British troops fighting Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan are on the "brink of exhaustion", The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. Commanders fear that the number of "high tempo" operations being launched against the Taliban is "unsustainable" unless the 3,600-strong task force is reinforced with an extra 1,000-strong infantry battle group. Since May, British troops in Helmand province have fought 25 major battles in which they killed an estimated 700 Taliban.
Commanders say the mission has so far been "fantastically successful", but they believe that the relentless number of back-to-back operations being fought in harsh terrain in temperatures of up to 50C is beginning to take its toll. "The men are knackered - they are on the brink of exhaustion," said one senior officer. "They are under considerable duress and have suffered great hardship." Commanders believe that if they slow the momentum of attacks, the Taliban will gain time to regroup and reorganise before winter.
The Sunday Telegraph has also learnt that an interim study of the mission, by Brigadier Mungo Melvin of the Directorate of Operational Capability, has found "shortcomings" in the assessment of the enemy threat. Patrick Mercer, the Conservative spokesman for homeland security, said the Government had a responsibility to reinforce the task force. He said: "Why the Prime Minister is not giving the commanders in Afghanistan the troops they require is completely incomprehensible."
#2
Har har har! British commanders, British humor. I feel soooo sorry for the Brits!
Decisions decisions. To sleep, or go out and find more bad guys to send off to Allan. Sounds like a winning position to me! Maybe if they'd spend less time burying the bodies they'd have more time to sleep. Just stack 'em up like chordwood and let the enemy waste their time and energy disposing of the husks of the shaheeds. Heck, maybe they'd even get a clue after a while and go back home to tell all their friends about it. Probably not though. They probably believe all that crap about how they will be martyrs and give all their family, friends, pets, etc. free passes into Disneyworld when they die, too. Then again, maybe it's better to keep 'em coming until all the extremist sheep impale themselves on the Brits' bayonettes. At the end of the day, what good is a shepherd without any sheep?
C'mon, Tony, give the troops a break. Every extremist dead is one less (or more if you count their screwed up kids) to fight in the future.
A plot to blow up a mosque in Latifabad on Saturday was foiled when the bomb planted inside the building was defused by the bomb disposal squad. The police said a worshipper had informed the police of two suspicious spray bottles in the ablution area of the Allah Wali Masjid in Unit No 8, Latifabad, at 1:50pm on Saturday as people prepared for the Zuhr prayers at 2:00pm. It triggered panic among people inside the mosque.
The bombs were locally made and contained about 125 grams of explosive...
They evacuated the mosque and Zuhr prayers were also cancelled. The police arrived soon later with the bomb disposal squad (BDS). They carefully defused the bombs. We have successfully defused the bombs and foiled the attempt, BDS team leader Ramzan Panhwar said. The bombs were locally made and contained about 125 grams of explosive, according to SSP Ataullah Chandio.
A hoax bomb call by an unidentified caller told the police on the police emergency telephone number 15 that there was a bomb planted on Hazara Express that arrived at Hyderabad Railway Station at around 10:20am. The police evacuated the train. The BDS inspected the train with the help of metal detectors but did not find any explosives. Later, they declared the train safe for travel. staff report
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
20:15 ||
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MUMBAI: Indian police have detained an Islamic activist in the eastern state of Bihar in connection with last months train bombings in Mumbai, an official said on Saturday. Ziauddin Ansari, a local leader of the outlawed Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), was picked up from the Phulwari Sharif neighbourhood of Patna, Bihars capital, said a police officer. A team from the anti-terrorist squad of Mumbai police travelled to Patna to question Ansari, the officer said. The detainee, who is in his early 40s, was being taken to Mumbai later on Saturday for further interrogation, he said. Ansaris detention came a day after police arrested a security guard from a frontier village in Indias portion of Kashmir in connection with the July 11 bombings in Mumbai, which killed 207 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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Former President Jimmy Carter and former Vice President Walter Mondale met briefly in Minneapolis on Friday night for a fundraiser that mixed a reunion with rebukes of President Bush. The two-hour event at the Mississippi riverfront home of Sam and Sylvia Kaplan served as a fundraiser -- with a suggested donation of at least $250 -- for the Nevada U.S. Senate campaign of Jack Carter, the former president's oldest son, who is favored to win his Democratic primary in two weeks and challenge Republican Sen. John Ensign.
Eleanor Mondale, daughter of the former vice president, who spent the past year beating back brain cancer, took one look at 60-year-old Jack Carter, hugged him and said dramatically, 'Look how mature you are'...
Eleanor Mondale, daughter of the former vice president, who spent the past year beating back brain cancer, took one look at 60-year-old Jack Carter, hugged him and said dramatically, "Look how mature you are."
The hundred or so guests included high-profile DFLers, from U.S. Senate candidate Amy Klobuchar to potential Senate candidate Al Franken, Mayor R.T. Rybak and congressional hopefuls Keith Ellison and Tim Walz. Many of them lined up with others to have their photos taken with the 81-year-old former president and his wife, Rosalynn, who spent an hour obliging their admirers. "I told him that I thought his work on human rights was groundbreaking. He said, 'Thank you.' And that was about all there was time for," Ellison said.
Blew you right off, did he?
Asked whether he found the photo line tiring or fun, Carter said with a smile, "Both."
Alan Sadowsky of Minnetonka brought five of Carter's books and asked the former president to sign them. Carter quickly obliged, but Kaplan razzed Sadowsky: "I can't believe it; the guy brought his whole library."
'We never dropped a bomb. We never dropped a missile. We never fired a bullet. We kept our nation at peace and secure,' Carter said...
Not everyone in the crowd was a Democrat. Uptown developer Stuart Ackerberg and his wife, Romy, an equestrian, are independent-minded but came for the meet-and-greet. "I just wanted to be in the guy's space," Ackerberg said.
Guests sipped wine and ate gumbo, endive appetizers and peanuts. Mondale said Jack Carter could help the Democrats regain control of the Senate and provide a check to the executive branch, because "nobody's pushing any Carter around anywhere."
Carter talked about his four-year presidency with Mondale in terms that many in the audience said gave them a chill. "We never dropped a bomb. We never dropped a missile. We never fired a bullet. We kept our nation at peace and secure," Carter said. "Now we come to a time that is incredibly different." He also said, "We have an ability proven through the ages to correct our mistakes."
Posted by: Fred ||
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Three soldiers crouch in the dust behind a plastic barricade and peer up the road. They know something's coming maybe out of the deep scrub lining the road, maybe somewhere ahead on the asphalt, already steaming hot. They watch and wait.
Then they see it.
A man with his hands over his head, two cylinders and a detonator strapped to his chest, walking steadily closer and pleading in broken English: "Help me. I've got a bomb on me. Help me!"
The soldiers bellow at him to stop, to stand still. Don't touch that detonator! Now the troops get their orders, shouted from their squad leader down the road don't go to him and don't let him come to you. Just wait.
The man with the bomb pleads, he begs, he gets angry and steps forward, he stops and begs again.
"Sir, one more step and we will open fire on you," says one of the soldiers, his helmet low over his eyes, his rifle gripped tight.
Is the man aiming to get close enough to kill them? Is he innocent? Can they convince him to wait, while they wait, for a bomb expert? Above all, how do they find their way through these questions with loaded weapons, a ticking bomb, the confusion of shouted commands from behind and mangled, Arabic-inflected English ahead?
The bomb isn't real. The soldiers' guns are loaded and heavy, but the bullets are not deadly. The Iraqi man is actually an American soldier, an instructor. The road is half a world away from Baghdad, winding through upstate New York's leafy woods where West Point cadets translate classroom lessons into action.
This year, for the first time, the U.S. Military Academy has scrapped its Vietnam-era summer training for scenarios drawn straight from Fallujah and Ramadi. The idea is to train tomorrow's military leaders in warfare that's emerging today in Iraq and Afghanistan a stew of tactical maneuvers, police actions, cultural conflicts and negotiations, all framed by the laws of war.
A day with the cadets shows what they're up against.
The man call him the Iraqi victim tells his story in a jumble: Men came in a van. They told him the bomb would go off in five minutes. He has a wife and family. Won't the Americans help him?
The three soldiers at the front barricade try to keep him calm.
"We'll help you, just be patient, sir," says the female soldier. The victim quiets, his breath ragged.
The squad leader, also a cadet, tells the three that they can't let the victim get any closer or they will be endangering themselves and the FOB the forward operating base they are guarding. Each of the three soldiers tries to talk to the victim, until the squad leader orders: "Just one do the negotiating."
The female soldier, delegated to backup, grumbles just so the other two can hear: "But I was doing the best job controlling him."
The negotiator sticks his head up a little higher over his plastic wall and tries to get more information: Who grabbed you? What did they look like? Did they say anything else? But the victim is too distraught. He rambles. He steps forward again.
The squad leader yells out from behind his barricade: Fire a warning shot. If he keeps coming, engage.
"Stop right there!" the negotiator shouts.
The backup's foot rocks side to side, again and again, her toe digging deeper into a rut of mud, leaves and spent bullets. Sweat shines on the negotiator's face. Alongside him is the big guy on the M249 they call it a SAW for Squad Automatic Weapon, but it could as well be named for the ripping sound it makes when fired.
Be patient, the soldiers say. The bomb expert is coming. Five more minutes.
"But you already say five minutes," the victim shouts and lurches forward.
The backup raises her rifle to her eye.
The victim steps forward again.
The backup fires a single shot into the ground.
It seems that even the insect buzz in the brush quiets for a moment. The victim stands still, the dust floating around his feet. Hearts pound. Nobody speaks.
Then another "Iraqi" comes down the road, says he is the victim's cousin, demands help. Together now, they complain even louder and step forward and the negotiator warns them once, twice, not to come any closer.
He tells the big guy on the SAW to fire at the next step.
And the victim takes that step.
The big gun bursts a half-dozen shots and the victim falls to the ground, holding his leg, shouting in pain. His cousin yells: "American bad! American bad!"
Now it is confusion among the soldiers and their commander. Why did you fire? He kept advancing. Don't shoot! He's still alive? Is he coming closer?
The soldiers fire again. Now, the victim is dead.
Lesson over.
A few moments later, the soldiers, now clearly students, flop down in a circle on the grass to discuss what went right and what went wrong the AAR, short in the acronym-loving military for After Action Review.
With a body on the ground, can this be called a good morning? Or is it a bad one? If only it were that easy.
The cadets' superiors break down what went right and wrong. The good: they survived. "You'll die here two or three times a day," Maj. David Phillips tells them. "But you only die down the line once."
And they successfully followed some key steps: Taking it slow and steady by talking, then warning, then firing a warning shot, then firing a lethal weapon. Staying calm, trying to negotiate.
But they wound up with a dead man who may have been innocent, an enraged cousin bound to fuel anti-American sentiment or more direct action, and a live bomb if they hadn't exploded it with the imprecise machine gun and injured or killed themselves.
Some students ask if it would really take that long to get a bomb expert. (Probably longer, they're told). Another cadet warns that the way it played out would just do more damage to the perception of the American effort in Iraq. (Agreed).
And then Robert Pecha, a 19-year-old from Sonoma, Calif., pipes up. "Sir, I've got a question about shooting him again. Is that allowed at all or are you going straight to jail?"
Phillips nods his head: The victim was no longer a threat, so no follow-up shots should have been fired.
"It was a serious moral dilemma," Phillips says. "It was a brutal lesson."
#1
These cadets are getting IED detection training, live fire exercises in the field, and a lot of discussion about professional ethics and behavior -- plus some who are close to graduating are spending time with GEN(ret) Tommy Franks talking about leadership in combat.
The rising seniors chose as their class ring insignia a '911' in which the '11' is formed by the Twin Towers of the WTC.
It's not a game. Most graduates have a good chance of seeing or directly supporting combat, and they know it. And came and stayed anyway. We owe them a lot.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 20:55
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#3
The lessons of Vietnam could be even more brutal. A SF LTC told us this one:
Way behind enemy lines, his small band of Hmong had just come back from a long mission and were exhausted, when they get an emergency mission: a major flight of US aircraft will be flying over a significant SAM battery in three hours. Unless that SAM battery is destroyed, those aircraft will be chopped to ribbons.
They grabbed whatever weapons they could and literally had to run through the jungle to get to the SAM site. En route, they chanced across an NVA soldier out by himself, and captured him.
Here was the problem. They couldn't leave anyone to guard him, or take him to their secret base; and they couldn't take him with them.
#4
The victim was no longer a threat, so no follow-up shots should have been fired
Wrong, he still had an IED strapped to his chest, he was still a threat.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/05/2006 21:39
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#5
Personally, I think the scenario played out about right. Often, there is not the luxury of time to do what these soldiers did. Such a delay might result in the deaths of your own soldiers. The lessons of the Pacific island campaign of WW II should not be forgotten--don't do too much "navel" inspection and don't fret too much about moral ambiguties in heated combat. Winning the war has a way of sorting things. Heard the other day that Faleuja is one of the safer places to be in Iraq. Might have something to do with the Marines pacifying this city in the second battle of Faleuja.
A GROUP of US anti-war activists on Saturday said they will head to Lebanon to denounce their government's failure to call for an immediate ceasefire between key ally Israel and the Hezbollah.
The group made the announcement after two days of talks in Jordan with Iraqi parliamentarians on ways to gain US Congress backing for a swift end to US troop deployment in Iraq and US funds to rebuild Iraq.
"We are leaving tomorrow (Sunday) for Syria and hope to go the next day to Lebanon," said Medea Benjamin, founding director of the US human rights organisation Global Exchange and member of several other anti-war groups.
Ann Wright, a retired US army colonel and veteran diplomat, said the group wants "to bear witness to what is happening" in Lebanon and hook up with civil rights groups to assess the humanitarian crisis and help provide aid. Celebrated US anti-war campaigner Tom Hayden,famous for his involvement in the anti-war of the 1960s, meanwhile questioned the motives behind Israel's onslaught. Hayden will not be going to Lebanon but he joined Benjamin, Wright and 12 other US activists in meetings Friday and Saturday with Iraqi MPs to discuss a US troop pullout from Iraq.
Iraqi MP Salman al-Jumaili, one of seven deputies who met with the US peace activists, told reporters: "We have found a voice inside the United States that backs us." Yes, indeed: on the other side.
#4
add IAF GPS indicators to their luggage. I wouldn't want them to miss out on making the ultimate sacrifice. Hell, based on their beliefs, they'll probably transport Hezb resupply rockets with them. Take em out, IAF - I'll buy the pizza
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 20:27
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#6
Here, wear these camos in support of the soldiers. And carry around these cardboard tubes on your shoulders in support of all the Hezb'Allah who have been terrorized by Israel. Yeah, like that. It's getting dark now, so let's go tour that bombed out area in Beirut. You go hang out there and I'll be along in a bit . . . .
Notice the dead fellow in the back getting up. Apparently he was a bit impatient, a bit like the dead Muhammad al Durah [6] looking up from under his elbow, when hes supposed to be dead. And the photo editor of the Washington Post apparently didnt notice that there was a problem with what the folks back home were informed about what was going on in this picture. ([7] Charles Enderlin would say its death throes.)
#1
There are several photos of that person from different angles with some time lapse. What we see here is rigor morits with some good refrigeration prior to placement. From the size of shadows I'd say the time would be about 9:00-10:00 in the morning, a bit too early for rigor mortis to set in.
Last week I stood waiting at a West Bank checkpoint between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Contrary to what some would have you believe, these places tend to be fairly clean and warm and the security personnel efficient, if not particularly friendly.
In front of me was a small boy, perhaps five years old. He looked at the soldier in front of him and then suddenly lifted up his shirt to display a slightly bulging package taped to his tiny body. All I could think was that this was an absurd, pathetic way in which to die.
Then there was a cacophony of explanations in Arabic and Hebrew, and Israeli soldiers told the boy to keep still and raise his arms away from his body. They were firm but not angry or bullying. The boy obeyed, and it then became clear that this was no suicide bomber but a poor, suffering child who had to wear a colostomy bag. His permit had expired but a colonel in the Israeli paratroops, a hardened combat officer, took charge of the situation and brought the boy through the turnstile. He was then taken to the Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem where he received some of the finest medical treatment in the world. A hospital, by the way, where every third or fourth person treated is a Palestinian or Israeli Arab.
I tell this story because it is more typical of the Israeli reality than most of the propaganda currently being poured out over the war in Lebanon. Nobody can claim that the Jewish state is without blemish, but anyone who knows it and its people appreciates that this is a nation worthy of respect.
Enough is enough. It is time to be bold. Israel is an island of decency and moderation in a raging sea of dictatorship, theocratic madness and undiluted political hypocrisy. The last thing it wanted was a war on its northern border.
More of an extended family than a nation-state, the country moves into spasm each times it loses one of its soldiers. Losses are counted as individuals rather than units and names are far more important than ranks.
Critics have argued that Israel engineered this war because it wanted to smash Lebanon as a potential economic rival. Nothing could be further from the truth. A prosperous and pluralistic Lebanon would have delighted Israel, a country that cries out for trading partners in the region. The war is economically disastrous, emotionally traumatic and rips Israel apart as its finest sons lose their lives.
Nor is this in any way mass invasion and full-scale war. Israel has some 3,500 frontline battle tanks, one of the strongest and most capable air forces in the world, tens of thousands of elite troops and advanced nuclear technology. In other words, if it waged full-scale war we would certainly know. Instead, it has sent teams of commandos across the border to take Hezbollah-held villages one by one. Just as when the Israeli army cleaned Jenin of its terrorists, lives are lost because of tactics based on honour rather than brute force.
The usual opponents of Israel will dismiss these comments, but political fashion is usually irrelevant and always too easy.
Peace in the Middle East is possible, but it is the Arab world and its friends rather than Israel that has to transform. Soon -- and with full and absolute commitment.
#1
Excellent catch TW! - and big kudos to the Toronto Sun for printing it.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/05/2006 20:31
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#2
As a Catholic, I understand and support the Jewish people and the State of Israel. To do less would subvert my love for Jesus, God, freedom, and democracy...plus, I always love the underdog. Kick ass, Israel!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 20:40
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Hizb'allah losing the war for key hearts and minds?
Hizbullah must immediately stop firing rockets into civilian areas in Israel, Human Rights Watch said Saturday. "Lobbing rockets blindly into civilian areas is without doubt a war crime," said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. "Nothing can justify this assault on the most fundamental standards for sparing civilians the hazards of war."
"Most of the attacks appear to have been directed at civilian areas and have hit pedestrians, hospitals, schools, homes and businesses," the humanitarian organization's website stated.
Since July 12, when Hizbullah captured two IDF soldiers and killed eight, Human Rights Watch researchers have been documenting the war's impact on civilians in Israel and Lebanon, interviewing the witnesses and survivors of attacks, as well as doctors, emergency workers, police, military and government officials.
"Hizbullah must stop using the excuse of Israeli misconduct to justify its own," said Roth.
The organization's Web site recognized that northern Israel had come to a virtual standstill because of Hizbullah's rockets, which were "exacting an enormous human and economic toll."
"Under international humanitarian law - also known as the laws of war - parties to an armed conflict must not make the civilian population the object of attack, or fire indiscriminately into civilian areas. Nor can they launch attacks that they know will cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians or damage to civilian objects that exceeds the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated. Such attacks constitute war crimes," the site explained.
"Several medical and educational institutes have sustained damage from Katyusha attacks." Human Rights Watch researchers visited hospitals in Nahariya and Safed after they were hit. At Nahariya Hospital, rockets had been landing near the hospital since July 12, a hospital spokesperson said. "There are no military bases around here; nothing military at all," he said. "I believe they know perfectly well they are firing at a hospital."
"In the absence of troops or military assets inside, hospitals must never be attacked," Human Rights Watch said. "Deliberately attacking them is a war crime."
Lebanese-born John Atala, 27, a former football player at Central Connecticut State University and now team captain and linebacker with the minor league New England Knights of West Haven, grew up in Prospect after leaving Lebanon at the age of 7. He says he tries to return once a year to visit his extended family which lives largely in the mountainous northern region of Lebanon.
Last month, his trip to Lebanon for his cousins wedding turned horrific when Israeli missile fire just missed the beach region he and his cousins had left only minutes before. At night, back home in the mountains, they heard the sounds of bombs exploding just villages away. "We were fortunate to have houses in the (northern) mountains ... so many others are not," Atala said. But as a result, he explained, people from the more heavily bombed Muslim regions of southern Lebanon migrated north, creating chaos and heightened distrust with the heavily Catholic populations of the north.
Finally at 3:30 a.m. (on July 24), Atala and family members went down to the port city of Jounieh, where the U.S. Marines had set up a base for Americans. Hours later, a U.S. cruise ship filled with about 1,200 Americans was escorted out to sea by two naval battleships. Atala spent much of the 10-hour voyage to Cyprus with an IV in his arm from a stomach virus. "Finally we got to Cyprus and had to take a two-hour bus ride to the airport. We got to the airport at 11:30 at night, but we had to remain on the street outside the airport for the next 14 hours." Atala and his family eventually took a plane to Germany, and five hours later, flew to Maryland.
"When we got to Maryland, I wanted to kiss the ground," Atala said. "We had U.S. Air Force, Army ... there were balloons greeting us ... people clapping. Being away makes you realize how great this country is .... this coming from someone who loves Lebanon. But theres nothing like this country."
While he prays for his relatives' safety, his fervent hope is that Israel can eradicate the Hezbollah with minimal loss of civilian life. "Hezbollah is like a cult that has been destroying the country for years," Atala said. "I can only tell you from my familys point of view, but theyre all 110 percent with Israel. They want Israel to come in there and annihilate Hezbollah because theres so much tension in the country. The Lebanese who dont speak up ... its only because theyre scared of what Hezbollah might do."
Is it realistic to think that Israel can eradicate Hezbollah?
"I hope so," said Atala, ironically nicknamed the "Lebanese Missile" at Central Connecticut for his reckless abandon on special teams. "They take these little kids and brainwash them to think that terrorism is something to be proud of. So now even the Muslims are turning against them. I pray for the safety (of Lebanese civilians) every day, but if theres a cease-fire, and Hezbollah keeps power, how long will they stop? For a few months? A year? So right now, end (Hezbollah) any way you can."
Some leaders of Egypt's Gama'a Islamiya have joined al Qaeda, al Qaeda's deputy head Ayman al-Zawahri said in a video aired on Al Jazeera television on Saturday.
"We bring good tidings to the Muslim nation about a big faction of the knights of the Gama'a Islamiya uniting with al Qaeda," Zawahri said in the video.
He said the move aimed to help "rally the Muslim nation's capabilities in a unified rank in the face of the most severe crusader campaign against Islam in its history."
Zawahri named Mohamed al-Islambouli as one of those who had joined al Qaeda. He was apparently referring to Mohamed Shawqi Islambouli, a Gama'a leader and a brother of Khaled Islambouli, who assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981.
A man introduced by Zawahri as a Gama'a leader, Mohamed Hakaima, appeared in a portion of the video and confirmed the unity move, but said some group members had "deviated" from it.
"This (move) is in adherence to the Lord's word (about the need to unify Muslims) and in support of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman," said Hakaima, carrying an assault rifle and standing in an area covered with palm trees.
Hakaima, who is not well known internationally, said the move was to push out the "enemy occupier of Muslim lands."
Abdel-Rahman, a Gama'a spiritual leader, is jailed in the United States after being convicted on charges linked to the World Trade Center bombing in 1993.
"A group of brothers from the Gama'a Islamiya, who had been subjected to pressures and influences, ... went to the path of the Egyptian government and America," Zawahri said of those who had declined to join al Qaeda.
The Egyptian-born militant leader wore a white robe and turban and sat against a black background. He joined the Islamic Jihad when it was founded in 1973 and was among 301 people arrested in Sadat's assassination but was cleared at trial.
He did, though, spend three years in jail for having an unlicensed pistol.
He took over leadership of Jihad in Egypt in 1993 and was a part of a campaign in the mid-1990s to set up a purist Islamic state, in which more than 1,200 Egyptians died. In 1999, an Egyptian military court sentenced Zawahri to death in absentia.
The Egyptian government detained many thousands of Gama'a members or sympathizers in the 1990s, when the group was waging a low-level guerrilla war against the security forces, mainly in the south of the country.
Hundreds have come out of detention over the years after renouncing the use of violence to overthrow the government.
Gama'a leaders declared a truce with the government in 1997, after an attack on tourists at a pharaonic temple in Luxor.
Slight trimming
The U.S. and France agreed Saturday on a draft Security Council resolution that seeks an immediate halt to fighting in Lebanon, breaking a three-week impasse caused partly by Washington's refusal to press Israel to end its offensive against Hezbollah. The resolution would chart a path toward a temporary hudna while Hez'Beelzebub rearmslasting peace with a cease-fire monitored by international troops like the ones currently aiding the terrorists. If passed, it would be the most significant international response to the crisis and raise hopes of ending combat that has killed at least 600 and left Lebanon in tatters.
The resolution must now go before the full 15-nation Security Council and gain Israeli and Lebanese acceptance - and initial comments indicated that would not be easy. Hezbollah warned it won't abide by the resolution unless Israel withdraws from Lebanon entirely, while one Israeli official called the draft an "important development" but vowed to press on with the offensive for now. The text also ignored three Lebanese demands: setting a timetable for an Israeli withdrawal from the south, lifting Israel's full blockade of Lebanon and putting the disputed Chebaa Farms area under U.N. control.
President Bush is "happy with the progress being made" at the United Nations, but knows cementing a cease-fire will not be easy, White House press secretary Tony Snow said. "I don't think he has any delusions about what lies ahead," said Snow, who was with the president on his vacation at his private ranch in Crawford, Texas.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair praised the resolution as "an important first step in bringing this tragic crisis to an end." "The priority now is to get the resolution adopted as soon as possible, and then to work for a permanent cease-fire and achieve the conditions in Lebanon and Israel which will prevent a recurrence," Blair said.
The Security Council convened later Saturday to discuss the draft. Diplomats said the document was likely to be adopted early next week at a meeting attended by the foreign ministers of the 15 council members.
The resolution's central demand was for "a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations." The document then charted a detailed path for the two sides to follow to achieve a lasting peace. It envisioned a second resolution in a week or two that would authorize an international military force for the Israel-Lebanon frontier. Among those steps would be the creation of a large buffer zone in southern Lebanon free of both Israeli troops and Hezbollah militants, monitored by the Lebanese army and international peacekeepers. Of course, Hezbeelzebub will not be required ot keep any of the conditions, while Israel will be pressured to keep them all and go beyond.
The draft also called for Hezbollah to be disarmed and for Lebanon's borders to be solidified, especially in the disputed Chebaa Farms area, occupied by Israel since 1967.
Another element was an arms embargo that would block any entity in Lebanon except the national government from obtaining weapons from abroad. That was aimed at blocking the sale or supply of arms to Hezbollah from Iran and Syria, which are believed to be the militia's main backers.
The resolution would put significant pressure on Lebanon's government, which ceded control of the south to Hezbollah. "This is not a resolution that provides the comprehensive solution," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said. "I'm sure there are aspects of it that are displeasing to almost everyone but the point is this is a way to get started and that's what we hope to do." You have a lot fans here, Mr. Ambassador. Please don't go wobbly on us.
The draft's chief goal is to ensure that southern Lebanon does not slip back into the same state it was in before Israel's offensive, which began after Hezbollah guerrillas raided northern Israel on July 12 in fighting that left eight soldiers dead and two captured. "Who could imagine that such a drama could happen again?" French Ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said. "It would be irresponsible." But this is the UN and you are France. "Irresponsible" is SOP.
The U.S. and France had to compromise to get the draft adopted. Washington backed off its demand for a package of immediate steps, including the deployment of the international force in conjunction with a cease-fire. France gave up its desire for a blanket halt to violence, agreeing for the resolution to give Israel the right to conduct defensive operations - a term that the Israeli military could interpret broadly in response to any Hezbollah attack.
The draft made no direct demand for the release of the two captured Israeli soldiers. It only emphasized the need to address the causes "that have given rise to the current crisis," including freeing the abductees. The Security Council has made the same demands previously - most recently with resolution 1559 in September 2004 - but Hezbollah has refused to obey. "What we're trying to do is lay in the foundation so that you can finally enact the provisions of U.N. Security Council resolution 1559," Snow told reporters in Texas.
It asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to play a key role in setting up catering arrangements securing Israeli and Lebanese agreement to the principles for peace, giving him one month to work with the parties to come up with new proposals to implement the demands spelled out in resolution 1559 and elsewhere.
Hezbollah has said it would refuse to abide by any cease-fire until Israel withdraws from Lebanon, and Israel says it won't pull its troops out of the south until a significant international military force deploys in the region. "We will abide by it on condition that no Israeli soldier remains inside Lebanese land. If they stay, we will not abide by it," said Mohammed Fneish, one of two Hezbollah Cabinet ministers in the Lebanese government.
In Israel, Tourism Minister Isaac Herzog told Israel TV's Channel One that the agreement was an "important development," but said Israel would not halt its assault on Hezbollah for the time being. Still, he appeared to acknowledge the draft meant Israel's offensive would have to wind down soon. "We still have the coming days for many military missions, but we have to know that the timetable is becoming increasingly shorter," he said.
The United States and France agreed Saturday on a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for a halt to the fighting between Israel and Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas, but would allow Israel to defend itself if attacked. The draft, sent to the entire Security Council for consideration, "calls for a full cessation of hostilities based upon, in particular, the immediate cessation by Hezbollah of all attacks and the immediate cessation by Israel of all offensive military operations."
Israel, backed by the U.S., has insisted it must have the right to respond if Hezbollah launches missiles against it. France and many other nations had demanded an immediate halt to the fighting without conditions as a way to push the region back toward stability. The agreement broke weeks of deadlock as the U.N. Security Council had failed to take any significant action to stop the violence, primarily because of opposition from the United States, Israel's closest ally.
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said the agreement will aid the peace process. "What we're trying to do is lay in the foundation so that you can finally enact the provisions of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559," said Snow, speaking from Crawford, Texas, where President Bush was vacationing on his ranch. Resolution 1559, passed in September 2004, called for the disarming of Hezbollah and the extension of Lebanese government authority throughout southern Lebanon.
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
16:25 ||
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#1
If it doesn't call for the release of two kidnapped Israeli soldiers, it's a non-starter. Actually it should require the release of Shalit by Hamas, too.
#2
It's a nonstarter. Hezb will not refrain from shooting at the hated Jooooos. Israel's granted the right of self defense. Also, Shebaa Farms should never got to Lebanon in any agreement - that was already "settled" by UN fiat before
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 18:57
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giving Kofi Annan one month to work with the parties to come up with new proposals to implement the demands spelled out in resolution 1559 and elsewhere.
So that gives Israel at least another month to bounce an increasing swath of Hizb'allah rubble, after the resolution is passed. I don't think the bad guys are winning anything significant here.
An anticipatory buzz fills the room. Six crisp American flags, erect as soldiers, line the dais. More than an hour before the vice president's arrival, the GOP faithful stand at the ready. Never mind that Dick Cheney is favorably regarded by only about a third of Americans. To this crowd, in this place, he is a rock star.
Cheney's not a pretty boy. He doesn't blow with the wind. When he speaks, he sounds like he's thought about what he's going to say before it comes out. What's not to like?
And Gus Bilirakis, a state legislator bidding to succeed his father in Congress, is happy to bask in the vice president's glow, pocketing $200,000 in campaign contributions from Cheney's two-hour visit to town late last month. "He's a dynamic leader," Tampa attorney Monica Lothrop gushes after Cheney's standard, hang-tough-against-terror speech. "It was just a thrill to be able to see him in person."
None of the Dem mantras count for squat if we lose the WoT. Health care, public services, social security will be doled out by the local holy man.
Four days earlier, the scenario was the same in Iowa, where Cheney raised campaign cash for two Republican congressional candidates. Ditto three days later in Alabama and Arkansas, where Cheney was raising money for two gubernatorial candidates. Five and half years into the Bush presidency, Cheney's image may have taken a beating overall but "he's still Elvis to a lot of the conservatives," says Marshall Wittmann, a Democratic Leadership Council analyst. "When he comes in, money and enthusiasm flow."
There's a certain segment of the populace that still respects grownups, that puts more emphasis on thinking than on feeling. That segment's the Cheney core...
Cheney, always a stalwart campaigner for the party, is outpacing his schedule from the 2002 midterm elections. He has logged 80 fundraisers so far this election cycle, bringing in more than $24 million, with the heaviest campaign travel still to come. By comparison, he logged 106 fundraisers for all of 2001-2002. Democrats hope the strategy backfires, and they're working harder to use Cheney's visits against the Republicans. "There's nothing that riles the Democrats up more than Cheney," says Democratic consultant Jenny Backus. Cheney is one of the top two or three "bad guys" that Democrats use in direct mail appeals to rally base voters and raise money, she said. "Just like the Republicans used to use Ted Kennedy," she said, "the Democrats are now using Cheney."
That's only fair. Both are emblematic of their parties. Advantage: Republicans, since Cheney's got a much lower corpse count...
And come this fall, when both parties bid for swing voters in the middle of the political spectrum, look for some Democratic candidates to churn out campaign ads tying their GOP opponents to the vice president in hopes that dissatisfaction with the Bush administration will rub off. A recent Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll, for example, found that 55 percent of independents said they were less likely to vote for a candidate for whom President Bush had campaigned, compared with 7 percent who were more likely to vote for a candidate for whom Bush had campaigned. Cheney's favorability ratings are even lower than Bush's. Cheney may bring in a lot of cash, says Democratic consultant Dane Strother, but "the problem is that when he races through town, he leaves a stack of headlines. And come mid-October, you tie the Republican candidate to the Bush-Cheney efforts and, boom, there are the headlines and the pictures."
Mid-October's not here yet, is it?
Republican consultant Charlie Black rejects the idea that any GOP candidate will pay a price for "guilt by association" with Cheney. "Some people would say that outside the base he's not popular but that's true for the president himself, so that's just part of the deal," Black said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
14:39 ||
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#1
let's see: Ted "babe killer, drunk and taxer extreme" Kennedy and Cheney.......
I feel comfortable with Dick. He's serious, thinks, and cares about America's interests. The Donks, well, ...they want power
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 16:11
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Only bad thing with Cheney is that he's a shapeshifting reptiloid illuminati pulling the strings from his Halliburton underground HQ. Otherwise, he's just fine.
#3
well he shot a lawyer, didn't he? So ya gotta give him that....
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 17:03
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#4
Inxay, A5089. You don't want to let the cat out of the bag. Didn't you receive your shares yet? One condition is that we don't mention how Halliburton controls Cheney, who controls Rumsfeld, who then controls Bushitler, (shared with Rove, who takes orders from the Religious Right).
#5
Only bad thing with Cheney is that he's a shapeshifting reptiloid illuminati pulling the strings from his Halliburton underground HQ. Otherwise, he's just fine.
You poor soul, you can't even spell the Chainey bots name rite. Listen to the one known as M4D.
#6
I still wonder if after the midterms, if Cheney is going to retire for "health reasons", so that Bush can have Condoleeza Rice as his VP, with the resulting political nuclear detonation.
The narrative here is of how the combination of Hezb'Allah's media management and modern photo-journalism has turned the recording of a tragic event into theatre, in the best tradition of Michael Moore.
As best we can, we have pieced together the jumble of evidence which surrounded the production of the iconic photographs which were published around the world, and put them in perspective. Many of the photographs have been used before, some are new to this site and others are video "grabs". But it is not the pictures, per se, that tell the story, so much as their ordering and analysis.
[Read the whole thing. Convincing evidence that Western "news" agencies are collaborating with Hizb'Allah.]
Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) ||
08/05/2006
14:13 ||
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Investigative analysis.
Seeking facts and telling a true story, in its essentials.
Distinguishing between observed facts, claims, opinion, and propaganda.
Connecting the dots.
Doing it all in the open, and letting readers comment.
Surely this will be taken up in the MSM, on TV, and rewarded with journalism prizes!
Cuba's vice president said Saturday that Fidel Castro is recovering satisfactorily from surgery and the communist leader sent his "fraternal greetings" to the people of Bolivia, Cuban state media reported. Carlos Lage spoke in Bolivia on the way to the Sunday opening of a convention to write a new constitution for the South American nation, according to Cuban international news agency Prensa Latina, which offered no further details of his statement. Neither of the Castros has been seen since Monday's announcement that Fidel, 79, had undergone surgery for intestinal bleeding and was temporarily ceding power to his brother Raul, the 75-year-old defense minister.
The island's communist government beefed up security, mobilizing citizen defense militias and asking military reservists to check in daily because of what it says are fears of a U.S. attack during Castro's health crisis. The White House has insisted no such threat exists, with press secretary Tony Snow dismissing the suggestion that the United States would attack the island as "absurd."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
13:44 ||
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"With mice and fruit flies we were able to eliminate the loss of short-term memory," Ropers, 62, is quoted saying in the German newspaper, which has dubbed it the "world's first anti-stupidity pill."
Brilliant! Now, let's start creating a list of people they should be sent to (BIIIG list)
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/05/2006 12:44
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Never mind you, #3 anon - get a bunch, grind them up and dissolve them in drinks, and give the drinks to the Lefties.
Hilarity will ensue. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/05/2006 14:59
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#5
Um... I don't think solving a short term memory problem is anti-stupid. Anti-forgetful, maybe. Stupid is the lack of involvement of permenate synapse connections. Can't cure stupid, or lefties, but then I repeat myself.
#6
Old joke I heard about 60 years ago:
After being coerced, a lad hands his tormentor some pills and tells him they are Smart Pills. The tormentor tosses a couple in his mouth then exclaims, "These take like rabbit shit." The lad replies, "now, you're getting smart."
#7
Actually, if this were already available, I might be a customer. One of the possible side-effects of My radiation treatment is STM loss. So far, it hasn't happened, but I have 5 weeks to go.
#8
Must have found a new way to package rat poison. Genius! Label a couple of pallets as "Allah's Israel-B-Gone Pills" and ship them to the MMs in Iran. Problem solved in less than a week.
#9
STM loss beats the results of not taking rad treatments. Best of luck Jackal, hope it all goes well for you. Not to worry about the news though, it's ground hog day round here.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/05/2006 21:29
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The following is from LeMonde after running it through babblefish. (a translator program)
France and the United States managed an agreement on the draft Resolution which calls at the end of the hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah. The Elysium and the American ambassador with UNO, John Bolton, made the advertisement of it in parallel, Saturday August 5, without providing details on the text to the press.
"an agreement was found between French and Americans on the draft Resolution on the Middle East prepared by France to require a complete stop of the hostilities and to work with one cease to it permanent fire and with a long-term solution", the presidency of the French Republic announced.
The text must be presented Saturday at the Council by the representative of France "with the concern of reaching the broadest agreement", according to the French presidency. Taking into account the mechanisms of operation of the Council, the possible adoption of this text can hardly intervene before Sunday as soon as possible.
According to diplomats' in New York who took note of the draft Resolution, the text would call with a "complete suspension of the hostilities" between Israel and Hezbollah, but not at a "immediate end of violences", and would make it possible at the Hebrew State to be defended if it were attacked. According to John Bolton, this first resolution would be followed one second, centered on the question of the deployment of a force of international interposition.
The concluding of an agreement on Lebanon with UNO is "a first vital step to put an end to this tragic crisis", estimated Saturday British the Prime Minister Tony Blair. "the priority is now to adopt as quickly as possible this resolution then to work with a permanent cease-fire and to reach the conditions in Lebanon and in Israel" which will avoid new hostilities.
#1
Don't forget to put in a provision for international troops being required to immediately help defend Israel in a meaningful, big way in the event of a Hezb'Allah attack. That ought to make them stop and think about the reality of it all.
#2
Yah. I call that the "belling the cat" clause. Right now the Israelis are willing to try to bell the cat. Is anyone else?
Posted by: Phil ||
08/05/2006 13:54
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Agreements with the islamos crazies tend to be viewed by them as a me to reload. Their objective is as always--get rid of the Jews and fellow travelers and live in a Muslim-dominated world. That is what they say. What part of what they say does the Western world not get?
With a new school year about to begin, some female students in one Texas school district may have to rethink their wardrobes. Teen fashions often leave parents a little disgruntled. Arlington Independent School District parent Frances Henson said, I'm thinking that our daughters are growing up a little bit too fast these days.
Arlington School Board members agree with parents and this summer, they adopted an unusual amendment to the student dress code. The new dress code reads, in part, The display of cleavage is unacceptable. Low cut blouses, tops, sweaters, etc. with plunging necklines are not allowed."
It's gotten bad enough that, unfortunately, our young males are looking at more than their English book, their speech book, their science book, says school board president Sherri Wade. And it's kind of nice to have something left to the imagination.
Even some teenagers agree there is a problem. I think it's good that they're doing it, said student Tyler Edwards. Others students say it makes back-to-school shopping more difficult. I just have to be more careful with what shirts I buy. Change my style a little, said student Maria Lopez.
While most parents support the new rule, some worry that enforcing it could be a challenge. I think that's going to be a little tricky, because it puts a little bit of a policeman approach to the educators, and they really need to focus more on teaching, said Tom Pederson, AISD parent. The school board president says they'll do both and in time, she says, the no cleavage rule will be no problem. You could just pass out burkas.
#4
I know that when I'm geting on an elevator with a woman like her, I always offer to carry her fun bags. It's the boyscout in me. No thanks needed. I just like to help. I'm that way...
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 18:38
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Source is some alternative(?) local newspaper(?). Author seems kind of a goob, but he didn't approve of the stunt Code Pink pulled in KC a couple weeks ago.
The operation: Bike up to pumps, wrap a pink trash bag around the handle and prevent customers from filling up for a minute or two. Sarah Finken would lead chants with her megaphone while others would wave banners.
The first target was the QuikTrip at Westport Road and Mercier, already a cauldron of circling cars and surly customers.
Seven bicycles rolled to the pumps at 5:16, inciting a couple of anti-war honks. Out came the trash bags. To stunned motorists, the activists said things such as "no gas today," "keep driving" and "we're taking over."
At ["cheerleader" Sarah] Finken's pump, a Dick Cheney look-alike in shorts, sandals and an apoplectic rage, leapt from his red Dodge van and pushed her aside.
"I'm sorry, we're taking over right now," she said.
"Move the fuck out of my way!" He dragged her bike from the pump.
Cheney finally lost it completely when he spotted Code Pinker Andrew Badgerow snapping away with a digital camera. Cheney upended a bike and seized Badgerow's camera, which he threw to the pavement, shattering it.
Law student Badgerow chose not to confront the rampaging Cheney... More at the link, including a pic. Read the rest. There's a happy ending.
With a feathery boa wrapped around her Peaches T-shirt, Finken commandeered the easternmost pumps. She kicked off the chants with "money for health care!"
"Stop the war!" called the rest of the Code Pinkers.
Finken: "Funding for education!"
Code Pinkers: "Stop the war!"
Half the QuikTrip customers: "Fuck you!"
ROFLMAO! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/05/2006 11:23
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Try to do that in some parts of town, you'd get your ass capped by a gang member. And no own would be able to provide information to the interviewing officer. Un ah, nope, didn't see nottin.
Posted by: Chinese Whuger3858 ||
08/05/2006 12:42
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BAD MISTAKE. People get psychotic at the gas pump over small stuff.
A few years ago, a "Candid Camera"-style show tried a trick at some gas pumps which made the pump still show that gas was pumping, and running up the price, even after the customers had stopped pumping.
The people pumping went violently nuts. They didn't care after the show's producer told them that it was a joke, and all the gas they had pumped was free. They were red-eyed pissed off, and both men and women pushed him and even took swings at him while using the foulest of language.
#6
"It's another indication of how addicted we've become some of us aren't willing to take the minute and a half to talk to someone about it. We've lost that willingness to have a conversation or to engage with another living person."
Yeah. Sure. Looking back on it, I've never really had an engaging conversation that started with my interlocutor wrapping a garbage bag around my intended gas pump. I could have missed one, but I don't think so.
#7
good point elarson, I was always too busy inserting the squeegee down their trachea to discuss geopolitical/religion/morality theory.
I guess I'm guilty of insensitivity. Mea Culpa
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 18:42
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ISRAELI naval commandos landed in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre Saturday, storming an apartment block where they killed three Hezbollah militants in fierce clashes before escaping back to Israel.
The operation, the second such raid this week, came as Israel launched its heaviest bombardment of southern Lebanon since its offensive began, carrying out 250 air raids and firing some 4000 shells into the region.
The Israeli military said it killed three Hezbollah militants in the night-time commando raid and that eight of its soldiers were wounded - two of them, including an officer, seriously.
"Guided by very precise intelligence, navy commandos entered an apartment on the second floor of a five-story building in the north of Tyre, where they killed at least three Hezbollah leaders," an Israeli naval commander said.
"There were point-blank exchanges of fire and grenades were thrown inside the apartment and two of our troops were seriously wounded," he said.
The commander said the three dead were behind the firing of a missile late Friday on the Israeli town of Hadera, some 75 kilometres from the frontier, the deepest strike into the Jewish state of the present conflict.
"Our commandos were able to retreat and to hit with counterstrikes six to eight terrorists from neighbouring buildings, killing some of them, and to return to Israel with aviation support," he said.
A Lebanese soldier was also killed in the commando raid after his unit opened fire on the Israeli helicopters, police said.
A witness close to Hezbollah, who declined to be named, told AFP that an Israeli helicopter landed at Jall al-Bahr, an area of orchards at Tyre's northern entrance, and fell straight into a Hezbollah "ambush".
"A member of the commando group was killed and three others wounded," said the source, who added that the soldiers left a trail of blood in their wake as they made their escape through a hole in a fence.
It was the first time in the conflict that Israeli troops had landed in the southern port city, but the raid came days after a similar helicopter-borne operation near the eastern city of Baalbek resulted in the capture of five alleged militants.
Police said that the Israeli helicopters fired four missiles at Tyre's northern entrance, provoking a barrage of anti-aircraft fire.
A large number of helicopters had roared over Tyre before dawn, strafing all routes into the city.
Residents said the exchanges sparked panic in the area. A clinic north of the city said it was forced to move its patients for their own safety.
"It was a real battle," a doctor said.
The barrage of raids over south Lebanon Saturday lasted for seven hours from dawn, with the worst-hit region the area around the village of Aitaroun which was hit by 2,000 shells.
Police said that 15 villages some five kilometres (three miles) from the border were being systematically destroyed by the bombardments, which come after Israel vowed to create a security zone free of Hezbollah fighters.
Fourteen people were wounded, with more casualties only avoided because the villages had already largely emptied of residents in the face of persistent Israeli fire.
Israeli troops have advanced from at least seven points on the border to establish a border buffer zone that General Udi Adam, chief of Israel's northern command, said is now up to 10 kilometres (six miles) deep.
"On the 25th day of our offensive, we control in south Lebanon a zone of five to eight, even 10 kilometres," the general said.
In fighting around the village of Taibe not far from the border, one soldier was killed and another lightly wounded, an army spokesman in Tel Aviv said.
Israeli warplanes also carried out pre-dawn attacks for a third straight night against Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah bastion.
The fighter-bombers struck the area six times, police said, without immediately being able to give details of the targets.
As daylight broke, flames were still visible from the area which was covered in a thick pall of black smoke.
#3
Part of this commando effort is to actually take out the leadership of the Hezbullies. The other part is to communicate to them that we can get you wherever you are. Good on you IDF.
#4
Canada National Post article...
TYRE, Lebanon - When Dr. Fouad Fatah emerged bleary-eyed from the ruins of his hospital during a pause in Israeli air strikes last week, it felt like the first time in forever.
He counted himself as the last living soul in the five-room clinic, the only hospital serving this devastated swath of Lebanon's south. His surviving patients had already been evacuated.
"Look what they did to this place," Dr. Fatah said, shaking his head. "Why in the world would the Israelis target a hospital?"
The probable answer was found a few hours later in a field nearby. Hidden in the tall grass were the burned remnants of a rocket-launcher.
Confronted with the evidence, Dr. Fatah admitted his hospital could have been used as a site from which to fire rockets into Israel.
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gee, Doc, maybe that answers your question: "Why in the world would the Israelis target a hospital?"
for all its messiness in hindsight, Dresden was VERY effective at the time!! Just sayin'...
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 10:14
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Really, these people are barbaric. It's like Israel should just hit the hospitals and ambulances precisely because they are most likely to be used for military purposes. Hez is the opposite of civilized. Israel will need to destroy it's 'civil services' infrastructure -- which is sad given how poor most of the Shia in southern Leb are -- because they are so many facilities that essentiall dual use.
Confronted with the evidence, Dr. Fatah admitted his hospital could have been used as a site from which to fire rockets into Israel.
"What choice to we have? We need to fight back from somewhere," he said, tapping his foot on the ground.
"This is Hezbollah's heartland."
Pllenty of other places to fight from Doc, and people tend to get annoyed when hospitals are used in this way...
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/05/2006 12:06
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#8
For starters, let the Israelies know that Hezspurta is there. Makes it much simpler for targeting you know. Then keep letting Israel know where the terrorists are and so it won't be "Hezspurta Heartland".
Cause, meet effect and vice versa.
#9
Its highly interesting i find the way the media have gone out of there way to avoid using the 'Q' word to describe the state of hezbollah and its poor mans military machine, but from just about every angle i look at this from it really is a QUAGMIRE for hezbollah, i shall be mailing the BBC to ask them why they choose not to use this word, after all it was their favourite term during the Iraq war yet has oddly been forgotten now the side thier gunning for and trumping up is in a QUAGMIRE! Most amusing.
#10
The cunning linguists at the BBC have rules about using Quagmire when it applies to *cough* Militants and other people in their struggle against normal people.
Posted by: Alaska Paul at Anchorge Airport ||
08/05/2006 12:56
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#12
powerline.com has a hilarious video if you haven't seen it ... Yalla Ya Nasrallah ...its a music video the IDF played when they hacked the hezbollah TV ... funny ... catchy tune .... just go to powerline.com and scroll down
#18
I guess one person's elf is another person's fairy. Or that's what the BBC says anyway.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/05/2006 16:03
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#19
what do they call gay elfs?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 16:12
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#20
why trailing wife I do believe you are mocking me, and here I was being nice and respectful ... and by the way, there are no gay elfs, the she-elfs are too hot and irresistable
we'll work on other acronyms at our usual Tuesday O-Club class
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 18:56
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#25
OK that guy is from the north pole guild, we Middle Earth LOTR elves don't claim those guys, we are from the warrior caste hahahahahahaha (and their she-elves, uuughhhh! - you'd probably be gay too)
anywho ... this hole just keeps getting deeper, I think I need to put the shovel down. hahahahaha, how did I get here from just minding my own business, supporting the COTW and Israel
One of the many failings of our educational system is that it sends out into the world people who cannot tell rhetoric from reality. They have learned no systematic way to analyze ideas, derive their implications and test those implications against hard facts.
"Peace" movements are among those who take advantage of this widespread inability to see beyond rhetoric to realities. Few people even seem interested in the actual track record of so-called "peace" movements -- that is, whether such movements actually produce peace or war.
Take the Middle East. People are calling for a cease-fire in the interests of peace. But there have been more cease-fires in the Middle East than anywhere else. If cease-fires actually promoted peace, the Middle East would be the most peaceful region on the face of the earth instead of the most violent.
Was World War II ended by cease-fires or by annihilating much of Germany and Japan? Make no mistake about it, innocent civilians died in the process. Indeed, American prisoners of war died when we bombed Germany.
There is a reason why General Sherman said "war is hell" more than a century ago. But he helped end the Civil War with his devastating march through Georgia -- not by cease fires or bowing to "world opinion" and there were no corrupt busybodies like the United Nations to demand replacing military force with diplomacy.
There was a time when it would have been suicidal to threaten, much less attack, a nation with much stronger military power because one of the dangers to the attacker would be the prospect of being annihilated.
"World opinion," the U.N. and "peace movements" have eliminated that deterrent. An aggressor today knows that if his aggression fails, he will still be protected from the full retaliatory power and fury of those he attacked because there will be hand-wringers demanding a cease fire, negotiations and concessions.
Go read the rest.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/05/2006
08:13 ||
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#2
When they do bring peace its temporary peace at the expense of long term solutions. Basically the cease-fire that lets bad people rearm rather than be destroyed for starting the war in the first place.
The legend of the Israel super soldier, if you were to be so foolish as to hit Israelis or Jews you were hunted down to the ends of the earth.
The end result was always the same you would be killed for your crimes against the Jewish people. It didnt matter if your end came at the end of a rope in Israel such as Eichman or you were gunned down in Europe with shots fired from a silenced .22 caliber pistol fired in a burst to the back of your head.
Killed in Lack of Action, The mystique of the IDF and the Israeli soldier.
It will take at least a generation and many dead on both sides for Israel to rebuild what should be the image of the IDF to the Islamic world.
#1
I'm not as convinced that the situation is so dire.
Speaking as someone with no military experience whatsoever (in other words, I may be waaaaay off the mark), the one thing that is striking about this war is the fact that not only are fellow Arabs/Muslims not jumping in to help, they are saying that Israel is justified in going after the Palis and Hezbollah.
I don't think it's because they are scared the IDF is going to kick their asses, either. They seem just as fed up as pretty much the rest of the world is with that gang o' idiots. That goes for the citizenry, too. They're not shuffling off to fight in Lebanon against the Jews in any great numbers for the glory of Islam, or to get their 72 virgins, like they did in Iraq.
The biggest support those mooks have is in rallies in London, San Francisco, etc......and none of those dipshits are stupid enough to put their asses on the line to fight the IDF. (That might, like, hurt, ya know?? I mean, you could die, and then you'll miss the Green Day concert!)
They're not about to give up their weekly Five Minutes Hate in the UN, or the sermons in the mosques calling Jews the sons of filthy pig-dogs, of course, but maybe some of the Arabs are starting to get a clue.
Look at it this way. All of the other maneuvers that Israel has tried (land for peace, Oslo, etc.) over the past few years have been interpreted not as genuine efforts to play nice but as proof that the Israelis were weak. They aren't really seen that way with this war. Not only are they fighting back, they are seen as having the right to do it. I never thought I'd live long enough to see an Arab say something like that. Hopefully they can capitalize on this and bring some sanity to their neighborhood. (Hey, I can dream, can't I?? ;) )
#2
The Israelis never laid claim that their people were invincible, and indeed, that was not their strength.
Their strength is persistence. They are still hunting down Nazis. They hunt terrorists who killed Israelis decades ago. They make it known that no matter where the terrorists go, eventually they will be found and dealt with.
The terrorists may never again sleep in peace, knowing that they got away with it and have been forgotten.
#3
I like Green Day. So, like, what are you saying? :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 10:03
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#4
This is Yoni Tidi's take. He is 20+ year veteran of IDF special forces. IDF didn't claim to be invincible, but their enemies knew they were tough and relentless.
#5
Yoni hasn't made an argument or offered any evidence --unless he is implying that the problem here has been too much restraint on the part of Olmert.
Seems like the dude has a bad case of ODS (Olmert derangement syndrome).
#6
Hezbollah and Iran were basically running a bluff. That the number of troops, the munitions, the fortifications, and the threat of missile attacks would keep Israel out of action.
The IDF called the bluff, and Hezbollah has nothing to back it up.
This is one time an Arab aggressor must be allowed to be beaten so badly that every civilized nation will stand in horror, wanting desperately to step in and stop the carnage... but knowing that the fight will only truly be over when one side gives up and finally admits defeat.
#2
good catch. Nasrallah shrieks victory from a hideyhole (or Damascus) and needs to be shown to be beaten (or even better, dead). It should also be beamed to the Iranian people's TV to show the limits of Islam and the mullah's power when confronted by a real army.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 16:35
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Fidel Castro's health has been declared a national secret. His brother Raul, to whom Fidel apparently ceded power at the beginning of the week, is nowhere to be seen. American journalists are being turned away at the airport. So one thing for certain hasn't changed on the island: It's still hard to know much about the internal life of the dictatorship that has oppressed Cuba for 47 years. But it seems likely that the era of Fidel Castro is finally winding down toward the dictator's final bravura performance.
But even should this prove true, Fidel can rest assured that his legacy will be honored for a long time. Across virtually his entire career, Fidel has offered himself as the perfect anti-capitalist revolutionary. Though the revolution ended decades ago with Cuba's economy in ruins and its dissident voices in dungeons, the international left then and now has kept the flame of romance burning beneath Castro's carefully nurtured reputation. . . .
Fidel has cultivated his status as a left-wing icon since taking power in 1959. Remarkably, the fact that he has extracted from his impoverished and oppressed people a personal fortune--Forbes magazine estimated it last year at over half a billion dollars for its World's Richest People list--has done little to dent his image as a man of the people. The standard apologetics for the sorry state of the Cuban economy begin from the premise that America, not socialism, is responsible for Cuba's travails. But Castro's personal financial success suggests that in fact substantial revenue is sluicing through the island. Even with the U.S. embargo in place, there's plenty of money to be made in Cuba. It's just that nearly all of it the income from exports of seafood, tobacco, sugar and nickel, not to mention Fidel's real-estate and pharmaceutical operations, goes to the ruling clique or to the military, bypassing the population. There are good reasons to question the embargo, but the notion that it is the source of all of Cuba's ills isn't one of them. . . .
For a while in the 1990s, it seemed that the passing of the Soviet Union would take Castro down in its wake, but in recent years Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has stepped into the support role, lavishing Cuba with oil and other subsidies.
Mr. Chavez, in fact, appears ready to graduate from his role as a Castro protege to fill Fidel's shoes as the hemisphere's anti-U.S. gadfly. He used his recent tour through Europe and Asia not only to hobnob with despots in Belarus and Iran, but also to stock up on Russian weaponry. It seems Mr. Chavez has absorbed the most salient lesson of Fidel's success--the international left will overlook oppression and economic mismanagement at home if you market yourself as David to the American Goliath. The thousands killed by Castro over the years, the tens of thousands more who have died desperately seeking freedom in the U.S., the political prisoners, the torture--all can be forgiven so long as you pose as the alternative to the American hegemon.
Of course it may be no coincidence that most of the admiration all these years has been from afar. The idea of "Fidel" allows his leftish admirers from the comforts of free, mostly capitalist societies to imagine that someone out there is struggling to build a better, more egalitarian way of life--without any of them having to live amid the daily Cuban reality of grinding poverty and political intimidation.
Fidel may die, but his offshore Venceremos Brigade will live on.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/05/2006
07:37 ||
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#1
Forget his stinking corpse. Havanna used to be a fun place before he arrived. Cuba could have sugar, rum, ethanol production and large cigars if they would wise up.
Share common bond with the Merchants of Guilt who talk alot about the history of the exploited Native American, but do not dispose of all their property save what they can carry and return to their genetic homelands.
Posted by: Chinese Whuger3858 ||
08/05/2006 12:25
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#1
Nasrallah called the IDF commando raid on Baalbek in which five Hezbollah militants were captured and at least 10 more killed a "military failure," and said that the ground fighting between IDF troops and Hezbollah guerrillas were becoming more intense and widespread.
LOL - Baghdad Bob's got an evil twin!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 9:22
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#2
I think the reason Nasrallah is so upset with the prospect of Beirut being attacked is because the Israelis are destroying all Hezbollah and Shiite owned property in the city. In effect, taking them out of Beirut and making them rural until it can be rebuilt.
And this, in turn, completely changes their status in Lebanon.
Give the voters in the district the opportunity to vote for Village Idiot and she's a shoe in. Now there's a career she can still grow in. Yeah, yeah, Congressman/woman, Village Idiot, much the same, but the latter can't do as much damage.
Rep. Cynthia A. McKinney is grabbing all the face time she can get with voters between now and Tuesday's runoff election.
The embattled Georgia Democrat bought cable television ads that are scheduled to air 1,175 times in a five-day period, which began yesterday, according to public filings at the Comcast Spotlight Atlanta office.
The ads are running in four different coverage zones DeKalb County, North DeKalb, West Gwinnett County and Rockdale County and are evenly spread across seven networks: CNN, Lifetime, the Family Channel, TV One, BET, the History Channel and the Oxygen Network. Mrs. McKinney's campaign paid $9,578 for the ads, the Associated Press reports.
Mrs. McKinney did not buy cable ads before the primary, but her opponent, Hank Johnson, did. Mr. Johnson spent $5,369 for 475 cable ads that aired on a dozen networks in the same four zones.
As of yesterday, Mr. Johnson's campaign had not contacted Comcast about cable television advertising.
Mrs. McKinney and Mr. Johnson have also been battling over radio airwaves and had their first televised showdown Tuesday, which aired nationwide on C-SPAN. The candidates will again address potential voters tomorrow in the last televised debate before Tuesday's vote.
#1
Almost anyone with 2 brain cells saw this (and more in the future, worse stuff) coming. I say, what you can do today, don't postpone till tomorrow--it is impretive to correct the mistake and ice the miscreant.
Oh, yea, his cousin too... why not go for a twofer...
#2
Friggin' pinheads. And the new government is right in the middle of it trying to fan the flames. It's my opinion that they try to nurture this hate to use as a rallying cry. Somebody needs to have a little talking to. And if that doesn't work, they ought to become the victim of an insurgent bomb. I'm sure it can be arranged. In fact, who knows, perhaps they are trying to get in good with the insurgency.
The condensed version: You go to press with the version you want to sign your name to.
The Sept. 11 commission was so frustrated with repeated misstatements by the Pentagon and FAA about their response to the 2001 terror attacks that it considered an investigation into possible deception, the panel's chairmen say in a new book. Republican Thomas Kean and Democrat Lee Hamilton also say in "Without Precedent" that their panel was too soft in questioning former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani - and that the 20-month investigation may have suffered for it. The book, a behind-the-scenes look at the investigation, recounts obstacles the authors say were thrown up by the Bush administration, internal disputes over President Bush's use of the attacks as a reason for invading Iraq, and the way the final report avoided questioning whether U.S. policy in the Middle East may have contributed to the attacks. In their book, which goes on sale Aug. 15, Kean and Hamilton recap obstacles they say the panel faced in putting out a credible report in a presidential election year, including fights for access to government documents and an effort to reach unanimity. Nice little poison pen to stick into the Administration's back in an off-year election cycle, guys. Also a nice chunk of red meat to toss to the conspiracy loons while our enemies continue to plot against us. We all knew early on that this Commission was a side show designed to appease the rubes, and that no real Truth would be revealed, since the only Truth is that the Allenists have grown in strength and power, desire only the deaths of us all, and used our own foolishnesses against us.
#1
Capt Ed has a post about the DOD Inspector general refuting any perjury accusations from these hacks
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 12:15
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#2
Form the same commission which protected the author of the directive which shut off intel sharing between government agencies and which buried the disclosure of the Able Danger project which ID some of the highjacker before 9/11.
Basic Facts.
1-During the Clinton Administration the downsizing of the military resulted in the basic elimination of much of the interceptor force covering America. Another Peace Dividend.
2-NORADs detection system was aimed at external threats entering American airspace.
3-Vectoring information was dependent upon relay by person to person from the FAA to the military.
4-Fighters were scrambled and put into the air, some unarmed because the threat profile established in fact #1.
5-As a consequence, everything had to improvised as they went.
Any surprise there would be confusion?
Posted by: Chinese Whuger3858 ||
08/05/2006 12:34
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#3
Fact is there is gonna be a certain amount of cover-your-ass in this sort of investigation. Fools and idiots take this to mean conspiracies but what do you expect of fools and idiots, that is their nature.
#4
Saw a poll the other day that said about 1/3 of Americans polled thought there was a 911 conspiracy. Can there be that many moonbats running around? Scary thought since many of them vote, drive, etc.
#2
How about an AC-130 or two? And here's a video of an AC-130U in action (it's got a 4.5 in howitzer in it for gawds sake!)
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/05/2006 12:40
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#3
According to the AP: Hezbollah has fired Russian-made Metis-M anti-tank missiles and owns European-made Milan missiles, the [Israeli] army confirmed yesterday. In the last two days alone, these missiles have killed seven soldiers and damaged three Israeli-made Merkava tanks, vaunted as symbols of Israel's might, the army said. Israeli media say most of the 44 soldiers killed in four weeks of fighting were hit by anti-tank missiles.
"They (Hezbollah guerrillas) have some of the most advanced anti-tank missiles in the world," said Yossi Kuperwasser, a senior military intelligence officer who retired earlier this summer. "This is not a militia, it's an infantry brigade with all the support units."
"To the best of my understanding, they (Hezbollah) are as well-equipped as any standing unit in the Syrian or Iranian armies," said Eran Lerman, a retired army colonel and now director of the Israel/Middle East office of the American Jewish Committee. "This is not a rat-pack guerrilla, this is an organized militia."
Besides the anti-tank missiles, Hezbollah is also known to have a powerful rocket-propelled grenade known as the RPG29. These weapons are also smuggled through Syria, an Israeli security official said, and were used by Palestinian militants in Gaza to damage tanks.
Yesterday, Jane's Defence Weekly, a defence industry magazine, reported that Hezbollah asked Iran for "a constant supply of weapons" to support its operations against Israel. It cited Western diplomats as saying Iranian officials promised Hezbollah a steady supply of weapons "for the next stage of the confrontation."
Top Israeli intelligence officials say they have seen Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers on the ground with Hezbollah troops. They say that permission to fire Hezbollah's longer-range missiles would likely require Iranian go-ahead.
#2
In addition, Venezuelan doctors have marched in the streets and participated in work stoppages to protest the Cuban doctors's presence and their $200 per month salary which is 10% that of a Venezuelan doctor. Another reason for the high desertion rate of the Cuban doctors is that they only recieved $100 per month, the other $100 was paid to their families in Cuba. Someone made the point that in Cuba $200 per month may be a fortune, while in Caracas it's, well, only $200.
To try to make up for or to mask the loss of these highly touted and highly publicized medical experts, the Venezuelan government under Hugo Chavez has decided to begin importing "bachilleres" into Venezuela from Bolivia, giving them one year of free education, then turning them loose on the country's healthcare system, specifically its poorest citizens. A "bachiller" is a senior in high school who is taking advanced college prep classes.
So Chavez's plan is to import Bolivian high school seniors who have matriculated through Bolivia's world renowned public education system, give them a year's medical training, and then turn them loose on Venezuela's poor. It sounds like a bloodbath in the making to me.
that's good snark
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 9:51
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A Hindu nationalist website reports that Bangladeshis, backed by armed soldiers, grabbed Indian land by shifting border posts. The 20 million Bangladeshi illegals in India, are weakening Indian sovereignty. I wonder how this turns out?
Posted by: Steve ||
08/05/2006 13:23
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#2
Bandladeshis do this every election time.
It reinforces the anti-India credentials of the party in power. They'll grab some land, kill a few Indian Border guards then negotiate a few months after over the return of land, shifting of the border markers etc.
Typically it is Bangla BDR forces against Indian BSF (both paramilitary border troops not regular army).
Delhi will restrain BSF action to small arms fire and keep the Indian Army and Air Force out of it.
Though India is capable of stomping all over Bangladesh, the Indian Government is quite averse to appearing as a regional hegemon. The smaller states - Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Burma don't react too well to open displays of Indian military power. This drives them into open Chinese arms, something Delhi wishes to avoid.
Posted by: john ||
08/05/2006 13:40
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Buchanan is drifting to irrelevancy. As I read the Middle East Democraticization Initiative, peace was expected to flow once the old autocracies were replaced by popular governments. Unfortunately, giving democratic choice to Muslims has meant the election of Islamofascist tyrannies. Buchanan wants to negotiate with those animals. It makes sense to treat any entity that is ruled by Mullah dictators, as a terrorist state. And that type of state poses a Homeland threat to the US. Face it, now that the weeds have grown, it is the perfect time to lay down some herbicide.
----------------------------------------
Talking With Terrorists
By Pat Buchanan
August 5, 2006
...Before he launched his democracy project, Bush was warned that free elections would advance the fortunes of Islamic militants. At his insistence, the elections were held. The results?
In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood won 60 percent of the seats it contested. Hezbollah swept south Lebanon. Hamas recorded a stunning victory on the West Bank and Gaza. These were the freest and fairest elections ever held in those nations. But Bush refused to engage the winners.
The painful truth is that, in the Middle East, democracy will produce, as it does in the West, two dominant parties. One will be a state party and the other is going to be a party rooted in the Islamic faith.
Time to recognize reality -- and stop isolating America.
#2
Pat and Robert Novak are Arab-lovers (and Joooooo haters)
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 10:25
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#3
This asshole and his fellow-travellers can FOAD.
They obviously don't think we're going to lose, in spite of their blathering - since they'd be some of the first to die at the hands of the islamoterro-nutcases if we did.
Keep yapping, Pat - your buddies Adolf, Josef, Yassin, et al., are keeping a seat warm for you with them in HELL.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/05/2006 11:05
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#4
Buchanan wants to pretend that the elections in the West Bank, Lebanon, and Egypt are about as free and fair as elections can get.
I tend to disagree with this very strongly.
Posted by: Phil ||
08/05/2006 11:48
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#5
Whether these elections are legit or not, the question still is: do these regimes pose a threat to us? After all, let's say that Japan 1941 was a representative democracy and not some strange imperial militaristic hybrid. Would we have then said, "Oh, that massacre in Nanking? It represents the will of the Japanese people through their democratically elected leaders. No biggie."
We are going to have to accept that the notion that democracies do not fight each other is untrue and has only appeared true in the past because the sample population was so small.
#8
The "democracies are peaceful" stuff always annoyed me because when you mentioned a counterexample, it was always eliminated as 'not a democracy' (US-England in 1812). Democracies and Republics can be as expansionist and warlike as anyone else, if the bulk of the population is. Witness Rome, or the USA in the westward expansion era.
So if a country, Democracy or not, crosses the line they deserve to get hammered for it. The difference is that in a Democracy, the decision makers are paying the full price of the retribution and have a better chance of learning a lesson. In a dictatorship, its not difficult for the rulers to be isolated from any negative consequences of a failed adventure.
South African officials set fire to a 34-tonne whale carcass on Wednesday, sending white smoke into the air near Cape Town as spectators clambered over blubber-strewn rocks for a closer look, Reuters reported.
The dead southern right whale washed up onto the quiet Kommetjie beach, 40 km (25 miles) south of the country`s top tourist city nearly two weeks ago. Officials packed tons of wood and poured 80 litres of a petrol and diesel fuel mix over the decomposing 15 metre (47 foot) whale to spark a fire expected to burn for up to two days.
"The first prize would have been to leave it here to decompose but with residents nearby, and the smell," Robin Adams, operations manager for the Table Mountain National Park, told Reuters that wasn`t an option.
"The oil and fat seeping back into the sea was also attracting sharks," he said as a strong wind blew smoke away from adjacent homes. Two hundred years ago, whale oil was the main source of fuel for lamps, which makes me think we are missing out on an important source of renewable energy. Yes, whale burning power stations, and if we run short of whales they can always burn Greenpeace activists.
Shuttin' out reporters? Well, maybe communism does have its advantages.
CHICAGO At a momentous moment in Cuban history -- with long-time strongman Fidel Castro in a sickbed and transferring his power to his brother -- foreign journalists are being shut out of the Communist island.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa reported Thursday that more than 150 foreign journalists trying to enter Cuba with tourist visas have been turned away at the Havana airport since the government announced Castro had internal bleeding and faced "complicated surgery."
Journalists need a work visa to work legally in Cuba, and a spokesman of the government-controlled International Press Center told dpa there would be no exceptions.
"Across the whole world there is currently great interest (in Cuba), but nowhere on the planet can a journalist report with a tourist visa," the agency quoted an unnamed press center representative as saying.
The representative told the agency that no journalists have been expelled from the country, and none are being denied information. Castro, however, in a statement issued in his name Tuesday said that information about his health is a "state secret" that could be exploited by the enemy U.S. government.
The New York City-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) urged Cuba to let foreign journalists into the country.
"We call on Cuban authorities to let journalists do their work without harassment or obstruction," Americas program coordinator Carlos Lauria said in a statement. "It is critical that foreign journalists be allowed into Cuba to report the news on the handover of power by Castro, a story of global importance. We are also troubled by reports that Cuba is denying requests for journalists' visas."
#5
That won't keep the journos from lying about Cuba from afar. What's the point of them ever wanting to be there in the first place when most of them went out of their way to make sure they never told the truth about the misery Castro's regime inflicted upon that country?
Thinkin', after reading this, the Sunnis really, really don't like Nasrallah. Just for fun, you have to click on the above link, just to view the picture of this author. Well, the ruffles created by the handband, is a first for me. Kinda curious, what do ruffles say about the guy?
By Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times
HASSAN Nasrallah is in a quagmire. If, according to his own statements, Nasrallah knew Israel would attack Lebanon between September and November, if he was aware the Zionist enemy was ready for war and if he had received this information, which even the Pentagon and CIA could not receive, why did he give Israel an opportunity to launch the war before time by kidnapping two of its soldiers? Nasrallah has called for the beginning of a second phase of this war.
In what he calls Beyond Haifa, Nasrallah says his fighters will begin rocket attacks deeper into Israel, south of Haifa. We wonder if Nasrallah took any time to review his achievements in the first phase of the war against the enemy before thinking about the next. So far his only achievements have been causing the destruction of Lebanons infrastructure and killing of innocent Lebanese. If he begins the second phase the only result will be wiping out of whatever remains of Lebanons infrastructure and killing of the rest of the Lebanese.
Dictatorial decisions taken by a single man like Nasrallah, who gets instructions from foreign countries, will always lead to sorrow. The ongoing war in Lebanon is a clash between Israel and the United States on the one side, and Iran and Syria on the other. Although each party in the war wants to demonstrate its power in Lebanon, none of them wants its role to be recognized.
In a message to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, Chairman of Irans Expediency Council Akbar Rafsanjani has expressed his countrys support to Saudi Arabias proposal for a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah. This indicates Tehran has started worrying it may lose the war and wants to retreat. However, Nasrallah seems not to have received this information. So if he goes ahead with his so-called Beyond Haifa mission, he will be left alone.
The ceasefire proposed by Saudi Arabia is its own idea and not dictated by anybody else. After realizing its inevitable defeat, the Iran-Syria combine has changed its mind on the war and decided to support the Saudi proposal. Nasrallah wont be able to cover his mistakes by appearing on TV channels and claiming to possess unreasonable information, which cannot be proved by anybody. Nasrallahs claims give the impression that he has some spy satellites flying over the United States and Israel. I do so like the beginning of the next sentence.Nasrallahs dictatorship will sink like those of Saddam Hussein and other regimes, which did not know their true ability. Egyptians suffered under the dictatorship of the late Gamal Abdul Nasser who led them to war in 1967. The late Egyptian President believed Arab power can defeat Israel. However, the result was different as Arabs were handed out a humiliating defeat. Nasrallah, who is being remote-controlled by Iran and Syria, believes he is in the mold of many Arab leaders. But the fact is he is playing with fire.
#1
Sherry, the link is self-referrential to this same post. Linky
Interesting dude.
FOR over eight hundred years, Arabs have been unable to renew their history. In all these they have been living without any development or giving any support to humanity. This is why it is important for us to review the history of Arabs and understand changes are being forced on us. This will also prove that as in the past, we are living without any planning. Before the defeat at the hands of Israel in 1967, the Arab media had taken a common decision to prevent people from knowing the enemy either from a distance or close range. In those days Israel was only a so-called country. However, such decisions cannot negate the facts of the world.
After the heavy defeat inflicted by this so-called enemy, which the Arabs pretended didnt even exist, Arabs scrambled to empty this defeat of its real meaning. They described the defeat as a passing problem which can be overcome. Some Arabs even claimed victory, because for them it was enough if the leadership remained in position. They considered destruction of the country and its economy, and changing of borders silly things which could be solved sooner or later.
Then a new understanding dawned on the Arabs when they realized knowing the enemy is the best way to defeat him. This misperception continued in the Arab mentality until they reached the opposite end and decided to recognize Israel. Some Arab countries like Egypt and Jordan even signed agreements with Israel. Review of these milestones in the history of Arabs is aimed not only at pointing out we failed during our history but also to show that Hezbollah is a copy of this failure.
Hezbollah is claiming that the capture of Maron Al-Ras and Bint Jbeil by Israeli troops is not important as long as it is able to fight back and reclaim these villages even if it happens after forty years. Although Hezbollah has fired over 2,000 missiles at Israeli villages and cities, none of them have had any significant effect as most of them fell on empty areas or in the sea. On the other hand Israel has totally destroyed Lebanon. By pounding the bridges, roads and other infrastructure, Israel has disconnected Lebanese cities and villages rendering most of their people homeless.
The Al-Taif agreement was signed some 16 years ago to establish a new Lebanon and empty that country of armed militias and foreign troops including Syrian and others. Unfortunately this agreement was not implemented. The consequences of this failure began to show when Iran occupied southern Lebanon through Hezbollah.
The UN Resolution 1559 approved the contents of the Al-Taif agreement and asked Syria to leave Lebanon. It also called for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias including Hezbollah and other Palestinian militias which were receiving orders from Syria. Nobody, especially Tehran and Damascus, realized the fact that UN Resolution 1559 was an international decision to implement the Al-Taif agreement. As a result Hezbollah is facing the might of Israel, which has the support of the international community and also received some positive reaction from Arabs.
We must say here that when the national parties of Lebanon held a meeting to discuss the implementation of UN Resolution 1559, its participants were told the international community will not be silent to the presence of Iran in Lebanon by proxy through Hezbollah. They were specifically asked to defend their national security. However, nobody listened the result is here for all of us to see.
Hezbollah was not a resistance movement in the eyes of the world. If it was a genuine resistance force, Hezbollah would have been the first to hand over its weapons to the Lebanese government as soon as Israel withdrew from Lebanon. Regrettably Hezbollah didnt care for the security of Lebanon, making that country an open field where Iran and Syria could play games to negotiate their personal interests.
The situation of Lebanon has forced the international community and Arabs to use an enemy to implement the Al-Taif Agreement and UN Resolution 1559, although they are feeling bad for the Lebanese, who have been paying for the interests of others for over thirty years. The question is, who prevented the implementation of the Al-Taif agreement and UN Resolution 1559, and gave Iran an opportunity to occupy southern Lebanon? The answer to this question is simple: it is the Syrian regime. Now Arab leaders have an opportunity to renew their history and participate in the establishment of a new Middle East, which is free of outlaws. We think what is happening today is only the beginning of a new era.
#2
What's the possibility that Iran/Syria will cleverly manage to distance themselves by ordering/allowing/duping Narallah into doing something stupid? Would it actually work? In whose eyes?
#3
Regarding the "ruffles": since there is, culturally, very little lee-way given with regards to fashion, so any display of individual fashion will be subtle.
For example, by wearing a Rolex, a particular shoe, or having a certain brand of pen showing. Young men often tucked the frontal sides of their kaffiyeh under the agal (I do not know if that is still done).
#5
Arabs need to stop looking at Israel and looking at themselves. Building an actual army with soldiers instead of hip-shooting warrior and/or terrorists would be a good start. Another good start would be picking a fight with another Arab country to get a bit of practice before going up against a real army.
Syria almost did so with Lebanon. Egypt should take out Libya in the name of Arab solidarity, grab the oil and get some practice. Maybe do the same with Sudan. Then, a couple of decades down the line, they can consider Israel (although I would recommend against it).
#6
The author has a maid, a mother or a very loving wife who spends an awful lot of time bleaching, heavy starching and ironing his headcloths. And he has the free time to arrange the silly thing just so. I strongly suspect he wouldn't so nearly openly advertise his sexuality in Kuwait; surely there are special shopping malls and certain beaches for such things? But I'm just speculating -- Mr. Wife never did tell me how one tells such things in that part of the world, only that it is very available if one is interested.
#9
"I strongly suspect he wouldn't so nearly openly advertise his sexuality in Kuwait; surely there are special shopping malls and certain beaches for such things? But I'm just speculating"
It is possible. It is also possible that it indicates a "cultural" type. The equivalent to the black turtle-neck, as it were.
Young men -- knowing what they are doing -- and it is right
You're scared all the time'
By Stephen Farrell
Israeli soldiers recount stories of a terrifying week facing the snipers and missiles of Hezbollah in southern Lebanon
AT FIRST light they filtered from the undergrowth, camouflaged, laden with captured hunting rifles and crested Lebanese scimitars, and high-fiving with relief at still being alive.
After nearly a week of vicious ditch-to-ditch fighting with Hezbollah fighters in the village of Taibeh, hundreds of exhausted Israeli soldiers slipped back across the border early yesterday after the hardest fighting they had ever experienced.
As they trudged across the brow of a hill in broken single file they were indistinguishable in their battle fatigues and green face paint some even black out their teeth in Hezbollahland and all were drunk on adrenalin. I was hoping to go in and kill Hezbollonim. I killed three, one shouted as he embraced colleagues from the Nahal Brigade.
As soon as they reached the outskirts of an Israeli hilltop town, which cannot be named for security reasons, they stopped and cleared their M16 automatic rifles in unison the last task before they could relax. Some then reached inside their huge battlepacks for their mobile phones to call families and girlfriends. Others collapsed with exhaustion, washing away their fear with bottles of cola and lungfuls of cigarette smoke. A few grabbed newspapers to find out how their war was going. What is happening in other places? What is happening in Gaza? one asked The Times.
Down a sidestreet a cluster of Israeli tourist buses waited with drinks and packed lunches. Slowly the soldiers began morphing from death-bringers to nice Jewish boys preparing for the Sabbath, peeling off clothes and cavorting halfnaked with each other beside the bougainvillea.
As they did so, all the rainbow shades of Israeli society began to re-emerge secular, Orthodox, Ashkenazi, Mizrahi, Sabra, Ethiopian, Russian, Brooklyn. To their matted hair they pinned all types of skullcap knitted, military-green, Braslav, settler or none at all. But on one thing they were unanimous: the prowess of their foe.
It was hell. They are really well trained. Theyre not suckers, they know how to fight, said one, slumped on the pavement. Youre scared the whole time over there. We didnt get any sleep the whole week. There was not a voice of dissent.
The soldiers told how they had worked their way through the dry, scrubby hillsides towards Taibeh, facing continual attacks from Hezbollah sniper and anti-tank missile positions concealed in houses, farms, underground bunkers and seemingly deserted streets.
To counter this they called in frequent support from 155mm artillery batteries on the Israeli side of the border, which pounded Taibeh sending huge plumes of smoke into the sky.
We killed ten, and the artillery must have killed thirty or forty, said a soldier who, like his colleagues, was not allowed to give his name. He had simply lost count of Hezbollahs attacks. Many, many, it was very bad because you dont know where they are coming from. But we succeeded.
Another soldier said that serving in the Palestinian militant stronghold of Jenin in the West Bank, as he had, was nothing compared with fighting Hezbollahs guerrillas. It was horrible, he said. You dont know what its like, with every second a rocket- propelled grenade shooting over your head.
A third soldier said: All the time, they fired missiles at us. They never come face to face, just missiles. When we find them we kill them. Its just not right, the way we are doing it. Our air force can just bomb villages and not risk our lives fighting over there.
Another, slugging cola as his friends posed for photos, added: It feels good to do the job. And come out alive.
More than 40 Israeli soldiers have been killed in the 25 days of fighting.
Watched by bemused Thai immigrants, who, post-intifada, have replaced the cheap Palestinian labour upon which the Israeli economy once relied, one soldier shouted: I love this country.
Some of the returned fighters were optimistic. We will defeat all the Arabs, said one.
But others, chastened by their experiences north of the border, were less sure. Its a lose-lose situation, said one. Theyre a bunch of terrorists. We are an army. We can never beat them completely because we have to obey certain rules. They operate from within civilian populations, and can do whatever they like. They dont give a shit about these things.
So it doesnt matter if we are there for another couple of days or two weeks. But what is very important is that this is a just war on our part. Because they are a bunch of f***ing terrorists.
#3
So it doesnt matter if we are there for another couple of days or two weeks. But what is very important is that this is a just war on our part. Because they are a bunch of f***ing terrorists.
#7
BS! The IDF is losing less than 2 troops per day. US casualties in the Iwa Jima operation approached 50%.
The reports of "pitched battles" in Lebanon are stories. What is happening is a systematic rendering of the terrorist enemy. We need to counter all the pessimistic propaganda about a non-existent defeat of Israel.
#8
Where's the other half of the story? The terrorists know how to hide and fire off a sucker shot at an advancing opponent. Woohoo. Anyone can do that. Not a lot of skill involved there, and difficult to counter in the opening seconds. But once they start shooting, they're exposed. And it seems the IDF always kills them with few or no more casualties once they're exposed. That takes skill.
Watched by bemused Thai immigrants, who, post-intifada, have replaced the cheap Palestinian labour upon which the Israeli economy once relied, one soldier shouted: I love this country.
So Thais have displaced the Paleos eh? Good - another example of cause and effect (not that the Paleos will notice).
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/05/2006 7:25
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Maybe they will take some of our Mexicans, they work for cheap too, and they run off beans, rice and tortilla's.
#11
For a while is was Eastern Europeans who provided the cheap labour. I s'pose things got better back home, or they got tired of the risks of the Intifada, or Thais were cheaper. I love the bit about all the colours of Israel, even if the reporter doesn't translate Mizrahi as Jews expelled from Arab lands, and he missed Sepharadi altogether (the Jews originally expelled from Iberia in the 1490s-- in modern times they came from Turkey and North Africa mostly). But those are quibbles -- this article actually treats the Israeli troops as normal human beings.
Good point, Snease Shaiting3550. An important reminder. :-)
#14
The description of fighting with the Hezbollah from Israeli soldiers, sounds eerily parallel to Chechen tactics.
The question is "How are the Chechyan tactics countered?" They have no problem with spreading horror. Do we in the West have a problem with doing what it takes to counter these tactics? These terrorists have to be crushed in spirit and capability completely before they lose their taste for any kind of combat. They have just not experienced enough horror yet. This may require rethinking about the use of weapons and tactics and the rules of warfare.
#15
Thais huh? Another example of Paleos cutting off their noses to spite their face. The Israelis will never allow the mass Paleo work force they once had. Now all the Pals will have is to sit around, unemployed, in their squalid seething camps bitching about them Jooooos and breeding more lil' haters. Seems to be their natural condition
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 9:29
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The Hez probably think they're better than the IDF where, in contrast, the IDF has respect for enemy capabilities. The latter attitude is more likely to lead to success.
Correct. The IDF is doing an admirable job. I'm sure they learned from the mistakes of the Russians, stated on the link that I provided on #2. I hear that the IDF is using FAE's now. Though I have problems with Olmert, I pray for the IDF everyday.
#18
Elite Hizb is better than the normal Israeli soldier. They are veterans with more than 5-6 years in ranks making spec ops.
If Israel eliminates this guys Hizb gets the biggest sweep in it's history. It is also essential for Lebanon futur to do that.
#19
#14, yes. This is our problem. In a guerilla war where enemy happily uses civilian populace as cover, we have to change tactics. War cannot be waged without casualties, especially civilian casualties in these circumstances. We made this error in Iraq. Being repeated here. We should decimate entire villages if necessary. Use carpet bombing and napalm. Eradicate their cover. When civilain pain rises to a level that is not sustainable, they will either leave the area or turn in the rats and then real eradication can be made.
#22
#18, I believe you are wrong if you think a few years makes Hez better than Israel. Arab militaries tend to be combinations of warriors who do not work well as a team. Western armies are made of soldiers, who individually may not be so great (draftees) but working together easily crush warriors in battle (see Vietnam for another example).
As in Vietnam the only chance Hezbollah has is to win the media battle because they will be slaughtered to the last man if Israel has enough time.
#23
As has been said before "Squeeze the nuts and the hearts and minds will tend to follow." I'm not certain it is even worth the effort of squeezing the nuts at this point in time. The islamofacists want to rule the world as did
Hitler. We are past the time of trying to negotiate. They get their directives from Allan. They don't listen to anyone else. How can you negotiate? The Israelis are doing what the world should have done long ago. God bless them.
Yet another major figure has exited Air America Radio.
COO Carl Ginsburg, one of the left-leaning talk networks early architects, has resigned. No replacement has been named.
As previously reported, president Gary Krantz, who joined the company in April 2005, exited in June of this year.
Meanwhile, former CEO Danny Goldberg, who remains with the network through the end of 2006 as vice chairman, is returning to his music business roots and has started a new venture.
Don't hold back, 'Moose, tell us what you really think!
Posted by: Mike ||
08/05/2006 7:32
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Great headline, 'moose, but not completely apt.
When I think of the Hindenburg, I think of that reporter crying, "Oh, the humanity!"
Ain't none at AA. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/05/2006 11:11
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That guy who yelled "oh the humanity" also had the presence of mind to mention "put the needle back on!" to ensure his heartfelt call would be recorded.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has delivered a message of democratic change to the Cuban people, while the island's communist government said Fidel Castro was in good health and his brother in firm control. "All Cubans who desire peaceful democratic change can count on the support of the United States," Rice said. "We encourage the Cuban people to work at home for positive change, and we stand ready to provide you with humanitarian assistance as you begin to chart a new course for your country."
We encourage the Cuban people to work at home for positive change, and we stand ready to provide you with humanitarian assistance as you begin to chart a new course for your country...
Her comment that Cubans should "work at home" was likely an effort to keep scores of refugees from entering Florida, according to analysts. The message was beamed into Cuba and broadcast through U.S. government radio and television stations. But Cuba routinely jams the signal, meaning that such messages only reach a small audience -- if at all.
Meanwhile, the Cuban health minister said Friday that Castro was "recovering satisfactorily" after surgery for intestinal bleeding, AP reported. The Communist Party newspaper Granma claimed Cuba's government is stable, and that the "unity and strength of the Revolution is being reinforced. We Cubans are prepared for the defense ... and Raul is there firmly at the helm of the nation, of the Revolutionary Armed Forces." U.S. President George Bush earlier hoped Cuba's apparent political uncertainty would lead to democratic change, but Granma dismissed his statement. "What uncertainty is the president talking about?" the newspaper asked.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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(KUNA) -- Four insurgents were killed and 32 others were arrested through operations by the Multi-National Force (MNF) in different cities Iraq. In a number of press releases on Friday, the MNF said some of the insurgents were linked with a blast that killed over 100 civilians in Al-Sadr city, noting that a number of the apprehended persons have connection with Al-Qaeda terrorist organizations. One of the insurgents is responsible for funding insurgent groups and he has direct links with Al-Qaeda, said the MNF. The operations also led to seizing a large amount of weapons ranging from guns to rocket projectiles.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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Israel was waging a "war of starvation" on Lebanese civilians in an effort to force the Lebanese government to agree to Israel's demands, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said in a statement issued Friday.
It is an aggression that has exceeded Israel's declared objectives. Israel has now decided to destroy Lebanon...
His comments came after Israeli warplanes bombed bridges and roads in Christian neighborhoods north of Beirut, killing 5 civilians and making travel between suburbs increasingly difficult. Missiles struck the country's main north-south highway - its primary artery to the outside world, through Syria in the north. "The Israeli enemy's bombing of bridges and roads is aimed at tightening the blockade on the Lebanese, cutting communications between them and starving them," Lahoud said.
Maybe you should have laid in as many groceries as you did rockets?
He linked the new raids to Israel's failure to win quick victory in the south, where Israeli soldiers have been mired in ground battles with Hizbullah guerrillas for several days. "Today's air raids confirm that Israel is trying to compensate for the losses of its army in the south ... by cutting off the only coastal highway remaining to transport aid to displaced people and refugees and supply the country with oil products, foodstuffs and aid. It is a war of starvation launched by Israel against Lebanon. It is an aggression that has exceeded Israel's declared objectives. Israel has now decided to destroy Lebanon."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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"The Israeli enemy's bombing of bridges and roads is aimed at tightening the blockade on the Lebanese, cutting communications between them and starving them," Lahoud said.
Lahoud seems to have a skewed view of the situation.
"Today's air raids confirm that Israel is trying to compensate for the losses of its army in the south ... by cutting off the only coastal highway remaining to transport aid to displaced people and refugees and supply the country with oil products, foodstuffs and aid.
. . . and missiles . . .
"It is an aggression that has exceeded Israel's declared objectives.
That's because Lebanon seems to be siding with Hezb'Allah. You could always side with Israel.
Israel has now decided to destroy Lebanon."
Is that why all the FMs of the Arab nations are planning a summit in Beirut?
Yada yada yada to go with the natter natter natter.
#2
More BS. Food production facilities are not being targeted and, in any case, Beirut - outside of the Hizbollah districts - has been barely touched by the IAF. If there is any "starvation" in Lebanon it is caused by Hizbollah's use of forced human shields.
On another matter, Condi is floating US training of a professional army of Lebanon. That didn't work in the early eighties, and won't work today. The US should be treating Hizbollah like Nazis were treated in 1945.
#3
Doesn't look like Lahoud has ever missed a meal. Maybe a little starvation would be good for him. Of course, an Israeli bullet between his eyes would be great for Israel, and not too bad for Lebanon.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/05/2006 8:04
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Even if they are, that's fine by Me. I no longer value moslem life. I'm not calling for genocide, nor is Israel even remotely doing such a thing, but I couldn't care less about "civilian" casualties incurred when killing of the terrorist bastards.
Too bad about the Christian and Jewish deaths, though.
Days after calling Iran a "stabilizing" force in the Middle East, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy issued a statement harshly criticizing Iran's call on Thursday to destroy Israel. "I totally condemn these words," Douste-Blazy said on France-Inter radio, in response to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's statement Thursday that the solution to the current Middle East crisis was to destroy Israel. The words are "absolutely unacceptable on anyone's part, especially from a head of state," Douste-Blazy said.
The words are "absolutely unacceptable on anyone's part, especially from a head of state...
Douste-Blazy said that the crisis had presented an opportunity for Iran to "show that it can play a positive and stabilizing role in the region," but added that Ahmadinejad's statement "confirmed that this is not the case."
Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented...
In a speech during an emergency meeting of Muslim leaders in Malaysia, Ahmadinejad also called for an immediate cease-fire to end the fighting between Israel and the Iranian-backed group Hizbullah. "Although the main solution is for the elimination of the Zionist regime, at this stage an immediate cease-fire must be implemented," Ahmadinejad said, according to state-run television in a report posted on its Web site Thursday.
Continued on Page 49
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Douste-Blazy said that the crisis had presented an opportunity for Iran France to "show that it can play a positive and stabilizing role in the region,"
O.K. Everyone throw down your weapons and capitulate. It is nuanced.
#7
Notice he's objecting to the words, not the sentiment. This is along the lines of, "Shut up, you idiot! We don't want to reveal our real position just yet!"
Israel and Hezbollah fought bloody ground battles and exchanged fierce air and missile strikes Friday including bombing raids that severed Lebanon's last major supply link with Syria and the outside world, and the guerrillas' deepest rocket attack inside Israel to date.
After days of desultory diplomacy, Washington said it was near agreement with France on a U.N. cease-fire resolution, possibly by early next week. But Israel and Hezbollah showed no signs of holding their fire.
... military officials said Friday they completed the first phase of the offensive, securing a 4-mile buffer zone in south Lebanon...
Israeli aircraft on a mission to destroy weapons caches hit a refrigerated warehouse where farm workers were loading fruit, killing at least 28 near the Lebanon-Syria border. And three Hezbollah rockets landed near Hadera, 50 miles south of the Israel-Lebanon border; 188 rockets rained on other towns, killing three Israeli Arabs.
Continued on Page 49
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The Bush administration has imposed sanctions against seven foreign companies, including two from India and two from Russia, after accusing them of business dealings with Iran involving sensitive technology, the government said Friday.
Under the sanctions, the federal government is prohibited from dealing with any of the seven companies...
The action comes at a sensitive time for the Bush administration, which is trying to push through Congress its plan to sell civilian nuclear technology to India. In addition, the United States is trying to enlist Moscow's help to pressure Iran and North Korea to abandon their nuclear programs. Tensions between the United States and Iran are running high over Teheran's nuclear effort and its support for Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia at war with Israel in southern Lebanon. The seven businesses, which also included two from North Korea and one from Cuba, were found to be in violation of the Iran Nonproliferation Act of 2000. The law is aimed at preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction to Teheran.
Under the sanctions, the federal government is prohibited from dealing with any of the seven companies. The sanctions also suspend any current export licenses to the foreign entities for certain products considered sensitive under a 1979 law and prohibits issuance of new licenses.
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NEW DELHI: Balaji Amines, a chemical company blacklisted by the US for dealings with Iran, disputed American claims saying it had not supplied any product that could be used in the weapons of mass destruction.
"We have not supplied any products which fall under the Schedule I, II and II of Chemicals Weapons Convention Act to Iran. We have supplied only three products which are used in making life saving anti-biotics," Secunderabad-based Balaji Amines Director Commercial D Ram Reddy said.
Officials of the other company, Mumbai-based Prachi Poly Products which was also sanctioned by the US could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.
Balaji Amines had supplied three chemicals triethyleamide, diethylyamide and diethyleacetamide used in the manufacture of ampicillin, amoxyciline and cephalaxin to Iran's Zakaria Tabriz Pharmaceutical and Chemical Co and Antibiotic Sazi Iran.
"Even that supply also we have stopped since December 2005 after an intimation from the external affairs ministry," he added.
Asked if these products could be be used in any way for development of any weapons of mass destruction, Reddy replied in the negative.
"The only other usage is as a foundry chemical," he said, adding that many European companies still continue to supply the same chemicals to Iran.
Reddy said while the company was more concerned about the blame, it wanted New Delhi to support the domestic industry.
"More than our business we are more worried about the blame as we are a company which has consistently complied with all regulations," he added.
Posted by: john ||
08/05/2006 13:42
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US troops fired on a bus convoy of Shi'ite activists heading to Baghdad to take part in a demonstration against Israel's attack on Lebanon yesterday, an interior ministry official said. Both the official and a representative of radical cleric Moqtada Al Sadr's movement said one protester was killed and at least 16 injured in the shooting, although a US spokesman was unable to confirm or deny this. Injured Shi'ites brought to a hospital in Baghdad also said that one person had died, but were not clear on exactly what had happened in the incident on the road leading from the holy city of Najaf north to Baghdad.
"The Americans opened fire on demonstrators going to Baghdad from Najaf to take part in the protest," said Sahib Al Amiri, general director of the Foundation for God's Martyrs, part of Sadr's movement. Amiri said the protesters were unarmed, but the interior ministry official said they had been accompanied by armed escorts from Sadr's Mehdi Army militia.
Posted by: Fred ||
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It's a start
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/05/2006 0:22
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The White House on Friday brushed aside Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's call for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Clinton, in an interview Thursday with the Associated Press, called for President Bush to accept Rumsfeld's resignation over what she called a "failed policy" in Iraq. "I just don't understand why we can't get new leadership that would give us a fighting chance to turn the situation around before it's too late," the New York Democrat told the AP, adding, "The secretary has lost credibility with the Congress and with the people."
White House spokesman Tony Snow said Friday there is no change in the president's position that Rumsfeld is the best person to lead the Defense Department. Snow declined to discuss why he believes Clinton is calling for Rumsfeld's ouster now. "I'll let her explain why she made the call," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
This bitch closet Jew hater is always trying to skate uphill.
#2
"I just don't understand why we can't get new leadership that would give us a fighting chance to turn the situation around before it's too late," the New York Democrat told the AP, adding, "The secretary has lost credibility with the Congress and with the people."
Hillary, I don't know what it is with moonbats, but they just don't seem to be able to understand plain English when spoken by a guy like Rumsfeld or read between the lines. Lord help us if we get somebody in that position who thinks so much they get paralyzed. Yeah, he's made his mistakes, but he understands them and he carries on in a fairly straightforward or at least understandable manner. Unlike some who think it's more important to posture politically and run interference than to try to be part of the process of coming to solutions. Instead they just sideline themselves by complaining or spewing conspiracy theories all the time hoping one of them sticks and parts the Red Sea so their clueless a$$ can ascend to power in a golden chariot to the sound of trumpeting. Why clueless? Because too much time worrying about appearances and not enough time with your sleeves rolled up. How much time did you waste with this venture? Kicking Rumsfeld out is a hopeless proposition. Now you look vindictive. You'd accomplish the same by beating yourself with a club. People are dying while you contemplate your next move while getting a manicure. Less show, more go. Just like Rumsfeld.
I'm sure we'll see a complete turnaround in this behavior in the near future. :-)
#3
Hildabeast is a political whore brilliant strategist who understands is dedicated to communism the nuances of politics and is running as fast as she can to become President.
Security forces in the southern Philippines arrested a Muslim preacher yesterday on suspicion that he was a member of the Abu Sayyaf extremist group, prompting a swift protest from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF). Police officials said soldiers nabbed Ustadz Hussein Abidin on Thursday at a bus depot in Cotabato City on his arrival from the province of North Cotabato.
He is being interrogated and military intelligence reports had linked him to the Abu Sayyaf. The preacher is allegedly a bomb maker...
He is being interrogated and military intelligence reports had linked him to the Abu Sayyaf. The preacher is allegedly a bomb maker, but we have to prove that report, said Senior Inspector Samson Obatay, a spokesman for the local police force.
The MILF, which is currently negotiating peace with the government, said the military got the wrong man. Ustadz Abedin is not a terrorist. He is a member of the MILF and active in peace dialogues in Mindanao, said Eid "Lipless Eddie" Kabalu, spokesman of the MILF.
Kabalu also disowned the 16 armed men who surrendered to the military in Zamboanga del Norte yesterday. According to the militarys Southern Command, the 16 rebels surrendered voluntarily and were undergoing debriefing. They say they wanted to live in peace with their families, Marine Lt. Col. Abid Bajunaid told Arab News. Kabalu said the armed men were definitely not their members. We have no reports from our leaders in Zamboanga del Norte about the surrender of their soldiers. There is no reason to surrender, he said.
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is the preacher a muzzie or catholic?
Posted by: bk ||
08/05/2006 0:30
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He preaches Islamic peace, love, and death to the infadels!!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/05/2006 21:49
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(KUNA) -- Governor of Mosul city Doraid Kashmola announced Friday a curfew in the northern Mosul city after two explosions rocked it. A security source told KUNA that senior military officer, Jasem Jabory, and three of his escorts were among 10 people killed in the explosions.
Gunfights between the Iraqi forces and insurgents erupted in the city, according to a security source, adding that the Iraqi forces killed some of the insurgents during the encounter and arrested others. The source confirmed that the insurgents belonged to Al-Qaeda terrorist network in Iraq.
Meanwhile, the US army said American troops captured a well-known terrorist in the eastern side of the capital. A statement by the army said American and Iraqi joint forces captured the terrorist at A'adamiya area and added that he was responsible for operations against Iraqi and Multi-National forces. The statement did not reveal his name but mentioned that he was arrested at a hospital in the area.
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Mosul is going to heat up because the US troops there moved to Baghdad. It's like wack-a-mole.
Nasrallah is a bad surname to have in Lebanon, as Israel tries to break the militant group Hezbollah. Fourteen-year-old Mohammed Hassan Nasrallah found out the hard way when Israeli airborne commandos seized his father and four other men in eastern Lebanon, even though they are unrelated to Hassan Nasrallah, the firebrand head of the Shiite Muslim movement.
Hassan Diab Nasrallah, did not want to leave his grocery because he was afraid of thieves...
Mohammed was asleep, together with his father, mother, brothers and sisters, when Israeli elite troops broke into his home on August 2, breaking the doors and shattering the windows of their home in Hay al-Osseira near the eastern city of Baalbek. They started shouting, they took us out one after the other and tied our hands behind our backs, he said correspondent in the Bekaa Valley.
Hay al-Osseira, located at the eastern entrance of Baalbek, a main Hezbollah stronghold, had been abandoned by its residents following Israeli bombardments. But Mohammeds father, Hassan Diab Nasrallah, did not want to leave his grocery because he was afraid of thieves.
But Wednesdays night visitors did not want to steal canned food. About a dozen soldiers broke into the house. They put the women and children on one side without tying them up. They placed the men on the other side. I was with the men, Mohammed said. Israel said 200 elite commando troops carried out the operation, the deepest ground incursion into Lebanon since the Jewish state launched its offensive on its northern neighbour. They were shouting and mistreating us. My mother interfered and told them to have pity on the children and treat us nicely, Mohammed said. But one of the Israelis responded: Shut up or I will kill you, according to Mohammed, who said the serviceman also fired shots over her head.
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They were just baggin the groceries
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/05/2006 0:25
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My mother screeched, ululated, and flailed interfered and told them not to kill everyone in sight or she would tear their eyes out with her bare hands to have pity on the children and treat us nicely, Mohammed said. But one of the Israelis responded: Shut up or I will kill you, according to Mohammed, who said the serviceman also fired shots over her head. She never understood when it was better to just be quiet but now she does. Thanks, guys!
I'm pretty sure she's used to it.
I didn't know Donald Rumsfeld was taking part in special ops missions.
(KUNA) -- Hizbollah announced in a statement issued on Friday that its fighters killed six Israeli soldiers, among them an officer, and destroyed six of Israel's Merkava tanks as well as an unspecified number of armored troop carriers and tractors or earth-movers. The statement indicated that Hizbollah fighters engaged Israeli troops in fierce fighting near the southern Lebanese village of Mashroa-al-Taiba, where Hizbollah fighters were able to destroy one tank and an armored troop carrier. More fighting went on at other locations in the south such as at the villages and townships of Markaba, where six Israeli soldiers were killed, and Aita Al-Shaab, where one Israeli tank was destroyed and its occupants killed, according to the Hizbollah statement. Fighting also continued at the villages of Shiheen, Al-Jibain and Maroon Al-Ras.
Earlier today Hizbollah had lobbed eight installments of rockets targeting 21 Israeli towns and settlements, including Affoulah and Bisan. Hizbollah rockets had also been launched at the central command base of the Israeli air force at Remat David which lies about 47 km from the Palestinian-Lebanese border.
Furthermore there is no let up in fighting between Hizbollah fighters and Israeli troops all along the region stretching from the coastal town of Naqoura, westward to the area known as Marjayoun, and eastward to Maroon-al-Ras and Bint Jbail. Meanwhile Israeli forces continue shelling most of the villages of southern Lebanon, with most of the fire concentration being on Sidon, Nabatiya, and Iqlim Al-Tuffah region.
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And took out ten airplanes. And killed another thousand Israeli soldiers. And fired 15,000 missiles into Tel Aviv. And took over the northern half of Israel. And sunk half of their ships. And assasinated Olmert. And only one Hezbullito got scratched.
#3
They are taking out Merkavas using the latest version of RPG's directly from Russia. These were bought by Iran and directly shipped in. Cutting the supply lines is difficult, but important because they are facing the latest generation of Russian ordnance, including their best night vision equipment, which is nearly as good as ours.
Iran admitted for the first time on Friday that it did indeed supply long-range Zelzal-2 missiles to Hizbullah. Secretary-general of the "Intifada conference" Mohtashami Pur told an Iranian newspaper that Iran transferred the missiles so that they could be used to defend Lebanon, Channel 1 reported.
... without direct orders from the ayatollahs, Hizbullah is not allowed to use Iranian missiles...
The extent of Iran's intimate involvement in Hizbullah attacks is starting to emerge. According to the defense establishment, the reason Hizbullah has not fired long-range Iranian-made Fajr missiles at Israel is due to Teheran's opposition. Israel now understands that without direct orders from the ayatollahs, Hizbullah is not allowed to use Iranian missiles in attacks against Israel.
The IDF also believes that it seriously damaged the long-range rocket array in the first night of air strikes almost three weeks ago and impaired Hizbullah's ability to fire the rockets. The longer-range Zelzal missiles, manufactured by Iran and capable of reaching Tel Aviv, have also not been fired at Israel, and the IDF believes this is because it destroyed almost two-thirds of these in the Hizbullah arsenal.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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I guess they felt they either ran out of "plausible deniability" or that it would make for good press in the Muslim world. Or both.
#5
LEBANON-SYRIA now belong to IRAN - they just don't know it yet. One-Half plus of CONUS-NORAM belonged to China as soon as the ink touched the Chicom defense white paper, only we Americans = Amerikans. Demo America = Socialist Amerika, etal. don't know or realize it yet.
Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais [aka "Pudge"], imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah, yesterday described the current Israeli military campaign against Lebanon as Zionist terrorism and urged that the perpetrators behind the aggression must be tried for committing war crimes. Those who condemn violence and fight terrorism must see how the children and orphans in a refugee camp were obliterated and listen to the cries of widows and mourners there, the imam said, in reference to the Israeli bombing of the Lebanese village of Qana killing mostly women and children. We call from the platform of the Grand Mosque in Makkah to stop this war immediately, Sheikh Sudais said while delivering his Friday sermon.
The imam also spoke about the irony of calling the heinous Israeli aggression and massacres as legitimate acts of self-defense and condemning the resistance of the oppressed as acts of terrorism...
He said the current campaign of the Jewish state against Lebanon and Palestine had unmasked those who have been supporting the enemy and misleading the world opinion by raising the slogans of humaneness, peace and democracy. Sudais said the new world order failed to stop Israeli barbarism and despotism. We should know that these killings and aggression are directed against every Muslim, he said. The imam also spoke about the irony of calling the heinous Israeli aggression and massacres as legitimate acts of self-defense and condemning the resistance of the oppressed as acts of terrorism.
He said this policy of double standard would not help bring about peace and security in the Middle East and it would only trigger hatred and hostility among nations. He said the barbaric bombardments, killings and destruction in Lebanon would remain in peoples memory forever. In his speech, Sheikh Sudais called upon the whole world to stand up against the Israeli aggression and tyranny. He also commended Saudi Arabias firm stand in support of the Lebanese and Palestinian people reeling under the Israeli aggression.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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Well if the destruction will remain in their minds forever, there's nothing in it for the Israelis to stop, right?
#3
Death and destruction is what you A-rabs can grasp. You only whine when it happens to you. If you are the ones doing the murdering, it's gun sex in the streets.
An inquiry set up by the Indian government on Thursday found former foreign minister Natwar Singh and his son guilty of misconduct over the UN oil-for-food scheme in Iraq, reports said. The inquiry, headed by retired Supreme Court judge R S Pathak, decided that both Natwar Singh and his son Jagat Singh were guilty of wrongdoing, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. But no money from the sale of the Iraqi oil has been traced to either of them even though two of Jagat Singh's friends were found to have made money from the deal, another report said.
News channel NDTV said the investigative commission found the father and son guilty of misusing their positions in the Congress party to secure the oil contracts. But it said the probe exonerated Congress-also named in a UN report as a non-contractual beneficiary in the scam-of any wrongdoing. The reports followed Pathak handing over his 110-page report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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Everybody else in it for the money but, I think this guy is in it for the food.
#2
He is the fall guy for the Congress party.
As one of Sonia Gandhi's inner circle, it is important that no money be traced to him and thus to her family. Hence the inquiry whitewashed their involvement.
Posted by: john ||
08/05/2006 7:12
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Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi told an Egyptian daily that the crisis in the Middle East cannot be resolved without direct talks with Iran, according to a transcript of the interview released by Prodi's office on Friday. "Without direct talks with Iran, it becomes very difficult to resolve these problems because Iran is undisputably important," Prodi said in an interview with the daily Akhbar El-yom on Aug. 3. He called Iran "a key country in Middle Eastern politics."
At least we know which side he's on. But we'd already guessed that.
Posted by: Fred ||
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"because Iran is undoobatebly undisputably important,"
He is already in bed with Iran, so why can't he come with a solution. Maybe he means, "Final Solution."
The ceasefire committees of the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have ordered a probe on the alleged takeover by the MILF of the base camp and minesite of a chromite mining firm in Banay-banay, Davao Oriental on July 21. Peace Process Undersecretary Ramon Santos,
Just what every nation needs: an Undersecretary for Peace Processors
chair of the governments Coordinating Committee on the Cessation of Hostilities (CCCH) and Von Al Haq, chair of the MILFs CCCH,
With a grand name like Von al Haq and a grand title like CCCH Chairman for MILF, this gentleman likely doesn't sleep in too many fleabag hotels...
told MindaNews by telephone shortly before their departure for Kuala Lumpur Monday that they would have the matter investigated.
"We'll get right on it...right after lunch!"
Alexander Benedicto, chair of the Heritage Resources and Development Corporation (HRDC), the firm operating the chromite mines, told MindaNews he has also reported the matter to Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte, head of the Regional Peace and Order Council, and that Duterte has vowed to look into the situation.
He'll get right on it as well...right after he makes sure his bodyguards are personally loyal to him and gets the brake lines in his car inspected.
The HRDC also asked Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes to intervene and to order all agencies to investigate the alleged takeover.
She'll need to get in touch with the enviro ofice in Brussels, and c'est la vie, it's Aout, everyone's on holiday.
Benedicto told MindaNews the MILF members were reportedly hired by a councilor and construction firm owner from Pangasinan.
Continued on Page 49
Vowing victory in this fall's elections, Republicans emerged Friday from a two-day national strategy session rejecting new independent warnings that they face a possible "electoral rout" and loss of control of Congress. "It will be a tough election, but we will keep control of the House and Senate," Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman said Friday.
He made the prediction after unveiling a strategy that he hoped would frame the fall election as a choice between Republicans and Democrats, rather than a referendum on President Bush and Republican control of the government. Party leaders hope that fear of Democrats will trump anger or disappointment with Republicans.
As the Republicans huddled, their public optimism was offset by two new detailed looks at the House and Senate races and the national mood by Larry Sabato, a noted political analyst, and the Cook Political Report. Both concluded that Republicans are in big trouble. Independent political analyst Charles Cook warned this week that Republicans face the threat of "an electoral rout." "First, the political climate will be extremely hostile to Republican candidates. Second, while Republicans benefited from turnout in 2002 and 2004, this time voter turnout will benefit Democratic candidates. And third, the advantages that the GOP usually has in national party spending will be significantly less than normal."
Vilsack encouraged by Democrat prospects in November
Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack stood at the end of a wharf Friday and said he thinks the Democrats' ship is going to come in during the November elections. Vilsack, who is considering a 2008 bid for president, was in Charleston for this weekend's National Governors Association meeting. "I guarantee you Democratic governors will have a majority of the governerships of the country by the time the fall elections are said and done," Vilsack said.
The former chairman of the Democratic Governors Association is doing what he can to get one of his own into the governor's office in South Carolina, campaigning with fellow Democrat and state Sen. Tommy Moore who is running against Republican Gov. Mark Sanford in the November election.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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thats great its so healthy for the country to have NO checks and balences
Posted by: bk ||
08/05/2006 0:42
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Really haven't had much in checks and balances since the Supremes decided 40 years ago to start issuing fiats that remain largely unchallenged. O'Conner's comments after retiring along the lines of 'how dare they critize us' pretty much defines the attitude of our new rulers.
Posted by: Chinese Whuger3858 ||
08/05/2006 9:54
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bk, if you want to really see "no checks and balances" just let the Dems take control of everything.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/05/2006 11:09
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USA AND UK Want's to make another world WAR. they are just killing muslim's and also other religion's people. they think the world is fool and never stand up against them. but they think wrong when some attacks on the heart's of the people, innocent people's and when the never borther it when they cry and stands up against striker.
same situation created by usa and uk at the shoulder of israil. but they never know that people's of all over the world are against their policies.
#8
Mukhtar, if the US (or for that matter, the UK) wanted to start a 'World' War, we would (it would not be global, but for the people involved in it, it might as well be). It would be over very quickly and a huge number of people would be dead. The vast majority of them would be in countries other than the US/UK.
The policies being undertaken at the moment are very expensive, and are seen as a way of dragging the Islamic world into the 21st century. This is something that must be done if Islam is to survive the next 50 years - it is too easy to get WMD now, and the rationality the Islamic world shows is not encouraging.
Instead of bleating about the muslims that are being killed, you should be finding out about what options the West has (hint; conversion/submission is not one of them) and you'll come to the same conclusion many others have: time is running out for the Islamic world to get its house in order.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/05/2006 12:25
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Well Mukhtar, if only you could learn to think independently and adhere to facts and be productive -- along with all your Moslem co-cultists -- maybe you'd give up your jihad and join humanity in the pursuit of happiness.
Until then, keep changing the conversation and keep blaming the Jews, the USA, the UK, and everybody else for your perpetual state of self-inflicted confusion, illiteracy, poverty, and seething. Not a pretty sight and what a waste of a human life.
No. I'd prefer to go back to wondering about whether Britney Spears is going to sing again after having two kids.
they are just killing muslim's and also other religion's people.
Mostly extremist muslims who are actively trying to kill us. It's only fair. Don't forget who started this. Hopefully the truly moderate muslims won't suffer at all. If you were to step inside my mind you'd find that it hurts me, too.
they think the world is fool and never stand up against them.
Is that the crap your mullahs are brainwashing you with? Why don't you sit down and look at the situation from my point of view. Imagine if the US sneaked some forces in to bomb whatever you think is the same as the World Trade Center. How would you feel? What would the muslim world do? You're not surprised are you? By the way, we don't want to wipe every muslim off the planet like you're probably thinking is our logical conclusion. We just want the extremists to go away.
but they think wrong when some attacks on the heart's of the people, innocent people's and when the never borther it when they cry and stands up against striker.
It seems you don't care about the innocent civilians who were killed in 9/11 and other operations around the world. Was it because they are not muslim? Is it because you have decided to believe the stupid idea that they are somehow military? Is that what you think? Do you think I think the same way about muslims because you can't imagine another way? Think about this. It's called "projection", where you assume everyone else thinks like you.
The extremists are hiding behind civilians and sometimes those civilans going to get killed in the crossfire. What's so hard? Extremists sometimes do it knowing the civilians are going to be killed! Are we supposed to give up every time they hide behind civilians? That's stupid! Extremists attack civilians directly, with intent to harm. If you have a better idea that efficiently gets rid of the extremists without killing civilians, please post it here and it will be forwarded to the military. I know they would love such an idea. Bottom line: We have to defend ourselves right now, not later.
And our military never hides behind civilians, and extremists hide behind civilians all the time. If you know how to think, that should give you huge problems.
same situation created by usa and uk at the shoulder of israil.
That was caused by Iran, Syria, and the Hezb'Allah, and enabled by a gullible international community. Israel has no choice but to destroy them. Again, Hezb'Allah is hiding behind civilians, and civilians are dying. The Lebanese government could help Israel, but they are siding with terrorists. Israel said it wants the Lebanese government to be in charge, and they mean it. It's a good thing, not a bad thing as your mullahs will tell you. Do you see an option for Israel? What if Israel attacked Lebanon the way Hezb'Allah attacked Israel? With many rockets and kidnapping soldiers and civilians and killing civilians? How would you feel then? Think about it yourself, don't ask your mullah. You'll probably find he mixes lots of hate into his answer until you can't think right then he puts the idea into you that all the crap the extremists are doing is OK somehow. Mixing in hate can come in the form of just mentioning the word "Jews" and off you go. It's easy for them to control your thinking because they put these bombs all through your psychology.
but they never know that people's of all over the world are against their policies.
Mostly extremist muslims and those who believe their mullahs that we are going to wipe every muslim off the planet. Bull$hit. The mullahs are just trying to become more powerful. They either honestly think it is a good thing, or they just want more power.
#11
"The mullahs are just trying to become more powerful. They either honestly think it is a good thing, or they just want more power."
I'll take what's behind Door #2, gorb.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/05/2006 14:10
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The mullahs think more power in their own hands is a good thing, in the pursuit of slavery for all of mankind. Mukhtar and his co-cultists are their willing tools.
Returning to the actual topic: Republicans had better win, not just predict victory. A Democrat majority at this stage would be utter disaster, leading the world to nuclear war within less than two years (if it doesn't happen on the 22nd already).
#15
Think about it yourself, don't ask your mullah.
That is part of the problem in a nutshell. They are'nt allowed to think. Islam means 'Submit'. Don't think, don't question, don't understand, just DO AS I SAY.
Personally, I think there is a balance between those who actually believe all the $hit they are spouting and those who are just taking advantage of it for power. And some who have a foot in both graves. I also wonder what the balance of motivation is the higher up the food chain you go. It's easy to poke fun at this subject, but I think it's an important one.
(KUNA) -- Thirteen people, including five police officers and two police academy students were injured as a result of two explosions in the southern Turkish city of Adana, Turkish news agency Anadolu (AA) said on Friday.
Police director Mehmet Cebe said that mines dismantling squad has scanned the area for security reasons. He added no organization had claimed responsibility for the blasts. Meanwhile investigations are underway. Cebe added that the second blast wounded five policemen who had come to the area, one of them is critically injured. Four police vehicles were also damaged by the blast.
Posted by: Fred ||
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(KUNA) -- North Korea may have relocated a long-range Taepodong-2 missile from a launch site from which it test-fired missiles last month, Yonhap News Agency reported Friday, quoting a government official. The purported missile was one of two Taepodong-2 missiles assembled at the launch site in the eastern district of Musudan-ri, North Hamkyong Province, where the first missile was launched on July 5 along with six other short- and mid-range missiles from other launch sites. "The (second) Taepodong-2 seems to have disappeared from Musudan-ri in mid-July," said Yang Chang-seok, a spokesman for the Unification Ministry, according to Yonhap.
Yang and Defense Ministry officials said they were still "uncertain" whether the North has in fact removed the missile, but refused to elaborate where the uncertainties came from. The Taepodong-2 missile is believed to be capable of reaching as far as the US west coast at its full capacity. The removal, if true, is expected to help soothe the tension between the North and South Korea sparked by the North's missile launches, as the presence of the second missile at the launch site has been believed to be a sign of additional missile launches, said the report.
Such concerns for a second launch, at least in part, have led to an unusually strong reaction from the UN Security Council, which unanimously passed a resolution condemning the North's missile launches and prohibiting any missile-related dealings with the North, only 10 days after the communist state test-fired the seven missiles. The officials were quoted as saying that there are two possible reasons for the alleged removal, which include adjusting or improving the missile before an eventual launch. Another possible explanation, according to the officials, is that the North has temporarily, or permanently, relocated the missile due to damages from recent floods there.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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The removal, if true, is expected to help soothe the tension between the North and South Korea sparked by the North's missile launches
Don't worry, you'll see it again after they stiffen the thing up with couple more boxes of duct tape.
#3
The thing doesn't work. No sense firing it when it will break apart right after after launch.
NoKo is on the bottom of the steep rocket learning curve.
Posted by: john ||
08/05/2006 7:09
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THey sent it back to Estes for warranty work.
Posted by: Mike ||
08/05/2006 7:33
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Estes is probably better at manufacturing boosters that NoKo.
This is a country that required technology transfer of chinese bicycle technology to set up a bicycle factory last year.
Posted by: john ||
08/05/2006 7:55
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Kimmie has sent it away to the email experts that have the technology to enlarge his dong.
#8
Removed for upgrade to the Ducttapedong version, newer better, they say the sling made from the original duct tape process gives this weapon a huge increase in range over previous versions.
Police have arrested a Kashmiri they believe is linked to a militant Islamic group over serial train blasts in Mumbai last month which killed 183 people, an intelligence officer said yesterday. Abdul Hameed, 35, who was working in Mumbai as a security guard prior to the July 11 blasts, was arrested Thursday night at Potha village in Indian Kashmir's Poonch district, the officer said. Hameed came under suspicion after Mumbai police found his identity card at one of the blast sites and discovered that since the attacks he had not reported for work at the private security agency that employed him.
...police found his identity card at one of the blast sites and discovered that since the attacks he had not reported for work at the private security agency that employed him...
With the latest arrest, police now have 11 suspects in custody in connection with the rush-hour train bombings, which also injured nearly 900 people. "He has been picked up with the help of the Jammu and Kashmir police. He will be shifted to Mumbai," a police intelligence officer in Jammu, winter capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, said.
He said Hameed was suspected of having links to pro-Pakistan militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is fighting Indian rule in disputed Kashmir. Police believe Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) played a role in the Mumbai bombings. Both have denied involvement. The intelligence source said Hameed was suspected of having been sent to Mumbai to set up a Lashkar-e-Taiba module there.
Posted by: Fred ||
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pro-Pakistan militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba
LeT isn't pro-Pakistan. LeT is pakistani. It was created by the ISI itself.
Posted by: john ||
08/05/2006 8:25
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(KUNA) -- Hezbollah said on Friday its artillery bombarded the Israeli Air Force's central command base in Ramad David area. A Hezbollah statement said the base is located 47 kilometers away from the Lebanese-Palestinian borders, "scoring direct hits". Earlier today, Hezbollah fighters fired Khaibar-1 rockets at the Israeli towns of Beisan and Afoulah. Katyusha rockets had been fired at a number Israeli settlements and the General Command of the Israeli artillery in the occupied Golan Heights.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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Really? Do they have spotters nearby calling back to let them know what they've hit?
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has donated $5 million collected for his election campaign to help Lebanese and Palestinians facing Israeli onslaughts. Saleh, who is virtually certain to win the Sept. 20 polls, has donated one billion Yemeni rials ($5.6 million) collected by Yemeni businessmen to fund his campaign, Yehya Mohammad Saleh, who heads two solidarity associations for the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples, told reporters.
The two associations have since Saturday been raising funds to help Lebanese and Palestinians reeling under Israeli offensives. Around half a million dollars were donated on Thursday by Yemeni businessmen.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Sister city activists and other Madisonians with ties to Cuba said today they fear the Bush administration will use the transition in power from Fidel to Raul Castro as the occasion to activate a plan to replace that nation's communist system. They said such a move could lead to war.
The Associated Press reported today that Bush told a Miami radio station on Monday, prior to the announcement of Castro's illness, "If Fidel Castro were to move on because of natural causes, we've got a plan in place to help the people of Cuba understand there's a better way than the system in which they've been living under."
(This) is nothing more than a plan by the United States for the annexation of Cuba...
Ricardo Gonzalez, a former Madison alderman who was born and raised in Cuba and founded the Madison-Camaguey Sister City Association, said today he was taken by surprise by Castro's illness and that he also is troubled by the reports prepared by the U.S. Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, which is headed by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "(This) is nothing more than a plan by the United States for the annexation of Cuba. A section of the plan is being kept secret about what the U.S. might do in event of the death or incapacity of Fidel Castro," Gonzales maintained. "We will see if this administration chooses this moment to put into action this secret plan for transition. This is a wrong policy that will not work. I don't know what the U.S. can do other than military intervention, which at this point would be unthinkable, considering that we have our hands full in the Middle East. We ought to pursue a policy of engagement with the Cuban government that will lead to an improvement of relations and peace."
Robert Kimbrough, a retired UW-Madison English professor and prominent local Socialist who has gone to Cuba 16 times with Madison delegations, is also worried by the two reports. "It is disgusting. The 2004 report said, 'We pledge to help the Cuban people, and a new transition Cuban government, as you move away from the totalitarian Communist dictatorship and toward a free and representative democracy.' On July 10, the final report to the president is specific that when Fidel goes they will put this into motion. The president of the National Assembly in Cuba has labeled this as no less than a declaration of war. My question is how our wonderful, sophisticated government will respond. They have asked for $80 million to get the transition to democracy started, beginning with $20 million right away. They recommended this to the president and he accepted the report."
Posted by: Fred ||
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Annex Cuba? These guys picked the wrong week to quit takin' their thorazine. BTW, if Ricardo loves Castro's Cuba so much how come he left?
About 100 demonstrators threw stones and firebombs at the British Embassy in Teheran on Friday, damaging the building but harming nobody as they accused Britain and the United States of being accomplices in Israel's fight against Hizbullah. Demonstrators also smashed some of the building's windows as they called for its closure and the expulsion of the British ambassador.
A British Foreign Office spokesman, on customary condition of anonymity, said nobody was harmed. "Protesters were throwing bricks and at least one petrol bomb but everyone's OK," he said. "There was just some damage to perimeter of the embassy."
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IDF troops fired at a number of Palestinians on Friday afternoon suspected of spying on the troops from a building nearby, on the outskirts of Dahiniye in the Gaza Strip. The IDF reported that over 30 fugitives were wounded during the current Operation Horizon.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Hey Mahmoud, gimme those binoculars. I want to see if the Jews really have small......oh oh Allah!...BOOM!
(KUNA) -- The US army said on Friday US and Iraqi forces found bomb-making materials and weapons while conducting a search at Iraq's Al-Anbar university. In a press release, the army said insurgents were using parts of the university to plan attacks against security forces. While saying confiscated items include explosive materials, machine guns and rocket projectiles, the army added that this operation was an extension of other operations against insurgents and their hideouts.
Posted by: Fred ||
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I didn't know you could get a degree in Terrorism.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 9:31
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Not a surprise. I have a feeling our universities (in the West) are infested with islamofacist professor types. Call the Orkin man. I think the degrees in terrorism are isssued in the mosques.
IDF troops conducted house-to-house searches in the southern Gaza Strip and killed three Palestinians with tanks and air strikes early Friday, Palestinian officials said, in the latest stage of Israel's monthlong offensive against terrorist infrastructure.
...forces targeted 25 gunmen carrying anti-tank missiles who were planting explosives in the army's area of operations...
Three Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in two separate incidents before daybreak Friday, hospital officials said. Hamas said two of the casualties were Hamas members. The army said in a statement its forces targeted 25 gunmen carrying anti-tank missiles who were planting explosives in the army's area of operations. It didn't mention casualties.
Armored forces regrouped overnight on the outskirts of the town of Rafah as the searches were under way, the army said. Israeli aircraft also hit two houses in Gaza City with missiles. Residents said the military warned occupants to leave before the attacks, and no one was hurt.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
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A group of 25 gunmen and they only killed 6?!?
It sounds like those soldiers need more time at the range, or bigger ordnance!
#2
The army said in a statement its forces targeted 25 gunmen carrying anti-tank missiles who were planting explosives in the army's area of operations. It didn't mention casualties.
It sounds like several different operations are covered in this article, and the six killed were not from the twentyfive planting explosives.
Arab foreign ministers will hold an extraordinary meeting on Monday in Beirut to support Lebanon, Arab League number two Ahmed Ben Helli said yesterday. "The meeting of Arab foreign ministers will take place on Monday in Beirut. It will be a follow-up of the session which took place in Cairo on July 15," the deputy secretary general of the pan-Arab body said. "We are holding this meeting in Beirut to express solidarity with Lebanon," the official added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Talk about a target-rich environment!
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/05/2006 10:29
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Are GPS coords known ? Get a load of 2000 pounders over to IAF pront.
Five Muslim civilians were killed in shell attacks in the Sri Lankan town of Muttur yesterday, raising the death toll from clashes between the army and Tamil rebels to 26, a Muslim legislator said. The attack on a school came despite appeals to both the government and Tamil Tiger rebels to hold their fire at least until residents have attended their Friday prayers, government legislator AHM Azwer said.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan called for an immediate halt to the latest battles, which erupted 10 days ago when the Tigers cut off a canal supplying water to thousands of families...
Shells on Thursday slammed into three schools where frightened residents of the majority-Muslim town had taken shelter, killing at least 17 civilians, military officials reported. Two constables and two paramilitary troopers attached to the local police were also killed in the clashes. We were discussing till midnight with the military to ensure that they hold their fire, Azwer said. But, this morning we have the sad news that five more civilians have been killed when two shells hit a school where they sheltered. Politicians from the north-east of the island met with top officials and the military in Colombo to plead for a break in the fighting to allow some 30,000 Muslims trapped in Muttur to conduct Friday prayers. Azwer said the government security forces blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the shelling of civilians while the guerrillas blamed the military. We want both sides to stop, he said.
Military spokesman Upali Rajapakse said sporadic mortar bomb exchanges continued yesterday in Muttur where security forces have been consolidating since repulsing a rebel artillery attack which began on Wednesday. At least 161 people have died in fighting that began on Wednesday last week for control of the Maavilaru irrigation canal in Trincomalee district after the rebels shut sluice gates.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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If they still called it "Ceylon," this wouldn't be happening.
Cuba's communist government said it would defend itself against any U.S. attempt to take advantage of Fidel Castro's health crisis as some exiles urged Washington to go further in fostering a democratic transition on the island. "The people know they have a resource, a weapon, a place to defend the revolution if necessary," Rogelio Polanco, editor of the Communist youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde, said on state television Thursday evening.
"Once again, they shouldn't make a mistake, not to fantasize ... thinking their desires are reality," Polanco said in a public affairs program discussing how exiles celebrated Castro's recent surgery for intestinal bleeding. "They should not mess up and commit the greatest error of all time."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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"The people know they have a resource, a weapon, a place to defend the revolution if necessary,"
???
Maybe Joe can translate that for us. :-)
"Once again, they shouldn't make a mistake, not to fantasize ... thinking their desires are reality,"
Thanks for the pinch. I'm awake now.
"They should not mess up and commit the greatest error of all time."
#3
Cuba's communist government said it would defend itself against any U.S. attempt to take advantage of Fidel Castro's health crisis
...That's enough for me - if he was any more stable, he'd be six feet under. When they start warning against 'foreign interference' and you haven't seen anybody in a week or so, there is a MAJOR problem. I happily withdraw my prediction of a few days ago. I think this could go south real quick now.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/05/2006 8:32
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memo to the Cuban people - time to start making the list of your communist overlords so you'll know who to decorate the lampposts with...and I'd add the jerks from Madison to the list
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 9:56
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A U.S. Court redrew the boundaries of five south and west Texas congressional districts on Friday to restore political power to Hispanic voters. The three-judge panel, appointed by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, vacated primary elections of candidates in the districts and said primary elections would be held simultaneously with the general election on November 7, according to the decision. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote in a district, a runoff election will take place on a date to be set by the Texas secretary of state.
The court's new electoral map fulfills instructions from the U.S. Supreme Court when it ruled in June that a controversial 2003 congressional redistricting by the Texas Legislature was constitutional except for the dilution of Hispanic voting power in the 23rd Congressional District. Most affected by the change, according to political analysts is Republican Rep. Henry Bonilla's 23rd District, which saw the number of Democratic voters increase by 8 percent under the congressional district map issued on Friday. "Under today's court-ordered plan, Bonilla would be favored for reelection, but would not be considered safe," the liberal advocacy group Lone Star Project said in a statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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(KUNA) -- Two Iraqi civilians were killed and 17 wounded on Friday in a mortar attack on a popular market south of Baghdad. An Iraqi security source told KUNA that four mortar rounds hit a popular market on Friday afternoon in the town of Diyala Bridge, south of Baghdad, noting that a number of commercial stores and houses were damaged.
...the forensic department has insufficient space for all the unidentified dead bodies it is receiving...
Meanwhile, an Iraqi Interior Ministry source announced that 14 unidentified dead bodies were found in the towns of Kout and Nahrawan, south of Baghdad. The source told KUNA that the local police in Kout found 10 unidentified dead bodies more likely for Iraqi soldiers, noting that the bodies were handcuffed, blindfolded, had torture marks, and were executed by shooting. Also, the local police in Nahrawan found four unidentified dead bodies that were shot to death.
A source from the Forensic Department in Baghdad, who requested anonymity, told reporters that 947 dead bodies were transported to the Health Directorate of Karbala in July only, noting that the Forensic Department in Baghdad sent 200 other dead bodies to Karbala on Friday for burial. The source described the increasing numbers of unidentified dead bodies as "horrible", noting that the forensic department has insufficient space for all the unidentified dead bodies it is receiving, while bodies not inquired about within one month are buried in mass graves.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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The federal deficit will register $260 billion this year, the lowest in four years, reflecting a strong economy and resulting growth in tax revenue, congressional analysts said Friday. The estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is well below its earlier predictions and also below the $296 billion White House estimate less than a month ago. Better-than-expected revenues are driving the deficit down from last year's $318 billion figure and far below the record $413 billion posted in 2004. At $260 billion, it would be the lowest since the $158 billion figure in 2002, the first deficit following four years of surpluses.
At 2 percent of gross domestic product, the 2006 deficit would be smaller than the deficit recorded in the past three years...
The deficit picture is even better when measured against the size of the economy, which is the comparison economists think is most important. "At 2 percent of gross domestic product, the 2006 deficit would be smaller than the deficit recorded in the past three years 3.5 percent in 2003, 3.6 percent in 2004 and 2.6 percent in 2005," said the CBO report.
So far this year, taxes on corporate profits are 27 percent or $56 billion higher compared to the first 10 months of last year. That reflects the strong economy. All told, receipts from corporate profits are estimated to tally two and a half times those collected in 2003, CBO said. The budget year ends Sept. 30. Receipts are also 20 percent higher on income and payroll taxes paid quarterly by wealthier people and small businessmen but taxes withheld in paychecks are only 8 percent higher. Tax receipts are estimated to run $223 billion higher than 2005, CBO said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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whatever
Posted by: bk ||
08/05/2006 0:34
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Lowest in 4 years, but still ridiculously huge.
#3
"Lowest in 4 years, but still ridiculously huge."
2% of GDP is "ridiculously huge"? Son, you are either ignorant or a fanatic. Or both.
Posted by: joe ||
08/05/2006 9:48
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like the unemployment rate in yesterday's news: "propelled to 4.7% - highest in five months"....that, my friend, is still statistically called 'full employment'.
Watch the MSM try and downplay the economic good news to avoid helping the Reps in Nov's election
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/05/2006 10:06
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"At 2 percent of gross domestic product, the 2006 deficit would be smaller than the deficit recorded in the past three years
heh heh hee
Yearly defecit is 2 percent of the gnp and inflation is running about 3.5% - see how you can shrink the national debt without really trying?
The Bush administration took steps Thursday to financially incapacitate branches of a Saudi-based Islamic charity and one of its high-ranking officials for allegedly helping al-Qaida bankroll terrorist acts. The Treasury Department's action is directed at the Philippine and Indonesian offices of the International Islamic Relief Organization. The charity has operations in more than 20 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, the department said. The action also covers Abd Al Hamid Sulaiman Al-Mujil, who is the executive director of the charity's Eastern Province branch in Saudi Arabia.
It is particularly shameful when groups that hold themselves out as charitable or religious organizations defraud their donors or divert funds in support of violent terrorist groups...
The department's action means that any assets found in the United States belonging to Al-Mujil or to the Philippine and Indonesian branches of the charity will be frozen. Americans also are forbidden from sending money or otherwise doing business with them. The department said that Al-Mujil has been called the "million dollar man" for his financial support of Islamic militant groups. He allegedly provided money to the al-Qaida terror network and is considered a major fundraiser for two al-Qaida-affiliated terrorist groups in Southeast Asia, Abu Sayyaf Group and Jemaah Islamiyah, the department said.
The department also alleged that, among other things, the charity's offices in the Philippines raised money for the Abu Sayyaf terror group. The charity's office in Indonesia has funneled money to foundations affiliated with the Jemaah Islamiyah terror group and has helped to finance training facilities for use by al-Qaida associates, the department alleged. "It is particularly shameful when groups that hold themselves out as charitable or religious organizations defraud their donors or divert funds in support of violent terrorist groups," said Stuart Levey, the department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence. "Al-Mujil has a long record of supporting Islamic militant groups and he has maintained a cell of regular financial donors in the Middle East who support extremist causes," Levey said.
#5
Politically correct people always say that one has to separate the good muzzies from the bad muzzies. At the risk of being labeled politically incorrect, it is difficult for me to think at this time that there are good muzzies. Most of the killing and terrorism is coming from the world of Islam. Islamics and islamofacists tend to blur in my mind. Terrorism is just a tool of islamofacists (and possibly Islamics in general). The financial pipeline and financial life blood of these islamafacists needs to be cut off. Countries like Saudi Arabia, Eygypt and Iran need to quit supplying these sham charities with money. Hezzballahs and Hamas has recieved lots of money. Much of this money has gone into buying weapons to destroy Israel and the West.
#7
Its about Fu#%ing time!!! We have known this for years about SODDI "NGO's" funding Nur Misuaries wife's NGO financing thousands of dollars to the ASG and MILF.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/05/2006 21:47
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Saudi Arabia, the worlds biggest crude exporter, believes oil should not be used as a weapon because it is the economic lifeline of Arab states, its foreign minister said. Asked whether the oil weapon should be used if the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, Prince Saud Al Faisal said: The two issues should not be mixed because oil is among the economic capabilities that countries... need to meet their obligations towards their citizens.
If we ignore this reality and start asking that the foundations of our life (be used) and enter into reckless adventures, the first to be hurt will be our citizens...
If we ignore this reality and start asking that the foundations of our life (be used) and enter into reckless adventures, the first to be hurt will be our citizens and no wise government can accept this, he told a news conference.
His comments were carried on the official Saudi Press Agency late on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia and other US-allied Gulf members of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (Opec) have made clear in the past they do not intend to repeat the 1973 Arab oil embargo, sanctioned by Saudi Arabias then King Faisal to punish the West for backing Israel in the Arab-Israeli war.
Saudi Arabia, Opecs largest producer, has repeatedly vowed to remain a trustworthy supplier to world oil markets and pledged to maintain at least 1.5 million barrels a day (bpd) of spare production capacity. The kingdom, which holds the bulk of Opecs spare capacity, has accelerated oilfield expansion plans to hike its production capacity to 12.5 million barrels per day (bpd) by 2009 from 11.3 million bpd to meet growing world demand.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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Oh NoNoNo, you can't use Oil as a weapon, but we can.
(Note, they've noticed the lack of refineries)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/05/2006 1:26
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We may be chained to their oil, but apparently they are just as chained to our dollars.
#3
I don't think this is insignificant. Most likely it comes down to 'we are more worried about the Iranians and 'our' Shia than about the Israelis right now.'
And I suspect a good deal of high-level diplomatic discussion is behind the statement.
#5
"If we ignore this reality and start asking that the foundations of our life (be used) and enter into reckless adventures, the first to be hurt will be our citizens and no wise government can accept this,
him means...
Brothers the Americans we kill us and take our oil
An ISF missile slammed into farm workers loading vegetables into a refrigerator truck near the Lebanon-Syria border on Friday, killing or wounding as many as 40 people, the workers' foreman said. The Lebanese and Kurdish farm laborers were in a field in a strip of no-man's land along the border, foreman Rabei al-Jabali said. He said 40 casualties were taken to a hospital in Syria, because roads in Lebanon were cut off by Israeli airstrikes earlier Friday.
Fox News sez over 20 dead.
23 of Al-Qaa massacre victims are Syrians - TV
(KUNA) -- Among the 34 people killed in the massacre perpetrated by Israel in the Bekaa village of Al-Qaa, there are 23 Syrians, reported the Syrian television. The television said the convoy carrying the dead bodies of the Syrian workers reached Homs, where the mutilated bodies are being identified.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Loading heavy trucks on the Leb border in a war where Israel is being hit with 150+ 150 lb. rockets per day. They're surprised that the Israelis rocketed them? Hell, with actions like that they're absolutely BEGGING to be nominated for a Darwin Award. To avoid trouble, you don't just have to stay OUT of it, you have to stay AWAY from it. These guys didn't understand that. Maybe now the survivors will...nah, they're Muzzies. They'll do it again.
Posted by: mac ||
08/05/2006 1:31
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Maybe it was a Syrian Gallagher, with exploding watermelons. Hanging around the first aisle, can be hazardous.
#3
I saw something yesterday that said they were observed loading the produce on top of weaponry. Either way, they certainly worked hard to earn that Darwin Award.
Israeli Navy ships destroyed the Adi Nasrallsh Harbor in south Beirut on Friday evening. According to the army, the harbor, named after Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah's son who was killed by the IDF 1997, was the launching site of the Iranian C-802 missile that was fired at the Navy ship Hanit killing four soldiers in mid-July. The site was also used to train Hizbullah operatives in weapons-smuggling, the army said.
Three soldiers were killed in Markabe battle
Three IDF soldiers were killed in the battle in the southern Lebanese village of Markabe early Friday morning, details released for publication on Friday evening revealed. The third fatality was an army officer.
Rockets strike Hadera region for the first time
Three rockets landed in the region of Hadera on Friday night marking the southernmost point Hizbullah has fired so far in the conflict, some 90 km south of the Lebanese border. No injuries or damage were reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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Over 150 left-wing activists and Palestinians were protesting the construction of the security fence in Bil'in on Friday afternoon. Some protestors were throwing rocks at security forces. A simultaneous demonstration was being held in the Hebron area, attended by 50 Palestinians and left-wing activists.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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What the heck is a "left-wing activist" in the region? Is this your basic Paleo fellow-traveler or in other words the enemy?
Jerusalem police on Friday fired stun grenades to disperse scores of Arab youths who turned violent after being barred access to the Temple Mount for Friday prayers, police said. There were no injuries reported in the noontime clash near the Damascus Gate.
Citing intelligence alerts over potential attacks, police prevented all Arab men under 40 from entering the Temple Mount due to the security situation in the country. Police sporadically close off the bitterly contested Jerusalem holy site to younger male Arabs on Fridays during times of high tension following multiple alerts over possible violence at the ancient compound.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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Shoot them down in the streets. Use live ammunition and try for head shots. Kill as many as possible and then, after identifying the corpses, bulldoze their family homes and evict the surviving relatives, with no more than the shirts on their backs, into Gaza. That would teach these bastards a lesson they won't soon forget.
At the end of the day, action like what I've suggested is what it is going to take to cow them because brutality and force are the only things they understand. Anything else is considered a display of irresolution and weakness and leads to more of the unwanted behavior.
Posted by: mac ||
08/05/2006 1:21
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"Shoot them down in the streets. Use live ammunition and try for head shots."
That is what it is going to take. I'd suggest 7.62mm miniguns myself, and set the barrel height about four feet off the ground. Oh, and use steel jacketed rounds for the best effect.
Tolerance of bad behavior only brings more bad behavior! Arabs in general and Muslims in particular are the perpetual adolescents of the human race. Must be all those centuries of inbreeding, Islamic indoctrination and tribalism.
(KUNA) -- Dawood Ibrahim, who allegedly masterminded the 1993 serial blasts in Western Indian city of Mumbai and whose custody has been sought by Indian authorities, should be brought to justice, visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher said Friday. "He is in our list. He is one whom we would like to bring into justice," Boucher told reporters in Eastern Indian city of Kolkata Friday, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported. "I think he is responsible for some of the previous blasts," he said.
India has claimed that Dawood, is now living in Pakistan though Islamabad has denied the charge. "Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has recognised the necessity to fight terrorism. We will continue to work with Pakistan as we do with other countries as well," Boucher said. "Musharraf has made it clear that he does not want terrorist camps in Pakistan," Boucher said. "We can beat terrorism by working together," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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Musharraf has made it clear that he does not want terrorist camps in Pakistan
Then he should close them down.
Problem is Perv wants an insurance policy. He wants the ability to turn the jihad tap on or off depending on how many concessions he gets from India or the USA.
The problem with keeping jihadis like attack dogs is that tend to perform jihad when you least want them to...
They are essentially feral and cannot be domesticated...
Posted by: john ||
08/05/2006 13:04
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Rockets fired by Hizbullah on Friday evening landed near the Syrian city of Kuneitra located several kilometers east of the Golan Heights. No injuries or damage were reported. The IDF said that the firing at Kuneitra represented yet another attempt by Hizbullah to drag Syria into the conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/05/2006
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Honor demands Syria fire rockets back at Hizbullah.
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.
British troops fighting Taliban insurgents in southern Afghanistan are on the "brink of exhaustion", The Sunday Telegraph has learnt. Commanders fear that the number of "high tempo" operations being launched against the Taliban is "unsustainable" unless the 3,600-strong task force is reinforced with an extra 1,000-strong infantry battle group. Since May, British troops in Helmand province have fought 25 major battles in which they killed an estimated 700 Taliban.
A plot to blow up a mosque in Latifabad on Saturday was foiled when the bomb planted inside the building was defused by the bomb disposal squad. The police said a worshipper had informed the police of two suspicious spray bottles in the ablution area of the Allah Wali Masjid in Unit No 8, Latifabad, at 1:50pm on Saturday as people prepared for the Zuhr prayers at 2:00pm. It triggered panic among people inside the mosque. 
MUMBAI: Indian police have detained an Islamic activist in the eastern state of Bihar in connection with last months train bombings in Mumbai, an official said on Saturday. 
Former President 
and....target rich environment! 
An anticipatory buzz fills the room. Six crisp American flags, erect as soldiers, line the dais. More than an hour before the vice president's arrival, the GOP faithful stand at the ready. Never mind that Dick Cheney is favorably regarded by only about a third of Americans. To this crowd, in this place, he is a rock star.
Cuba's vice president said Saturday that Fidel Castro is recovering satisfactorily from surgery and the communist leader sent his "fraternal greetings" to the people of Bolivia, Cuban state media reported. Carlos Lage spoke in Bolivia on the way to the Sunday opening of a convention to write a new constitution for the South American nation, according to Cuban international news agency Prensa Latina, which offered no further details of his statement. Neither of the Castros has been seen since Monday's announcement that Fidel, 79, had undergone surgery for intestinal bleeding and was temporarily ceding power to his brother Raul, the 75-year-old defense minister.
...Before he launched his democracy project, Bush was warned that free elections would advance the fortunes of Islamic militants. At his insistence, the elections were held. The results? 
At a momentous moment in Cuban history -- with long-time strongman Fidel Castro in a sickbed and transferring his power to his brother -- foreign journalists are being shut out of the Communist island.
Yet another major figure has exited Air America Radio.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has delivered a message of democratic change to the Cuban people, while the island's communist government said Fidel Castro was in good health and his brother in firm control. "All Cubans who desire peaceful democratic change can count on the support of the United States," Rice said. "We encourage the Cuban people to work at home for positive change, and we stand ready to provide you with humanitarian assistance as you begin to chart a new course for your country." 
(KUNA) -- Four insurgents were killed and 32 others were arrested through operations by the Multi-National Force (MNF) in different cities Iraq. In a number of press releases on Friday, the MNF said some of the insurgents were linked with a blast that killed over 100 civilians in Al-Sadr city, noting that a number of the apprehended persons have connection with Al-Qaeda terrorist organizations. One of the insurgents is responsible for funding insurgent groups and he has direct links with Al-Qaeda, said the MNF. The operations also led to seizing a large amount of weapons ranging from guns to rocket projectiles.
Israel was waging a "war of starvation" on Lebanese civilians in an effort to force the Lebanese government to agree to Israel's demands, Lebanese President Emile Lahoud said in a statement issued Friday. 
Days after calling Iran a "stabilizing" force in the Middle East, French Foreign Minister 
Israel and Hezbollah fought bloody ground battles and exchanged fierce air and missile strikes Friday including bombing raids that severed Lebanon's last major supply link with Syria and the outside world, and the guerrillas' deepest rocket attack inside Israel to date. 
US troops fired on a bus convoy of Shi'ite activists heading to Baghdad to take part in a demonstration against Israel's attack on Lebanon yesterday, an interior ministry official said. Both the official and a representative of radical cleric Moqtada Al Sadr's movement said one protester was killed and at least 16 injured in the shooting, although a US spokesman was unable to confirm or deny this. Injured Shi'ites brought to a hospital in Baghdad also said that one person had died, but were not clear on exactly what had happened in the incident on the road leading from the holy city of Najaf north to Baghdad. 
The White House on Friday brushed aside Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's call for the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Clinton, in an interview Thursday with the Associated Press, called for President Bush to accept Rumsfeld's resignation over what she called a "failed policy" in Iraq. "I just don't understand why we can't get new leadership that would give us a fighting chance to turn the situation around before it's too late," the New York Democrat told the AP, adding, "The secretary has lost credibility with the Congress and with the people." 
Security forces in the southern Philippines arrested a Muslim preacher yesterday on suspicion that he was a member of the 
(KUNA) -- Governor of Mosul city Doraid Kashmola announced Friday a curfew in the northern Mosul city after two explosions rocked it. A security source told KUNA that senior military officer, Jasem Jabory, and three of his escorts were among 10 people killed in the explosions.
Nasrallah is a bad surname to have in Lebanon, as Israel tries to break the militant group Hezbollah. Fourteen-year-old Mohammed Hassan Nasrallah found out the hard way when Israeli airborne commandos seized his father and four other men in eastern Lebanon, even though they are unrelated to Hassan Nasrallah, the firebrand head of the Shiite Muslim movement. 
(KUNA) -- Hizbollah announced in a statement issued on Friday that its fighters killed six Israeli soldiers, among them an officer, and destroyed six of Israel's Merkava tanks as well as an unspecified number of armored troop carriers and tractors or earth-movers. The statement indicated that Hizbollah fighters engaged Israeli troops in fierce fighting near the southern Lebanese village of Mashroa-al-Taiba, where Hizbollah fighters were able to destroy one tank and an armored troop carrier. More fighting went on at other locations in the south such as at the villages and townships of Markaba, where six Israeli soldiers were killed, and Aita Al-Shaab, where one Israeli tank was destroyed and its occupants killed, according to the Hizbollah statement. Fighting also continued at the villages of Shiheen, Al-Jibain and Maroon Al-Ras.
Iran admitted for the first time on Friday that it did indeed supply long-range Zelzal-2 missiles to Hizbullah. Secretary-general of the "Intifada conference" 
An inquiry set up by the Indian government on Thursday found former foreign minister Natwar Singh and his son guilty of misconduct over the UN oil-for-food scheme in Iraq, reports said. The inquiry, headed by retired Supreme Court judge R S Pathak, decided that both Natwar Singh and his son Jagat Singh were guilty of wrongdoing, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. But no money from the sale of the Iraqi oil has been traced to either of them even though two of Jagat Singh's friends were found to have made money from the deal, another report said. 
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi told an Egyptian daily that the crisis in the Middle East cannot be resolved without direct talks with Iran, according to a transcript of the interview released by Prodi's office on Friday. "Without direct talks with Iran, it becomes very difficult to resolve these problems because Iran is undisputably important," Prodi said in an interview with the daily Akhbar El-yom on Aug. 3. He called Iran "a key country in Middle Eastern politics."
The ceasefire committees of the government and Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have ordered a probe on the alleged takeover by the MILF of the base camp and minesite of a chromite mining firm in Banay-banay, Davao Oriental on July 21. Peace Process Undersecretary Ramon Santos,
Vowing victory in this fall's elections, Republicans emerged Friday from a two-day national strategy session rejecting new independent warnings that they face a possible "electoral rout" and loss of control of Congress. "It will be a tough election, but we will keep control of the House and Senate," Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman said Friday. 
(KUNA) -- Thirteen people, including five police officers and two police academy students were injured as a result of two explosions in the southern Turkish city of Adana, Turkish news agency Anadolu (AA) said on Friday.
(KUNA) -- North Korea may have relocated a long-range Taepodong-2 missile from a launch site from which it test-fired missiles last month, Yonhap News Agency reported Friday, quoting a government official. The purported missile was one of two Taepodong-2 missiles assembled at the launch site in the eastern district of Musudan-ri, North Hamkyong Province, where the first missile was launched on July 5 along with six other short- and mid-range missiles from other launch sites. "The (second) Taepodong-2 seems to have disappeared from Musudan-ri in mid-July," said Yang Chang-seok, a spokesman for the Unification Ministry, according to Yonhap.
Police have arrested a Kashmiri they believe is linked to a militant Islamic group over serial train blasts in Mumbai last month which killed 183 people, an intelligence officer said yesterday. 
(KUNA) -- Hezbollah said on Friday its artillery bombarded the Israeli Air Force's central command base in Ramad David area. A Hezbollah statement said the base is located 47 kilometers away from the Lebanese-Palestinian borders, "scoring direct hits". Earlier today, Hezbollah fighters fired Khaibar-1 rockets at the Israeli towns of Beisan and Afoulah. Katyusha rockets had been fired at a number Israeli settlements and the General Command of the Israeli artillery in the occupied Golan Heights.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has donated $5 million collected for his election campaign to help Lebanese and Palestinians facing Israeli onslaughts. Saleh, who is virtually certain to win the Sept. 20 polls, has donated one billion Yemeni rials ($5.6 million) collected by Yemeni businessmen to fund his campaign, Yehya Mohammad Saleh, who heads two solidarity associations for the Lebanese and Palestinian peoples, told reporters.
Sister city activists and other Madisonians with ties to Cuba said today they fear the Bush administration will use the transition in power from Fidel to Raul Castro as the occasion to activate a plan to replace that nation's communist system. They said such a move could lead to war.
About 100 demonstrators threw stones and firebombs at the British Embassy in Teheran on Friday, damaging the building but harming nobody as they accused Britain and the United States of being accomplices in Israel's fight against Hizbullah. Demonstrators also smashed some of the building's windows as they called for its closure and the expulsion of the British ambassador. 
(KUNA) -- The US army said on Friday US and Iraqi forces found bomb-making materials and weapons while conducting a search at Iraq's Al-Anbar university. In a press release, the army said insurgents were using parts of the university to plan attacks against security forces. While saying confiscated items include explosive materials, machine guns and rocket projectiles, the army added that this operation was an extension of other operations against insurgents and their hideouts.
Arab foreign ministers will hold an extraordinary meeting on Monday in Beirut to support Lebanon, Arab League number two Ahmed Ben Helli said yesterday. "The meeting of Arab foreign ministers will take place on Monday in Beirut. It will be a follow-up of the session which took place in Cairo on July 15," the deputy secretary general of the pan-Arab body said. "We are holding this meeting in Beirut to express solidarity with Lebanon," the official added.
Five Muslim civilians were killed in shell attacks in the Sri Lankan town of Muttur yesterday, raising the death toll from clashes between the army and Tamil rebels to 26, a Muslim legislator said. The attack on a school came despite appeals to both the government and Tamil Tiger rebels to hold their fire at least until residents have attended their Friday prayers, government legislator AHM Azwer said. 
Cuba's communist government said it would defend itself against any U.S. attempt to take advantage of Fidel Castro's health crisis as some exiles urged Washington to go further in fostering a democratic transition on the island. "The people know they have a resource, a weapon, a place to defend the revolution if necessary," Rogelio Polanco, editor of the Communist youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde, said on state television Thursday evening.
A U.S. Court redrew the boundaries of five south and west Texas congressional districts on Friday to restore political power to Hispanic voters. The three-judge panel, appointed by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, vacated primary elections of candidates in the districts and said primary elections would be held simultaneously with the general election on November 7, according to the decision. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote in a district, a runoff election will take place on a date to be set by the Texas secretary of state.
(KUNA) -- Two Iraqi civilians were killed and 17 wounded on Friday in a mortar attack on a popular market south of Baghdad. An Iraqi security source told KUNA that four mortar rounds hit a popular market on Friday afternoon in the town of Diyala Bridge, south of Baghdad, noting that a number of commercial stores and houses were damaged.
The federal deficit will register $260 billion this year, the lowest in four years, reflecting a strong economy and resulting growth in tax revenue, congressional analysts said Friday. The estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office is well below its earlier predictions and also below the $296 billion White House estimate less than a month ago. Better-than-expected revenues are driving the deficit down from last year's $318 billion figure and far below the record $413 billion posted in 2004. At $260 billion, it would be the lowest since the $158 billion figure in 2002, the first deficit following four years of surpluses.
The Bush administration took steps Thursday to financially incapacitate branches of a Saudi-based Islamic charity and one of its high-ranking officials for allegedly helping al-Qaida bankroll terrorist acts. The Treasury Department's action is directed at the Philippine and Indonesian offices of the International Islamic Relief Organization. The charity has operations in more than 20 countries in Africa, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, the department said. The action also covers Abd Al Hamid Sulaiman Al-Mujil, who is the executive director of the charity's Eastern Province branch in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia, the worlds biggest crude exporter, believes oil should not be used as a weapon because it is the economic lifeline of Arab states, its foreign minister said. Asked whether the oil weapon should be used if the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalates, Prince Saud Al Faisal said: The two issues should not be mixed because oil is among the economic capabilities that countries... need to meet their obligations towards their citizens. 
Israeli Navy ships destroyed the Adi Nasrallsh Harbor in south Beirut on Friday evening. According to the army, the harbor, named after Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah's son who was killed by the IDF 1997, was the launching site of the Iranian C-802 missile that was fired at the Navy ship Hanit killing four soldiers in mid-July. The site was also used to train Hizbullah operatives in weapons-smuggling, the army said.
Jerusalem police on Friday fired stun grenades to disperse scores of Arab youths who turned violent after being barred access to the Temple Mount for Friday prayers, police said. There were no injuries reported in the noontime clash near the Damascus Gate. 
(KUNA) -- Dawood Ibrahim, who allegedly masterminded the 1993 serial blasts in Western Indian city of Mumbai and whose custody has been sought by Indian authorities, should be brought to justice, visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Richard Boucher said Friday. "He is in our list. He is one whom we would like to bring into justice," Boucher told reporters in Eastern Indian city of Kolkata Friday, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported. "I think he is responsible for some of the previous blasts," he said.
Rockets fired by Hizbullah on Friday evening landed near the Syrian city of Kuneitra located several kilometers east of the Golan Heights. No injuries or damage were reported. The IDF said that the firing at Kuneitra represented yet another attempt by Hizbullah to drag Syria into the conflict.
