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18 Iraqi police killed in jailbreak
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
LEGO prepares response to UN Smear
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 03/22/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Amazing attention to detail - obviously a "labor of love."

The UN should go out back and strangle itself - put itself out of its useless misery.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 03/22/2006 1:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Holy Christ that must have taken years to build. This guy must not have been married!
Posted by: Heynonymous || 03/22/2006 10:03 Comments || Top||

#3  yeah this has been doing the rounds on all the top websites the last few days - a real dream isn't it, if i had a wish it'd be to be a kid agin with lego kits like that to make - years of fun :)
Posted by: ShepUK || 03/22/2006 10:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Incredible! Futile, but really incredible. Kudos to whoever did this.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 03/22/2006 10:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Fire for effect! ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 03/22/2006 12:01 Comments || Top||

#6  If you drop a basketball on it, does it turn into a pile of plastic blocks ?

I can see it now:
Hey dude, it's March madness, let's go play some hoops. Whatcha got there ? eh ? Think fast !
Oh, no. CRASHashashash......

Oops.... So, dude, wanna play some hoops ?
Posted by: wxjames || 03/22/2006 13:20 Comments || Top||

#7  I wonder if PhotoShoppe gotem little plastic block filter snap-in.
Posted by: 6 || 03/22/2006 14:01 Comments || Top||

#8  That is beautiful. I want one.
Posted by: Charles || 03/22/2006 14:24 Comments || Top||

#9  And not one bit of asbestos in the entire thing!!!!
Posted by: USN, ret. || 03/22/2006 14:59 Comments || Top||

#10  And not one bit of asbestos in the entire thing!!!!
Posted by: USN, ret. || 03/22/2006 14:59 Comments || Top||

#11  Sorry, trigger finger stuttered when on the 'submit' key.
Posted by: USN, ret. || 03/22/2006 15:00 Comments || Top||

#12  Think UN was trawling for a UNICEF donation to make it go away?

I'm not saying, I'm just saying...
Posted by: eLarson || 03/22/2006 15:35 Comments || Top||

#13  I wonder if PhotoShoppe gotem little plastic block filter snap-in. NO way, no photoshop there.
Posted by: bk || 03/22/2006 15:52 Comments || Top||

#14  I like the little MOB underneath
Posted by: Frank G || 03/22/2006 16:58 Comments || Top||

#15  In that case BK.... Yikes!
Posted by: 6 || 03/22/2006 18:21 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Rahman's prosecutor thinks he could be mad
An Afghan man facing a possible death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity may be mentally unfit to stand trial, a state prosecutor said Wednesday. Abdul Rahman, 41, has been charged with rejecting Islam, a crime under this country's Islamic laws. His trial started last week and he confessed to becoming a Christian 16 years ago. If convicted, he could be executed.

But prosecutor Sarinwal Zamari said questions have been raised about his mental fitness. "We think he could be mad. He is not a normal person. He doesn't talk like a normal person," he told The Associated Press.

Moayuddin Baluch, a religious adviser to President Hamid Karzai, said Rahman would undergo a psychological examination. "Doctors must examine him," he said. "If he is mentally unfit, definitely Islam has no claim to punish him. He must be forgiven. The case must be dropped." It was not immediately clear when he would be examined or when the trial would resume. Authorities have barred attempts by the AP to see Rahman and he is not believed to have a lawyer.
Posted by: Grunter || 03/22/2006 10:05 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is an "easy out". He may even be allowed to be a Christian if he is declared mad. However, he may be of a variety of martyr that wants to force the government's hand.

If you push, they will usually have to push back.

I am reminded of Pvt Slovik, who was given the option to say that he had just become separated from his unit, but insisted that he was a deserter, thus forcing the government to execute him.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/22/2006 11:11 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Al-Qaeda and Yemen
Scores of al-Qaida members are currently on trial in Yemen on suspicion of planning and perpetrating terrorist attacks against Yemenis officials and Western targets both in Yemen and abroad. Unfortunately, the escape of 23 al-Qa'ida members from the maximum security prison in Sana at the beginning of February overshadows this important chapter in the war on terrorism.

This article is examines the Yemeni connection to worldwide Islamic terrorism, the involvement of Yemeni Muslim volunteers in the war in Iraq, and the measures taken by the Yemeni government to combat this terrorism. In addition, this article will track the recent developments in the trials of the Al-Qa'ida members.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 03/22/2006 01:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Al-Qaeda replacing Soddy branch's leadership
Al Qaida was believed to have replaced its leadership in Saudi Arabia.

Officials said Al Qaida was believed to have appointed commanders to replace those killed by Saudi security forces over the last few months. On Feb. 27, Al Qaida network chief Fahd Al Juweir was slain in a shootout in Riyad.

"The battle with them is not finished," Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef Bin Abdul Aziz told state-run television on March 19. "You never know. Some new leaders might emerge."

In February, four leading Al Qaida operatives were killed during the battle with security forces in Riyad. The battle came in wake of a failed Al Qaida attempt to destroy the kingdom's largest oil refinery at Abqiq.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 03/22/2006 01:31 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
Church recalls magazine with caricatures
LONDON: The Anglican Church in Wales said Tuesday it was recalling all copies of its Welsh-languAge Y Llan (Church) magazine that features a French cartoon depicting the Prophet Muhammad (PTUI PBUH). Taken from the France-Soir newspaper, the cartoon shows Muhammad (PTUI PBUH) on a heavenly cloud with Buddha, Moses, and God who tells him: “Don’t complain, Mohammed, we’ve all been caricatured here.”
Pointing that out'll getcha a price on your head...
“The church in Wales is thoroughly investigating how this cartoon came to be reproduced in Y Llan,” a spokesman for Barry Morgan, the Archbishop of Wales, said Tuesday. He added that Morgan had groveled sent apologies to the Muslim Council of Wales for any offence caused. The cartoon was used to illustrate an article in Y Llan — which has a circulation of about 400 copies — about the shared ancestry of Christianity, Islam and Judaism.
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


British nuclear submarine painted navy blue
The British Royal Navy's submarines were being painted navy blue as part of a camouflage experiment aimed at finding out which will be the best colour for the vessels in future, the UK Ministry of Defence announced Tuesday. During their 105 years as part of the Royal Navy's fleet, most submarines have been painted black. Now nuclear submarine "HMS Torbay," based at Devonport, in south-west England, has become the first of the underwater fleet to sport the new blue colour scheme.

A Ministry of Defence spokesman said "This is an ongoing process of improvement, and if that means submarines will be less visible to the eye as a result, then all the better." Black paintwork created a "harder outline" and was more easily spotted, he added. Submarines have been painted other colours in the past. Two of the fleet were painted sandy-brown and green-black at the time of the Gulf War to liberate Kuwait in 1991.
Where do we text our votes? Navy blue is so somber! Surely a nice cerulean blue would be a little more calming, more...peaceful even.
Posted by: Seafarious || 03/22/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm leaning towards yellow. . . .
Posted by: Paul McCartney || 03/22/2006 8:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Haze grey and underway!
Posted by: RWV || 03/22/2006 10:09 Comments || Top||

#3 
Posted by: Mr. J Rogers || 03/22/2006 11:07 Comments || Top||

#4  Didn't we have one in WWII painted pink?

I seem to remember a movie about it....

;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 03/22/2006 12:00 Comments || Top||

#5  The one that sunk a truck?
:)
Posted by: Creater Crater3500 || 03/22/2006 12:01 Comments || Top||

#6  "Operation Petticoat", Cary Grant and Tony Curtis.
Posted by: mojo || 03/22/2006 12:31 Comments || Top||

#7  Didn't we arrive at dark gray after extensive day and night exercises ? Or was that just during war time ?
Posted by: wxjames || 03/22/2006 13:24 Comments || Top||

#8  The IDF favors a weird greenish color. It's a matter of depth and seawater transparency.
Posted by: 6 || 03/22/2006 14:03 Comments || Top||

#9  I know, mojo - thanks.

I was trying to be cute. (emphasis on "trying," obviously)

;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 03/22/2006 14:25 Comments || Top||

#10  The USAF and the USAAF in WWII experimented with various pastel shades for airplanes, but no self-respecting ascot-wearing aviator would ever think to strap on a pink P-38. Lockheed Martin painted the Have Blue (F-117 demostrators) various shades of pink and light blue also, all in attempts to minimize visual detection.
Posted by: USN, ret. || 03/22/2006 15:03 Comments || Top||

#11  Seafarious: cerulean blue

"...is a cool breeze"
Posted by: eLarson || 03/22/2006 15:34 Comments || Top||

#12  A nice British Racing Green will do, applied with painstaking skill by the fine folks at Aston Martin.
Posted by: Ebbosing Chereng4165 || 03/22/2006 16:11 Comments || Top||

#13  #4 Didn't we have one in WWII painted pink?
I seem to remember a movie about it....
;-p
Posted by Barbara Skolaut



you're thinking of the Jimmy Carter
Posted by: Frank G || 03/22/2006 16:38 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Bolivia Police Arrest U.S. Citizen After Bombs Kills Two People
Posted by: Ulaise Angavins9207 || 03/22/2006 17:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Bolivian leader is a certifiable nutjob in the mold of Chavez. With this arrest, he has just killed the market for American tourists to Bolivia (except for leftists looking to commune with their revolutionary hero).
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 03/22/2006 19:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Not necessarily ZF, from the KR article, "At a news conference, police gave the Americans' name as Lestat Claudius De Orleans"

He sounds like some goth fruitcake, and he had a diary.
Posted by: Penguin || 03/22/2006 20:15 Comments || Top||

#3  sounds like a wanna be Vampire - Anne Rice -style
Posted by: Frank G || 03/22/2006 20:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Frank-
More than that. Google his name and the first hit is for a fireworks web site. The second is his personal ad for a woman in Uruguay. He says he is a political refugee.

Posted by: Penguin || 03/22/2006 20:23 Comments || Top||

#5  Hooo boy...
Posted by: Edward Yee || 03/22/2006 21:17 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia seeking to reclaim role in former Soviet republics
The Kremlin may be reclaiming a dominant role in its former Soviet backyard.

In Belarus, Moscow-allied strongman Alexander Lukashenko just won re-election by a landslide — at least by the official count. And President Vladimir Putin's allies could return to government in Sunday's Ukrainian parliamentary election, just over a year after the Orange Revolution.

Such developments set back Western hopes of a democratic tidal wave in the former Soviet sphere and could further tarnish Putin's democratic credentials as he tries to cast himself as a statesman capable of brokering deals with Iran and Hamas.

For Putin, however, asserting dominance over Belarus and Ukraine appears to be part of his strategy to re-establish Moscow as a global player during his year of the G-8 presidency.

"Russia wants to restore its superpower status, and that includes putting these countries back into its orbit," said Yevgeny Volk, Moscow director of the conservative U.S think tank Heritage Foundation.

"It is seeking to reclaim its influence over the former Soviet Union, and remove that of the United States and European Union," he added.

Russia was furious at what it saw as Western encroachment on its home turf after Ukraine's November 2004 Orange Revolution — the mass protests over election fraud that brought reformist opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko to power over the Kremlin's favored candidate, Viktor Yanukovych.

Months later, the impoverished Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan had its Tulip Revolution, becoming the third former Soviet state within 18 months to see opposition forces topple a Soviet-era leader. Georgia's Rose Revolution started the process in 2003.

Today, however, Russia is once again on the rise as nervous authoritarian regimes from Kazakhstan to Uzbekistan — where rights groups say government troops killed hundreds of civilians in a crackdown on protesters last year — build closer ties to Moscow, partly as a way to cow opposition forces.

Even in Ukraine, disillusionment at political infighting and the economic collapse that followed the Orange Revolution have brought about a political comeback for Yanukovych, whose rigged victory in the 2004 presidential election was annulled by the Supreme Court.

Enjoying strong support in the Russian-speaking east, his party is poised to win the most seats in the new parliament and earn the right to form the government, even if it will probably need to govern in an uneasy coalition with the party of the pro-Western Yushchenko.

"The West's influence that triumphed in the color revolutions has clearly become a dead end for these nations," said Sergei Markov, a Kremlin-connected political analyst. "In Georgia, Ukraine and Kyrgyzstan, people live worse, not better than before."

By contrast, in Belarus, whose authoritarian president is shunned by Western nations as Europe's last dictator, cheap supplies of Russian gas provide a vital lifeline to the inefficient, state-dominated economy.

Analyst Alexei Malashenko of the Carnegie Moscow Center think tank said on Ekho Moskvy radio that while the Kremlin sometimes had tense relations with Belarus, its greatest interest lay in preserving the status quo in Minsk.

He also said that despite loud Western criticism of the Belarus election, there was no serious attempt to help pro-democratic forces, as happened in Ukraine.

"There was a strong fight for Ukraine, but no one fought for Belarus," Malashenko said.

Analysts agree that Russia's trump card in the region is its immense energy resources. They ensure that despite pro-Western inclinations, both Georgia and Ukraine remain dangerously dependent on their larger neighbor.

A pipeline explosion that cut off Russian supplies to Georgia this winter left millions shivering in their homes — provoking accusations from the tiny U.S.-allied Caucasus Mountain state that Russia was deliberately trying to force it to its knees.
Ukraine meanwhile had to swallow a twofold increase in gas prices after a bitter New Year's dispute that saw Moscow turn off the gas taps.

"Russia is using strong economic levers. With the growth of oil and gas exports it has become much richer than it was in the 1990s and it is translating this economic might into political influence and power," said Volk.

At the center of the Russian policy in the region is a determination to resist the West's efforts to boost its influence at Russia's expense, in what Moscow says is falsely portrayed as a bid to promote democracy.

Russia on yesterday accused the United States of trying to enforce its vision of democracy on others, angrily rejecting President Bush's criticism that the Kremlin has rolled back freedoms.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 03/22/2006 01:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  As I'd advised and warned the Reagan-Bush admins, and even Clinty's, Gorbachev = Gorbachevism > "The Children feed the Mother". With Putin-baby Russia and China are slowly but surely becoming the post-Cold War's equivalent of the Hapsburg AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE, a wilful, ANTI-AMERICAN, giant, Eurasian Stalinist co-oper stretching from East Asia-PACOA to the Baltics. You just gotta know iff and when America "volunteers" = militarily forced to surrender its sovereignty, Govt., and endowments/compar advantages to O'REILLYS alleged Ultra/Far/Hard/Radical Left's desired coalition of world states-OWG, that Russia-China will undoubtedly dominate said group of [ANTI-US] Nations. The Commies and OWG-ists win becuz they got everything for nothing, or in the alt at minima costs!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/22/2006 23:38 Comments || Top||


Europe
Blair Speaks Non-PC Truth (seething begins in 5, 4, 3...)
Severely EFL. Via Transterrestrial Musings.

Ol' Tony can sure turn a phrase when he wants to. (Emphasis mine.)


It is in confronting global terrorism today that the sharpest debate and disagreement is found. Nowhere is the supposed "folly" of the interventionist case so loudly trumpeted as in this case. Here, so it is said, as the third anniversary of the Iraq conflict takes place, is the wreckage of such a world view. Under Saddam Iraq was "stable". Now its stability is in the balance. Ergo, it should never have been done.

This is essentially the product of the conventional view of foreign policy since the fall of the Berlin Wall. This view holds that there is no longer a defining issue in foreign policy. Countries should therefore manage their affairs and relationships according to their narrow national interests. The basic posture represented by this view is: not to provoke, to keep all as settled as it can be and cause no tectonic plates to move. It has its soft face in dealing with issues like global warming or Africa; and reserves its hard face only if directly attacked by another state, which is unlikely. It is a view which sees the world as not without challenge but basically calm, with a few nasty things lurking in deep waters, which it is best to avoid; but no major currents that inevitably threaten its placid surface. It believes the storms have been largely self-created.

This is the majority view of a large part of western opinion, certainly in Europe. According to this opinion, the policy of America since 9/11 has been a gross overreaction; George Bush is as much if not more of a threat to world peace as Osama bin Laden; and what is happening in Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else in the Middle East, is an entirely understandable consequence of US/UK imperialism or worse, of just plain stupidity. Leave it all alone or at least treat it with sensitivity and it would all resolve itself in time; "it" never quite being defined, but just generally felt as anything that causes disruption.

This world view - which I would characterise as a doctrine of benign inactivity - sits in the commentator's seat, almost as a matter of principle. It has imposed a paradigm on world events that is extraordinary in its attraction and its scope. As we speak, Iraq is facing a crucial moment in its history: to unify and progress, under a government elected by its people for the first time in half a century; or to descend into sectarian strife, bringing a return to certain misery for millions. In Afghanistan, the same life choice for a nation, is being played out. And in many Arab and Muslim states, similar, though less publicised, struggles for democracy dominate their politics.

The effect of this paradigm is to see each setback in Iraq or Afghanistan, each revolting terrorist barbarity, each reverse for the forces of democracy or advance for the forces of tyranny as merely an illustration of the foolishness of our ever being there; as a reason why Saddam should have been left in place or the Taliban free to continue their alliance with Al Qaida. Those who still justify the interventions are treated with scorn.

Then, when terrorists strike in the nations like Britain or Spain, who supported such action, there is a groundswell of opinion formers keen to say, in effect, that it's hardly surprising - after all, if we do this to "their" countries, is it any wonder they do it to "ours"?

So the statement that Iraq or Afghanistan or Palestine or indeed Chechnya, Kashmir or half a dozen other troublespots is seen by extremists as fertile ground for their recruiting - a statement of the obvious - is elided with the notion that we have "caused" such recruitment or made terrorism worse, a notion that, on any sane analysis, has the most profound implications for democracy.

The easiest line for any politician seeking office in the West today is to attack American policy. A couple of weeks ago as I was addressing young Slovak students, one got up, denouncing US/UK policy in Iraq, fully bought in to the demonisation of the US, utterly oblivious to the fact that without the US and the liberation of his country, he would have been unable to ask such a question, let alone get an answer to it.

There is an interesting debate going on inside government today about how to counter extremism in British communities. Ministers have been advised never to use the term "Islamist extremist". It will give offence. It is true. It will. There are those - perfectly decent-minded people - who say the extremists who commit these acts of terrorism are not true Muslims. And, of course, they are right. They are no more proper Muslims than the Protestant bigot who murders a Catholic in Northern Ireland is a proper Christian. But, unfortunately, he is still a "Protestant" bigot. To say his religion is irrelevant is both completely to misunderstand his motive and to refuse to face up to the strain of extremism within his religion that has given rise to it.

Yet, in respect of radical Islam, the paradigm insists that to say what is true, is to provoke, to show insensitivity, to demonstrate the same qualities of purblind ignorance that leads us to suppose that Muslims view democracy or liberty in the same way we do.

Just as it lets go unchallenged the frequent refrain that it is to be expected that Muslim opinion will react violently to the invasion of Iraq: after all it is a Muslim country. Thus, the attitude is: we understand your sense of grievance; we acknowledge your anger at the invasion of a Muslim country; but to strike back through terrorism is wrong.

It is a posture of weakness, defeatism and most of all, deeply insulting to every Muslim who believes in freedom ie the majority. Instead of challenging the extremism, this attitude panders to it and therefore instead of choking it, feeds its growth.


None of this means, incidentally, that the invasion of Iraq or Afghanistan was right; merely that it is nonsense to suggest it was done because the countries are Muslim.

Rest is at the link - long foreign policy statement. I'd have loved to hear him give this speech. Churchillian indeed.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 03/22/2006 15:05 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It is a posture of weakness, defeatism and most of all, deeply insulting to every Muslim who believes in freedom ie the majority.

*snort*
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 03/22/2006 15:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Great catch, Barbara. If only Bush could speak like this.
Posted by: Zenster || 03/22/2006 15:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Blair, speaking truth to glower.
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 03/22/2006 15:35 Comments || Top||

#4  Good! We need more like this.

I have one small disagreement. The 'Islamic Terrorist' is the devout muslim. The so-called 'moderates' are the not-truely devout muslims (otherwise they wouldn't be moderate....).
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/22/2006 16:09 Comments || Top||

#5  His speach was playing on C-Span-1 at the same time Bush was on MSNBC and FOX today. I watched for awhile - pretty good.
Posted by: 3dc || 03/22/2006 20:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Not just the dictators, thugs, and repressive regimes to be left in place, iff not allowed expounded unto unknown heights of repression and murder, but more for the UNO [read, USA] and USA to keep $$$ propping up these Govts unto eternity. Well, perennial isolationism and appeasement resulted in 9-11 anyways, and not only 9-11 but now America's enemies want Americans to believe that the genocide, defeat andor destruction of America IS BOTH WHAT AMERICANS TRULY WANT + IS GOOD FOR AMERICANS AND EVERYONE.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 03/22/2006 23:48 Comments || Top||


1/3 of French now considered racist
One third of French people say they are racist, a French human rights watchdog said on Tuesday, after a survey that showed an increase from last year in the number of people who acknowledged being racist.

Some 33 percent of 1,011 people surveyed face-to-face by pollsters CSA said they were "somewhat" or "a little" racist, up 8 percentage points from last year, according to an annual report by the National Consultative Commission for Human Rights.

The poll asked the question "When it comes to you personally, would you say you are ..." followed by a list of options: somewhat racist, a bit racist, not racist, not very racist, not racist at all and don't want to say.

The poll revealed deep economic and social anxiety, Joel Thoraval, the commission's president, said in a statement released to coincide with the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

"Despite the efforts deployed to fight racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia there is still a long way to go," he said.

The report, presented to Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, was conducted from November 17-22, 2005, immediately after several weeks of rioting in poor suburbs around the country.

Thousands of cars were torched by youths who said they faced discrimination, police harassment and lack of access to jobs. Youth unemployment rises to 50 percent in some poor urban areas.

France does not keep official statistics on the number of people belonging to ethnic groups, arguing that to do so would undermine social cohesion and go against its republican ideals.

France has Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim minorities with about 600,000 Jews and 5 million Muslims, mainly of north African origin.

Asked about their main fears for French society 27 percent listed unemployment. Insecurity and poverty were cited by 16 and 11 percent respectively as their primary concern.

Right-wing politician Jean-Marie Le Pen stunned France when he came second in the first round of presidential elections in 2002 against President Jacques Chirac, espousing policies that included a tough line on foreigners.

The French League of Human Rights said in a press release that politicians trivialised racism and associated petty crime, economic crisis and housing shortages with an excessive number of foreigners.

The number of violent racist or xenophobic acts reported to the authorities fell to 88 in 2005 from 169 in 2004, partly because of a sharp drop in Corsica, which accounted for almost half of all such acts in 2004, the commission's report said.

But the number of threats reported fell at a slower rate, to 382 in 2005 from 461 in 2004, the commission said.

Separately, Europe's top human rights body, the Council of Europe, issued a region-wide call for vigilance against the spread of discrimination, hate speech and stereotyping across different forms of media.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 03/22/2006 01:55 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "...Europe's top human rights body, the Council of Europe, issued a region-wide call for vigilance against the spread of discrimination, hate speech and stereotyping..."
Did they call for an end to car burning, abduction, and murder? Do they have an affirmative action program for Council membership?
Posted by: Darrell || 03/22/2006 8:25 Comments || Top||

#2  "One third of French people say they are racist"

The rest are in denial.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 03/22/2006 8:35 Comments || Top||

#3  Silly Darrell - such calls do not apply to the Religion of Peace (tm).....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/22/2006 8:44 Comments || Top||

#4  The French League of Human Rights = LDH = leftist tools, whose leaders included collaborators of the national-islamist Fln during Algeria war (that's is, mostly marxist wartime traitors who helped war criminals who killed for example 150 000 harkis/pro France algerians in *horrible* fashion, after signing a peace), and who belong to the same islamo-leftist enablers than the communist Mrap, or in a lesser way, the socialist Sos-racisme.

Let them die.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 03/22/2006 9:16 Comments || Top||

#5  An increase of 25% in one year. That's quite a swing in opinion.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 03/22/2006 9:16 Comments || Top||

#6  The frogs' "human rights watchdog" is apparently self-flagellating (like the shiites at azura). It wants the population to be ashame of being 'bad mannered.' [Surrender monkies have good manners.]
Posted by: Duh! || 03/22/2006 9:19 Comments || Top||

#7  This is the first time they included muslim responses in the survey. That they hate everyone else and are willing to state it drove the increase.
Posted by: DoDo || 03/22/2006 11:40 Comments || Top||

#8  Only 1/3?

Damn, that's a definite improvement. I would have pegged it at 99%.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 03/22/2006 11:56 Comments || Top||

#9  I am not racist! I hate all non-French peoples equally!
Posted by: Frenchman || 03/22/2006 12:10 Comments || Top||

#10  People who have had their cars burned and who pais attention on Muslims pretending to regulate the contents of Westen newspapers and calling for genocide of westerners (all while being fed by the westerner tax payer) tend to be somewhat upset.

People who live in another planet (read French journalists and elites) call this racist.
Posted by: JFM || 03/22/2006 12:28 Comments || Top||

#11  Almost everybody is a racist. In fact, is there anyone who is not a racist ? Anyone ?
Fact, the reason babies and tottlers are often extremely cute, is that they require help and attention for life support. It is the same for animals. The parent is soft and willingly responds to pleads from the cute little offspring.
As adults, beautiful women, normally cute long after the rest have become gamely, are spoiled by the attention they receive. Twas ever thus, except when covered by burkas and tied in the tent.
Posted by: wxjames || 03/22/2006 13:10 Comments || Top||

#12  What JFM said. When distrusting Muslims is called racist, there are many in France with the personal experiences to name themselves so.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2006 17:39 Comments || Top||

#13  Not to be picky, but, I am going to point out that there is a mix up in terms.

Race refers to something that is almost genetic. Being Muslim is not genetic. This would be bigoted.

Anyway, France is one of the most bigoted places I have ever been, racist not so sure about, but if you refer to Anglo-Saxon then maybe. African, maybe but Muslim, that would be bigoted.
Posted by: bombay || 03/22/2006 21:21 Comments || Top||


Muslim Soldier-Jihadis Disobey Order To Salute Austrian Flag
Austria: Muslim Soldiers Refuse to Salute Flag
From the desk of Paul Belien on Tue, 2006-03-21

Last week three Muslim conscripts of the Austrian army refused to salute the Austrian flag because this was incompatible with their faith. The Austrian paper Die Presse (18 March) reported that three soldiers of the Maria Theresia barracks, where most of the 1,000 Muslim soldiers serve, refused to salute the flag at a parade and instead turned their backs on it. The soldiers were not disciplined. However, an imam was summoned to issue a fatwa stating that Muslims are allowed to salute the Austrian flag.

Austrian Army officers have complained that Muslim conscripts – about 3,5% of the Austrian armed forces – are unable to do most jobs because they have permission to pray 5 times a day, no matter what job they are performing at the time. Some who attend Friday Prayers stay away for the rest of the day.

Following the incident the Austrian defense minister Günther Platter announced that the army will engage imams as permanent chaplains in order to mediate future conflicts. Die Presse suggests that it would be better to follow the example of the Austrian police and appoint Muslim officers to command Muslim recruits.
If Muslims can't and won't serve with the loyalty and respect worthy of soldiers, then they should get the boot.
Posted by: Listen to Dogs || 03/22/2006 01:26 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If Muslims can't and won't serve with the loyalty and respect worthy of soldiers, then they should get the boot.
Guess ypou missed yhe part about them beibf "Conscripts". (Think Draftees)
They WANT out.
I say the best thing to do is Jail them at hard labor for 90 days, make them learn you do NOT tell your superiors No.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 03/22/2006 8:22 Comments || Top||

#2  3 conscripts defy them and they completely fold. Remarkable.

Yes, indeed, they need to bring in imams, promote Muslims to officers, and give them command positions. Yep. That'll fix everything. Brilliant. If the Austrian Defense Ministry is any indicator, the Austrians will obviously make superior dhimmis.
Posted by: Creater Crater3500 || 03/22/2006 8:30 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm sorry if I ramble on and always say the same things, but from what I've read and heard, more than 20% of french army is now muslim (that's a Shirakian feature, not a bug), with about 28% in the Army, and up to 40% in some shock units like paratroopers.
According to a past internal poll, army brass found out that only 1 in 10 of muslim soldiers would "fight for France" (same ratio than the general "youths" population, as confirmed by a schools survey) and against "their" country (Algeria, Tunisia, possibly any muslim country?).
This also poses many cohesion and disciplinary problems (that's what happens when you draw from the 'hoods), but main trend had been so far folding and establishing the first imams in the french army (which didn't exist even back then when it had a large muslim troop back in WWII or the Algeria war, during which more algerians fought for France, *very* bravely btw, than against it).

Bottom line is : where do their loyalty is? and that's the same question for theses austrian draftees, for that POS who fragged his comrades before GWII, for the various translaters working for the FBI or the Guantanamo interrogators, for the US muslim prison chaplains, for the Cair talking heads, etc, etc...
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 03/22/2006 9:26 Comments || Top||

#4  I think a much better alternative would be to give them Sikh officers and NCOs. With significantly relaxed disciplinary restrictions. Sikhs would know how to persuade recalcitrant Moslems, even if it did result in a higher than normal rate of training accidents.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/22/2006 9:28 Comments || Top||

#5  The Roman Empire began to lose when the rank and file of their army became mostly foreigners. And, they were paid soldiers, not conscripts.
This situation will not right itself. There will be bloodshed, especially in France. France has disillusioned itself with an extremely successful Forign Legion all these years. These guys were hardened mercenary soldiers and remained loyal.
What they have today is a question mark.
Posted by: wxjames || 03/22/2006 9:49 Comments || Top||

#6  Maria Theresia....there was an SS division by that name.
Posted by: Rex Mundi || 03/22/2006 11:22 Comments || Top||

#7  I'm sorry if I ramble on and always say the same things
5089 Never complain - never explain.
Posted by: 6 || 03/22/2006 14:07 Comments || Top||

#8  Muslims have finally found a way to break through the gates of Vienna. Tenacious lot, to be sure.
Posted by: Baba Tutu || 03/22/2006 14:40 Comments || Top||

#9  Latrine duty...24/7. If they want to act like asses, let'em play in shit.

No army can function without discipline and loyalty. These SOB's should have been used as an example, not coddled. Pitiful, pitiful.
Posted by: SOP35/Rat || 03/22/2006 14:40 Comments || Top||

#10  Flush, mate
Posted by: Captain America || 03/22/2006 16:25 Comments || Top||


Willful ignorance on the Madrid bombings
Therefore we say that to force the Spanish government to withdraw from Iraq the resistance has to measured by painful strikes against their forces and accompanying this a informative campaign clarifying the truth of the situation inside Iraq, and we must absolutely gain from the approaching date of general elections in Spain in the third month of the coming year. We believe that the Spanish government will not endure two or three attacks as a maximum limit because it will be forced to withdraw afterwards due to the popular pressure on it, for if its forces remain after these strikes it is almost certain the Socialist forces will win the elections, as one of the main goals of the Socialist party will be the withdrawal of the Spanish troops . . . the dominoes will fall quickly, although the basic problem will remain of toppling the first piece.

-Iraq al-Jihad, circa August 2003

"MADRID TRAIN BOMBINGS PROBE FINDS NO AL-QAEDA LINK" was the headline of a widely-circulated Associated Press story two weeks ago. Citing a "Spanish intelligence chief" and a "Western official intimately involved in counterterrorism measures in Spain," the AP reported that "A two-year probe into the Madrid train bombings concludes the Islamic terrorists who carried out the blasts were homegrown radicals acting on their own rather than at the behest of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network." While acknowledging that the masterminds behind the attack were "likely motivated by bin Laden's October 2003 call for attacks on European countries that supported the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq" and that "the plotters had links to other Muslim radicals in western Europe," the AP cited the Spanish intelligence chief as saying that there were "no telephone calls between the Madrid bombers and al Qaeda and no money transfers" and "no evidence they were in contact with the al Qaeda leader's inner circle."

Such a view is by no means new. Indeed, in June 2005 Dateline NBC reported that "Madrid is cited as the key turning point in the evolution of Islamic terror. Initially, Spanish and U.S. counterterrorism officials sought links between al-Qaeda (or, as the CIA now describes it, 'al-Qaeda Central'). But quickly they realized there weren't any. . . . It required no central direction from the mountains of Pakistan, simply a charismatic leader with links to men trained in the war in Afghanistan against the Soviet Union."

SUCH A VIEW is no doubt attractive, but there are serious problems with it. As the March 11 Commission (an independent Spanish investigation into the attacks parallel to the U.S. 9/11 Commission) noted, there were numerous connections between the masterminds of the 3/11 attacks, al Qaeda, and a number of known al Qaeda associate groups including Ansar al-Islam, the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group (and its offshoot Salafi Jihad), and Abu Musab Zarqawi's al Qaeda in Iraq (then al-Tawhid wal Jihad). There is also the al Qaeda strategy document Iraq al-Jihad, which appears to lay out in detail plans for attacks in Spain several months prior to the country's elections.

According to the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI)'s report on the motivations of Islamist terrorism in Europe, "The researchers from the FFI consider it likely that the terrorists behind the Madrid massacre were familiar with the contents of this strategy document" as well as that "the evidence leaves few doubts that the attacks in Madrid were carried out by al-Qaeda affiliates in Spain."

Most importantly, the March 11 Commission identified former Egyptian army explosives expert Rabei Osman Sayed Ahmed as one of the planners of the Madrid bombings. According to an arrest warrant issued by Spanish judge Juan del Olmo, Ahmed is "a suspected member of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad" who "took over leadership of a group of followers of extremist Islamist ideology, supporters of the Jihad and of Osama bin Laden" while living in Madrid. Now on trial in Milan for international terrorism, Ahmed was wiretapped by Italian authorities telling an associate that "The Madrid attack is my project and those who died as martyrs are my dearest friends."

Given that Egyptian Islamic Jihad is currently headed by al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri, one would think that such a statement from one of its members, to say nothing of various statements from senior Spanish and Italian law enforcement and judicial officials, would settle the issue of al Qaeda involvement in the Madrid train bombings once and for all.

(Moreover, a key piece of the Spanish intelligence chief's claims, that no money transfers occurred between al Qaeda and the masterminds of the Madrid bombings, may also be in doubt. Both El Mundo and Corriere della Sera reported in September 2004 that Ahmed stated in a conversation wiretapped by Italian authorities that during his time in Madrid he was being financed by Sheikh Salman al-Awdah, a radical Saudi cleric who has been described as a "friend" of Osama bin Laden and been praised by the al Qaeda leader for his support in a number of al Qaeda propaganda videos.)

THE SPANISH INTELLIGENCE CHIEF'S CLAIM that there was no al Qaeda link to the Madrid bombings might be better understood within the context of Spanish domestic politics. After all, if the goal of the attacks was to topple the Popular Party government in order to bring about a Spanish withdrawal from Iraq, it would seem that al Qaeda was successful both in achieving the desired results and reading the Spanish political scene--which the Zapatero government might, understandably, be loathe to admit.

What is alarming is that U.S. counterterrorism officials have apparently also missed these tell-tale signs of al Qaeda involvement in connection with a major terrorist attack in a European capital. Although this might not be very surprising: According to a May 2004 article in U.S. News & World Report, when asked about Iraq al-Jihad "Analysts at the Central Intelligence Agency also found the article unremarkable, 'a document like any number of other documents,' says one intelligence official."

Perhaps it was, but it was almost certainly a document whose online publication and dissemination had tragic consequences for the Spanish people.

ANY NUMBER OF INVESTIGATIONS into U.S. intelligence failures prior to 9/11 have revealed key gaps in the understanding of al Qaeda. As the FFI report on Islamist terrorism in Europe makes clear, there are no strict organizational division between al Qaeda and its various allies and associate groups, thus making the overlap between them fluid and difficult for investigators to track.

To rule out an al Qaeda link to the Madrid bombers at this stage would seem counterintuitive in light of the information currently available from any number of credible sources. For instance, Judge Juan del Olmo, who is heading up the official Spanish investigation into the attacks, has said that the Madrid bombings were "were carried out by a local cell linked to a international terrorist network . . . of Islamic fanatics which planted the bombs had links stretching through France, Belgium, Italy, Morocco and to Iraq." Is it that much to ask that the U.S. intelligence community be at least as informed as members of the Spanish judiciary?

Dan Darling is a counterterrorism consultant for the Manhattan Institute Center for Policing Terrorism.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 03/22/2006 01:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'll try 'Cynical Governments and Agencies' for $20, Alex.
Posted by: Pappy || 03/22/2006 11:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Woohoo, Dan! Congratulations!

Does your growing list of credits mean I can't disagree with you on the Iranian intel thing?

:)
Posted by: Creater Crater3500 || 03/22/2006 11:24 Comments || Top||


Sakra defense appears to rest on conspiracy theory
Attending the preparation inquiry on Louia Sakka, Ilhami Sayan, a lawyer for Hamed Obysi appearing in the same trial, reported his suspicion about the defendant’s identity.

Claiming that Sakka might have been switched by the US Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, Sayan continued: "I saw him twice during the pre-trial inquiry. I never forget someone I have seen before. Sakka was tall and thin, but the person appearing here is fat and of medium height. I met him twice in prison too. The man I initially saw was Sakka, but I am not sure after my second meeting. I am assuming the CIA switched Sakka to silence him. We have concerns for his life."

The lawyer, Osman Karahan revealed his suspicion about Sakka at the trial and requested an inquiry be launched.

The lawyer told: "Here is a man who is accused of having entered and exited Turkey 55 times with 18 different passports, and we fail to know which one is here," Karahan said in relation to the man attending the trial.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 03/22/2006 01:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Claiming that Sakka might have been switched by the US Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, Sayan continued: "I saw him twice during the pre-trial inquiry...I never forget someone I have seen before. Sakka was tall and thin, but the person appearing here is fat and of medium height."

...This soundslike a Colonel Flagg ep on MASH.
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 03/22/2006 11:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Flagg wasn't MASH, he may have been CID tho, but certainly not FBI.

/deal me in
Posted by: 6 || 03/22/2006 14:10 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Senator Harold Reid: Bush Is "Dangerously Incompetent"
Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid called President Bush “dangerously incompetent” on Wednesday and said the administration ought to be doing more to prevent increasing sectarian violence in Iraq.

“Where is (Secretary of State) Condoleeza Rice? Why isn't she over in the Middle East, as the chief diplomat of this country should be, trying to get the political forces to form a government over there?” Reid told The Associated Press.

Reid said the U.S. was “failing three different ways in Iraq.” Military efforts have lagged, the economy is crippled by decreased oil and electricity production, and attempts to form a representative government are behind schedule, he said.

Reid criticized Bush for a series of recent appearances in key political states in which the president defended his Iraq war policies.

“Why isn't he spending time with these leaders in the Middle East trying to get this government formed?” Reid said.

Reid described the conditions Iraq as “low-grade civil war.”

“I don't know how you define civil war. We know they're killing an average of 50 Iraqis a day. At least it's a low-grade civil war, that's for sure,” he said.

Posted by: Captain America || 03/22/2006 20:07 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Tell Reid when he is president he can make orders until then stfu.
Posted by: djohn66 || 03/22/2006 20:16 Comments || Top||

#2  thanks Pinky
Posted by: Frank G || 03/22/2006 20:17 Comments || Top||

#3  "Harry Reid called President Bush “dangerously incompetent”"

Since President Bush beats you like a drum everytime you go after him,such as the 2000, 2002, 2004 election cycles. What does that make you Senator?

What's that you say? That's right we are all to dumb to understand your briliance.
Posted by: TomAnon || 03/22/2006 21:07 Comments || Top||

#4  He got confused again. He was meaning the democratic party is dangerously incompetent against Bush.
Posted by: DarthVader || 03/22/2006 21:28 Comments || Top||

#5  People who live in glass houses shouldn't....
Posted by: GK || 03/22/2006 21:54 Comments || Top||

#6  Reid is from Reno. According to my pal who just moved into Neveda "Reno is a nest of corruption." Regardless of his squakey clean rep that is where Harry is from. He needs to take his STFU pills and calm down or he might come up with a case of someone with a bad cough who can't be bought off.
Posted by: SPoD || 03/22/2006 23:20 Comments || Top||


Fears grow over new Dubai controversy
Arab and US officials are growing nervous at the prospect of a second congressional uprising against the acquisition of American assets by a Middle Eastern-controlled company in the wake of the Dubai Ports World debacle.

A person familiar with the thinking of both the US and United Arab Emirates said officials were concerned that the pending investigation of Dubai International Capital’s £700m ($1.2m) purchase of Doncasters, a privately-held British aerospace manufacturer that works on sensitive US weapons programmes, including the Joint Strike Fighter, could provoke a similar backlash and further damage the relationship between the two countries.

Although the proposed transaction has not yet drawn much attention in Congress, the first signs of unease emerged on Tuesday when John Barrow, a Democratic lawmaker, released a letter demanding a tour of Doncasters’ Georgia facility.

“It is reported that your facility produces turbine engine parts critical to tanks and military aircraft...one must assume [it] plays a necessary and substantial role in the nation’s ongoing military efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Mr Barrow wrote.

The Treasury has said the deal will be subject to an extensive 45-day investigation, pushing back the completion to as late as May.

The review comes as officials from Dubai work to ease tensions in Washington after protests forced DP World, also a state-owned company, to agree to divest five US port terminals acquired from the UK’s P&O.

Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi, the UAE’s economy minister, who is visiting Washington, said in an interview that the overall relationship with the US, including security and intelligence, remained paramount. She did not want to prejudge the regulatory review of the Doncasters deal but conceded that the UAE needed to do more to “educate” the people in the US, including lawmakers.

President George W. Bush, who defended the DP World deal but was unable to quash the rebellion by members of his own party, has emphasised the UAE’s role as an ally in the “war on terror”.

Even if the administration were to approve the Doncasters deal, the reaction to the DP World deal has signalled to foreign investors in the US – particularly in Arab countries - that Congress has the capability to derail any deal.

Doncasters generated 35 per cent of its sales in the US in 2004 and would be likely to draw interest from private equity buyers if Arab ownership were to be blocked.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 03/22/2006 01:53 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Let's keep alienating one of the few friendly or at least cooperative countries in the gulf.
Thats a good strategy.
Anyone recognize the amount of US tax money went to building this relationship in the first place? Some in congress seem intent on undoing decades of quiet cooperation from Dubai.
It is one of the few places in the ME where there are professional, degreed women in the workplace.
Posted by: capsu78 || 03/22/2006 9:53 Comments || Top||

#2  I agree.
Posted by: closedanger || 03/22/2006 12:19 Comments || Top||

#3  This Must happen The UAE is IN.
Posted by: closedanger || 03/22/2006 12:20 Comments || Top||

#4  Nice to see the system working (never mind why).
Posted by: gromgoru || 03/22/2006 13:47 Comments || Top||

#5  Anyone checked the fingerprints on this against the Clinton clan, yet? :)

No value judgement, but this deal will be stillborn, as will many more such deals in the future until there are no more such deals to kill.
Posted by: Creater Crater3500 || 03/22/2006 13:54 Comments || Top||

#6  Time to shut down the F-4 JSF program, the wiley Chineee will end up with it.
Posted by: 6 || 03/22/2006 14:14 Comments || Top||


Bush says fighting in Iraq could outlast his presidency
President Bush made the new and risky admission at a press conference Tuesday that the war in Iraq might not end on his watch, a distinct tactical shift away from a relentless White House optimism that seems ever more at odds with the endless violence and news of disintegration from Iraq.

Passionate and often aggressive despite his political wounds, Bush declared that if he did not believe the United States could prevail in Iraq, he would pull the troops out now. But he acknowledged that day probably will not come during his presidency.

"That, of course, is an objective," Bush said, "and that'll be decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq."

Bush made his comments at the White House as the war entered its fourth year with no end in sight. Facing Nixonian poll numbers, growing credibility problems and splintering Republican support, Bush has begun taking critics head-on, accepting hostile questions and acknowledging setbacks while trying to muster public resolve to continue an unpopular war.

Bush took issue with the conclusion of Ayad Allawi, former interim prime minister of Iraq, that the country has entered a civil war.

"Listen, we all recognize that there is violence, that there is sectarian violence," Bush said. "But the way I look at the situation is that the Iraqis took a look and decided not to go to civil war."

The evidence he cited was the Iraqi army's unity in the face of attacks and retributions from Sunni and Shiite factions, denunciations of the sectarian violence from Iraq's leading Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and the efforts by elected Iraqi officials to form a government.

"And I understand how tough it is," Bush said. "Don't get me wrong. I mean, you make it abundantly clear how tough it is. I hear it from our troops. I read the reports every night. But I believe -- I believe the Iraqis -- this is a moment where the Iraqis had a chance to fall apart, and they didn't."

Bush's calibrated realism was dismissed by Democrats, who have struggled to come up with an alternative Iraq policy and seem to have settled on troop reductions this year as a way to force Iraqis to assume control of their country.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada pounced on Bush's admission, demanding in a statement that Bush abandon his open-ended troop commitment, something Reid said "was never contemplated or approved by the American people."

"Last year, Congress overwhelmingly called on President Bush to make 2006 a year of significant transition to full Iraqi sovereignty," Reid said. "The domestic public relations campaign waged by the White House and the new round of presidential speeches does not advance that goal."

California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat who voted to authorize Bush to attack Iraq and who continues to oppose an immediate pullout, laid out the Democratic position in a radio address Saturday, calling for a reduction in troop levels from 130,000 to 50,000 this year and demanding that Bush insist that Iraqis "get their political house in order."

The Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Virginia's John Warner, delivered much the same message to Iraqi leaders during a visit to Iraq this week.

As part of his new willingness to respond to critics, Bush called during his news conference on Hearst columnist and veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas for the first time in three years.

Thomas challenged Bush on why he decided to invade Iraq and why he wanted "to go to war from the moment you stepped into the White House."

"I didn't want war," Bush replied. "To assume I wanted war is just -- is just flat wrong, Helen, in all due respect."

Entering a testy colloquy with one of his fiercest critics, Bush said, "No president wants war" but that his attitude changed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

"Our foreign policy changed on that day, Helen ... and I'm never going to forget it," Bush said. When Thomas said Iraq "didn't do anything to you," Bush responded that he "saw a threat in Iraq."

Bush said al Qaeda terrorists now operating in Iraq know they are affecting debate in the United States. "I believe they want to hurt us again," Bush said. "They've declared Iraq to be the central front, and therefore we've got to make sure we win that, and I believe we will.

"I'm going to say it again: If I didn't believe we could succeed, I wouldn't be there," Bush said. "I wouldn't put those kids there. It's -- I meet with too many families who've lost a loved one to not be able to look them in the eye and say we're doing the right thing."

Bush also obliquely acknowledged his steep slide in public approval ratings to the mid-30s, addressing whether he still had the political capital he claimed after his re-election, with this blunt response:

"I'd say I'm spending that capital on the war," Bush said.

Bush also took on his own Republican critics on immigration as the Senate heads into a bruising debate next week that promises to divide his party over how to deal with the problem of 12 million illegal immigrants and yet find a way to provide employers with the unskilled labor they demand.

In a veiled warning that his own efforts to woo Hispanic voters could be jeopardized by the hard line many Republicans are taking, Bush said that the emotion-laden immigration debate, "if not conducted properly, will send signals that -- that I don't think will befit -- befit the nation's kind of history and traditions."

"When you make something illegal that people want, there's a way around it, around the rules and regulations," Bush said. "And so you've got people, 'coyotes,' stuffing people in the back of 18-wheelers or smuggling them across 105-degree desert heat. You've got forgers and tunnel diggers. You got a whole industry aimed at using people as a commodity. And it's wrong ... we need to do something about it."

Standing by the broad framework he has already laid out on immigration -- toughening law enforcement while allowing immigrants to legally do jobs Americans will not do through a guest worker program -- Bush left it to the Senate to resolve the issue of the 12 million people already here illegally, although he said they should not be in line for permanent residence ahead of those who have not broken the law.

"But one of the issues is going to be to deal with somebody whose family has been here for a while, raised a family," Bush said. "And that will be an interesting -- interesting debate. My answer is, that person shouldn't get automatic citizenship."

Bush attempted to turn the tables on Sen. Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat and presidential contender who has called on the Senate to censure and possibly impeach Bush for conducting warrantless wiretapping in the search for terrorists.

"I did notice that nobody from the Democrat Party has actually stood up and called for getting rid of the terrorist surveillance program," Bush said. "You know, if that's what they believe, if people in the party believe that, then they ought to stand up and say it. They ought to stand up and say the tools we're using to protect the American people shouldn't be used. They ought to take their message to the people and say, vote for me, I promise we're not going to have a terrorist surveillance program."

Bush defended Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld against calls, most recently from Feinstein, for his resignation.

"Listen, every war plan looks good on paper until you meet the enemy -- not just the war plan we executed in Iraq, but the war plans that have been executed throughout the history of warfare," Bush said. But he left the door open to potential staff changes. "I'm not going to announce it right now," he said.

Bush acknowledged that Republicans running for re-election to Congress in November have distanced themselves from him. Senate Republicans already have ignored many of Bush's domestic initiatives -- cutting entitlement spending, health savings accounts and making his first-term tax cuts permanent -- in their recent budget.

"I can remember '02 when there was a certain nervousness," Bush said. "There was a lot of people in Congress who weren't sure I was going to make it in '04 and whether or not I'd drag the ticket down." He urged Republicans to stick together. "We've got an aggressive agenda that, by working together, we'll get passed," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 03/22/2006 01:18 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  From the article's lead sentence:

"President Bush made the new and risky admission at a press conference Tuesday that the war in Iraq might not end on his watch..."

From Bush's 2002 State of the Union Address:

"Our war on terror is well begun, but it is only begun. This campaign may not be finished on our watch -- yet it must be and it will be waged on our watch."

What part of that didn't the author comprehend? And what part of what SecDef Rumsfeld said-- that Iraq would be a "long, hard slog"-- didn't she get?

Carolyn Lochhead is either a dimwit with the attention span of a month-old puppy, or she's a lying bitch who writes Democratic Party propaganda cynically disguised as "news."

I'll take "lying bitch" for $500, please...

Posted by: Dave D. || 03/22/2006 9:20 Comments || Top||

#2  "President Bush made the new and risky admission at a press conference Tuesday that the war in Iraq might not end on his watch…"

"Bush made his comments at the White House as the war entered its fourth year with no end in sight."


For the record Bush did NOT say the war would continue past his term. In response to a question about whether there would come a day when there would be no more troops in Iraq he replied that it would be up to “future governments and future governments of Iraq.” Considering the fact that the Jihad types don’t want as much as one boot on “their soil” that statement could be considered explosive even as it was intended. But to extrapolate that Bush sees the “war” continuing from a statement about troop deployment is a complete load. BTW the US continues to have troops in South Korea decades after combat. Are we still at war in that theater?
Posted by: DepotGuy || 03/22/2006 10:43 Comments || Top||

#3  correction:

“future Presidents and future governments of Iraq.”
Posted by: DepotGuy || 03/22/2006 11:08 Comments || Top||

#4  US continues to have troops in South Korea decades after combat. Are we still at war in that theater?
Technically, yes. We have only a cease-fire agreement (a Hudna by any other name...) between the US/UN and North Korea.

We also still have troops in Germany and Korea 60 years after fighting ended there. What's the big deal? The entire Left Coast has this totally unrealistic "understanding" of politics and the military, and are incompetent to write about those subjects. Unfortunately, the most incompetent all work for newspapers and television stations.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 03/22/2006 13:01 Comments || Top||

#5  I saw this on the local news this morning. Stupid media people, yes, but they are finally being forced to notice that this really is a long term thing, ie it will not end when Bush leaves office. Hopefully this will make his successor's life a bit easier, as President Guiliani can just point to this and previous speeches as explanation why we are still over there. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2006 17:48 Comments || Top||


Role Reversal: NY Slimes Writes About Military "Propaganda"
An inquiry has found that an American public relations firm did not violate military policy by paying Iraqi news outlets to print positive articles, military officials said Tuesday. The finding leaves to the Defense Department the decision on whether new rules are needed to govern such activities.

The inquiry, which has not yet been made public, was ordered by Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the senior American commander in Iraq, after it was disclosed in November that the military had used the Lincoln Group, a Washington-based public relations company, to plant articles written by American troops in Iraqi newspapers while hiding the source of the articles.

The final report was described by officials in Washington and Iraq who have read or been briefed on it and were granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about it.

Pentagon officials said Tuesday that Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld was considering new policies for regional commanders to clarify existing doctrine and rules on military communications and information operations.

Officials at the Pentagon and in Iraq said the Lincoln Group's contract remained fully in effect. The group's work, under a contract estimated at several million dollars, has included paying friendly Iraqi journalists stipends for favorable treatment.

...The question for the Pentagon is its proper role in shaping perceptions abroad. Particularly in a modern world connected by satellite television and the Internet, misleading information and lies could easily migrate into American news outlets, as could the perception that false information is being spread by the Pentagon.

The Slimes is the authority on spreading propaganda.
Posted by: Captain America || 03/22/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  An inquiry has found that an American public relations firm did not violate military policy by paying Iraqi news outlets to print positive articles, military officials said Tuesday.

Nothing like the outcry when it was reveled that CNN paid Saddam's henchmen for access and promising to write only 'good' news. Oh, wait there was no outcry. Never mind.
Posted by: Unoting Omiting2312 || 03/22/2006 9:19 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Bush rules out amnesty for undocumented workers
President George W. Bush said he was opposed to amnesty or automatic citizenship for the some 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.

Amid an intense debate over the issue among US lawmakers, Bush on Tuesday ruled out amnesty for illegal immigrants but said he favored a "guest worker" program that would provide legal status for workers for a limited time period.
"In my judgment, amnesty would be the wrong course of action," Bush told a news conference.

He said "a whole industry" of exploitation had emerged with workers being smuggled across the US border in dangerous conditions.

"The best way to do something about it is to say that if an American won't do a job and you can find somebody who will do the job, they ought to be allowed to do it legally on a temporary basis," Bush said.

Asked about those undocumented workers who have lived in the US for more than a decade, Bush said: "One of the issues is going to be to deal with somebody whose family has been here for a while, raised a family, and that'll be an interesting debate.

"My answer is: That person shouldn't get automatic citizenship."

Bush's comments came as a showdown looms in Congress over rival proposals on immigration reform and a day after the Mexican government bought full-page advertisements in major US newspapers to set out their stance on the issue.

"Mexico does not promote undocumented migration," the advertisement read in the New York Times and other newspapers.

Mexico supports "a safe, orderly guest worker program" but acknowledges the need for incentives such as housing credits to encourage the return of temporary workers to Mexico, said the advertisement, which was based on a document produced by Mexican legislators, government officials, academics and other experts.

"A guest worker program designed to process the legal temporary flow of workers will allow Mexico and the United States to better comabt criminal organizations specialized in the smuggling of migrants and the use of false documents...," the advertisement said.

The issue has split Bush's fellow Republicans in Congress, some of whom have pushed for strict enforcement measures on the US-Mexico border without providing the possibility of legalizing those undocumented workers already settled in the United States.

The Senate Judiciary Committee has yet to agree on reforms while the House of Representatives has already voted for the construction of a wall along the US border with Mexico to stop illegal immigration, as well as severe penalties for violations of immigration laws.

Bush warned that illegal immigration was "an emotional issue" and if the debate was "not conducted properly," it would "send signals that I don't think will befit the nation's history and traditions."
Posted by: Frank G || 03/22/2006 10:10 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Interesting. The Democrats think this is the new Third Rail of politics and are pandering as fast as they can - ignore the PR stunts by Richardson (NM) and Napolitano (AZ) - they were just trying to smear Bush. W sticks with his program, which was wildly distorted by almost everyone into an amnesty program. And the Third Way, simply enforcing the laws on the books, has gained a lot of steam. Should be bloody. I think the split on the right, the inability to find any common ground and unity, will cost the Republicans some House seats. The Democrats are certainly unified -- they'll suck up to anything that might vote.
Posted by: Creater Crater3500 || 03/22/2006 10:35 Comments || Top||

#2  It'll solve nothing till the underlying cancer of the corrupt Mexican political culture is totally destroyed as Saddam's Baathis. It is not in their interests in the least to end the means to dump millions of their unemployed to insure the continuation of their power.
Posted by: Ebbunter Flush2281 || 03/22/2006 11:03 Comments || Top||

#3  So true, EF. That Mexico has decided they need not develop into anything more than a backwater collection of the fiefdoms of robber baron families is the problem. The US will soon stop being their solution. It can be draconian or it can be more gradual, but the game is definitely about to end.

I hope the internal pressure in Mexico builds to the breaking point, too. The "slumlords" of Mexico need to feel the pain of their people.
Posted by: Creater Crater3500 || 03/22/2006 11:17 Comments || Top||

#4  "In my judgment, amnesty would be the wrong course of action..."


Amnesty? No…certainly not! Please…don’t call it amnesty…its “earned citizenship”. It’s more like…you know…these people are our guests and you don’t want to be rude to your guests. Granted, their first act upon entering the country was breaking the law but…c’mon…they’re “workers”…and what choice do they have if there aren’t any “good” jobs in their country. And if they’re skilled enough to exploit the laws and evade capture…doesn’t that just go to prove they have alittle ‘merican ingenuity? Just what they need to succeed here in the land of opportunity. Even the ones that get caught crossing the border 13 or 14 times…hell…that show’s gumption dammit! So…no to amnesty (spit…spit), our guests have earned their rights.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 03/22/2006 11:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Lol! Pass the paper towels!
Posted by: Creater Crater3500 || 03/22/2006 11:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Article: "A guest worker program designed to process the legal temporary flow of workers will allow Mexico and the United States to better comabt criminal organizations specialized in the smuggling of migrants and the use of false documents...," the advertisement said.

My view is that no matter what "guest worker" program we come up with, we need to seal the border. If we're going to start importing workers from abroad, why get them all from Mexico? Surely we can import some from Europe, Asia and Africa. The Mexican government doesn't really want unlimited immigration - it wants unlimited immigration from Mexico.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 03/22/2006 13:04 Comments || Top||

#7  Hell yeah DepotGuy! Best to shoot 'em!
Posted by: 6 || 03/22/2006 14:16 Comments || Top||

#8  Check that!
Best to set the hounds on 'em. Shootin's too good 'em.
Posted by: 6 || 03/22/2006 14:18 Comments || Top||

#9  I'm for moving the border further south and thus bring a better lifestyle to more and more American Indians (that's what they are). When the euro-mexicans get the balls to stop our southward creep, then we'll declare 5 or 6 new states. Baja California will be just that.
Posted by: wxjames || 03/22/2006 14:41 Comments || Top||

#10  but its all worthless desert
Posted by: bk || 03/22/2006 16:06 Comments || Top||


Personal effects handled with love
ABERDEEN, Md. - The personal stuff they carried to war, the remnants of lives lost in Iraq, was spread neatly across long tables in a drafty warehouse last week. Mortuary affairs troops wearing surgical gloves at the Joint Personal Effects Depot went about the tedious work of counting and separating out what belonged to the soldier and what belonged to the government.

In three years of war, Lt. Col. Deborah Skillman, the depot's commander, said her unit at the military's Aberdeen Proving Ground has cut the time for getting the personal effects back to the families from 45 to 22 days. But the checklist efficiency does little to relieve the stress of handling, photographing, and doing the inventory on the last items a fallen comrade may have held, laughed about, cared about.

"You're touching somebody's life here," said Army Capt. Cathy Carman, 34, of Eustis, Fla., who is in charge of the section that carefully, almost reverently, packs and boxes up the belongings for shipment home. "It's an emotional job, nobody here will argue about that," said Carman. She gestured to a box of tissues kept nearby for the 120 troops and civilian personnel, many of them retired military, who handle the items belonging to soldiers and Marines killed in action.

Driver's license, house keys, letters from home, a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, diaries, cigarette lighters, Air Jordans, photo albums, children's drawings, Christmas stockings. Also the spent cartridges from the farewell salute fired by the service member's buddies in Iraq.

Much of the depot's work goes to the reserve troops of the 246th and 311th Quartermasters Cos. from Aguadilla, Puerto Rico. These are the 92Ms - "92 Mikes" in military jargon - for their jobs as mortuary affairs specialists.


Many in the Puerto Rican contingent answered the emergency call to search for remains in the 9/11 Pentagon attack, and some have gone to hunt for the remains of the missing in Vietnam and Laos. At Aberdeen last Tuesday, Staff Sgt. Raul Rivera, 40, of Lares, P.R., stressed that all items passing through the depot, no matter how seemingly inconsequential, are considered precious.

Rivera pointed to a torn-up piece of a brown paper bag with "We Love You" in what appeared to be a child's scrawl written in crayon upon it. "We don't know what that is. Maybe it's something a kid in Iraq gave to him. It was in his stuff and that's going home," Rivera said. "Even a paper clip, that's going home."

Civilian worker Tammy Stoneberg, 45, of Havre de Grace, Md., gently held up a small black rock. "Don't know where this rock came from or why he wanted it," she said," but it's gonna go back too."

Smiley-face stick-ons, Halloween "Freaky Teeth," copy of "Kiplinger's Safe Investing," a Nicaraguan cigar box, a Hickory Farms Beef Stick Summer Sausage, pack of Kool menthols.

When a soldier is killed in Iraq, his unit will inventory and pack up the things he kept at his bunk site in rucksacks, sea bags and foot lockers. The personal effects of the 2,310 troops killed in Iraq have all gone first to the Dover, Del., Air Force Base and then to Aberdeen. The belongings of thousands of troops who were wounded and flown out of Iraq also pass through Aberdeen, and are either sent home or to the soldier's home base.

Skillman paused to think of the most unusual personal effect she has sent home. "Has to be the motorcycle" that was somehow acquired by a soldier in Iraq, Skillman said. She's also had to deal with full-size refrigerators, 50-inch TVs and a prized moose head that a soldier had toted to the desert.

Playing cards, Trivial Pursuit - the "Saturday Night Live" Edition, Star Wars Galactic Battleground DVD, "The Soldier's New Testament," "Live from Baghdad" starring Michael Keaton, a computerized chess set, Perfect Poker poker game set.


There are rules and regulations about what can be returned. Anything bloodied, or burned by a blast, will be destroyed. Anything remotely pornographic will be tossed. Helmets and body armor are government property and stay with the unit to be analyzed by Army medical examiners. A sore point with many families had been the military's initial reluctance to return the desert camouflage uniforms worn by the troops, but the Pentagon now permits the next of kin to have them if they have not been bloodied. Special care is taken at the depot to wash and press the cammies and meticulously fold them so that the chest nametag is the first thing seen by the family opening the package.

Sometimes, ways around the regulations are found. Skillman told of a stray dog that became attached to a soldier at a forward base in Iraq. When the soldier was killed, the family learned that the dog had puppies. The family asked for one, but it wasn't permitted. Nobody knows, and nobody wants to know, how one of those puppies found its way into the U.S. at just about the time that the soldier's unit came home. But the family had a new best friend.
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2006 10:02 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I don't know what it is with GIs and dogs, but we had one at the 12th RITS at Tan Son Nhut. The unit took up a collection to get the dog back to the States with the First Shirt when he left. The dog (Rusty) even had his own security badge and free access to the building, including the vault. The First Sergeant left about a month before I did, heading back to Langley AFB, VA. Never heard what happened to Rusty...

We had a wild iguana in Panama that lived in a mango tree in front of our barracks. It would come inside from time to time, especially during the rainy season. No one would even think of harming it.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 03/22/2006 13:15 Comments || Top||

#2 
Sometimes, ways around the regulations are found. Skillman told of a stray dog that became attached to a soldier at a forward base in Iraq. When the soldier was killed, the family learned that the dog had puppies. The family asked for one, but it wasn't permitted. Nobody knows, and nobody wants to know, how one of those puppies found its way into the U.S. at just about the time that the soldier's unit came home. But the family had a new best friend.
I love Americans. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 03/22/2006 13:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Bless them for the good work they do.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2006 17:53 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakistan whines for same US nuclear deal as India
ISLAMABAD - Stung by US President George Bush’s refusal to grant access to American nuclear know-how, Pakistan accused the United States of discriminating against it and of upsetting the balance of power in South Asia.

Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri told the Senate, the upper house of parliament, late on Monday, that any deal to supply technology for civilian nuclear power programmes for its rival India should also available to Pakistan. “Pakistan will not accept any discriminatory treatment,” Kasuri told the upper house. “The US must have a package approach while dealing with India and Pakistan.”
Two chances of that: slim and none.
On Tuesday, at a seminar in Islamabad, Pakistani defence analysts aired fears that the U.S.-India deal would sway the balance of power in South Asia even further in India’s favour. “This imbalance now gets even worse as a consequence of America’s total and all out support to India,” said Talat Masood, a former general turned political analyst.
Dang they're sharp. They noticed.
Visiting Pakistan last week at Bush’s behest, Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman gave Pakistani officials short shrift when they floated ideas of creating “nuclear parks” for US companies to develop nuclear energy plants.

Despite being told to forget about any deal, Pakistani officials’ protestations have become louder in recent days, possibly encouraged, analysts say, by the strong criticism Bush encountered at home over the concession to India, a non-signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Pakistan, though a key ally of the United States in a global war on terrorism, remains under a cloud due to the role played by its top scientist in a nuclear black market scandal.
Kh-h-h-h-h-h-ha-a-a-a-a-an!
The Pakistani military’s past support for Islamist militant groups, some of which latterly forged links with al Qaeda, also does not help Pakistan’s case, analysts say.
Ya think?
Compared with India’s robust democracy, Pakistan has repeatedly switched between civilian and military rule making it hard to predict what kind of government if any will follow in the post-Musharraf era, analysts said.

The United States meantime has engaged India, seeing opportunities in its growing economic power, and, according to analysts, its potential as regional counterweight to China.
We do like betting on winners.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/22/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Samuel Bodman gave Pakistani officials short shrift

Samuel Bodman slapped them so hard, it will take years for the Paks to get over it.

"I have told you why I am here!"
"I am not here to talk about nuclear power!"

Posted by: john || 03/22/2006 12:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Hand over bin Laden and we'll talk.

(Notice how I said nothing about giving them nuclear technology, just talk.)
Posted by: Zenster || 03/22/2006 15:20 Comments || Top||

#3  Some sage advise for Pakland. F**K You !!
Posted by: SOP35/Rat || 03/22/2006 15:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Uh, lets see, Nice Lawful Smart Hindus or Radical Stoopid Uncivilized Moslums.....hmmmmmm
Posted by: bk || 03/22/2006 15:49 Comments || Top||

#5  That's right you get to PAY for Dr. Khan.

Welcome to the real world, assholes.
Posted by: mojo || 03/22/2006 16:07 Comments || Top||


Pakistan test-fires cruise missile
Pakistan on Tuesday conducted a second test-fire of its cruise missile Hatf VII (Babur), an army statement said.

"All phases of the planned trajectory were extremely successful and the missile impacted with pinpoint accuracy," the army's Inter-Services Public Relations said. It may be recalled that the Babur cruise missile, which has been indigenously developed, was tested for the first time in August 2005.

"Babur cruise missile, which was tested in the ground-launched version, will also be capable of being placed in submarines and on surface ships," the statement said.

The Babur, which has near stealth capabilities, is a low-flying, terrain-hugging missile with high maneuverability, pinpoint accuracy and radar avoidance features. With a range of 500 kilometers, it can carry all types of warheads.

Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf, who witnessed the test-fire, said that the nation was proud of its scientists and engineers, who had once again demonstrated their ability to master rare technologies with ease and professionalism. He said that his government would continue to provide all support to their efforts to fortify national defence.

The strategic program, which had come to symbolize the nation's resolve to achieve maximum security, will continue to go from strength to strength with credible minimum deterrence as its cornerstone, he added.
Posted by: Pappy || 03/22/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Gottem a new shipment of .801s looks like.
Posted by: 6 || 03/22/2006 14:21 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
Mohammed cartoons row threatens world summit
A world summit between rabbis, imams and other religious leaders was threatened with an early end after a row over the Mohammed cartoons broke out.
No surprise here.
A scholastic argument started over the cartoons. But it was two imams who came to verbal blows over the controversy at the Seville conference.
No surprise here either, but..
Sohaib Bencheikh, an Islamic scholar who heads Marseilles Superior Institute of Islamic Science, complained the conference had been used to call for a condemnation of the Mohammed cartoons by the United Nations. He said: "We shouldn't think that the Prophet is so weak that he can be disgraced by a cartoon in bad taste."
Whoa. Major jolt to the ol' meter. Guess it does work after all.
The comment angered Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijiri, director general of ISESCO (Muslim equivalent of UNESCO) who walked out before he was persuaded to return by rabbis and imams.
Oh well. The needle sank right back down, from the lack of surprise that it was a tranzi imam stalking out to sulk.
More than 300 representatives from 20 countries are attending the congress which ends on Wednesday.
Posted by: Seafarious || 03/22/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Of course you know this means war...
Posted by: Bugs Bunny || 03/22/2006 8:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Much like the Arab world has used the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a whipping boy to avoid any substantive progress within their own borders, I can easily see Islam refusing to begin any sort of genuine reform so long as the blasphemous caricatures of Mohammed continue to be allowed.

Nice stalling point so that these barbarians can keep up with their endless savagery and atrocities whilst the West goes on with its endless handwringing.

It is time to outlaw Islam until all Islamic nations permit freedom of religion.
Posted by: Zenster || 03/22/2006 11:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Man, these guys milk this cartoon thing to the bitter end. Two can play the game as one. More cartoons, please. "No Danish for You!"
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 03/22/2006 12:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Marseilles Superior Institute of Islamic Science

Must be overseen by the French Department of Oxymoronic Institutes, huh?
Posted by: mojo || 03/22/2006 13:44 Comments || Top||

#5  "Marseilles Superior Institute of Islamic Science"

The only words that make any sense in that sentence are "of" and "institute."

And I'm not too sure about "institute."
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 03/22/2006 14:31 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Ayatollah Sistani's official website - in english
Posted by: Elmush Unavimp7414 || 03/22/2006 16:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Pentagon planning for the Iraqi civil war
Pentagon and military officials say Iraq's not fighting a civil war yet, but warn that Iraqi security forces and the government could still collapse, dragging the country into one. So the U.S. military is drafting a series of contingency plans to deal with that very ominous possibility.

Military officials tell NBC News the first objective, however, is to head off a civil war. The U.S. military hopes to keep Iraqi security forces from taking sides in the sectarian violence by pressuring the Iraqi government to crack down on any rogue elements within the police or military.

The second option: U.S. forces could again be sent into combat against sectarian militias, which military officials say would require an increase in the number of American soldiers and Marines in Iraq.

And the last resort, if violence is spinning out of countrol: Military officials say they would also have to consider the possible withdrawal of American forces.

But why, after three years in Iraq, is the U.S. military still bogged down in the war?

Gen. William Wallace, the top military commander for the U.S. invasion of Iraq, blames it on a series of miscalculations from the start.

"I do fault myself and others for not questioning, perhaps, or challenging some of the assumptions that were made," says Wallace.

Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, who led the 101st Airborne in Iraq, now heads the Army's training center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., teaching the lessons learned from the war. One of those lessons is that the U.S. military stormed into Iraq with little knowledge of Iraqi culture, which is now being taught in all U.S. combat training.

"We don't speak the language, the dialect," says Petraeus. "We have to work through interpreters. We are different. We are from a different culture.'

U.S. commanders had also failed to recognize the potential threat from insurgents.

But for nearly two years the military was battling the insurgents based on Army doctrine for counter-insurgencies that was 20 years old. It's since been rewritten.

But ultimately, Petraeus says the insurgents can not be defeated by the military alone — that the Iraqis must establish a legitimate government.

"I think the Iraqi leaders recognize that that is an imperative," says Petraeus. "They must, in fact, come up with a government of national unity."

Without that, Petraeus warns it could be a long, hot and potentially bloody summer.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 03/22/2006 01:33 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Part of the problem is the chameleon like nature of gangs. Think Bloods, Baghdad chapter, who can morph between being political hired hit men one day, shake down artist the next, and just plain gangsters while hanging out. Some of the 'insurgency' is just that. Don't expect MSM to be able, or want to, tell the difference. How many blocks in American metro areas are actually 'controlled' by the authorities and how many are for all intents and purposes run by gangs. Yep, they'll step back when the cops cruise by, but as soon as they leave, guess who's running the block.
Posted by: Unoting Omiting2312 || 03/22/2006 9:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Got an idea for "checking" them when they're operating under different circumstances (if not that different) than American gangs?
Posted by: Edward Yee || 03/22/2006 9:35 Comments || Top||

#3  The Pentagon's job is to plan for contingencies - all sorts of contingencies. This is not news. This is about prudently practicing "what if" drills, for any development that can reasonably be proposed to possibly happen.

Non-event. Nothing to see here - move on.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 03/22/2006 10:08 Comments || Top||

#4  PMSNBC would be all over teh pentagon if they weren't planing too....no win situation when you play with losers
Posted by: Frank G || 03/22/2006 10:10 Comments || Top||

#5  Lt. Gen. David Petraeus, who led the 101st Airborne in Iraq, now heads the Army's training center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., teaching the lessons learned from the war. One of those lessons is that the U.S. military stormed into Iraq with little knowledge of Iraqi culture, which is now being taught in all U.S. combat training.

Hindsight words of wisdom from a perfumed prince.
Posted by: Unineger Angenter4706 || 03/22/2006 10:19 Comments || Top||

#6  Are they teaching about Iranian or Syrian (or both) cultures right now, too?
Posted by: eLarson || 03/22/2006 18:29 Comments || Top||


Republic of Fear
WHEN THE IRAQI REGIME collapsed in April 2003, few observers saw reason to mourn the loss of Saddam's brutal dictatorship. While a great deal of information about the former Iraqi regime's assorted atrocities has been uncovered since the invasion, newly-released documents go even further in demonstrating its manifest depravity.

One such document is CMPC-2003-012666, a letter from Qusay Hussein that directs as follows:

Transfer all Kuwaiti POW's / a total of 448 captured Kuwaitis who are located at the Al-Nida Al-Agher Prison and the Intelligence / General Center and Kazema Prison in Al-Kazema, to make them human shields at all locations that are expected to be attacked by the American aggressors. Put them in communication locations and essential ministries, radio and television, Military Industrial Commissions, and all other locations expected to be attacked by the criminal Anglo-American aggressors.

In addition to the barbarity of using prisoners as human shields, it should be noted that these documents constitute a clear refutation of the official position of the Iraqi government, which claimed from 1996 onwards that while it had taken 126 Kuwaitis prisoner during the Gulf War, they were no longer in Iraqi custody. Clearly, the Iraqi regime had no intention of releasing all of its Gulf War prisoners under any circumstances, but rather chose to retain them for the apparent purpose of creating the appearance of civilian casualties for propaganda purposes during the U.S. bombing campaign.

In a similar vein is CMPC-2004-002219-0, which lays out a series of memos between Saddam's office, Iraqi military intelligence, and the Iraqi army in order to draw up plans to attack Kurdish guerrilla bases. As these memos make clear, international treaties banning the use of chemical weapons (referred to throughout the memos with the euphemism "special equipment") were of little interest to Saddam Hussein:

1. Based on our Directorate's suggestion, an approval from the Secretary of the Presidency Office was obtained to strike, using special equipment, the quarters of Iran's agents in (Tkiyya, Bilkjar) basin next to Karah Dagh, and (Balisan) basin located on the main road next to Jawarkornah-Khlayfan, and do not execute this strike before informing the Secretary of the Presidency Office on how to implement it.

. . . 1. Operations to fight the saboteurs and agents of Iran and Khomeini Guards in your regions, using special equipment are sanctioned as follows:

A. Bases of Iran's agents in Balisan Basin(Balisan village-Totama-Ghitti-Sheikh Wisan) located next to the main road next to Khlayfan.

B. Bases of Iran's agents in village basins of (Tkiyyeh-Biljikar-Siyusnan, in the Karah Dagh vicinity.

. . . 1. The President/Leader (may God save him) ordered our directorate to study, with the professionals, directing a surprise strike against (Khomeini Guards bases located within the quarters of the first division of Barazani's saboteurs) using special equipment, and the possibility of executing it in any of the following methods (Air Force, Army Air Force, artillery).

. . . 4. The above mentioned targets, in paragraphs(A-B) under item 3, are important bases for Iran's agents and members of Iranian enemies, are far away (as targets for special equipment) from our units. They are considered more appropriate than others to strike with our equipment for being located in low regions which helps the chemical fumes to settle. We can also treat them with available ways (air force, tubular bombers, Samtiyyat (Helicopters) and at night

5. Our directorate suggested striking both targets, referred to in item 3, during this period using two thirds of available special equipment (Ricin) plus one third of available special equipment (Mustard Gas) and keeping the balance for emergency situations that might arise in the operation theater.

6. The top secret, personal and urgent letter No.953/965/k dated March 29, 87 from the President's Office Secretary, stated the following:

"Approval of striking has been obtained provided the results are exploited . . . for the purpose is not only to inflict losses among the saboteurs, but also to coordinate with the Corps . . . please advice prior to striking".



The mention of targeting Iranians as well as Kurds with chemical weapons may strike some Western observers as unusual, but it is worth remembering that Iran has historically supported Iraqi Kurds against the central government going back to the 1970s and that Iranian troops attacked Iraqi positions from the northern Kurdish areas in 1988 in the hopes of relieving pressure on their southern front.

It is important that we enumerate the atrocities carried out under Saddam's auspices. Those who died at the hands of his regime deserve nothing less.

Dan Darling is a counterterrorism consultant for the Manhattan Institute Center for Policing Terrorism.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 03/22/2006 01:22 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So, Dan, have you figured out what you want to be when you grow up? ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2006 17:57 Comments || Top||

#2  When are you going to start bugging him about bringing home a nice girl for the parents to meet?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 03/22/2006 18:36 Comments || Top||

#3  He's got a nice girl. I've met her. She's smarter than he is.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/22/2006 19:29 Comments || Top||

#4  And she's prettier, too. ;-)
Posted by: Seafarious || 03/22/2006 20:43 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas assured of continued UAE aid for Palestinians
But... but I thought we were told they are our allies when they trying to buy our port management??
The militant group Hamas said it was assured that the United Arab Emirates would continue to provide financial aid to the Palestinians under a Hamas-led government. A Hamas delegation led by political chief Khaled Meshaal was told during talks in Abu Dhabi that the oil-rich UAE would "go on providing financial aid to the Palestinian people and their Hamas-led government," delegation member Ezzat al-Reshq told AFP on Wednesday. Reshq said the Emirati side headed by Presidential Affairs Minister Sheikh Mansur bin Zayed al-Nahayan also promised to "continue to sponsor and support infrastructure projects in the occupied Palestinian territories." The UAE has funded housing projects in the territories, footing the bill for the reconstruction of some homes demolished by the Israeli army in the Gaza Strip and in the Jenin refugee camp in the West Bank.
Don't forget sponsoring the vets who nurtured injured baby duck and puppies back to health either

The UAE's official WAM news agency said Sheikh Mansur also stressed the importance of continuing "political negotiations" to reach a settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The Hamas team is on a tour of the region to mobilize financial and political support to counter US-led moves to starve the Hamas-led government of funds after its upset election win in January.

Oil-rich Saudi Arabia has also said it will carry on its financial support for the Palestinians.
Does this mean he won't be getting kisses and holding hands in Texas anymore?

But the European Union, which is the Palestinian Authority's main source of funding with some 600 million dollars annually in aid, has threatened to cut all assistance as soon as the Hamas government takes office.

It has demanded that Hamas renounce violence, recognize Israel and respect former Israeli-Palestinian agreements as preconditions for continued aid.

According to WAM, Sheikh Mansur said the UAE would continue to "respect the will of the Palestinian Arab people in determining their fate, identifying their options and choosing their government," and voiced Abu Dhabi's "trust and full support for the Palestinian Authority."

But the Emirati minister also stressed "the importance of remaining on the course of political negotiations aimed at reaching a just and comprehensive peace in the region."

Israel has vowed not to have dealings with a Hamas government, and to continue to funds collected on behalf of the Palestinians until the movement changes its stance.
This double talk from our great allies representing the RoP is getting old. Guess the "you're with us or against us" was just a clever line for a speach with no real meaning behind it.
Posted by: Elmush Unavimp7414 || 03/22/2006 13:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Terrorist financier providing our port managment. Riiiiiiiiight.
Posted by: Zenster || 03/22/2006 14:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Great PR campaign, Mohammad
Posted by: Captain America || 03/22/2006 16:33 Comments || Top||

#3  the oil ticks prove themselves ....again
Posted by: Frank G || 03/22/2006 17:56 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
(Indonesia) Porn cocktail leaves a bitter taste
I like the al guardian lurid tittle...
A bill that would ban 'obscene public acts' such as sunbathing has provoked angry protests, writes John Aglionby

Indonesia's burgeoning conservative Islamic movement, which had been on a fairly steep upward trajectory over the last few years, has encountered its first significant roadblock. How the situation is resolved is likely to shape socio-political dynamics for the next few years in the world's most-populous but largely moderate Muslim nation.
Causing ructions is not some aspect of theology, but an attempt to enact a wide-ranging anti-pornography bill.

The legislation has sparked such a vehement backlash that its proponents, the Islamic-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS) and a slew of Muslim organisations, are having to beat a somewhat undignified retreat. By Indonesian standards, where building consensus and not causing loss of face are fundamental social tenets and few people outside a liberal minority dare challenge the Islamic establishment, the strength of feeling is almost unprecedented.

The opposition is a motley coalition of women's rights groups, representatives from minority religions, the tourism industry, press freedom activists, the arts community and defenders of traditional culture.
None of them dispute that pornography is so widely available in Indonesia's mainstream media it needs to be reined in somehow.

There are, for example, few western countries that would show a posse of secondary school students watching a porn film in mid-afternoon and becoming so aroused they pair off couple by couple to go and have sex. Yet this scene appeared recently on an Indonesian soap opera. The fact that it was broadcast in the evening means little in a country where few children go to bed before 9pm.
WTF?!?!?!?

Some of the bill's opponents argue that it is not more legislation that is needed, but better enforcement of existing regulations. Some newspapers, for instance, openly advertise massages that leave nothing to the imagination, and the police make virtually no attempt to clamp down on the numerous pirated porn film street vendors.

Many more secular politicians and activists say the bill's supporters are not really interested in the legislation per se but more in being seen to be doing something about pornography to burnish their Islamic credentials.

As evidence, they point to the fact that the bill's definition of pornography is so vague it does not clearly differentiate between pornography, obscenity and eroticism. But the biggest gripe is with the articles on what is known locally as pornoaksi, or pornographic actions. These, the opposition argue, massively curtail individuals' rights, and particularly those of women.

The bill states not only that anyone engaging in obscene public acts such as spouses kissing, women showing their navels and people sunbathing could be arrested, but it also says that anyone has the right to detain the offenders.

Some traditional dancing, such as the hip-gyrating that often accompanies the folk-pop dangdut music and is hugely popular with the lower classes, would also be branded as pornographic, as would visual art and performances depicting people not fully clothed and some local costumes, from Javanese outfits where women bare their shoulders to those of Papuans who wear nothing but a penis sheath.

Women's groups say women are targeted unfairly, artists say the bill would kill off their profession and almost everyone on Bali is so fearful that their economy would collapse that even the provincial governor has seriously raised the possibility of the resort island seceding from Indonesia if the legislation is passed.

Thousands-strong demonstrations demanding the bill be revised or even dropped have outnumbered the pro-legislation rallies.

The complaints are hitting home. The vice president, Jusuf Kalla, yesterday tried to reassure the Balinese by saying that the government does not support everything in the bill. Members of the parliamentary committee hearing civil society views on the bill have told Guardian Unlimited that virtually all of the pornoaksi articles have been withdrawn, and the two largest parties in parliament, Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, are in rare agreement that the bill needs major revisions.

Resolution of the crisis is, however, nowhere in sight. Parliament goes into recess next week for a month and weeks of hearings are scheduled after that. The bill's advocates are expected to use that time to drum up support from across the country.

It is doubtful it will do them any good though. A more likely outcome is that parties like PKS, which soared from 2% of the vote in the 1999 general election to 9% in 2004, will have to modify its Islam-dominated message even further than it has already if it wants to become a really significant national political force.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 03/22/2006 09:06 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hopefully, Indonesia is socially mature enough to refuse to be bullied by its "nasty nellies". If they cannot effectively use the law or violence as a tool, then they are beaten.

However, the forces of liberalization and moderation cannot rest with only an effective defense. They must continually pressure for more liberalization at the expense of those who would take it away--to force them to live in an ever-smaller box.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/22/2006 9:25 Comments || Top||

#2  Yeah, it worked well for US, what was the alcohol prohibition amendment again?
Posted by: anonymous2u || 03/22/2006 14:31 Comments || Top||

#3  A bill that would ban 'obscene public acts' such as sunbathing

Sunbathing. Got it? Are you sure? This has very little to do with pornography and everything to do with limiting any and all forms of "westernization" that have so rudely intruded themselves upon these stone-age barbarians.

As I have mentioned before, there is little about our modern world that does not offend so-called Muslim "sensibilities." These are skinless people living in a sandpaper world.

We need to offer Bali full military support should they seek to secede in the face of such discriminatory and oppressive bullsh!t.
Posted by: Zenster || 03/22/2006 14:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Europe: Welcome to your future.
Posted by: Mark Z || 03/22/2006 19:36 Comments || Top||

#5  If Bali seriously moves to secede, Indonesia will fall apart. It's just about held together by surface tension and inertia now, and the military's willingness up till now to attack any who try. but that was when Indonesia was essentially a conservative but secular society. If there is a real attempt to impose Moslem rules, the islands just whirl apart too fast for the military to control.
Posted by: trailing wife || 03/22/2006 22:32 Comments || Top||

#6  Since Muslim men cannot see a women outside of a burka without becoming aroused to the point of attacking her, maybe they should all be chemically castrated and put on thorazine. Given the amount of inbreeding in those societies, it would probably strengthen the human gene pool.
Posted by: RWV || 03/23/2006 0:00 Comments || Top||


Malaysia: Third Case Of Molotov Cocktail Incident In Four Days
A third case of a Molotov cocktail attack has occurred in four days. This time, four Molotov cocktails were hurled at the house of a 46-year-old Australian computer consultant in Damansara early Tuesday, and two of them exploded. No one was injured, according to police sources. However, the wooden door of the terrace house caught fire and burn marks were found on the front and back of a Kia Sephia car in the compound.

Last Saturday and Monday, Molotov cocktails were hurled at the houses of the executive director and a senior manager of KFC holdings. A police source said that the latest incident, which occurred at 12.30 am, was not linked to the two previous attacks. The source said that at the time of the incident, the Australian was at home with a female Malaysian friend. A security guard at the housing estate, who identified himself as Shahrulizam, 27, said two of his colleagues on duty saw a luxury car with four men drive into the residential area via the main entrance at 12.15 am. The guards thought that they were residents coming back home but 15 minutes later they heard the explosions. Subsequently, the car is believed to have left via a small road at the rear of the housing estate.
Posted by: Pappy || 03/22/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "female Malaysian friend"

Malay girlfriend, most likely. The normal degree of seething uncontainable.
Posted by: Duh! || 03/22/2006 9:31 Comments || Top||


Sri Lanka
Teens describe their escape from the Tamil Tigers
Two youths have revealed how they escaped from the Super Mario Brothers Tamil Tigers after they were kidnapped by the Sri Lankan rebels, given weapons training and briefed on suicide operations. The young men, now in the care of UNICEF, confirmed the suspicion that the Tamil Tigers, also known as the LTTE, are continuing with child abductions, despite assurances to the contrary given to the international community at Geneva talks earlier this year.

In an interview this week, the two young abductees, named only as K Vinoharan, 15, and S Chandrakumar, 17, from the country's eastern port city of Trincomalee, recalled how they were forcibly taken away by an armed LTTE group and held captive for one week before they escaped earlier this month. The teenagers revealed that there were more than 200 youths, including some as young as 12 and 13, receiving weapons training at a camp, which houses one of the main rebel training facilities in the rebel-held territory around Trincomalee.

Vinoharan said five LTTE fighters grabbed him from the clutches of his pleading brother while they returned home from school on 1 March. "They grabbed me and hit me when I screamed. They put me in the van and drove away as my brother kept pleading with them to let me go," he said. The youths described how they went through strenuous training in weapons combat at the Trincomalee rebel camp and were told by their leaders to prepare to sacrifice their lives. "We were shown the sea and told if war breaks out we will have to attack the navy and, if required, jump on the navy boats and explode bombs that will be strapped around us," the two boys said.

Senior LTTE leaders were said to have visited the training camp on numerous occasions and witnessed first hand the progress of the training sessions. After six days in captivity, Chandrakumar and Vinoharan managed to make their getaway at night along the seashore adjoining the rebel training camp. The recruitment of children by the LTTE is on the increase, Amnesty International said in its latest report. Amnesty said even a large international presence following the tsunami has not significantly helped protect children from LTTE recruitment.
Posted by: Seafarious || 03/22/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Syria confident of surviving US pressure
Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has consolidated his grip on security forces and delayed political reforms in anticipation of a long standoff with the United States, diplomats and Baath Party sources say. They predict that the United States will keep pressing Syria to change its policy rather than try to topple Assad, citing the weakness of the Syrian opposition and US aversion to any more regional instability after the upheaval in Iraq.

Their views contrast markedly with speculation that abounded last year of a US-engineered “regime change” following the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, which a UN inquiry linked to Syrian officials. Syria denied involvement, but came under intense international pressure and was forced to end its 29-year military presence in neighbouring Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred || 03/22/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


EU warns Iran it may face diplomatic reprisals over nukes
London, Mar. 21 – The European Union has warned Iran that it may face diplomatic reprisals if it continues to defy the demands of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its nuclear pursuit. The EU said that it had “deep concern” at Tehran’s “continuing failure” to cooperate fully with the IAEA, in a statement issued on Monday.
Next up: 'deep disappointment'.
The EU “deeply regrets that Iran has failed to implement in full the measures deemed necessary by the IAEA Board. As a result, the UN Security Council is currently considering appropriate steps. The Council believes that the Security Council should act to reinforce the authority of the IAEA”, the statement said, adding that it continued to be committed to a diplomatic solution.
Except the Soviets Russians and Chinese have already nixed that. Sorry.
The 25-nation block called on Iranian leaders to “urgently” meet the full requests of the IAEA board of governors’ resolution of 4 February, including “full suspension” of all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities. “The nuclear issue will remain a central and pressing concern. The Council however also underlines the necessity that Iran addresses effectively all the EU’s areas of concern which include terrorism, Iran's approach to the Middle East peace process, regional issues as well as respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms”.

The EU called on Iranian authorities to release all “prisoners of conscience immediately and unconditionally” and condemned human rights abuses in Iran. In particular they condemned the “violence used against peaceful protesters on International Women's Day”. “The EU will keep all its diplomatic options under close review and will calibrate its approach in the light of Iranian declarations and actions”, the statement said.
And calibrate. And re-calibrate.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/22/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Consensus, we need consensus
Posted by: Captain America || 03/22/2006 0:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Didn't Margret Thatcher once say that "concensus was the death of leadership"?

(Heard on the radio the other day....).
Posted by: CrazyFool || 03/22/2006 8:03 Comments || Top||

#3  And, if Iran continues to ignore the EU, they will be forced to air-tissue in Iran's general direction.
That should do it.
Posted by: wxjames || 03/22/2006 9:54 Comments || Top||

#4  Time to break out the "Attitude Alignment Tool".
Posted by: mojo || 03/22/2006 13:51 Comments || Top||


Security Council meeting on Iran delayed
UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council on Tuesday postponed a scheduled meeting on the Iranian nuclear crisis to a later date, to allow France and Britain to draft a new text to take into account Russian objections, a Western diplomat said.
And then they'll draft a new text to take into account Chinese objections. And then German objections. And then Somali objections. Funny, they never seem to take into account American objections.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/22/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  they have to take into account the objections of countries with a veto.

and yes, they do negotiate with the US about US objections.

In this particular case UK and France seem to be coordinating closely with Germany and the US. So its really the four of them trying to overcome Russian and Chinese objections.

Whether that works or not, we shall see. Whether its worth delaying an attack on Iran is worth debating. But positing a diff between the UK-French position and the US position at the UNSC on this, doesnt seem justified by the evidence.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/22/2006 9:35 Comments || Top||

#2  LH: I know, I know, I was being snarky. But it does seem that the perceived need to have a perfect draft, to which no one objects, is seen as more important than actually getting something done -- oh wait, it's time for lunch.
Posted by: Steve White || 03/22/2006 11:05 Comments || Top||

#3  well theres two questions there. First, is it really necessary to have a unanimous vote on the UNSC, including all the non-permanent members. The diplos, in their professional wisdom, seem to think that adds weight to a resolution. My own opinion is that in the case of Iraq, the last Res that warned Iraq (I forget the number) we softened it to get unanimity, and that was a mistake. We'd have been better off with tougher resolution, but with some neg votes, as long as we could have gotten it past the P5.

The other is getting all the P5 on board. If your goal is actually to pass a res, and not just provoke a showdown to show where people stand, getting the deal is a good thing.

Now Im not against sometimes provoking a showdown to show where people stand. I think it might ultimately be worth doing that if Russia and China dont ever sign on - the Brits and French might not want to, since THEY (and the Germans) are the intended recipients of the lesson (that Russia cant be trusted).

But I think for now Rice, Bolton, et al think that a res that advances the process can be passed. And they dont seem to see Iran having a nuke in the next 3 months.

Oh, and I didnt mean to pick on you in particular, of course. Your posts are generally reasonable IMO. Just that rebuilding the US-EU relationship, and the work Rice has been doing in that area, seems like one of the less well told stories these days. Perhaps cause so many folks are either Bush haters, or EU haters.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 03/22/2006 13:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Security Council meeting on Iran delayed

Another d@mned batch of bad caviar!
Posted by: Zenster || 03/22/2006 18:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Iran will violate any resolution passed. The question is what Congress will support. They are going to want the fig leaf of lots of UN support for the attack. The speed at which Bush is moving indicates it won't happen till after the election, though the resolution will be before. I suspect next February.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 03/22/2006 18:33 Comments || Top||

#6  Security Council meeting on Iran delayed

Another d@mned batch of bad caviar!
Posted by: Zenster || 03/22/2006 18:38 Comments || Top||

#7  Your posts are generally reasonable IMO.

Nicest thing anyone's said to me today!
Posted by: Steve White || 03/22/2006 19:30 Comments || Top||

#8  "generally" is a verrrrry loose term
Posted by: Frank G || 03/22/2006 20:12 Comments || Top||

#9  In mathematics generally means "in all cases".
Posted by: Rafael || 03/22/2006 20:25 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Hizb-ut-Tahrir and the cartoon protests
On January 10, 2006 Magazinet, an evangelical Christian Norwegian newspaper, printed twelve caricatures-originally published in the right-wing Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on September 30, 2005-of the Prophet Mohammed, one of which depicting the Prophet wearing a bomb-shaped Turban.[1]

The original cartoons had accompanied an article on "self censorship" by the media in the face of threats by radical Islam. In the wake of the publication, a group called the Islamic Society in Denmark, which claims to represent Danish Muslims attempted to get the Danish government to prosecute the independent newspaper that had first published the cartoons. Failing in this, they then sent a delegation to the Middle East to ask the assistance of Egypt's grand mufti, Muhammad Sayid Tantawi, and Amr Moussa, the head of the Arab League. Another delegation went to Lebanon and Syria and met with those countries' religious leaders. Both delegations met with Arabic media; including Hizballah's Al Manar TV, which is seen throughout the Arab world.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 03/22/2006 01:41 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hope that agencies are looking at this as targeting info to be filed away for the date when they can be honest and admit that the RoP is the RoW.
Posted by: 3dc || 03/22/2006 8:52 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Minuteman Border Patrol Returning To AZ
A controversial civilian border patrol group is planning a return to Arizona in two weeks to again confront the problem of illegal immigration. Some say the original Minuteman Project conducted in April 2005 in Cochise County and a subsequent patrol in October brought increased national attention to the Arizona stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border. "I think we've clearly been the catalyst that has sparked the national debate," said Minuteman president Chris Simcox. "That's been our goal, to bring national attention to the fact that the government has failed miserably to bring control to the southern border."

However many Hispanic groups and advocates for immigrant rights still call the Minuteman group racist or vigilantes. "The thing we objected to here is it brought out a lot of nativist sentiment and that's not America at its best," said the Rev. Robin Hoover, president of Tucson-based Humane Borders.

Simcox said his group will continue to plan monthlong patrols every six months until the federal government gains control of the border. "If the Senate does not pass a border security bill soon, you are going to see our numbers double probably by the end of the summer," he said. "People are frustrated and I think this political process of coming to the border and setting up a lawn chair and saying, `We have the will to do it,' sends a strong message to Washington, D.C."

Simcox said he is expecting about 1,000 Minuteman Civil Defense Corps volunteers in Arizona for the next patrol, expected to start April 1 and last for one month. He said the group counts 6,500 volunteers in 31 chapters, although the number is unsubstantiated. Each volunteer passes a criminal background check, interview and training, according to Simcox. He said the group chose to patrol the Altar Valley this time because it is the most heavily trafficked corridor this fiscal year. The group will also conduct patrols in New Mexico, Texas and California on the U.S.-Mexico border, and in Washington state, New York and Vermont on the U.S.-Canada border, Simcox added.

Border Patrol spokesman Johnny Bernal said Minuteman Civil Defense Corps volunteers have not broken laws or violated civil rights in their past patrols. President George W. Bush has expressed opposition to what he called border "vigilantes." Simcox called the claims that his group represents a threat to illegal immigrants "outrageous" and said none of the group's members has attacked anyone. But Hoover said the group's patrols are unrealistic and ineffective. He would like to see them set up camp in remote areas rather than close to highways and towns. "We have 300 miles (480 kilometers) of border down here and they are playing around on five miles (eight kilometers)," Hoover said.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/22/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  nativist

Really? So if the issue is really humanitarian and concern for the poor obrero how about ....

annexing Mexico and making it a Commonwealth like Puerto Rico. Just think free flow of people, capital, stable economy, ruthless pursuit of corrupt government personnel and agencies, etc. It would help exactly the people you are concerned about. Ah, but that would violate the national sovereignty of that country. So being a Mexican nativist is OK, but an American nativist is a epithet.
Posted by: Unoting Omiting2312 || 03/22/2006 9:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Hoover's argument is bogus. The vast majority of the illegals come through the few major, narrow corridors that the Minutemen watch. If those corridors are blocked, the terrain elsewhere is harsh, so a lot fewer illegals will try and penetrate. Huge sections of the border have zero crossings, because the terrain is essentially impassable on vehicle or foot.

A simple but effective effort is now underway to drop boulders on the dirt roads in the less traveled parts of the border more often used by drug smugglers. Even a simplistic approach like this is impressively effective as a deterrent.

Any technique that stops even a little of the illegal crossings helps a lot, because it frees up assets in other areas.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 03/22/2006 9:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Look up the definition of "vigilante" sometime, pal.
Posted by: mojo || 03/22/2006 12:31 Comments || Top||



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In no particular order...
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2006-03-22
  18 Iraqi police killed in jailbreak
Tue 2006-03-21
  Pakistani Taliban now in control of North, South Waziristan
Mon 2006-03-20
  Senior al-Qaeda leader busted in Quetta
Sun 2006-03-19
  Dead Soddy al-Qaeda leader threatens princes in video
Sat 2006-03-18
  Abbas urged to quit, scrap government
Fri 2006-03-17
  Iraq parliament meets under heavy security
Thu 2006-03-16
  Largest Iraq air assault since invasion
Wed 2006-03-15
  Azam Tariq's alleged murderer caught in Greece
Tue 2006-03-14
  Israel storms Jericho prison
Mon 2006-03-13
  Mujadadi survives suicide attack, blames Pakistan
Sun 2006-03-12
  Foley Killers Hanged
Sat 2006-03-11
  Clerics announce Sharia in S Waziristan
Fri 2006-03-10
  MILF coup underway?
Thu 2006-03-09
  Qaeda fugitive surrenders in Kuwait
Wed 2006-03-08
  N. Korea Launches Two Missiles

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