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Boomer tries for Abdul Aziz al-Hakim
Today's Headlines
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Africa Horn
Govt blames Mog attacks on foreign nations
(SomaliNet) A top military official in the transitional federal government Saturday blamed the violence raging in the capital, Mogadishu on foreign states, which he accused of providing the finance used for the attacks. Saed Dhere, the commander of the first division army indicated that these countries never want Somalia to be stable. He did not mention any of the accused countries but insisted on that foreign nations give support to the insurgents in Mogadishu. He said the latest attacks on the Ethiopians stationing in former defense ministry building was a good example. A fierce gun battle broke out between Ethiopians and unidentified gunmen exchanging heavy weapons yesterday.

The yesterday’s attack left 8 civilians dead and 20 others wounded. The TFG in Somalia earlier vowed to crack down what it called ‘the remnants of the ousted Islamists’ but it looks like insurgent groups are rising in the capital, launching constant attacks on the interim government and Ethiopian forces.
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder how many of those eight "civilians" had been arms-toting militants before they were shot...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/25/2007 15:07 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
UN chief proposes sending 11,000 peacekeepers to Chad
(Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon proposed on Friday to send an 11,000-strong UN peacekeeping mission to Chad. "Eastern Chad is facing a multifaceted security and humanitarian crisis, which includes ongoing clashes between government forces and Sudan-based Chadian rebels, cross-border attacks on civilians by Sudan-based militia, the presence of Sudanese rebels on Chadian territory, ethnic violence, internal displacement, inter-communal tensions and banditry," Ban said in his latest report to the Security Council.

He mentioned two options, preferring the second, to tackle with the situation there. The first with a total force of some 6,000 would depend more heavily on aviation for flexibility. The second would comprise a military force of some 10,900, relying more on infantry troops being in place to meet operational requirements.

Ban didn't underestimate "the distinct and serious risks" entailed by an open-ended UN deployment in the challenging environment, chiefly the possibility that armed groups may view a UN force as interfering with their military agenda and decide to attack. "It would be imperative therefore to obtain assurances from Chadian rebel groups that they would recognize the impartial character of a UN presence," he said, adding that there is also the possibility that a UN force, while carrying out its protection functions in such a fluid environment, could find itself caught in the cross-fire between belligerents.

Ban's report stems from a technical assessment mission which visited both Chad and Sudan at the Council's request and found that armed rebel movements seeking to overthrow the government continue to destabilize eastern Chad.
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "We have to do this! Think of the children."

"Yeah, all those young, nubile.... Um, yes. We need to intervene."
Posted by: Jackal || 02/25/2007 8:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Jackal you're sounding about 105% to the good.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/25/2007 11:49 Comments || Top||

#3  Where's he going to find 11,000 troops? They're all committed to Somalia, Darfur, Burundi and the Congo.
Posted by: Steve White || 02/25/2007 11:59 Comments || Top||

#4  I understand New Zealand isn't doing anyhting at the moment...
Posted by: Pappy || 02/25/2007 15:13 Comments || Top||

#5 
Posted by: Angenter Crolugum3645 || 02/25/2007 15:21 Comments || Top||

#6  A caption for that photo please, Angenter Crolugum3645. I don't understand what it means.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/25/2007 16:02 Comments || Top||

#7  the UN is doing anything in darfur?
Posted by: sinse || 02/25/2007 16:28 Comments || Top||


Gunmen kill Lebanese worker in Nigeria
Unidentified gunmen opened fire on Friday on two Lebanese workers in southern Nigeria's Rivers State, killing one, police and industry sources said. "The men were shot early this morning. We believe they were on their way to the airport when they were attacked. One died immediately while the other was seriously injured," a senior police officer said, refusing to be identified.

The attack came a day after the oil region's most vocal separatist group threatened to retaliate against Italian firm Agip and one state government in the Niger Delta over the release of a Lebanese oil worker, which it claimed escaped from its custody.

Details were sketchy, but an oil industry source in Port Harcourt, the hub of the oil industry, said the Lebanese nationals, believed to be construction workers, were attacked on Isiokpe road in Ikwerre Local Government Area. Lebanese diplomatic sources in Abuja announced on Wednesday that Imad Saliba, who was abducted more than two months ago, had been freed and was "safe and well" after undergoing a medical check-up.

But the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (Mend), who kidnapped Saliba and three Italian colleagues on December 7, said he escaped. "It was an escape hatched by [oil firm] Agip and the Bayelsa State government." "Agip and the Bayelsa State government will pay a hefty price for this slight," the armed group threatened in an e-mail. Two of the Italians abducted with Saliba are still being held by Mend. The third was freed on January 18 because of health problems.
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Ugandan army claims LRA rebels and leaders in CAR
Uganda's army said Friday that 400 rebel Lord's Resistance Army fighters and their leaders have moved into the Central African Republic, dashing hopes of a renewal of stalled peace talks. "The LRA leaders Joseph Kony and Vincent Otti crossed (into CAR) with their fighters," army spokesman Major Felix Kulaije told AFP by telephone.

The northern Ugandan rebels had entered the CAR earlier this week through Tambura in southern Sudan, which has borders with both countries, and started to link up with local rebel groups. "We have information that they crossed over to the CAR early in the week and we are still monitoring this," Kulaije said. "This means prolonging the problem, frustrating the peace process, further violating the cessation of hostility agreement and making the whole affair a regional problem."

The LRA denied the accusation, stating that the move would not be in their interest. "There is no military gain in moving to the Central African Republic at the moment," LRA spokesman Obonyo Olweny told AFP in Nairobi by telephone.

The LRA has refused to resume peace talks with the Ugandan government in the southern Sudanese capital Juba, expressing safety fears and accusing the chief Sudanese mediator of bias. A truce agreement between Kampala and the rebels is due to expire at the end of the month. Kulaije said that Uganda was prepared to extend the agreement, but that the LRA delegation needed to come to Juba.
This article starring:
Joseph Kony
LRA spokesman Obonyo Olweny
Major Felix Kulaije
Vincent Otti
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
Main accused of Khaleda's motorcade attack held
The main accused of the attack on Khaleda Zia's motorcade in June 2001 was arrested here yesterday. The joint forces arrested the accused, Majnu Khan, 28, an Awami League activist, in Char Gumuria. A group of unruly people had blocked the Kazir Tek ferryghat in Madaripur on June 17, 2001 while the then opposition leader Khaleda Zia was going on an organisational tour of the southern region. Majnu was accused in the case filed in connection with the attack.
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
The Rising Sea Dragon In Asia
Throughout 2006 and into 2007 the People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has continued its unprecedented modernization and buildup, adding two entirely new classes of major combatant warships to its inventory, along with the other twelve new classes they have been working on.

Large numbers of new guided missile destroyers, guided missile frigates, fast attack craft, very modern and quiet diesel/electric attack submarines, nuclear attack submarines, nuclear ballistic missile submarines, logistic support craft, amphibious assault craft, and the infrastructure and aircraft to support them are coming online and being trialed and tested at sea and in the air by the PLAN.

The major new classes include the improved Type 054, or Ma'anshan guided missile frigates (FFG), called the Type 054A. These vessels represent a significant improvement of the first two frigates which had been launched and commissioned earlier. The craft appear to have a larger displacement and include a VLS system for their anti-air missiles. Two of these were built and launched in 2006 and the next two are nearing completion with a fifth and possibly a sixth already under construction. It is clear that these vessels will be produced in significant numbers, perhaps up to 25.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  To succesfuuly seize Taiwan, the Chicoms need to have a robust naval force isolating the island.

Across the global seascape, US attack subs could basically take out anything that annoyed us.

My money is on a build-up specificlly designed to support a "resolution" of the Taiwan problem.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 02/25/2007 1:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Seems to me, after reading the article, they are gearing up for the invasion.

Of course Pentagon White Papers have stated the goal of Chinese Military is to have a force capable of defeating the US by 2020.
Posted by: ArmyLife || 02/25/2007 4:42 Comments || Top||

#3  Let's not confuse the possession of fine ships with the ability to to use them effectively. The Sov's had a large navy but in my mind it would not have been effective after a short time due to the heavy maintenance problems brought on by combat.

To misquote Admiral Yamamoto, "(they) could play havoc for a few months, but after that there's no guarantee."
Posted by: Threrelet Flavins8995 || 02/25/2007 10:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Good luck with that goal, Quantity is NOT quality, that way lies defeat and bankruptcy. Get going, the quicker you go bust, the better.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/25/2007 10:19 Comments || Top||

#5  Lot's of nice pictures of very threatening ships. USN must be hurting for appropriations. Better fix the ship builders first.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/25/2007 10:52 Comments || Top||

#6  Japan built a world-beater of a battleship less than 20 years after the launch of the Dreadnaught. I don't see any world class Peoples Liberation Army Navy Airforce and Pizza Emporium coming up with anything.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/25/2007 11:58 Comments || Top||

#7  There should be a ratio of quality vs. quantity in a given class of ship or boat. That is, if one side has half a dozen several mediocre destroyers, and the other has one good destroyer, when do they balance out in combat capability?

It applies even more so with submarines. For example, if one side has four low quality diesel boats and the other has one good quality nuclear boat, if the former is willing to sacrifice two or three of its boats to take out the good quality boat, and can technically do that, then perhaps they are about in balance.

It is a cardinal rule of fighting that no matter how good you are, you will suffer damage. The very philosophy of arming for quantity is that the enemy can sustain less damage that you can sustain.

And while the Chinese might like to move to quality, their strong tradition is for quantity, so this is a very important equation to know right now.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 02/25/2007 12:45 Comments || Top||

#8  'Moosey. Interesting. Has a power, empire etc. ever been built on sheer mass? I think maybe the short-lived Zulu empire was, any others?
Posted by: Shipman || 02/25/2007 12:54 Comments || Top||

#9  The more interesting discussion continues to be on several strategic fronts. The confrontation with China is coming, a naval war first about Taiwan, where they will literally talk us out of the fight I think, and then a later confrontation over oil in the Northern Phillipine Sea where we will be joined by elements of the resurgent Japanese and indian Navies in the 2020 timeframe. The problem is tha the Chinese are stealing generational technological improvements across the entire military/industrial spectrum, are gearing up to defeat us asymetrically in the cyber environment, with huge consequences on our economy and governance structures, and their build up, while lesser qualitatively is enhanced by our material build down coupled with the collapse of will by our leaders. The collapse of will reflects the internal dilution of American culture with a massive infusion of 20-30 million foreign born individuals whose commitment to America ends with their bank account and lifestyle comforts. Creeping Euro socialism is quickly sapping our moral fiber, and the prospect of renewing our military after Iraq's costs in time to confront the Chinese hegemonic growth is very problemmatic. The unknown is the commitment of India and Japan to offset the Pacific Empire China envisions.
Posted by: JustAboutEnough || 02/25/2007 14:28 Comments || Top||

#10  What about our precious bodily fluids?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/25/2007 14:54 Comments || Top||

#11  All this means is that any war with China will go nuke, faster. China can have all the navy it wants, but if they have no ports, they have a serious problem. China cannot defeat the United States in a nuclear situation. The United States will have to decide rather quickly whether to go nuke or lose Taiwan, Japan, and the Philippines to the Chinese. Doing that would be equivalent to a crushing defeat for the US. Hence, we'd go nuke, and China would become a nation with a deadly coastal zone and total destruction throughout the interior. Watch to see if China begins to try to create a missile defense system in depth. That will be the indicator that someone in China has suddenly discovered their vulnerability.

Just to shake the Chinese up, the US should decommission the Kitty Hawk and give it to Japan, along with a few squadrons of aircraft. The Japanese can claim it's for the defense of Okinawa - it's reasonable enough on the surface. China, of course, would have a whole litter of cows - at once, especially since China KNOWS Japan can "go nuclear" with very little warning.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/25/2007 15:23 Comments || Top||

#12  Has a power, empire etc. ever been built on sheer mass? I think maybe the short-lived Zulu empire was, any others?

Maybe not built, but sustained perhaps. North Korea, for one.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/25/2007 15:46 Comments || Top||

#13  Old Patriot, do you actually think we will have the resolve to go nuke in 2020. Hillary, Barak or some other democrap will likely be in charge, maybe even nancy p., although by then her eyebrows will be over her ears from the facelifts.....
Posted by: JustAboutEnough || 02/25/2007 15:55 Comments || Top||

#14  Actually, if the Red Chinese and Soviet experiences with naval exercises is any indication of competence, the first Sino-US naval war will last a day and end with the complete destruction of the Chinese Navy. It has taken the Red Chinese 20 years to master building by themselves an improved Romeo class submarine that the Soviets stopped building decades ago. Also, they still do not have an actual functioning carrier with carrier fighters embarked and training, which means they will need 5-7 years to have any competent crews.
Also, the entire modern aircraft total of the PLAAF is less than 400, almost all of which are imported. The offset agreements with the Russians have NOT resulted in the Chinese producing the aircraft for themselves, Chinese quality control is simply too bad to permit that. Now, compare that to what a single Nimitz class carrier has on it : 90 combat aircraft by itself. Add in the weapons and equipment of the standard Carrier Battle Group, especially if a MEU is aboard one of the Wasp class LHD, and you have 20 more fighters and 6 ASW helos to operate in the area. Plus, you have Aegis destroyers, attack subs, and assorted defense picket ship in the CBG. Each CBG has around 60-70 modern jet fighters in it, or 1/5 of the total modern aircraft that China possesses. We have ELEVEN CBGs in the US Navy, with the ability to support up to 13 in emergencies. Assuming any prior warning at all, and the US Navy can have 3 CBGs operating in the East Pacific : so 180 to 210 fighter aircraft available, along with all the attack subs, Aegis ships, Hawkeyes, and sundry other weapons.
Only if the US decides to unilaterally cut the carrier fleet below 10, with no CBGS on call in the East Pacific, do the Chinese have a snowball's chance in hell.
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 02/25/2007 19:18 Comments || Top||

#15  right, Shieldwolf - more like a turkey shoot of the amphib transport they would have to ferry their troops to Taiwan with. The sharks would be fat and happy
Posted by: Frank G || 02/25/2007 19:41 Comments || Top||

#16  Folks, there will be NO hostilities with China because China will do nothing to push us over the brink. Just war-game the post-war situation. China won't conquer the US and the US won't conquer China. Various Asian territories may go one way or the other.

China will lose it's access to US capital and product markets. A big chunk of U. S. debt will be frozen, if not repudiated. Whatever territory they conquer will become suddenly non-productive festering sores with plenty of guerilla movements to be put down. Sort of Nork Lite.

The U. S.? We'll have to rebuild those factories in India , Africa or South America. It'll be inconvenient for 3 or 4 years but then Wal*Mart will be back in business like nothing ever happened.

Ain't gonna happen.

A war of China with India? Another matter.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/25/2007 19:58 Comments || Top||

#17  A war of China with India? Another matter

right NS - in fact there's a tourist transport and supply train under construction right now. Our good and informed friend, John Frum, has kept us informed of that development probably due to his obsession with cargo
Posted by: Frank G || 02/25/2007 20:03 Comments || Top||

#18  With our obsession to cut manufacturing costs, the entire US manufacturing sector has transitioned to that of an 'integrator' or assembler rather than a producer. Look at Boeing; the 787 is going to be 'assembled' in Everett from components produced all over the world, and while these guys right now are friendly, that could change. Take a look at the domestic steel industry; a mere shadow of it former self. Yes, you can make the unions killed it argument, but regardless of the cause, when we have to import almost all our parts and pieces to build anything, it doesn't bode well. China is right now taking the lead in building our 'stuff.' What happens when they shut off the tap?
Posted by: USN, ret. || 02/25/2007 20:26 Comments || Top||

#19  You notice that the Chinese are sniffing around for oil in Sudan, in Venezuela, etc.

Their economy is becoming more and more dependent upon imported oil. It's one thing to jump the straights to Taiwan, it's another thing to keep sea lanes open to sustain the life blood of one's economy.

The locals are not going to be happy when their economy tanks. The Commies haven't had to deal with a real recession, let alone a depression, yet. It's not going to be pretty.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/25/2007 20:41 Comments || Top||

#20  What happens when they shut off the tap?

You've got it backwards. The proper question is what happens when we shut off the market? They aren't going to ship their junk to Europe!

We can build new factories anywhere there is cheap labor. That's why we built them in China. It's not hard to do, if it comes to that. It'll just take time and doing without for a few years. The sacrifice everybody wants us to share. But then we'll be back in business.

But the Chinese will never gain access to the largest, freest, most open market in the world. They will be consigned to poverty, because no one will invest there again and they won't get into the U. S. market again.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/25/2007 20:48 Comments || Top||

#21  What I'm hearing is that American manufacturers are diversifying away from China -- just the simple all-eggs-in-one-basket risk, not necessarily anything deeper than that. If in a decade war with China severs our interactions, our suffering will be much, much less then theirs, I think.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/25/2007 20:52 Comments || Top||

#22  The issues about the de-indistrialization of America that USN brings up are right on point, and the Chinese focus on asymmetical stregthening of the submarine attack capability point to where they think the conflict will go. The more fundamental question is not the competence of our military, I was in it for 29 years, I have confidence in the skill and capability of the sister services (I was Marine Corps and Army). My fear is the erosion of WILL at the leadership level and of the country as a whole as we become more and more fragmented. Couple that with erosion of the forces after Iraq (remember the Army of the late 70's and early 80s that we all had to clean up and re-equip?) That legacy of the current Iraqi war, coupled with the massive expenditures on Homeland Security at the cost of the budget, makes us unlikely to maintain the 10-13 CBG's or the spares and other things to confron the Chinese.
Posted by: JustAboutEnough || 02/25/2007 21:06 Comments || Top||

#23  Folks, there will be NO hostilities with China because China will do nothing to push us over the brink. Just war-game the post-war situation. China won't conquer the US and the US won't conquer China. Various Asian territories may go one way or the other.

More like 'one way'. The objective will not be to take the US head-on. It will be to secure as much territory as possible. 'Go', not 'chess'.
Posted by: Pappy || 02/25/2007 21:24 Comments || Top||

#24  CHINESE MIL BOARDS/FORUMS > Many Chin Posters already have the view that, unless something changes, INDIA IN LT WILL INEVITABLY COME UNDER CHINESE OR MOSTLY CHINESE CONTROL, IFF NOT PC DOMINATION. China is already trying to establish Chin-controlled "dual/multi-use" commercial and military-capable naval and air ports, and rail networks, on all sides of India.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/25/2007 21:32 Comments || Top||

#25  Insightful, JAB; as were your previous comments. Lack of a unified national defense resolve, plus the paucity of anticipated petroleum availability, puts us in a precarious position. We can't let 'em chock us off!
Asymmetrical Triangulation (T)
Posted by: Asymmetrical T || 02/25/2007 21:44 Comments || Top||

#26  My Bad! Make that choke vs. chock.

How humiliating...
Posted by: Asymmetrical T || 02/25/2007 21:49 Comments || Top||


North Korean nuclear envoy to visit US next month
North Korea’s chief nuclear envoy plans to visit the United States from March 1 to discuss a deal to end Pyongyang’s nuclear programme with his US counterpart, South Korea’s Yonhap News reported on Saturday. Yonhap had reported on Friday Kim Kye-gwan could visit New York in early March, citing diplomatic sources. On Saturday, Yonhap quoted unidentified sources in the United States as saying that Kim would visit San Francisco for a lecture on March 1 and then head to New York for a meeting with US nuclear envoy Christopher Hill. Hill has invited Kim to come to New York for discussions on easing tensions between the two adversaries.
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  yeah thats all we need is a few more illegal immigrants wanting political asylum
Posted by: sinse || 02/25/2007 16:27 Comments || Top||


Europe
France to deal with Palestinian govt if it forms on Mecca accords
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 02/25/2007 05:13 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In related news: France is allied with any fascist against the United States, the Jews and human decency.
Posted by: Excalibur || 02/25/2007 11:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Well it's not so much the United States or decency.....
Posted by: Shipman || 02/25/2007 12:00 Comments || Top||

#3  title is misleading;

yes there are French politicos (and other transi, EUers, etc.) trying to position France to start paying the jizya again to the Paleos.

However, there, for now, more politicos not so anxious to do so. The guy quoted in the article is one such - he wants to say, "sure the money will start but you have to recognize Israel first"
Posted by: mhw || 02/25/2007 12:48 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
Murtha Stumbles, Dems Mumble
WaPo, but page A05.
The plan was bold: By tying President Bush's $100 billion war request to strict standards of troop safety and readiness, Democrats believed they could grab hold of Iraq war policy while forcing Republicans to defend sending troops into battle without the necessary training or equipment.

But a botched launch by the plan's author, Rep. John P. Murtha (Pa.), has united Republicans and divided Democrats, sending the latter back to the drawing board just a week before scheduled legislative action, a score of House Democratic lawmakers said last week. "If this is going to be legislation that's crafted in such a way that holds back resources from our troops, that is a non-starter, an absolute non-starter," declared Rep. Jim Matheson (Utah), a leader of the conservative Blue Dog Democrats.

Murtha's credentials as a Marine combat veteran, a critic of the war and close ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) were supposed to make him an unassailable spokesman for Democratic war policy. Instead, he has become a lightning rod for criticism from Republicans and members of his own party. Freshman Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), a retired Navy admiral who was propelled into politics by the Iraq war, said Murtha could still salvage elements of his strategy, but Sestak, an outspoken war opponent, is "a bit wary" of a proposal that would influence military operations. "I was recently in the military, and I have to speak from that experience," Sestak said.

Murtha acted on his own to craft a complicated legislative strategy on the war, without consulting fellow Democrats. When he chose to roll out the details on a liberal, antiwar Web site on Feb. 15, he caught even Pelosi by surprise while infuriating Democrats from conservative districts.
The story of Murtha's star-crossed plan illustrates the Democratic Party's deep divisions over the Iraq war and how the new House majority has yet to establish firm control over Congress. From the beginning, Murtha acted on his own to craft a complicated legislative strategy on the war, without consulting fellow Democrats. When he chose to roll out the details on a liberal, antiwar Web site on Feb. 15, he caught even Pelosi by surprise while infuriating Democrats from conservative districts.

Then for an entire week, as members of Congress returned home for a recess, Murtha refused to speak further. Democratic leaders failed to step into the vacuum, and
Republicans relentlessly attacked a plan they called a strategy to slowly bleed the war of troops and funds.
Republicans relentlessly attacked a plan they called a strategy to slowly bleed the war of troops and funds. By the end of the recess, Murtha's once promising strategy was in tatters.

Tom Andrews, a former House member and antiwar activist who helped Murtha with his Internet rollout, fumed: "The issue to me is, what is the state of the backbone of the Democratic Party? How will they respond to this counterattack? Republicans are throwing touchdown passes on this because the Democrats aren't even on the field."

Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, a Florida Democrat and deputy whip, said party leaders are working on several Iraq proposals and that Murtha's may survive. Finding consensus will be difficult but not impossible, she said. "This is a multi-step process," she cautioned. "At least we're debating the topic, not blindly following the president." Megan Grote, Murtha's spokeswoman, said the congressman will not discuss Iraq policy until a news conference scheduled for the end of the week.
This article starring:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.)
Megan Grote, Murtha's spokeswoman
Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz, a Florida Democrat
Rep. Jim Matheson (Utah)
Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.)
the plan's author, Rep. John P. Murtha
Tom Andrews, a former House member and antiwar activist
Posted by: Bobby || 02/25/2007 07:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh, I ommitted the Sub-Headline -

Democrats Were Ill-Prepared for Unplanned Disclosure, Republican Attacks

As opposed to "Murtha makes a fool of himself."
Posted by: Bobby || 02/25/2007 7:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Murtha stumbled, people mumbled!
Posted by: JFM || 02/25/2007 8:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Murtha lied, and more of our troops died.
Posted by: DarthVader || 02/25/2007 8:19 Comments || Top||

#4  keep going, Jack, pretty soon you'll be radioactive and even Pelosi will avoid you
Posted by: Frank G || 02/25/2007 8:40 Comments || Top||

#5  "I was recently in the military, and I have to speak from that experience," Sestak said.

As guys start to get out of the mil and enter public service we can expect to see more of this. The Dems are doomed.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 02/25/2007 8:45 Comments || Top||

#6  I'd be a helluva lot more comfortable with Joe Sestak if he were more than merely "a bit wary" of destructive proposals like Murtha's; he ought to be blasting them as "foolish, irresponsible and asinine".

Why in the world anybody coming out of the military would run for public office as a Democrat is beyond me.

Although with Sestak, the answer is fairly clear from this sentence in one of his campaign mailings: "A former 3-star Admiral, Joe served as President Clinton's Director for Defense Policy in the White House."

*SPIT*

Posted by: Dave D. || 02/25/2007 9:01 Comments || Top||

#7  It was a botched launch joke...
Posted by: John Kerry || 02/25/2007 9:27 Comments || Top||

#8  Murtha's position is the first bargaining position. Anything the Donks come up with is going to be seen as a "compromise" between that and what the Publicans want.

Politix is defined as "the art of compromise." You heard read it here first.
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2007 9:38 Comments || Top||

#9  That's as may be, Dave D, but the key point of Representative Sestak's statement, intentional or not (and it probably wasn't), is to erode Rep. Murtha's credentials as a "war hero". After all, he was a Marine ever so long ago, and as a result can't possibly be expected to understand the needs of the modern military... just as Senator John Kerry's Viet Nam experience is unconnected to the realities of the current war. Neat, yes?
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/25/2007 9:52 Comments || Top||

#10  True. Though me being me, I'd prefer "bash" rather than "erode"...
Posted by: Dave D. || 02/25/2007 10:08 Comments || Top||

#11  Finaly, I was beginning to think lunacy was the norm with ALL the Dems.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/25/2007 10:29 Comments || Top||

#12 
Posted by: Jesing Ebbease3087 || 02/25/2007 10:46 Comments || Top||

#13  The culture of botching slinks along to oblivion.
Posted by: Phineter Thraviger || 02/25/2007 10:51 Comments || Top||

#14  Dave, even though the Dems are in a struggle for the ruling elite,I may have mispoke about this guy. Thanks for the correction, would hate to say something nice about a clinton dem. Me thinks popcorn will be in order as the dems fight it out for power amongst themselves.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 02/25/2007 11:42 Comments || Top||

#15  What I just don't get is, how anyone who has dedicated his life to this country's defense, and to the defense of our Constitution, can embrace the politics of today's Democratic Party. Are they unaware that "Scoop" Jackson, Sam Nunn, and other Democrat hawks are long gone? Are they unaware that the Party has been taken over lock, stock and barrel by the extreme far Left? The Kossacks, the DUmmies, the MoveOn.orcs and the MooreOns are now calling the shots. Didn't they notice that John "Buddyfucker" Kerry was their Party's Presidential nominee in 2004, and that at their convention that same year, the highest seats of honor (*SPIT*) were given to Jimmy Carter and (*SPIT*) Michael Moore?

Does it not occur to them that it ain't their father's Democratic Party anymore?

Posted by: Dave D. || 02/25/2007 12:03 Comments || Top||

#16  No Dave, like my mom, when they see Democratic Party they think Scoop Jackson, Sam Nunn, John F. Kennedy.... etc....

And the MSM does a good job of masking the true leaders of the DNC.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/25/2007 12:07 Comments || Top||

#17  My Dad too CF, for every office but President, and usually even then.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/25/2007 12:27 Comments || Top||

#18 
Posted by: Angenter Crolugum3645 || 02/25/2007 14:45 Comments || Top||

#19  The Dems have declared war on the President and the WoT, and this nation. So every time that dems like Nancy or Jack [pflegm] start undermining the war effort, the troops, and the nation, it is the duty of Republicans and Independents to attack their statements and put them in their place, just like Chaney did last week. This is a war in Congress, just like that in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is just a little different enemy. Just remember that the Dems treat this partisan politics as a war, no holds barred.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 02/25/2007 14:55 Comments || Top||

#20  Then for an entire week ... Murtha refused to speak further. If he did so voluntarily, it's probably the wisest thing he's done in his 32 years in congress. But I still believe Murtha belongs in a nursing home not congress.
Posted by: GK || 02/25/2007 15:33 Comments || Top||

#21  ...Murtha belongs in a nursing home not congress.

Murtha has that same look in his eyes my Grand Father had the last few months of his life. He was stark raving mad with dementia the last 6 months.

I suspect Murtha is as well.
Posted by: Chiper Threreger8956 || 02/25/2007 15:43 Comments || Top||

#22  but Sestak, an outspoken war opponent, is "a bit wary" of a proposal that would influence military operations. "I was recently in the military, and I have to speak from that experience," Sestak said.

LOL! That's got to be one of the funniest things I've ever read. I was under the impression that one of the main reasons Sestak got into politics was so he could influence military operations after being fired by Mullen. Oh the irony is so rich it is almost as good as a hot fudge brownie sundae.
Posted by: Thromoger Thrumble5163 || 02/25/2007 16:32 Comments || Top||

#23  Farewell Murtha, ye hardly knew jack.
Posted by: WTF || 02/25/2007 18:43 Comments || Top||


Slow Bleed: US Senate Democrats Draft Plan to Revise Military's Iraq Mission
Democratic Party leaders in the U.S. Senate are working on legislation that would effectively revoke the 2002 resolution authorizing military action against Iraq. Senate Democratic aides say the proposal, which is not expected to be adopted, would limit the U.S. military's mission to training Iraqi troops and police forces, securing the country's borders and combating terrorist forces. Regular combat forces would be withdrawn by next year.

The proposal, drafted by Senator Carl Levin, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and Joseph Biden, who chairs the Foreign Relations panel is set to be presented to other Democratic senators next week. If accepted, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid would likely attach the proposal to an anti-terrorism bill. If passed by the Senate, which is not likely, the revised authorization would also have to be passed by the House and would be subject to a veto by President Bush. Democrats and the independents aligned with them hold a slim 51 to 49 majority in the Senate, but hold a more comfortable majority in the House of Representatives.

The 2002 resolution gave President Bush authorization to take military action against Iraq, because of its alleged arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. In a speech last week, Biden said the original resolution is now irrelevant because the WMD program did not exist, and former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is "no longer there."

The bill is the latest effort by Senate Democrats to challenge President Bush on his Iraq policy. A vote on a non-binding resolution criticizing Mr. Bush's plan to deploy an additional 21,000 troops to Iraq failed in the Senate, but was passed in the House last week.

Meanwhile, Democrats in the House of Representatives are considering a proposal by lawmaker Jack Murtha that would link funding of the U.S. military mission in Iraq to strict conditions on troop readiness and training standards.
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Cowardliness, thy name is democrat
Posted by: Captain America || 02/25/2007 0:51 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Jesing Ebbease3087 || 02/25/2007 2:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Nah, youse guys got it all wrong! The Dems are part of the Rovian plan! They've already tricked Tater and his Tots to pull out because of the impending surge.

The smart guys leave - "He that fights and runs away, lives to fight another day."

The dumb guys get chopped up in the Baghdad meatgrinder. Iraq settles down, the Dems declare victory and the troops come home.

By the time Tater comes back, he'll be irrelevant, even in Iraq.

Genius, I tell ya!
Posted by: Bobby || 02/25/2007 7:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Quote from John Kerry, from his December 2003 speech before the Council on Foreign Relations:
"I fear that in the run-up to the 2004 election, the administration is considering what is tantamount to a cut-and-run strategy. Their sudden embrace of accelerated Iraqification and American troop withdrawal dates, without adequate stability, is an invitation to failure. The hard work of rebuilding Iraq must not be dictated by the schedule of the next American election.
I have called for the administration to transfer sovereignty, and they must transfer it to the Iraqi people as quickly as circumstances permit. But it would be a disaster and a disgraceful betrayal of principle to speed up the process simply to lay the groundwork for a politically expedient withdrawal of American troops. That could risk the hijacking of Iraq by terrorist groups and former Ba'athists."
The guy's a veritable fountainhead of integrity, ain't he?
From Powerline back last June.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/25/2007 10:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Maybe you got it Bobby.

Ima copy down that Kerry crazed quote.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/25/2007 12:44 Comments || Top||

#6  Hell, you know that quote.... DeaconMan found that sez...

Quote from John Kerry, from his December 2003 speech before the Council on Foreign Relations:
"I fear that in the run-up to the 2004 election, the administration is considering what is tantamount to a cut-and-run strategy. Their sudden embrace of accelerated Iraqification and American troop withdrawal dates, without adequate stability, is an invitation to failure. The hard work of rebuilding Iraq must not be dictated by the schedule of the next American election.
I have called for the administration to transfer sovereignty, and they must transfer it to the Iraqi people as quickly as circumstances permit. But it would be a disaster and a disgraceful betrayal of principle to speed up the process simply to lay the groundwork for a politically expedient withdrawal of American troops. That could risk the hijacking of Iraq by terrorist groups and former Ba'athists."
The guy's a veritable fountainhead of integrity, ain't he?

From Powerline back last June.

Ima feel a powerful SPAM Demon in me.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/25/2007 12:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Shipman,

Allow the demon to rise, arise demon, ARISE, I SAYETH ONTO YOU!

Now, goeth ye forth and inform all that ye shalt encounter!

Posted by: FOTSGreg || 02/25/2007 20:44 Comments || Top||

#8  WAFF. com > INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE > "7 REASONS TO NUKE THE USA"; + WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM > CHINA NOT ready yet to globally challenge USA. Best to wait for Year 2050 when will be ready economically, militarily, and politically, etc..
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/25/2007 23:07 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
WaPo Sunday Special - Part 11
FORT RILEY, Kan. -- Their camouflage on, their wives carrying infants, their older children carrying flags, the soldiers of George W. Bush's surge crowded into a gymnasium for their brigade deployment ceremony, a last public viewing before they disappeared into Iraq.
I warned ya, didn't I?

Baghdad, long an abstraction, was now imminent. Of the 21,500 additional troops President Bush decided to send to Iraq in the coming months, about 3,500 were coming from here. "Are you frightened?" a TV reporter called out. "I'm confident," one of those soldiers replied. An enormous American flag hung on the back wall. A military band lined up in formation. "Ready to go," another soldier said.

Outside, snow was coming toward this isolated place. Inside, as the bleachers filled and the doors swung closed against the cold, a 41-year-old soldier near the middle of the floor began clapping his hands in anticipation.

And now waved at his wife and children.

And now took his position in front of the soldiers he would soon be leading into combat.

This was Lt. Col. Ralph Kauzlarich, the commander of an Army battalion called the 2-16 -- the 2nd Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division. The unit has 800 soldiers, most in their late teens and deploying to Iraq for the first time under the command of a man who, in this gymnasium filled with believers, was among the biggest believers of all.

"We are America," is how Kauzlarich would describe his belief a few days later, just before boarding a plane that would take him and his soldiers for a year's deployment into the center of an increasingly unpopular war. "This nation can do anything that it wants to do."

Down the hill, in another part of Fort Riley, a different ceremony was underway. That one, a private memorial service, was for a 21-year-old sergeant from a different battalion who five days before was traveling through northern Iraq when a makeshift bomb detonated near his vehicle, making him one of 25 American troops to die that day in the war.

The ceremony in the gym was a celebration, however, and now, from the band, came a stirring series of notes from a trumpet, followed by a moment of quiet, interrupted by a single boom of a bass drum so sudden and explosive it caused people to flinch, including some of the soldiers.

Ralph Kauzlarich, who perhaps would be an American hero a year from now, or perhaps would be an American tragedy, didn't flinch, though. Instead, just for a moment, he smiled.

***

What is it like to be a soldier in an unpopular war? To be part of a troop increase that the American public is overwhelmingly against, and to lead 800 soldiers into a war being described as "barbaric" and a "meat grinder" and the result of a "failed policy" and down to "the last chance" and "lost"?

More pages at link. I couldn't go any further.... Every Sunday, for months on the front page, the WaPo has an anti-Bush or anti-war piece.
Posted by: Bobby || 02/25/2007 07:31 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  George W. Bush's surge

And they called it Mr. Lincoln's War too.

A hundred and forty years later we remember the man, but not his critics. And there were tons of viscous critics.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/25/2007 9:11 Comments || Top||

#2  What is it like to be a soldier in an unpopular war?

I don't get the impression the war is unpopular with the soldiers. A more pertinent question might be what is it like to be a soldier protecting the freedom of such ignorant, ungrateful ex-hippies?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/25/2007 9:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Oh, this article is biased in so many ways from the first sentence right on through.

Let me say, as someone who has visited Ft Riley on more than one occasion, it is not isolated unless one counts the middle of Kansas as isolated. I was able to drive right onto the post, past a barracks complex (where some of the guys were observed coming out of the barracks in their gear for an exercise), and right on up to Custer Hill and the Cavalry Museum (which was closed on the day I arrived, but some friends of mine pulled some strings and got it opened for me to tour for a couple of hours (I got most of the museum on film - it's an absolutely fascinating place).

I then proceeded to catch up on "old times" with some old friends there until well on into the wee hours of the morning.

They made me an honorary member of their unit. I still have the US Cavalry baseball cap (well worn and faded, but now sitting in a place of honor atop one of my book cases).

Ft Riley is one of those places I recommend everyone visit if they have the opportunity.

Posted by: FOTSGreg || 02/25/2007 10:16 Comments || Top||

#4  an increasingly unpopular war

I'm starting to wonder whether the war on terror is an 'unpopular war' or whether people are just getting tired of hearing what a mess it is. (Note that I'm excluding chronic BDS sufferers here from the definition of 'people'. They would hate George if he were adopting orphans and frolicking with puppies.) If your only source of info about Iraq is newpaper headlines and tv news, you know that it's a VietNamish quagmire with thousands killed each day in unstoppable sectarian violence. If it wasn't for Rantburg and similar places on the Web, none of us would have any idea what is really happening over there. Can you imagine the media ignoring chemical attacks on civilians if the IRA were the ones doing the bombing? Lefties aside, I think people are starting to realize the Islamists are a danger to the world, even if suicide bombers haven't shown up in their own neighborhoods - yet.

Posted by: SteveS || 02/25/2007 12:18 Comments || Top||

#5  I'm starting to wonder whether the war on terror is an 'unpopular war' or whether people are just getting tired of hearing what a mess it is.

Damn I hate being in the slow group.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/25/2007 12:57 Comments || Top||


Blast that killed US diplomat tied to Qaeda
The suicide bombing that killed an American diplomat in Karachi last March, just before a visit by President Bush, was organised by a small cell of Pakistani militants and masterminded by an operative of Al Qaeda based in the Pakistan’s tribal areas, New York Times quoted Pakistani officials as saying on Saturday.

The charge is being made by Pakistani officials as they present evidence — the result of months of investigations by the police, assisted by FBI investigators — at the trial of two men accused in the plot, the newspaper says. The men, Anwarul Haq, 27, and Usman Ghani, 26, both ethnic Pashtuns from Pakistan’s North-West Frontier Province, grew up in the teeming working-class neighbourhoods of Karachi and fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan, the investigators say. On Thursday, they sat behind bars, wearing long beards and knitted prayer caps, at the back of a courtroom in Karachi’s central jail, listening intently to an investigator outline the evidence against them.

Publicly, Pakistani leaders have sought to play down the importance of its tribal areas as havens for militants. But the evidence being presented by Pakistani investigators makes clear the threat contained in Waziristan, not only for Afghanistan but also for Pakistan itself, which has suffered six suicide bombings in the last five weeks, the newspaper says.
Two assassination attempts against President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003 were also traced to Qaeda and militants who enjoyed a haven in Waziristan, where the government has little control and foreign and Pakistani militants operate almost unimpeded, according to Sindh Home Secretary Ghulam Mohatarem, a retired army brigadier.
Two assassination attempts against President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003 were also traced to Qaeda and militants who enjoyed a haven in the same region, where the government has little control and foreign and Pakistani militants operate almost unimpeded, according to Sindh Home Secretary Ghulam Mohatarem, a retired army brigadier. “They mostly come from the north,” he said of the bombers that have plagued Karachi and other cities. “But they are provided with logistics from small local cells that come up and then disappear.” US officials in Pakistan declined to be interviewed for this article.

Mohatarem said that the police in Karachi tracked down and disrupted the activities of numerous terrorist splinter groups in recent months. “We are slightly more confident because the logistics have become more difficult for them,” he said. Yet the threat of terrorism remains, he and others agreed. “We cannot say it has been wiped out,” a senior police official said of Al Qaeda.

Family members denied in interviews that the two defendants had gone to Afghanistan, knew the bomber, Raja Tahir, 23, also from Karachi, or had any jihad links. Both men are pleading not guilty, their lawyers said. But the police say there is little doubt that the suicide bombing of March 2, 2006, which killed the diplomat David Foy, his driver and three others, had a Qaeda connection because of the timing. The mastermind of the plot, Qari Mohammed Zafar, a man from Karachi with known links to Al Qaeda, remains at large in Waziristan, Mohatarem said.
This article starring:
ANWARUL HAQal-Qaeda
David Foy
QARI MOHAMED ZAFARal-Qaeda
RAJA TAHIRal-Qaeda
Sindh Home Secretary Ghulam Mohatarem
USMAN GHANIal-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Then they shouldn't mind when NATO comes over the border to take care of this little problem for them.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/25/2007 7:48 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Gulf Sheikhs join terror funding in J&K
Terror funding by some oil rich Saudi Arabia businessmen has surfaced during questioning of Pakistani militants in Kot Bhalwal jail. Telephone numbers of Gulf based Sheikhs, who had been funding militancy through hawala money, have also been ascertained by police from data obtained through SIM cards, recovered from the detenues.

Ongoing investigations in large scale SIM cards, majority of them belonging to a private player, have revealed that more SIM cards of the company had been procured by militants on the name of non-existent Army personnel of 56 APO.

Authorities have, meanwhile, taken action against three police constables, posted in Jammu, Kulgam and Budgam following a report given by Prisons Department that they had been helping detenues to use their mobile telephones.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: John Frum || 02/25/2007 11:31 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And here I'd thought Hugo Chavez was paying for it.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/25/2007 15:11 Comments || Top||

#2  yeah, i would have never guessed this one myself. is it a tax right off in saudi arabia or something?
Posted by: sinse || 02/25/2007 16:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Wotta Surprise!
Posted by: DanNY || 02/25/2007 21:40 Comments || Top||


Fake visa and passport racket busted in Delhi
NEW DELHI — Delhi Police yesterday busted a racket dealing in fake passports and Pakistani visas and arrested a couple. The accused, Afaq Hussain, 45, and his wife Rukhsana, 43, were arrested from the Indralok area of north Delhi, for helping people illegally migrate to Pakistan on forged visas, police said.
Migrate to Pakistan? Isn't that like migrating to Yemen?
Describing the couple's modus operandi, police said they used to procure genuine passports of people who had already been to Pakistan. They used to lure innocent people wishing to go to Pakistan and take their passports for getting them the visa.
This article starring:
Afaq Hussain
Posted by: Steve White || 02/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So did the victims desire to emigrate, or merely to visit long-missed cousins? Even with the rise in Muslim insularity in India, there can't be that many starry-eyed idealists who'd rather live purely in the land of the pure.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/25/2007 7:46 Comments || Top||

#2  I would imagine that India would want to encourage this.. anyone who longs for Pakistan is certainly not your ideal citizen
Posted by: John Frum || 02/25/2007 8:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Yes but they would also want to know who they are, with a false passport/visa there's no record.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/25/2007 10:03 Comments || Top||

#4  Jeez, couldn't they get one overninght from PassPortsRus in Karaci? I mean they could put on the soooooooooooooooooullll Peace Train.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/25/2007 13:00 Comments || Top||


Talk to Taliban, Owais Ghani implores West
Balochistan Governor Owais Ahmed Ghani has said the Afghan government and its Western allies should seek a ceasefire and negotiate a peace with the Taliban. “You can’t slaughter all of them,” said Ghani. He warned that radical groups would only gain more strength if fighting was not stopped in Afghanistan. “There has to be, eventually, some sort of a political accommodation or solution or something, whatever,” he told Reuters in an interview. “Of course, a ceasefire has to be tried and then a political process should be launched or these can be done simultaneously.”

Afghan officials say most militants fighting in the insurgency come from sanctuaries on Pakistani territory and they have singled out Quetta, capital of Balochistan, as a base for Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and his cohorts. Ghani rejected the allegations as a ploy to “malign and defame Pakistan”. “There is no organised Taliban activity or any other militant activity in Balochistan which relates to Afghanistan. There are no camps, no training camps, no dumps. There is nothing like that,” Ghani said.

Ghani said most of the security problems in his vast, rugged province were caused by instability in Afghanistan. A suicide bomber killed at least 16 people in a Quetta courtroom on February 17. Ghani said a series of suicide attacks across the country in recent weeks, including the one in Quetta, were carried out by militants linked to the Taliban.
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Okay, Owais, what do we talk to them about? How many people they can enslave? How many people we can abandon for them to kill? I am sure we can agree with them to give them part of Afghanistan and Balochistan, is that what you want?
Posted by: whatadeal || 02/25/2007 5:01 Comments || Top||

#2  “You can’t slaughter all of them,” said Ghani

"they're like cockroaches! No, really!"
Posted by: Frank G || 02/25/2007 9:06 Comments || Top||

#3  “You can’t slaughter all of them,”

Perhaps not, but Mother Nature will. And in the meantime we can slaughter enough to convince the next generation that it has better ways to spend its time, or at least extend it.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/25/2007 9:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Talk to Taliban, Owais Ghani implores West.

We're all in favor of talking. Consider the eloquence of the artillery, the garrulousness of the helicopter gunship....
Posted by: WTF || 02/25/2007 12:57 Comments || Top||

#5  the garrulousness of the helicopter gunship
The commanding, booming voice of an ARCLIGHT strike, the whine of JDAMs falling on your living room carpet, the growl of an A-10 cannon ...

Love it, WTF!
Posted by: Old Patriot || 02/25/2007 15:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Balochi nationalists are fighting Mushy's Punjabis. They aren't happy with the 500,000 Afghans who won't repatriate, unless its on a jihad mission.
Posted by: Sneaze || 02/25/2007 17:35 Comments || Top||


Iraq
MI5 warn Harry: You are a target
Follow up on that WND story.
PRINCE Harry has been warned by MI6 chief John Scarlett that insurgents in Iraq are plotting to kill him. Mr Scarlett personally told the third in line to the throne of the grave risks he faces in going to Iraq, following a huge global intelligence-gathering operation.

Harry was informed that code breakers have smashed Al Qaeda’s communications system and uncovered information which shows that he will be a prime target for the terrorist hit squads.
Thanks for broadcasting the intel, guys, now al-Q knows we've cracked their latest code. Brilliant.
Investigations by the Sunday Express also show that insurgents are desperately trying to crack the digital communications system used by our forces in Iraq. They have obtained technical journals and papers to find out all they can about how it works, say sources. If the terrorists manage to eavesdrop on that system, they will be closer to tracking the movements of the 22-year-old Prince, placing him and his fellow soldiers in the Blues and Royals Regiment in peril.

Mr Scarlett visited the Prince at his London home Clarence House on Tuesday afternoon. With him was a slim briefcase containing a file stamped with a small, red cross of St George. Over sandwiches and cake, he presented the file to Harry and explained its contents. At no time did he attempt to dissuade the Prince from going to Iraq but merely set out to ensure he had all the information available on the potential threat.

It is understood that Harry asked many questions, based partly on what he had learned about intelligence-gathering while training at Sandhurst. “The great thing about Scarlett is that he is a master of his brief,” said the source. “The paper in the briefcase was a leave-behind document for Harry to study.

“It is safe to assume that Harry would have asked the kind of questions he had put during his intelligence classes at Sandhurst.

“He insists he knows how to look after himself and his men. He is a stubborn little bugger.”
I like this man more and more.
Threats to Cornet Wales come from both of the main warring factions in Iraq – Al Qaeda and other militant Sunni groups operating mainly in the West of the country, and Shia militias around Basra in the South, which are backed by Iran. The main threat on the Shia side comes from the Mahdi Army, which is headed by the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. A message published on a website operated by the Iran-backed group Hezbollah includes a call for the Mahdi Army to locate Harry and adds: “God is capable of anything.”

A reply says: “I wish his end at the hands of the courageous Iraqi resistance.”
It is believed that Shia groups are largely responsible for the increasingly regular mortar and rocket fire targeting British bases in Basra.

The Al Qaeda communications system is at the heart of a new HQ that Osama bin Laden has set up in the Waziristan area of north Pakistan. It is from there that bin Laden overseas a network of camps that are hard to locate from the air and virtually inaccessible from the ground. The communications system is run by bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is believed to have created the various codes through which the system passes on orders to Al Qaeda’s regional commanders
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 02/25/2007 04:52 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  PRINCE Harry has been warned by MI6 chief John Scarlett that insurgents in Iraq are plotting to kill him.

MI6 miss the part where the insurgents are plotting to kill every American, Brit, Ozzie, Pole .....? Exempting Italian Communist reporters, of course.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 02/25/2007 9:00 Comments || Top||

#2  PRINCE Harry has been warned by MI6 chief John Scarlett that insurgents in Iraq are plotting to kill him.

Presumably he isn't bright enough to realize that based on the experience of his great-great uncle Louis?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/25/2007 9:47 Comments || Top||

#3  “He insists he knows how to look after himself and his men. He is a stubborn little bugger.”

God bless him. Good luck.

I think popping off Harry would be very stupid thing for Al-Qaeda to do. But that's just me...

The Al Qaeda communications system is at the heart of a new HQ that Osama bin Laden has set up in the Waziristan area of north Pakistan.

This reporter sounds like he had a guided tour.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 02/25/2007 9:54 Comments || Top||

#4  1: PRINCE Harry has been warned by MI6 chief John Scarlett that insurgents in Iraq are plotting to kill him.

They're bloody well planning to kill all of us! Hopefully Harry and his Regiment will get more than a few of THEM! He's the stuff of Kings! I salute him! God Save him!
Posted by: Besoeker || 02/25/2007 10:23 Comments || Top||

#5  I suspect the comments section at Rantburg reached the same conclusion as MI6 despite our lacking MI6' budget and resources. Advantage: Rantburg!
Posted by: Excalibur || 02/25/2007 11:34 Comments || Top||

#6  Whacking Harry would be a nice propaganda feather in AQ's cap. The fact that it may have disasterous consequences probably doesn't matter to them. Look at the immediate aftermath of 9/11.

The fact that they really, really want this guy would seem to make them vulnerable to disinformation and traps.

I don't know too much about Harry, but I'm starting to like the guy.
Posted by: SteveS || 02/25/2007 11:56 Comments || Top||

#7  My Dad swore up and down that that certain sections of the Japanese Imperial Army were out to get him, along with rogue elements of the Imperial Japanese Navy, it caused him considerable anxiet from '42-'45.
Posted by: Shipman || 02/25/2007 13:08 Comments || Top||

#8  Popping Harry will give more reason for the moonbats in the UK to accelerate the pullout.
Posted by: Shaish Spaviting2771 || 02/25/2007 13:56 Comments || Top||

#9  Why don't you give Al Qaeda my address and arrival time too while you're at it.
Posted by: Danking70 || 02/25/2007 14:27 Comments || Top||

#10  If they dare popped Harry, I don't think the British would pull out and far from it... Could be right, lots of the public over here are getting a bit poofy for my liking. But if he got shot my own personal view is that more troops, and more planes would go out there, and it might even be an excuse to go into Pakistan (hush hush)
Posted by: devilstoenail || 02/25/2007 15:33 Comments || Top||

#11  devil i hope he don't get it,but if he did i would like too see the british innitiate a go into pkai than the US but i'm sure would back it of course
Posted by: sinse || 02/25/2007 16:26 Comments || Top||

#12  "They have obtained technical journals and papers to find out..." And I certainly hope MI6 and 5 and all the other numbers move heaven and earth to find out if there is a mole in the system that maed those papers available. And then string his raggety ass up on the Tower. In pieces. Little itty bitty pieces.
Posted by: USN, ret. || 02/25/2007 20:42 Comments || Top||

#13  It was a given as soon as it was announced Harry wanted to go the ME - FREEREPUBLIC/LUCIANNE/OTHER > SPECIAL MI6/SAS TEAM TO GUARD PRINCE HARRY.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/25/2007 21:36 Comments || Top||


Basra betrayed
Long, long piece from The Independent, with all the progressive hand-wringing you'd expect. That said, we've known for a while that the Brits didn't manage Basra well, even as they sniffed at us for our handling of al-Anbar and Baghdad. If this article is anywhere close to correct southern Iraq is in big trouble.
Tahir al-Hussein and his three brothers returned to their family home in Basra this month to find it wrecked, looted and festooned with graffiti proclaiming the glory of the radical Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr.

When they fled the city last summer, Sunnis such as the Hussein brothers had every reason to be afraid. The golden-domed Samarra shrine in central Iraq, the holiest in Shia Islam, had just been blown up, and the Sunni minority in southern Iraq was under threat. Family by family, they left the Sunni enclave of Abul Khaseeb, on the Shatt al-Arab waterway. "First we had red paint on the houses to mark us out as Sunnis," said Tahir. "Then we had warning letters telling us to leave. Then we had people killed. Rashid, a cousin of mine, was shot dead. We decided then it was time for us to go."

So why have they come back? The answer, far from indicating any confidence in the ability of British forces in Basra to maintain control and protect minorities, shows the opposite. The reason that Tahir and a few others are trickling back is that they believe that the Shia militias in Basra are too busy fighting their own turf wars to bother with a few Sunnis keeping their heads down.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 02/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There is nothing surprising in this. The Iraqi government has to impose law and order without foreign troops. At some point that will mean taking on the militias, probably before the end of this year.
Posted by: phil_b || 02/25/2007 1:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Interesting they leave their families in Mosul.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/25/2007 11:56 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Report: 3 Gulf states agree to IAF overflights en route to Iran
By Yoav Stern and Yossi Melman, Haaretz Correspondents

Three Arab states in the Persian Gulf would be willing to allow the Israel Air force to enter their airspace in order to reach Iran in case of an attack on its nuclear facilities, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Siyasa reported on Sunday.

According to the report, a diplomat from one of the gulf states visiting Washington on Saturday said the three states, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, have told the United States that they would not object to Israel using their airspace, despite their fear of an Iranian response.

Al-Siyasa further reported that NATO leaders are urging Turkey to open its airspace for an Attack on Iran as well and to also open its airports and borders in case of a ground attack.

According to a British diplomat who spoke to an Al-Siyasa correspondent, Turkey will not repeat the mistake it made in 2003, when it refused to open its airspace to U.S. Air Force overflights en route to attacking Iraq.

British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday that Israel is negotiating with the U.S. over permission for an "air corridor" over Iraq, should an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities become necessary.

Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh on Saturday denied the reports and said Israel has no such plans.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 02/25/2007 07:15 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  pressure, pressure, pressure
Posted by: 3dc || 02/25/2007 8:32 Comments || Top||

#2  heh heh
Posted by: Frank G || 02/25/2007 8:54 Comments || Top||

#3  That is certainly unprecedented. Any news about lions and lambs lying together without anyone being nibbled upon?
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/25/2007 9:57 Comments || Top||

#4  UUmmm, Egypt, you've pissed off your neighbors. Be warned, you're in deep shit.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/25/2007 10:16 Comments || Top||

#5  Egypt?
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/25/2007 10:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Pardon, minor mind bump, you're right Iraq, not Egypt
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/25/2007 10:33 Comments || Top||

#7  Maky years ago a friend said something that certainly fits here, He said" My mind is like a large Swiss Cheese, it's the right size, shape and weight, but there's holes here and there, and every now and then something falls into one of those holes, and it's GONE.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/25/2007 10:39 Comments || Top||

#8  Yeah, RJ, you probably meant Iran and not Iraq in the second go-round too.

But we knew who ya' meant.

Posted by: FOTSGreg || 02/25/2007 10:49 Comments || Top||

#9  I can't remember who said it but it was a great quote: "Of all the things I've lost, I miss my mind the most."
Posted by: mac || 02/25/2007 11:27 Comments || Top||

#10  "denied the plans" = BS
to point out there was an entire program on the bbc about a year ago on how the Isreali air force did it last time and on that program they talked about how the plans are constantly being updated.

Posted by: devilstoenail || 02/25/2007 14:17 Comments || Top||

#11  Er! May I have a small time-out on Fred's bandwidth to introduce my son Devilstoenail, aka Tomas. Be kind.

Thanks!
Posted by: rhodesiafever || 02/25/2007 15:14 Comments || Top||

#12  Welcome, devilstoenail! Always glad when an intelligent newcomer pops up... and we do like your father. :-)

rhodesiafever dear, did you say, "Hey! You gotta see this!", or did he look over your shoulder like trailing daughter #1 does sometimes, just before she takes over the mouse... and then somehow my chair? ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/25/2007 16:08 Comments || Top||

#13  TW I think you'll find I have returned to the arms of my innocent mother. who is safe;y in the other room.
Nice intro dad... very nice
P.S. Try placing pins on the chair, she won't sit on it for long!
Posted by: devilstoenail || 02/25/2007 16:16 Comments || Top||

#14  Alas, I only have the dog to read Rantburg with. She keeps pawing my shoulder wanting to play tug-o-war, though.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 02/25/2007 16:31 Comments || Top||

#15  overflight time
Posted by: Phineter Thraviger || 02/25/2007 16:46 Comments || Top||

#16  Lol, TW. And thank you.

Bandwidth open.

Back on topic: As Tomas observed, plans always being updated, this is the final "tweaking" stage.

Just need to "tweak" them Turkish mo-fo's. Have I said too much?
Posted by: rhodesiafever || 02/25/2007 16:59 Comments || Top||

#17  P.S. Try placing pins on the chair, she won't sit on it for long!

But then neither would I! A conundrum, that one is.
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/25/2007 17:07 Comments || Top||

#18  Turkey will not repeat the mistake it made in 2003, when it refused to open its airspace to U.S. Air Force overflights en route to attacking Iraq.

In what sense was it a mistake for Turkey? It is difficult to think of any particular price they have paid for their insolence.
Posted by: Excalibur || 02/25/2007 17:09 Comments || Top||

#19  Though I agree with you, Ex, I also think that if Bush did exact a p[rice he would do so quietly. But I doubt he did.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/25/2007 17:23 Comments || Top||

#20  That report is laughable. Notwithstanding what it is the Ayaterror republic could do serious damage to Qatar and Oman. They will be neutal in public, while privately supporting attacks on the Shiite tyranny. About half of the south Persian Gulf coast area has a majority Arab Shiite population. Shiites need to be disempowered; then we go after the Sunnis.
Posted by: Sneaze || 02/25/2007 17:24 Comments || Top||

#21  Welcome Thomas (my grandson's name too)Prepare to have your mind expanded considerably.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/25/2007 18:03 Comments || Top||

#22  prepare to have your mind expanded

I used to do that religiously during my teen years.

Thomas, my advice to you is, do not admit that you've expanded your mind on a website that your father visits. ;-)
Posted by: Mike N. || 02/25/2007 20:51 Comments || Top||

#23  EGYPT is in trouble becuz Radical Iran wants to be THE regional superpower and sole source of Muslim Islamist thought, power and divine interpretation - Cairo, Mecca, Damascus, and Instanbul, etc are all in Iran's sights.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/25/2007 21:52 Comments || Top||


Economics of the suicide bomber
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 02/25/2007 05:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  While I'm loath to believe anything the Grauniad says, if they're correct this needs to be addressed. The families of suicide bombers need to be seen to pay the price for the bomber's actions. If the bomber comes from the WB, bulldoze his family home and the homes of all siblings who are independent. Then expel the lot of them to Gaza. If he's Gazan, destroy not only his home but the homes of all his neighbors for a quarter-kilometer radius as well as the homes of any independent siblings. Make these Muzzy sons of whores hurt enough economically for the actions of suicide bombers and they'll stop sending them. It just requires firmness on the part of the Israeli authorities.
Posted by: mac || 02/25/2007 7:01 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm sure this is true. It was a small article, with very few unnnecessary adjectives/adverbs, and reported the research of others, not the reporter's own. Israel still does bulldoze houses, I believe, although the world fusses about it each time. And then Saudi Arabia rebuilds the properties.

(mac dear, I did respond to your follow-up in the Malaysia thread last night.)
Posted by: trailing wife || 02/25/2007 7:43 Comments || Top||

#3  If Saudi rebuilds the houses, bulldoze them again, repeat until the saudis realize they;re throwing money down a bottomless hole.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/25/2007 10:26 Comments || Top||

#4  If Saudi rebuilds the homes it means we are rebuilding the homes; Saudi produces no economic goods bar the oil we buy from them.

So, salt the earth with dynamite under every bulldozed home and expel the occupants, preferably by helicopter drop at the Saudi border. No need to choose a spot with a road.

Second, start knocking down buildings in Saudi itself. Though I would have thought we needed no further excuse to get started with that project. I nominate the evil cubic pimple in Mecca as urban redevelopment site number one.
Posted by: Excalibur || 02/25/2007 11:23 Comments || Top||

#5  TW, thank you for the compliment in your followup. Praise from you is high praise indeed.

I know the Israelis still bulldoze homes but they don't prevent rebuilding of those homes, which they certainly should do. IIRC, the Israeli Supreme Court also ruled against the IDF's plan to expel WB terrorists and their families to Gaza. I believe that to have been an incredibly bad decision.

When first mooted, that proposal started all the Paleo terrorist organizations screaming louder than stuck pigs, as I'm sure you remember. Eliciting that level of response should have shown the Israelis this would be an extraordinarily strong lever to use in shifting the Paleos from frothing insanity to a position of reasonable accommodation. Why they haven't made use of such an effective deterrent is something I don't understand.

That said, there is a lot about current Israeli politics that doesn't make sense to me. I just have a sneaking suspicion that anyone walking past the graves of David Ben-Gurion, Golda Myer, Moshe Dayan or Menachem Begin hears a high-pitched 60 Hz hum from the ceaseless spinning of the aforementioned inhabitants.

I'm not sure that since 1948 there ever was a good time for it, but for Israel to now have such a serious dearth of leadership is quite worrisome. Critical decisions will have to be taken very soon about Iran and Olmert's track record doesn't inspire me with confidence that he has the judgment to make those tough calls correctly.
Posted by: mac || 02/25/2007 11:23 Comments || Top||


Meshaal wants Russian help to end isolation
Hamas supremo Khaled Meshaal heads to Moscow on Monday to drum up support for ending international embargoes when a Palestinian unity government takes office, despite Israeli and US opposition. Russia is the only one of the four major powers sponsoring the stalled peace process to have diplomatic ties with the radical Islamist movement, blacklisted as a terrorist organisation by the West despite its rise to power.

What will be Meshaal's second visit to Moscow since Hamas won elections last year, comes amid growing differences among the so-called Quartet on how to deal with the prospect of a Palestinian unity administration. Russia has criticised the crippling boycott it imposed with fellow Quartet members-the European Union, United Nations and United States-when Hamas took office and is now urging the world to give the new cabinet a chance.

Moscow wants the Quartet to support the new government and end the boycott.
"This visit is very important for Hamas and is aimed at securing support for the next government and ending the embargo imposed on the Palestinian people," Hamas spokesman in Gaza City, Ismail Radwan said. He said Meshaal would work to "capitalise on the constructive Russian position within the Quartet in order not to continue with the unjust embargo".

After a top-level meeting in Berlin on Wednesday, the Quartet announced that it would wait until the new government takes office to decide whether or not to lift or maintain the diplomatic and economic sanctions. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said that Moscow wants the Quartet to support the new government and end the boycott.

Israel reiterated its position yesterday that no one should associate themselves with Hamas after Russia announced the group's top political leader would visit. "We don't think anyone should associate with Hamas and certainly not with Khaled Meshaal who expresses the most extreme positions inside the movement," government spokesman Miri Eisin said.

"The prime minister has said this in the past and I'm sure he reiterated this position in his phone conversation yesterday with President Putin," Eisin added. Ehud Olmert and Putin spoke on the telephone late Thursday shortly after Meshaal's prospective visit to the Russian capital was announced.

Meanwhile, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas called yesterday for the crippling embargo brought by the world powers to be lifted in the wake of an agreement to form a unity government of Hamas and Fatah.

“We are trying to resolve the problems of our people and to lift this unjust boycott,” Abbas said after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the current head of the European Union in Berlin. “For eight or nine months now our people have been suffering under this boycott and we want the Palestinian people to be able to lead dignified lives.”

The so-called Quartet for Middle East peace—Russia, the European Union, the United States and the United Nations—said after a meeting in the German capital this week that they would await the formation of the new Palestinian government before deciding whether to lift the aid and economic sanctions.

The measures were imposed after the Islamist Hamas movement took control of the Palestinian government following elections in January 2006. Hamas will join with Abbas’s Fatah movement under the deal struck this month in Makkah. Abbas refused to be drawn on whether Hamas would meet the three conditions set by the Quartet for the boycott to be eased—that any Palestinian government renounce violence and recognise Israel and past peace deals.
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Eat shit and die.
Posted by: Captain America || 02/25/2007 0:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Dying will be sufficient. No need to eat first.
Posted by: DMFD || 02/25/2007 17:43 Comments || Top||


EU not yet ready to lift boycott on Hamas-led government, says Solana
(Xinhua) -- European Union (EU) foreign policy chief Javier Solana indicated Friday that the EU is not yet ready to resume the channeling of funds directly to the Hamas-led Palestinian government. Solana met Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in Brussels. Asked whether the EU would boycott the planned national unity government, Solana said: "We cannot boycott what doesn't exist. The government still has not formed."

He said the EU is waiting for information of the unity government. But he indicated that the new government must comply with the three principles of the Middle East Quartet: the recognition of Israel, the renounce of violence, and respect for existing international agreements. "We have two possibilities: the government of unity will be part of the solution or the government of unity will be part of the problem. I hope very much, from the bottom of my heart, that the unity government will be part of the solution," he told a joint press conference with Abbas. "The European Union is not boycotting the Palestinian people. We have said many times that we will never let down the Palestinian people, and we have done that." He said the EU spent more money on the Palestinian people in 2006 than in 2005.

Abbas pledged his commitments to the principles of the Quartet -- the European Union, the United States, the United Nations, and Russia. "We remain committed to the two-state solution, the recognition of Israel, renouncing violence and terror and reiterate our commitment to the agreements signed and also to the Arab peace plan in 2002," he told the press conference.
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is the EU developing a spine? It is hard to believe that the EU is not the usual tower of Jello.
Posted by: whatadeal || 02/25/2007 5:22 Comments || Top||

#2  I'm sure the "spine" is a temporary phenomenon that'll go away as soon as Hamas figures how to continue with what it wants while presenting the EU with a figleaf to cover its invertebracy.
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2007 9:43 Comments || Top||

#3  The negotiations, re bribe size, between EU polititians and Soodies are still going on.
Posted by: gromgoru || 02/25/2007 14:42 Comments || Top||

#4  I.e. the EU politicos are still arguing over their 'cut'.
Posted by: DMFD || 02/25/2007 17:44 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US generals ‘will quit’ if Bush orders Iran attack
SOME of America’s most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources.

Tension in the Gulf region has raised fears that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely before President George Bush leaves office. The Sunday Times has learnt that up to five generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would be a reckless attack.

“There are four or five generals and admirals we know of who would resign if Bush ordered an attack on Iran,” a source with close ties to British intelligence said. “There is simply no stomach for it in the Pentagon, and a lot of people question whether such an attack would be effective or even possible.”

A British defence source confirmed that there were deep misgivings inside the Pentagon about a military strike. “All the generals are perfectly clear that they don’t have the military capacity to take Iran on in any meaningful fashion. Nobody wants to do it and it would be a matter of conscience for them.

“There are enough people who feel this would be an error of judgment too far for there to be resignations.”

A generals’ revolt on such a scale would be unprecedented. “American generals usually stay and fight until they get fired,” said a Pentagon source. Robert Gates, the defence secretary, has repeatedly warned against striking Iran and is believed to represent the view of his senior commanders.
................
One retired general who participated in the “generals’ revolt” against Donald Rumsfeld’s handling of the Iraq war said he hoped his former colleagues would resign in the event of an order to attack. “We don’t want to take another initiative unless we’ve really thought through the consequences of our strategy,” he warned.
Posted by: Steve || 02/25/2007 13:05 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A) I call BS. US military commanders do not get to call the shots and they damned well know it. That call lays with the US CIC who is the President and they are bound by their oaths to follow his orders.

B) US military commanders are, by and large, warriors way before they are politicians. If they're politicians and they feel forced to resign, the POTUS can refuse their resignations and fire them instead thereby destroying their careers and pensions.

C) I say, if any of them choose to resign, so be it. We don;t need the political commanders these days, we need the fighting commanders.

Posted by: FOTSGreg || 02/25/2007 19:46 Comments || Top||

#2  They've read McMaster's book. . There's at least 6 out of the 1,000 flag officers who might resign if we got into a pre-emptive war with Iran. Remember that general who'd commanded a division in Iraq an then had problems sleeping so he whined to the WaPo? I can't even remember his name now. So what? They wouldn't stop any action and frankly, I'd be happier with them out of the military rehashing the good old days on CNN than in the Pentagon leaking to the WaPo. So have at it.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 02/25/2007 20:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Dubya & Admin have already said that a direct attack on Iran is not their intention. As said or argued before, iff Radical Iran gives credence-support to a "Mahdi/Jesus in Spring" scenario, Moud & Mullahs + Radical Islam in general will suffer ideo + internat humiliation iff no Appearance occurs; or else the Mahdi-Imam is more hi-tech, "Las Vegas" PC magician than divine Personage. Its one thing to claim beguiling divinity, its quite another to de facto remove or destroy the USA-Allies/West from the ME as per the demands of contempor Radical Islamism. CIA FACTBOOK/WIKIPEDIA/OTHER > we're roughly already partially thru the Spring period for Iran and still NO MAHDI-IMAM. RADICAL IRAN > MUST EITHER ACCEPT CONTAINMENT, I.E. "LOSE FACE" BUT NOT POLITICAL POWER [YET?]; OR ATTACK TO DIVERT ATTENTION. IMO Sadr in Iran, Mullah OMar in Afghanistan, + reports of 000's-0,000's of new fighters gatherng for new offensives in ME + Africa leads me to conclude that Radical Islam intends to attack, ala do-or-die, all-or-nothing WW2 "Banzai/Kamikaze" style. SURE, RADIC ISLAM = IRAN CAN PLAY THE "WAITING GAME" FOR AFTER 2008, BUT THEIR CREDIBILITY WOULD BE ALL BUT DESTROYED, WHILE THE USA'S INFLUENCE IN THE ME GETS STRONGER BTWN NOW AND 2009 WHEN DUBYA LEAVES OFFICE.

In addition, RUSSIA-CHINA > their anti-US, "War is not only Possible but Desired" scenarios allegedly may begin as early as Year 2014, or EARLIER VV NORTH KOREA-TAIWAN CRISES, etal. Anti-US agendists in Russia-China will prefer the USA be econ and mil weakened AMAP by then. SUM - THE SOONER IRAN-NORTH KOREA/TAIWAN, ETC. CRISES TIE DOWN AMER'S VOLUNTEER ARMY + ENDOWMENTS-RESOURCES IN PROTRACTIVE REGIONAL WARS, THE BETTER FOR RUSSIA-CHINA. WAR ZONE = BATTLE ZONE = LOCAL ZONE = ASSASSIN'S MACE anti-US strategems > based on "Take-and-Hold" Active Defense suppor by IMMEDIATE NUCLEAR-WMD REINFORCEMENT AND GEOPOL NUCLEAR ESCALATION. Russia can't suppor the above wid out INF missle forces. which it will want to legally re-dev and re-acquire as PC counter to US capabilities.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/25/2007 21:01 Comments || Top||

#4  CNN Pert > When OSAMA BIN LADEN and Radical Islam attacked America on 9-11, whether intentional or not THEY PUT = FORCED AMERICA ON THE PATH TO GLOBAL EMPIRE-DOMINATION. OSAMA > own words > will do anything to bring about the defeat and destruction of the USA. IOW, OSAMA > 9-11/WOT > NOT MERELY ABOUT HURTING THE USA, ITS ABOUT KILLING = DESTROYING THE USA ONCE AND FOREVER.
KRAUTHAMMER > SAY IT WID ME, LEFTIES, FFFFFFOOOOOOOORRREEEEEEVVVVVEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRR, F-O-R-E-V-E-R, aka PERMANENTLY.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 02/25/2007 21:09 Comments || Top||


Moussa urges dialogue on Iran's nuke issue
(Xinhua) -- Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa Saturday reiterated the Arab stand on Iran's nuclear issue, calling for continuous dialogue instead of military action or legal procedures that could lead to the deterioration of the situation in the region, Egypt's MENA news agency reported.

Moussa said the door to dialogue was still open regarding Iran's disputed nuclear issue, regardless of some calls for tougher sanctions against Iran for defying a UN Security Council resolution, which demanded a stop to Tehran's uranium enrichment. The Security Council Resolution 1737 adopted last December gave the Islamic Republic 60-day deadline to halt enrichment or face further severe sanctions, such as further financial sanctions and tougher travel ban.

Moussa said the Iranian nuclear program was not the only reason for concern to the Middle East. The Iranian nuclear issue will be discussed at a meeting of the Arab League Council at the level of foreign ministers on March 3,according to Moussa.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei sent his report to the nuclear watchdog's 35-nationBoard of Governors and the UN Security Council on Thursday, confirming that Iran had refused to suspend its uranium enrichment as demanded by the council. Many observers believe that the UN Security Council might negotiate another resolution, which would likely impose tougher sanctions on Tehran.
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It would be easy to talk to Iran, give them the green light in Iraq, say okay to their A-bomb, and allow them to bully all their Arab neighbors. We all have telephones, Moussa, the Iranians can pick up the telephone and call with a good idea any time of the day or night. The last time we had a formal procedure for talking to them, they kidnapped our diplomats. You are so good at this, Moussa, you can call them for us and take care of everything.
Posted by: whatadeal || 02/25/2007 5:11 Comments || Top||

#2  I like the picture of the people not-talking to each other, but i;d like to suggest an improvement,
Put A mushroom cloud in one balloon, and a pile of shit in the other.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 02/25/2007 10:45 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Culture Wars
Boston Muslims win case to build mosque
A Muslim group has won a court battle which, if lost, would have prevented it from completing the construction of a mosque. The Islamic Society of Boston said in a statement at the weekend that a Massachusetts superior court judge had ruled that the lawsuit brought against the Society, the Boston Redevelopment Authority and the Roxbury Community College, was without merit and had been dismissed. The court ruled the lawsuit was improperly brought by James Policastro, directing that if the plaintiff had any legitimate issue with the project, he should have taken part in the multi-year public process which led to the project’s approval.

Jessica Masse, the Society’s inter-faith coordinator, said: “We are very pleased that the court put an end to the legal campaign against the Islamic Society of Boston.”
Posted by: Fred || 02/25/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh great, another future weapons depot for the army religion of peace.
Posted by: Spavimp Shomomble5264 || 02/25/2007 6:56 Comments || Top||

#2  The court ruled the lawsuit was improperly brought by James Policastro, directing that if the plaintiff had any legitimate issue with the project, he should have taken part in the multi-year public process which led to the project’s approval.

I'll have to do some digging, but I seem to recall that this "public process" was less than transparent.
Posted by: xbalanke || 02/25/2007 12:49 Comments || Top||

#3  notwithstanding the remarks of the inter-faith coordinator, there are at least 2 other lawsuits in progress
Posted by: mhw || 02/25/2007 18:33 Comments || Top||



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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
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Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2007-02-25
  Boomer tries for Abdul Aziz al-Hakim
Sat 2007-02-24
  3 Pak bad boyz dead when their package blows up
Fri 2007-02-23
  U.S. bangs five bad boyz in Iraq gunfight
Thu 2007-02-22
  Another poison gas attack in Iraq
Wed 2007-02-21
  Brits to begin withdrawing troops
Tue 2007-02-20
  USS Stennis Now On Station
Mon 2007-02-19
  64 killed in Delhi-Lahore train boom
Sun 2007-02-18
  Iraqi, Coalition forces detain 21 suspected terrs
Sat 2007-02-17
  Algeria: Police kill 26 bad boyz, arrest 35 after attacks
Fri 2007-02-16
  Attempt to hijack Maretanian plane painfully foiled
Thu 2007-02-15
  Al-Masri said wounded, aide killed
Wed 2007-02-14
  Bombs kill nine on buses in Lebanon
Tue 2007-02-13
  Tater bugs out
Mon 2007-02-12
  140 arrested in Baghdad sweeps: US military
Sun 2007-02-11
  Petraeus takes command

Better than the average link...



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