Saudi Arabia's King Fahd's health is "steadily improving," three days after he was taken to hospital with pneumonia and respiratory complications, Interior Minister Prince Nayef said on Sunday.
The health of the 83-year-old wheelchair-bound king has been frail since he suffered a stroke in 1995. The day-to-day running of the world's biggest oil exporter, which is fighting al Qaeda militants, was passed on to his half brother.
"Thank God his health is steadily improving," Prince Nayef said without giving details. His comments were carried on the official Saudi Press Agency.
King Fahd remained in hospital for a third day on Sunday for further tests and treatment amid rising concern about his condition.
Alarm about the monarch's health was sparked by a rare royal statement which announced his admission to hospital on Friday and called on his subjects to pray for his recovery.
Officials said he was suffering from high fever, pneumonia and respiratory complications from water in his lungs. They said his condition was stable on Sunday and that he was still being treated for respiratory difficulties.
"The necessary medical tests were carried out and they all showed that his health condition is stable and reassuring, thank God. More examinations will be conducted at a later stage," a royal statement said on Saturday night without elaborating.
In case he dies, diplomats expect a succession that goes to plan, provoking no instability in the country that has been fighting Islamic militants trying to topple the royal family.
The script calls for Crown Prince Abdullah, King Fahd's half brother and a cautious reformist, to ascend the throne and for Prince Sultan, now defense minister, to become crown prince.
"Crown Prince Abdullah has been the de facto leader for around 10 years, so it's difficult to see how the policy of the kingdom would change after the king's death," one diplomat said.
Rumours about King Fahd's health have often surfaced in Saudi Arabia and on world oil markets since he fell ill 10 years ago. But this time they appeared to be better founded.
"At first I thought it was just a rumor that he was in hospital," said one Saudi women, who declined to give her name. "I am very worried. After all, he is the king of a country."
"What happens next is in the hands of God," added another.
Fahd ascended one of the world's richest thrones in June 1982, at the peak of a petrodollar boom that transformed Saudi Arabia from a desert country into a global economic power and propelled its isolated tribal society into the modern world.
The biggest challenge for his rule has come from Saudi-born al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, whose group waged a violent campaign to depose the royal family whom he said had betrayed Islam for allying itself with "infidel America."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/29/2005 15:46 ||
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and propelled its isolated tribal society into the modern world
KUWAIT CITY - Kuwait's criminal court on Saturday acquitted a correspondent for Al-Arabiya satellite news channel of charges of undermining the emirate's interests by reporting false news, the journalist said. Adel al-Eidan, a Kuwaiti working for the Dubai-based, Saudi-owned television, was detained for four days in January for reporting an alleged shootout between security forces and gunmen, south of the capital. Authorities dismissed the report as baseless.
Did he try the 'fake but accurate' defense?
During detention, Eidan claimed he was tortured by police and filed a complaint to the parliamentary human rights panel. "I feel that the court has treated me fairly and cleared my name and credibility as a journalist," Eidan told AFP.
The verdict is not final as it can be challenged by the public prosecution to the appeals court. Eidan was charged with reporting "false news that undermines the country's position internally and abroad" which is a felony under Kuwaiti law.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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North Korea on Saturday criticized Washington's alliance with Seoul as a facade to cover up a U.S. plan to occupy South Korea by force. "The United States is pretending to be a protector of South Korea ... but it is definitely an aggressor, an occupier," said a spokesman at the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland. Washington has a "wicked intent to strengthen its colonial rule and militarist occupation of South Korea and to make South Korea a victim of the U.S. scheme to wage a war of aggression," the unidentified spokesman was quoted as saying by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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We are occupying them by pulling our forces out! Phear our reverse phycology Kimmie!
#2
The Nork propaganda guyz must have been getting down to eating locoweed. Why would we want to occupy SKor again? It was a pain in the behind the first time. The SKors are perfectly capable of deciding their destiny. It is in their hands, for better or for worse.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/29/2005 0:34 Comments ||
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Great collection of North Korean propaganda posters here. The proprietor of the shop is the same guy who runs Koryo Tours, currently the only way to visit North Korea. I've always wanted to go, I really regret never seeing the Communist states of Eastern Europe. Too bad it's expensive.
MADRID, May 28 - The Basque militant group ETA may be weakening, but any discussion over its possible demise is dividing Spain to a degree that its attacks rarely have.
The government said the future of ETA was bleak enough that it might be persuaded to disband if offered a chance to negotiate small concessions from Madrid, like the return of imprisoned ETA members to Basque jails.
But the proposal has drawn sharp criticism from the families of victims of ETA bombings, as well as from scholars and editorial writers, and has driven a wedge between the major parties on an issue once considered exempt from partisan politics: the fight against ETA. not to mention how it will embolden other terrorists
Members of the main opposition group in Parliament, the Popular Party, have attacked Mr. Zapatero's proposal as tantamount to appeasing terrorists. peace in our time!! huzzah!
The only way to defeat ETA, the opposition party says, is to crush it using all the powers available to Spain's law enforcement agencies. but...but...that would make us no better than the Americans!
But members of Mr. Zapatero's Socialist Party say an offer of dialogue contingent on the renunciation of violence may bring a quicker and more peaceful solution. They also contend that Spanish law enforcement agencies could be reaching the limits of their success against ETA, and that persuasion may be the only way to strike the final blow. yes. if they say they're against terrorism, what more can we ask for! we can learn a lot from that great statesman, yasser arafat (ptui)
The government says the proposal is its own initiative, but there has been speculation on editorial pages here that it is rather a response to an overture from ETA, an assertion government officials deny.
"There is no type of contact, nor any messenger from the government to contact anyone," the deputy prime minister, MarÃa Teresa Fernändez de la Vega, said Friday at her weekly news conference.
ETA, which are the initials for Homeland and Liberty in the Basque language, has killed more than 800 people since 1968 in its campaign to establish an independent Basque state encompassing sections of northern Spain and southern France.
Although the group continues to carry out bombings, including four in the past two weeks that wounded several people, it has not carried out a fatal attack in two years. nobody died in the bombing. isn't that the muzzie definition of renouncing violence?
A long-term effort by the police to infiltrate ETA has been successful, officials said, weakening the group psychologically and organizationally. In addition, the scar of the March 11, 2004, Madrid train bombings, for which the previous government at first blamed ETA, has added to public revulsion at terrorist attacks of any origin.
Despite these failures, some scholars say that Mr. Zapatero is right to offer dialogue once again. night school scholars, I'll bet
Some scholars contend that Mr. Zapatero has fallen into a trap set by ETA, which they say has been giving false signals that it is willing to disband in order to set off political divisions over how to manage the peace. our scholars are smarter than your scholars
Even if that was not ETA's intention, it appears to have been the result. Several groups that represent victims of terrorist violence are planning a march in Madrid on June 4 to protest the government's offer.
#2
As a matter of poicy the United States should refuse to trade or maintain diplomatic relations with any nation that negotiates with terrorists organizations for anything other than cease fire or surrender. Rewarding terrorists is not possible if we want to maintain a modern and peaceful world.
#3
After Irangate, that's going to be hard to do with a straight face.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/29/2005 12:47 Comments ||
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I never negotiated with any Iranians or supported doing so for any reason. That was then and this is now. (post 9/11) Spain has shown a proclivity towards perfidy and it's current government is one that appeases first and asks questions later.
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Mrs D - so we should NEVER deal with a sane Iranian regime due to past mistakes? How's your marriage? Apply same before discussing further. No response necessary. I was married too
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/29/2005 22:03 Comments ||
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Courageous AND good-looking. Oriana Fallaci, Bat Ye'or, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, it seems most of Europe's best men are women. Leaving Islam can be hazardous. Apostasy is a capital crime in a number of Islamic countries. But even in elite conservative circles in the United States, there is a tendency to dismiss or at least ignore some important former Muslims who have a lot to teach us about their former faith, as we face an era in which religious war on the West has been declared by radical Islam.
Two years ago, following a modest Washington, DC, area reception celebrating the release of Leaving Islam, a compilation of Ibn Warraq's own brilliant essays, and poignant, harrowing testimonials from other ex-Muslim "apostates," I received a disturbing communication from a former admirer and supporter of Warraq's work (particularly the seminal, Why I Am Not A Muslim) who attended the same event. This individual dismissed Warraq's unique and important collection on apostasy in Islam, because Warraq (and by extension, all Muslim apostates) was (were), "âŠno longer in the game." It was astonishing to hear such a glib assessment from a conservative intellectual and self-appointed doyen (subsequently, government-appointed) examining Islamic terrorism. The pernicious effect of this mindset—apparently quite pervasive among the lemming-like denizens of the most influential Washington, DC area conservative "think tanks"—was reinforced during Warraq's dismissive small audience (composed entirely of self-important, self-appointed doyens) at perhaps the pre-eminent Institute of this ilk.
Ayaan Hirsi Ali's rise to prominence as an openly avowed Muslim apostate Parliamentarian in the Netherlands—both before, and most decidedly after the murder of her colleague, Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh—demonstrates that it is completely misguided to dismiss the profound intellectual and sociopolitical contributions courageous apostates can make to both the public discourse, and specific policy initiatives, regarding Islam.
Four recently published interviews of Somalia-born Ayaan Hirsi Ali provide an informative overview of her evolution—from a teenage Islamic school-educated supporter of the jihadist Muslim Brotherhood, to an asylum-seeking refugee in the Netherlands in her early 20s (in 1992), and now, a courageous Dutch Parliamentarian (since January 2003) dedicated to the defense of the core Western values (i.e., such as true freedom of conscience) embodied in modern human rights constructs. Shortly after completing her studies in political science at Leiden University, Hirsi Ali was hired as a researcher for the Dutch Labor Party, and assigned to write a brief on immigration. She stunned her Labor colleagues by making blunt recommendations that were a frontal assault on established multicultural taboos: shut down all 41 Islamic schools; curb immigration; and radically alter Article 23 of the Dutch constitution (which embraced the multicultural orthodoxy by sanctioning the creation of separate schools and cultural institutions for distinct religious groups).
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#1
It was astonishing to hear such a glib assessment from a conservative intellectual and self-appointed doyen (subsequently, government-appointed) examining Islamic terrorism. The pernicious effect of this mindsetâapparently quite pervasive among the lemming-like denizens of the most influential Washington, DC area conservative âthink tanksââwas reinforced during Warraqâs dismissive small audience (composed entirely of self-important, self-appointed doyens) at perhaps the pre-eminent Institute of this ilk.
#3
How very strange: From the Renaissance onward, the word of Christian apostates and former believers has been heeded, revered, trumpeted, and supported long after their bodies collapsed into dust.
But when it comes to ISLAM, there's an exception?
H-ll and D-mn-tion! When it comes to ISLAM, or liberalism, there's ALWAYS A D-M EXCEPTION, ISN'T THERE?
The Canadian Council of Muslim Women has welcomed the Quebec National Assembly's unanimous adoption of a motion declaring that no Muslim tribunals for family matters will be allowed in the province, and that the laws of Quebec will apply to all its residents, regardless of religion, ethnicity or culture.
The Council said, "This public motion is a courageous act and though it may be criticised by some, its message is strong that religious women will not be isolated and placed under any other form of law. Quebec has clearly understood that different laws for different citizens lead to discrimination and have nothing to do with multiculturalism or Quebec's Charter of Rights and Freedom. Our regret is that the motion did not include a statement that no religious laws shall be used. This move towards separate laws, according to religion, is being advocated by other religious groups and is not restricted to Muslims only. We hope that Ontario will follow the same reasoning and demonstrate courage to state unequivocally that all Ontario families must be treated equally under the laws of the land.
Conservative Islamic groups in neighbouring Ontario province have been campaigning for an enactment that will allow family matters relating to Muslims to be adjudicated upon under sharia. The bid has been opposed by progressive Muslims and several women's groups, with the latter taking the position that if the move is successful, it would abridge women's rights and place them at the mercy of those who hold anti-feminist and puritanical views.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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We hope that Ontario will follow the same reasoning and demonstrate courage
Fat chance. For this reason or that, Quebec has always gone against the flow, why should this time be any different. Which means, sharia's coming to a town near you, Ontario.
Posted by: Rafael ||
05/29/2005 1:44 Comments ||
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Canadians occasionally get these fits of sanity from time to time. It'll pass.
.com, any other Rantburgers in the area this weekend, can you give us a report? EFL.
Prominent anti-illegal-immigration activists joined this weekend to call on public officials to enforce federal immigration laws and protect the country's borders.
Buoyed by last month's Minuteman Project citizen border patrols in Arizona, leaders made plans for a multi-state coalition of organizations that could be called the Minuteman Campaign USA. The groups called for the creation of a legal defense fund, a campaign to target employers who hire undocumented workers, and increased apprehension of illegal immigrants who commit crimes.
"The spring of 2005 will be looked back upon as the time when America woke up and started taking this country back," William Gheen, president of Americans for Legal Immigration, told the crowd Saturday.
Organizers said they had so far sold more than 400 tickets for the three-day event called the "Unite to Fight Against Illegal Immigration Summit." The event was sponsored by the Wake Up America Foundation, founded last year by Mark Edwards, a Las Vegas radio personality whose show focuses on illegal immigration.
Before leaving early in the day, a group of protesters stood in front of the theater, calling the attendees Nazis and racists. Of course they did.
Speakers at the event include Barbara Coe, a co-author of California's Proposition 187, which sought to deny some public benefits to illegal immigrants; James Gilchrist, retired Aliso Viejo accountant and founder of the Minuteman Project; Rep. Tom Tancredo (R-Colo.); and relatives of victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"It's time to start kicking politicians out of office," Andy Ramirez told the group. His organization, Friends of the Border Patrol, plans a citizen border watch this summer in California.
#1
It's time to start kicking politicians out of office
Amen! I'm tired of voting for people that don't get the job done. I am glad to see one of my Congressmen there though (Tancredo R-CO). Maybe the message is starting to get through their pork-laden brains.
A senior police official said on Sunday the twin blasts that killed 22 people in a Christian town in eastern Indonesia bore the hallmarks of a militant group linked to al-Qaeda.
"There are similarities, based on the analysis of the anti-terror team," the official told Reuters when asked whether Saturday's attacks resembled previous bombings blamed on Jemaah Islamiah, a militant group linked to al-Qaeda.
The officer, who declined to be named, did not elaborate.
More than 30 people were wounded in the blasts which ripped through a busy market in the lakeside town of Tentena, on the eastern island of Sulawesi.
The town is part of a region where three years of Muslim-Christian fighting killed 2000 people until a peace deal was agreed in late 2001.
Much of the past Sulawesi violence focused on nearby Poso in a conflict that drew Muslim militants from groups such as the al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah, a Southeast Asian network blamed for numerous bomb attacks across Indonesia.
Periodic unrest has flared since the peace deal, but the bombings, which occurred within 15 minutes of each other, were among the worst and raises fears sectarian strife will reignite.
Chief security minister Widodo Adi Sutjipto told reporters after a ministerial crisis meeting that the government would step up intelligence operations.
"There must be significant steps taken to uncover this terror network, including by seeking more information from captured perpetrators," Widodo said, referring to detainees held over past attacks.
He added the government would step up security in other parts of the country.
Military chief Endriartono Sutarto also stressed the need to boost intelligence gathering, adding officials had received indications of a possible fresh attack about two weeks earlier.
Saturday's blasts follow Western government warnings about terrorist attacks in the world's most populous Muslim nation.
On Thursday, the United States closed all of its four diplomatic missions in Indonesia because of a security threat.
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said he would not speculate on who carried out the attacks in Tentena.
"I have spoken to the vice president and the chief security minister. If this problem cannot be dealt with, I will return to the country," Yudhoyono was quoted as saying by the official Antara news agency after arriving in Hanoi late yesterday.
"I have instructed the authorities to catch the perpetrators."
Yudhoyono had just touched down after visiting the United States. From Vietnam, the former general will travel to Japan.
One of the aims of his trip is to convince foreign investors that Indonesia is a safe and easier place to do business, after years of ineffective government and occasional major bombings by Jemaah Islamiah.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/29/2005 15:39 ||
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Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) forces have stepped up security yesterday near a major rebel base in the southern Philippine province of Maguindanao as thousands of members and supporters converged for a three-day plenum that will start today. Uniformed rebels in charge of security put up their own checkpoint near an army roadblock in the town of Sultan Kudarat near the MILF's Camp Darapanan, stopping civilian vehicles and searching for weapons and explosives.
The security officers said they have orders to seize illegal weapons from civilians or other MILF members. "MILF members and civilians who are attending the plenum are not allowed to bring their weapons and we have orders to seize them. We don't want any incident that may sabotage this plenum," one rebel security officer told Arab News. Officials from the both the MILF and the government said they wanted to make sure that saboteurs would not disrupt the peace process.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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As Lebanon prepares for what is being hailed as its first free vote in years, the powerful Shiite Muslim movement Hezbollah was flexing its military muscle and vowing to fight on against archenemy Israel. Hezbollah is projected to win possibly 12 seats in the elections kicking off in the capital Beirut today — the same number it has now; after forging alliances with anti-Syrian opposition forces in some electoral districts. The group's firebrand leader Hassan Nasrallah told tens of thousands of supporters in southern Lebanon on Wednesday that his militia had more than 12,000 rockets that put northern Israel within firing range. His declaration defied international calls for the disarming of Hezbollah in line with UN Resolution 1559, which paved the way for Syria's withdrawal of its forces from Lebanon after a 29-year military presence. "Our priority is to evacuate Israel from the Shebaa Farms and to fight against UN Resolution 1559," said Hezbollah parliamentary candidate Hassan Fadlallah.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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"kick me"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/29/2005 13:11 Comments ||
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Lebanon's Jamaa Islameyya has asked its supporters to boycott the forthcoming parliamentary elections because "they are fixed by the American and French governments".
"And voting's un-Islamic..."
"The key reason for our decision to boycott the elections is because the Americans and the French are outlining the list of nominees. The results and lists have been fixed earlier," said Zuhair Al Obaidi, a member of the Sunni group. He also criticised the election law terming it as "unfair".
"Yeah, there ain't no way we'd win, even if we campaigned..."
"It leads us to the same political clique that was ruling the country between 2000 and 2005," said Al Obaidi in an interview with Gulf News. Referring to the February 14 assassination of Rafik Hariri, former Lebanese prime minister, Al Obaidi said: "The current trend is to exploit Hariri's martyrdom."
"We think they oughta just ignore it..."
"Any candidate who runs against the list of Hariri's party is accused of a role in his assassination. Therefore, we have decided not to participate in the elections and we call upon our supporters to boycott it as well."
"I mean, it ain't like we had anything to do with bumping him off..."
The elections, which are staggered over four weekends starting from tomorrow, are the first since Damascus withdrew its troops from Lebanon last month in line with a previously ignored UN Security Council resolution. Many believe they may return many of the same faces to the 128-member assembly. For the first time in Lebanon, foreign observers, led by a 100-strong European Union team, will monitor the elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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Yes, this strategy worked out so well for them in Iraq.
BEIRUT - Lebanon's first general elections free of Syrian presence in three decades kick off in Beirut on Sunday, with the anti-Damascus opposition set to win a majority of seats in the new parliament.
Nineteen seats are in theory up for grabs in the capital, but nine candidates on the lists of the murdered ex-premier Rafiq Hariri's son Saad have already been elected by default after rival candidates failed to appear or dropped out. Saad's lists are widely expected to win all 10 other seats in Beirut and experts believe that this situation will keep turnout in Beirut lower than in the last legislative elections in 2000, which stood at 33.8 percent.
The vote marks only the start of four-stage nationwide polls, which will see different regions voting on every Sunday until the end of June. Many of Syria's once-powerful allies have thrown in the towel and the opposition is widely expected to win the lion's share of seats in parliament.
Throughout the country, a total of 17 candidates have been automatically elected by default, including prominent opposition leader Druze MP Walid Jumblatt and close ally MP Marwan Hamadeh. Lebanon has some three million voters, 59 percent Muslim and 41 percent Christian, who will be contesting 128 parliamentary seats to be shared equally by the Christian and Muslim communities. Parliament is elected for four years.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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Tehran is "very anxious" to make a nuclear bomb, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said in an interview published yesterday, warning that using force to stop Iran from building a nuclear weapon would be a disaster.
So would letting them do it...
In an interview with Germany's Der Spiegel news weekly, Musharraf said he didn't know how Iran could be prevented from developing a nuclear weapon. "They are very anxious to have the bomb," he was quoted as saying by Der Spiegel. Asked if he thought a pre-emptive attack by the US would prevent Tehran from developing its nuclear programme, the Pakistani president said such a move would be "a disaster."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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Well of course they are. They think it's Muslim Viagra... and they've been impotent for a looooong time.
#3
Musharraf denies Iran bomb remark Pakistan has denied that President Pervez Musharraf told a German magazine that Iran was "very anxious" to have a nuclear bomb.
Iran demanded an urgent clarification after the comments were carried in Der Spiegel magazine on Saturday.
Pakistan's foreign office spokesman, Jalil Abbas Jilani, said the president had been misquoted.
Posted by: john ||
05/29/2005 9:04 Comments ||
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ABU Musab al-Zarqawi has long been viewed as the key figure in the insurgency sweeping Iraq. By capturing him it was once thought that the new government would gain control of even the most hostile areas of the country.
But the power struggle to succeed al-Qaeda's leader in Iraq has shown that the organisation is resilient enough to withstand the blow.
Since being wounded last week it has emerged that Iraq's most wanted terrorist has fled the country for emergency surgery after an American air strike left him with shrapnel in his chest.
He has suffered from bouts of high fever since being wounded as he fled the American offensive near Al-Qaim in northwestern Iraq, the commander said. Although his condition has stabilised, supporters are said to be preparing to move him to another "non-Arab" country for an operation to remove the shrapnel.
The absence of triumphalism in Washington over the shooting of Zarqawi indicates that the US no longer considers that the insurgency can be beaten through the removal of one man.
There were no shortage of candidates vying to take over from Zarqawi.
The power struggle surfaced on the internet, which al-Qaeda uses as its main means of communication and propaganda with a skill surprising for an organisation that wants to return to the purity of the seventh century.
Analysts say that the insurgency can carry on with or without Zarqawi's guiding hand, as it showed last week when it downed a US helicopter, killing two soldiers.
"The organisation has proved to be somewhat resilient," said Brigadier General Carter Ham, commander of Task Force Olympia, who directed thousands of troops during 13 months of operations in Zarqawi's former stomping ground of northern Iraq. "We ought not to expect that the organisation will crumble and cease to exist" as a result of Zarqawi's death or capture, he added.
Diaa Rashwan, an expert on radical Islam at Egypt's Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, said: "The real danger in Iraq is that you have more than 50 attacks a day, with some made by Zarqawi and 80% made by others.
"It's not really a problem of who will be the successor. He's a symbol for a kind of network of small Islamic groups which share tactics and ideology."
The dispute over the leadership started with an internet announcement in the name of the media coordinator for al-Qaeda's Iraq branch, Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, that Zarqawi had been wounded and that Muslims should pray for him.
There followed another statement signed by an unfamiliar name, Abu Doujanah al-Tunisi of the media committee for al-Qaeda's Iraq branch, claiming that a Saudi militant known as Abu Hafs al-Qarni had been made the group's interim leader - or "deputy of the holy warriors" - until Zarqawi recovered from his wounds.
Al-Qarni "is known for carrying out the hardest operations, and our sheikh would choose him and his group for the tough operations", it said.
A Western diplomat said: "The split itself reveals the extent to which al-Qaeda, which was unknown in Iraq before the US-led invasion, has built an organisation with different departments. A number of potential successors are being mooted, showing that this is not a one-man band. You might even detect shadowy signs of a government-in-waiting.
"The US is no longer giving the impression that if they can remove Zarqawi they will have got rid of al-Qaeda in Iraq. After initially building him up by putting a huge price on his head, they are now playing down his significance."
The widely respected pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat reported that a number of candidates were competing to succeed Zarqawi. Al-Qarni was not among those named, but Abu Maysara al-Iraqi, the man who ruled him out, is on the list.
Sources in Jordan, close to Zarqawi, also name Abu Maysara al-Iraqi as a potential successor, but also add another contender, Abu al-Dardaa al-Iraqi, an al-Qaeda operative in Baghdad.
One reason for the insurgency's resilience is that despite Zarqawi's Jordanian lineage - and the attempt by the US to foster the belief that almost all suicide bombers are foreigners - the insurgency is largely homegrown.
Its principal supporters are Iraqis formerly loyal to Saddam Hussein and Iraqis devoted to an extreme radical strain of Sunni Islam.
"The majority of people blowing up things, assembling car bombs and financing the blowing up of Humvees or attacks on police stations are Iraqi," said an American diplomat. "There is also a foreign element, a very pernicious foreign element, which is one of the reasons it's so difficult to degrade it."
Steven Emerson, a terror analyst with the Washington-based Investigative Project and author of the book American Jihad, said: "It's the same as we've seen in Pakistan and Afghanistan - hundreds of millions of dollars in collective rewards for Bin Laden and Zarqawi and others have not produced anything in terms of people coming forward in exchange for money.
"There is a deeply entrenched network. It comes from Syria. It comes from Saudi Arabia. There are some people transiting through Jordan. The Syrians, in particular, have a lot of blood on their hands."
However, he added of the wounding of Zarqawi: "Because he's such an on-the-ground commander, and so control-oriented, this could have a major effect in disrupting the insurgency's coordination and operations. Zarqawi was the glue that held the organisation together. It was Zarqawi, Zarqawi, Zarqawi. Not like Bin Laden, who had a whole chain of command that he could rely on."
Another reason the insurgency is proving difficult to defeat is that it has perfected the technique of 'ghosting away' from major confrontations with US forces only to raise its flag in other cities.
Since the assault on Fallujah last November, which was supposed to 'break the back' of the violence, the insurgency has flared repeatedly.
"It's like toothpaste: you squeeze somewhere, and it just pushes the insurgents somewhere else," said Toby Dodge, an Iraq expert at the International Institute of Strategic Studies in London.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/29/2005 15:41 ||
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Thriving...
Getting killed at an approximate 100/1 rate, chased out of all their "safe places"
Can't wait to see what happens when it gets bad...
EFLNew South Federal Savings Bank is giving illegal aliens home mortgages to help them realize the American dream. Its Casa Mia program is designed to help tax-paying immigrants "without traditional forms of documentation" -- like anything indicating they are Americans. Remedios Gomez Arnau, consul general of Mexico in Atlanta, is working closely with the massive Alabama-based bank "to ensure the accurate identification of Mexican immigrants."
New South describes itself as Alabama's largest thrift with $1.4 billion in assets. It has residential mortgage loan offices in 13 states and services home loans in 30 more, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands. If enough illegals apply, New South plans to offer Casa Mia mortgages in Atlanta, Phoenix and Houston "in the near future."
Unless, that is, the bank officers are arrested for helping to harbor illegal aliens.
"What this bank is doing is a clear violation of the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act," said Craig Nelsen, executive director of Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement. FILE describes itself as an association of legal and legislative volunteers working on behalf of Americans to ensure that immigration law is being enforced. It is a felony to encourage an alien to reside in the United States, knowing that such residence is in violation of the law, Nelsen stated in a letter to New South. It is hard to imagine almost any court taking seriously a claim that helping an illegal alien buy a house to live in -- a house situated inside the United States -- isn't encouraging the illegal alien to reside illegally in America, he added.
The Friends of Immigration Law Enforcement is threatening to use the Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) to file a civil damages lawsuit against the bank.
The New South online Uniform Residential Loan Application states in the acknowledgement and agreement section that "the property will not be used for any illegal or prohibited purpose or use ... ."
Presumably, that would include harboring illegal aliens in an Alabama casa.
If enough illegals apply, New South plans to create a huge loan loss reserve on its books offer Casa Mia mortgages in Atlanta, Phoenix and Houston "in the near future."
#2
I wonder what these people will do when all these 'law abiding' people start to default on their loans?
Cry to the FDIC?
By definition these are not 'law abiding' people. If they can't wait and follow the established procedure to immigrate legally what makes you think they will pay off a long term mortgage?
#3
I'd not want to be in on the next audit by FDIC.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/29/2005 10:27 Comments ||
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#4
Remedios Gomez Arnau, consul general of Mexico in Atlanta, is working closely with the massive Alabama-based bank "to ensure the accurate identification of Mexican immigrants."
Said Senor Arnau: "We are excited to see a loan product specifically aimed at helping Mexican immigrants."
Translation: We are providing illegal aliens with legal identification in a direct violation of U.S. Federal Law.
Sorry but these are not immigrants - they have not been granted immigration status and are here in violation of federal law.
#5
Somebody has to cover the losses of such a plan. Illegal aliens often do seasonal work and often from city to city. Defaults are virtually guaranteed. The housing market is hot now, but what about when it's not?
Who is going to pay for the inevitable losses?
Who will it be?
Probably you and me. And then they will just whine that they are entitled to it because they work hard. As if everyone else doesn't.
#8
I had a thought last nite...rather than calling them "Illegal immigrants" or "Illegal aliens," why don't we just call them what they are: "Mexican citizens"
As in "increased health care benefits for citizens of Mexico", "better housing for citizens of El Salvador" "In state tuition rates for Guatemalan citizens"
#10
What did I miss? The headline says Pittsburgh but the story talks about an Alabama bank.
Although the story was in a Pittsburgh paper the headline looks wrong.
#11
Seafurious, The problem is not all of them are mexican and people will claim 'Racism!' (of course they will anyway....).
Also some Mexican citizens are here legally (Permanent Residents, Temporary Visa). My wife is a Philippine citizen (also a Permanent Resident to the U.S.). I dont know if we want to give any cause for the pro-illegal-alien sector to blur the lines by claiming we don't want these services for Permanent Residents or Legal visa holders. Lets be very clear that we are targetting illegal aliens.
I dont care if they are from Mexico, Peru, Canada, China, Pluto, or the ninth plane of hell - if they are not here legally they are illegal aliens - with the stress on ILLEGAL.
#12
cf..I still think sea's point is valid. Your wife is a permanent resident. Others are legal visa holders.
But some are just plain citizens of another country, with no extra titles. Should we provide free tution for citizens of another country? Should we provide free health care for citizens of another country? Sure, they pay taxes here, but if I pay taxes in another country, should that afford me all rights and privileges of citizenship of that country? All points for discussion - but the bottom line is they have no rights and no status as us citizens. They are citizens of another country. Period.
#13
2b, Seafurious does have a point. However, as you know, the oppoisition thrives on blurring the lines between legal immigrant and illegal alien.
Calling them 'Immigrants' is one way, "Undocumented Worker" is another. They will call them anything - including Martian Citizens in order to 'omit' their illegal status.
Claiming that we are trying to deny benefits to people who are 'non-citizens' would be a feather in their hat. Do you think Peter Jennings or Chris Matthews will make the distinction between legal residents and illegal aliens? They will take a story about an illegal alien being denied a mortgage and report it as being denied because they are not american citizens. (Omitting the fact that they are illegal aliens).
I just think we should stay on-target and stress the fact that these people are illegal.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 06:50 ||
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#1
It seems strange to be putting criminals back on the streets. But I guess it's expensive keeping them in prison. And if the Wall gets finished soon, getting those scum back will be more of a burden to the Paleos than the Israelis.
Posted by: Sheik Abu Bin Ali Al-Yahood ||
05/29/2005 15:55 Comments ||
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Hundreds of British soldiers are to be sent to fight the Taliban in their heartland of southern Afghanistan under plans drawn up by military chiefs to bolster the authority of President Hamid Karzai's fledgling government. At least 1,000 soldiers will be deployed to help restore order across five of Afghanistan's most lawless provinces as part of an expansion of Nato operations.
The provinces include Uruzgan, home of Taliban leader Mullah Omar, and Kandahar, the former Taliban stronghold. The area is where resistance to the West and the government in Kabul remains a threat and where only last weekend a US soldier was killed and three injured in a Taliban attack.
The deployment, which will take place next spring, will mark a significant extension of Britain's role in Afghanistan and prompt concerns over the level of UK military commitments overseas, especially while the conflict in Iraq continues. So far British troops have been deployed principally in the capital, Kabul, and in the largely peaceful northern cities of Mazar-e-Sharif and Meymaneh. The south, by contrast, has remained largely beyond the control of Karzai's government and has been patrolled only sporadically by US troops seeking Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants. There have been a number of clashes, leading to American fatalities, as well as attacks on aid workers, who now regard much of the region as a 'no-go' area.
Although an official announcement of the plan to send British troops to the south has yet to be made, Colonel James Denny, commander of British forces in Afghanistan, told The Observer that a decision would be announced next month. He said the move would require British troops to engage in 'peace-enforcing rather than peace-keeping'. 'We are looking at a series of options,' Denny said at the British headquarters in Kabul. 'We are looking at moving into the southern region - Nimruz, Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul provinces. The threat from the Taliban and al-Qaeda is higher there than in the north, so we may have to change our rules of engagement - to move to a more aggressive posture.'
Denny said the provinces posed numerous challenges. There is only one metalled road, communications were difficult and the heat in the summer was more intense than in the north. The area is populated largely by Pashtun tribes - the Taliban's principal supporters - whose beliefs, codes of honour and general way of life differ significantly from those of the population in the areas where British troops operate now. 'It's going to be challenging and an interesting environment, but it is certainly possible to achieve success,' he added. 'We've achieved success in the north and there's no reason why we shouldn't be successful in the south.'
Denny also warned that there was no swift exit for Britain from Afghanistan, despite last year's election of Karzai and the growing capabilities of the Afghan forces. 'Afghanistan has a history as being difficult to govern. There has always been a degree of lawlessness, not just for the past 30 years but for 300 or 400 years. What we have to do is to build the capability of the Afghan forces to deal with that and allow Nato and coalition forces to withdraw. It could be a generation,' he said.
Colonel Huw Lawford, a British officer working for Nato, said the coming mission would be vital: 'You will not be going out in Land Rovers, you will be going out in armed Warrior vehicles, and you will not be walking around in a beret, you will be going out in a tin hat, with a rifle and body armour.'
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Very sporting, the Brits. Nine months notice, plus- nobody could complain about that. "How about Nimruz in March for you chaps? Shall we say March-for-April? Lovely. See you then."
He was the urbane, English-speaking deputy to Saddam Hussein, the bespectacled face of the former Iraqi dictator's regime, at home on the international stage. Yet nothing had been heard or seen from Tariq Aziz since he surrendered to US forces on 24 April, 2003, as Iraq crumbled around him. Today The Observer publishes several letters from the former cigar-smoking Deputy Prime Minister handwritten from Camp Cropper prison in Baghdad. Aziz scribbled these notes on pages from his lawyer's diary who was with him when he was questioned recently by the CIA and US politicians. Two are in Arabic, the other three in English and addressed to: 'The world public opinion.' Aziz pleads for international help to end his 'dire situation'. He claims he is innocent and is being held unjustly without being allowed contact with his family. One letter reveals questions he had been asked about which politicians benefited from the controversial UN oil-for-food programme.
Although Aziz supporters claim he is a 'political prisoner' who did his best to restrain Saddam, his opponents have little sympathy. They describe him as the dictator's henchman who also bears personal responsibility for crimes committed by the Baathist regime, such as the gassing of Kurds at Halabja.
Aziz's letters are another remarkable snapshot into how Iraqi's former political elite are being held. This month the Sun published photographs of Saddam in his underpants in his Camp Cropper cell and The Observer revealed how prisoners are kept mostly in solitary confinement in tiny cells with no natural daylight. The most recent letters by Aziz were written on 21 April, when he was being interviewed by US senators investigating allegations of corruption surrounding the oil-for-food programme, which allowed Saddam to sell oil in exchange for humanitarian goods and services. Writing in Arabic, Aziz says: 'We are totally isolated from the world. There are 13 other detainees here, but we have no meetings or telephone contacts wth our families. I have been accused unjustly, but to date no proper investigation has taken place. It is imperative that there is intervention into our dire situation and treatment. It is totally in contradiction to international law, the Geneva Convention and Iraqi law as we know it.'
That's right, plead for your life under Iraqi law. Just like the 400,000 plus who were buried in mass graves.
In a letter dated 7 March and written in English, Aziz states: 'We hope that you will help us. We have been in prison for a long time and we have been cut from our families. No contacts, no phones, no letters. Even the parcels sent to us by our families are not given to us. We need a fair treatment, a fair investigation and finally a fair trial. Please help us.' In another letter, written in Arabic and English, he says: 'I haven't been accused of anything,' and 'I have not done anything contrary to law and human behaviour.'
Speaking from Jordan, his son, Ziad Aziz, who was jailed by Saddam, has defended his father's role as the former dictator's deputy, claiming that he was only following orders and would have been killed if he disagreed. 'My father is now in poor health and should be brought to trial or relased,' he added.
How about we bring him to trial and then lock him up like Rudolf Hess? You can have the body when he's dead.
Aziz - the only Christian in Saddam's government - was 43rd in the US 'most wanted' set of 55 playing cards and not considered to be a member of the innermost circle, dominated by the Tikriti clan. However, according to Indict, the committee seeking to prosecute the Iraqi leadership, he was a member of Saddam's Revolutionary Command Council and is therefore complicit in genocide and war crimes against Iran, Kuwait and his own Iraqi people. An Iraqi tribunal has also implicated him in the 1988 gas attack on Kurds in Halabja. There have been unsubstantiated reports that Aziz will be a star witness in any trial of Saddam, providing crucial evidence that Saddam was personally responsible for war crimes.
One of Aziz's roles was as the principal contact for foreign individuals involved in the oil-for-food programme which has been dogged by allegations of corruption. Saddam offered favoured people allocations of oil which they could sell for huge profits. In return, the former Iraqi leader took illegal kickbacks that helped fund his regime. In a note scribbled on his lawyer's diary, Aziz says: 'I was asked if I had recommended giving money or oil to President Chirac [of France], or Petros Gali [former UN general secretary Boutros Boutros-Ghali], Ekius [UN weapons inspector Rolf Ekeus]. My answer is NO. The same to President Megawati [Sukarnoputri of Indonesia]. NO.' Chirac, Boutros-Ghali and Megawati have previously strenuously denied receiving any oil allocations. Ekeus, the Swede who led the UN's efforts to track down WMD from 1991 to 1997, has claimed he was offered a $2 million bribe from Aziz to doctor his reports, but turned it down.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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#2
After WW11 the Nuremberg trials started within 6 months. What's becoming clear in Iraq is that although an illegal invasion was initiated on false intelligence, thanks mainly to Tel Aviv, there's not actually enough evidence to bring Saddam, Aziz etc to trial.
#3
there's not actually enough evidence to bring Saddam, Aziz etc to trial. If 400,000 victims is not enough. Care to suggest a number that would constitute enough? One million? Two million?
#5
Lol! That's, um, fascinating, GE. Are you even remotely connected to reality? Got any relatives on the outside? Just wondering whom we should call when you need changing. Given the post, a "download" is likely imminent. Think of it as a RB courtesy.
#8
claiming that he was only following orders and would have been killed if he disagreed
Tariq's son isn't helping him any.
If his boy was a better student of history he would know that many a Nazi was propelled to the hangmans noose by that easy lie.
#11
Aziz ought to be the very first on the gallows. His westernized, rational appearance was a key factor in keeping Saddam in power. As someone said of one of the Nazis, he is a man "whose honor in dishonor rooted stood."
As for his current living arrnagements, cry me a river. While ordinary Iraqis lived in squalor, Aziz lived in palace earned by doing his master's bidding.
Posted by: Matt ||
05/29/2005 10:35 Comments ||
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#12
My Friends, There is no reason to doubt the word of GE, Alan be with him. Further more, my dear friend Tarky is completely innocent. All he did was oversee the production rates of the baby milk factories and baby duck incubaters."
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
05/29/2005 10:52 Comments ||
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#13
Aziz scribbled these notes on pages from his lawyer's diary who was with him when he was questioned recently by the CIA and US politicians.
I don't get it.How can a prisoner like Aziz communicate with the "outside" through his lawyers with CIA and US politicians present?
#19
One of the many world-views I have had ripped from me since the beginning of this war is any respect for (a) the UN, (b) Amnesty International, (c) MSM, (d) the BBC and (e) the Red Thingy.
I care not a jot about those 'institutions'.
As for Aziz, he's been alive a lot longer than the poor sods he and his overlord killed without a moments thought. Bastard - die already.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
05/29/2005 16:01 Comments ||
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#20
#18 TGA - No problem.
Put them in there too. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/29/2005 19:27 Comments ||
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#21
Why should the Red Cross, et al, complain about TGA's suggested bunking arrangement? These are, after all, comrades in arms, fellow servants of the same government, colleagues of many, many years. It is only right that they be given some private time to commiserate and bolster one another's emotional strength at such a trying time in their lives.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan yesterday urged immediate action to end the Darfur crisis in Sudan after hearing accounts of destruction and abuse during a visit which he described as "heart-wrenching". On the second day of his tour of Sudan, Annan was confronted with the devastation caused by more than two years of fighting between ethnic minority rebels and government forces. He kicked off his trip to the western Sudanese region with a visit to Kalma, Darfur's largest camp for displaced people, where he listened to tribal leaders' accounts of human rights violations. Annan then went to Labado, a town which was largely destroyed in the fighting last year and where thousands of returned residents greeted him with desperate calls for relief and protection.
"Heart-wrenching," Annan piously told reporters in Khartoum, upon returning from his whirlwind tour of Darfur. "Obviously, everybody says it's better than it was last year but this is not a situation that can be acceptable for long," he said. "We do not want to see a situation where they (the displaced) are in camps for years and years and years... So it is very urgent that we take the right steps and ensure we get them back to their villages."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Annan's pious blather really pisses me off. What planet has he lived on for the last 18 months.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
I trust the money will be properly allotted for needy development, with strict auditing and proper oversight from the Canuks. Not a single loon for PA bank accounts and nothing either for international propaganda and domestic incitement to hatred and violence. And not one penny for bomb belts, homemade rockets or purchasing weapons. Ohhhh sure, eh?
Posted by: John in Tokyo ||
05/29/2005 1:31 Comments ||
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#2
Why John, you seem ... skeptical.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2005 2:34 Comments ||
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#3
All the beaver pelts, maple syrup, and fiddleheads the Paleos can handle.
#5
With any luck this will be another "Canadian Pledge". Just like the Pledge of millions to Tsunami relief,and actual delivery of about $250,000.
Posted by: Stephen ||
05/29/2005 3:31 Comments ||
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#6
STW,Seafarious,
Lord Stanley's Cup has been resting quite nicely in Tampa for 2 yrs and counting ;)
(I'd finish by saying GO Lightning!,but they've already gone. Nothing like an unpaid yrs vacation.)
Posted by: Stephen ||
05/29/2005 3:36 Comments ||
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#7
Florida and hockey...now that's just wroooong!!
Posted by: Rafael ||
05/29/2005 15:16 Comments ||
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#8
Oddly enough St. Pete and Tampa can't seem to figure out baseball, a sport that was designed for them.
Prime Minister Ebrahim Al Jaafari, announcing plans for a massive police presence in and around the capital, acknowledged that "you can't fix in six months what it took 35 years to destroy."
And which wasn't all that well-made when Sammy took over...
As outlined on Thursday by Al Jaafari, the plan originally called for closing all of Baghdad's entrances to arrest the insurgents responsible for killing of hundreds of Iraqis during the last month. But, he explained to a small group of Western reporters, it had to be changed after the discovery that insurgents had car bomb factories in downtown Baghdad. "This was based on the assumption that car bombs were loaded outside of Baghdad. Then we recently discovered factories inside Baghdad, and that cars can be assembled in about one hour," Al Jaafari explained.
Al Jaafari said the discovery forced a much larger plan than just setting up checkpoints along the city's 23 entry points. Leaning forward as he sat in a heavily guarded building inside Baghdad's fortified Green Zone, Al Jaafari said the discovery also had a silver lining. "I make particular reference to this one factory that had this capacity because we found it based on a tip. Tips are increasing and they are significant," he said. Since the government was announced on April 28, insurgents have killed more than 620 people; 91 car bombings have killed at least 291 of that number and wounded another 800, according to a count by the agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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Dozens of journalists and activists on Saturday accused Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party and security apparatus of sending thugs to assault protesters and reporters — especially women — during a referendum on election reform.
Comes as a surprise, huh?
Women were beaten and sexually harassed during Wednesday's referendum, and some said they filed complaints with Egypt's Interior Minister and Cairo's police chief. Egypt's Information Ministry said late Saturday that it lamented two incidents in which reporters were hurt when they were caught between groups of fighting protesters. The ministry accused the protesters of trying to mar the balloting despite a ban on demonstrations. The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights said it filed a complaint with Egypt's Prosecutor-General Maher Abdel Wahed, asking him to hear testimony from reporters who said they were attacked while covering the protests. The group provided names of eight journalists it said had been attacked by security men, including a woman who said she was beaten up as police watched. The rights group is urging the prosecutor to bring the alleged culprits to court.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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NWFP Governor Khalilur Rehman on Saturday appealed to North Waziristan tribesmen to support the government against foreign militants, and called for placing checks on youth crossing into Afghanistan for terrorist attacks.
Thereby verifying our opinion of who most of the "Taliban" are...
Pshaw, they're just kids having too good a time ...
Addressing a jirga of Utmanzai and Daur tribes during his maiden visit to Miranshah, regional headquarters of North Waziristan, the governor said: "Providing shelter to foreign terrorists is against the country's interests." Khalil said that opposing or sheltering foreign militants was a choice between development and destruction. "The current situation can benefit or damage us. The situation can become dangerous if we continue cooperating with unwanted elements across the border," he said. "The situation in the world is rapidly changing and foes are becoming friends. We must also recognise the need for peace," Khalil said, adding that the Tribal Areas needed peace for progress and development.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani has stressed the use of information technology to counter anti-Islam propaganda in the West and announced that the controversial Hasbah Bill was near presentation. "We should use the technology to show the real face of Islam," Durrani said at the inauguration of a two-day exhibition on information technology in Peshawar.
Egg jelly, I think most of us really are getting our picture of the real face of Islam using that technology...
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal government would make Peshawar Pakistan's Bangalore, said Mr Durrani, without elaborating how exactly the religious alliance planned to achieve this. He said that his government would leave no stone unturned in order to produce the Taliban of information technology.
Pardon me. My head just spun around 360 degrees and I'm a little dizzy now...
"The Hasbah Bill will protect women's rights," he claimed and disclosed that under the proposed law, a husband could be punished if he divorced his wife against Islamic teachings. Similarly, the Hasbah Bill would protect women's inheritance rights. Durrani said that the Hasbah Bill would also protect animals' rights.
"Cures neuritis, neuralgia, spavins, galls, and ladies' complaints..."
Notice how they put womens' rights and animal rights in the same bill ...
He brushed aside civil society and opposition parties' objections, saying they had criticised the bill for purporting to introduce Taliban-style vice and virtue department to promote a selective interpretation of Islam.
"Pshaw! Nothin' to worry about there! Youse know youse can trust us!"
Earlier, exhibition organiser Zafarullah Khan said that the aim of the event was to tell the world that the NWFP did not necessarily mean the Taliban and that the people in the province had the potential to excel in information technology. "We want to change the world's perception about Pushtoons," he added.
I don't think I've ever seen anybody write a computer program while wearing a turban with an AK slung over his shoulder. For one thing you need to be able to follow the if... then... else... style of logic.
I don't think the Islamic version of C+ has 'cause' and 'effect' commands ...
We could start with the idea of encapsulation .....
He asked the provincial government to contribute land for the proposed IT city. "We want to make Peshawar the hub of IT technology," he declared.
I'm feeling faint. I think that vein just popped in my temple...
Singapore-based E-Commerce Gateway President Khursheed Nizam also spoke at the occasion and offered his organisation's support for NWFP's cause.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Perhaps they can adapt this WoT Sim template, heh...
option explicit
dim intMcnt,intMuzzy
dim intFcnt,intFunds
dim blnInsane,sngBombBux,intFoolCnt,intF
do_jihad intF,sngBombBux,intFoolCnt ' Attack and adjust figures
if sngBombBux =< 0 then ' Out of cash? (allow deficit)
intFunds = intFunds + 1 ' next funding source
if intFunds > intFcnt then ' no more sources? ur f**ked
blnInsane = False ' end the insanity
else
sngBombBux = sngBombBux + BigRed_Bank(intFunds)
end if
end if
if IntFoolCnt = 0 then ' Out of fodder?
intMuzzy = intMuzzy + 1 ' next fool source
if intMuzzy > intMcnt then ' no more sources? ur f**cked
blnInsane = False ' end the insanity
else
intFoolCnt = Muzzy_Pop(intMuzzy)
end if
end if
loop while blnInsane ' Until no longer insane
end
function Muzzy_Pop(idiotocracy)
select case idiotocracy
case 1 ' Pool of frustrated Saudi Fools
Muzzy_Pop = 2000000
case 2 ' Pool of Indo Fools
Muzzy_Pop = 1000000
case 3 ' Pool of Paki Fools
Muzzy_Pop = 2000000
case 4 ' Pool of Malay Fools
Muzzy_Pop = 100000
case 5 ' Pool of Iranian Fools
Muzzy_Pop = 10000
case 6 ' Pool of Euro-grown Fools
Muzzy_Pop = 500000
end select
end function
function BigRed_Bank(asshatsource)
select case asshatsource
case 1 ' Saddam's Syrian Cash
BigRed_Bank = 1000000000
case 2 ' Muzzy Charities
BigRed_Bank = 100000000
case 3 ' Saudi Royals
BigRed_Bank = 1000000000
case 4 ' Mad Mullahs
BigRed_Bank = 19.95
end select
end function
sub do_jihad(fac,bucks,fools)
'*********************************
'* Proprietary, Lol!
'* Rummy's Rules
'*********************************
end sub
#2
I think they should get George Soros to fund their project. Obviously, if no one is listening to their ideas, it must be because they're not talking LOUD ENOUGH. Has nothing to do with the actual content of the ideas. Turn up the volume, baby. Clap onâ¢!
sub runhometomommy {
$saying="Allahu Akbar!";
$thinking="How will I splain those years on a resume?";
$doing="Press conference at the UN";
if ($acceptable eq "Yes"){
end();}
}
sub blamebush {
$saying="Allahu Akbar! Bush is a murdering infidel!";
$thinking="How will I splain those years on a resume?";
$doing="Press conference at the Nation magazine";
if ($acceptable eq "Yes"){
end();}
}
sub blameamerica {
$saying="Allahu Akbar! Bush is a murdering infidel! America will be destroyed by Allah!!";
$thinking="How will I splain those years on a resume?";
$doing="Press conference at the DNC";
if ($acceptable eq "Yes"){
end();}
}
sub getarealjob {
$saying="Yes, sir and no sir";
$thinking="How will I splain those years on a resume?";
$doing="Press conference at the Moveon.org";
}
#4
Much as I hate to break into the programming jokes, there are a lot of good Arab blogs out there. I particularly like The Rantings of a SandMonkey. An Arab Libertarian no less!
#6
Good code. However, I have issues, .com, with case statements that don't handle the default case.
I think the code pieces come up a bit short, though: I think the situation mirrors the classical Readers and writers/consumers-producers problem, where consumers==>terrorists, and producers==>terrorist financiers. These run in parallel, in separate threads, with an Osama thread acting as a task monitor to spawn new consumer threads when the running ones are, ahem, terminated. The iranian code is unique, incorporating elements of all three.
This code design is pretty resilient when tested against the design basis threat: Traditional law enforcement methods used on 9/10/01 which can only terminate consumer threads. The Osama/Iran monitor thread just respawns a new consumer/terrorist thread, and the game continues.
Consumer threads are very light weight and easy to spawn. Producer threads are lots harder to create, since they provide oodles of cash which they are not capable of generating on their own. They had to rely on western know-how and western thirst for oil to generate all that cash.
Now, if they had BRAINS, then they COULD start honest companies and generate all that cash on their own and get a REAL sense of self-respect, but a culture that easily generates legions of suicide bombers is a culture that comes up kinda short in the brains department.
Now, in the land of imbeciles, the Idiot is king: Osama's genius is that he wrote the program and stuck in the monitor task (himself). That separated the producers from the consumers, and given the design threat, gives the (hard to replace) producer threads assurance that they can't be traced: If you've got dough to finance the Jihad, you've got enough dough to enjoy life, and you WILL want to enjoy it. THAT part of the design has worked perfectly: we are STILL giving aid and comfort and good will to the Saudis.
The MSM and the lefist idiotarians continue to insist that all we need to do is terminate the consumer threads: Ya gotta hand it to Osama, he may hate our culture, but he READ the LEFTIES correctly.
His mistake? We've not only got more BRAINS than he does, but he got snookered believing the MSM trash that Bush doesn't HAVE brains. We figured out the design, realized law enforcement wasn't going to work IN ISOLATION, and terminated the Osama monitor thread first. THAT thread is the most un-re-spawnable, the Taliban knew it, and were willing to kiss their kingdom away and go down fighting to prevent that termination.
Monitor thread termination's nearly done. It's a bit harder with the producers, but we're making progress. Crappy progress, but progress none-the-less.
The issue with Z (a rotting corpse he soon will be, God willing), is that he's a micro-monitor thread running in Iraq: He's spawing new consumers, and is the key to connect producers to consumers. The public declaration that he represents Al-Q in Iraq is the last gasp of the Osama monitor thread signalling to the producers who to link up with and feed cash to.
The loss of his laptop is not just an intelligence bonanza: It probably had the ONLY LIST of producers, and if he's as bad off as we hope, he's in no condition to remember the entire list from memory. The consumers are too dumb to figure out from whom to get their cash to continue operating, and the clever producers will be too jumpy and antsy to trust anyone.
#7
Some showed their version (of Isam on 9/11). We're talking about a substantial part of the world here ... let's HOPE that the militant, fundamentalist strain can be suppressed and a moderate form emerges. Because otherwise the bloodbath will be horrific.
#8
Prediction: if Z dies without naming a successor, or if a message from Bin Laden does not name a successor in Iraq, there will be an INCREASE, not a DECREASE, in terrorist attacks. The producers/financiers need two assurances: that their money is being spent on the Jihad and not on lap dances, and that the money will NOT be traced back to them. Osama understood the second, but there is evidence that the consumers ONLY understand the first, and not the second, assurance. Thus, they will feel that they need to establish their "street creds", the same way the Palestinian terror orgs did, so that producers will invest in THEM, and not someone else. Like the paleos, they will use the same method, but the score will be kept using the blood of Americans and Iraquis, not Israelis.
A bright spot: the lull in attacks immediately after the Iraqui election was not due to confusion on the part of the terrorists (consumers), but hesitation on the part of their financial supporters (producers). I think the population of producers shifted somewhat during that time, and that Z wasn't in Iraq during that time, but out on the fund-raising circuit trying to re-establish new sources of funding: One supporter would say, "Because of the election, I'm not supporting you now, BUT I KNOW SOMEONE WHO WILL." Given that nobody knows what Z looks like (including his producers), two months to link up with new supporters based on referrals from old supporters seems logical. The lull was either caused by Z not being in the field, and his commanders not wanting to act without orders, or due to an interruption of the cash flow from supporters having second thoughts after the election. (The possiblity of old supporters getting weak knees, then seeing the usual Arab incompetence plaguing the Iraquis, may have re-emboldened them.) The plus on this take is that the War on Terror can come to a grinding halt a lot faster than we could imagine if we REALLY went after the supporters producers.
#9
This is a great thread, esoteric though to non-programmers, but gets to the heart of the matter. There will always be fodder. The ME has seen to that for decades. The fodder by and large are a lost generation which have been destroyed by the teaching and propagandizing of the imams.
The pisser of the whole situation is that the West (as well as other parts of south and southeast Asia) is financing its own attacks on itself through oil money funneled to the fodder by wealthy individuals (read Saudis). The answer is obvious, the will is not there yet to be a hammer and less a negotiator and pursuader. Nobody talks about the Saudi connection except Rantburgers and other bloggers and blogees.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/29/2005 13:32 Comments ||
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#10
Gee, it's just the typical adventure game loop, with the fodder and cash tossed in. ;-)
Mufti Kifayatullah, provincial spokesman for the ruling Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), on Saturday said that statements made by Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) leaders against the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman, might endanger the unity of the six-party religious alliance. "(Senator) Prof Ibrahim, JI's former provincial ameer, is neither a provincial nor a central leader of the MMA and, thus, he has no right to issue statements against Maulana Fazlur Rehman. If he persists with such behaviour in the future, JUI-F leaders will not remain silent," he told reporters at a press conference.
He said that silently, of course...
The war of words between JI and JUI-F began over JUI-F's support to Fazlur Rehman and NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani's participation in the National Security Council (NSC). Except for JI, all parties in the alliance supported their presence in the NSC.
Qazi wasn't invited, y'see...
Kifayatullah, a JUI-F activist, said that being the biggest party in the MMA, JUI-F always backed leaders of smaller parties to head the alliance, which was clear evidence that JUI-F was struggling for the alliance's unity. "Government is not our weakness. We are the followers of (late) Maulana Mufti Mehmood and we know how to leave the government," he said. If JI can ask for votes from PML-Q for Prof Ghafoor in the Senate elections, why is it objecting to Fazlur Rehman and Durrani's participation in the NSC?" he asked. "The JI leaders misunderstood us," he said, adding that Maulana Fazlur Rehman was "a great leader" and it did not suit Prof Ibrahim to issue statement against him.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD - Iran and Turkey are to increase power exports to Iraq, a Baghdad official said on Saturday, as government figures showed that electricity output in the country plagued by cuts has worsened since the US-led invasion two years ago. "Iran has agreed to raise electricity exports to Iraq from 90 megawatts a day to 150, while Turkey will increase them from 150 to 230," said deputy electricity minister Raad al-Haris.
The combined increases represent consumption by more than 100,000 homes and businesses in Iraq.
But Haris, who was speaking in the southern Iraqi city of Najaf, did not say when the increases would take effect. The official, who had earlier met Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, also relayed orders from the influential Shiite cleric telling his followers to save power as regional temperatures begin to soar. "Sistani issued a clear fatwa (religious decree) that people should save electricity and not attack the power infrastructures," the official said.
He added that work was being carried out on power plants and other installations in southern Baghdad, and the Shiite-dominated cities of Basra, Samawa, Amara and Nasiriyah to provide more electricity.
Iraqis have suffered from serious power shortages since UN-imposed sanctions followed then-president Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in August 1990. According to a recent study by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), three quarters of Iraqi homes suffer power cuts, in particular around Baghdad where the figure climbs to 92 percent of the area's 1.1 million households.
Nationwide, electricity is available for roughly 8.8 hours per day according to estimates by the Washington-based Brookings Institution. In response, 29 percent of Iraqi households own or share a private power generator, with urban figures rising to 32 percent and rural ones at 19 percent, UNDP data showed.
Electricity ministry figures put current daily electricity production around 3,300 megawatts, compared with 5,000 before US-led forces invaded the country in March 2003. Before the 1991 Gulf war, Iraq produced around 9,500 megawatts per day. The authorities' current target is 6,000.
On Saturday, Haris held unnamed neighbouring countries partly responsible for the power shortages, saying: "Some neighbouring countries refuse to supply us with electricity." Insurgent attacks have also damaged the electricity grid across Iraq in addition to repeatedly hitting oil infrastructures that are the backbone of its power production.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/29/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
They won't let go of the 3,000 Mw/hr figure, it's been out of date for about a year.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
North Korea on Saturday criticized Washington's alliance with Seoul as a facade to cover up a U.S. plan to occupy South Korea by force. "The United States is pretending to be a protector of South Korea ... but it is definitely an aggressor, an occupier," said a spokesman at the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland. Washington has a "wicked intent to strengthen its colonial rule and militarist occupation of South Korea and to make South Korea a victim of the U.S. scheme to wage a war of aggression," the unidentified spokesman was quoted as saying by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency.
Leaving Islam can be hazardous. Apostasy is a capital crime in a number of Islamic countries. But even in elite conservative circles in the United States, there is a tendency to dismiss or at least ignore some important former Muslims who have a lot to teach us about their former faith, as we face an era in which religious war on the West has been declared by radical Islam. 
The 
As Lebanon prepares for what is being hailed as its first free vote in years, the powerful Shiite Muslim movement 
Lebanon's 
He was the urbane, English-speaking deputy to Saddam Hussein, the bespectacled face of the former Iraqi dictator's regime, at home on the international stage. Yet nothing had been heard or seen from 
UN Secretary-General 
Prime Minister 
Dozens of journalists and activists on Saturday accused Egyptian President 
NWFP Governor 
NWFP Chief Minister 
