreign affairs, has reiterated Khartoum's rejection of the proposal for deployment of international troops in Darfur, Aljazeera's correspondent in Khartoum said on Friday AU foreign ministers are to meet on 10 March in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to decide on the transition, agreed upon earlier in principle.
Earlier, Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, warned Darfur would become a "graveyard" for any foreign military contingent entering the region against Khartoum's will. AP has quoted the top UN envoy in Sudan as saying that the Sudanese government has launched a campaign to stop a UN force from taking over peace-keeping duties from AU troops. On Tuesday, Jan Pronk said an anti-UN climate is heating up strongly in the Sudanese capital, with threats and warnings, and fear that handing over to a UN force would put Sudan "in the same situation as Iraq a couple of years ago".
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2006
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Hello? General Kofi?
Posted by: Captain America ||
03/04/2006 0:52
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Something bigger than we know about may be going on in Darfur. Which may be why all the panic about "infidel UN and NATO forces" getting a look-see.
Foreign media kicked out too. Something more is up in Darfur. Similar to Iraq may be right.
Could be a large training ground, unnoticed as yet. Or worse, a staging ground There may be whole lot of islamic psychos moving off soon to appointed positions elsewhere. Very soon. But need just a bit more time. hence all the Sudanese crap about "infidel armies" and panic about anyone getting a look at Darfur.
Off to help ring Israel in a couple of weeks?
Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Mark Malloch Brown, his Chef de Cabinet, as Deputy Secretary-General, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric officially announced on Friday. Brown, a British national, replaces Louise Frechette, a Canadian national, whose term ends at the end of this month. Dujarric also announced the appointment of Vijay Nambiar, India's former UN envoy, as special advisor to Annan with the rank of Under Secretary-General. He replaces Lakhdar Brahimi who resigned earlier this year. These appointees will leave the UN when Annan's second term ends later this year.
Two more cases were filed against militant leader Shaikh Abdur Rahman involved in a string of deadly blasts across Bangladesh. Rahman surrendered on Thursday and was remanded to 10-day police custody under the Arms and Explosives acts. Earlier, 223 cases were filed in connection with militancy and bomb attacks across the country, Home Secretary Safar Raj Hossain told reporters in Dhaka yesterday. Rahman has been accused in at least 150 of these cases. Police filed 154 cases for the August 17 series of blasts and 69 more were added later for bomb attacks elsewhere, he added. A trial court in Barisal on Feb. 9 sentenced Rahman, Bangla Bhai, Molla Omar and Amzad alias Khalid Saifullah to 40 years rigorous imprisonment under the Explosive Substances Act.
As many as 915 were arrested so far for involvement in the attacks, the inspector general of police said. Police have submitted charge sheets in 122 cases, and trials of 61 cases have started, the home secretary said. Verdicts in four cases were given and 22 people were sentenced to death, seven given life term and one 15 years jail, he added.
Meanwhile, Rahman was detained at the headquarters of the elite security force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) in the capital and a special task force for interrogation has been formed to interrogate the militant leader.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2006
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From Geostrategy-direct, subscription.
China has become a leading supporter of Iran's military industry, supplying a range of missile technology over the past year. As a result, Iran has mastered the ability to develop and produce solid-fuel missiles for both short- and long-range missions. Solid-fuel missiles are easier to use and more accurate than their liquid-fuel counterparts.
Iran's need for China has been greatest in the development of air defense systems. Beijing has provided the needed technology and expertise to develop a new man-portable air defense system termed Mithaq-2, Western intelligence sources said.
The shoulder-launched Mithaq-2 is considered an ideal weapon to bring down low-flying Western aircraft. Mithaq has the ability to intercept aircraft flying at low to very low altitudes. Iran had already developed the Mithaq-1, regarded as a crude infrared weapon. China provided a modern navigation system and enhanced sensors to track and destroy aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles flying under radar coverage. Some of the technology has come from the Chinese QW-1 Vanguard missile.
In return Iran has been exporting huge amounts of crude oil to China. Teheran plans to soon complete a $100-billion energy deal with Beijing that would quench China's increasing thirst for oil and natural gas. And there lies the Chicom's achilles heel. They need the oil. Iran has the oil. Oil shipments from Iran could, be, ah, delayed or curtailed.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/04/2006
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KASUR: Abdul Hameed, a resident of Mauza Nathay Khalsa, Pattoki, claimed he was a prophet on Friday and was arrested by officials of the Phool Nagar police station.
"Come down off that soapbox, O mighty Profit, yer gettin' the locals all riled up."
"Never, foul minion. I am the Eleventeenth Imam and I preach where I please."
"Sure, pal. And I'm the Queen of Sheba. Now you step down right this minute or face the wrath of Allan. Allan the District Attorney, that is."
Residents surrounded the police station and demanded Hameed be handed over to them. The local administration informed that the accused had been charged under section 295-C and 295-A of the Pakistan Penal Code. However, the mob refused to leave and were dispersed by the police.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2006
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His "prophet" credentials are every bit as good as those of Muhammed. For those who don't know, Muhammed married a rich woman, 15 years his senior. When she reached the Depends' age of
55, he suddenly came up with hearsay accounts of meetings with Angel Gabriel. Subsequent Koran
and Hadith records link the randy founder of Islam to 22 different women, 13 of whom were wives who he kept in separate residences near the market of Medina. His favorite wife, Aisha, was taken in marriage at the age of 6 (al-Tabari says the marriage was consummated when Aisha was 9).And Mohammad claimed 20% of all booty from Muslim aggression, as a prophet-tax (khums). A penchant for sex, wealth, and revenge makes a
"prophet." In fact, I sense that I might receive a calling. Bow down!
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ended a week-long state of emergency in the Philippines, as widely expected, after her security chiefs said the threat from coup plotters had receded. In a nationally televised address, Arroyo said: "At this moment, I am calling off the state of emergency. I firmly believe that order has been restored. It is important that our political enemies and opportunists stop troubling the economy and embarrassing the Philippines because of their nonsense shows. I will never allow this kind of adventurism."
Two small bombs exploded in Manila about 75 minutes before Arroyo's taped announcement was broadcast, briefly raising fears that the president might extend emergency rule. There were no casualties or damage from the blasts near the headquarters of an elite police team and a shopping area in the upmarket Ortigas district. Police said the explosions were caused by crude devices and were no cause for alarm.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2006
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Drama queen. Nice picture of here looking down her nose at the people.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
03/04/2006 1:52
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Coalition and Iraqi forces operations in Iraq northeast of Fallujah and in Anbar province recently resulted in the detention of 62 suspects, military officials reported.
This is the story we're watching, because of the rumor one of the 62 is Zarq...
On March 1, Iraqi soldiers from 2nd Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division, and U.S. soldiers from 1st Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, detained a suspected terrorist northwest of Baghdad based on a tip. The detainee is suspected of being a member of a bomb-making cell responsible for a roadside bomb attack that killed a U.S. soldier in February. The incident is under investigation.
Northeast of Fallujah, coalition forces conducted multiple raids Feb. 27 to capture al Qaeda facilitators involved in the logistical support of suicide bombers, foreign fighters and the funding of terrorist activities. Based on intelligence and reporting, coalition forces targeted numerous safe houses. The raids resulted in the detention of 61 individuals who will be questioned regarding their knowledge of, or involvement in, terrorist activities. A large number of weapons and ammunition found during the raids were destroyed in place.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2006
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#5
Zarqawi wouldn't actually be a suspect terrorist, given that he's claimed to be the #1 Supremo in Iraq. He's more along the lines of a confirmed terrorist, I'd think. ;-)
(2006-03-03) Just a month after Colorado high school teacher Jay Bennish was caught on tape by a student as he ranted against President George Bush, capitalism and the United States in general, another student has come forward with a recording that could send shockwaves through teachers lounges nationwide.
On the second tape, an unnamed geography teacher from the same school can be heard openly discussing topography, soil, vegetation, climate, population numbers and the specific names of continents, mountain ranges, oceans and nations.
A shocked and disappointed Cherry Creek School District Superintendent Monte C. Moses immediately announced that the second teacher has been placed on paid administrative leave, pending an investigation.
If this tape is authenticated, Mr. Moses said, and if we find that our students were exposed to geographic language and objective facts, Im sure the National Education Association (NEA) wont be happy about it. Our policy is to take swift action against incompetence.
Meanwhile, the superintendent said he has assigned a team of six teachers to investigate Sean Allen, the 16-year-old student who recorded Mr. Bennish as he compared President Bush with Adolph Hitler.
The obvious question here, he said, is why would a student record a teachers lecture? Whats his motive? Is he a threat to the school? Does he need special education, or referral to a mental health agency?
#1
The thing that surprised me reading the transcript of the tape was not the usual Bush Derangement Syndrome ranting but the number of "facts everyone knows" that were simply wrong. Never mind the political indoctrination apect, I'd fire Bennish simply for being a crappy geography teacher.
#2
I actually knew of one geography teacher fired for a bizarre reason. He was teaching geology, not geography. Which is all well and good in a geology class, but not what they had hired him for.
For some odd reason, he would *not* teach geography, despite repeated entreaties. I mean, the guy really loved geology, and that's all he would talk about. They really had no choice but to fire him.
A sudden decision by Algeria to close 42 French schools because they did not give priority to Arabic, the national language, sparked concern in France Thursday. Several French newspapers noted the closures, which had been threatened for a year, and quoted Algerian parents saying the decision was "catastrophic" for their children. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was seen as making concessions to Islamic hardliners in parliament by ordering the closures.
So was it sudden or had they been threatening it for a year?
Algeria, a former French colony that only won independence after a brutal war, has laws asserting the primacy of Arabic in official documents and institutions, even though French is widely spoken, especially among the elite. Le Parisien newspaper quoted an Algerian civil rights activist and lawyer, Mouloud Brahimi, as saying that the decision "is part of a worrying phenomenon, which is leading Muslim countries to turn in on themselves."
Yemeni authorities yesterday released 627 supporters of a rebel preacher held on charges of involvement in clashes with government forces which left hundreds dead in the north of the country. The Higher Security Committee, headed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, said in a statement that the freed men were all detained in connection with the rebellion staged by the late Shiite preacher Hussein Badruddin Al-Houthi in the northern province of Saada. The releases were made in compliance with the general amnesty announced by President Ali Abdullah Saleh last September, the statement said. They were released after they had pledged not to return to their perverseness, and to be good citizens, said the statement, carried by official media.
Expressing hope that the mass release would help end the standoff in Saada, the committee called on the freed men to resume their natural life and to practice their basic rights and freedoms in the framework of political pluralism in a way that serves the countrys supreme interests. Security officials said the amnesty did not include 36 members of the Believing Youth group standing trial currently over involvements in attacks against military targets in Sanaa last year. Saleh said last May that Al-Houthis revolt was a foreign conspiracy to topple the republican regime.
Officials have said the bloody fighting in Saada caused financial losses amounting to 52 billion riyals (about $272 million). They said 532 houses and 22 schools in the rebel areas were damaged by the battles, and that some were completely demolished.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The Higher Security Committee,
Yes, it does sound like something out of an AA meeting.
Rauf Siddiqi, the Sindh home minister, on Friday announced a reward of Rs 5 million for providing concrete evidence and clues helpful in apprehending the terrorists behind the March 2 incident. However, Geo quoted official sources as saying that investigations also revealed that the target of the suicide bombing was US foreign official David Foy and not the US Consulate. Sources said that the terrorists were monitoring Foys every move for the last month. The channel said that the suicide bomber had received proper guidance before the incident.
Assuming Rowf's statement isn't total methane emission, that'd tell me that they know approximately who gave the boomer "proper guidance" prior to the incident, and that they know something about the group the boomer belonged to. However, at this stage it's just as likely they're still pushing RAW involvement, which they trot out every time anybody comes down with a hangnail.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2006
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The US Air Force has begun moving heavily armed AC-130 aircraft - the lethal "flying gunships" of the Vietnam War - to a base in Iraq as commanders search for new tools to counter the Iraqi resistance, The Associated Press has learned. An AP reporter saw the first of the turboprop-driven aircraft after it landed at the airfield this week. Four are expected.
I'm surprised the reporter recognized it. I'm not surprised he promptly reported it.
The Iraq-based Special Forces command controlling the AC-130s, the Combined Joint Special Operations Task Force, said it would have no comment on the deployment. But the plan's general outline was confirmed by other Air Force officers. Military officials warned that disclosing the location of the aircraft's new base would violate security provisions of rules governing media access to US installations.
The four-engine gunships, whose home base is Hurlburt Field in Florida, have operated over Iraq before, flying from airfields elsewhere in the region. In November 2004, air-to-ground fire from AC-130s supported the US attack on Falluja. Basing the planes inside Iraq will cut hours off their transit time to reach suspected targets.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
hello Assholes! Martyrdom has come! bend over! take the lead.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/04/2006 0:18
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Ah. Whuppass in the Supersized cans. Good luck & good hunting.
#5
Oh yes, nothing like an AC-130 sledgehammer to nail those nasty Iraqi mosquitos. With spring coming and all, there will be hundreds of 'em, so you can't be too prepared. We'll probably need some stealth bombers too, for like horseflies and shit.
#6
Well moose, I suppose you could bore them to death with your drivel. If you want to argue here, get yourself a bigger box of crayons. Your box of eight ain't cutting it.
Posted by: Captain America ||
03/04/2006 11:27
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..Ya know, was just thinking. We're relying on an AP reporter's word that he saw ACs. Now, quite frankly, I wouldn't trust one of these guys to identify the sky as being blue, but a -130 of any kind is pretty easy to ID.
I'm thinking tho, he didn't see an AC. I'm thinking he might have seen an EC-130J or EC-130H instead - they look a lot like the gunships from the distance he would have been at(admittedly the -130H less so). Look it up and draw you own conclusions.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/04/2006 12:01
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It would be pretty odd to see AC-130 at low enough level in daylight to identify. It is also unlikely that they would be based in Iraq.
#14
But the plan's general outline was confirmed by other Air Force officers. Military officials warned that disclosing the location of the aircraft's new base would violate security provisions of rules governing media access to US installations.
I vote for leak with braggadoccio added to impress editor. Now the MM and Pencilneck can worry about which side of Iraq these air-trucks are parked on. And how long it will take to move them to the other side. Note that four are expected. This is telegraphing the punch.
#15
Doc8404, if that is your real name: I was being sarcastic, dummy. My point was that Iraq is a far less useful application for such aircraft than their next door neighbors. While AC-130s could no doubt be used in Iraq, they could do incredible hurt in a more conventional conflict. A conflict that just happens to be a strong possibility right now, if you hadn't noticed.
#16
VietNam era weaponry deployed in Iraq? Oh, dearie me! It's the sign of a quagmire, for sure. Next thing you know, they'll be giving our troops M-16s. Oh, wait. Never mind.
As for the AP reporter, they may all be lying, weaselous buffoons, but I give him credit for being able to identify the object in question as a fixed wing aircraft.
Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has approved the extradition to France of a gang leader wanted for the kidnap and murder of a young Jewish man, Foreign Minister Mamadou Kone said Friday. It clears the way for Youssouf Fofana, 25, to be flown back Saturday. The French defence ministry said a military plane was due to leave Friday for the Ivorian capital Abidjan with three police officers to escort him. Gbagbo signed the extradition order for Fofana late Thursday after a court in Abidjan approved the request by French authorities. "We want him to leave as soon as possible," Kone told AFP. Fofana, who is originally from Ivory Coast but has French nationality, was arrested in Abidjan several days after Halimi was found.
At least 10 members of Taliban were killed and half a dozen were captured alive in a clash with Afghan law-enforcement agencies in southern Afghanistan on Friday. Police officials said five cops were also injured in the firefight that erupted in the volatile Helmand province and continued for more than three hours.
Senior police official, Mohammad Ayoub, told journalists the insurgents ambushed a police party in the Sangeen area of the province in the morning. Police retaliated and exchange of fire continued for more than three hours.
As the police personnel were trying to surround the fighters, they fled the scene leaving behind 10 dead bodies. The police officer suspected several of the 'enemies' might be injured in the clash. He said police and military had cordoned the area and commenced a search to arrest the fleeing insurgents. More contingents of police and Afghan army had been deployed and they were searching for the militants in nearby caves and mountains.
Meanwhile, provincial governor's spokesman Muhayuddin confirmed the bloody clash and said several insurgents had been captured alive during the fight. He said heavy weapons had also been recovered from them.
Confirming the fight, Taliban purported spokesman said only two of their fighters were killed. He said they had incurred heavy losses on the government side.
Police rescued four girls, abducted by human traffickers, from the local launch terminal yesterday. The victims are Hajera, 9, Mariyam, 7, and Jesmin, 12, of Najibpur village in Kalapara upazila, and Rashida, 8, of Galachipa upazila of the district. Police said they rescued the girls in the afternoon as they cried for help. The victims told police that some miscreants had picked up them from Mahipur while they were going to their relatives' house. Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, the traffickers fled the scene.
No doubt they'd bring a good price, since three of the four were under 10, and the 12-year-old prob'ly has the body of a 9-year-old.
Posted by: Fred ||
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The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered complete blocking of all websites that displayed caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and directed the government to ensure the Internet providers strictly comply with the verdict of the highest court.
That'd be us, I guess. Goodbye, any readers we have in Pakland...
The verdict came in response to a petition filed by Dr. Imran. The three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry, Justice Faqir Muhammad Khokhar and Justice Mian Shakirullah Jan delivered the verdict. The Supreme Court issued notices to Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority as well as the attorney general of Pakistan to ensure that the blasphemous sites are blocked.
I guess you can do that in a dictatorship. It's the way they try to keep the rubes in line.
Meanwhile, a local lawyer, Iqbal Haider, lodged a criminal case with Secretariat Police Station against the editor-in-chief of Jyllands-Posten and the editor-in-chief of Frances Soir newspaper for publishing the blasphemous caricatures.
Right. Go arrest them.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Yea! Now Rantburg's tagline be changed from Civil, Well-Reasoned Discourse to Banned in Pakistan.
Posted by: ed ||
03/04/2006 9:02
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#2
tagline be changed
tagline can be changed
Posted by: ed ||
03/04/2006 9:03
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"No! Not knowledge! Make it stop! It makes my head hurt! It is sin! All truth is in the Koran! All truth is in the Koran! Help me Llandru!"
Sandy Wyland offered a parting shot as a group of Topeka-based protesters headed for their car. "You're not in Kansas anymore!" she yelled after the four out-of-towners. "You're in New Kingstown, Pennsylvania! And don't come back!" With that, it was over just as quickly as it began.
In between the steady rain and the various Marines, Vietnam veterans and motorcycle groups, the Westboro Baptist Church never had much of a chance to spread its message of hate during a staged visit prior to Thursday's memorial service for Marine Capt. Bryan Willard. The Enola native was killed Feb. 17 when his helicopter crashed into the Red Sea near Djibouti, Africa. The three women and one man sang "God Bless America", while holding signs such as "God is your enemy."
God told me that he hates greasy preachers who affect cowboy hats without owning any cows and disrupt the funerals of men who're better than them. The Archangel Harry told me, in fact, that there's a special roasting spit reserved in the lower reaches of hell, just for Fred Phelps.
It was enough to confuse Steve Gallagher of New Kingstown. "I just don't get it," said Gallagher as the group sang in front of his house. "They shouldn't even be here. They should let the poor guy rest in peace."
The Rev. Fred Phelps, Westboro church pastor, believes American military deaths in Iraq and elsewhere are divine punishment for a country that he says harbors homosexuals. Westboro members have showed up to protest at other military funerals across the country. For years, Phelps and members of his independent church, made up mainly of family members, protested funerals of AIDS victims, but they have now shifted to soldiers.
The only hint of confrontation came after the out-of-state protesters began chanting "Semper Fi! Semper Fag!" Marines were lined up along the church sidewalk with their backs to the protesters, who camped across Route 11. Suddenly, the Marines turned around and drowned out the protesters with a spirited rendition of "The Marines' Hymn."
#1
Why these loons are not locked up is beyond me.
Posted by: Captain America ||
03/04/2006 1:02
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As a Kansas (well, sorta) resident, it behooves me to note that Phelps's idiocy extends far beyond his well-known hatred of homosexuals. He's a raving lunatic who pretty much despises all things American and has been quite supportive of both Castro and Sammy for sometime now - I believe he even went to Baghdad to protest the first Gulf War.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/04/2006 2:00
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#3
I am native. Freddie has been a embarrassment to us all for over a decade now. He and his "church" are truly vile.
#4
What surprises me is nobody has beat the living crap out of Frankie and his followers yet. Not that I advocate that sort of thing. Sometimes it's not worth soiling your hands.
#5
What surprises me is nobody has beat the living crap out of Frankie and his followers yet.
Freddie is sort of like a vertically integrated PUSH/ACLU organization. He threatened to come to our church in his anti-abortion days and our preacher said that the real intent of the protest was to provoke a confrontation so that he could sue. There's always one of Freddie's faithful away from the action with a videocam. With the video as evidence, the insurance company would pay off and then raise the church's rates. Now, if he could get an active duty military person to lose control, he could go after Uncle for a civil rights violation just like the ACLU. Wottan angle.
#6
Oklahoma just passed a law last week and made it take effect immediately that protesting funerals within 500 feet of a cemetary or church is now violation of state law, albeit a misdemeaner.
The bill sailed through within five weeks of being written in time for two Marines who fell in the line of duty.
#9
Me and my pack are pretty good with a tooth too. Wish we coulda been there .... Goldie's about 'nads high, if you know what I mean. I do a pretty good hamstring myself.
#10
What surprises me is nobody has beat the living crap out of Frankie and his followers yet.
A lot of the Phelpses have law degrees, and though they have all been disbarred, they know exactly how far they can push things and still be legally within their rights. They are professional hate-mongers and I am sure they would love it if someone were to retaliate against them physically. Incest and pedophilia will do strange things to a family. I'm just sayin', is all.
#11
Please issue each of the USMC burial party 20 rnds of 5.56 ball along with the standard blank salute ammo. Anyone disrupting a military funeral in this manner should be shot immediately.
#12
Phelps and friends showed up last year at the Pentagon 9/11 memorial march. I explained who they were to some of the other marchers. I'm surprised the marchers hadn't already known, but perhaps that's best. Best that Phelps be forgotten.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/04/2006 20:19
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It could become interesting if the Phelps show up in New Mexico for a military funeral. The state is really bad for light sentenses with punishments involving DWI vehicular homicide. If you're going to kill somewhere there, best be drunk and behind the wheel. It's nearly legal. Hate to see some drunk get a year or two taking out visitors like that. When two bad things collide, can anything good come out of it?
From Geostrategy-direct, subscription.
JERUSALEM Israel's intelligence community has determined that stability is declining in Egypt and Jordan. The two countries, which have peace agreements with Israel, are considered as among the most powerful states in the Middle East. Egypt and Jordan both have air forces based on U.S. platforms...
Egypt also has the Muslim Brotherhood and its children, who'll likely displace Mubarak in the sweet by and by. Jordan's got Zarqa, home of Zarqawi and lots of Zark wannabes. Of the two, I'd say Jordan's got more of a chance that Egypt, since Abdullah is a young, vigorous fellow and the Jordanian courts are willing to hang people. Hosni's heavily into Grecian Formula and would be in a nursing home in any rational country.
"I don't want to be a prophet," said Maj. Gen. Yair Naveh, head of Israel military's Central Command. "But I don't think there will be another king after Abdullah."
Maybe not, but he's a young fellow. Got a lot of miles left on him, and the Gordian Knot's been cut. Ten years from now the Middle East is going to look quite a bit different, even if only the trends in place continue. At age 78 come this May, Hosni probably won't be around to see it.
Naveh, who meets regularly with senior Jordanian military commanders, said 80 percent of Jordan's population was Palestinian. In a lecture at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs on Feb. 22, Naveh, referring to intelligence assessments, said the strengthening of Hamas and Al Qaida-aligned groups would eventually end Hashemite rule in Jordan. Bad thing. Egypt is going hostile, and if Jordan falls to the Paleos, then Israel will be squeezed from all sides, which would be the Plan by al Q, Iran and clients, and all other hostiles to Israel.
On the other hand, Jordan's got Israel on one side and a potentially stable Iraq on the other side, and a potentially stable post-Assad Syria to the north of them.
"There is already a Palestinian majority [in Jordan]," Naveh said. "There are ties to Hamas. In another few years, there will be a great strengthening of Hamas in Jordan." They are on a roll, as long as Iran is funding them. Take Iran out of the equation, and things take a different turn.
At some point within that 10-year window I mentioned, Iran will be out of the equation. I'm not sure if Soddy Arabia will be, but things will also be different there, since the Soddy King Abdullah is approximately the same age as Hosni, and I think his crown prince is only a year or two younger. I'd call it a race against time, with time probably favoring us, if not on our side.
It was the first time in decades that a senior Israeli military or intelligence official publicly predicted the demise of the Hashemite kingdom. Naveh did not offer a timetable. This is quite a thing to say in public.
Officials said military intelligence has envisioned a long-term Islamic threat against Egypt and Jordan that would affect the military balance with Israel. The Islamic opposition would hamper Hashemite rule in Jordan as well as efforts by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to transfer power to his son, Gamal, they said. If Egypt is really in on this, they need our money dried up to them.
Last week, two senior military commanders discussed these assessments in public forums, provoking diplomatic protests from unspecified nations. Jordan is one of them, heh.
Later, officials said Israel had raised concerns over the future of Abdullah's regime during a strategic dialogue with the United States in late 2005. They said Israel also reported a decline in the stability of the regimes in Egypt, Syria and the Palestinian Authority. "These things are known," said Israeli opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, after an intelligence briefing on Feb. 23. "We don't need the generals to know this." Everybody needs to know this. Of course you will not hear it on the MSM.
On Feb. 22, Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinski told a gathering of industrialists in Haifa that Mubarak was losing his authority. Kaplinski referred to the increasing strength of the Muslim Brotherhood and the deteriorating health of the Egyptian president. Inverse proportional relationship.
... "Also in Egypt, there are signs of wavering of the regime," Kaplinski said. "The entire area is very dynamic and highlighted by a lack of certainty." Dynamic is a kind word for it, and lack of certainty is an understatement.
Hours later, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz and Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Dan Halutz released a joint statement that described Jordan's future as bright. Officials said Naveh would also send an apology to Jordan. Kaplinski was not publicly rebuked. Made nice, but the cat's out of the bag.
I'd go with the bright future scenario for Jordan, for the reasons I outlined above. Egypt's always been a basket case.
"There has been a drastic change in the assessment by military intelligence over the last few weeks," an official said. "Military intelligence was surprised by the Hamas victory [in Palestinian Legislative Council elections] and the significant rise of the Brotherhood in Egypt. We could be witnessing the formation of an Islamic ring around Israel, and the military feels it must provide warning." Responsible to state, frightening in its implications.
I'm not overjoyed by the Hamas victory, but I'm not as surprised as the Israelis seem to be. Surely they could see Fatah splitting into two competing factions, fighting over the boodle before they got it? But Hamas has its own built-in problems. First, they're no more immune to corruption than Fatah. The Hamas bigs live just as large. Second, Meshaal hasn't set foot in Paleostine in years. He lives in Damascus and flits around to Beirut and occasionally Teheran. Those are his owners, not the Paleostinians, and he's looking out for his owners' interests. There's not a solution to that problem since he's likely to eat a few feet of missile if he comes back and a bus booms.
Naveh said Israel faces the prospect of an Islamic takeover in such Arab countries as Iraq, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority. This could result in the revival of a hostile eastern front against the Jewish state, particularly following of an expected U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq in 2007. I have a feeling that we won't be going anywhere, given unfinished business in Iran.
Officials said Al Qaida and Hamas could consolidate the Arab eastern front. Abu Mussib Al Zarqawi, a Jordanian national who heads the Al Qaida network in Iraq, has been recruiting Palestinians to establish a presence along the Israeli-Jordanian frontier. Over the past two years, Jordan has captured dozens of suspected Al Zarqawi operatives accused of planning attacks against Israeli and U.S. interests.
Zark started out trying to overthrow the Hashemite monarchy. Al-Tawhid, I'm guessing, is still in business, just not getting quite as much attention from the boss.
Naveh said Israel's military has already detected signs of an Al Zarqawi presence in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He said Al Zarqawi has sought to build a support infrastructure that would eventually recruit Palestinians for mass-casualty attacks against Israel. Getting ready for the Big Show against Israel.
"Al Qaida is trying to establish awareness in the Gaza Strip," Naveh said. "The next stage is for terrorism. I don't think Zarqawi will bring terrorists to Gaza. He doesn't have to. What he can do is exploit Hamas and take it [attacks] to another level." IMHO, we are seeing the greatest threat to Israel forming right before our eyes. The key to so many things---disasters as well as solutions---is Iran and how to deal with the M²s.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
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#1
I've got a feeling Saudi Arabia will collapse before Jordan does, and when that happens the Hashemites will regain their traditional role as guardians of Mecca and Medina, and the Sauds will regain their traditional rols as guardians of a patch of empty desert in the middle of the peninsula.
#3
Jordan's problem is more democracy means more Paleo control. I don't think the Jordan 'regime' will colapse like the Syrian and possibly Egyptian regimes will, but it will become a Palestinian state by inches. Although, not necessarily a bad thing for Israel. Since the paleo population of the WB will bleed away into Jordan leaving the WB less populated and easier for the Israelis to acquire by inches.
#4
With all respect to General Naveh, his assessment in my view, is very long term. King Ab is a young man with very close ties to the US. He's not about to just roll over and play dead anytime soon. Ab has close paleo ties in the bedroom, and a pretty good security service.
#5
I think the islamists - all types - are amassing on the borders of Israel and on all sides. The 53,000 suicide boomers just signed that Iran boasts about. Women and children preferred as well. What would happen if hundreds of thousands of splodydopes (women and children included) swarmed Israel from all sides, all at once.
A pathetic and barbaric tidal wave of psychotic human bombs? Dropping from above, swarming through checkpoints. The carnage and horror would be unimaginable. Right up their alley though. They'd send millions to erase Israel - its the goal that counts.
#6
That is why most everything hinges on Iran. The M²s are providing the resources for this and a lot of other madness in the neighborhood. Take the Iranian money out of this and you have a garbage and sewage infested seethe fest in Gaza and the West Bank, nothing more. Now it's becoming more of an ammo dump. Hey, that gives me an idea......
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/04/2006 11:55
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#7
All the more reason to cut allPaleo funding. People will know the west is serious about not funding governments sponsoring terrorism. Iran and Saudi Arabia can either decide to finance the new Islamic states (which means that oil must flow), or they can decide not to. If they don't then the Jordanians and Egyptians will know that they will starve.
#8
May miracles never cease. However, Twins Jacob(Israel) and Esau(Jordan) were reconciled after many years of estrangement. Isaiah 19 is very interesting:
I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptianbrother will fight against brother,neighbor against neighbor,city against city,kingdom against kingdom.The Egyptians will lose heart,and I will bring their plans to nothing;....So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and keep them....In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance. May it be!
#10
Jordan was always a toy kingdom where the British, later replaced by USA, kept their spare Hashemites---in case they need a regime change in Saudia.
KARACHI: Investigations into the suicide bombing outside the US Consulate on Thursday have revealed that the car used by the suicide bomber was stolen from Lahore in May 2005, Geo Television reported on Friday.
Hmmm... That was almost a year ago...
The owner of the car is an Islamabad-based businessman and unidentified men stole the car from him when he was out to dine with his wife, the channel reported. The owner of the car was also shot.
... so likely it was an actual car thievery, rather than a setup...
The men later changed the cars registration number to that of the Osta Muhammad nazims vehicle, the channel said.
... bringing to question what ties the Osta Muhammad nazim might have with the bad guyz, but since a nazim's a big cheese we may never know...
Four people including US diplomat David Foy died in a car suicide bombing outside the US Consulate on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has joined Pakistani police to hunt the planners of the suicide attack Reuters reported.
"Agent Starchedshirt, reporting for duty, sir!"
Its a joint investigation ... and I think quite a bit of progress has been made, Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told Reuters in Islamabad. Investigators were examining security camera footage that showed the bomber arriving at the scene of the blast, parking and leaving for 20 minutes before coming back and ramming the US missions vehicle, he said. A bearded man of medium height in his 20s, wearing a shalwar-kameez tunic, rammed a white Toyota Corolla packed with explosives into the vehicle metres from the consulates entrance, setting off a blast that also wounded 52 people.
A beardo in his 20s, wearing a salwar-kameez only describes about a quarter of the population of Pakland...
Investigators said the group behind Thursdays attack had a global agenda. ... we do know ... that the plan was executed meticulously, a senior police investigator told AFP. The way it has been done shows it has a global agenda. The planners knew they are doing it at a time when President Bush is in the region.
Of course they did it because Bush was in the region. I'm not sure if the "global agenda" can be drawn from the execution of the boom, though. It's just as likely it was some cheap thug from Lashkar e-Jhangvi, dispatched by the local Qaeda-affiliated holy man.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/04/2006
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Radical Jewish activists hurled concussion bombs into Al-Bechara church in the ancient town of Nazareth in the northern region of Galilee on Friday panicking attendants of a mass, Israeli police said. The police said three Jews sneaked into the crowded church, posing as Christian worshippers and started attacking the attendants with fireworks and concussion bombs, stacked in a small carriage. The explosion panicked the attendees and caused chaos, before some persons attacked the assailing trio. Mohammed Barakah, an Arab member of the Knesset, condemned the terrorist attack.
That's the KUNA version. The AP carries it a little differently...
Couple Lights Fireworks in Nazareth Shrine
By AMY TEIBEL
Associated Press Writer
An Israeli couple, joined by a young woman reported to be their daughter, entered one of Christianity's holiest sites on Friday and set off a series of small explosions, sparking a riot that left six people wounded in this Arab town in northern Israel. The family's motives were unclear, but police said they had been treated for psychiatric problems in the past and faced the possibility of losing custody of their children.
Although the attack did not appear to be nationalistic, it underscored the tensions between Israel's Jewish majority and its Arab minority. Israeli Arabs, who make up about 20 percent of the population, complain of systematic discrimination.
I'd say it was more like it underscored that fact that the world's got more than enough naturally-occurring lunatics.
#1
I've been in that church ... it's lovely and one of the few remaining places where Arab Christians can worship openly without serious intimidation by Muslims.
#3
Israelis celebrated the attack by firing guns in the air and distributing sweets. Oh, wait, that didn't happen. They arrested them and said they were nuts.
#4
Within minutes, thousands of people began rioting outside, preventing police from entering. The attackers - who were disguised as pilgrims - remained barricaded inside the building for several hours before police broke through the crowd and took them into custody.
By late Friday, the riot had stopped, though hundreds of young men milled about, as small bonfires set inside garbage bins crackled and the acrid smell of tear gas blanketed the air. An Israeli helicopter hovered overhead.
This is the part I found interesting. Thousands riot within minutes? I take it the rioters were the muslim population. It seems to be a genetic reation. And stopping police for hours from entering the church? They probably thought some of their own splodydopes were inside and wanted to give them enough time to do their job and blow up the church.
Must have been terribly hurt and dismayed to learn the real story - and the church still standing. Mohammad in the first story certainly seems to be. He still hasn't got the real poop, just hopes: "... condemned the terrorist attack", (grinning broadly).
Police arrested two suspected members of Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) in chaurangi area of Sadar upazila on Thursday night. Acting on a tip-off, police raided a house near Shariatpur Club and arrested Sirajul Islam, 24, and Akash, 20. The arrestees were taken on a 10-day remand for interrogation.
Since they're Islamists, it's doubtful they'll get the trip to the abandoned warehouse at 4 in the morning, more's the pity.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Most of the 26 arrested militants of outlawed Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) have links with Allahr Dal, police interrogating the arrestees said yesterday. A magistrate's court on March 2 remanded them for seven days each after Rapid Action Battalion and police arrested them at Uttar Dhangharah in Gaibandha the previous day. The arrestees told the police the owner of the house where they were holding a meeting before arrest, Saidur Rahman, is their leader, who arranged regular meetings with Allahr Dal.
"We don't believe in democracy, it is almost like blasphemy. We want to establish Islamic rule in the country," said Saidur Rahman during interrogation. Most of the arrestees cannot read or write Arabic and were being taught Quranic verses in Bangla version, the police said. A local teacher speaking anonymously said unknown people used to hold daylong meetings at the house. But neighbours were not invited and outsiders were not allowed to take part. "Being a public representative, even I could not realise something fishy was going on here as they conducted their activities very secretly," said Mozammel Huq, chairman of Ballamjhar Union Parishad.
Saidur Rahman claimed they were conducting research work on the Quran with Allahr Dal leaders Matin Mehdi, Rafiqul Islam and Rawnakul Islam Khushi. Police are hunting for Rafiqul and Mehdi of Bridge Road of Gaibandha. The two launched the activities of Allahr Dal at Hashem Bazar three years ago and Mehdi later joined the JMB. A court in Jhenidah on February 28 sentenced 21 JMB militants including Allahr Dal leaders Mehdi and Abu Taleb Ansari alias Babul Ansari to death in a bomb blast case.
Posted by: Fred ||
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"He is a nice boy, from a good family, if you catch my drift. And now, sadly, completely off his tree. Pay no attention to anything he sez. And send him home please, to his loving and wastarrific family."
The Saudi captured in Iraq, who confessed to being part of the Feb. 24 Abqaiq refinery attack, is deemed mentally ill and not wanted by Saudi authorities, the Interior Ministry announced yesterday. The Kingdom has requested the Iraqi authorities to provide Abdulrahman Musleh Al-Harbi with proper medical treatment, according to an Interior Ministry statement. A source at the ministry told Arab News that a background check on the suspect showed him to have a history of mental illness. It has been proven that he suffers from mental illnesses and he is not wanted by Saudi authorities, said the source, adding that the authorities had requested that the suspect be repatriated in accordance with international law.
Iraqs border guards said yesterday that a Saudi militant suspected of taking part in the attack on the Saudi oil facility was captured Tuesday moments after he crossed the border into Iraqs southern deserts. The suspect initially identified himself incorrectly as Abdullah Salah Al-Harbi. Al-Harbi told Iraqi interrogators that he and eight people from his country were involved in last months suicide attack, according to Saadoun Al-Jabiri, a spokesman for the Iraqi border guard.
The suspect gave the names of eight men, saying five of them fled into Iraq while three were still in Saudi Arabia, the spokesman said. Al-Harbi also claimed that one of the three he named was wounded in a clash with Saudi security forces shortly after the suicide attack. Iraqi forces were still combing the areas to find the five men Al-Harbi named. The Saudi identified the eight men that Al-Harbi named as: Nasser Fahd Al-Miteiri, Nafeh Al-Ajami, Faisal Khaled Al-Miteiri, Fares Mohammed Al-Oteibi, Mutaab Sanad Al-Harbi, Fahd Abdullah Al-Khalidi, Khaled Al-Ajami and Midhyal Al-Oteibi.
Al-Harbi told interrogators on Thursday that he was headed to the predominantly Sunni northern Iraqi city of Mosul where he planned to meet cattle merchants who have links with Al-Qaeda, the spokesman said.
Cattle merchants?
Al-Harbi said he worked as a sheep merchant in Saudi Arabia and that they planned for the attack in Abqaiq for some time, the spokesman said, adding that Al-Harbi claimed to be fleeing to the southern Iraqi city of Samawah. Al-Harbi said he came to Iraq to fight the Americans rather than Iraqis, adding that he was supposed to get weapons in Mosul.
He also said he was the Keymaster, and asked to be taken to the Gatekeeper.
Al-Harbi told Iraqi border guards that his leader was Faisal Khaled Al-Miteiri, who, he claimed, was wounded in the shoulder during the clash with Saudi security forces during the attack.
#3
The irony is that they are probably right, that he is an otherwise harmless kook. In the 3rd and 4th world, there are a LOT more of them wandering the streets than in the civilized world, with mental health care only for the wealthy.
Some local cop in his hometown probably saw his picture and said, "Hey, look! It's Harbi the kook!"
Given the embarassment associated with mental illness in most of the world, it is not the first choice as an alibi.
#7
Cattle merchants and sheep herders connected to AQ? Seems like Belgian and Arabian horses were found to be drug mules by packing the kilos in their uteruses awhile back....Spain, I think. Then they had Saudi horses flown around by KLM, and denied US airspace enroute to Mexico City. I wonder if that is how they move drugs out of Afghanistan? Plastic explosives would also be fairly well protected in the womb. Keep this guy chirping. And what is the proper Iraqi medical treatment for mental illness? Beheading?
A homemade bomb explosion Friday in Southwest Pakistani province of Baluchistan killed two children and wounded three others, police sources said. Speaking to Kuwait News Agency, the sources said unknown armed motorcyclists hurled the homemade bomb at the children who were playing in a ground in DIG Colony of Quetta, the provincial capital. The explosion killed two children of ages between 10 and 13 on the spot and wounded three others, the sources said, adding that police rushed to the scene but the motorcyclists escaped. While no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, police suspects that nationalist militants were behind the explosion.
2 girls killed in grenade attack
QUETTA: Two girls were killed and four injured in a grenade attack on Friday in Quetta. An unidentified attacker threw the grenade at a colony on Saryab Road, Balochistan Police chief Chaudhry Mohammad Yaqoob said. It landed behind residential quarters where children were playing, he said. Musarrat, 11, and Mahnoor, 12, died on the spot while four others two-year-old Tabassum Nazi, three-year-old Munawar, two year-old Shahzad and four-year-old Farhana suffered serious injuries. All the children belong to the Marri tribe.
#1
Not sure. But if 2 more instances of children specifically targetted, I would be willing to belive that where the next level of attacks are to be aimed.
It's possible that children will be specifically targeted for the next wave of boomers. This clash of civilizations just isn't going as fast as planned. The West isn't mad enough yet. This may be the outrage that Binny speaks of that "enters our living rooms". Kids - a la Breslan and more. And blame it on the US and insurgents and joooos, for the locals. Win, win.
While leaving the mosque, by a pair of holy men. Eurabia, here we come!
Witnesses at the scene in Oslo's Grønland district said that two imams had been involved in the knifing but police would could not confirm this. "Three persons are injured after a stabbing in Motzfeldts gate," operation leader Even Jørstad of the Oslo police told Aftenposten. "We first got a report that five-six people were fighting outside Motzfeldts gate 5. It was said that one of these was driven by taxi to the emergency ward. When we arrived at the scene it became clear that three persons had been injured and gone to the emergency ward," Jørstad said. None of the three is said to be seriously injured.
Newspaper VG reported on its web site that Labor politician Khalid Mahmood was attacked as he was leaving Friday prayers. "I went out of the mosque and was attacked by a man with a knife. Luckily there were people with me that prevented this. The man escaped in a taxi," Mahmood told VG Nett. Mahmood is a deputy member of parliament and an Oslo city council representative. Witness told newspaper Dagbladet that one of the injured was standing alone outside the mosque when four men approached him, one armed with an iron bar and the other with a knife. The victim reportedly received head injuries from the iron bar. Police were still trying to clarify why the fighting started.
It's a Religion of Peace (TM) thing, you wouldn't understand.
"It is possible but not terribly likely that we will discover this in the course of the investigation, but now we don't dare say are not clear over what really happened," Jørstad told Aftenposten.
Stay tuned for the next exciting episode of "When Good Da'wa Goes Bad".
From Geostrategy-direct, subscription.
President Bush's enthusiastic endorsement of granting the United Arab Emirates the right to manage leading U.S. ports highlights his belief that the Gulf Arab country has been a solid partner in the war against Al Qaida.
But evidence collected by his government calls that belief into question. Take the report of "The 9/11 Commission Report" and turn to page 137. For the next three pages, Bush could learn how the UAE was involved in foiling a U.S. assassination plot against Osama Bin Laden that could have prevented the 9/11 attacks.
The report suggests that the UAE used its contacts with the United States to protect Bin Laden. In 1999, the Clinton administration approved a plan to strike Bin Laden in Afghanistan. Bin Laden had been located near Kandahar and often went to a small camp where he was largely isolated from civilians.
The problem was that Bin Laden was hanging around with UAE nationals, including a senior member of the ruling family. Richard Clarke, the omnipotent assistant for counter-terrorism in the National Security Agency, called a senior UAE official and expressed concern that members of his country were consorting with Bin Laden. Indeed, an official UAE aircraft was near Bin Laden's camp. The U.S. military was ordered not to strike Bin Laden because of the possibility that the UAE prince would be killed as well. A CIA agent identified only as "Mike" who had been tracking Bin Laden said this marked the loss of the best opportunity to target the terrorist leader, responsible for the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington. Too bad we did not take out Binny then. It would have been a twofer. Binny would have become dissipated proteins and fats and the UAE would have learned a valuable lesson in consorting with terrorists.
On March 7, 1999, the report said, Clarke telephoned the UAE official regarding Bin Laden's whereabouts. Within a week, the Bin Laden camp was dismantled and the site was deserted. "Hey, Achmed! I just got a call from ths Clarke infidel in Washington. They are onto Binny and our prince. Better get them on the blower and tell them to am-scray ow-nay!"
"Hokay, boss. Ima dialin'. (right index finger, don't fail me now!)"
"CIA officers, including Deputy Director for Operations Pavitt, were irate," the report said. "'Mike' thought the dismantling of the camp erased a possible site for targeting Bin Laden."
The report quoted UAE leaders as saying that Abu Dhabi would help the United States against Bin Laden. The leaders insisted that UAE officials were not in Afghanistan, even as the UAE military chief of staff was on a hunting trip in the country. Then we should have taken them out, for sure. Oh, woe for lost opportunity....
"On February 10, as the United States considered striking the camp, Clarke reported that during his visit [UAE leader] Bin Zayed had vehemently denied rumors that high-level UAE officials were in Afghanistan," the report said. "Subsequent reporting, however, suggested that high-level UAE officials had indeed been at the desert camp. CIA memo, 'Recent High Level UAE Visits to Afghanistan,' Feb. 19, 1999. Gen. Shelton also told us that his UAE counterpart said he had been hunting at a desert camp in Afghanistan at about this time."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/04/2006
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#1
Talking about going full circle, I wonder if Bill Clinton is hanging with the same senior member of the ruling family that Bin Laden was?
Sorry, but anything Clarke says is highly suspect. This is the same guy who said he didn't know who authorized the flying out of the Bin Laden family after 9/11, and later testified under oath that it was in fact him who did it.
Clarke was as much responsible for the intelligence failure as anyone.
Posted by: Captain America ||
03/04/2006 1:00
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#2
Unfuckingbelievable. Partisan idiocy trumpeted for yet another day. This story deserves a viciously flogged dead horse graphic.
Pud-puller extraordinaire at GeoSuckMyAss is flogging for subscriptions, again.
This is 7 years ago, 2.5+ yrs before 9/11. Pardon me for saying it, but it's ancient fucking history.
Nothing, repeat nothing is changed one whit by this - or any of the previous Totally Fucking Bullshit Wanking that thinking people have endured from the Partisans and the Putzes. It's just mindless muddle-headed masturbation and purest partisan pandering.
Talk about stuck on fucking stupid. Now we'll get to hear the Twit Twins tell about all the scary boogeymen living under their beds, again.
#5
"The report suggests that the UAE used its contacts with the United States to protect Bin Laden."
Just maybe the report suggests the UAE wasn't enthusiastic about their Big shots ending up as collateral damage.
Ive got a suggestion for 'Geostrategy-direct' read comment #2.
#7
Also, for all we know, someone in the UAE delegation might have been reporting back to someone in the US.
Where do you think we were getting the targeting information in the first place?
Posted by: Phil ||
03/04/2006 14:59
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#8
Lol. I had just popped by to shower and change, saw this article, and exploded at the sheer idiocy. Sin City = 24x7, heh.
There have been many memes floated by the BDS assholes. Some are simple-minded drivel, some are much more sophisticated in that they require either native intelligence to see through or a trusted authoritative source to debunk. The sad truth is that each and every one of them peels off a few or alot from reality and enlists them in the Kool Aid Brigade. Sure, some drop off over other memes that they know are BS and they begin to see the pattern we see here, but some just don't think for themselves - they lack the info crucial to critical thinking.
This is one of those you gotta think about - hard - keeping your knees locked down while doing so. Separating wheat from chaff is where reality breaks (in the surfing sense) - to one side break the fools and tools of the mob and to the other break the people you'd choose to associate with, like to share a meal or a beer with.
Look at the polls for verification. The assholes and dimwits have peeled off a lot of people, including what were solid Pubs not that long ago. As issues which require thought finally get some clarification in the public realm, some will come back to the fold. Enough? No, IMHO.
Got a little prediction to toss out: this November, the Dhimmidonks will win either the House or the Senate, and possibly even both. The House is the more likely - and guess what the House can do... From this new-found power, they will launch endless wank-o-matic attacks, investigations, and (wet-dreams are realized) impeachment proceedings against Bush in the House. The last 2 years of the Bush admin will be a true dead duck, hamstrung, weak, without any further substantive achievements. It will lead to a tight and nasty 2008 (duh, big surprise), but it will have a larger effect than I hear anyone around here admitting to - a 50/50 chance that a Dhimmidonk candidate will take the WH. After that, well, somewhere around 2012 or so, there will be a civil war.
That's pretty far off in the future, and a bazillion things can happen to change the sequence, of course.
But in the near future we have a critical moment approaching that must not be mishandled: Iran. Will Bush have the stones to deal with it as needed, with or without congressional support? I'd say yes - for a mixture of good and bad reasons. On the good side will be those who haven't been fooled by the Kool Aid Brigades - they think for themselves, aren't suckers for peer pressure, are capable of bona-fide critical thought, and don't mistake a knee-jerk for a thought process. On the bad side, lol, is the 1979 "revolution" (devolution is far more accurate, IMHO) in Iran. Take the US Embassy and holding our people hostage hasn't been forgotten - or forgiven. Only the terminal Moonbats, like Carter, have gone over the cliff and decided that everything bad that happens is deserved, there are no bad people, just bad govt, etc. etc. Even the morons are afraid of the MM's and remember '79, so we'll pick up the emotional knee-jerk Kool Aid swills.
#9
Ah, I bet we get a full blown case of BDS by autumn that'll turn the stomachs of enough Americans that by election day, not only will the Democrats not take back either house, but will lose seats in the disgust. Unfortunately, that'll lead to an 'Fort Sumter' event by a moonbat.
It might not be the most sophisticated airborne weapon, but it seems pretty effective.
A US company called Neural Robotics has modified a miniature autonomous helicopter by attaching a remote-controlled shotgun, thus creating the "AutoCopter Gunship".
The mini-copter can fly either autonomously or under the remote control of a "virtual pilot". The company claims that even novices can pilot the craft with relative ease, thanks to "neural network flight algorithms" that steady the vehicle's flight.
And now, pilots can also remotely track targets via a video camera and "neutralise them" using an AA-12 Full-Auto Shotgun, which fires both regular 12-gauge shotgun ammo and FRAG-12 grenade rounds. See the video here.
The AutoCopter can fly forwards at 60 mph and sideways at 35 mph and its gun has a range of around 90 metres. The next version will even come with thermal and infra-red night vision cameras. Better just hope your kids don't get hold of the remote control. Obvious anti-terrorism application in places like Iraq. Otherwise, these devices are getting more and more like the fictional devices I wrote about in Autonomous Operation
#3
I have this mental image of a hunter sitting at home directing this mini-chopper over forest in search of Deer.
Then sending a remote-controlled four-wheeler with a winch to pick up the kill and carry it to a local butcher.
(Disclaimer, I don't hunt, but have nothing against those who do, But I do indeed love Science Fiction, if it's a possible scenario)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/04/2006 8:53
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#4
Definitely first generation. The first thing I would add would be microprocessor stabilization control, both for flight guidance and for targetting. That would really improve the critical 'arrival on scene to effective firing' time, when the enemy is trying to shoot back. This could also have a 'bug-out' feature so that after the target has been engaged, the copter would automatically go into an evasive maneuver mode, along with withdrawing a bit to make it less of a target.
Then you could use three small ranging cameras, preset at long, medium and short range, that would auto-select once the target was acquired at long range.
These two things would not contribute much to weight, would use off the shelf technology, and would increase survivability.
#8
The first thing I would add would be microprocessor stabilization control, both for flight guidance and for targetting
'moose, a neural net is an intelligent software program that learns from feedback. This mini-copter already has what you want ... See how quickly Neural Robotics updated their design to meet your spec? :-)
#9
lotp: Isn't it bizarre how quick this stuff gets around? But if they're going to go that route, I wonder if they will use swarm AI and use these helicopters in squadrons?
With a larger model with bigger weapons systems, I could imagine them deployed like helicopter armored cav is today. Essentially like a 3D light cavalry deployments as they used them back in Napoleonic times.
Such light cav units just play hell on infantry, make for good reconnaisance in force, screening maneuvers and flank attacks.
#10
lotp: Isn't it bizarre how quick this stuff gets around? But if they're going to go that route, I wonder if they will use swarm AI and use these helicopters in squadrons?
Maybe at some point, but I don't think it's a priority right now. There are several projects well along for swarms of mini-missiles, however. The swarm AI has them constantly recomputing who is best positioned to take out the designated targets at any given time, so that when some are lost the others don't lose mission focus.
But as far as I know, gunships will continue to be remote controlled for firing.
#11
At $50,000 a copy {mass-production price}, that means that you could have 10,000 of them for $500 million or the cost of 125 Strykers. You could blacken the sky in an area with them, and with a psyops broadcast plane playing Flight of the Valkeries at full volume, you could really screw with people's heads --- just before removing them with a blast of buckshot.
#12
Its the autonomous aspect thats interesting. You could use it to search an area for hostiles without tying up an operator (or one operator could control several). When it found someone, a red light would start flashing back at where ever its controlled from and the operator makes a decision on what to do.
BTW, my research said small helicopters are inherently unstable in turbulent air. Although I suspect the problem is solvable in software.
#13
Geeks and Buck Rogers be damned. In the end it still takes, boots on the ground, a man with a rifle and the will to kill the enemy. If a fraction of the hundreds of millions of USD DARPA spends each year on cyber systems went to SOF and the infantry, we might have run out of targets long ago.
#14
Costs a lot to train and equip one SOF member, EU. And suitable candidates aren't exactly commonplace - the range and depth of skills needed are substantial. But then I know you know that ... ;-)
Equipment can be mass-produced once it is designed and tested. Also, there are a lot of things that it's desireable to have equipment do instead of people - I didn't hear anyone complain that the robots that went into the Afghan caves were putting soldiers out of work ...
Boots on the ground are the center of our Army and will be on into the future. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't put the most sophisticated, capable systems at that soldier's disposal. AARs make it pretty clear that our SOF were pleased to be backed up with Predators carrying Hellfires in Afghanistan, along with other gizmos they had with them personally. And it won't be long before we'll be seeding areas with micro-sensors that give tactical recon a whole new dimension.
It's not for nothing that the SOF guy who was my colleague recently - a short R&R type assignment between field operations - also has a graduate degree in computer science.
But your main point about the soldier being central is and will be absolutely correct IMO. SOF and all who serve, especially in the combat branches, have my deepest respect, admiration and gratitude.
#16
Shieldwolf: I think you are *so* right with the "vast numbers" concept for the future of war. There are so many combat systems that if mass-produced cheaply could have an overwhelming impact on land, at sea, and in the air.
Imagine something cheap and cheerful, a pair of wings and an engine that could be clamped onto a 250-lb iron bomb. With a simple GPS guidance to get them to where you want them to be. And then you launch 10,000 such flying bombs at once.
Once in the air, even if you took out their GPS guidance satellite, they could "best guess" to their target based on some reliable algorithyms.
They already have something like this, that is, winged bombs that can glide a long distance to their targets with GPS; but only when dropped from an aircraft.
The difference is expense. If you want 10,000, you want them as cheap as can be. To be satisfied with their just doing their job, not be an expensive perfectionist about it.
#17
Volume buys not only low cost, but, for a small incremental cost, simplicity of design, high quality and reliability. The learnign curve is a wonderful ride.
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.
Helicopter gunships fired on pro-Taliban tribesmen who clashed with security forces Saturday near the Afghan border, leaving at least 49 people dead, in the aftermath of a military strike on a suspected militant hide-out. 
A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest chemical element yet known to science. This new element has been tentatively named "UNium." 
In choosing the middle term, Burns cited Cunningham's "profound medical problems" -- which include prostate cancer, thyroid problems and bad knees -- war service and expressions of remorse. 
Escalating border violence turned deadly Thursday night as Border Patrol agents shot a man who fired upon them. It was the first fatal shooting in the Border Patrol's Yuma sector in six years, according to the agency.
After the shooting, Border Patrol apprehended Diego Armando Mendieta De La Torre, 20, of Mexicali who is a suspect in the robberies.
Zimbabwe will amend its mining laws to allow the government to demand a 51% share in some foreign-owned mines, an official announced on Friday. "The government wants to be an active participant in the mining business ... In effect I am saying the principles to the Amendments of the Mines and Minerals Act have been presented and approved by Cabinet," Mining Minister Amos Midzi told reporters in Harare.
A French special forces officer was killed in clashes with Taliban forces in southern Afghanistan, the defence ministry and the military said in a joint statement. The statement gave no details of the death of the officer of a marine commando unit, the second French soldier to be killed in action in Afghanistan.
Its creation will further inflame relations between Venezuela and the US, already characterised by insults and tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats. Mr Chavez, a former paratrooper, has warned repeatedly that the "imperialist enemy" will attempt to crush his socialist revolution in this enormous South American country, which supplies the US with 15 per cent of its oil.
The United Nations is asking the United States and other nations with big militaries to provide tactical air support for an ill-equipped African Union peacekeeping force in Sudan's Darfur region.
MUNSHIGANJ, Mar 3: A top terror of Dhaka city was killed in an encounter between his cohorts and Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) at Sreedharpur of Shekharnagar here early Friday, reports UNB.
The mayor of a southern Philippine city was shot dead Friday by two unidentified gunmen, one of whom was later killed, the military said.
CHICAGO - The interrogation tactics of Israeli security forces were put on trial in a US courtroom Friday as part of the prosecution of an American citizen accused of funneling million of dollars to the radical Palestinian group Hamas.
LONDON Libyan authorities released 130 political prisoners on Thursday, including 83 members of the Muslim Brotherhood, a Libyan activist said. Ashour Shamis, who is based in London, told Reuters the prisoners were freed in the capital Tripoli. Two of them had been sentenced to death and 10 to life imprisonment in a trial in 2001.
A Department of Defense official on Wednesday called the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, vital to strategic intelligence collection and defended the Pentagon's decision not to allow United Nations representatives access to detainees.
Anti-U.S. protests erupted in several Pakistani cities Friday, with crowds burning American flags, chanting "Death to Bush" and scuffling with police shortly before the U.S. president was to arrive for a two-day visit. Other Pakistanis demonstrated against cartoons of Prophet Muhammad as radical Islamic groups called a strike that shut shops and businesses some towns.
Police are preparing a sketch of a suicide car bomber who struck outside a US consulate in Pakistan, killing a US diplomat and three other people, a police official said yesterday. US authorities have named the two consulate staff killed in the explosion in downtown Karachi on Thursday as 
Dozens of suspected insurgents attacked a small town near Baghdad at dusk on Thursday and killed at least 25 people and possibly many more, police and a local politician said yesterday. Police recovered 21 bodies, mostly of Shia migrant workers, from a brick factory at Nahrawan, municipal council leader Alaa Abdul Sahab Al Lamy told Reuters. A further four were brought from the local power station, he added.
A high-level meeting between Iran and the European Union yesterday failed to reach an agreement that would prevent the nuclear dispute from reaching the United Nations Security Council.
Israeli "Counter-Terrorism Leadership" warned on Friday Israelis against visiting Arab states, especially Egypt and Jordan. The leadership said that this warning was issued after they received intelligence about "global Jihad" cells planning to carry out bombing operations against Israeli embassies and tourists in Arab states. Israeli newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth, cited an Israeli official as saying that terrorist activities have recently increased in Arab states sharing borders with Israel. The newspaper said that Jordanian security forces foiled an attack on tens of Israeli tourists in an Amman hotel, noting that an Al-Qaeda cell infilterated into Jordan last week.
Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal, on a current visit to Russia, described his talks on Friday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as constructive and frank. Meshaal, speaking at a news conference with the Russian Foreign Minister, said the discussions were good, constructive and candid. "These discussions underscore the wisdom of the Russians of inviting the Hamas delegation to Moscow," he said.
MIRANSHAH: Senior Taliban commander 
A nationwide strike called by the 
Locals in Bagmara of Rajshahi and Atrai, Raninagar of Naogaon demand the government trace and hunt down those who aided and abetted militant kingpins 
A senior Pakistan Muslim League leader has advised President General Pervez Musharraf to allow 
The Baloch leader has fled his hometown and is hiding at an undisclosed location, they added. Recently, several criminal cases were registered against Bugti for killing FC officials and destroying national installations.
LAHORE: Immigration officials on Friday arrested a Belgian national on terror charges at Lahore Airport while he was trying to board a plane for Islamabad. Micha Ballen is wanted by Belgium for involvement in several crimes and is believed to be a terrorist. He came here from London on February 7 by a Gulf Air flight and was staying at a seminary near the city. 
A Sudanese minister has said his country might pull out of the African Union if the AU's Peace and Security Council approves replacement of the AU force in Darfur with a UN force, Aljazeera reports. Alsammani al-Wasilla, Sudan's minister of state for foreign affairs, has reiterated Khartoum's rejection of the proposal for deployment of international troops in Darfur, Aljazeera's correspondent in Khartoum said on Friday AU foreign ministers are to meet on 10 March in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to decide on the transition, agreed upon earlier in principle. 
Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Mark Malloch Brown, his Chef de Cabinet, as Deputy Secretary-General, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric officially announced on Friday. Brown, a British national, replaces Louise Frechette, a Canadian national, whose term ends at the end of this month. Dujarric also announced the appointment of Vijay Nambiar, India's former UN envoy, as special advisor to Annan with the rank of Under Secretary-General. He replaces Lakhdar Brahimi who resigned earlier this year. These appointees will leave the UN when Annan's second term ends later this year.
Two more cases were filed against militant leader Shaikh Abdur Rahman involved in a string of deadly blasts across Bangladesh. Rahman surrendered on Thursday and was remanded to 10-day police custody under the Arms and Explosives acts. Earlier, 223 cases were filed in connection with militancy and bomb attacks across the country, Home Secretary Safar Raj Hossain told reporters in Dhaka yesterday. Rahman has been accused in at least 150 of these cases. Police filed 154 cases for the August 17 series of blasts and 69 more were added later for bomb attacks elsewhere, he added. A trial court in Barisal on Feb. 9 sentenced Rahman, Bangla Bhai, Molla Omar and Amzad alias Khalid Saifullah to 40 years rigorous imprisonment under the Explosive Substances Act.
KASUR: Abdul Hameed, a resident of Mauza Nathay Khalsa, Pattoki, claimed he was a prophet on Friday and was arrested by officials of the Phool Nagar police station.
President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has ended a week-long state of emergency in the Philippines, as widely expected, after her security chiefs said the threat from coup plotters had receded. In a nationally televised address, Arroyo said: "At this moment, I am calling off the state of emergency. I firmly believe that order has been restored. It is important that our political enemies and opportunists stop troubling the economy and embarrassing the Philippines because of their nonsense shows. I will never allow this kind of adventurism." 
On March 1, Iraqi soldiers from 2nd Brigade, 9th Iraqi Army Division, and U.S. soldiers from 1st Battalion, 66th Armored Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, detained a suspected terrorist northwest of Baghdad based on a tip. The detainee is suspected of being a member of a bomb-making cell responsible for a roadside bomb attack that killed a U.S. soldier in February. The incident is under investigation. 
A sudden decision by Algeria to close 42 French schools because they did not give priority to Arabic, the national language, sparked concern in France Thursday. Several French newspapers noted the closures, which had been threatened for a year, and quoted Algerian parents saying the decision was "catastrophic" for their children. President Abdelaziz Bouteflika was seen as making concessions to Islamic hardliners in parliament by ordering the closures. 
Yemeni authorities yesterday released 627 supporters of a rebel preacher held on charges of involvement in clashes with government forces which left hundreds dead in the north of the country. The Higher Security Committee, headed by President Ali Abdullah Saleh, said in a statement that the freed men were all detained in connection with the rebellion staged by the late Shiite preacher Hussein Badruddin Al-Houthi in the northern province of Saada. The releases were made in compliance with the general amnesty announced by President Ali Abdullah Saleh last September, the statement said. They were released after they had pledged not to return to their perverseness, and to be good citizens, said the statement, carried by official media.
The US Air Force has begun moving heavily armed AC-130 aircraft - the lethal "flying gunships" of the Vietnam War - to a base in Iraq as commanders search for new tools to counter the Iraqi resistance, The Associated Press has learned. An AP reporter saw the first of the turboprop-driven aircraft after it landed at the airfield this week. Four are expected.
Ivorian President Laurent Gbagbo has approved the extradition to France of a gang leader wanted for the kidnap and murder of a young Jewish man, Foreign Minister Mamadou Kone said Friday. It clears the way for 
At least 10 members of Taliban were killed and half a dozen were captured alive in a clash with Afghan law-enforcement agencies in southern Afghanistan on Friday. Police officials said five cops were also injured in the firefight that erupted in the volatile Helmand province and continued for more than three hours.
Police rescued four girls, abducted by human traffickers, from the local launch terminal yesterday. The victims are Hajera, 9, Mariyam, 7, and Jesmin, 12, of Najibpur village in Kalapara upazila, and Rashida, 8, of Galachipa upazila of the district. Police said they rescued the girls in the afternoon as they cried for help. The victims told police that some miscreants had picked up them from Mahipur while they were going to their relatives' house. Sensing the presence of the law enforcers, the traffickers fled the scene. 
The Supreme Court of Pakistan has ordered complete blocking of all websites that displayed caricatures depicting the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and directed the government to ensure the Internet providers strictly comply with the verdict of the highest court.
Sandy Wyland offered a parting shot as a group of Topeka-based protesters headed for their car. "You're not in Kansas anymore!" she yelled after the four out-of-towners. "You're in New Kingstown, Pennsylvania! And don't come back!" With that, it was over just as quickly as it began.
KARACHI: Investigations into the suicide bombing outside the US Consulate on Thursday have revealed that the car used by the suicide bomber was stolen from Lahore in May 2005, Geo Television reported on Friday.
Most of the 26 arrested militants of outlawed 
A homemade bomb explosion Friday in Southwest Pakistani province of Baluchistan killed two children and wounded three others, police sources said. Speaking to Kuwait News Agency, the sources said unknown armed motorcyclists hurled the homemade bomb at the children who were playing in a ground in DIG Colony of Quetta, the provincial capital. The explosion killed two children of ages between 10 and 13 on the spot and wounded three others, the sources said, adding that police rushed to the scene but the motorcyclists escaped. While no group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, police suspects that nationalist militants were behind the explosion.
