#5
U.N. relief coordinator Jan Egeland has appealed for a cease-fire. The damage in Lebanon is "far beyond what we normally see in wars"
when you stop and think about how ludicrous that statement is, it makes you shudder as to how biased he must be against Israel. After all, what would drive someone to make such a dramatic statement? There must be so much hate coloring his perception.
"far beyond what we normally see in wars."
In other words, this is the worst war ever. Any other war pales in comparison. A war to end all wars. Devastating carnage, the likes of which humanity has never imagined, let alone seen.
I'll bet bile wells up in his throat when he thinks of Israel. Let him choke on it.
#6
Do these UN idiots ever read history? The damage in Lebanon is worse than the Blitz in London? The Siege of Stalingrad? The Firebombing of Dresden and Tokyo? What drugs is Jan Egeland on, anyway?
#8
The dude that said "#5 U.N. relief coordinator Jan Egeland has appealed for a cease-fire. The damage in Lebanon is "far beyond what we normally see in wars"
Is just another member of the Socialist international or u n if your already enlightened. That is the real war, Socialists at the u. n. and all thier instructions. Did you ever stop to think that we THE USA have subordinated our own history to a bunch of apointees coming from oligarchic societies based on one simple concept....loot as much as you can; while you can. We need a New N not the old u n.....and we need it now.
Decapitate the head of the snake and enjoy the rest....not surpisingly, tastes like chicken.
On Monday of last week Darfur had more casualties in a day, than nearly the total here 8 days hence.
The counting and analysis of useful idiots like this, is always skewed to the loot available at the end of the process.
LEBANESE parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri today rejected a ceasefire proposal by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice aimed at ending Israel's war on Hezbollah, an aide to the Lebanese official said.
A meeting between Ms Rice and Mr Berri, who is acting as an intermediary for the Shiite Muslim Hezbollah group, was marked by "differences," a source close to Mr Berri said after the surprise visit to Beirut by the top US diplomat.
"There was no agreement because Rice insisted on a mechanism on a global settlement before a ceasefire," the source said on condition of anonymity.
"Rice set, as conditions for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of Hezbollah to the Litani river and the deployment of an international force in the area which would, she said, allow the return of displaced people."
The Litani river is about 20km from the border with Israel, marking an area that is largely under the control of Hezbollah.
Mr Berri, a veteran Shiite politician, had called for a ceasefire to be followed by a prisoner exchange and for Israel to allow the return of Lebanese who had fled the south "before discussing a complete plan to resolve the conflict."
Ms Rice had refused to discuss an exchange of prisoners, the source said.
But US Middle East envoy David Welch, said suggestions that the meeting was not a success were unfair.
"This gentleman is the ranking Shia of the Lebanese Government," he said as Ms Rice flew to Israel after her five-hour stop in Beirut.
"He spoke with much more emotion about the problem, (than other Lebanese leaders)" he said, adding that many of Mr Berri's fellow Shiite Muslims were facing difficult conditions in southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah has demanded the release of Arab prisoners held in Israeli jails in return for two soldiers it captured in a deadly border raid on July 12 that triggered Israel's massive offensive on Lebanon.
Asked by reporters travelling with Rice about the reported plan for some sort of buffer zone, Mr Welch said: "I am not going to go into that."
In an earlier meeting, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora angrily attacked Israel for its relentless bombing campaign which has claimed mainly civilian victims.
"Israeli aggression is not only targeting Hezbollah but Lebanon itself, sending it back 50 years with its bombardment," he told Ms Rice.
Mr Siniora cited more than 350 deaths in Lebanon since the start of the campaign and some 1500 wounded, a statement issued by his office said.
Ms Rice's visit came as Washington appeared increasingly estranged from many European and Arab allies over Israel's massive onslaught that has set off fears of a humanitarian disaster as thousands of foreigners and Lebanese flee.
Washington had faced calls for bold action amid criticism it was stalling to allow Israel time to attempt to wipe out the Syrian- and Iranian-backed Hezbollah, which provoked the conflict after seizing two soldiers on July 12.
Israel is struggling to knock out Hezbollah despite its vastly superior military might and has now suggested it would accept some form of international force in southern Lebanon, currently in the grip of the Shiite militia.
In the latest fighting least eight civilians were killed, including children, when Israeli fighter jets pounded southern Lebanon, turning homes to rubble, while troops were locked in pitched battles with Hezbollah guerrillas near the border.
Two soldiers were killed in the fighting with Shiite Muslim militiamen as troops in tanks and bulldozers pushed even deeper into Lebanon although the Israeli government says it has no plans for an all-out invasion -- for now.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washington's closest ally, called the conflict a "catastrophe" that was damaging fledgling democracy in Lebanon, a country that had gradually been rebuilding since the 1975-90 civil war and the end of Syria's long military and political dominance last year.
He said he hoped a plan would be announced in the next few days to bring about an end to the worst cross-border conflict since Israel invaded its northern neighbour in 1982.
But clashes erupted again as Israeli forces moved towards Bint Jbeil, the largest town in the border zone and a Hezbollah stronghold, after taking control of the nearby strategic village of Marun al-Ras.
Two soldiers were killed in the fighting and another two died in a helicopter crash, bringing to 41 the number of Israelis killed since July 12.
The army said a barrage of about 20 rockets landed in towns across northern Israel, slightly wounding one person.
At least eight civilians including two children were also killed in a new round of air strikes largely around the port city of Tyre in southern Lebanon, which has borne the brunt of Israel's devastating bombardments.
Streams of people have been making a desperate trek from the area after Israel ordered them to leave their homes and massed troops on the border.
The offensive has left Lebanon virtually cut off from the world, made hundreds of thousands of people refugees in their own country and destroyed billions of dollars of infrastructure.
Despite Israeli claims it would quickly hobble Hezbollah, a minister said it was time for the government to re-evaluate its goals.
"We raised hopes too high by promising to disarm Hezbollah's armed wing and decapitate its leadership. There is no question of us losing this campaign but we will have to set ourselves realistic goals."
Israel also launched a public relations offensive led by its best-known elder statesman Shimon Peres to tell the world why it was not yet silencing its guns.
"The free world is facing a threat, the goal of Hezbollah is to set the world aflame and we will not let them succeed," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said after talks with Ms Rice.
Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah remained defiant, vowing that deeper incursions would not stop the rocket fire, and ruling out any efforts for a negotiated settlement unless it involved a prisoner swap.
"We are truly in a state of war and Hezbollah's priority is to stop the savage Zionist aggression on Lebanon," he told As-Safir newspaper.
UN chief Kofi Annan said he would press for a truce and establishment of a buffer force at a crisis meeting on Lebanon in Rome on Wednesday.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who is to meet Rice today, has said would accept a peacekeeping force in Lebanon made up of troops from EU nations.
In the Gaza Strip, where the Israeli army is fighting a second offensive aimed at retrieving a captive soldier and halting rocket attacks, six Palestinians including two children were killed by Israeli fire.
The deaths bring to 113 the number of Palestinians killed since Israel began a massive military operation there late last month which has targeted the ruling Hamas movement.
As the bombardments continued, foreign governments have laid on ferries, warships and cruise liners to evacuate stranded nationals, mainly to the nearby resort island of Cyprus which has been battling to find temporary accommodation and flights for the estimated 70,000 evacuees at peak summer holiday season.
#4
Lebanese 9-11 > the desired defeat and destruction of Israel ALSO MEANS THE SAME IN LT FOR AN INDEPENDENT SOVEREIGN DEMOCRATIC LEBANON + SYRIA TO RADICAL IRAN AND SHIA-BASED IRANIAN REGIONAL EMPIRE. So goes Israel, so goes Western dmeocracy = democracies in the ME and elsewhere. Israel = USA > 9-11 = the "status quo" is no longer acceptable/tolerable to their enemies, from within andor without. ISRAEL = USA > LIVES AND RULES/DOMINATES, OR IT WILL BE SUBORNED AND DESTROYED, ALONG WID ANY AND ALL ALLIES AND ALIGNED NEUTRALS.
India and Israel want to set up a joint venture to develop advanced electronic warfare (EW) systems for their air forces fighter aircraft.
The proposed joint venture, the creation of which would cost around $100 million, is expected to get the go-ahead shortly with a signed deal between Indias Defence Avionics Research Establishment (DARE), Bangalore, and the Elisra Group, Bene Beraq, Israel.
Seventy percent of the venture will be funded by DARE, which is part of the state-run Defence Research and Development Organisation, with Elisra paying the remaining 30 percent.
A senior DARE scientist said the proposed venture likely will get off the ground in the next three to six months at DARE facilities in Bangalore.
Elisra will develop approach warning systems, radar jamming pods and other systems, while DARE will develop cooling systems, electromagnetic interference and electromagnetic susceptibility systems, as well as system integration in the aircraft.
The program is to be fully operational in three years
The scientist said this venture will see an advanced EW system called MAYAVI developed for Indias Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) and F-35 Joint Strike Fighters that Israel plans to buy from the United States.
The EW system will feature advanced radar warning, radar jamming, and electronic combat and self-protection systems. It also will have an Integrated Defensive Electronic Radio Frequency Countermeasures system to help protect the LCA against radar-guided missiles.
Its Advanced Threat Infrared Countermeasures will protect aircraft against heat-seeking missiles, and be paired with the Common Missile Warning System.
We are collaborating with Indian agencies for a number of defense programs, but, as per company policy, we do not discuss specific programs, an Elisra executive here said. The executive added that DARE was selected as a partner after trying several other defense partners in the world.
A senior Indian Defence Ministry official said India wants to forge alliances with Israeli companies to develop a variety of high-end defense technologies so that the Indian Defence Forces do not have to depend on the West for critical technologies.
Elisra has helped DARE in the past to develop an EW system called Tempest for the MiG-21 bis fighter upgrade program. EW systems from Elisra also are being supplied for the licensed production in India of 140 Sukhoi Su-31 MKI aircraft at Hindustan Aeronautics, Bangalore.
The Defence Ministry official said India has procured an unspecified number of EW suites from Israel for LCA prototypes, but declined to elaborate.
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006
18:22 ||
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#1
Muslim seething in 1,2,3
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006 19:31
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All Muslims are not terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims; it is for the community leaders to identify jihadi elements amidst them, says François Gautier
The Mumbai bombings have once again thrown up the same questions: Is it possible to have a dialogue with today's Islam? Does it listen to reason? Does plain logic work? Will it ever stop killing innocent people in the name of god?
There is a Central Government that is blatantly pro-Muslim, making sure that more and more Muslims are appointed to top Government posts. It is endeavouring to carve a sizeable chunk of reservation for Muslims, as seen in Andhra Pradesh, and constantly pandering to India's Muslim minority. The bombings also take place in Maharashtra, a State governed by the Congress, where many Muslims live and work, the financial capital whose prosperity benefits all, including Muslims.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006
18:20 ||
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#1
Muslims in India and elsewhere in the world do not understand that we are slowly losing our innocence
How true...
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006 20:55
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MADRID, Spain - Spain's Supreme Court on Monday threw out a terrorism conviction against the only Spaniard to have been held at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying there was no evidence to back up charges he was a member of al-Qaida. The court ordered the immediate release of Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed, who was convicted last year of belonging to a terrorist organization and sentenced to six years in prison. "There is a total absence of prosecution evidence," the Supreme Court said.
Ahmed was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 and held by Pakistani authorities for about four months before being transferred to Guantanamo. He said he had gone to Afghanistan to study at an Islamic school.
Chemistry major, no doubt
He was returned to Spain in February 2004 and indicted by anti-terrorism judge Baltazar Garzon. Prosecutors said during his trial that Ahmed had gone to Afghanistan to train at an al-Qaida camp, and his address had been recovered by British police in an al-Qaida-linked raid in England.
The Spanish Supreme Court last month threw out an al-Qaida suspect's conviction for conspiracy to commit murder in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. It also cited weak evidence against the suspect, Syrian-born Spaniard Imad Yarkas, who was indicted by Garzon in Sept. 2003 as suspected leader of an al-Qaida cell in Spain. The court upheld a 12-year sentence against Yarkas for belonging to al-Qaida. It acquitted three other suspects who had been convicted of belonging to or collaborating with al-Qaida.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/24/2006
17:52 ||
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#1
Concerning what is happening in Spain nowadays, you have to remember that the far-left Zapatero was elected 3 days after the Madrid bombings of March 11th, 2004, and that he is at present discussing with the ETA terrorist organization (which has killed more than 1000 people in 30 years, and is the bloodiest terrorist group of all Europe). A lot of Spanish are disgusted about those talks, but, nevertheless, according to surveys (and to what I have heard in a recent trip in central Spain), they are fanatically anti-American (in fact, more than the French people, no joke). So, they sympathize with the poor terrorists detained in Guantanamo, and their justice system does too. In my country (France), 3 detainees released from Guantanamo are awaiting the decision of the tribunal, but already the judge has said during the trial that their detention in Guantanamo was a crime (yes), and that Guantanamo was a shame for the mankind (no less). By the way, that's the general mood in the vast majority of "old" Europe (Western Europe).
#2
Spain is the one country in Europe whose ass we have kicked around the block. They're upset about Gitmo because they tyhink it should still belong to them. They hope to set up a Hispanosphere to rival the Anglosphere. But most of the people who would qualify live in this hemisphere and seem to want to get away from things Hispanic for del Norte asap.
#3
Like Spain, France is dreaming of setting up a Francosphere to rival the Anglosphere. It's a shame that most of Spanish and French people think that it's more important to oppose the US than to oppose islamism and terrorism. They dont want to understand that the US are presently protecting the free world, once more.
#4
The white Latin upper classes might find some utility in a Hispanosphere, but I can't see the mestizo and indio masses showing any interest at all in such a creature.
I have come to consider, le roi david, the European selection of such an unserious enemy as the United States as a reflection of the silliness of the whole European project. If the Euro elites were serious about defining themselves in opposition to someone, one could surely find a much better example than America.
#6
Wow 11A5S. Deep-ish. Impressed I am. No slight. Kick ass, man.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/24/2006 20:16
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#7
To 11A5S : I think the European project is good in its aim (creating a federation of countries to re-inforce them as a whole), but that it is crippled by the liberal way of thinking of a lot of european leaders and people (for example, more than 64 % of French people think that capitalism is evil, according to a recent survey), and by their will to oppose the US. They should want to positively compete with the US, which would lead to more fundings for research, for science, and for the army to fight terrorism. But the anti-American disinformation is deeply rooten in 'old Europe'. Sometimes, I wonder if I'm not living in an asylum.
#8
that Guantanamo was a shame for the mankind (no less).
But if I recall correctly, a EU team which reviewed the conditions provided prisoners at Gitmo were among the best in the world, while the same group rated Romania and France near the bottom.
#11
Went to Afghanistan to study? Just like Johnny JIhad. Taliban allowed al-Qaeda free reign in operating terror training camps, and training is the main reason why foreigners went to the country when Taliban was in power. Thousands of Americans of Pakistan descent made extended jihad vacations to the murder camps. And they brought that training back with them.
France and the United States worked together to oust Syria from Lebanon and, despite tactical differences due to divergent agendas in the region, they agree who is to blame for the current crisis -- Hizbollah. The born-again allies, their rift over Iraq a thing of the past, want to isolate and disarm the Shi'ite Muslim group, whose backers Iran and Syria underscore the wider strategic issues at play in the latest round of Middle East conflict.
Israel began its assault on Lebanon after Hizbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12. Some 373 people have since died in Lebanon. At least 37 Israelis have been killed in Hizbollah rocket attacks and clashes.
Both Washington and Paris have accused Hizbollah of provoking the Jewish state and leaving Lebanon -- a French-speaking Middle East state with historical ties to France -- to bear the brunt of Israel's riposte. "The Americans have never been interested in Lebanon as such, (they) have always reacted regarding Syria and regarding Israel," said Olivier Roy, head of research at the France-based CNRS institute. "For the French, Lebanon is the priority. They have come to the conclusion that now Hizbollah is playing against Lebanon's political and territorial integrity."
Commentators agree the assassination of President Jacques Chirac's friend Rafik al-Hariri, the former Lebanese prime minister killed by a car bomb in February 2005 blamed on pro-Syrian agents, abruptly changed the French leader's view of Hizbollah. Chirac met grieving relatives in Beirut on the day Hariri was buried and his killing led directly to the anti-Syrian entente with the Americans at work now. "With the current war, clearly Hizbollah provoked the Israelis, knowing that the Israelis were going to strike Lebanon," Roy said. "And that plays into Syria's hands, so it shows that the problem right now is Hizbollah's military power. So for different reasons, the French and the Americans have come together again."
That said, there are still clear differences of approach between Paris and Washington over how to respond to the war.
You knew there'd be a "But," in here somewhere
The U.S. administration wants any ceasefire in Lebanon to remove the threat to Israel posed by Hizbollah but has no plans yet to meet with the group or its Syrian backers. France -- co-author with the Americans of the 2004 U.N. Security Council resolution that forced Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon -- says broad-based negotiations are vital.
Negotiate? About what, exactly?
"We talk to everyone. We are everyone's friend and, above all, we say the same thing to each side," Catherine Colonna, the French minister for Europe, told France Info radio on Monday.
The word you're looking for is "whore"
While Washington has not criticised Israel for its attack on Lebanon, Chirac has denounced it as "aberrant."
Anxious to end the onslaught, France has called for a strong international force to take up position in southern Lebanon.
I don't think the French have offered troops
Lebanon expert Roland Jacquard, who has close links to the French establishment, said the country was already looking past the conflict to the rebuilding of Lebanon as part of its diplomatic push. "We (France) will probably ask for some financial aid to rebuild Lebanon. I know that President Chirac has already asked some Arab heads of state," he said.
Looking for your cut, Jacques?
"I know that for the past three days French diplomacy has been very active with Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Emir of Qatar and Syria," he said in a phone interview late on Friday.
France believes rebuilding the authority of an already weak Lebanese state -- as much as the country's physical infrastructure -- is the best way to neuter Hizbollah. "(France's) concern is that Israel is in the process of destroying the Lebanese state. And the best way of countering Hizbollah is precisely to reinforce the Lebanese state, not destroy it," he said.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/24/2006
17:45 ||
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A Baltimore County police have charged a Democratic senatorial candidate with raping and assaulting his 19-year-old wife at their home in Sparks.
Forty-three-years-old David Dickerson was charged Saturday with second-degree rape, a fourth-degree sex offense, and second-degree assault and released on 100-thousand dollars bail.
Dickerson's attorney says Dickerson vehemently denies the charges and is not dropping out of the race, because he didn't do anything wrong.
According to court documents, Anna Dickerson told investigators that David Dickerson slapped her on Saturday and forced her to have sexual intercourse. She described a history of such assaults dating to the beginning of the couple's marriage in Latvia last year.
Dickerson, who is unemployed, filed last month for the U-S Senate seat of Paul Sarbanes, who is retiring. He is considered a longshot in a crowded field vying for the position.
The U.N. humanitarian chief, returing from a visit to Beirut, accused Hizbullah on Monday of "cowardly blending" among Lebanese civilians and causing the deaths of hundreds.
"Consistently, from the Hizbullah heartland, my message was that Hizbullah must stop this cowardly blending ... among women and children," Egeland said, shortly before departing for Israel. "I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/24/2006 17:51
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#4
Brave Sir Robin ran away.
Bravely ran away, away!
When danger reared its ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Sir Robin turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.
Bravely taking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat,
Bravest of the brave, Sir Robin!
#9
Egeland's thought process: If I don't say something like this, Bolton's gonna kick my ass up and down the stairs.
Posted by: Matt ||
07/24/2006 18:47
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#10
So much for bringing Israel in front of the Hague. With this statement, the UN just ruined their lies war crimes case. Any possible war crimes against Israel is definitely DOA.
#11
Kofi's a short timer. Jan wants to make sure he's safe with the new guy and that if Bolton goes permanent he'll put in a good world for Jan with the new honcho. Gotta keep those bribes coming.
#12
Egeland is a UN prick who sometimes gets it right in spite of himself. This is the guy who was very unjustly critical of the USA for failing to respond to the Indo tsunami a couple years back (when the US and Aussie navies were on the scene in 48 hours whereas a month later the UN was still nwhere to be found). For him to make a statement like this means someone has pictures of him in bed with a live little boy or a dead woman.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
07/24/2006 20:03
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#14
"For him to make a statement like this means someone has pictures of him in bed with a live little boy or a dead woman."
Eh, whatever works. The truth will out.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/24/2006 20:21
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#15
I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men."
Read the subtext. He's still saying -- confirming -- that Israel killed women and children (while Israel says the "civilians" they killed were actually hezzies -- that they didn't kill as many "civilians" as the media says they did)
#18
Yea, definitely up for reassignment. Jus like the original UN guy investigating the Assad killing of Hariri
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/24/2006 22:20
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#19
Yes, but you must pair this with what he said about Israel after returning too. I didn't know Egeland was capable of the "Arab double-speak"...say one thing in English, and the complete opposite in Arabic after the MSM cameras turn away. Turd.
Posted by: BA ||
07/24/2006 22:34
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#20
"For him to make a statement like this means someone has pictures of him in bed with a live little boy or a dead woman."
Whiskey Mike, neither of those situations would bother a UN peacekeeper.
Rep. Dennis Kucinich was just on Fox, being interviewed. When asked if Kucinich agreed that Hezbollah is a pack of murdering terrorists, Kucinich became aggitated and stated that 'Hezbollah is part of the elected government of Lebanon.'
When he was asked is he agreed that Hezbollah must be destroyed, he replied, 'I agree the war must be ended.'
When the interviewer, clearly incredulous, gave Kucinich another chance to denounce Hezbollah, Kucinich would have none of it, and even more aggitated, repeatd that Hezbollah is part of the elected government of Lebanon that has the right to exist and be included in any negotiations.
He refused to condemn Hezbollah or call for its end. He also refused to defend Israel.
#2
In their topsy-turvy view, Hizbully is an underdog and no matter how rabid, they will be on its side.
Add the rampant anti-semitism that became an unquestioned lockstep fashion in LLL circles and you have Donks asking themselves after elections: "Where we went wrong? What can we do? We have to become more radical!"
#3
Even for the Democrats as they are today, Representative Kucinich is an outlier. I wouldn't hold the rest of the party responsible for his absurd or vicious maunderings, no more than I'd hold the Republicans responsible for the vacuous idiots who occupy their fringes. And when the rest of the party openly turns their backs on Kucinich, as the Republicans did to David Duke, then I will begin to hope that the Democrats have grown up enough to be taken seriously.
Aside: I heard a serious interview on NPR yesterday where the interviewee said actually said that the White House had managed to set things up such that we now have a one-party system in this country (hint -- not the Democrats), and that he forsaw this lasting at least several more election cycles.
#6
This isn't new for Mr. Kucinich. The following statement is on his website:
Kucinich Speaks Out as Tensions Escalate in Middle East
July 6, 2006
Congressman Kucinich issued the following statement this week on the current situation in the Middle East:
"The lack of proportionality of Israel's response to the kidnapping of the soldier compounds a human rights disaster which has been building in the Palestinian territories and could set the stage for reigniting a cycle of extreme violence.
"The world community, led by the United States and Israel, must see the humanitarian imperative of relieving the suffering of innocent people in Palestine who are without the most basic of human necessities such as food, water, electricity, health care, housing, and economic security, in part because they exercised their right to self determination.
"The Hamas government needs to ensure the safe return of Cpl. Shalit and renounce its previous statements calling for the destruction of Israel, and end attacks against innocent Israeli civilians.
"Likewise, the Israeli government needs to halt its incursion into Gaza, withdraw its troops, facilitate payments to Palestinian civil servants, and renew its commitment to a viable two state solution which will ensure the survival of both the Palestinian and Israeli people. Such a commitment can only come about from a common recognition of common humanity.
"The governments of Israel and Palestine should exercise caution and compassion in the name of joint security and peace in the region. Peace will not prevail unless both sides are willing to call a cease fire, stop provocations and make concessions for their joint security, ensuring peace through building enduring structures for social and economic justice.
"The United States, which has played a role in building tensions, can ameliorate them by pursuing peaceful diplomatic initiatives to end the cycle of violence. The world community is best served by helping warring factions step back from the brink of war and begin a new effort to achieve a lasting peace. The United States has the moral obligation to lead this effort."
If he has any say in American foreign policy the U.S. will cease to be an Israeli ally.
#7
I don't think most Dems know who the hell he is. He got a grand total of one delegate in 2004. I mean, hell, the Rev Al Sharpton got more than that.
NEW DELHI: The next few days are likely to be very tense for the US embassy here. For a top IB official has sent a letter to security agencies with a chilling message the American embassy is expected to be targetted any time between now and July 30 by terrorists owing allegiance to an Iranian terror group.
This intelligence input has already sent security agencies scampering to plug real or imagined weaknesses in the security ring around the mission. Sources revealed on Monday that the input was received early last week and has been circulated among all security agencies in Delhi, including the police and paramilitary forces.
"The US embassy has been on an extremely high state of alert and things will remain the same for the next few days. The input has even identified one of the men likely to participate in the attack and efforts are on to establish his presence," said a source.
According to the report, the attack is likely to be carried out by a group of 20 terrorists, some of whom have been part of terror attacks in other parts of the world. This group is headed by a terrorist named Jawad Shah Shanas.
The report also says that these 20 men are of Iranian, Afghan and Kashmiri descent and have been in Delhi since June. They are armed with sophisticated weapons and could cause major damage.
"The threat is that they would launch an all-out assault in the nature of a 'fidayeen' attack. The security review was done in keeping with this possibility," said the official. According to the input, the Iranians in the group of 20 are associated with a Iran terror group comprising terrorists who earlier backed Saddam Hussein.
The alert has also left many wondering if international terrorist groups are trying to join hands with Kashmir terror groups. The letter specifically mentions that people of Kashmiri descent are expected to help the Iranians and Afghans carry out the attack.
This is the first real threat input for the US embassy since the closure of some of embassy offices in August last year because of security concerns. It was then said that some al-Qaida militants arrested in Pakistan had revealed that the US embassy in India was likely to be targeted soon.
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006
16:47 ||
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#1
Send a couple of SFOD-D squadrons, armed to the teeth.
The Israel Air Force and IDF Southern Command carried out a joint attack on an Islamic Jihad weapons factory and warehouse in the Zeitous neighborhood in Gaza on Monday. Secondary explosions were seen at the site following the IDF attack, confirming the existence of explosives in the warehouse.
Five terrorists were eliminated and 9 injured during an IDF strike in Beit Lahiya, where at least 7 Kassam rockets were fired at southern Israel earlier in the day. PA Arabs in northern Gaza said that dozens of families were leaving their homes in the Awdah neighborhood near Beit Lahiya in anticipation of IDF attacks in the area. Two rockets were fired from Beit Lahiya at Ashkelon, with one landing close to a strategic facility in the fifth-largest city. The second landed in an open area. No injuries or damage was reported.
Two Kassams landed in the city of Sderot, which has absorbed hundreds of rockets in the past year alone. One rocket fell near the entrance to the city. The other landed in the Rabin neighborhood. There, too, no one was hurt and no damage was reported. Later in the day, another rocket fell in the area of Kibbutz Zikkim. No injuries or damage reported.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/24/2006
16:23 ||
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MOSCOW, July 24 (RIA Novosti) - An explosion hit a convoy of border guard vehicles in southern Russia, and an uncertain number of casualties have been reported, the Interior Ministry said Monday. The source in the ministry said the blast occurred at 6.30 p.m. Moscow time (2.30 GMT) near a local hospital in Nazran in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia.
"The explosive device went off at a moment when two vehicles with border guards were passing by," the source said. The source said that the blast had injured a border guard. "So far, criminal investigators have discovered fragments of an explosive device," he said.
Another three cars were at the site at the moment of the blast, but have left the site independently. The number of possible casualties among the passengers is being clarified. Preliminary reports suggest the explosive device had power of 3kg of TNT equivalent.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/24/2006
16:21 ||
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NOBEL peace laureate Betty Williams displayed a flash of her feisty Irish spirit yesterday, lashing out at US President George W.Bush during a speech to hundreds of schoolchildren. Campaigning on the rights of young people at the Earth Dialogues forum, being held in Brisbane, Ms Williams spoke passionately about the deaths of innocent children during wartime, particularly in the Middle East, and lambasted Mr Bush.
"I have a very hard time with this word 'non-violence', because I don't believe that I am non-violent," said Ms Williams, 64. "Right now, I would love to kill George Bush." Her young audience at the Brisbane City Hall clapped and cheered.
"I don't know how I ever got a Nobel Peace Prize, because when I see children die the anger in me is just beyond belief. It's our duty as human beings, whatever age we are, to become the protectors of human life."
Ms Williams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize 30 years ago, when she circulated a petition to end violence in Northern Ireland after witnessing British soldiers shoot dead an IRA member who was driving a car. He veered on to the footpath, killing two children from one family instantly and fatally injuring a third. Ms Williams's petition had tens of thousands of Protestant and Catholic women walking the streets together in protest. Now the former office receptionist heads the World Centres of Compassion for Children International, a non-profit group working to create a political voice for children.
"My job is to tell you their stories," Ms Williams said of a recent trip to Iraq. "We went to a hospital where there were 200 children; they were beautiful, all of them, but they had cancers that the doctors couldn't even recognise. From the first Gulf War, the mothers' wombs were infected.
"As I was leaving the hospital, I said to the doctor, 'How many of these babies do you think are going to live?'
"He looked me straight in the eye and said, 'None, not one'. They needed five different kinds of medication to treat the cancers that the children had, and the embargoes laid on by the United States and the United Nations only allowed them three."
Old lefty saw and none of it true. The doc was lying; he had to or Sammy's police would kill him. All of this clap-trap has been proven wrong, and Iraqis themselves have denounced it.
Wrapping up the three-day forum yesterday, delegates agreed to a 26-point action plan. "There can be no sustainable peace while the majority of the world's population lives in poverty," they said. "There can be no sustainable peace if we fail to rise to the global challenge presented by climate change.
"There can be no sustainable peace while military spending takes precedence over human development." "There can be no sustainable peace while islamofascists are killing non-Islamofascits."
Not that any of them will sell their own belongings and donate them to the third-world poor. That's for other suckers like us.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/24/2006
15:39 ||
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#1
Another ringing endorsement for the Nobel Peace Prize...
#2
She clearly missed the point that the IRA driver was transporting mortars to bomb Britt schools or that Saddam gassed kids with no remorse, christ I could go on forever. Betty is just an idiot.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/24/2006 15:59
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About what I'd expect from a Nobel Peace Prize winner. *SPIT*
#6
"There can be no sustainable peace while military spending takes precedence over human development."
No, there can be no sustainable peace as long as fanatics and idealists and criminals see peace and prosperity as the enemy. Military spending is the only way to ensure that sustainable peace comes to happen, anywhere and at any time.
#13
"I don't know how I ever got a Nobel Peace Prize, because when I see children die the anger in me is just beyond belief. It's our duty as human beings, whatever age we are, to become the protectors of human life."
Wonder what Ms. Williams stance is on abortion *ducks*
Posted by: BA ||
07/24/2006 21:26
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Norwegians should be embarrassed what their countrymen have done with the Nobel Peace Prize. At least the Nobels given by the Swedes for the hard sciences still have a semblance of respect associated with them.
KABUL, Afghanistan Hundreds of Taliban fighters attacked a western Afghan government building with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns Monday, killing three police officers and wounding seven in one of the militia's boldest strikes in the long-quiet region. The attack in Farah province could reflect a drive by militants to expand their fight against Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces beyond insurgency-wracked southern and eastern provinces.
Or it could mean things are a little too hot down south, so they moved to a quieter region
The battle came amid a flurry of suicide attacks, roadside bombings and shootings across the country.
Four suspected suicide attackers riding on two explosives-laden motorbikes in Farah province were killed after they were challenged by police while driving through the provincial capital late Sunday, said Gen. Sayed Aga Saqib, the provincial police chief.
"Halt! I said 'Halt', dammit!"
Two of the suspected attackers were fatally shot. The other two were killed when police shot at their bike and detonated their explosives.
"KABOOM! Wow, they dun blowed up good!"
A boy walking nearby was killed in the explosion, while the child's father was wounded, Saqib said. Near Kandahar, a suicide car bomber seriously wounded two U.S.-led coalition soldiers. Also, gunmen killed two Afghans delivering medicine for international aid agency World Vision.
The heaviest fighting was in the town of Bakwa in Farah province, which had been spared the worst of the violence between resurgent Taliban-led rebels and Afghan and foreign troops that has killed more than 800 people, mostly militants, since mid-May.
About 400 Taliban fighters in about 35 pickup trucks arrived in the town late Sunday and launched a heavy assault on a district police and administration headquarters using dozens of machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, Saqib said.
400 divided by 35, that's 11 gunnies per pick-em-up truck. Figure three in the cab, that'll leave eight guys in the back chanting slogans and shooting guns in the air. Sounds like Friday night in Waco after a football game.
Minus the Pearl longnecks.
The militants fled back toward neighboring Helmand province after a five-hour battle, carrying an unknown number of militant casualties.
Ride into town, shoot up the sheriffs office, and run away before the Texas Rangers show up. It is Waco.
A suicide car bomber seriously wounded two U.S.-led coalition soldiers when he rammed their convoy as they patrolled with Afghan army soldiers in southern Kandahar province, on the main highway toward the capital, Kabul, coalition spokesman Col. Tom Collins said. The coalition declined to identify the wounded soldiers. Maj. Scott Lundy, another coalition spokesman, said their injuries were "serious but not life-threatening."
In western Ghor province, gunmen killed a doctor and a driver for the aid agency World Vision, said Karimuddin Razazada, deputy governor of Ghor province.
In eastern Afghanistan, an attacker traveling in a taxi from neighboring Pakistan exploded two grenades at a border police checkpoint in Khost province late Sunday, killing a civilian and wounding three others, police said.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/24/2006
15:21 ||
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#1
Okay, now I'm expecting a real nice big fat body count here, like 80 dead Talibanis before this one's over.
#10
The pickup trucks and the Paki gunnies in them are courtesy of the ISI, #9. Pakistan is packed with Japanese light pickup trucks, and the Waziris just need to be pointed in the proper direction to go die for Islam.
#11
"A five-hour gunbattle? Now *that's* Islamic!"
You bet your sweet ass it is! The LAST thing you want to be is effective!!
And what is this shit about killing civvies? Don't these people have any sense at all!?!? Don't answer. They love their kids (like we do) but can be 'influenced'. Sounds to me as if this is all pre-planned! The obligatory civilians killed/wounded for the BBC/CNN.
These people are pissing me off, and I'm going to Afghanistan soon to HELP these dumbfucks, So Help Me God! They are dying of arsenic poisoning, plus high concentrations of bac; killing their children. Bad water. They know it, can't help it.
Last time I was there was the 70's. Hasn't changed.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike ||
07/24/2006 20:44
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Under the Taliban, the Saudi government sent 400 pickup trucks to al-Qaeda with the purpose of deflecting criticism of the House of Saud, to approved enemies. Prior to that, the Sauds - who had recognized Taliban, while senior clerics labeled that ideology, authentic Islam - had pressured the Taliban to deport Osama bin Laden back to the Kingdom for jihad re-conditioning. After 9-1-1, the al-Qaeda leadership escaped to Pakistan in those Toyotas, and the House of Saud bought the absence of Western scrutiny by lowering the price of crude (in November 2001, we saw the lowest oil prices in the past 20 years). We shouldn't be indulging so-called allies, who want terror as long as it is directed at correct enemies.
SEOUL, South Korea - Heavy rains in North Korea have destroyed tens of thousands of acres of crops, threatening to worsen the impoverished country's food shortage, a U.N. agency said Monday. They had "tens of thousands of acres of crops"?
Recent flooding that damaged about 74,000 acres of arable land could lead to the loss of 100,000 metric tons of food, according to a World Food Program report. The estimated loss equals about 10 percent of the gap in the country's annual food supply, Paul Risely, WFP's Asia spokesman.
"This is a real danger," Risely said. The flood damage "will increase the already substantial food gap in the harvest figures coming up for North Korea." Read your UN phrase book. The correct term: "humanitarian crisis".
The food agency has said North Korea requires 5.5 million tons of food annually to feed its 23 million people but estimates the country can produce only about 4.5 million tons.
North Korea has relied on outside handouts since the 1990s, when as many as 2 million people are believed to have died because of famine caused by natural disasters and outdated farming methods. "On the spot field guidance" by...someone?
South Korea, a key provider of rice and fertilizer aid, recently announced its intention to withhold rice aid to the North to protest the communist nation's test-firing of seven missiles earlier this month.
The U.N. agency's report said the floods also forced about 60,000 people from their homes, most of them in the central province of South Pyongan.
The agency plans to send 74 tons of mixed food supplies to the area and said it will provide more help when the North Korean government gives its approval. Pyongyang has not made an official appeal for international assistance, the report said. Okay. We'll wait then...
"We expect to work very closely with the government ... to ensure that international aid can reach those people immediately who require immediate food assistance," Risely said. Kimmie says the army's pretty hungry. And the missile techs, too.
Last week, the North's official Korean Central News Agency reported that heavy rains had left "hundreds" of people dead or missing. No precise casualty figures were given.
#1
South Korea, a key provider of rice and fertilizer aid, recently announced its intention to withhold rice aid to the North to protest the communist nation's test-firing of seven missiles earlier this month.
This is very anti-Clintonian, but over time, will undoubtedly have the desired effect.
n a forthcoming study from the American Journal of Sociology, Emily Erikson and Peter Bearman (Columbia University) demonstrate that an early example of globalization was the direct result of individual initiative malfeasance, specifically, private trade using company resources.
The researchers analyze data from 4,572 voyages completed by the East India Trading Company from 1601 to 1833 - offering a rare and biased nuanced look at how densely connected global markets emerged from the ingenuity misconduct of entrepreneurial individuals.
"We show that for a limited period of time there emerged a unique opportunity for self-interested actors to act; that their actions culminated in a network infrastructure that transcended them, and ultimately created the context of their own demise by their betters," write Erikson and Bearman.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/24/2006
13:12 ||
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...and I think we all know which God they're talking about.
Wudn't me.
-God
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's Islamists whipped up howling mobs religious fervor against Ethiopia on Monday, telling demonstrators God had commanded that they fight troops sent into the country by Addis Ababa to oppose their advance. "We are telling Ethiopia that we are ready to die," said Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, a senior Islamist in charge of defense. How ready are you, Sheikhy?
I've been thinking of turning him into a pillar of salt, y'know...
-God
"We've been commanded by God to fight you," he said at a rally of hundreds of mostly young men and a few veiled women at a football stadium in the Islamist-controlled capital. But I'll stay back here and relay the messages from God. Go get 'em, boys!
Shoot him first.
-God
The demonstrators set fire to an Ethiopian flag to cries of "God is great!" Ah, yes. We've seen this movie before. Many times.
Ain't I, though? You oughta see me do the Charleston!
-God
At the same rally, Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed also condemned the Ethiopian presence, but suggested his movement may resume stalled talks with the government. "The Islamic courts are ready for talks against the use of force or foreign troops," he told the crowds.
I told him to say that, too.
-God
Witnesses say Ethiopia has moved thousands of troops across the border to protect Baidoa, provincial base of Somalia's interim government, against Islamists who have seized Mogadishu and a large swathe of the country. Traditionally Christian Ethiopia fears a hardline Muslim state on its doorstep and possible Islamist aspirations to claim its southeastern, ethnically Somali region of Ogaden. The Islamist-organized protest came as a group of Somali legislators urged the Ethiopians to leave the country. It was the first recognition from within the Horn of Africa's interim authorities of a military incursion by Addis Ababa. Damn. How much popcorn can we eat?
#1
The Mullahs may breast beat all day to get the Somalis to fight the Ethiopians, but in the final analysis, Ethiops are to Somalis what Apaches are to Mexicans. Elevated one level on the food chain.
#3
Allan told them to fight? Good, that's very good. Now, Allan commands Somali Islamists to slit each other's throats and or drown themselves in the Red Sea. Please follow through, Allan will be pleased.
To the Kurds, Kirkuk was always a Kurdish-majority region shared, they readily admit, with other communities over which they fought and suffered, from Arabisation to forced depopulation to genocide. In their view, the Baathist regimes removal created an opportunity to restore Kirkuk to its rightful owners. They have done much in the past three years to encourage the displaced to return, persuade Arab newcomers to depart and seize control of political and military levers of power. Their ultimate objective is to incorporate Kirkuk governorate into the Kurdish federal region and make Kirkuk town its capital.
To the other communities, the Kurdish claim is counterfeit, inspired primarily by a greedy appetite for oil revenue, and they view the progressive Kurdish takeover of Kirkuk as an outrage. To the Turkomans, in particular, the growing Kurdish presence has caused deep resentment, as they consider Kirkuk town historically Turkoman (while conceding that the Kurds are a significant urban minority, as well as an outright majority in the surrounding countryside).
The Kurds rising power has allowed them to create institutional faits accomplis that now threaten to bring the Kirkuk conflict to a vigorous boil. Their prominent role in drafting the constitution in 2005 enabled them to insert a paragraph that ordains a government-led de-Arabisation program in Kirkuk, to be followed by a census and local referendum by the end of 2007. However, while the constitution puts them formally in the right, neither any of Kirkuks other communities, significant parts of the central government nor any neighbouring state supports these procedures. Turkey, in particular, has indicated it will not tolerate Kirkuks formal absorption into the Kurdish region, and it has various means of coercive diplomacy at its disposal, including last-resort military intervention, to block the Kurds ambitions.
Within a year, therefore, Kurds will face a basic choice: to press ahead with the constitutional mechanisms over everyones resistance and risk violent conflict, or take a step back and seek a negotiated solution.
Passions may be too high to permit the latter course but, on the basis of two years of conversations with representatives of all Kirkuks communities, as well as of the governments of Iraq, Turkey, the U.S. and the Kurdish federal region, Crisis Group believes a compromise arrangement that meets all sides vital interests is attainable.
Failure by the international community to act early and decisively could well lead to a rapid deterioration as the December 2007 deadline approaches. The result would be violent communal conflict, spreading civil war and, possibly, outside military intervention. It is doubtful that an Iraq so profoundly unsettled by sectarian rifts and insurgent violence would survive another major body blow in an area where the largest of the countrys diverse communities are represented. Executive Summary And Recommendations at link
#1
Their prominent role in drafting the constitution in 2005 enabled them to insert a paragraph that ordains a government-led de-Arabisation program in Kirkuk, to be followed by a census and local referendum by the end of 2007. However, while the constitution puts them formally in the right, neither any of Kirkuks other communities, significant parts of the central government nor any neighbouring state supports these procedures.
How typically Arab. yeah, sure, we signed off on it as part of the deal - but we didnt' MEAN it. Just cause it's in writing and agreed upon by all parties as a requirement to move forward, so what. That was then. Now we intend to back out of our end of the deal.
Soooooo typical and the reason they can't function worth a darn. How can a society that prides itself in its ability to lie, cheat and deceive ever manage a democracy? They are so far from getting it that it's mindboggling.
#2
The Kurds have control over Kirkuk and won't give it up without a huge fight. I understand they can mobilize 10,000 fighters in Kirkuk in a few hours.
The real battle will be over Mosul, which is an Arab pocket surrounded by Kurdish dominated rural areas.
Israel's war reveals a division between the liberal blogosphere and the Democratic party. by Dean Barnett (of SoxBlog fame), The Weekly Standard
WHEN THE BOMBS began to fall in the Middle East, the Daily Kos had a problem. And the Daily Kos's problem could soon be the Democratic party's problem.
On the one hand, one of the most solid blocks of support for the Democratic party is America's Jewish community. Not only do America's Jews tend to vote for Democrats, they tend to actively campaign and raise funds for politicians on the left. But for many American Jews, even the most liberal, Israel's welfare is a going concern. Politicians who enter the Democratic party (and for that matter the Republican party) usually make a conspicuous show of the fact that they are "right on Israel."
The vast majority of American political sentiment supports Israel while it is engaged in a shooting war with Hezbollah. To date, not a single prominent American politician has issued a statement that could be construed as being less than whole-heartedly supportive of Israel.
On the other hand, there is the Daily Kos community. As proprietor Markos Moulitsas frequently notes, the Kos community is representative of the "people-powered movement." They are not led by one person; indeed, they are not led at all.
The miracle of the Kossacks is that they are tens of thousands of like-minded people who have used the site to find one another. Although they differ on many details, they tend to monolithically detest George W. Bush and American conservatives. They also tend to distrust or loathe anything or anyone that winds up in Bush's literal or metaphorical embrace. Like Joe Lieberman. Or Israel.
THE CONFLAGRATION in Lebanon has provided an example of the people-powered movement's potential to be a liability for the politicians who have tried to curry favor with it.
Perhaps sensing that this issue could highlight just how far removed the Kos community is from the American mainstream, Moulitsas and his other front-page bloggers have opted to ignore Israel's war. Combined, the half dozen front-pagers have written exactly one post on the subject. And that post, authored by Moulitsas, simply declared that he wouldn't write anything further on the subject. So while the most important story of the year develops, the nation's leading progressive blog has chosen to focus on the Indiana second district House race between Chris Chocola and Joe Donnelly. Nothing wrong with that; it's their prerogative to blog about whatever they like.
But inside the Kos diaries, it's been a different story. The conversation in the diaries has been overwhelmingly anti-Israel--and potentially disastrous for the Democratic party.
One diarist labeled Israel "a destabilizing force in the region" and saw "no difference between Iran's support of Hezbollah and Hamas in the form of finances and even arms and The United States' financial support of Israel." Before modifying this diary into a more moderate form, the author opened his essay with the declaration, "Israel is showing the entire world why the Iranian President was absolutely right to suggest that Israel cease being a sovereign state as is."
Echoing the themes of moral equivalence and hostility towards the Jewish state, another diarist observed that, "War is nothing but terrorist attacks. Call it what you will, whatever rhetoric you want to use . . . when it comes down to it, that's all it is. Israel committed terrorism today. And we helped to fund that terrorism." [Ellipsis in original.]
It's important to note that hundreds of comments following these and other diaries hostile to Israel voice similar sentiments. Links to multiple instances of anti-Semitic moonbattery follow. Query (as they are supposed to say in those great East Coast law schools that I couldn't afford to go to), does this mean that these Daily Kos diarists are Karl Rove's secret agents?
THESE DIARIES AND COMMENTS come from the people who power the people-powered movement. It is worth remembering that less than a month ago a Who's Who of elite Democratic politicians trundled off to Las Vegas for the Yearly Kos convention, desperately seeking the community's imprimatur. . . . Joe Lieberman's Democratic primary opponent, Ned Lamont, has so closely identified himself and his candidacy with the site that he gave Moulitsas a starring role in one of his campaign advertisements.
Yesterday on his website, Lamont issued the following proclamation:
At this critical time in
the Middle East, I believe that when Israel's security is threatened, the United States must unambiguously stand with our ally to be sure that it is safe and secure. On this principle, Americans are united . . . All Americans want the kidnapped [Israeli] soldiers to be returned and this cycle of violence to end, based on the principles of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559 of 2004, which calls for Hezbollah militias to be disbanded and disarmed, with the government of Lebanon taking full control of all of its territory. It is not for the United States to dictate to Israel how it defends itself.
But a glance through the Daily Kos diaries reveals that not all Americans are united on such matters . . . . Some Americans believe that Israel should not exist. And these are the Americans that Lamont and other Democrats have so eagerly embraced.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/24/2006
12:21 ||
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#4
The Kos movement has also supported Mark Warner who is pro Israel. In Warner's case, he hired a friend of Markos to help with his presidential campaign.
#5
Interestingly enough, while Kos is hammering any other Dem who comes out in favor of Joe Lieberman, he seems to be giving Warner a pass. Wonder why that could be? [/smirk]
Posted by: Mike ||
07/24/2006 14:34
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Let's be clear, there are several Kos 'diarists' who believe that the creation of Israel was a mistake (ours, of course), and that Israel should cease to exist. They're divided on what to do with all the Joooz. You can guess.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/24/2006 14:40
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For an insight into the typical idiocy aired on Daily Kos, one need look no further than the Kos Kleaning Lady:
#10
Someday, America is going to pay a horrible price for the Democratic Party's cynically calculated decision to suck up to its Leftist lunatic fringe in the last two elections.
Already, our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan are paying a price in blood for the Democrats' perfidy: every IED that is set off, every RPG and mortar round that is fired, every bullet from an AK-47 or a jihadi sniper's Dragunov, comes from an enemy who is being deliberately and knowingly encouraged by the U.S. Democratic Party to believe that if he but keeps on fighting just a little bit longer, America will once again run away with its head hung down and its tail between its legs, just like it did in Beirut and Mogadishu. Were it not for the Democratic Party giving aid and comfort to the enemy, it would have given up many months ago.
Instead, the enemy hears some Donk asshole like Jack Murtha babble incoherent bullshit about "responsibly redeploying" our troops out of Iraq to some "nearby" base in, say, Okinawa, and all he can say is, "Allahu Akhbar!!!!"
The Left, and Islam: that's the REAL axis of evil.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/24/2006 17:56
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July 24, 2006
by Scott Ott
(2006-07-24) After learning that the battle between Israel and Hezbollah could have been prevented if Sen. John Kerry, D-MA, had been the U.S. Commander in Chief, President George Bush today dispatched Sen. Kerry to the war-torn region to get this thing solved.
Sen. Kerry, a career Vietnam veteran, who told a political gathering in Detroit yesterday that we must destroy Hezbollah and that the president has been absent on diplomacy, said he would bring his own brand of diplomatic destruction to the terrorist group.
Senator Kerrys presence and intellect alone should bring a swift end to hostilities, said Mr. Bush, who admitted that he, and the State Department, had kind of put the Middle East thing on the back burner while following televised coverage of the Tour de France bicycle race.
In related news, as hostilities along the Lebanon border approached the two-week mark, the crisis was officially added to the list of bad things that would not have happened during a John Kerry presidency.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/24/2006
11:54 ||
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Thought this was a Scrappleface but hey why not send Kerry to Lebanon--that could solve at least one problem (there's always the friendly fire excuse)?
#2
This would be soo cool, gosh Iran, China, and North Korea could man the UN peace keeping forces. Kerry would be so proud! Viet Nam could run the forces in Israel. It would be like ol home week for Kerry.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
07/24/2006 13:17
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This is not to be taken lightly.
My diplomatic skills are essentially French, so I may have to change my underwear color. The down side is there's nobody there at my pay grade to negotiate with. Call me vallet...where's my dinnerjacket ?
#4
If it were not for me, and the information afforded to nothing less than a vietnam veteran "hero" (3 purple hearts). Al gore would not have been humanly capable of creating the Internet. Furthermore, I have instituted a microsoft speelchecker so that my secretary can dissimimanate my commands.
Posted by: Rick ||
07/24/2006 14:50
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#5
Can I come too?
Posted by: Jimmah Carter ||
07/24/2006 14:52
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#6
I have become the voicxe fer Jon keary, geez I should have remebered to change my signiture so that all would not confuse Mr kearry's wisdom wit my own
Posted by: Rick ||
07/24/2006 14:53
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JERUSALEM The bodies of Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers killed by the Israeli army in Lebanon have been transported to Syria and flown to Tehran, senior Lebanese political sources said.
Israeli and Egyptian security officials confirmed the news, which follows a report that first appeared in The New York Sun, that Iranian forces posted to southern Lebanon have been aiding Hezbollah terrorists in their attacks against Israel, including helping to fire rockets into Israeli population centers.
The Lebanese sources said between six and nine dead Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers were brought in trucks last week into Syria for a flight back to Iran. They said the bodies were transported along with the tens of thousands of Lebanese civilians fleeing to Syria.
Israeli officials said Iranian Revolutionary Guards directed the firing two weeks ago of a radar-guided C802 missile that hit an Israeli navy vessel off the coast of Lebanon, killing four soldiers. Israel says Iran acquired the missile from China.
The officials said the Iranian soldiers' duties include keeping custody of long-range missiles within Hezbollah's arsenal, including Zalzal rockets that are said to have a range of 125 miles, placing Tel Aviv within firing range.
Jordanian officials told the Sun they are "100% sure" Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers have fired rockets into Israel. They also said the Syrian army has provided Hezbollah with intelligence information on the locations of strategic Israeli targets to aid in Hezbollah rocket fire.
A Baath Party official operating out of the Golan Heights told the Sun he has information that Iranian soldiers have been firing rockets into Israel.
It would be "very logical" if Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers were helping Hezbollah fire the rockets, a senior Egyptian security official told the Sun.
Israel has long maintained that Iranian Revolutionary Guard units have traveled regularly to south Lebanon to help train local Hezbollah fighters in terrorist tactics and to fortify Hezbollah positions along Israel's northern border.
At times, Revolutionary Guard soldiers have been seen operating openly at Hezbollah outposts in plain view from the Israeli side, military officials say.
Earlier, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, said Israel has information that Hezbollah was trying to transfer the two soldiers it kidnapped to Iran.
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/24/2006
11:29 ||
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#3
Let's see if Iran remains mum about this or decries the unnecessary deaths of their innocent civilians on vacation in Syria who just happen to have their hands clutched in the shape of an iranian RPG launcher handle.
#6
The Lebanese sources said between six and nine dead Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers were brought in trucks last week into Syria for a flight back to Iran.
I didn't see that picture at the link, but if it is the real thing, there are at least 31 coffins being carried.
#8
The picture was not with the article.
I was just looking around for one with coffins draped with the Iranian flag for illustration.
Don't read too much into it.
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/24/2006 21:25
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#9
The Hezzies = Hizzies = Hamies, etc. armed proxies get the lite stuff, the IRG gets the real stuff - no different in principle than NORTH KOREA'S armed forces and principal weapon systems being advised and controlled by CHINA AND PLA. The hard boyz won't fire the big stuff wid out IRG approval , neither will the NorKors wid out China's approval.
a reader's e-mail to Jonah Goldberg of National Review
David Letterman's to ten list 7/19/06 which seems to have just been pulled off the net.
Top Ten Signs There's Trouble At The New York Times
10. Extensive coverage of recent fighting between the Israelis and the lesbians
9. Pages 2 through 20 are corrections of previous edition
8. Every sentence begins "So, like"
7. TV listings only for Zorro
6. Weather forecast reads "Look outside dumbass"
5. Multiple references to "President Gore"
4. Obituary includes list of people they wish were dead
3. Headlines fold over to create surprise mad magazine-type hidden message
2. Restaurant critic recently gave IHOP four stars
1. Reporting that Oprah isn't gay, but Letterman is
Posted by: Mike ||
07/24/2006
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#1
11. Pinchy must sell big house in the Hamptons. Reduced to renting.
#4
Ted Kennedy , the man who drowned my daughter and let her die. Posted on the first page.
Posted by: Chappaquiddick Volunteer Fire Station ||
07/24/2006 15:17
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World News posted
Determined Villagers, Coalition Funds Build School
Coalition Forces Asadabad Provincial Reconstruction Team and Qamchai
villagers celebrate the grand opening of the first school in their region
By U.S. Army Capt. Juanita Chang
Combined Task Force Thunder
KUNAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan, Jan. 18, 2005 Insurmountable terrain and high river waters did not thwart the determined residents of a village here from building a first-rate school for area children.
Thanks to the funding of the Coalition Forces Asadabad Provincial Reconstruction Team and the determination of the local residents, Qamchai village celebrated the grand opening of the first school in their region on Jan. 17.
We had to use donkeys to carry each of the bricks up the mountain, said Engineer Hafizullah, responsible for the construction of the project.
When the river rose we even had to construct boats to carry the bricks and cement across, he said.
Both school buildings have eight classrooms capable of holding 20 children each, allowing a total of 320 children to attend school at one time. The plan is to allow boys and girls to attend the school at different times or on different days.
The future leaders of Kunar and Afghanistan will come from these classrooms, U.S. Army Capt. John Wilt
Take care of this school and dont let anyone destroy it, Hafizullah pleaded to the village residents in attendance.
The local police chief also made a speech beseeching the residents of the valley to protect the school and others who bring education to the region.
The new principal for the school said local villagers were so determined to bring education to the area that everyone pitched in according to their ability.
This school is not only for religious studies but also for education for this world, the principal said. Religious studies are for the next world, but education is for our life in this world, he said.
This school is the first public facility to be built in this region and the residents expressed their gratitude to the coalition forces by presenting all the attending members with gifts of traditional Afghan rugs or clothing.
U.S. Army Col. Gary Cheek, commander of Combined Task Force Thunder, crosses the river on the way back from attending the grand opening of the Qamchai school in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, Jan. 17, 2005. Each brick and the cement to build the school had to be carried across the river and up a treacherous mountain on donkeys. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Juanita Chang
Local Afghan boys sing songs celebrating the grand opening of the Qamchai school in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, Jan. 17, 2005. U.S. Army photo by Capt. Juanita Chang
The future leaders of Kunar and Afghanistan will come from these classrooms, said Capt. John Wilt, the team leader for Civil Affairs Team-A from the Asadabad Provincial Reconstruction Team.
Posted by: The real world ||
07/24/2006 15:22
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#6
Would you be surprised, if they print the truth's such as these. The end is surely near.
Posted by: Larry King ||
07/24/2006 15:34
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#7
10. Extensive coverage of recent fighting between the Israelis and the lesbians
9. Pages 2 through 20 are corrections of previous edition
8. Every sentence begins "So, like"
7. TV listings only for broadcast networks, like it was in the 1960s.
6. Weather forecast reads "It's Bush's Fault!"
5. Multiple references to "President Gore"
4. Obituary includes list of people they wish were dead
3. Headlines have nothing to do with stories
2. Restaurant critic attacked Kosher food as "evil"
1. Reporting that Homosexuals aren't gay, that most of them are frequently depressed
In an effort to combat the devastating effects of category 5 hurricanes, New Tech Spy has learned from well connected DoD sources, that the US Department of Homeland Security has teamed with the US Air Force, in a secret mission called Operation Dark Sky. Dark Skys purpose is to test the effectiveness of the newly developed MOAB fuel air explosive on the destructive eye wall of selected hurricanes, in an effort to disrupt the central cores development and diminish its intensity. The program will begin this summer, primarily in the Gulf of Mexico, and extend through the 2006 hurricane season.
Mad Mullahs take note.
The GBU-43/B (MOAB), Massive Ordnance Air Blast was developed in the run-up to the Iraq war, but was never used in battle. The 21,000 pound fuel air bomb works by first dispersing an aerosol cloud of tritonal, which is then set off by a secondary explosion. The force of the explosion creates a massive pressure wave unlike that of any other conventional bomb, and makes it an ideal platform for US scientists to test on the different types of atmospheric conditions created in a hurricane.
The initial program calls for five GBU-43s to be dropped in 30 minute intervals on the leading eye wall of the hurricane. Specially modified C-130 aircraft will deliver the satellite-guided bombs in altitudes ranging from 8,000 to 30,000 feet, the effect will be measured by hurricane hunter planes and weather satellites. The secret operation will not be disclosed to the American people unless it is a complete success, but that might not be known for months or perhaps even years of study, which will certainly add to the intrigue and speculation surrounding Dark Sky, Americas big little secret.
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/24/2006
10:41 ||
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#1
This is idiotic: won't the high winds disperse the aerosol cloud before the secondary detonation takes place?
#3
The winds in the eye of a hurricane are relatively calm. So the fuel/air mixture might not be dispersed. However, the eye can be several miles across. I realize that the MOAB can have a wide area effect, but I don't think it will extend for miles.
People tend to forget that hurricanes are BIG. They can extend for hundreds of miles, which is one of the things that makes them so destructive. Somehow I doubt that even a MOAB will have any real effect.
Besides, the service ceiling for a C-130 is 33,000 feet. If they are going to set off the MOAB at 30,000 feet, it will likely ruin the whole day for the crew.
#5
BS. Is newtechspy.com one of those conspiracy sites? Truly pissing into the ocean and expecting it turn yellow. A 20 megaton bomb releases less energy than a medium hurricanes does in 15 minutes.
Posted by: ed ||
07/24/2006 11:47
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Other fact checks:
*MOAB uses an ammonium nitrate slurry, not fuel-air explosive.
* Fuel-air explosives can't be used in windy conditions.
Posted by: Phil ||
07/24/2006 11:53
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You know, they considered using nukes to do this back in the 50's/60's but decided against it. Clearly some of the Air Force just hasn't let go of the idea. While at first it does seem silly, consider how many of the ideas we've had 30 years ago we didn't have the Tech for then, we do now and they're reappearing.
1. The Aluminum Nitrate Slurry gets atomised by the initial blast and then is ignited by a secondary explosion. That is the classic definition of a fuel air explosive.
2. As in physics, everything is relative. When trying to hit a stationary target in high wind conditions the probability that the winds will disperse your agent away from the target is high. But when your target is the movement itself, the dispersal of the agent in a constant velocity wind will still retain a cohesive structure. In other words if the weapon is traveling at or near the same speed as the wind the wind itself has no effect.
Not saying this is for real, just trying to keep the discussion on a factual basis.
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/24/2006 12:49
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Waste of effort, a hurricane will overpower the blast without noticing.
#17
Waste of effort, a hurricane will overpower the blast without noticing.
Try a 350kT warhead, guys.
Agreed.
But seriously (kinda), this all smacks of Jonah Goldberg's running joke about airborne laser volcano lancing.
Posted by: SLO Jim ||
07/24/2006 14:05
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I think I see the rationale here. Fuel air explosives, typically "propane bombs" are double concussion blasts. First they create a massive overpressure, followed by a just-as-destructive implosion created by the enormous resulting vacuum.
In the leading eye wall of the hurricane this would, they hope, first "rupture" the eye outward, then suck both ruptured ends inward, making it hard for them to rejoin.
#21
I double-checked, and found out that the bomb in question doesn't use ammonium nitrate either. It is still not a fuel-air device. Here's a link.
Posted by: Phil ||
07/24/2006 15:01
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#22
When I was a kid, the Blackhawks, my comic book heros, used to fly their jets through tornados to break the cicular wind. And of course, the Blackhawks never failed.
I figured that nothing like this has ever been tried is because some ass actually flew through a tornado and POP - WOOOSH, disappeared.
#23
Have no idea whether this would work or not (doubt it would) but some of you are looking at it the wrong way. It has nothing to do with the relative energy emitted by the hurricane vs the moab. It's all about the eye of the hurricane being a low pressure pocket maintained by the spinning force of the hurricane. If you could possible poke a whole in the eye by temporarily stopping even a small part of it from spinning the high pressure would swarm in and fill out the whole dispersing the hurricane... think of a ballon being popped by a pin but only in reverse (where the area outside the ballon is the eye). A tiny hole and the ballons pressure equalizes with what's around it very quickly even though the ballon has exponentially more energy in it than the pin that popped it applied.
#25
Think of it like a bathtub drain. Even if the wall is disrupted, it will still form again because of the huge inward rotating mass of the hurricane is self sustaining as long as there is a lower pressure and rising water vapor in the center.
Posted by: ed ||
07/24/2006 16:39
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#26
Hurricanes do distribute heat energy over the surface of the globe. This is a useful thing. Hurricanes are obviously terrible things for the people who get hit with one, but, would there not be unintended effects from not disbursing that heat?
#27
I suspect this might work. Hurricanes take a long time to get organized and their organization is fragile. Break the eye wall and multiple mini-eyes might form, which disrupt each other and reduce destructive winds around the eye.
#32
It's been noted in past that one thing that has a proven effect on hurricanes is -- plankton.
A plankton bloom can raise surface water temperature over a wide are by one or two degrees, which can raise a hurricane by an entire catagory.
This being said, a while back a scientist had an idea of how to cause more precipitation inland by breaking up the surface layer of sea water, which significantly increases surface evaporation. A row of verticle windmills that pump seawater and atomize it into a mist.
The mist falls back down, breaking up this few millimeter thick layer on the water, which then increases evaporation enormously. This was the effect he wanted, but it would also lower surface temperatures over a large area, which would take away a lot of the "fuel" from a hurricane.
#33
#28: "Don't mess with mother nature, but do make those levies strong."
Smarter move, GW, would be to not live below sea level.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/24/2006 20:38
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Hear, hear, Barb. I'd rather them use those MOABs on the levees and just let N.O. flood out and "return to nature." A lot more swamp wetlands, and it's just a matter of time before she gets nailed again. She's already sinking fast, and even without hurricanes helping out, would be an island (surrounded by levees) in a few more hundred years.
Posted by: BA ||
07/24/2006 21:21
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#35
Phil,
You're right it's not a fuel air explosive.
I dunno where I heard that but I was convinced it was.
Thanks for straightening that out.
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/24/2006 21:41
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#36
From Wikipedia:
Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research estimate that a tropical cyclone releases heat energy at the rate of 50 to 200 trillion joules per day. For comparison, this rate of energy release is equivalent to exploding a 10-megaton nuclear bomb every 20 minutes or 200 times the world-wide electrical generating capacity.
You'd have better luck trying to stop a diesel locomotive with a spit ball.
Niteen V Pradhan is an angry man. One of India's leading criminal lawyers, he has mailed a letter to the 18 core accused in the March 12, 1993 bomb blasts case, telling them he will not fight the case for them any more.
In conversation with Sumit Bhattacharya, Pradhan says July 11, 2006 was a "day of reckoning" for him, and he felt he was "defending the wrong cause."
You have defended people like Abu Salem and some of the accused in the stamp scam case. Why did you decide not to defend the 1993 blasts accused anymore?
There is a bit of a history. Initially some other lawyers were appearing for the bomb blasts accused. Those lawyers expressed their no-confidence in the then presiding officer of the court. The accused retracted and said, 'We want this judge.' The judge directed that these lawyers should not come within the precincts of the court.
There were 48 prime accused. The series of charges against them included smuggling RDX (Research and Development Explosive), transportation of RDX, hatching conspiracy in Dubai, having conspiratorial meetings in India, storage of RDX, preparing vehicular bombs, planting those bombs and detonating them on March 12, 1993.
These 48 persons were left high and dry by the order of the judge.
The judge appointed me and Mahesh Jethmalani as amicus curae (friend of the court, who assists the court to come to the right conclusion) in July 1994.
The day after, representatives of three Muslim organisations met me. They said, 'We don't want you to appear as amicus curae. We want to pay your fees and we want you to act as a professional defence counsel.'
I was reluctant. I made enquiries.
They (the community leaders) said, 'We don't want Mahesh Jethmalani because his father was vice-president of the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party).'
I apprised the learned judge of the meeting. The judge said, 'I don't have any objection.'
In the first meeting, I asked them, 'Why do you want the community to pay?' -- they said my fees would be paid by the community. I asked them, 'Why is the community trying to identify with those who are accused of killing people mercilessly with vehicular bombs?'
It was the first time something like that had happened in India, and I was surprised (with the community identifying with the accused).
They said the community is offended because of the application of Section 121 of the Indian Penal Code -- which means waging war against the country. Under English law, it meant the offence of treason.
They said, 'We are not traitors. And if our community has been accused of being traitors, we feel the entire community has been accused of being traitors.'
I agreed with them. Because according to me, the bomb blasts had nothing to do with waging war against the government. The bomb blasts had something to do with the Ayodhya issue, December 1992 riots and the January 1993 riots (in Mumbai). It was arising out of the communal frenzy.
I felt this community is not a traitor. They love India like any other person. It is not that Hindus love India more than the Muslims, or the Christians, or the Sikhs, or any other community or religion in India.
I defended them. My submissions were accepted by the judge and the CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) also. M Natarajan, the senior advocate appearing for CBI, made a bold statement. He said that I am legally correct in my submissions. Ultimately he conceded that this charge of Section 121 should be dropped. The matter (case) went on.
Finally these 18 persons, the core accused, I defended them as a matter of professional duty. I was told the money for my fees was being collected during the Friday sermons. After my appearance in 1994, when I came out of the matter in 1995, several bomb blasts took place in Bombay -- Ghatkopar, Vile Parle, Gateway of India, etc.
The biggest one was the recent one -- July 11. I was extremely perturbed because (despite) whatever I had been told by the so-called leaders, those leaders have not come out against these bomb blasts, or the carnage of tourists in Srinagar. They have not come out in support of the Kashmiri Pandits living in refugee camps.
At least one Muslim leader should come out and say, 'I don't stand by the so-called jihad, so-called pious duty they are talking about. That Islam they are talking, that Islam they are preaching, that Islam they are executing, that is not my Islam. I feel ashamed if they belong to my community, my religion.'
Nobody said this. Nobody came out. I am not talking just about the leaders who came to meet me. I am talking about community leaders from the film world, the industry, from the commercial establishments, from educational institutions, from politics. None of them came out saying that 'I want to collect money for Kashmiri Hindus. I want to come out in support of these victims.'
After 1993, Bombay is by and large calm. There is no communal frenzy here. The loss of faith in each other, which happened in 1992, has been now retrieved. What is the occasion for all these bomb blasts, particularly July 11?
The 1993 bomb blasts -- I am not justifying it, it is no doubt beyond justification -- were the aftermath of the Ayodhya issue, the December 1992 riots and January 1993 riots (in Mumbai). What has happened now? Who has committed atrocities, even allegedly?
I am convinced now that all these terrorist activities, all these bomb blasts are aimed against Hindus. They want to kill Hindus at random and as many as possible.
This is the same impression I have mentioned in my letter to the accused. I said, 'My community and my country do not deserve this. My community and my country, despite being ruled by Muslims for a thousand years, despite the atrocities, have accepted them as brothers.'
But we have seen people like Shah Rukh Khan condemning the blasts.
Tell me, is this the same Shah Rukh Khan who refused to touch the feet of Lata Mangeshkar saying his religion does not allow him to touch someone's feet? How much money has he paid to Kashmiri Hindus? Has Shah Rukh Khan defended Feroze Khan for what he said in Pakistan?
How many of them have defended Feroze Khan, who told the truth -- that Pakistan is a failed State; that minorities in India are far better treated than the minorities in Pakistan? Did Shabana Azmi support him? Did Javed Akhtar support him?
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006
10:25 ||
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#1
Damn.. even the lawyers are deserting them...
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006 10:38
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#2
Which all goes to show that, contrary to public opinion, "ethical lawyer" is not an oxymoron.
#4
July 11, 2006 was a "day of reckoning" for him, and he felt he was "defending the wrong cause."
Took the carnage to open his liberal eyes.
I was extremely perturbed because (despite) whatever I had been told by the so-called leaders, those leaders have not come out against these bomb blasts, or the carnage of tourists in Srinagar. They have not come out in support of the Kashmiri Pandits living in refugee camps.
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006 12:16
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What do you say to a Prime Minister who, a few days after ruling out the re-introduction of a POTA-like legislation, admits to a meeting of Chief Secretaries that our response to terrorism has been "inadequate"? Should we praise Manmohan Singh for realising the truth? Alternatively, should we pillory him for abdicating one of the prime responsibilities of government-the protection of the citizen?
Since the serial blasts in Mumbai on July 11, the Government has been conducting itself like a headless chicken. Having flaunted a ritualistic G-8 condemnation of the bombings as a spectacular diplomatic triumph, it went into a tailspin after the world leaders greeted the charge of the ubiquitous Pakistani hand with more than a measure of scepticism. To cap it all, the country had to be subjected to the cocky insolence of President Pervez Musharraf demanding "proof" of Pakistan's involvement. Having put the "peace process" on hold before embarking for St. Petersburg, Manmohan Singh returned a mellowed man.
Nor have things been any better on the domestic front. First, there was the outrageous insinuation by Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh that Hindu groups had a habit of committing atrocities and blaming the "other". The theme was gratefully echoed by loose cannons like the Shahi Imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid and the redoubtable general secretary of the West Bengal CPI(M) Biman Bose. The Shahi Imam was addressing his congregation after Friday prayers and Bose was addressing a Milli Council meeting in Kolkata. Like good secularists they felt that a convenient way of averting awkward questions of culpability is to turn victimhood on its head, even if it means whitewashing murderers. Second, there were desperate attempts to deflect attention from the Government's own failings by attacking Narendra Modi for what he did not say in Mumbai last week and Jaswant Singh for what he did not do in Kandahar seven years ago.
Finally, in an act that straddled a twilight zone between stupidity and lunacy, the Government decided to ape totalitarian China and block access to blogsites. Reuters quoted Gulshan Rai, director of the Government-run Indian Computer Emergency Response Team justifying the ban because "the blogs are pitting Muslim against non-Muslim."
The Government's disorientation is not the result of some Inspector Clouseau being at the helm. It is a consequence of its inability to face up to the political ramifications of the Mumbai blasts. The investigations may not have produced concrete results as yet but they definitely point to the involvement of home-grown Muslim terrorists.
This comes as no surprise. The March 1993 blasts were also the handiwork of home-grown terrorists, many of whom subsequently fled to Pakistan, as were the Ghatkopar and Gateway of India bombings in 2003. The 1993 and 2003 blasts were attributed to retaliation for the Mumbai and Gujarat riots respectively. What was the July 11 carnage meant to convey? That jihadis have the ability and technology to bleed India to death?
Since no group has yet claimed responsibility, the motives are still a matter of conjecture. However, the portents from the Varanasi bombings, the RDX haul from Ellora and the foiled fidayeen attacks on Ayodhya and the RSS headquarters in Nagpur are ominous. Despite official attempts to point accusing fingers at foreign paratroopers, all these incidents involved Indian jihadis. In other words, while there may be an overseas command centre of global jihad - maybe located in Pakistan - the war is actually being conducted by fiercely motivated locals.
The leadership of the Indian Muslim community can no longer take refuge in denial. Nor is there any percentage in appealing to Sonia Gandhi to stop racial profiling by the police. After Mumbai, the community bears a collective responsibility for isolating and hounding out the radicals. For this to happen, it is incumbent that Indian Muslims dissociate completely from pan-Islamism. A clutch of half-baked and fanciful theories of ummah victimhood in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan, et al, are responsible for turning gullible youth into monstrous killers.
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006
09:57 ||
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July 25, 2006: In what is a very blunt Information War operation, the Taliban this year have deprived some 200,000 Afghan children of school. One of the Taliban beliefs is that the only proper schools are those supervised by (Taliban approved) religious leaders. Since the millions of Afghan children who have returned to school, since the Taliban were overthrown in late 2001, are doing so at government schools, and without a religious curriculum, they are in violation of Taliban customs. The Taliban are particularly incensed at schools for girls. The Taliban are decidedly Old School when it comes to women, believing ignorance, pregnancy and housekeeping are all the women need. Anything else is un-Islamic, and not to be tolerated. So some 200 schools have been closed in southern Afghanistan, and at least 40 teachers and students killed in the process. The Taliban use terror to close the schools, or discourage parents from sending their kids, often accompanied by violence (burning down the school and/or threatening the teachers and villagers.) Where terror tactics did not shut down a school, threats against parents (and their children) often got the kids withdrawn from school. All this has not made the Taliban popular, but since the Taliban are on a mission from God, who cares?
The Afghans affected believe that the Taliban want people to stay ignorant, as that makes them easier to control. While many Afghans in the south agree with the Taliban, they are not the ones sending their kids to school.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/24/2006
09:29 ||
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The mere fact there still IS a TAliban, bodes ill for all.
Posted by: J. D. Lux ||
07/24/2006 11:54
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Wid the Cold War Commie Bloc it was universal, perennnial pervasive deficit accounting; wid God-Based Commies-Socialists, the same is called "religion/faith".
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Beirut on Monday to seek a "sustainable" cease-fire in Lebanon, where Hizbollah guerrillas and Israeli forces are fighting in the south.
Rice met Prime Minister Fouad Siniora after her heavily guarded motorcade sped through Beirut from the U.S. embassy to the north where her helicopter had landed from Cyprus. "Thank you for your courage and steadfastness," she told Siniora, who has repeatedly pleaded for an immediate cease-fire.
On her way to the region, Rice said she was seeking a "sustainable" cease-fire in a war that has cost 373 dead in Lebanon and at least 37 Israeli lives in nearly two weeks. A U.S. official in Rice's party said she would announce aid for Lebanon, where Israeli bombing has displaced half a million people and wrecked installations worth an estimated $1 billion (539 million pounds).
Rice has no plans to meet Hizbollah leaders, but was due to see Shi'ite Muslim Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, a pro-Syrian politician who has acted as a link between the Islamist group's leaders and Siniora since the war erupted.
#4
Notice she went to Beirut *first*, not to Tel Aviv. IOW she was telling Lebanon to muzzle its dog *before* she went to plot strategy with the Zionists. Nice move.
July 24, 2006: American commanders believe their operations have disrupted Taliban plans, and done a lot of damage to the Taliban leadership. Without providing many details (for security reasons, as the campaign is still going on), it was pointed out that the Taliban have been unable to execute a coherent plan. If the Taliban appear to be flailing about, they are. Every week, one or more Taliban groups are cornered and destroyed by American, NATO or Afghan forces. These operations yield documents and prisoners (for interrogation.) The information gathered in that way would provide an accurate picture of what shape the Taliban are in, and apparently that shape is kind of bent at the moment.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/24/2006
09:17 ||
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July 23, 2006: Afghan police and troops raided a Taliban camp in southern Afghanistan, killing 19 Taliban, and arresting 17 (most of them Pakistanis).
Gee Sergeant Carter, have I got a SURPRISE FOR YOU!
Mullah Omar: Achmed, I want you to go across the border and stir up trouble.
Achmed: Yes Iman.
Mullah Omar: Oh yeah, and put on this red shirt first.
Achmed: Yes Iman.
Mullah Omar: One more thing, I thoughtfully took out this life insurance policy in your name. Sign here.
Achmed: Insurance? Sign?
Mullah Omar: Just make an 'X' on this line.
#4
N.B.: Private Gomer Pyle was training to be a Marine sniper, in preparation to being sent to Vietnam, and was shown to be such a remarkable shot, that high ranking officers in his chain of command repeatedly ordered extraordinary latitude in his discipline.
#6
During the Vietnam War, television all but ignored the war. One of the most popular shows of the time, "Gomer Pyle," was about a private in the U.S. Marine Corps and it never once mentioned Vietnam.
(via LGF)
The founder of Air America says the antisemitic and/or anti-Israel posts erupting out of the progressive blogosphere must be a plot.
Probably masterminded by Karl Rove.
Because true "liberals" would never hold such opinions.
Gotta be a plot.
"I came to the conclusion that the hostile comments about Israel on these liberal blogs are not coming from true liberals. Most of the anti-Semitism comes from racism and most of the racism I have experienced has come from the far right, not the left.
"So my conclusion is that the bloggers who violently hate Israel and see it in black and white terms are not really liberals. They may even be anti-Semites, but they are not representative of the liberal community that was so active in achieving racial and ethnic equality. It is a contradiction for a true liberal to be an anti-Semite.
Furthermore, I would not put it past the right wing to flood the liberal blogs with hateful criticisms of Israel to advance a perception that liberals are anti-Israel or anti-Semitic. And I see Karl Roves fingerprints all over this."
Note similarities to radical Islamic turnspeak and conspiracy delusions. Note also that the lefts anti-Israel problem has gotten so bad that the financiers feel they need to respond.
#5
He's just declared about half of Daily Kos, two thirds of Democratic Underground, Cindy Sheehan, International ANSWER, St. Rachel of Pancake Corrie and the ISM, and most of the rest of the folks on the other side antiwar movement to be Rove operatives.
Wow.
Is this the beginning of the Great Netroots Fratricidal Civil War?
Posted by: Mike ||
07/24/2006 10:59
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How do we know Sheldon Drobny wasn't put up to this by Karl Rove? Wheels within wheels within wheels within wheels...
#13
The the anti-jewish character of the left was made plain to me years ago by a brother. He is a jew hater and has even poisoned his kids minds. His great grandmotehr was Jewish. He is teh typical lefty that makes heros out of the PLO and terrorists.
This is nothing new it's just becoming more plain as the left shows it's true colors. If they take power in this country we are in for a world of misery and travail.
#14
The left (socialism) has always been antisemitic; jewry = bankers, capitalists,... most of the left's founders like proudhon were AFAIK rabid antisemite, and don't forget marx himself, with his "identity" hatred of the jews.
For the new antisemitism of the left ("jews = zionists = racists = westerners"), I'd recommand this book by a french researcher called Pierre-André Taguieff (I've read the french original, IIUC, don't know if this one is a separate english book or a translation).
A senior member of Muqtada al-Sadr's Iraqi Shi'ite militia, the Mahdi Army, says the group is forming a squadron of up to 1,500 elite fighters to go to Lebanon. The plan reflects the potential of the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah to strengthen radical elements in Iraq and neighboring countries and to draw other regional players into the Lebanon conflict.
"We are choosing the men right now," said Abu Mujtaba, who works in the loosely organized following of radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. "We are preparing the right men for the job." Mr. Mujtaba, who was interviewed in Baghdad, said some of the men have had special training but did not specify what kind. Sheik al-Sadr's black-clad armed militia numbers in the thousands, operates throughout central and southern Iraq and is thought to be responsible for numerous killings of Sunnis.
A rival Sunni cleric, Abdul Rahman al-Duleimi, said he knew about the militia's recruiting effort and that he had appealed to his own followers to fight Israel. "We know that the Mahdi militia is on this issue since the Lebanon-Israeli crisis started," said Sheik al-Duleimi, whose house in Baghdad contains a large portrait of former ruler Saddam Hussein. The cleric is not related to Adnan al-Dulaimi, also a Sunni cleric and leader of a major faction in parliament. Sheik al-Duleimi said that during prayers on Friday, he "called the people to volunteer, and if they cannot, they should donate anything. I called on people to donate even one bullet, because maybe this one bullet will kill one Israeli."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve ||
07/24/2006
09:10 ||
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#8
Provide them 30 old buses for their 1500 terrorists, tell them to provide their own drivers, and then whack them on the road to Damascus. Win-Win situation.
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/24/2006 10:14
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#9
So who do you think'll be in Lebanon sooner? Me or the Mahdi Army?
Place your bets...
#10
Sheik al-Duleimi said the fight in Lebanon extends beyond the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, and that it is a struggle between Muslims and the American-Israeli alliance.
Yep, thats the way we see it too. Please.... "to the death!"
#15
C'mon in boys, it's a big kill box, plenty'a room for ever'one.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/24/2006 12:03
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#16
Can't whack 'em fast enough in Iraq. Might as well let the IDF have a go at them. Nice to see the Israelis peeling off their gloves for a change. GO IDF!!!
#18
Why stop with 1500 'elite'? Send them all in a glorious crusade against the Jews!
Will the Mahdi Army bring their own civilian shields or will they make do with the local Lebanese civilian shields?
Will the Mahdi Army coordinate with Hezbollah to make sure that there is an equitable division of civilian shields so that no Lion of Islam has to face the enemy without women and children in front of him?
Seriously, it would be good if Tater sent everyone but his personal bodyguard into the meatgrinder. It always helps to have your enemy so declare and step into the kill box. Would make me feel even better about the money we send the IDF every year.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
07/24/2006 13:07
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#20
Hezbullah is a militia that was set up in Lebanon in 1982 by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, of the Muslim Shiite sect. Hezbullah is actually Lebanese. It claimed it's purpose was to drive out Israeli occupation at that time. However, it's true mission is to do someday what in Lebanon what the Ayatollah did in Iran, and what Al Sadr hopes someday to do in Iraq, topple the government and take over the nation.
It is a Lebanese militia, styled after Hamas, that not only has a militant wing but carries out a lot of civil support (hospitals, schools, civil services) in Southern Lebanon. The Lebanonese government actually recognizes the Hezbullah as it's official military in Southern Lebanon, bestowed upon them when they were credited with ousting the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon, and the ousting of American forces in Beirut with the barracks bombing that killed 241 Marines, and an attack on the French that killed 58 French soldiers, who also departed after that event.
They are considered "resistance fighters". Their past successes and the result being that foreign elements had left as a result, is what Iran, Syria, Mookie in Iraq, and Al Qaeda contribute to the model that if they confront the West when the West tries to combat Islamic Jihad, the West will "cut and run".
Hence, Bush's desire this time to support Israel in their fight and his desire to see Iraq succeed as a Democracy under his watch. No "cut and run" successes any more for these militias in the M.E. is the coalition's goal.
What Rice and Bush will now do as Israel irradicates Hezbullah in South Lebanon, is offer to let the West support the Lebanese government rebuild the south with Western help, if they will turn away from Syria and Iran and the Hezbullah, which the newly democraticly elected government is more inclined to do now than ever before. The new Lebanese government has blaimed Syria for the recent assasination of a popular Lebanese official/business man. Hezbullah supports Syria. Bush and Rice are now trying to offer an alternative to Hezbullah and the strong Syrian and Iranian influence in South Lebanon.
RD, Baghdad Bob has moved to Beirut. A few days ago, 2 helicopters collided in Northern Israel. This would be a video from that. Notice, all the personnel were Israeli, as were the civilian vehicles. BTW, I lost my Cody doll. I expect it to star in a Hezb video anyday.
Posted by: ed ||
07/24/2006 16:00
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#22
By all means, the Sadr's boys should go to Leb. Heck, I'm sure the US Army would even charter busses, put big black Mahdi flags on top, then point them to western Iraq's scenic route.
Posted by: ed ||
07/24/2006 16:04
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#23
Chomble, "What Rice and Bush will now do as Israel irradicates Hezbullah in South Lebanon, is offer to let the West support the Lebanese government rebuild the south with Western help"
What do you mean by "West"? I hope you don't mean the U.S. As I have stated before, since Lebanon is different from other Arab countries, it is worth rebuilding. But, the U.S. and Israel better not touch the rebuilding with a 10ft pole. Please study the Islamic mindset a bit more, before commenting. They HATE the U.S. and Israel. The time is over for "feel good" politics.
If by "West," you mean Europe, then we're on the same page. Since you mention Bush, Rice and West in the same sentence, I am assuming you meant the U.S. If not, use separate sentences. Thanks.
BOMBAY, India (AP) -- Indian police have arrested a fourth suspect in connection with the Bombay train blasts that killed more than 200 people, officials said Monday. The suspect, who was identified as Tanvir Ahmed Ansari, appeared in a Bombay court, where the judge remanded him to police custody until Aug. 4.
Ansari, a Bombay-based practitioner of traditional Unani medicine, was among five people picked up for questioning Saturday, said a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Ansari was formally placed under arrest late Sunday, the officer said.
The officer gave no further details about Ansari, but the Press Trust of India news agency reported that Ansari allegedly received training in Pakistan to make bombs and explosives.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/24/2006
09:06 ||
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U.S. Rep. Robert Wexler has sat in front of some of the hottest television lights in the world of news talk, barking about political rivals, demanding action and mostly holding his own in on-air squabbles.
Then he sat down with comedian Stephen Colbert.
Wexler thought he knew what he was getting into but really he didn't.
He found himself talking about whether caribou meat should be used to fuel sport utility vehicles. And he found himself being cajoled into staring at the camera and saying, "I enjoy cocaine because it's a fun thing to do," in a segment that aired Thursday night.
Welcome to Comedy Central, congressman. Those tough political crowds in Boca Raton have nothing on the sharp wit of Colbert and the editing skills of the staff on his popular comedy show, The Colbert Report.
When the cable TV show's producers contacted Wexler's Capitol Hill office to ask if the Democrat would be interested in appearing, his young staffers went crazy. All fans of the show, they persuaded a somewhat reluctant Wexler to do it.
So three weeks ago, Wexler gamely walked to an office on the hill that the show was using to tape the program. Someone stuck a Florida flag behind Wexler so Colbert could pretend the interview was taking place in his congressional office.
The taping lasted 90 minutes, which the producers artfully trimmed and rearranged for five minutes of the best comic effect.
The show, which airs at 11:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, is political satire, a takeoff on shows such as Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor.
After poking fun at the "fighting 19th" Congressional District, Colbert introduced Wexler with the question, "Which well-tanned politician has the SPF to represent this district?"
Throughout the taping, Wexler like all of Colbert's subjects was forced into the role of straight man. Asked about the show Friday, the normally exuberant Wexler seemed a bit subdued after watching it Thursday night.
"I had never seen the show," he said. "Many of the people in the office love the show, and they said it would be fantastic."
His verdict? "Not my cup of tea."
Which really is the point of Colbert's recurring segment on congressional districts making a member of Congress uncomfortable. When Orlando Republican John Mica appeared, Colbert asked whether he had trouble getting his rumored toupee through airport security. Massachusetts Democrat Barney Frank, who is gay, reportedly was seething after Colbert asked him what it was like to be "an openly left-handed" American.
So as Wexler sat watching the show with his 17-year-old daughter and 13-year-old son, he cringed. At one point, Colbert asked Wexler about drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Colbert: "Should we drill in ANWR?"
Wexler: "No, no."
C: "So caribou are more important than my SUV?"
W: "No, no."
C: "That's what you just said."
W: "What's most important is that your SUV be required to have better efficiency in the future."
C: "What if I could make it run on caribou meat? Would you be in favor of that?"
W: "On caribou meat?"
C: "Or hide it doesn't matter or bone?"
W: "Probably not."
Then, because Wexler has no opponent this year, Colbert saying "this is just kidding" egged him on to "say a few things that would really lose the election for you if you were contested." Colbert neatly hemmed him in by telling him to complete this sentence: "I enjoy cocaine because... "
And for Comedy Central, here's the money shot: Wexler squirming but looking straight ahead and playing along by saying, "I enjoy cocaine because it's a fun thing to do." Followed by, again at Colbert's suggestion: "I enjoy the company of prostitutes for the following reasons because it's a fun thing to do. If you combine the two together, it's probably even more fun."
Colbert wrapped up soon after, joking "there is no amount of damage control" that Wexler would be able to do now.
So what did Wexler's kids think of his performance?
#4
(Washington, D.C.) - Congressman Robert Wexler (D-FL), a senior member of the House International Relations Committee and Ranking Democrat on the Europe and Emerging Threats Subcommittee, will travel to Israel on an official CODEL from July 24 to 27, 2006. In Jerusalem, Wexler also plans to travel to Kiryat Bialik, the sister city of Boca Raton, located approximately 15 miles northeast of the port city of Haifa, which has been hit by Katyusha rockets launched by Hezbollah terrorists....
HB donks ... now remember it's Kiryat Bialik. Could be today, tomorrow or Friday. Fire for effect!
(IsraelNN.com) Three terrorists were killed in Gaza Monday afternoon by the Israeli Defense Forces. The terrorists were killed by artillery fire directed at the house in which they were hiding in Beit Lahiya in the Gaza strip.
The IDF is conducting attacks against terrorists in Gaza in order to stop rocket fire directed at Israeli towns.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/24/2006
08:34 ||
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#1
Obviously, they were hoping that the Israeli artillery was going to inaccurate as the Hezbollah rockets.
"Hey Mahmoud, I think if we hold our breath and bend over, the shell may pass over us"
Forty minutes into her reign as Miss Universe, Miss Puerto Rico Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza collapsed during a post-pageant news conference and was rushed offstage on Sunday night.
Pageant officials immediately said the lithe 5-foot-9 18-year-old was all right and had fainted. "She's OK. She's fine," pageant representative Lark Anton told Reuters. "She got dizzy. Its very hot up here. Her dress is tight - as you could see it was beaded and heavy. She passed out."
We see.
Anton said Mendoza "had plenty to eat today," when pressed for the beauty queen's condition before she fainted at the center of the stage at the Shrine Auditorium, where she had become the 55th Miss Universe before an international television audience less than an hour earlier.
Mendoza attended the pageant's Coronation Ball after recovering from her collapse, according to guests including Donald Trump, co-owner of the Miss Universe Organization. "Yes, she's fine," Trump said as he left.
The Puerto Rican beauty queen was named Miss Universe 2006 over runner-up Miss Japan, Kurara Chibana, 24. Second runner-up was Miss Switzerland Lauriane Gillieron, 21. Rounding out the top five were Miss Paraguay Lourdes Arevalos, 22, and Miss United States, 20-year-old Tara Conner. The youngest of the five finalists, Mendoza appeared radiant as she waved to photographers several minutes before collapsing. Most of the press had left by the time she fainted.
Having lingered on stage, Mendoza was leaning on some assistants when her face fell to her chest, her new tiara atop her head. Tottering on high, spiky heels, she appeared to lean in this fashion for about 10 seconds and, at 8:38 p.m., collapsed in the arms of pageant assistants.
She was rushed offstage while the organizer of a post-pageant press conference called for aid. "Is there a nurse in the house? Can a nurse come to the stage," said the announcer, who was not identified. Within a minute, Anton said Mendoza was fine and had merely fainted.
During her news conference, Mendoza said she would carry out the work of the Miss Universe Organization, which is to work to help those with HIV/AIDS.
IDF Military Intelligence (MI) believes the army has 10 days left before diplomatic pressure puts an end to Operation Change of Direction against Hizbullah, The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday.
In addition, MI - reflecting its latest strategic assessment - believes that the Islamist group has already been dealt a severe blow by the IDF operation launched 12 days ago, and that within a month it will run out of Katyusha rockets to fire at Israel.
Hizbullah is organized along military lines, with regional commands in southern, northern and central Lebanon. The unit in the south, called the "Katyusha Unit" by the IDF, consists of some 1,000 fighters who have been responsible for most of the rocket attacks on communities north of Acre and Amiad.
The unit has been able to recruit reserves, but MI has noticed that it has run into difficulty convincing members of the terror group who reside in northern Lebanon to travel south to participate in the fighting.
Once the unit exhausts the missiles currently in its possession, it will, MI believes, have difficulty acquiring more, since most of the roads and supply routes have been destroyed by the IDF. Several Syrian and Iranian attempts to send supplies to Hizbullah have been thwarted by the IDF.
North of the Litani River, Hizbullah operates a unit called the "medium-range rocket unit" believed to be responsible for firing Katyushas at Haifa and Israel's northern coast. Most of that unit's missiles were supplied by Syria prior to the current conflict.
This unit is also believed to have an arsenal of long-range rockets - Iranian-made Fajr 5 and Zelzal missiles capable of reaching targets 200 km. away.
Hizbullah still has several functioning military command centers in different regions in Lebanon, according to MI assessments. Officials in these centers are still able to command Hizbullah's men in the field.
Military Intelligence has set up a team to oversee targeted killings of Hizbullah officials, but the unit has had limited success. MI does not believe that killing Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah would necessarily end the conflict.
MI believes that Hizbullah has been dealt a "critical blow" to its image in Lebanon and throughout the Arab world. Lebanese leaders blame Nasrallah for provoking Israel and "bringing a disaster upon their country," MI believes.
Hizbullah also reportedly has three units charged with intelligence operations. One unit is in charge of espionage against Israel, including the recruitment of agents who gather intelligence on IDF bases and other strategic installations.
A unit called "1800" is reportedly responsible for the recruitment of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
There is also reportedly a third unit, in charge of counter-intelligence operations.
#3
The trick is to make sure that Hezbollah runs out of rocketeers as well as rockets.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/24/2006 10:53
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#4
Ok. I'm no military expert but if MI knows where these 'command centers' are why doesnt the IDF destroy them? Are they too dug in or is Israel not really taking the gloves off like we'd hoped here at Rantburg.
#12
what's keeping HB from mounting chem and bio weapons on their Fajrs besides the IRG's say-so?
Perhaps that's the plan for August 22nd. Or they were never given any, or Israel already blew them up, or Nasrullah's command-and-control is as out of commission as he is. Or, someone critical got the message that if WMD were used, the US would not stop at the Iraqi border. But I'm just guessing -- nobody tells little suburban housewives anything important. ;-)
#13
Do we have enough power in the Persian Gulf theater to take on HB, Iran, and Syria simultaneously after an Iranian-Syrian first strike against US forces in Iraq and Kuwait?
#15
IDF has tried and maybe successfully cut the suppy lines for HEZ weapons. They have a navy presence at sea. They have bombed the airport. They have bombed the roads to Syria. They have bombed bridges. If there is a cease fire--I don't know if the IDF can control resupply of rockets and other weapons. It depends if the rest of the world takes off the blinders and steps up to the plate. A lot of people don't yet realize this is WW III.
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A convoy of U.S.-led forces was hit by a blast near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Monday and at least two Canadian soldiers were wounded, coalition forces said. Police said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber. The blast occurred on a main road outside Kandahar city, where a double suicide attack killed two Canadian soldiers and several Afghans on Saturday.
Coalition spokesman Major Scott Lundy told Reuters: A coalition vehicle was struck by an IED (improvised explosive device) east of the city. But police sources said the blast was a suicide attack. There was a suicide attack against the coalition this morning, said a police source, who asked not to be identified. Another police official said the area was cordoned off.
Two Canadian soldiers were wounded in the incident, forces spokeswoman Captain Julie Roberge said. Canadian troops form the bulk of coalition forces in Kandahar, a stronghold for the Taleban guerrillas who are fighting an insurgency against the Afghan government and foreign forces in the country.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/24/2006
08:29 ||
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Israeli forces have pushed forward from the mountaintop village of Maroun er Ras captured Sunday to the fringes of Bint Jubeil, Hizballahs south Lebanese capital. Monday they suffered nine wounded in face to face combat. Whereas TV cameras showed much footage of the Maroun er Ras engagement, the IDFs other battle pockets are kept under wraps.
Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who has an overall view, warned Israel in an interview to the Lebanese A Safir Monday, July 24, that its ground incursions in Lebanon would not stop Hizballah rocket fire against its cities. He certainly meant this as a morale-depressant for Israel troops. At the same time, DEBKAfiles military experts say that what he says is correct and must be taken into account in any diplomatic formula sought to end the warfare.
1. He could go on firing his rockets even when a multinational force is posted on the Lebanese-Israeli border. The force currently contemplated by Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert at this early stage of international diplomacy would consist of German, French and Czech units.
2. And even if multinational troops were deployed additionally on the Lebanese-Syrian border, they would not hamper Hizballahs rocket offensive. Therefore a buffer zone would offer no solution to a cessation of cross-border hostilities.
#4
Since a lot of the world would get their panties wadded over flame throwers and napalm such as were used in WWII, Fuel-Air Explosives [FAE]might be the answer to these tunnels and camo and whatever Japanese tactics Hizballah has adopted.
#6
"Since a lot of the world would get their panties wadded over flame throwers and napalm such as were used in WWII,"
Hizbollah are using WWII rockets with ball bearings.
Besides, I seem to remember, that Monty Python had a way to find camouflaged soldiers and blow them up.
#8
Hezbollah is not using WWII rockets. They stopped making BM13 rockets 50 years ago, stopped making the rockets themselves 30 years ago. What Hezbollah is using are the FROG 3 and FROG 5 missiles in the 122mm and the 220 mm range. Those do come in single rail launchers and in towable launchers.
Katyushas are 132mm and have never, repeat, never had a single rail launcher.
Hezbollah is not using WWII technology. They are using as modern weapons as can be had.
#10
Yeah, the international force is a great idea. Just like the last time they tried it in Southern Lebanon. Hizb grew a national forest right under the force's noses---only this time it wasn't cedars, it was rockets, thousands of 'em.
A ceasefire would be a disaster for Israel. The cancer that is Hizb'Allah has metasticized into the whole of Lebanon. To get rid of the cancer, the patient may die, but that is what happens when this plague on humanity is left to grow for 20 years. Yeah, the UN has done a great job---of enabling terrorists. They are going to get us all killed.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/24/2006 11:14
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#11
Also, thermal imaging was not available to the the Marines at Iwo Jima, nor were M203 grenade launchers or SMAWs with thermobaric warheads. There is a lot of good and very nasty equipment in the Western arsenal that can be used against entrenched positions. However, Debka got one point right : clearing tunnels does mean you will lose people, and that is Hiz b'Allah's one ace in this whole war - the Israelis' aversion to taking casualties.
#13
And I didn't know the Japanese fired artillery on civilians...
It's not that but the tunnels and camo and rockets in general, that are reminiscent of Iwo Jima.
Posted by: J. D. Lux ||
07/24/2006 11:57
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#14
Since we can see that this is the Iranian military producing and co-ordinating this campaign, a decision must be made. This is a theatre warzone. Nothing can stop a dug in enemy but troops who painfully take every yard of turf. Recall the Pacific campaigns where days and days of aerial bombardment by aircraft, followed by days of bombardment by our big battleships and cruisers really did very little damage to the enemy who used tunnels and caves for protection. Only troops blasting and sealing tunnels, flamethrowers, napalm, etc. cleared these tunnels. The fact that they've used these ceasefires to implement these dug in positions and are using IED's which literally disintegrate the Merkava tanks indicates Iranian military tactics. There will be leadership required here. Can Bush provide it ? I think Israeli military simply does not have the manpower to do this. When they mobilize a large percentage of their populace for duty, the economy takes a major hit. This is not sustainable for long periods of time. This slow bleeding of our troops and capital is not wise. This needs to be accelerated and finished.
#17
The sealing argument sounds good on paper, but won't work in real life. A well designed tunnel system will have lots of alternate openings. It may have tunnel branches that are dug within a few feet of the surface that can dug be dug out in an emergency. Ventilation shafts can also be widened in an emergency.
#18
My point is that the Japanese were at Iwo Jima to hold territory. Hezbollah is there to kill Jews. Japanese war crimes against the Chinese and other civilians notwithstanding. that is a tremendous difference.
#19
DEBKA is not a news source. As for this statement:
"DEBKAfiles military analysts say that the way the Israel-Hizballah war has been prosecuted up until Monday, July 24, is more likely to bring Nassrallah closer to his war objectives than Olmert."
I disagree. I believe Israel has started down the road of reducing the missile threat in a way that keeps Israeli military casualties to a minimum. Yes, you are going to take casualties when clearing people from fortified positions but once that is done, it is relatively easy to prevent reinfiltration. Once the civilian occupants are evacuated, you simply hammer anything that moves toward the town. At that point you have destroyed the weapons stores in the area and are preventing any reinfiltration. The troops are then free to move on to the next area to be cleared or pull back to a safe location for rest. I posted my own speculation on what I think is going on at my blog.
#22
Can those little bomb disposal robots be equipped with flame throwers? You wouldn't even need to expose trrops to the direct line of fire out of the bunkers. They just escort them up and remote flame them to start the clear. Might save on a few casualties trying to clear the bunkers. And would also give the Imams something to do in trying to figure out if robots counted as infidels.
"I'm terribly sorry, but martyrdom by robot does not warrant 72 virgins, but here's some raisins as a parting gift."
#23
I would think that if some tunnel entrances were sealed and others had a hot (say 1000F) fire for a few seconds the oxygen in the tunnels would deplete so fast that the tunnel occupants would pass out and likely not recover.
#24
Oh, how boring...Black hawk down-3 to date..(the poor hardworking American tax payers.)Today, six "Iraelis" sent to hell-20 to the vegetable ward. Yawn (excuse me). Total "Israeli" "soldiers" (ha! ha!) sent to the fire-50, total sent to the vegetable ward (I lost count). Well, the "Israelis" were so busy flexing their muscles on Palestinian toddlers and pre-schoolers from a 26,000 feet altitude-suddenly they had to fight MEN! Poor "Israelis". They don't want to fight. They only want to make bagels in peace. Awwwwww. But Bush boy and Condy R. won't have it. No sir. 2,500 rockets and missiles already landed on Israeli cities. (less than 1% of the Hizbullah arsenal). Israeli cities are getting empty. Awwwwww. 22,000 settlers have already applied to go back to America (to make their bagels). Awwwwwwww. Now the "Israelis" are willing to accept a diplomatic solution. (UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army to patrol southern Lebanon.). Awwww. We knew you could'nt fight men. Want to keep killing pre-scoolers huh? Saw on T.V. an "Israeli" "soldier" ha! ha! almost drop a tank shell on his toes today. Soooo sad. Pathos...really-
Posted by: the Levant. ||
07/24/2006 14:59
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#25
Oooh, oooh - look, children! It's a native Syrian troll! Get out your cameras, because they're almost extinct.
poor things, they just couldn't adapt to the modern world. Pity, but there it is.
Posted by: tour guide ||
07/24/2006 15:04
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#26
Drop flaming ham patties by the thousands.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
07/24/2006 15:06
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#27
mhw: You can defeat that one by using fairly airtight, fireproof doors. That's why the tunnels were such a huge casualty producer on Iwo Jima and in Vietnam. They are incredibly survivable. Don't get me wrong, by going to a tunnel-based defense, you've given up _all_ of your tactical initiative and mobility outside of the confines of the tunnel network. It's a suicidal gesture. You're telling your opponent, yeah I'm going to die, but I'm going to take as many of you bastards with me as I can. It only works when your opponent doesn't have the will to take high casualties.
#28
Forget the tunnels. Find out where the Hizb'Allah house their families and lay waste to it. Enough of this concern for innocents, there are none.
This PC BS is a modern day phenomenon, time go Roman on the Arab/Islamic scum. Death they crave, then give it to them and their families. All they can take. They would not hesitate to do the same, time to fight on our enemies level.
#30
Watching one of those WW2 Documentation DVD sets. It was a cheap set I picked up at some store awhile back for a few bucks and just got around to watching it (in glorious B&W!). Haven't come to the Iwo Jima part yet. Kind of backfilling my knowledge (its amazing how much they skipped over in history class). Anyway...
On one of the Pacific Islands (punja or something like that) there was a ridge called Bloody Nose Ridge where the Japanese had dug tunnels and were resisting fircely. After fighting them for 21 days or so the marines simply buldozed all the entrances closed and kept them closed.
#31
Our grand daddy's were pretty smart. Pour gasoline in the tunnels, light it and let it get very hot. Then blow the tunnel entrance. The fuel will smolder, produce choking smoke and suck oxygen for days. Sometimes the old ways are the best ways, including chasing off every living soul within 20km.
Posted by: ed ||
07/24/2006 16:25
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#32
The only way to defeat Hezbollah is with napalm, by the millions of gallons. Drop it everywhere you suspect a tunnel or bunker. See a tree move? Bathe the entire hillside with napalm. The Israelis need to re-introduce the A-1E. IIRC, it can carry 12 150-gal. napalm canisters, and has an unbelievable loiter capacity.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/24/2006 17:02
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#33
DEBKA is not a news source.
Bingo. Every post quoting them needs the salt girl warning.
#34
I know that Levant is a troll and an enemy. I really hate to say this, but I agree with some of the things he/Allah's Virgin/thing has posted on #24. The only way to shut people like them up is to take Old Patriot's advice on #32. Right now, Levant is truly is representing the satanic Islamic society. Currently, the Islamists does not have any fear of the IDF.
I know the U.S. would have brought in the Warthogs and the "Death from the Air" C-130's" and would've quickly resolved the resistance on the hill sides of southern Lebanon.
#35
PR, I just re-read 24 and I can't figure out what you find to agree with. Take OP's advice and there will be a cease fire in 24 hours, not to Israel's advantage.
The Israelis have to clear these tunnels out one at a time. It's going to take a long time and it isn't really good TV. Israel cannot afford casualties. What Hezb'Allah seeks to do is inflict as many casualties as possible on the IDF.
A week ago some in the IDF didn't want to send ground forces into Lebanon at all, for fear of losses, I suspect. Now at least they have. They need time and the right munitions. I suspect that's why there is a rush order on PGMs. Cool as a flame thower looks, I suspect aiming an undetectable laser to pinpoint delivery of a bomb is a lot more effective amd incurs a lot less friendly casualites.
What Israel needs is time to do this right. If Israel looses this, we'll be fighting tunnels for a long time. Let them develop the tactics that work in today's world.
Iwo Jima was invaded on February 16. Operation completed was March 26 and mopping up went on till June. Over 5,000 Marines were killed taking the island from the 20,000 Japanese who held it to virtually the last man. While I wouldn't mind seeing that many hizzies die, Israel cannot afford to lose that many IDF.
Levant sez: "Now the "Israelis" are willing to accept a diplomatic solution. (UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army to patrol southern Lebanon.)."
Ok, maybe I shouldn't used the word "some" instead used the word "one."
If, as you say, is just a issue of "time" to get the proper munitons to the field, then we are on the same page. But, if its a matter of will and international appeasement, then I got major problems with Olmert. Israel have a horrible track record of making unnecessary peace treaties after they have or close to clearly winning a war. Some of the peace treaties are suicidal. I just hope it's for all the marbles this time. The only reason I am confident is because Bush is running this war and not Olmert.
#37
I agree that there is definitely a will issue for Israel. I'm not sure it's Olmert. He seems to want to do the right thing. But that guy Kaplinski, who's gone dark, didn't want to put ground troops in Lebanon at all! And there's definitely more accomodating noises coming from Tel Aviv than I'd like, but that's life in a democracy.
Agreeing to a diplomatic solution including a peacekeeping force (from NATO) is accepting the obvious. But the strings attached mean that it won't be accepted till Israel has had time to deal with Hezb'Allah.
Israel makes treaties after they get close to winning wars because the Americans tell them to. We do that because we don't want to humiliate the Arabs. We are the arsenal of Israel's democracy and if we shut the door they stop fighting two days later. That's why they have to worry about how the MSM portrays them on the evening brainwashing.
We also agree that what is different this time is Bush. He knows we've got to stomp Hezb'Allah now. If we don't the next match may be in Dearborn.
#40
I have to disagree, badanov, the Japanese were not trying to hold territory at Iwo Jima. They didn't have the Navy they needed. The sole aim of the Japanese forces on Iwo Jima was to kill as many Americans as they could. The order was "10 Americans for every Japanese". They knew they couldn't hold Iwo so they did the next best thing. Make the Americans pay a very heavy price. Seems to me that's what Hezbollah is trying to do. Kill as many Jews as possible.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/24/2006 20:48
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#41
Hezb'Allah does not want to kill Jews, per se. They want to kill enough Israelis, citizen or military, so that the IDF reacts in a manner the International Community will condemn so greatly that it will force Israel to accept an unsatisfactory outcome that Hezb'Allah will characterize as a victory. It will then be sufficiently entrenched in Lebanon that it can begin offensive operations in Israel.
Managing the MSM perception is why this is going so slowly.
#42
"If we don't the next match may be in Dearborn."
And there are definitely some boys in Texas that would love to take a road trip to Dearborn. After we clean out our own Rats nest in Houston and a few other places.
#43
Since this Debka article is about 50% speculative crap, I won't comment on that. However, the analogy with Pacific Island tactics is appropriate. Because of the presence of hidden fighters it was important to take the high ground, and be on the alert for clues. On the Jap occupied islands, US combat groups would do top-down sweeps, incendiary grenades on tunnels they found. The other weapon was the flame-thrower. The sweeps were decidedly one-sided, as Hizbollah is no doubt finding out. I am getting sick of hearing professional renderings by the IDF, being referred to as the invasion being "bogged down" by the "surprising skill" of Hizbollah. Debka is partly run by ex-soldiers with an ax to grind. A mix of fact and fiction, leads to fiction being treated as fact.
#44
The terror orgs will only replace their simple Katyusha rockets with bigger, more sophisticated weapons. Both FOX and CNN had reported this week that Russia continues to produce the Katyusha series/family of rockets for export. The Katyusha is popular becuz its not only cheap to mfg + easy to handle/hide + can be fired from confined or limited spaces, but also remains capable of continous upgrades, i.e. IMPROV OR CONVERSION FOR USE WITH COLD WAR WMD = NBC WARHEADS. Even wid a buffer zone in Southern-Middle Lebanon, the IDF must be aware that the Radics can switch to longer-range [dual-use/NBC?]rockets - a buffer zone is hence at best temporary solution for the Israelis. The Syrians know this which is why they warned Israel not to get too close to the Syrian border. Short of IDF and MOssad units being sent on "search-and-destroy" missions agz terror arsenals into sovereign Syrian andor Iranian, etc. territories, pragmatically Israel may have to end up invading and conquering the whole of Lebanon, which in reality is likely the only way the Lebanese govt per se can escape the clutches of radical terror groups oper within its sovereign nation. THE TERROR GROUPS MAY BE MUSLIM, BUT MANY ARE ALSO FOR IRAN, SHIA ISLAM, AND RADICAL ISLAMIST FUNDAMENTALISM, NOT SUNNI ISLAM OR LOCAL DEMOCRACY-PLURALISM!? LEBANON 9-11 > HATRED OF ISRAEL-WEST VS. LOSS OF LEBANESE-SPECIFIC SOVEREIGNTY-INDEPENDENCE TO RADICAL IRAN + SHIA-BASED RADICAL ISLAMISM!?
Pakistan has begun building a powerful new reactor for producing plutonium, a move which signals a major expansion of the country's nuclear weapons capabilities and a potential new escalation in the region's arms race, reports The Washington Post.
'Satellite photos of Pakistan's Khushab nuclear site show what appears to be a partially completed heavy-water reactor capable of producing enough plutonium for 40 to 50 nuclear weapons a year, a 20-fold increase from Pakistan's current capabilities, according to a technical assessment by Washington-based nuclear experts,' says the Post article.
The site is adjacent to Pakistan's only plutonium production reactor, 'a modest, 50-megawatt unit that began operating in 1998. By contrast, the dimensions of the new reactor suggest a capacity of 1,000 megawatts or more, according to the analysis by the Institute for Science and International Security, (ISIS). Pakistan is believed to have 30 to 50 uranium warheads, which tend to be heavier and more difficult than plutonium warheads to mount on missiles,' says the Post.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006
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#1
Suddenly Pakistan can build a 1000 ME(e) heavy water reactor?
Looks like the Chinese have violated the NPT again...
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006 8:13
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#3
Guess they must have finished taking care of all those desperate earthquake victims. Can't leave all that foreign aid money just laying around now, can they? Sounds like they need another major "earthquake" (induced or otherwise), real bad.
#7
Where are the Pakis getting that much heavy water? And why would they, since they can enrich uranium and therefore make more compact reactors? Or did John correct the article and say it is some other type of reactor, like graphite?
Posted by: ed ||
07/24/2006 12:56
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#8
The article claims it is a heavy water reactor and implies they also have the ability to extract tritium from heavy water reactor coolant (something that only two countries - Canada and India are known to have developed the technology for).
Paks don't have a heavy water production plant so they will probably buy it from China, in violation of NSG rules.
The enriched uranium production at Kahuta is not commercial scale. It is enough for a small bomb program but not enough to fuel an entire reactor.
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006 13:36
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#9
Thanks.
Posted by: ed ||
07/24/2006 17:06
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But you know that when I was at the Prefix 5 class at Oberammergau back in the 70's I had a Brit Commander in the class that said one day when we were learning how to assemble a .75kT tactical nuke "you do know of course Major that one of these days one of those arab nutjob fanatics is going to get their mitts on one of these things and we are all going to have hell to pay for it"
Very Prophetic words that wake me in the middle of the night these days..........OFTEN
#12
Here is the link to the ISIS report with satellite photos.
Here is the money paragraph from the report:
Based on the apparent rate of construction, the reactor could be finished within a few years. However, nothing suggests that Pakistan is moving quickly to finish this reactor. The driving forces behind the reactor completion schedule could be a shortage of necessary reactor components or other parts of the weapons-production infrastructure, such as the rate of heavy water production, the availability of a sufficient fuel reprocessing capacity or, perhaps, the availability of sufficient modern tritium recovery and packaging facilities. For example, Pakistan may not have enough heavy water for this reactor, which could require about 100-150 tonnes of heavy water. The Khushab site has a heavy water production plant2 able to produce an estimated 13 tonnes of heavy water a year, a relatively small production capability. Pakistan may not be able to reprocess all of the anticipated irradiated fuel from this reactor. It is known to process fuel to separate plutonium at the New Labs facility at Rawalpindi, and this facility was expanded between about 1998 and 2002. However, this increase in capacity was believed to be associated with the smaller, heavy water reactor.
So are the Saudis cutting back on the funding? Is AQ Khan's network still too crippled to deliver the goods? Or are the Pakis just too corrupt and incompetent to finish it off?
#14
So are the Saudis cutting back on the funding? Is AQ Khan's network still too crippled to deliver the goods? Or are the Pakis just too corrupt and incompetent to finish it off?
The reactor and associated facilities require serious industrial infrastructure that Pak just doesn't have.
This is a country that is not able to make a high speed lathe, or a tractor.
It produces less than 50 PhDs per annum at present, in all fields.
During the first 40 years, all the universities and research institutions in Pakistan produced only 128 PhDs in scientific disciplines
According to Hoodbhoy Although this country is home to 150 million people, there are perhaps fewer than 20 computer scientists of sufficient calibre who could possibly get tenure-track positions at some B-grade US university. In physics, even if one roped in every competent physicist in the country, it would not be possible to staff even one single good department of physics. As for mathematics: it is impossible to find even five real mathematicians in Pakistan. The social sciences are no better.
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006 21:17
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#15
This has really been a very counterproductive move by China. I am not at all sure that the US and India would be nearly as close were it not for radiant Pakistan. Likewise with their little Korean puppet cementing U. S. relations with Japan. Right there they've made enemies of one third of the world's population and GDP. I doubt this will help their demographic difficulties.
Though embroiled in a bloody war over the future shape and identity of their country, Iraq's Sunni Arabs, Shiites, Kurds and even Christians have unified in condemning Israel over its fighting in Lebanon against the Hezbollah militia.
Condemnation of Israel's actions in Lebanon and of the United States as the Jewish state's backer has emerged as a rare bridge issue, cutting across political, ethnic and religious lines. Demonstrators loyal to radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada Sadr marched through the city center of Najaf on Sunday evening in support of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, chanting "Death to America!" and "Death to Israel!"
Across the city, more moderate Shiite clerics loyal to Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani issued a statement urging support for the Islamist militia in Lebanon and condemning the U.S. and Israel. "The enemy is the same," said a statement issued by the Hawza, the network of seminaries in Najaf. "Their aim is to enslave and humiliate us. What's happening today in Lebanon is part of a bigger scheme to crush the blessed [Islamic] nation."
Vice President Tariq Hashimi, a Sunni Muslim Arab, expressed his "extreme concern over the Zionist aggression against" the Lebanese as well as Palestinians...
#1
Though embroiled in a bloody war over the future shape and identity of their country, Iraq's Sunni Arabs, Shiites, Kurds and even Christians have unified in condemning Israel over its fighting in Lebanon against the Hezbollah militia. Sounds like typical LAT wet dream and wishful thinking. Credibility scale does not budge.
I do wonder what kind of unity of purpose the Shiites in Iraq and Iran and in Lebanon have. Personally, I think they are all our friggin enemy and we should act accordingly.
#4
given the region, it would be suicidal for them to not condemn Israel. Watch the hands, not the mouth. Sadr asked Maliki not to visit the US in protest. Sadr was backed by his own party, and the Fadilah party. Maliki said Iraqi interests are more important, and is backed by SCIRI on that.
#6
Given that this is the LA Slimes, I give this zero credibility.
The one I give credence to is Iraq the Model, who said Iraqi commentators on Arabic blogs are running 80% against Hezballah.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/24/2006 12:09
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#4
The economics are route-based. It will not be a big seller, relatively speaking, but for transcontinental and intercontinental routes it will sell - precisely targetting the same ones as the A380: the wing width will have the same airport clearance issues.
I'm curious about the outer tips at the back of the wedge... If you don't use different flying techniques, i.e. rudder skidding vs rolls to turn, then the outer rear tips look like they might be an E-Ticket ride, LOL.
#5
This article has been referenced on Rantburg at least two months ago.
THis plane has something for she: it is far cooler to fly on that ovni-like plane than on a tubular design like Airbus 400. Suddnly classic airplanes as obsolete as biplanes.
Small problem is that pilots will have to roll slooooowly before turning since passengers are much farther of the axis of the plane. In other words once it has banked this plane could probably turn as tight as the A400 but entering the turn must be much more gradual. This can be a problem on some airports.
But if Boeing solves the engineering problems and completes the design then I am reserving my ticket now.
1. The fuselage shape will require major changes to jetway design at airports to accomodate larger numbers of passengers dismbarking from locations that are inaccessible to current jetways.
2. I'd like to be reassured that the placement of the engines above and behind the wing/body is not conducive to compressor stall at high angles of attack.
3. Although current aircraft designs have fewer windows to seats than was the case in the past. This design will set a new low for the ratio. I, for one, prefer my window seat to an aisle or crunched in the midst of others.
I do, however, think it has great potential for a cargo aircraft. Think of all the Strykers that will no longer have a problem squeezing into the cigar tube of a C-130...
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/24/2006 11:49
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I wonder if the blended wing design can be applied to smaller, more practical jets, for operating efficiency. Got to work on the passenger window problem, though.
RD is right about the 797: it is terrorist bait.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/24/2006 11:51
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#9
Wonder how many JDAMs one of these could carry?
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/24/2006 13:07
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#11
Wonder how many JDAMs one of these could carry?
There was a proposal floated a while back for a B-747 bomber: a 747 with the whole fuselage taken up by a big honkin' weapons bay, for use as a long-loiter JDAM-dispenser in conditions of air supremacy. I could see this boy doing something similar; with mid-air refuelling and a relief crew or two, she could stay on station for days.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/24/2006 13:26
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#12
The article suggests substantial efficiency gains. If (and I agree its a big IF) the design translates to reality, this could be reduced in scope and adapted to smaller vehicles (perhaps the replacement for the 737). In any event, this would also Kill further substantial interest in the A380 going forward.
Posted by: Good Captain ||
07/24/2006 13:58
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#13
There are limits to how far down the design scales. One of the tradeoffs is cabin spaciousness for windows. In the large scale, it is sufficiently sapcious that the lack of windows is not perceived as a problems by most travellers. But as the aircraft gets smaller, that openness is reduced without a comparable increase in access to windows.
This technology has been around for 50 years. There must be a reason why no airliner, or bomber, has been built in this configuration till now. I still call FUD.
#14
Small problem is that pilots will have to roll slooooowly before turning since passengers are much farther of the axis of the plane.
But on another side this plane would have afr lower wing load than the Airbus so it should require less banking for a turn of equl radius. This would partly offset the fact that you cannot bank at the same angualr speed (without harming passengers) with a blended wing plane than with a tubular one.
#17
I believe back in 1948, Northrup made the Flying Wing. The Gov made them stop because people were complaining about seeing UFOs. How childish.
Northrup had to give up on an efficient spacious reliable flying design. They were made to be bombers and the wing was about 6 feet high inside. It's out there somewhere.
A suspected Muslim insurgent shot to death a primary school teacher Monday in a classroom full of children in violence-plagued southern Thailand, police said. The gunman disguised himself in a student uniform, entered the fourth grade classroom and killed Prasarn Martchu, a 46-year-old Buddhist teacher, while he was teaching at a public school in Narathiwat's Rue So district, said police Col. Banlue Chawej. "The teacher was still holding a piece of chalk'' when he was killed, Banlue said. The gunman fled on a motorcycle with a getaway driver.
The primary school, which has 11 teachers and about 250 students, was temporarily closed after the shooting, police said. Prasarn had worked at the school for more than 20 years. Prasarn is the 44th teacher to have been killed by suspected Muslim militants since 2004, said Sanguan Jintarat, head of the Narathiwat Teachers' Association.
#4
We've one that takes socks and carries them to the water dish, where they act like a wick. Trying to clean them? Naw, they're usually freshly washed. Playing I have kittens and I'm gonna drown 'em? Yeah, that's my guess.
#4
Anyone who doubts this need only to own a parrot for more than five minutes. Psiticines are irrevocably convinced that the entire known universe was brought into existence solely for servicing their personal whims (as in; The sun shines out of their @ss). Those requiring additional proof can Google "Alex" the African Gray that is able to discern odd objects and geometrical shapes in related sets and also count numerically.
#1
One of the most debilitating aspects of PCism, worthy of flushing as both irrelevant and self-defeating, is the ban on profiling. What a sad joke to allow this to be saddled with emotive baloney, rather than descriptive of applying intelligent reasoning based upon hard facts.
It's much like the word discrimination. Hijacked from the language to have an extremely narrow meaning full of emotive BS. Discrimination, choosing among alternatives, is obviously the intelligent thing to do.
So is profiling.
PCism will get us all killed unless we fight back - and kill it.
On the weekend, protesters wearing Hizbollah banners openly protested on behalf of that declared terrorist group. If that is not terrorist advocacy, then I don't know what is. Put 'em in Gitmo.
#3
In a post-9-11 world, we have the right to know what being done (or, perhaps what isn't being done) to protect our safety.
Perhaps we don't have the right to know. Maybe we are screening refugees. Possibly we could catch more without the bad guys knowing their being watched.
This is not the same as the NYT releasing classified stuff - but it's in the same ballpark.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/24/2006 6:47
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#4
One of the goals of terrorism is to destroy our society by using its freedoms against it. Before that happens, we need to declare Martial Law and have a...cleansing of the host. So to speak.
1st Amendment or not, I do not think that anyone should have the right to demonstrate in favor of terrorists. Sooner or later we will have to draw the line somewhere. Unfortunately I think we'll have to lose a city or three before the majority accepts that fact, and the shrill chattering classes shut up out of fear for their own safety.
Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut on Sunday promised a bruising fight in the U.S. Senate against confirming John Bolton to be the country's ambassador to the United Nations. "This is going to be a bruising fight," Dodd said on CNN's "Late Edition" program. "I'm sorry the administration wants to go forward with this." He argued that problems Democrats had raised last year were not resolved. "The problems still persist. Many ambassadors at the U.N. feel he hasn't done a good job there," said Dodd, who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "It's polarized the situation."
We care about the other ambassadors' opinions...why?
#1
Bring it on, bitch. You'll get a public smackdown that will leave your ears ringing for years. Even the crybabies "get it". What a complete political whore, not that he's unique or anything, LOL. :-)
#3
The US Senate. A real can of worms there, Sock Puppet. Our own frequently dysfunctional House of Lords. If only ours slept as soundly... Even the "progressives" have some problems with it, although arguably it must rank right alongside judicial activism as their best ally. One look at its ranks, the stupidity that flows from it, the confirmation partisanship, and the unconstitutional filibuster tradition certainly make that clear to me.
#4
This seems like an opportunity, not a problem. Dodd & Co. are only painting themselves further and further into a corner on this issue before the November elections. This may help Dodd get Kos support in his run for the Presidential nomination but it is going to make the Donks look more and more irresponsible on national defence.
#8
This has a lovely potential to backfire on Chris baby if he decides to follow through on it. He can scream all he wants about how Bolton is an extremist, and all the administration has to do is release Bolton's statements telling off Malloch Brown, et al, when they made blatantly anti-American remarks. Considering how unpopular the UN is with the rest of America, it may be enough to guarantee his confirmation.
#11
Bolton has gone out of his way to make the un work the way it is charted too. If Dodd and company have a list of missteps then bring them out, but if all they have is talking points then they should just shut up.
BAGHDAD (AP) The U.S. military has dismissed all charges against a Pennsylvania National Guardsman accused of killing an unarmed Iraq civilian near Ramadi, finding that the soldier had reason to believe the man had a weapon.
Spc. Nathan Lynn, 21, of South Williamsport, Pa., was accused of voluntary manslaughter and conspiracy to obstruct justice over the death of Gani Ahmed Zaben during a Feb. 15 raid on a suspect's house. Lynn will return to his unit soon, U.S. military officials in Baghdad said Sunday.
"I'm tickled pink," Lynn's grandmother, Shirley Lynn, told The Patriot-News of Harrisburg. "It's the way it should be. Nate's not that type of kid. He's always been a good boy."
Another soldier, Sgt. Milton Ortiz Jr., 36, of Islip, N.Y., still faces one count of obstructing justice for allegedly conspiring with another soldier to put an AK-47 near the Iraqi's body. An Article 32 the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing concluded last week. Lynn and Ortiz belonged to a combat team whose members began returning home last month.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/24/2006
00:39 ||
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This is really good news.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/24/2006 5:10
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Always watch out fro the obstruction of justice charge. That is why I will never cooperate with the authorities. They want to ask me a question? I need a lawyer.
(KUNA) -- Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert Sunday did not rule out negotiations with his Lebanese counterpart Fuad Siniora to bring about the release of two Israeli soldiers, held capitives by Hezbollah. "The Lebanese government and its Prime Minsiter Fuad Siniora are a partner in dialogue, it is possible that this happens but on the right time," Israeli radio quoted Olmert as saying during a cabinet meeting.
Olmert's statement came hours after Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri had said that Hezbollah agreed to allow the Beirut government negotiate with foreign parties to swap the Israeli soldiers with the Prisoners in Israeli jails. The radio, meanwhile, said Olmert informed visiting German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier tonight that the Jewish state was considering approval of an international force on the Lebanese-Syrian borders, coupled with military and fighting capabilities provided by the European Union (EU).
Olmert said Israel would decide on this force after clearing some questions like the control over the Syrian-Lebanese borders, deployment in southern Lebanon and backing the Lebanese army, implementing UN resolution 1559 and disarming Hezbollah. Israeli defense minister Amir peterz had said Tel Aviv supported the deployment of Nato-led combat forces in southern Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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Yes, please do negotiate, put in some European peacekeepers in the South, and give Hezbollah time to put in longer-range missiles farther North to fly over the peacekeepers. A real winning strategy.
Flying abroad for a foreign holiday is "a sin" against the planet, one of the country's leading bishops has declared. Like murder, adultery and stealing, choosing to travel on jet planes has moral consequences, according to the Bishop of London because flights are doing too much damage to the environment.
In a highly controversial statement, Richard Chartres, 59 - who admits to regular visits to Russia - urged Christians to stop taking endless flights and to live a more 'eco-friendly' lifestyle. He said: "There is now an overriding imperative to walk more lightly upon the earth and we need to make our lifestyle decisions in that light.
"Making selfish choices such as flying on holiday or buying a large car are a symptom of sin.
"Sin is not just a restricted list of moral mistakes. It is living a life turned in on itself where people ignore the consequences of their actions."
But the timing of his remarks means that millions of people who need to listen to his message will not be around to hear it. An estimated 2.1 million holidaymakers crowded into Britain's airports at the weekend at the start of the school summer holidays. They will be followed by millions more over the next few weeks as Britons' love of holidays abroad continues to boom.
Figures show we are taking more holidays than ever, with the total up 6.9 million last year to 66.3 million.
No political party would dare to say anything as outspoken as the bishop for fear of losing all support among their holiday-loving voters. Resorts such as Blackpool, Brighton and the Cornish coast are still hugely popular, but millions of people will only settle for a foreign escape.
But a family of four flying to Spain comes at a price for the environment, as well as the cost of the trip. Their return flight from Heathrow to Malaga in Spain will produce about two tonnes of carbon dioxide, according to the Carbon Neutral Company. To soak up its carbon emissions, the family would need to spend an extra £17.30 to plant trees to 'neutralise' their emissions.
Or they could just go to dinner at the local Texas-style steakhouse. Think ribs.
For a return trip to Florida - one of the most popular destinations for British tourists - this rises to 6.4 tonnes.
The bishop's remarks come at a time when the Church of England is desperately trying to convince people to be green. It is about to publish a booklet about the environment called Treasures on Earth and has set up 'The 40 per cent Church of England' campaign. This aims to slash the church's carbon emissions - a major contributor to climate change - to 40 per of current levels by 2050.
Wonder when the good bishop last thought about Jesus and His teachings?
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury who drives the eco-car, Toyota Prius, is also banging the green drum. He has said: "We are not consumers of what God has made. We are in communion with it."
Last month, all parish churches were ordered told to carry out an audit of current energy use in a bid to cut their usage.
The Bishop of London, who is married with four children, heads the church's 'Shrinking the Footprint' campaign. The Church of England was unable to say whether the bishop ever flies abroad or the type of car that he drives.
And they aren't going to find out for you, either.
The bishop, who also attacked people who drive big cars, was dismissed by a motoring group chief. Edmund King, executive director of the RAC Foundation, said: "You cannot just point the finger in that way.
"Some people have larger cars for perfectly legitimate reasons so I don't think morality comes into it.
"Yes, climate change is a problem but we need an overall strategy to tackle it.
"This is rather a knee-jerk reaction from the Church. Maybe they should stick to what they know best." "If God had meant us to fly, he would have given us Flying Nun hats, like that cute little Sally Field."
And it isn't clear what the CoE knows best anymore.
#1
Prime example of why organized religion fails it as far as I am concerned. Though not as bad a condoning murder, rape amd pillage it's just as stupid.
#3
#2 xbalanke - it appears "what they know best" is making complete public asses of themselves.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/23/2006 21:19
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I saw these morons on tv the other day, giving a service. They were talking about how 'green' Jesus was. It's kinda sad how desperate they are to fill the empty seats.
Posted by: Kali ||
07/24/2006 0:55
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#5
Those cassocks look rather snowy white. It must take a great many pounds of greenhouse emmissions to heat the many frivolous gallons of water necessary, plus the ghastly oceans of bleach to properly dazzle your dull-witted constituents. I'd also like to see the union cards for your beleaguered laundresses, undoubtedly labouring away in inhuman conditions for your superfluous and petty vanities.
#6
Typical elitist hypocritical crap. Some goof takes his family to Spain, and that's a sin against the planet. But his trips to Russia are ok. No wonder the C of E can't get butts in the pews.
#7
Has anyone seen anything about temperatures across the US going up an average of 3 degrees on the days that all the planes were grounded after 9/11? Something about the con-trails reflecting enough sunlight energy back into space that it actually made some noticable difference? I don't believe it, but it might be interesting if it were true.
#8
These clowns must be suffering from delayed jetlag. When I fly my plane on holiday, I only get proplag, so I must be exempt from the fatwa, heh.
So if you fly a broad on a foreign holiday, you are a sinner, ya say? What about yer wife-o? Is that OK? And what about flying from London to Stornaway? In country, is that ok? I've got a million of them, but Ima gettn bored.
#11
gorb, actually it was 2 degrees when the contrails were absent after 11 Sep. Naturally the good bishop wouldn't care to have actual facts get in the way of his self-righteous argument...
#13
I agree, we should all be more eco-conscious. Which is why I say all Brits should stay home on Sundays thus saving the gas they'd otherwise use driving to this idiot's church.
#14
I've begun to see "statistics" cited by "all the right people" that *nightime* contrails are bad and contribute to global warming, *daytime* contrails are good 'cos they reflect sunlight.
Sayonara, redeye flights to Europe and East Coast...
#16
Is this really another batty idea from the Church of England? I want to look at it from another point of view.
I suppose that the C of E believes that:
a. global warming exists. It is of man's making and it is a bad thing for the Earth (there is
something in Genesis about God handing over the responsibility for looking after the Earth to
man)
b. individuals should then behave more responsibly towards this problem.
Note that the Bishop does not call flying specifically a sin, but a symptom of sin and with
regards to the meaning of sin itself, one could do no worse than read his second quote from the
article:
"Sin is not just a restricted list of moral mistakes. It is living a life turned in on itself where
people ignore the consequences of their actions."
It is regrettable that the comments on the blog make no mention of these reasonable points.
P.S. Is the Blogmeister aware that the concept of Fatwa is exclusively an Islamic word and is
anthema to Christian thoughts, words and deeds?
#17
"To soak up its carbon emissions" (from flying to Spain example), "the family would need to spend an extra £17.30 to plant trees to 'neutralise' their emissions."
It's all nonsense, but if a family can afford to fly to Spain, they can easily afford $50 to plant a few trees. Might even be fun. So . . . fly around and plant trees. Sounds like a plan.
#23
Which is why I say all Brits should stay home on Sundays thus saving the gas they'd otherwise use driving to this idiot's church.
I think that might include a few thousand people, all told. I believe that "Shrinking the Footprint" is already working, judging by active membership rolls.
#24
"To soak up its carbon emissions" (from flying to Spain example), "the family would need to spend an extra £17.30 to plant trees to 'neutralise' their emissions."
Careful, "they" might come up with some kind of "trees to cancel nighttime contrails" tax/charge. :-)
Afghan forces killed 19 suspected Taliban rebels on Sunday as they traded rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire with insurgents in volatile southern Afghanistan. The fighting in the southern province of Helmand took place 15 km (nine miles) south of Lashkar Gah, as police hunted Taliban militants, said Mullah Amir Mohammed Akhundza, the provincial deputy governor, who led the operation. Nineteen bodies of militants were recovered, and 17 other suspected Taliban were caught, including two Pakistanis, he said. Hundreds of policemen were involved in the clashes that started early Sunday, said Ghulam Nabi Malakhail, Helmand police chief. Two policemen were wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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CNN keeps refering to to the Taliban uprising. All I keep seeing is 100 or so dead tali's a week.
NEW DELHI - An ambitious deal to build a gas pipeline between India and Iran through Pakistan has run into trouble, Irans foreign minister was quoted as saying on Sunday. Oil ministers from the three countries are set to meet in Teheran early next month over a pricing dispute and ways to build the 2,775-kilometer (1,735-mile) line across rugged terrain and heavily militarized frontiers.
The pipeline situation is a little bit complicated because of the changing of circumstances from the time when the contract and agreement was signed, Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on the New Delhi Television news channel. I think both sides found out that there are some specific difficulties to implementing the project agreement as it is now, Mottaki said.
Iran wants the gas price linked to international oil prices, and is offering India gas at US$7.20 (Ð6) per million British thermal units, with a 3 percent annual increase, an Indian official said earlier this month. But India says its only ready to pay up to US$4.25 (Ð3.54) per million Btu for the desperately needed gas, the official said.
The US$8 billion (Ð6.6 billion) pipeline was scheduled to be running by 2011. The pipeline would supply about 60 million cubic meters (78.5 million cubic yards) of gas a day to India and up to 30 million cubic meters (39.2 million cubic yards) a day to Pakistan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/24/2006
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No pipeline and no LNG via tanker.
Looks like Indo-Iranian relations are going rapidly downhill...
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006 0:19
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Nice target---a long pipeline, or an LNG tank. The gas ain't going nowhere.
(KUNA) -- Israeli warplanes roared at medium and low altitudes on Sunday and scrambled to hit targets on hills in the coastal town of Naameh, a few kilometers south of the Lebanese capital. The jet fighters also hit antennas of a telephone network, located on a hill close to the southern town of Jezzine, a day after the Israeli air force struck several relay communication stations on high ground throughout the country, security sources reported.
The aircraft, in today's operations, struck the southern village of Shiheen, killing one person and wounding three others. Another air strike on a road leading to the southern village of Qana resulted in the death of the Lebanese camera-woman, Layal Naijb. The warplanes also hit targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut.
Security sources said the jet fighters fired rockets in the direction of the so-called "security square," a spot in the residential region where Hezbollah has main offices and facilities in addition to residents of several leading members of the organization. Several high-rise buildings in this location have been destroyed due to a series of attacks by the Israeli warplanes and gunboats.
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07/24/2006
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KABUL - The intelligence chief of an Afghan district on a major drug trafficking route to Tajikistan has been caught with 33 kilograms (73 pounds) of heroin in a government vehicle, an official said on Sunday.
The intelligence director of Rustaq district in northern Takhar province on the border with Tajikistan was arrested last week, national secret police chief Abdul Wahab Khetab said in the capital Kabul. He was carrying 33 kilograms of heroin in his government-owned vehicle, he told AFP, adding that the suspect was being questioned by authorities.
The interior ministry has said it has a list of officials alleged to be involved in the drugs trade but has no evidence against them, and there have been few arrests.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/24/2006
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#1
Well. I'm just schocked, schocked I tell you. He was a quiet man who lived next door. We never saw anything strange.
Hang this SOB and leave him in the village square for all to see. Then bring in the napalm and burn the opium fields. These tribal fellas are not going to get anything that is not written in crayon.
Syria, one of Hezbollah's main backers, said Sunday it will press for a cease-fire and was willing to engage in direct talks with the United States to help end the fighting between Israel and the Islamic militant group. But Syrian officials said Damascus would only cooperate within the framework of a broader Middle East peace initiative that would include a return of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967 and annexed in 1981, and warned they will not stand by if the Israelis step up their offensive. "Syria and Spain are working to achieve a cease-fire, a prisoners' swap and to start a peace process as one package," Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal was quoted as saying by the Spanish daily newspaper ABC. "Syria is working on achieving real, comprehensive, fair peace based on the withdrawal from all the occupied territories, including the Golan."
It was unlikely Israel would agree to such a deal, but the remarks were the first indication of Syria's willingness to be involved in international efforts to defuse the Lebanese crisis. Damascus is one of the Arab world's strongest opponents of Israel. The Jewish state has said it had no plans to target Syria or Iran, Hezbollah's other main backer, in the current conflict. "If Israel invades Lebanon and enters it by land ... then we will not stand with our hands tied," Bilal said in Madrid after talks with Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos. Bilal's interview was also carried on the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.
Syria's ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, suggested his country was ready for direct talks with Washington on ending the fighting in Lebanon. If the United States wants to involve Syria in the diplomatic efforts, "of course Damascus is more than willing to engage," Moustapha said on CBS'"Face the Nation."
The Bush administration has rejected calls for a quick cease-fire, saying its diplomatic efforts would focus on finding a strategy for confronting Hezbollah and its Syrian and Iranian backers. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton dismissed the idea of talks with Syria. Syria "doesn't need dialogue to know what they need to do. They need to lean on Hezbollah to get them to release the two captured Israeli soldiers and stop the launch of rockets against innocent Israeli civilians," he told "Fox News Sunday."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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Yup, fully expected. Several retired military types have commented on Fox the last few days about how incredibly weak Syria is, militarily. Some even say Hezbollah is stronger as an actual fighting force. Syria may have Iranian weapons, and a homegrown arms industry copying them, but they can't deliver.
So they "press" for a cease-fire.
Fuck 'em. They will fall along with their Iranian masters.
(KUNA) -- Spokesman of the Israeli Army announced that three explosions occurred Sunday afternoon near the Erez crossing north of Gaza as a result of Palestinian shelling. The spokesman told Radio Israel that Israeli soldiers, stationed near the crossing that joins Gaza and Israel, opened fire everywhere and closed the crossing soon after the explosions occurred. He claimed the explosions did not cause any casualties or damage.
Meanwhile, Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) organization, claimed responsibility of launching two RPGs at a military monitoring tower north of Earz crossing. It said in a release that the shelling comes in retaliation to the continuous Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza and on Lebanon.
The Izzuddine Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, announced it shelled the Israeli settlement of Netiv Esra with Qassam missiles Sunday afternoon. It emphasized in a release that it vowed to resist any Israeli attack on Gaza and to "teach the enemy a lesson he will never forget".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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#1
More press releases about firing shit -- and hitting nothing.
All these Brave Lions, Brigades of this, Armies of that, and basically nothing to show for it but KUNA's Glorious Spittle statements.
Yo, Mullas, Royals, Ummah - you're getting completely screwed on the ROI thing, LOL.
#8
Line up those A-109s 11A5 is so fond of all across the northern border of Gaza, have them start shelling in barrage fire mode, and just move south 100 yards a day. have a few bulldozers out in front to level the ground. In a few weeks, there won't be any Gaza problem. There won't be any Gaza, either, which is what it's going to take.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/24/2006 17:06
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#9
The lesson is that basic physics and geometry are way beyond what the Arab schools are teaching kids nowadays.
Strap bomb to self and go blewy is pretty much their curriculum.
#10
While the word Algebra comes from Arabic, it is believed to originate from someone from modern day Uzbekistan. Whether Algebra oriniated there is unknown.
(KUNA) -- Three Iraqis were injured in two separate attacks southwestern Kirkuk, said police on Sunday. In the area of Nehyat al-Riyadh, a mortar shell hit the market area, injuring two civilians who were transferred later for al-Hwuaijah hospital for treatment, an Iraqi police source told KUNA.
Meanwhile, another civilian was injured when a timed-bomb exploded in the Kirkuk-Hwuaijah highway. The explosion also damaged a civilian car.
The Iraqi city of Kirkuk has witnessed this afternoon the most violent explosion that took place near the city's court, which resulted in the killing and injuring of some 120 civilians, including three judges, according to the latest figures. The explosion also resulted in severely damaging surrounding buildings, cars and nearby stores.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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Am I the only one disturbed by a minister in Mulayam Singh Yadavs government asking for a Muslim Pradesh in western Uttar Pradesh? Is there nobody in Dr Manmohan Singhs Cabinet who thinks this a worrying development? It seems that way. Two days after The Times of India reported Azam Khans demand, Dr Manmohan Singh and his Cabinet met and discussed the following subjects. The Sixth Pay Commission, cultural cooperation with Ireland, ties with Fiji, the protection of tigers and amendments to the Right to Information Act. Not one word about the dangerously divisive demand by one of Mulayams senior colleagues. Do we have a government in Delhi or not? Do we have a Prime Minister?
As someone who was in Mumbai on the day the bombs went off and has been here ever since, I ask these questions not just on my own behalf but on behalf of the people I meet every day in this city. Like them I am beginning to worry about whether Dr Manmohan Singhs government is capable of defending us against the jehad that is being waged against us so successfully that if it continues unchecked, it could cause a civil war and worse.
Nearly 200 people were killed in the carnage on Mumbais trains and the only response we have seen from the Government of India is a ludicrous attempt to censor the Internet and vague allegations against Pakistan. For a start this has to stop. Next time an Indian government wants to blame Pakistan for terrorism it should do so when it can provide us with evidence. Or we end up helping Pakistan instead of nailing it and, more importantly, we mislead Indians into believing that the problem we face is entirely the creation of a ubiquitous foreign hand.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john ||
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why it is so easy to get hundreds of thousands of Muslims on to the streets against cartoons they have never seen and an American president, and so hard to get them out when 200 citizens of their city are killed for nothing.
And when you answer that question, the "war on terror" can begin to be fought...
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006 8:11
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A GIRL of 19 faces being hanged in Iran for a crime she didn't commit. Delara Darabi was just 17 when her boyfriend, Amir Hossein, persuaded her to confess to a murder he committed. Believing she was saving him from execution and that she would be freed because of her youth, she told a judge she had broken into a house and killed a woman.
Probably a bad idea to confess to a capital crime in a dictatorship, especially if you didn't commit one.
Hossein, 19, was jailed for 10 years. Now human rights group Amnesty International has launched a campaign to free Delara, whose last-ditch appeal begins next month. Spokesman Neil Durkin said: "We want Sunday Mirror readers to add their voices to the 2,000 appeals already sent by our members to the Iranian authorities."
Iran has signed an international treaty promising not to execute minors. Instead it imprisons them until they are 18 before ordering their deaths.
I'm sure they think that's all tidy and legal.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/24/2006
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Iran has signed an international treaty promising not to execute minors. Instead it imprisons them until they are 18 before ordering their deaths.
As usual. All the right words, all the wrong understandings and intentions.
North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il, has been shacking up living with his former secretary, who is virtually acting as the country's "first lady", it was reported yesterday.
He's not so ronery any more.
There is no official information available about the marital history of Mr Kim, 64, but he is believed to have been married three times. His last wife, Ko Yong-hi, reportedly died of cancer two years ago. Since then, Mr Kim has been doinking living with Kim Ok, who had served as his personal lap warmer secretary since the 1980s, the Yonhap news agency reported, citing unnamed South Korean government officials familiar with the family. Ms Kim, 42, "virtually acts as North Korea's first lady", and frequently accompanied the communist leader on his visits to military bases and meetings with foreign dignitaries, Yonhap said. She also travelled with him on a secretive trip to China in January, when she was received by officials as Mr Kim's wife, the report said. Ms Kim also met the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, it said. "She is a cute woman rather than a beauty like the leader's previous wives or live-in women," another source said.
Must .. not .. go .. there ...
Little is known about Ms Kim, except that she is double-jointed studied piano at the North's elite Pyongyang University of Music and Dance. It is not known whether she has any children by the North Korean leader, who is known to have three sons - one from his second wife, two from his third. North Korean experts say Mr Kim's 25-year-old son Kim Jong-chul will most likely succeed him. His eldest, Kim Jong-nam, is said to have fallen out of favour after he was caught trying to enter Japan on a fake passport in 2001, saying he wanted to visit Tokyo Disneyland.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/24/2006
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#3
It is a precarious situation. Since we can't control any territory due to manpower shortages, we could be in deep doo-doo. This is precisely what Gen. Shinseki had considered in determining necessary force estimates. Unfortunately, Dumsfeld and Wolfdog wouldn't believe him. It's soon going to be time to crap or get off the pot here. We need a lot more troops on the ground since this is a regional action, as we can readily see.
#4
Dumsfeld? Really? How Donkish and limited your vision.
Tsk, tsk. And here I thought you were a free-thinker, out of the box and all that rot.
Show me the post where YOU perfectly predicted the current situation 3+ years ago, then you can preen in public.
Climb out of that box and ask what would change the threat level - and kill 4 or 5 birds with one stone. Duh. Is it more boots, or something else? Duh. How about eliminating the threat? Duh. Go ahead, take your time. Duh.
Sheesh. 20-100 hindsight specialists give me enough gas to run a fucking flare. Great minds, heh. Champ Angeger5024 should demand a refund.
#6
If I remember correctly I posted an article about a year ago about ongoing efforts to create a supply line through Jordan.
Posted by: DanNY ||
07/24/2006 2:10
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#7
Whoa, hot-button time. I agree that Iran is the key, Glinesing, and even the thing about boots, to be honest. Yup, it will solve several issues in one shot when we take it out... but you harshed my mellow, man. Ease up on the caffeine and tease instead. You don't happen to work in the DoD, do you? In the DefSec's office, perhaps? LOL.
#8
So the same forces that have only been able to blow up women and kids in the markets for the last year is going to suddenly cut off 100,000 US troops in a flat river basin for long enough for us to run out of supplies?
If they massed to do anything like this our forces and the air force would grind them to hamburger.
#9
My bad - I'm sorry, SOP35. It is a major whopping big deal brain-stopper issue to me... And it stopped, so I fucked up. Apologies to all - and especially SOP35. Let's compromise and decapitate the Mullahs so we don't need more boots. Then we'll all be happier about where this WoT thing is heading.
#10
We have a lot more manpower than what is in Iraq, just sitting around in old Cold War duty stations like Germany and South Korea. If we really need them, we can pull them out of those places and send them in. Also, what are the Shiites going to do about the Kurdish-led Phoenix program in Iraq that will start up as soon as the US supply lines are under full scale assault? The only reason the Kurds are behaving themselves at all is because we keep asking them to : lots of dead Arabs if we don't pull back on the reins. Kurds are NOT Arabs. Also, if we get attacked by the Shia in Iraq, we then have incentive to permit several more Baathist units to be reconstituted and sent against the Shias. Think that the Sunni Baathists would not suddenly end their terror campaign and join in an army smashing the Shias? Because they then get back their "historical leadership position" and get to oppress the Shias again.
This is tribal warfare writ large and the US has an excellent history of our own, in exploiting tribal feuds to kill large numbers of the enemy tribe of the moment.
#11
Did anybody here really think that only Hiroshima and Nagasaki would be the only names in the book of fried cities? We had the pretext then, and we have the pretext now. Iran can be neutralized without the cost of a single American life.
I had the privilege of observing New York from the WTC years before 9-11. When I saw the twin towers fall, the life of a jihadi lost all value. Hopefully, Condi's diplomacy is in the form of the "two track" policy that served to democraticize Central America. The World War 2 generation torched 200,000 Tokyo residents in 1 raid. Then there was Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Nukes will fly; whether they fly from US forces against the enemy or from Iran to the US Homeland, they will fly.
#12
Unfortunately, Dumsfeld and Wolfdog wouldn't believe him
And I wouldn't either because the man to make the call is the Theater Commander in accordance with the Goldwater-Nichols Act. Now name me one Iraq theater commander who has complained he hasn't been given what he has asked for. The Goldwater-Nichols Act was established because deskjockies back in Washington were making the calls on operations in Vietnam. The Act switched the arrangement and the Washington folks support the theater commander. They can support'm or fire them, but they do not run the show. The man on the ground makes the call. So again which active theater commander for the region has been bitchin?
#13
Yawn, more worst case scenario whining. Would Shia guerillas supplied out of Iran be any more able to shut down our supply lines than Sunni rebels supplied from Syria? If we cut out all of the ice cream, sodas, and reconstruction supplies, could we supply enough bullets, spare parts and MREs to sustain the force by air? Would the situation be static? I mean, wouldn't we go on the counter offensive and kick Taters ass in short order just like we did the last time he got frisky? And build a new MSR in the desert to the south that doesn't go anywhere near the Shia areas and would be easier to secure?
I think that this is just another asshole, sitting in his office thinking, "If I come up with a really clever argument, that will force Bush to leave." Which isn't to say that this won't be soon added to the anti-war narrative and become another informational weapon for the Tranzis and other assorted fools. This is a battle in the informational war, not the shooting war.
#14
That would take a helluva lot of rebels. I was in TQ for over 6 months - (the logistics hub of western Iraq). We had convoys coming in from Kuwait every day (the "kuwaiti express"). I'm not sure of the author's credentials but he's assuming a very, very worse case scenario. Plus, if he's such a mid-east expert he may realize that Iraqi Shia's are arab tribalists first and foremost. Iranian Shia's are persian tribalists. (big difference) If he had the type of insight I would expect of one to write such an article this distinction would be stark. Just like how experts on the mafia understand the destinctions between Sicilians and mainland Italians. There were plenty of iraqi shia iirc that died fighting their co-religionists during the iraq/iran war of the 80s. Sadr may have some pull but Sistani is still the man there and he wants no part of a fight w/us.
#15
1. In 2004, we came damn close to having the supply lines to Baghdad cut off, with Sunnis making trouble to the west and north, and the Sadrists to the South. With things arguably worse on the ground in Baghad, a cut off doesnt seem like a loony tunes idea. Note, the main roads all go through urban areas, so the flat terrain may not be so helpful.
2. OTOH when the Sadrist rose in 2004, we took them down at large cost to the Mehdi army. And we know more about urban warfare than we did then. Clearly they couldnt maintain a siege for very long.
3. OTOH, it took us a while to clear them out in 2004. Clearing the siege might well NOT be instantaneous, and could create a lot of problems for us in the short term. Given the precarious political support for the war, the short term matters
4. OTOH IF, as seems likely, the Sunni insurgency in Anbar is quieting down a bit, then the Jordan route is more viable than it was in 2004.
5. Number of troops and prescience - I certainly didnt predict things would be just like this. But then I didnt have access to the intell, the knowledge of US capabilities, etc, that OSD had in 2003. At some level I had to go on trust. And then judge who was right, and who wrong. And, in retrospect, it sure looks like Shinseki was closer to right than OSD was. With consequences that have made Iraq MUCH worse than it had to be (granted it was never going to be a walk in the park, plans not surviving, yada, yada) As for the regional CINC, my impression is that Rumsfeld made it quite clear what his approach was, and what he expected the CINC to request and to accept. If even an Army COS could be dealt with as Shinseki was, it was clear what would happen to any CINC. And look at how folks here have ripped into the general who HAVE gone public with complaints. Now a regional CINC is supposed to report directly the President, not the SecDef. Does anyone think Bush has enough first hand knowledge of the military situation in Iraq to second guess Rumsfeld at the request of a regional CINC? Esp if Rumsfeld is backed by Cheney? I dont know for sure. Thats the kind of thing we wont know for sure for years, when all the memoirs come out.
#16
Now a regional CINC is supposed to report directly the President, not the SecDef.
Incorrect. The President and SecDef together are the National Command Authority, but the chain of command most assuredly goes through SecDef before the Pres.
#18
A little more clarification on terminology. Commander in Chief now applies only to the President. The term National Command Authority has gone away. (I believe that it was originally a Cold War term... the senior man/junta that survived a first strike would constitute an NCA. It then mutated to mean the President and SECDEF.) The Combatant Commanders do report to the SECDEF in the chain of command. The Joint Chiefs are essentially the SECDEFs military staff. They have no command authority. The service secretaries are essentially procurement and budget guys these days. All of their pre-WWII authority has been given to the SECDEF.
#20
I tried finding the Rumsfield quote (from memory: "There is no NCA. There is the President, the Vice President, and the Secretary of Defense).
If you don't believe me, repeat the little exercise I just did. Go to the JEL, and do a word search for "National Command Authority" in any of the JPs published from 2003 on. You won't get any hits. Then search for "President." You'll find that where the term NCA was used before, you find "President and SECDEF" instead.
#21
About.com National Command Authority The term National Command Authority is used in U.S. military and government circles to refer to the ultimate lawful source of military orders, nominally the President of the United States.
The use of the term dates from the Cold War era in which the United States and Soviet Union had nuclear missiles on constant alert and a responsible official had to be available to authorize a retaliatory strike within a matter of minutes. Detailed Continuity of Government plans provided for monitoring the whereabouts of certain key Government officials who would become the National Command Authority if the President were himself victim of an enemy attack.
From Wikipedia National Command Authority
The term National Command Authority (or NCA) is used in United States military and government circles to refer to the ultimate lawful source of military orders. The term refers to the President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense.
Only the NCA can order the use of nuclear weapons, including the Single Integrated Operational Plan (SIOP). Neither individual, by himself, can order that strategic nuclear weapons be used against any country or region.
If the NCA determines that a nuclear strike is necessary, they must jointly inform the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who in turn will direct a general officer on duty in the National Military Command Center (NMCC) at the Pentagon to execute the SIOP.
The use of the term dates from the Cold War era in which the United States and Soviet Union had nuclear missiles on constant alert and a responsible official had to be available to authorize a retaliatory strike within a matter of minutes. Detailed Continuity of Government plans provided for monitoring the whereabouts of certain key government officials who would become the National Command Authority if the President were himself victim of an enemy attack.
That's what I remembered, NCA is the term used to describe who authorizes nuke release. Not used in any other chain of command area, at least not in military circles.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/24/2006 17:00
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#22
Steve: NCA _had_ over the years become shorthand for the president and SECDEF in many, many military publications. Here is a quote from Joint Pub 1, Joint Warfare of the Armed Forces of the United States, published in November 2000 (the capstone publication of all joint operations and warfare):
National Command Authorities. The NCA, which consist of the President and the Secretary of Defense or their duly deputized alternates or successors, are the highest levels in the military chain of command. The NCA exercise authority over the Armed Forces both through the combatant commanders for those forces assigned to combatant commands, through the Secretaries of the Military Departments for those forces not assigned to combatant commands, and through the Secretary of Transportation for the US Coast Guard.
As you can see, the concept had mutated to include chain of command responsibilities. Rumsfield was right to expunge it from the military lexicon. BTW, it no longer appears in the DoD dictionary.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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#1
Italian newspapers contrasted the Geldof fiasco with the collective hysteria that greeted Robbie Williams at the weekend when more than 70,000 fans turned out in 40C (104F) to hear him at the San Siro stadium in Milan.
Just who is this Robbie Williams fellow that I sometimes read about?
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006 0:11
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#2
ROBIN WILLIAMS > "CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC" - feel the power and fury of the letter C in "political C-orrectness. Show dem white teeth, let the spit fly. Now comes LITTLE MAN, the movie.
#3
Robbie Williams used to be in the boyband Take That. Now he's a big-selling solo artiste, popular with young ladies of all descriptions. Unlike Bob Geldof, who is rubbish.
Posted by: Kali ||
07/24/2006 1:14
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#4
Hey, I'm ashamed, I downloaded a few RW songs on emule, his crooner covers, like the one with Nicole Kidman... and I enjoyed them. Dam, I must be gay, and I never knew it.
#5
anonymous5089, don't worry about it, Robbie's song "Radio" was actually pretty good! And going to a Robbie concert is not a bad idea either, as you're surrounded by babes on all sides.
Posted by: Kali ||
07/24/2006 2:19
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#6
Man, I really don't like mondays...
Oh well, as my agent says, "bad breath is better than no breath at all..."
Posted by: Bob Geldof ||
07/24/2006 8:38
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#7
I don't think I've ever heard a Robbie Williams song on the radio, or seen a video on the TV.
He is strictly a Brit phenomenon?
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006 9:31
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Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006 10:21
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#10
Bob Geldof- Boomtown Rats
Robbie Williams - "Milleneum" may be his poppiest pop hit.
And the chicks do seem to dig him, even though he seems about as charasmatic to me as the guy in the mail room.
GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran has asked Switzerland to organise an international conference to resolve its stand-off with the West over its nuclear programme, a Swiss newspaper reported on Sunday.
A Swiss Foreign Ministry spokesman declined to comment on the report in the NZZ am Sonntag. There was no immediate reaction from Tehran.
The report cited "reliable sources" as saying the request was made by Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki at meeting in Tehran with a senior Swiss government official last week. Iran wants invitations to the conference extended beyond the permanent five -- the United States, Britain, China, France and Russia -- to include countries such as Japan and Spain and possibly India and Pakistan, the newspaper said.
Anything to stall for more time.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/24/2006
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#1
Save your f**kin' breath. Just talk directly to Japan. Ask them what happens when you want a bomb so bad. We might just give you several too. But since we like you better, we're going to give you megatons not skimpy kilotons. Oh yeah, forgot to mention, ours actually detonate when we expect them to.
#5
The Iranians have no intention of ever giving up their nuclear ambitions. All this is just delaying tactics to try to stall the US response. Ahmedinejad should be strung up by his thumbs under the Brooklin Bridge, just low enough even a garbage scow would slam his bu$$.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/24/2006 19:48
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Israel has captured two Hezbollah fighters as it kept up its air and ground blitz on Lebanon despite accusations from the UN relief chief that it is "violating humanitarian law". The army captured two militants from the Hezbollah group in the south Lebanese village of Marun al-Ras, seized by Israel in a major incursion on Saturday, and brought them back to Israel, the military radio said on Monday. The capture appeared a tit-for-tat response to Hezbollah's kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers on July 12 which started the current crisis and spurred Israel to embark on an offensive to defeat the Shia group.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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#2
The capture appeared a tit-for-tat response to Hezbollah's kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers
Of course its Al-Jiz. Uniformed soldiers of a sovereign nation vs. gunnies hiding behind civilians and its all the same. We're even now right?
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
07/24/2006 1:44
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Right, so will the Hezzies concede that two-for-two is a fair exchange? Or will they imply that an Israeli soldier is worth 100 Hezzies? Interesting dilemma for them.
#4
Meanwhile, Jan Egeland, the UN humanitarian coordinator, made no attempt to hide his fury as he toured bombed-out areas of Beirut.
Mebbe he's mad because he's realized his employer could've prevented this ... if they had enough spine to enforce their own resolutions.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/24/2006 6:36
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#5
Anyway, the Hezzies won't trade - these are, no doubt, innocent Lebanese civilians. No Hezzie would ever allow himself to be captured. allen wouldn't permit it.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/24/2006 6:37
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Apostate, I think you're a bit off on the exchange rate: It's closer to 500 Hezzies per Israeli soldier.
NEW DELHI - India on Sunday test-fired its indigenously built Trishul surface-to-air missile from a defence facility in the eastern Orissa state. The short-range missile, which means trident in Hindi, was fired from a mobile launcher at the test range in Chandipur, 220 kilometres northeast of the state capital Bhubaneswar.
The missile was targeted at a micro-light aircraft, the PTI news agency reported, quoting defence sources. Powered by a two-stage solid propellant engine, Trishul was fired over a range of nine kilometres and its range can be enhanced with the completion of the trials, PTI said.
Trishul, designed for the Indian navy, is designed to hit low-level targets, protecting naval vessels from missiles. The missile, variants of which are being developed for the army and air force, is tested at regular intervals. The Trishul project was initiated in 1984 and is one of Indias longest missile development projects.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/24/2006
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Trishul Surface-to-Air missile test fired again
India's sophisticated short-range surface-to-air missile Trishul was test-fired twice from the integrated test range at Chandipur-on-sea, about 15 km from Balasore, Orissa on Monday, defence sources said.
It was the second time since Sunday that the test was conducted. The missile was test-fired from a mobile launcher at 2.15 pm. A second missile was released after a few seconds. Both times, a micro-light aircraft in the sky was made the target, the sources said.
Trishul, which has a range of nine km and is powered by a two-stage solid propellant system, is indigenously developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation.
About three metres in length and 200 mm in diameter, the missile flies at supersonic speed and can carry a 15 kg payload. The missile's range could be enhanced after completion of few other trials, the sources said.
Trishul has triple battlefield role for the army, air force and navy and can engage targets like aircraft and helicopters by using its radar command-to-line-of-sight guidance.
With a high manoeuvrability, the missile had been flight tested in the sea-skimming role and also against moving targets earlier.
Trishul forms part of India's guided missile development programme under which four other missiles -- Agni, Prithvi, Akash and Nag -- have been developed or are being developed.
The missile has a sensitive radar-altimeter and height lock-loop control onboard for the naval version. The army variant, Trishul Combat Vehicle, is based on a tracked BMP-1 infantry combat vehicle and houses all equipment including radars, command-guidance system and missiles, sources said.
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006 10:05
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Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined thousands of Israel supporters in the withering heat Sunday to rally behind Israel's recent attacks in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Loudly condemning the "relentless rocket attacks of Hamas and Hezbollah against Israel," Villaraigosa drew a cheer when he said: "We're here to defend (Israel's) unassailable right to defend itself."
Schwarzenegger also affirmed Israel's right to self-defense and offered prayers for peace in Lebanon. "I hope they can recover their country and live without violence or strife," he said.
Police estimated some 2,000 to 3,000 people attended the Los Angeles rally and said no major disturbances were reported. A group of about 20 held signs that called for an end to "Israeli war crimes in Gaza," but that did not disrupt the rally's block party atmosphere or the crowd's expression of support for recent Israeli military actions.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney lost support last week in her political stronghold, south DeKalb County, forcing her into a runoff, an analysis of election results shows. Former DeKalb County Commissioner Hank Johnson, who surprised many with his strong showing in the Democratic primary, made inroads in the predominantly black neighborhoods where McKinney traditionally has enjoyed staunch support. And he carried many precincts in largely white north DeKalb, according to the analysis by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The two will face each other in an Aug. 8 runoff. The winner will face Republican Catherine Davis, considered a long shot, in the November election. McKinney was expected to win Tuesday's primary easily, but she won 47 percent of the ballots cast to Johnson's 44 percent. Alpharetta businessman John F. Coyne III, received 8.5 percent. The AJC analysis looked at voter turnout in DeKalb, where most 4th District voters live. The AJC also compared Tuesday's election returns in 120 DeKalb precincts with the results of McKinney's 2002 race, which she lost to Denise Majette. (The Georgia Legislature drew new congressional lines in 2005, so only 120 precincts were the same in 2006 as in 2002.)
The analysis found:
This year, 49 percent fewer voters cast ballots for McKinney than in 2002. That indicates those voters either did not cast ballots Tuesday, or voted for another candidate.
Overall turnout was significantly lower this year than in 2002. Then, 47 percent of 4th District voters who live in DeKalb went to the polls; this year only 26 percent cast ballots.
Support for McKinney dropped by an average of 4.5 percentage points across the 120 precincts. She experienced the biggest decline in south DeKalb precincts. In the precincts where McKinney was strongest in 2002, she still won majorities this year but by a lower percentage.
Johnson had the strongest support in predominantly white north DeKalb, but he received a lower percentage of the vote in many of those precincts than Majette did in 2002. The third opponent, Coyne, received 10 to 20 percent of the vote in many of those precincts.
While the analysis gives some insight into what happened Tuesday, it's difficult to predict how many voters will go to polls for the runoff or how they will cast their ballots. Runoffs are known for very low voter turnouts.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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#1
She's a crazy, dumb bitch. But...she's a crazy, dumb bitch.
When the rather buggy-eyed thing looks good. Really good.
Disclaimer: I was looking for Lee Remick pix and, somehow, I ended up here. I think it was a triple poison reverse with a full pike and 2.5 twists. Degree of difficulty: 400.62.
#13
Like I said I dont have a problem with it myself. But I work in Seattle and some of my -er- tolerant leftist co-workers might be 'offended' [by her --er-- charms] and file a complaint.
As for Helen... well those selfsame 'tolerant' co-workers might not might object but I would suffer irreversible optic nerve damage. Possibly insanity.
(Your right I should have known better then to follow the link -- at least from work. :).
#17
Now, back to the topic at hand. This is EXTREMELY good news that South DeKalb (McKinney's strong districts) is not voting or throwing their support behind someone else. As the article mentions, it doesn't really mean a hill of beans for the runoff, but those 9 percentage points for Coyne will mostly go to her opponent (Johnson). He could very well win it. Unfortunately, whomever wins that primary wins the seat.
Posted by: BA ||
07/24/2006 19:47
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#18
First time I saw it, I assumed it was photoshopped. Then I saw her on TV and realized the weird bug eyes and hair were authentic.
OK, let's put the two pix side by side and vote on it! :-)
On Oct. 2, 2004, the container ship Ever Unique, sailing under a Panamanian flag from Yantai, China, berthed in the Port of Newark. As cranes unloaded the vessels shipping containers, which were filled with a variety of commercial goods, dockworkers singled out a container and placed it aboard a flatbed truck, which was driven to a warehouse a few miles away. There, F.B.I. and Secret Service agents, acting as part of a sting operation, gathered around the container and cracked it open. Beneath cardboard boxes containing plastic toys, they found counterfeit $100 bills worth more than $300,000, secreted in false-bottomed compartments.
The counterfeits were nearly flawless. They featured the same high-tech color-shifting ink as genuine American bills and were printed on paper with the same precise composition of fibers. The engraved images were, if anything, finer than those produced by the United States Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Only when subjected to sophisticated forensic analysis could the bills be confirmed as imitations.
Counterfeits of this superior sort known as supernotes had been detected by law-enforcement officials before, elsewhere in the world, but the Newark shipment marked their first known appearance in the United States, at least in such large quantities. Federal agents soon seized more shipments. Three million dollars worth arrived on another ship in Newark two months later; and supernotes began showing up on the West Coast too, starting with a shipment of $700,000 that arrived by boat in Long Beach, Calif., in May 2005, sealed in plastic packages and wrapped mummy-style in bolts of cloth.
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Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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#1
The counterfeiting issue, and the crackdown on Banco Delta Asia, is a major factor which is contributing to Kim Jong Ils posturing.
Lemme get this straight. Kimmie is faking our money. We caught him at it and shut down his banking 'helper'. He gets mad and lights off a few missiles. And this is our fault. I love the 'balance' in this story, with all the nice quotes suggesting the counterfeiting is "no big deal, really. Hardly worth bothering about." The NYT can go F itself.
#2
The reason for the currency change was to inhibit this worldwide counterfeiting wasn't it ? Now they have the "new" formula already ? This sounds like something Chicoms are involved in also. I somehow don't see how Kimmie pulls all these rabbits out of his ass, when his populace is starving.
#3
Amen, PBMcL. China is, of course, far more likely the source - probably producing the plates, paper, and ink. No one here actually believes that the starving NorKies, who subsist on rocks, grass, and bark are capable of producing these supernotes alone, are they?
It's well past time to have a no punches-pulled confrontation with China - and begin reciprocating the slow-burn war they declared on us long long ago. Their triangulation efforts with NorK and in the UN are, alone, worthy of this wholesale change in attitude.
Begin by throwing their "students" out of the country - they occupy far too many scholarships which should be going to Americans - and many would be amazed by the number and value of these. Clean out Silicon Valley of all firms which can be traced to Chinese fronts, etc. There are many ways to communicate or displeasure with these whores of history. Let's employ some of them.
#11
Lets not sink to the terrorist level by targetting civilians (which is what dropping a vial on the Norks is... much worse then firing unaimed missles into Israel...).
I think most North Koreans are, for the most part, innocent or at worst mislead by insistant propoganda throughout their lives. They are more a victim of Kimmie and his crimes then we are.
Having said that I think we need to do something about China's rabid dog or at least send a very strong message of "Don't f*ck with our currency".
(KUNA) -- The latest reports bring up the death toll in the car blast earlier in the day in Sadr City, eastern Baghdad, to 32 and the number of those injured to 63 people, according to Interior Ministry sources. The sources said the explosives team thinks it is most probable the car was rigged with 200 kilograms of explosives. They said this 'preliminary' tally of victims was provided by Kindi and Sadr Hospitals and from medical teams who took part in rescue and recovery at the scene. The sources said the blast set fire to seven civilian vehicles, including a minibus that was transporting passengers from Sadr City and caused damage to a nearby building and 10 shops in close proximity.
The American Army had in a statement today reported that Iraqi forces managed to free two hostages and arrest eight of the kidnappers involved in the so-called death squads in Sadr City. It said confrontations erupted in the area between Iraqi and US forces on the one hand and militants on the other. The joint forces, it said, came under heavy shooting from several locations using small arms, automatic weapons, and RPGs. The statement would not say whether the confrontations were actually in Sadr City but Iraqi Police sources said there were raids and violent confrontations this morning when Iraqi-US forces broke into the city. The sources said that joint forces backed up with helicopters broke into sector seven of the city early this morning, which led to the heavy confrontations, and added the toll is yet to be known.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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#1
Soon, if the stars are aligned correctly, the Iraqis will figure out that there are two modern conveniences which they will either have to do without - or they will have to continue to endure the Arab-on-Arab / Muslim-on-Muslim killing.
Cars and cellphones.
Ban them both in all but Kurdistan, return to the 7th century where they all long to be, and they will know much more peace than they do now.
Technology and Arabs / Muslims just do not mix.
Oh, and two ideas to safeguard the rest of us:
1) Some have strongly suggested that the civilized world (heh) enforce a total blockade on Islam ala Hotel California: You can check in, but you can never leave. You can debate who to include in the "civilized world", though I'd suggest the UK and Olde Europe be excluded as they are infected.
2) Take their children away from them. You can debate what means will be employed to stop the Baby Factory that is Islam from producing more. Raise them in the US. Teach them rule of law, logic, science, math, honest history.
#2
What about all those nice kids raised in the UK? Rule of law and all that. Turns out they thought mom and dad's place was not for them and they should turn to "the old ways". That would be the splodydope way. Better to terminate the line.
#5
The Kurds have. Bless that bunch of Islam's misfits. The truest form of exception to the rule.
The Arabs never will. Same for those who take Islam seriously.
I empathize with the attempt, the effort, to give them the chance and choice, but they are miserable failures and miserable excuses for humans. They've shown promise only in dribs and drabs, individuals here and there. Time to partition this shithole and offer sanctuary to those few who are capable of lifting themselves from the muck and mire of Arab "society and customs" and Islam.
#7
Great, Champ. I like that leper colony idea.
Some of the women should be pulled from the group along with the young children. No sense letting them reproduce as lepers. They (the lepers) would also be a source of stem cells.
#9
KBK - Sure I do. You could enroll them in Catholic schools, Jewish schools, or to make a point of one of your recent comments - put them in Utah public schools, pick a few of those solid Moromon Wards where they'd also learn patriotism and civic responsibility.
#10
They will not do without the cell phones or motorized vehicles, Champ Angeger5024, because without them they aren't kewl, y'know. And they will keep getting caught as a result. As for taking the children away -- unless you get them before they know who they are, enough will grow up hating as a matter of principle those who kidnapped them, and legitimately so. I have no interest in going there.
Sterilize and quarantine, then let them kill each other off.
Arabs are a defective branch of the human line, 14 centuries of inbreeding haven't helped matters either. Time to do what is necessary.
I see all of this coming to a blowup a lot faster than I had originally thought it would. We may be enjoying the last days or modern society right now. All because we won't do what is needed. Pity.
(KUNA) -- An Iraqi judge escaped an assassination attempt in Mosul on Sunday, Iraqi police said. A source at the police said justice Mohammad Hamadi Hindi was driving to work in eastern Mosul when unknown gunmen sprayed his car with bullets injuring him but killing his driver.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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TYRE, Lebanon - A UN military observer was seriously wounded on Sunday in a border village in southern Lebanon, apparently by Hezbollah fire during a clash with the Israeli army, a UN spokesman said.
One unarmed UN military observer was seriously wounded by small arm fire inside a UN position in Marun Al Ras, Milos Strugar said in a statement. He has been evacuated to the nearest hospital in Israel, he said. According to primary report, the fire came from Hezbollah during an exchange of fire with the Israeli army.
There was no word on his nationality.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/24/2006
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If in Lebanon, why didn't he go to a Lebanese hospital? :-|
(KUNA) -- Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas movement, on Sunday claimed responsibility for attacking the Israeli Sderot settlement. The brigades said in a statement that four missiles were launched against the settlement as a confrontation of the Israeli aggression on Gaza.
For its part, Al-Quds Brigades, the military arm of Islamic Jihad and Al-Mujahideen Brigades declared in a statement joint responsibility for also launching three missiles against Sderot. The statement said that this operation comes in retaliation to the Israeli aggression on Palestine and Lebanon.
Meanwhile, spokesman of the Israeli army said that two Palestinian missiles fell in the western Negev in south Israel. The spokesman claimed that no casualties or damage have been reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
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From the title alone, you know it's KUNA.
Just tossing shit in the air constitutes an "attack" - worthy of adulation or emulation, I presume. Then divvying up the "glory" requires additional press releases.
Next up: press releases and glory to those still breathing after Israel decides enough is enough. That would be something to see.
Add the US into the mix regards the real issue: Iran.
When will that be? Well, as SR71 said in late comments yesterday, "Why not now?" Pithy. Spot on.
TOP Saudi Arabian officials have pressed US President George W. Bush to agree to seek a ceasefire in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon.
"We requested a ceasefire to allow for the cessation of hostilities, to allow for the rebuilding of the forces of Lebanon, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said today after a meeting of more than an hour with Mr Bush and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Mr Bush has resisted calling for an immediate ceasefire, saying Israel has the right to defend itself and a cessation of hostilities must address the root causes of the conflict, including Hezbollah's attacks on Israel and abduction of Israeli soldiers. Accused by some Democrats of moving too slowly on the crisis, Ms Rice departed today evening for Israel and the Palestinian territories and will go to Rome on Wednesday to discuss the crisis with European and Arab officials, including officials from Lebanon.
Prince Saud said he brought a letter to Mr Bush from Saudi King Abdullah seeking ways to end the bloodshed in Lebanon. The Saudis had requested the meeting with Mr Bush. Prince Saud said the letter called for an immediate ceasefire, the start of a prisoner exchange between Hezbollah and Israel and delaying the dismantling of Hezbollah for now. The Saudis did not object to an international force deployed in southern Lebanon.
You'd almost think the Saoodis were on the side of the Hezbies with those talking points.
#2
Prince Saud said the letter called for an immediate ceasefire, the start of a prisoner exchange between Hezbollah and Israel and delaying the dismantling of Hezbollah for now.
In other words give the Hizb'allah everything they want. The question of when the Jews are driven into the sea can be negotiated later. Eff the Sauds.
Posted by: ed ||
07/23/2006 23:12
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#3
Typical Arab M.O. Finally Hiz is beginning to get its a$$ kicked, and their enemy the Saudis wants to stop the fighting. Just like they bugged us about with Sammy in GW1. Screw them. Put Hiz in the chipper and take out Iran's little dog Syria, too. This is a golden opportunity to start the final dismantling of the Axis of Evil.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/24/2006 2:34
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#4
...about the same time you stop exporting your own citizens to Iraq for jihad.
(KUNA) -- The casualties from the booby-trapped car in Kirkuk reached 170 people, according to Iraqi police. Kirkuk police chief, Sard Qader, told KUNA, 19 people have been killed and 150 people injured. Many of the injuries are severe, he added. Two storeys of the Kirkuk court building were damaged. Thirty civilian vehicles caught fire in the area. According to Qader, this bomb is one of the most violent witnessed in Kirkuk.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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So Kirkuk is heating up. Now that is a Kurd town, or at least they want it to be. The Turks seem to be getting their knickers in a rather large twist these last few days. Maybe the Turk "Special Forces" are doing a bit of extra work and making it look like Tater did it. Prolly not, but enquiring minds would like to know.
The UN relief chief condemned Israel yesterday for violating humanitarian law over its blistering raids on Lebanon as the Jewish state killed more civilians in another wave of attacks. As Israel tightened its grip on a strategic border village seized in south Lebanon, Syria fueled fears the fighting could spread by issuing a warning that it would intervene if Israel dared to launch an all-out invasion of Lebanon. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was also heading to the Middle East with Washington increasingly estranged from European and Arab allies over a conflict that has killed close to 400 people in just 12 days and triggered a major humanitarian crisis.
UN Humanitarian Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland, in Beirut to launch an urgent appeal for funds for half a million people made homeless by the conflict, made no attempt to hide his fury as he toured bombed-out areas. This is destruction of block after block of mainly residential areas. I would say it seems to be an excessive use of force in an area with so many citizens, he told reporters in the southern suburb of Beirut, a Hezbollah stronghold. Asked if the Israeli raid that destroyed the burned-out buildings before him constituted a war crime, he replied: It makes it a violation of humanitarian law.
His comments came as at least eight civilians, including a Lebanese press photographer, were killed in new Israeli airstrikes across Lebanon on the 12th day of Israels punishing war on Hezbollah. Hezbollah said three of its fighters had also been killed. In a wave of pre-dawn raids, fighter-bombers for the first time struck directly inside the southern city of Sidon, where tens of thousands of Lebanese have sought refuge from the relentless Israeli offensive. A three-story building housing a Hezbollah religious center was hit. Hezbollah responded with a new hail of rocket fire on Haifa, killing one person in his car and a second as he worked in a warehouse.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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#1
Blaming Israel for the incessant attacks of terrorists whom reportedly comprise 30-40% of Lebanon's govt - Israel is fighting terror groups entrenched in Lebanon for decades, groups which had gotten militarily and poli stronger despite the presence of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force. FNC's SHEPARD SMITH > LEBANESE > HEZBOLLAH IS "THE GOVT", OR AT LEAST THE GOVT IN SOUTH LEBANON ONLY.
#4
Jan Egeland - isn't he the "US is stingy on tsunami aid" moron. On the subject of 'violating humanitarian law' - what did the UN have to say about raining rockets packed with explosives and ball bearings on civilians in Haifa? ... crickets ...
#5
When once questioned by CNN's Newswomen Raltsa Vasileva on that "stingy" remarked, he mumbled something quite incoherent but certainly not amounting to an apology. Seems like he gets eggs on his face everytime he opens his mouth these days.
#6
Re; egg -- Only in places like Rantburg, sadly.
The UN, with Egeland, Malloch-Brown, and of course Kofi, among so many useless parasites (Christine whatever of the "new" Human Rights joke?), have no detectable sense of shame. Not even the slightest hint of it. They live in an echo chamber where their farts are idolized. They are the phoney moralists of our time. People whose actions and malfeasance will eventually kill and starve more innocents than Pol Pot and Stalin combined.
There is no saving grace to the UN. Anything that might be worthy, such as WHO, as was argued here once upon a time, have no need of it - they can easily be independently maintained.
I pray I live to see the day it is scrapped by the US and Japan - the only countries I think would seriously consider dropping it and creating something that actually makes sense. Or, as someone much smarter than me posted a week or so ago: Should we decide to only contribute our fair share (1/200th?) and keep our Perm seat and veto everything that is offered until the end of time, I would accept that as a substitute.
#9
CF, it is Hib'Allah's Legitimate Right(tm). Ev'rybody knows that.
This am on Imus his military commentator was talking about HB fortifying its border with Israel, marching around in formation with grenade and rocket launchers while the UN observer forces played volleyball...
#10
I'd like dear old "jan" eat a few axehandles - fired at him from the barrels of some of Israel's Merkava tanks. Up close and personal. With malice of forethought.
It might actually make an improvement in the UN.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/24/2006 19:13
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#11
The son-of-a-bitch condems Israel while in Beirut. He waits until he leaves Lebanon before condemning Hisb'Allah.
(KUNA) -- Multinational Forces (MNF) arrested more than 150 insurgents in cooperation with Iraqi security forces south west of Kirkuk northern Iraq, on Sunday. In a joint military operation, more than 3000 Iraqi and US soldiers besieged Al-Riyadh city and Al-Huwijah, western Kirkuk, in search for Al-Qaeda activists, a statement by the multinational forces said today. The forces arrested 154 suspected terrorists and seized more than 350 weapons including mortar shells, guns, missiles, and RPGs.
The military operation was in response to the calls of tribal leaders in the two cities who requested the intervention of military forces, especially after a series of terrorist attacks. The operation was also based on specific intelligence information that indicated the deployment of Al-Qaeda members in western Kirkuk. Over the last five weeks, 31 Iraqi soldiers were killed in attacks. During the past three days, six policemen were killed in Al-Huweija
Posted by: Fred ||
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I hope most, if not all, check out to be actual terrs. Certainly the MNF in the north are composed substantially of Kurds, so my congratulations, I'm sure they did very well in this Operation. They mean business and "get it".
Elsewhere in Iraq color me cynical... the sect and tribe of the suspect will determine the treatment, if Iraqi. Hell, they'll probably apologize for not recognizing them from the last militia meeting.
#3
LOL, crosspatch. My original comment was twice as long before editing. I held forth on the Shia "Govt" Revolving Door Rest Farm, LOL. I decided to cut it short with the "Elsewhere" close... :-)
KABUL, July 22 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Afghanistan's major creditors have written off $10.4 billion in debt, a further major reduction in the country's debt in the Paris Club, finance ministry spokesman said on Saturday.
Aziz Shams told Pajhwok Afghan News US, Russia and Germany canceled their debt what he said was $10.4 billion. US had $108 million and Germany 40 million debt on Afghanistan.
Paris club played a mediator role between in-debt and creditor countries. The U.S. State Department said on July 21 that the agreement means that 92 percent of Afghanistan's total debt to the three Paris Club creditors -- Germany, Russia and the United States has now been written off.
Finance Minister Anwarulhaq had attended the Paris Club, he added. He said besides discussing major creditors of the Paris club US, Russia and Germany, the attendants discussed on canceling the debts provided by World Bank, Asian Bank in the last four years, but he said this discussion did get finalized. Afghanistan had received over 600 million US dollar as debt from different donor, he contended.
Shams said Russia had claimed it had $10.5 billion payable debt on Afghanistan while the documents in hand with the Afghanistan government show the Russian debt was only $9.5 billion dollar. He also said Afghanistan insisted on not paying these money and it also did not accept the money as debt on Afghanistan and Afghanistan terms it as expenses of former Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Russian government is asking for payment of debts while Afghan people are calling them as inheritors of Former Soviet Union and demanded Russians to pay compensation for the devastation this country inflicted in Afghanistan during its invasion on central Asian country.
I think it's a great idea for them to stiff the Russians. Heh.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
What is it with the Russians thinking that they would have ever got $10.4G back from Afghanistan's old Taliban gov't? They repeated the same stupid mistake with Iraq, too, only more so, if I remember right. Or maybe both mistakes were done in parallel, so we'll call it one mistake. The Germans did essentially the same thing, I believe. And the French got suckered by Iraq too, I think. I have a hard time believing that the Taliban or Saddam, with their dinky economies, had any intention of paying off their debt, but were planning on stringing out the Russians for their veto should the UN come knocking, and for German support should world events conspire against Iraq's terrorist ways. Anybody know anything here? Was Iraq going to pay the Russians back with cheap oil or something? Am I messed up?
Does Iran fall into this category somehow, too? It might explain a lot.
#2
Iraq at least had its oil reserves. God only knows what they thought was securing ten billion dollars of Afghani debt - the poppy trade? Was Russia going to take it out in black tar?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
07/24/2006 8:12
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(KUNA) -- Head of Israel's Northern Command, Udi Adam, said Sunday the Israeli military command started preparations to establish a civil administration in Southern Lebanon. In a press conference, held today in the headquarters of Israel's Northern Command in Safad, Adam said the civil administration would substitute the Israeli army in the Lebanese areas occupied by Israel during the last few days.
Israeli army said earlier today it controlled Maroun Al-Ras area, located in the middle strip of Southern Lebanon, after five days of furious fight with Hezbollah, who confirmed this information. Adam, however, noted that the Israeli civil administration would not resume its responsibilities before extensive discussions and consultations.
The Israeli civil administration had run the day-to-day affairs of the occupied Southern Lebanon from 1982 until the Israeli unilateral withdrawal in 2000. The West Bank was also subjected to Israeli civil administration from 1967 until 1994 when the Palestinian Authority took over full responsibilities of Palestinian lands. Under civil administration, all details of the population affairs, including health and education, are run by military officials, in this case Israeli military officials. Civil administrations are usually established when an army intends to occupy an area for a long time.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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#1
Dunno. Smells like nation building. Let us not forget that at least half of the army of Lebanon is Shiite, and devout supporters of Hizbollah. Until Iran is taken out, there will be no peace.
Arab heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia were pushing Syria to end its support for the guerrillas, Arab diplomats in Cairo said. A loss of Syria's support would deeply weaken Hezbollah, though its other ally, Iran, gives it a large part of its money and weapons. The two moderate Arab governments were prepared to spend heavily from Egypt's political capital in the region and Saudi Arabia's vast financial reserves to break Damascus from the guerrillas and Iran, the diplomats said.
Syria said it will press for a cease-fire to end the fighting but only in the framework of a broader Middle East peace initiative that would include the return of the Golan Heights. Israel was unlikely to accept such terms but it was the first indication of Syria's willingness to be involved in efforts to defuse the crisis.
In Washington, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal asked President Bush to intervene. "I have brought a letter from the Saudi King to stop the bleeding in Lebanon," Saud told reporters after the Oval Office meeting.
Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz said that once the offensive had gotten Hezbollah away from the border, his country would be willing to see an international force move in to help the Lebanese army deploy across the south, where the guerrillas have held sway for years. "Israel's goal is to see the Lebanese army deployed along the border with Israel, but we understand that we are talking about a weak army and that in the midterm period Israel will have to accept a multinational force," Peretz told the Cabinet, suggesting NATO be in charge of the force.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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#1
Hizbollah? HezaBollah - the Great Satan is in the lettering, you know.
#2
LOL. The Saudi Jihad and Dawa scam is coming apart! They spent a lot of money but never had the will to really push for the caliphate. OBL went off on his own direction. Syria has defected, HAMAS has defected. Who's next? The Pakis? Thanks for paying for our Bomb, Abdullah, but we gotta go.
#4
A loss of Syria's support would deeply weaken Hezbollah
I guess Hezballah will have to go home for dinner now.
and Saudi Arabia's vast financial reserves
Go to school. This is what they expect from each other, this is what they expect from the West.
that would include the return of the Golan Heights
The only reason the Israelis hold onto it is for security purposes. If Syria would just settle down they could get it back without all the yelling and screaming.
I have brought a letter from the Saudi King to stop the bleeding in Lebanon
U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D- Mass., who was in town Sunday to help Gov. Jennifer Granholm campaign for her re-election bid, took time to take a jab at the Bush administration for its lack of leadership in the Israeli-Lebanon conflict. "If I was president, this wouldn't have happened," said Kerry during a noon stop at Honest John's bar and grill in Detroit's Cass Corridor.
Yeah, sure, you'd have gone to the U.N. or something. Loser.
Bush has been so concentrated on the war in Iraq that other Middle East tension arose as a result, he said. "The president has been so absent on diplomacy when it comes to issues affecting the Middle East," Kerry said. "We're going to have a lot of ground to make up (in 2008) because of it."
If you'd been paying attention instead of trying to get your allowance up'ped from Tay-ray-sa, you'd know that the Hezbies are strangely resistant to diplomacy. You think Iran and Syria would be impressed with our resolve if you as Prez would have pulled us out of Iraq? You think the Hezbies would have been shaking in their shoes after you'd gone to the U.N. begging for help in an 'international resolution' to Iraq?
Hezbollah guerillas should have been targeted with other terrorist organizations, such as al-Qaida and the Taliban, which operate in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Kerry said. However, Bush, has focused military strength on Iraq.
You'd have been for it and then against it. Targeting Hezbollah at the same time as the Taliban would have meant two invasions -- Afghanistan and Lebanon -- at the same time. Is that what you're advocating? I can't tell because you aren't making sense. Targeting Hezbollah at the same time as al-Qaeda would have been particularly stupid as it would have driven them together in 2002. You work to defeat your enemies in isolation and in detail. Didn't you learn that in the Navy?
"This is about American security and Bush has failed. He has made it so much worse because of his lack of reality in going into Iraq. We have to destroy Hezbollah," he said.
Just like in 1998 when you said we had to destroy Saddam. Loser. This is what happens when you lack a brain, a heart and a spine.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/24/2006
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#1
Well, I guess Bush must be doing it right then, if Kerry thinks it's wrong.
#2
Kennedy blew his brain fart the other day, so the Junior Senator from Masshole had to throw in his echo to make it a duet. Didn't Dean hit this meme, too, recently? Expect similar brain farts soon from the usual clueless "Return To Clintoonian Camelot!" assholes.
Donk 2006 campaign strategy: Throw mindless BDS meme shit out into the wind to see what sells and gets picked up by the MSM. Same as 2004, in other words. Same effect, I hope.
#5
I would do it better ... and smarter ... and better ... and uh ... better!
Posted by: John Kerry ||
07/24/2006 2:34
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#6
Y'all missed the point, here.
Hezbollah guerillas should have been targeted with other terrorist organizations, such as al-Qaida and the Taliban
Kerry means if he were president, he would have somehow turned al-Qaida and the Taliban against Hezbolla, see? Then all of our enemies would've self-destructed.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/24/2006 6:56
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#7
Hezbollah guerillas should have been targeted with other terrorist organizations, such as al-Qaida and the Taliban, which operate in Afghanistan and Pakistan, Kerry said. Does Kerry have doodoo for brains [or a brain at all]? He must think A-Q and the Talis are our friends. What the hell planet is he from.
#12
"If I was president, this wouldn't have happened." I hate to agree with Kerry but on this point he may be right. If Kerry were President, Hezbollah would be extremely powerful (kowtowing to Iran) and they would have open imported better weapons to destroy Israel long before two weeks ago. He most certainly would have supported Hamas and that would have left a weak Israel with two powerful opponents, Israelis would have little choice but to submit or flee. Yes, I would have to agree this would not have happened on President John F. Kerrys watch.
#16
This guy(Kerry) has more political lives than a cat. He is also a legend in his own mind. I wouldn't be surprised if the demos ran Kerry or Gore again. They just can't abandon their left wing whacko base. On the other hand, that is not all bad.
Benazir Bhutto will be the candidate for the post of prime minister if the PPPP and its allies win the next general elections, leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamentarians (PPPP) in the National Assembly Makhdoom Amin Fahim said . "A section of the press has reported that the ARD has decided to nominate me for the post of prime minister. This is not correct," Fahim said. He said that Benazir Bhutto is the chairperson of the ARD since she is the chief of the PPP and he worked as her deputy.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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We can say without a doubt that the war of attrition against the city of Haifa and its residents is a tale of two cities: Tyre in Lebanon versus Haifa in Israel. The Hezbollah unit deployed in Tyre and its environs has been bombarding Haifa with Syrian rockets and upgraded Iranian-made Katyushas. If this unit is not destroyed, it will continue to target Haifa. As such, it is odd that the Israel Defense Forces ground operation that began Sunday was not immediately directed against the threat from Tyre.
In recent days, the air force has targetted Tyre, but this was not sufficient. The fact is that on Sunday dozens of rockets were fired from the area of Tyre toward Haifa, causing casualties. It is clear that the center of Hezbollah's campaign of attrition is Haifa, and most of the launches take place from Tyre and its environs. Therefore, at this time, this target is more important than Beirut and the Shi'ite quarter of Dahiya, and clearly more important than the little villages in southern Lebanon's central front. Without an immediate destruction of the rockets in the area of Tyre, the war of attrition against Haifa - the third largest city in Israel - will not end.
In the front lines against Israel in southern Lebanon, Hezbollah has deployed two units. The first, Nasser, involves 500 men who hold positions and outposts between the villages in the central to the eastern zones of the front. It is mostly equipped with short-range rockets. This unit is responsible for most of the rockets fired against central and eastern Galilee. Most of the rockets land in fields, but there have been strikes against Safed, Meron, Nazareth and others. The second unit is deployed in the area of Tyre, and is equiped with longer-range rockets. This is where the Syrian-made 220mm rockets with warheads of several dozen kilograms are based.
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#1
If these 'civilians' are muzzies, then they are 'insurgents' and should be eliminated anyway.
The sooner we decide to kill them all, the sooner we end this World War Five bullshit.
1) Tyre's on the coast, so it is far more easily resupplied and reinforced than most places in Lebanon.
2) Israel knows where each and every rocket / missile comes from. As a professional military with all the tools, this isn't even remotely in doubt.
3) The range. Everything you need to know is on a map.
4) The missiles are definitely Syrian / Iranian sourced.
5) Hezb has many collaborators and sympathizers, but there are surely innocents among the populations of most (all?) cities.
6) Leaflet the place with notice of its impending destruction. Then follow through and level it or take the casualties of a Fallujah-style assault or cordon / search. In any case, it has to be cleaned - and kept clean - it's just too damned close to the border and, as said above, is too easily resupplied / reinforced.
This is a war. Bad shit happens to those on the wrong side. The facts of war supersede wishes and PC BS. Make it happen.
wxjames - are you coming unglued? This is the second comment today that suggests you are.
#4
#1 wxjames - if someone tries to kill my Muslim friends, you may be very surprised at who winds up dead.
Courtesy of my and my two friends, Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson.
Also courtesy of their friend Elizabeth, and her friend Mr. Remington.
NOT ALL MUSLIMS ARE NUTS.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/24/2006 15:39
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#5
Mobile launchers can be hidden and deployed anywhere. Destroyer those in Tyre poses the same problem that NATO had when they went after Serb tanks in Kosovo: Serbs could hide them in garages.
Again, unless Iran is taken out Israel will face future missile threats, with the entire country being the target. We need to take Newt Gingrich seriously when he says he is in World War 3. Hiroshima...Nagasaki...
Hizbullah "sleeper" terror cells set up outside Lebanon with Iranian assistance have been put on standby The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday, and are likely planning attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets throughout the world. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) confirmed to the Post Sunday night that it had instructed embassies, consulates and Jewish institutions it was responsible for abroad to raise their level of awareness in light of the conflict in the North.
The assumption within Military Intelligence is that Hizbullah would only attack targets abroad if it felt pushed into a corner. According to this thinking, the Islamist group hesitates to carry out such attacks because it does not want to be associated with Global Jihad and al-Qaida.
Hizbullah has attacked Jewish and Israeli targets abroad in the past. The organization is believed to have been behind the attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 during which a suicide bomber drove a pick-up truck filled with explosives into the building, killing 29 people and wounding 242, following Israel's assassination of the group's leader at the time, Sheikh Abbas Musawi. Hizbullah is also thought to have been responsible for the attack on the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association building in Buenos Aires in 1994, when an explosives-laden van rammed into the structure and killed 85 people. Another attack attributed to the group was the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847. One passenger was murdered; the remainder of the hostages were released over a two-week period.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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#1
Also read - Dubya & GOP, watch your American Hiroshima(s) arses. The Radics want a pro-isolationism, "Global Retreat-OWG is good for America", DemoLeftie in Washington.
#5
The large scale terrorism in Argentina was made possible partly as a result of local anti semites who aided the Hizb in combination with an incompetant police force.
If Hizb wants to commit terror in the US, it will probably be smaller scale.
LONDON - Britains deputy prime minister hinted on Sunday that Tony Blair may very shortly step down as prime minister and leader of the Labour Party, triggering a party election to replace him.
John Prescotts comment during an interview with BBC television is likely to add fuel to the burning political question -- when will Blair move aside?. I can still make an important contribution when the party has its means by which it makes decisions about that (the choosing of a new leader) and I think that will come very shortly, Prescott said. I think it will be a smooth transition .... therefore there will be a timetable that will be decided by Tony and the party, he said.
The deputy premier said he expected to play a role during any transition phase which he added ought to include a contest.
Although Blair has said he will stand down as prime minister and Labour leader before the next election he has refused to name a date at which he intends to relinquish the reins of power. Chancellor Gordon Brown is widely tipped to replace Blair although there have been signs from senior Labour politicians over recent months that he may not have a totally clear run for the position.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/24/2006
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#1
And good riddance.
Posted by: Kali ||
07/24/2006 0:48
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#2
I'd like to hear what our UK cousins have to say about who will replace him... and what can be expected of him or her.
I suspect that Tony, in the foreign policy area, anyway, is about as good as we poor Americans are likely to see in the PM slot.
#4
Champ, my hope is that once Gordon Brown replaces Blair, support for Labour will erode even further and give the Conservatives a better chance at the next election. Brown is further to the left than Blair, but I wouldn't expect to see him do a Zapotero and pull the troops out of Iraq straight away. He recently made a show of talking tough about the need to keep our nukes, which suggests he's moving towards the centre as his big moment approaches.
Posted by: Kali ||
07/24/2006 1:35
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#5
Hmmm. Thanks for responding so quickly... Ugh! Gordon Brown is not among those I'd want to see, considering some of the total flaming idiot statements I've seen attributed to him.
Perhaps the real question is: What is wrong with the Tories? Why can't they get their act together ala Maggie, and take the initiative? This is what perplexes me most about UK politics. They seem as politically inept as California Repubs, LOL.
#6
I recall that in the aftermath of 9/11 when the US Congress met, Tony Blair was there to stand with America in our darkest hour. The ONLY foreign leader there. Thank you Mr. Blair.
#7
Yes, it's hard to tell the difference between the Tories and Labour these days. They've tried to 'modernise' and ended up looking rather silly, talking a lot of guff about The Environment™. They really get my vote only by default, because they're not Labour, and they're not the Liberal Democrats.
Posted by: Kali ||
07/24/2006 2:31
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#8
Ah, you're in the UK, Kali? Tony (UK) needs the company, I believe, LOL, and we appreciate your view. Thank you for the intel. Does Brown "appeal" on domestic issues, i.e. capitalism vs socialism? I focus on the foreign policy stuff about UK politics, of course - and I can't provide links, but he's said some things regards the WoT that made me cringe and place him on my EUro Lefty List.
True, DMFC. Tony stood and made good on it. Thanks are due from the US Point of View. Domestically, I recall a long ago Bulldog, Shep, Howard, (where've they gone?) and our current (yeah!) Tony (UK) thread that drubbed him quite badly on the domestic side.
#9
Briefly, Blair's big project was to get Labour elected. To do that, he had to move to the centre, muzzle some of the more ardent leftists in the party, and drop some of the more malodorous policies, such as wholesale nationalisation. This he managed to do by calling Labour 'New Labour' and embarking on a charm offensive, eg "Tough on crime, tough on the causes of crime" - crap like that.
It was also important that New Labour could be trusted in the City of London (8% of our GDP), so Gordon Brown had a policy of 'prudence', where we wouldn't spend more in a business cycle than was coming in. He also promised to be business friendly. That was in 1997. His first act as Chancellor was to make the Bank of England independent from the politicians of the day (ie it's up to them to change interest rates, for the best interests of the economy, not for short term political purposes). That is seen as a good move. At roughly the same time he also reduced tax relief on pensions contribution and fiddled around a bit there. The outcome was that 5 billion a year has been whisked away from people's pensions since 1997. This was the first example (that I know of) of Gordon's 'stealth taxes' - there are now many more. They have put more money into the Health Service and Education, but the results are not there.
Fast forward to 2006. 'New Labour' is called 'Labour' again - they had some conference to say the transformation was complete, or some such twaddle. He's got rid of ancient legal traditions under the guise of expediency and cost. He's devolved power to Scotland and Wales, but the English pay for it all, he's embedded us more and more with Europe when a clear majority don't consider themselves European, our immigration service is a joke with illegals working in the Home Office etc and to cap it all, there's the honours for cash fiasco, where for about a 1 million pound donation to the Labour party, you can be a Lord, ie the cash-for-peerages scandal.
All his most recent 'reforming' legislation has been watered down by his own back-benchers (arch-lefties who would not have been elected under their Old Labour colours) that it's much worse than doing nothing. He's got no credibility with his own party, who are starting to show their true leftist roots again.
His only real success is on the world stage, where he did the right thing in Iraq (and Labour hate him for it), but then he did get us into Kyoto and a host of other crap initiatives...
He promised so much (I voted for him in 1997 - happily!) and New Labour did seem to have changed. How easily we were taken in ;)
I don't think history will be kind to Tony Blair, he had a golden opportunity to change the face of British politics and blew it.
As for Gordon, he's finally shown himself to be a typical Labour tax and spend chancellor and not a reformer.
The Tories could wipe the floor with Labour, but aren't doing it yet - they're trying to present themselves as more centrist than the master centrist, Blair. Until they recognise that not everyone wants a socialist paradise, they're not going to make the gains they should. There are four issues in this country; immigration (top in many polls), crime, terrorism, Europe. The party that offers real solutions for those areas will rule the roost (I have some ideas in that area ;)
I think the great 'New Labour' experiment, where the Labour party could work constructively with wealth-creators and industry and not just see them as capitalistic running dogs, where they would reform institutions that had passed their sell-by-date and where they would be whiter-than-white in their morals (one of the key reasons they got elected in '97 was because of the ongoing sleeze from the Conservative government) has been shown to be a sham, and the country is now poorer, our pensions system is buggered, the NHS sucks in 76 billion a year and still doesn't work, education has been hammered, our defence systems are *deliberately* being made non-compatible with US gear and we have given up even more sovereignty to Europe (don't get me started on the Human Rights Act).
I'll shut up now.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/24/2006 2:45
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#10
Wowsers, Tony! It'll take me a bit to digest it all, but it appears that he's a disaster across the board. Now that you've mentioned it, the MoD decision to "go Euro" and abandon US compatibility was one of those moments that completely put me off - obviously self-defeating and a major step backward. The Euro mil vision is a full generation behind - we've seen where it leads in the recent Afghanistan stories.
Wow, again. Thanks, Tony! You and Kali smack the Tories for us, okay? I thought the political winds were changing, with new parties of a far more nationalistic nature emerging, and I took that to mean a Tory candidate who isn't on the dole or Kool Aid could surprise the hell out of the current conventional wisdom crowd.
#11
The Tories took a wrong turn by electing Cameron instead of Davies. They wanted their own Blair, young and charismatic, but instead they got someone who could conceivably fail to knock Labour out, by alienating too many traditional Tory voters. But there are still a few people sensible people in the Tory party, like Sir Nicholas Winterton.
Posted by: Kali ||
07/24/2006 3:23
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#12
Yes - there's a man with his priorities straight! I do recall the kerfuffle these comments caused - and his stalwart stance behind them. That's a man I could contribute to and vote for.
I mentioned what was reported as the emerging popularity of "nationalistic" (MNP?) parties or party? Is there any real popular gravity there?
Winterton's chances to rise to prominence within the Tories - any hope of that? Is Davies cut from that cloth?
#13
I suspect that Cameron will be somewhat less pro-US/more anti-Israel than Blair, and Gordon Brown quite a bit so.
Actually, Cameron could be even worse than that, given the recent inanities of his Shadow Foreign Secretary. Choosing Cameron over Davis was a very bad sign for the Tories.
#17
Lots of creeping socialism here in Oz at the state level, but the good news is Howard is easily the most popular polly in Oz. If he runs (leads the Liberals) in the next election (next year) he's highly likely to win. Howard is seen as safe hands and a solid bloke. If we beat the poms in the Ashes (Howard is a big cricket fan as are many Australians) and the election is held soon after, he's got a lock.
#18
I'd like to hear what our UK cousins have to say about who will replace him...
They have nothing to say. In UK the Prime Minuister can be replaced by pure internal party play without voters having any say on it. And BTW, unless things have changed since when Churchill was an MP a guy can be stomped in elctions but the Party decide he will go to Parlimant anyway (eg guy has lots of green or knows things about party leader) so a back-bencher will resign his mandate in his favour and the guy will go to Parlimant without any vote.
England has had freedom, habeas corpus and elections since weel before any other major nation but for democracy they have near zero. What they have is partitocracy.
#19
Oh so we can expect another term for Howard then phil_b hmm?
Just bowing to the inevitable here, I'm sure there will be a spirited showing, followed by a batting collapse, an 'incident' - of an undefined nature, a falling out with the captain, the captain being replaced, good natured 'banter' from the Ozzy bowlers that leads to GBH - again, target undefined, but by some miracle England will win the ashes, only to find the Ozzies had already sold the film rights to 'The murder down-under' so we graciously relinquish them.
;)
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/24/2006 14:06
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(KUNA) -- The US army said on Sunday the Iraqi forces were able to free two hostages and arrest the kidnappers who are involved in death squads east of Baghdad. A statement by the Multinational Forces in Iraq said Iraqi security forces backed up by the Multi-National Forces carried out two raid operations against individuals involved in death squads and racial violence east of Baghdad. The forces were confronted by heavy continuous fire and RPG missiles during the raids, the statement added. The joint forces were able to raid its targets without any casualties among its soldiers, it added. According to the statement two Iraqi hostages were freed and eight kidnappers were arrested.
Iraqi security forces said fierce raids broke out this morning when US-Iraqi forces raided Al-Sadr town east of Baghdad. The sources said the joint forces backed up by US helicopters raided in the early hours of Sunday morning Al-Sadr town.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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DISPROPORTIONATE. Destabilising. Disgraceful. With a unanimity we have become all too familiar within Irish political pronouncements on the Arab-Israeli conflict, this is how representatives from all parties have described Israel's military response to Hizbollah's kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers and its bombing of Israeli cities over the last week.
While scoring high in the categories of alliteration and dramatic effect, such cliched responses lack moral clarity and show no evidence at all that our leaders understand what this conflict is about. There is an unthinking assumption that any sustained Israeli assault on Hizbollah is automatically bad for the prospects of an Israeli-Palestinian peace, bad for the stability of Lebanon, and bad for the West.
But, what if the opposite is true? What if an Israeli military campaign that demoralises and weakens Hizbollah is a good thing?
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Yemen announced yesterday it has withdrawn its proposal for an emergency Arab summit on Israel's attacks on Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, saying the summit could create an inter-Arab divide. "Taking the (Arab) nation's interest into consideration and trying to avoid a divide in the Arab front, the Republic of Yemen regretfully announces an end to its efforts for holding an emergency summit," Yemeni Foreign Minister Abu-Bakr Al-Qerbi said at a press conference in Sanaa.
"The summit was aimed at introducing a new Arab-international initiative to achieve peace after the failure by the international community to do so," said Al-Qerbi. He said the proposed initiative was based on the peace plan introduced by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and was approved by the Arab summit in Beirut in 2002.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/24/2006
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In a big jolt to the Maoist movement in Andhra Pradesh, police gunned down the topmost guerrilla leader in the state in a gun battle Sunday. Madhav, state committee secretary of the outlawed Communist Party of India -Maoist (CPI-Maoist), and seven other rebels were killed by commandos of Greyhounds, the elite anti-Maoist police force, in Nallamalla forests in Prakasam district, about 250 km from here.
This is the first time in over three decades of Maoist insurgency in the state that their top leader was gunned down by police.
Fearing retaliation by the guerrillas, police have sounded a red alert all over the state, and ministers, legislators and other politicians have been advised to take all precautions for their safety.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john ||
07/24/2006
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#1
Caught by the Greyhounds, eh? I expect they ran him down.
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.
An explosion in a house in eastern Gaza City on Monday caused no casualties, witnesses said. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast. 
The U.N. humanitarian chief, returing from a visit to Beirut, accused Hizbullah on Monday of "cowardly blending" among Lebanese civilians and causing the deaths of hundreds.
NOBEL peace laureate Betty Williams displayed a flash of her feisty Irish spirit yesterday, lashing out at US President George W.Bush during a speech to hundreds of schoolchildren. Campaigning on the rights of young people at the Earth Dialogues forum, being held in Brisbane, Ms Williams spoke passionately about the deaths of innocent children during wartime, particularly in the Middle East, and lambasted Mr Bush. 
To the Kurds, Kirkuk was always a Kurdish-majority region shared, they readily admit, with other communities over which they fought and suffered, from Arabisation to forced depopulation to genocide. In their view, the Baathist regimes removal created an opportunity to restore Kirkuk to its rightful owners. They have done much in the past three years to encourage the displaced to return, persuade Arab newcomers to depart and seize control of political and military levers of power. Their ultimate objective is to incorporate Kirkuk governorate into the Kurdish federal region and make Kirkuk town its capital.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made an unannounced visit to Beirut on Monday to seek a "sustainable" cease-fire in Lebanon, where Hizbollah guerrillas and Israeli forces are fighting in the south.
A senior member of Muqtada al-Sadr's Iraqi Shi'ite militia, the Mahdi Army, says the group is forming a squadron of up to 1,500 elite fighters to go to Lebanon. The plan reflects the potential of the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah to strengthen radical elements in Iraq and neighboring countries and to draw other regional players into the Lebanon conflict. 
(IsraelNN.com) Three terrorists were killed in Gaza Monday afternoon by the Israeli Defense Forces. The terrorists were killed by artillery fire directed at the house in which they were hiding in Beit Lahiya in the Gaza strip.
Forty minutes into her reign as Miss Universe, Miss Puerto Rico Zuleyka Rivera Mendoza collapsed during a post-pageant news conference and was rushed offstage on Sunday night.
Israeli forces have pushed forward from the mountaintop village of 
A suspected Muslim insurgent shot to death a primary school teacher Monday in a classroom full of children in violence-plagued southern Thailand, police said. The gunman disguised himself in a student uniform, entered the fourth grade classroom and killed Prasarn Martchu, a 46-year-old Buddhist teacher, while he was teaching at a public school in Narathiwat's Rue So district, said police Col. Banlue Chawej. "The teacher was still holding a piece of chalk'' when he was killed, Banlue said. The gunman fled on a motorcycle with a getaway driver. 
Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut on Sunday promised a bruising fight in the U.S. Senate against confirming John Bolton to be the country's ambassador to the United Nations. "This is going to be a bruising fight," Dodd said on CNN's "Late Edition" program. "I'm sorry the administration wants to go forward with this." He argued that problems Democrats had raised last year were not resolved. "The problems still persist. Many ambassadors at the U.N. feel he hasn't done a good job there," said Dodd, who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee. "It's polarized the situation."
(KUNA) -- Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert Sunday did not rule out negotiations with his Lebanese counterpart Fuad Siniora to bring about the release of two Israeli soldiers, held capitives by Hezbollah. "The Lebanese government and its Prime Minsiter Fuad Siniora are a partner in dialogue, it is possible that this happens but on the right time," Israeli radio quoted Olmert as saying during a cabinet meeting.
Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury who drives the eco-car, Toyota Prius, is also banging the green drum. He has said: "We are not consumers of what God has made. We are in communion with it."
NEW DELHI - An ambitious deal to build a gas pipeline between India and Iran through Pakistan has run into trouble, Irans foreign minister was quoted as saying on Sunday. Oil ministers from the three countries are set to meet in Teheran early next month over a pricing dispute and ways to build the 2,775-kilometer (1,735-mile) line across rugged terrain and heavily militarized frontiers.
(KUNA) -- Israeli warplanes roared at medium and low altitudes on Sunday and scrambled to hit targets on hills in the coastal town of Naameh, a few kilometers south of the Lebanese capital. The jet fighters also hit antennas of a telephone network, located on a hill close to the southern town of Jezzine, a day after the Israeli air force struck several relay communication stations on high ground throughout the country, security sources reported.
KABUL - The intelligence chief of an Afghan district on a major drug trafficking route to Tajikistan has been caught with 33 kilograms (73 pounds) of heroin in a government vehicle, an official said on Sunday.
(KUNA) -- Spokesman of the Israeli Army announced that three explosions occurred Sunday afternoon near the Erez crossing north of Gaza as a result of Palestinian shelling. The spokesman told Radio Israel that Israeli soldiers, stationed near the crossing that joins Gaza and Israel, opened fire everywhere and closed the crossing soon after the explosions occurred. He claimed the explosions did not cause any casualties or damage.
(KUNA) -- Three Iraqis were injured in two separate attacks southwestern Kirkuk, said police on Sunday. In the area of Nehyat al-Riyadh, a mortar shell hit the market area, injuring two civilians who were transferred later for al-Hwuaijah hospital for treatment, an Iraqi police source told KUNA.
A GIRL of 19 faces being hanged in Iran for a crime she didn't commit. Delara Darabi was just 17 when her boyfriend, Amir Hossein, persuaded her to confess to a murder he committed. Believing she was saving him from execution and that she would be freed because of her youth, she told a judge she had broken into a house and killed a woman. 
North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-il, has been 
GENEVA (Reuters) - Iran has asked Switzerland to organise an international conference to resolve its stand-off with the West over its nuclear programme, a Swiss newspaper reported on Sunday.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined thousands of Israel supporters in the withering heat Sunday to rally behind Israel's recent attacks in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Loudly condemning the "relentless rocket attacks of Hamas and Hezbollah against Israel," Villaraigosa drew a cheer when he said: "We're here to defend (Israel's) unassailable right to defend itself."
U.S. Rep. 
(KUNA) -- The latest reports bring up the death toll in the car blast earlier in the day in Sadr City, eastern Baghdad, to 32 and the number of those injured to 63 people, according to Interior Ministry sources. The sources said the explosives team thinks it is most probable the car was rigged with 200 kilograms of explosives. They said this 'preliminary' tally of victims was provided by Kindi and Sadr Hospitals and from medical teams who took part in rescue and recovery at the scene. The sources said the blast set fire to seven civilian vehicles, including a minibus that was transporting passengers from Sadr City and caused damage to a nearby building and 10 shops in close proximity.
(KUNA) -- An Iraqi judge escaped an assassination attempt in Mosul on Sunday, Iraqi police said. A source at the police said justice Mohammad Hamadi Hindi was driving to work in eastern Mosul when unknown gunmen sprayed his car with bullets injuring him but killing his driver.
TYRE, Lebanon - A UN military observer was seriously wounded on Sunday in a border village in southern Lebanon, apparently by Hezbollah fire during a clash with the Israeli army, a UN spokesman said.
(KUNA) -- The casualties from the booby-trapped car in Kirkuk reached 170 people, according to Iraqi police. Kirkuk police chief, Sard Qader, told KUNA, 19 people have been killed and 150 people injured. Many of the injuries are severe, he added. Two storeys of the Kirkuk court building were damaged. Thirty civilian vehicles caught fire in the area. According to Qader, this bomb is one of the most violent witnessed in Kirkuk.
The UN relief chief condemned Israel yesterday for violating humanitarian law over its blistering raids on Lebanon as the Jewish state killed more civilians in another wave of attacks. As Israel tightened its grip on a strategic border village seized in south Lebanon, Syria fueled fears the fighting could spread by issuing a warning that it would intervene if Israel dared to launch an all-out invasion of Lebanon. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was also heading to the Middle East with Washington increasingly estranged from European and Arab allies over a conflict that has killed close to 400 people in just 12 days and triggered a major humanitarian crisis.
(KUNA) -- Multinational Forces (MNF) arrested more than 150 insurgents in cooperation with Iraqi security forces south west of Kirkuk northern Iraq, on Sunday. In a joint military operation, more than 3000 Iraqi and US soldiers besieged Al-Riyadh city and Al-Huwijah, western Kirkuk, in search for Al-Qaeda activists, a statement by the multinational forces said today. The forces arrested 154 suspected terrorists and seized more than 350 weapons including mortar shells, guns, missiles, and RPGs.
KABUL, July 22 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Afghanistan's major creditors have written off $10.4 billion in debt, a further major reduction in the country's debt in the Paris Club, finance ministry spokesman said on Saturday.
Arab heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia were pushing Syria to end its support for the guerrillas, Arab diplomats in Cairo said. A loss of Syria's support would deeply weaken Hezbollah, though its other ally, Iran, gives it a large part of its money and weapons. The two moderate Arab governments were prepared to spend heavily from Egypt's political capital in the region and Saudi Arabia's vast financial reserves to break Damascus from the guerrillas and Iran, the diplomats said.
Benazir Bhutto will be the candidate for the post of prime minister if the PPPP and its allies win the next general elections, leader of the Pakistan Peoples Party-Parliamentarians (PPPP) in the National Assembly Makhdoom Amin Fahim said . "A section of the press has reported that the ARD has decided to nominate me for the post of prime minister. This is not correct," Fahim said. He said that Benazir Bhutto is the chairperson of the ARD since she is the chief of the PPP and he worked as her deputy.
Hizbullah "sleeper" terror cells set up outside Lebanon with Iranian assistance have been put on standby The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday, and are likely planning attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets throughout the world. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) confirmed to the Post Sunday night that it had instructed embassies, consulates and Jewish institutions it was responsible for abroad to raise their level of awareness in light of the conflict in the North. 
LONDON - Britains deputy prime minister hinted on Sunday that Tony Blair may very shortly step down as prime minister and leader of the Labour Party, triggering a party election to replace him.
(KUNA) -- The US army said on Sunday the Iraqi forces were able to free two hostages and arrest the kidnappers who are involved in death squads east of Baghdad. A statement by the Multinational Forces in Iraq said Iraqi security forces backed up by the Multi-National Forces carried out two raid operations against individuals involved in death squads and racial violence east of Baghdad. The forces were confronted by heavy continuous fire and RPG missiles during the raids, the statement added. The joint forces were able to raid its targets without any casualties among its soldiers, it added. According to the statement two Iraqi hostages were freed and eight kidnappers were arrested.
