WARSAW, Poland - The left-leaning government that has ruled Poland for just over a year collapsed Saturday after an emergency meeting between coalition partners broke down in a bitter dispute sparked by a new tax plan.
Prime Minister Leszek Miller said he will ask the president to dissolve the coalition and withdraw two Peasant Party ministers from the government.
He said his ex-communist Democratic Left Alliance party would try to rule as a minority government, seeking to revive the sagging economy if the divided parliament does not force him from office.
"I tried to prevent it," Miller said in a nationally televised address. "It turned out that the government cannot count on the support of the Peasant Party."
Until Saturday, the Peasant Party held the posts of deputy prime minister and the agriculture and environment ministries.
President Aleksander Kwasniewski, who has the power to form and dissolve governments, made no immediate comment.
It was not immediately known whether the opposition will call for a vote of no confidence. Miller's party holds 212 of the 460 seats in parliament.
Parliament speaker Marek Borowski, a member of the Democratic Left Alliance, warned that "if all parties try to paralyze the government's work, early elections will have to take place."
On Friday, the Democratic Left Alliance warned the coalition was in jeopardy because the Peasant Party rejected a new tax on cars to fund road construction and did not fully support Poland's bid to join the European Union.
An emergency meeting Saturday failed to resolve their differences, government spokesman Michal Tober said.
The meeting "confirmed that the continued functioning of the coalition with the Peasant Party would take place in the atmosphere of friction, bargaining and conflicts," Tober said.
Still, the breakdown in talks came as a surprise, as many expected Miller would seek to keep his government intact until a crucial referendum in June on entering the European Union.
Miller's government won elections on promises of returning Poland to prosperity. The government's popularity had declined amid record unemployment â now at a post-communist high of 19 percent â and a sagging economy.
Miller told the nation the government would not change its policies but continue to focus on economic growth, creating jobs and joining the EU. He said the cabinet would look for parliamentary support on these issues.
"I believe we will find such support," Miller said.
Among major parliamentary caucuses, only the leaders of the radical farmer Self-Defense party expressed interest Saturday in forming a coalition with the Democratic Left Alliance.
But Janina Paradowska, one of Poland's leading political commentators, indicated that the prime minister might be best advised to try to go it alone.
"Perhaps this government will be better off as a minority government," Paradowska said.
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
03/02/2003 11:32 pm ||
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President Pervez Musharraf said today that two top Islamic extremists released by courts in Pakistan had done nothing illegal. Musharraf, speaking to the Indian Hindi-language news channel Aaj Tak, said it was not justified to incarcerate the founders of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad, two of the most extreme groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir. "There was nothing illegal that they had done. You can't keep a man indefinitely under arrest without trial," Musharraf said. The two movements were banned by Musharraf in January 2002, a month after an attack on the Indian parliament which New Delhi blamed on the outfits. " Running an international terrorist organization isn't illegal in Pakistan. Good thing to keep in mind if you ever want to start one...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/02/2003 06:25 pm ||
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U.S. officials suspect that one of the other men arrested Saturday is Saif al Adel, a high-ranking member of al-Qaida also allegedly linked to the deadly blasts at the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya in August 1998. The whereabouts of Mohammed, the man who might be al Adel and a Pakistani man identified as Abdul Qadoos were unknown late Saturday. This is the article someone was referencing in comments, below. If it is Saif, it's a second occasion for ululation and gun sex...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/02/2003 05:37 pm ||
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I've got my AK at the ready to put some holes in the ceiling
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
03/02/2003 17:45 Comments ||
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Some analysts questioned whether Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had actually been arrested on Saturday and speculated he may have been held for some time. "I think he was arrested several months ago in the shootout in Karachi," one expert on Pakistan who declined to be identified said, referring to a gunbattle in September in the southern port city that netted another Al Qaeda figure, Ahmed Omar Abdel Rahman, known as Ramzi Bin al-shibh. I don't care. Do you care? As far as I concerned, they nabbed him yesterday...
Mohammed was reported to have narrowly evaded capture in that battle, when Karachi police identified him as a man hit by a police sniper. But a suspected militant later denied this. Another terror expert said several weeks ago he believed Mohammed had been arrested and that he expected the news would be only be made public when it was in the interests of the United States and Pakistan. Woulda been in the interests of the USA and Pakland the day they caught him. That's why I think he was nabbed yesterday...
The first analyst said the arrest could make Islamic militants even more wary of the Pakistani Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) that they had considered an ally when the country was backing the Taliban in Afghanistan before September 11. "Those who think they have ISI protection will stop feeling that comfort level," he said. Heh heh. Ain't it terrible when that happens?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/02/2003 08:55 pm ||
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#1
Woulda been in the interests of the USA and Pakland the day they caught him. That's why I think he was nabbed yesterday...
Depends on how much giggle juice they had on hand, and whether they could borrow a bagpipe player from the Royal Highander Regiment. Might have been better to have him blab for a while, and then announce it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/02/2003 20:38 Comments ||
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"Might have been better to have him blab for a while, and then announce it." Would have been smart to do it that way. Who knows, who cares?
#4
I think they wouldn't have announced his capture immediately. Doing that would tell all of the lackies that he could finger that they weren't safe any more, and that they'd better head for the hills. But if they kept his capture secret, at least some of them wouldn't know they were in trouble, until it was too late.
Posted by: Ben ||
03/03/2003 0:36 Comments ||
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Yes, SHOCKED!
The sister of a Pakistani arrested in a swoop that authorities say also netted the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks has said he was the only man present at the time of the raid and had no ties to any extremist group. If there was nobody there but him, how'd they catch anybody but him?
Pakistani authorities said on Saturday local time they had arrested three Al Qaeda suspects in an early morning raid on a house in the city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad. Those held included Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and 41-year-old Pakistani Ahmed Quddus, they said. An intelligence source said the third man was an Egyptian national, but gave no details. You don't suppose it was Ayman, do you? I mean, they'd have told us, right?
However, members of Quddus's family said he was the only person arrested in a raid by 20 to 25 security men armed with Kalashnikov rifles on their house in Westridge, a middle-class area of Rawalpindi at 22:30 GMT Friday. "That's right. It was all pretend..."
"My brother was the only man in the house when the raid took place," his sister Qudsia Khanum said. "He was taken away while his wife and kids were herded into a room and locked in. They didn't even know when they took him... or where. My brother has never been involved in any bad things. "'Course, that depends on whether you consider killing infidels a bad thing..."
"Actually, he's a bit slow, he's not very clever, so I can't even begin to imagine that he could be involved with any terrorist organisation. "They used to call him Captain Dummschitz in school. I can't imagine how he's risen to his present position in life. I mean, he's really not much smarter than broccoli..."
"He does not have any links with any terrorist organisation. "Except for JI, of course. But that can't be a terrorist organization, because somebody will kill you if you say it is..."
"They're saying such strange things about him in the press. He's been living in the neighbourhood for 15 years and everyone knows him to be a placid person," she said. "He's kind of like a potato, only with feet."
Ms Qudsia said her mother was a district administrator of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan's largest Islamic political party, and her father a retired microbiologist who used to work for the United Nations and had lived abroad. She said he was in Lahore for a wedding at the time of the raid. "I rushed right home as soon as I got the news. I missed the shootout and the part where the bride was beaten up for the first time. I was really quite disappointed."
"He's a heart patient so we had to break the news gently to him," she said. "Mom! Where's the defibrillator?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/02/2003 02:13 pm ||
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Fred---your comments cracked me up!. "...he's really not much smarter than broccoli..." is a keeper.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/02/2003 15:12 Comments ||
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I've gotta agree with Paul - one of your best ;-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/02/2003 15:30 Comments ||
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Isnât it odd that these Pakistanis, become surprised about every matter. But they sure are clever and leave no chance for bashing America. How remarkable they have a FBIâs most wanted terrorists living with them under the same roof. Along with are their own kith and kin involved in same shady business and NOW one gets to read that the entire family is now aghasted , its taken them all out of surprise.
As per habit they donât leave chance to America bashing and start all over again , forgetting the fact they were earning their livelihoods raising their families in the US in a more respectable manner than they could have done in their own country. They have the cheek to indulge in socking American policies. If US is all bad what were they doing here in the first place. It can be said for a majority of Pakistanis that there sympathies lie with Osamas, Saddams, and Saudis of their world.
The law enforcing agencies, police and rangers Saturday arrested seven including three Arabic speaking men on the information of arrested Zulfiqar Ali who attacked US consulate yesterday [killing] two police officers and injuring other six. "In a joint operation of the law enforcing agencies, Police and Rangers, three men of Arab origin have been booked when a house at Maripur locality was raided on the information of Zulfiqar Ali," the police chief of Karachi told the reporters. "Hey, Ahmed! Look what happens when I hit him here!"
"Pretty neat, Mahmoud. Lemme see that again!"
His father, two brothers and a prayer leader of a mosque have been also arrested. FBI agents have been assisting Pakistani authorities in investigating Zulfiqar Ali and also participated in raiding the house of Arabs at Maripur besides confiscating computer disks, CPU and literature in Arabic language. Inspector General Police Syed Kamal Shah has said that the accused Zulfiqar Ali might be having backing of a terrorist group "and we are investigating on these lines." Or, it being Pakland, he could be just a freelance nutcake...
Meanwhile, Anti Terrorism Court judge Justice Shabbir Ahmed has sent the accused on a week long remand for investigation his firing on the US consulate and killing two police officials. Of the six injured in the picket firing, one is told breathing very hard in the hospital. Does that mean he's on life support? That'd be my guess...
Zulfiqar Ali according to the investigators, has said in his first statement that he wanted to punish the Pakistani Police officials who are providing security to the Americans, killers of innocent Muslims. "Killing innocent Muslims is my job, dammit!"
Zulfiqar Ali (30), a resident of Zakaria Colony, Multan believed of having affiliations with a banned Jehadi group, the police source informed. The accused is unmarried and traveled from Multan to Karachi some 14 years back for a job. He is a hardliner Muslim and told the investigators that he has been committed to fight against the American interests. He also shouted in favour of Iraq during investigation asking the investigators that every Muslim should support Iraq against America, an investigator said. A map of the US Consulate and a suicide note was also found from the attacker. What a sad specimen he is. My guess would be that there's nothing behind him. He sounds like a nut, with his nuttiness stoked by frequent attendance at Qazi's rallies...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/02/2003 09:15 am ||
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Tens of thousands of Islamic party activists have rallied in Karachi in Pakistan's biggest protest so far against a possible US attack on Iraq. Karachi police chief Tariq Jamil estimated the crowd at more than 100,000 while a spokesman for the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), which had vowed to bring one million people on to the streets, claimed half a million had already thronged the city's main boulevard. Still seems kind of anticlimactic after Khalid getting nabbed yesterday...
Protestors carried portraits of Osama bin Laden, chanted "Jihad" (holy war) and "no blood for oil" and burnt effigies of US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair. The participants, including a large number of women, shouted "the world says No to war" and "drop Bush, not bombs". That's why they call 'em jihadis. They known far and wide for their wit and their originality of thought...
Snaking two kilometres through the city centre, it was the biggest demonstration witnessed in Karachi since the US-led war that ousted the fundamentalist Taliban regime in Afghanistan in late 2001. Police have beefed up security by barricading roads, especially around the US consulate, where two police guards were shot dead by a lone assailant on Friday local time, and other diplomatic missions. Not that the two are connected, of course. And it was only coincidence that Khalid was nabbed at a JI thug's house...
Earlier, Pakistani tribesmen at an anti-US rally in the MMA-ruled North West Frontier Province (NWFP) threatened to target American interests if Iraq was invaded. Oooh. Is that a threat?
The rally in Jamrud town, some 10 kilometres west of the provincial capital Peshawar, was attended by about 3,500 ethnic Pashtuns living in the tribal belt bordering Afghanistan. The participants, some armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, torched a US flag and chanted slogans against war on Iraq. "If Americans attacked Iraq, we would be free to target America at any place," Malik Ismail, an elder of local Torkhel tribe told the gathering. So that means we're free to target you right be, right? Fair's fair...
"Iraq is the second important place for Muslims after Mecca," march organiser Hafiz Abdul Malik said, claiming Muslims would wage a Jihad against the US if it attacked Iraq. I thought the second important place was Paleostine? Make up your daggone mind...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/02/2003 08:37 am ||
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"About 100 members from Pakistan's minority Christian community also staged a rally in Peshawar on Sunday local time, calling on the US to resolve the Iraq crisis through dialogue."
Please don't kill me.
Posted by: Arthur Fleischman ||
03/02/2003 10:12 Comments ||
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Women?? They let them out? Or were they MBOs or is to BMOs?
#3
"Earlier, Pakistani tribesmen at an anti-US rally in the MMA-ruled North West Frontier Province (NWFP) threatened to target American interests if Iraq was invaded. "
I have a gunsight film from an AC-130 these schmucks need to watch...
Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz held talks with Iraq's number two Ezzat Ibrahim ahead of the Arab summit, the SPA news agency said yesterday. The two men canoodled "reviewed topics on the agenda of the summit", it added without providing details on the talks. Abdullah and Ibrahim met for the first time in 12 years at the Arab summit in Beirut last March, marking a thaw in relations frozen since Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990. Iraqi Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan said in August Baghdad was ready to kiss and make up restore relations with Saudi Arabia when Riyadh judges fit. Trade relations between the two have recently improved after a large Saudi business delegation visited Baghdad in October and the opening of the main border post between them at Arar in November. Just another move in the diplowar. I've lost track of who'd doing what to oppose which. I guess it's supposed to work that way.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/02/2003 06:02 pm ||
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Iraq's foreign minister called a United Arab Emirates Cabinet minister a "Zionist agent" and accused the Gulf state of speaking for Israel by making the first public call by an Arab country for Saddam Hussein to step down. "This is a paper that comes from (Israeli Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon," Iraqi Foreign Minister Naji Sabri told reporters Saturday in reaction to a letter United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan submitted to an Arab League summit proposing that Saddam step down to avert war. "This is a trivial paper and it found its way quickly to the garbage pail," Sabri said, according to AP. "There's not one honest Arab who will accept a message from Sharon to the summit." "If you could find an honest Arab at the summit, that is!"
Sabri took a personal swipe at Sheikh Zayed's son, Emirates Information Minister Sheik Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan. "This Zionist agent child called Abdullah Zayed, who spoke to the reporters, he spoke of matters over his head," Sabri said. Them's fight'n words in this neck of the woods.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/02/2003 02:02 pm ||
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Ah, sowing dissention in the ranks, are yeh? We will just have to see how Sheik Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan takes it. Maybe he and Sabri will have a duel with a couple of Afghan Bagram Fowling Pieces. Or maybe Sabri will be indisposed in the near future....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/02/2003 15:17 Comments ||
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Maybe he and Sabri will have a duel with a couple of Afghan Bagram Fowling Pieces.
That's the 250 mm fowling piece, right? I might pay to see that. I'd even let their seconds help the principals point the damned things.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/02/2003 20:43 Comments ||
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The Turkish Government has no immediate plans to submit another motion to Parliament on deploying US troops for a possible Iraq war, a ruling party official said, a day after MPs rejected a similar motion. "The motion has been postponed indefinitely, there is no motion in the foreseeable future," Eyup Fatsa, deputy chairman of the Justice and Development Party's parliamentary group, was quoted by the Anatolia news agency as saying. Okay. You've chosen which side you're on. Now we know.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/02/2003 08:50 am ||
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#1
How paranoid would it be to wonder if Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria cut a deal to divide up the NWFP amongst themselves? Sadaam knows he can't control it anyway, so it's no loss to him. I hope that's not even a remote possiblity.
#2
My guess would be it's a result of the Islamist control of parliament, coupled with assiduous lobbying by Iraq and probably the Soddies. I think they really did choose up sides here, and theat they expect to get paid by the eventual winners. They just don't expect the eventual winners to be us.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2003 9:18 Comments ||
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As a forefighter of democracy the American public should respect the voting, though I expected (as did the US government) that my country would follow as usually the US like a tail, I am quite happy that democracy did its job. I think there are lot of people looking at their nose right now to see that the generals in Turkey don't have the assumed power they thought to have. However I think also that the Bush administration will push our government for a second voting.
regards
Posted by: Murat ||
03/02/2003 10:27 Comments ||
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Fox News Sunday, Tony Snow interviewed Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Ks), who said Turkey would have another vote Tuesday(?). Possibly someone powerful, and less Islamic, had an epiphany? The implications may have sunk in....
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/02/2003 10:47 Comments ||
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Extremely paranoid to take control of the NWFP, perhaps Kurdistan? Oh, too late, it's already done...
Posted by: Brian ||
03/02/2003 11:05 Comments ||
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#6
Gee, if the High UNSC can have 18 votes on the same subject, why can't the govt of Turkey take its time too. It's not like we yanked money from the UN when they diddled around for the past 11 years.
This is what happens when military leaders keep on padding the plans with more and more needs and options based upon fear. They are absolutely blind to the political consequences which these delays ensue. Keep It Simple Stupid [KISS] is a miltary term for a reason. To paraphrase US Grant - "Oh, I am heartily tired of hearing about what Lee is going to do. Some of you always seem to think he suddenly going to turn a double somersault, and land in our rear and on both our flanks at the same time. Go back to your command, and try to think what we are going to do ourselves, instead of what Lee is going to do." Just pull out the ground troops from Turkey and get on with business. Use the division as the follow on reserve when they finally reach Kuwait, but don't hold up the offensive waiting for them.
Posted by: Don ||
03/02/2003 11:20 Comments ||
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We will still take down Saddam from the south. It'll take a little longer, but it's basically a done deal. What Turkey's vote WILL do is make it harder for American troops to get to northern Iraq, and to Kurdish areas. American troops as a buffer between Turkish and Kurdish troops at least had a chance for cooling down this on the border timberbox post-Saddam. Now that seems like it will be a purely Turkish headache. Well, if they really really want that all to themselves, then they can have it.
Of course, there is always time for Turkey to reconsider; it is their country, and their call to make. I do hope they make the right one. Because outside of outright ethnic cleansing of Kurdish areas (a definite no-no in the post Slobo world), Turkey is in for an endless occupation of Kurdistan, ten times the size of Cyprus, that it can ill afford.
Posted by: Dave ||
03/02/2003 12:27 Comments ||
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well Murat, the veil falls, and the spittle begins? 19 abstentions? that's not voting, that's fear of whacked out Islamic retribution. Let's see what the new week brings and thanks for clearing up your stand. Should Turkey stay with the rejection, then they have chosen the stick instead of the carrot. They can expect that we might find new, and more faithful (in the crunch) allies...have fun. Oh, and those tanker trucks going to Mosul? You won't need them anymore
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/02/2003 14:25 Comments ||
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Murat, you guys might have just put the final nail into NATO. And we want our equipment back.
#10
It was Bush who pressured elections in Islamania under Khalifa-Rashdun conditions, with 40-60% open public support for al-Qaeda. Until Americans shake him out of his quixotic fantasy about his nominal pre-destined role to unite the common-religions-of-Abraham under American values, his follies will impose further costs on Americans, with a stronger enemy the dubious benefit. Test of resolve: FAILED.
#11
It's time to support a strong Kurdish State in East Turkey-North Iraq. Just to let them live free from the threats of genocide and have two new good allies, the democratic Iraq and the free Kurdistan. History has shown that our... fear to disturb the muslim states always ends up in being a very dangerous appeasement. Whoever does not help us in our war against terrorism and terrorism supporting states is not neutral, is a bastard, sorry, an enemy.
(Note: 732 A.D., at the battle of Poitiers, Charles the Hammer stops the muslim invasion of Europe. Not a relative of ChiraQ anyway)
#12
First we have to accept any democratic voting, it is really shamefull to see some readers here acting so arrogant to think that democracy doesnât exist outside the US. Secondly Bush is not a tactful politician (in fact he is more a trigger happy cowboy) as he has not the succes and simpathy of Clinton outside the US, I donât know how it is inside the US. He set of a lot of angred blood in Turkey calling the Turkish call for compensation of the damage the US brings with every war she starts in the middle east a horsetrading and randsom, all the blackmailing with threathening to establish a Kurdistan was the other dimension. One can see this as an answer to Bush from the Turkish parliament: stick your so called randsom right up in your â¦.., and stop making us sick with all your blackmailing and bluffing. The US has since the republicans took the governing gone out of control acting in a pool of paranoya, get a schrink will ya.
Posted by: Murat ||
03/02/2003 14:05 Comments ||
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#13
If the Turks want to be treated like grownups they have to act like grownups, not least by acting on their actual interests instead of puerile anti-Americanism. So, let's see, war with American $ and support, or war without it? Because "no war" is off the table.
If legislators (not the military, I assume) prefer "sticking it to the man", they'll have to live with the consequences of that.
#14
Murat, We can accept democratic voting. But we don't have to like it, and we don't have to reward it. Clinton not trigger happy? What about Kosovo? - bombing in support of the Albanian mafia - Chinese embassy bombing, Wesley Clark threatening to fight the Russians - Iraq (several times to no effect), Sudan, Afghanistan, Haiti. Clinton may have had "success and sympathy outside the US" but that is only because other countries sensed that he was a marshmellow, he was unscupulous, he was unwilling to stand up for US interests anywhere.
If Bush was a trigger-happy cowboy, about six foriegn capitals would have been radioactive craters on September 12, 2001. Bush's foriegn policy has been slow and deliberate. He gave his Iraq speech at the UN on Sep. 12, 2002 - a year after the attacks! Counting from that date the "rush to war" has lasted nearly six months.
If you can produce on single quote of G.W.Bush's where he called the Turkish compensation "horsetrading and ransom" I will be very much shocked. In fact, I believe you will find that Bush has not publicly commented on it at all. Ditto with an independant Kurdistan - he has never, ever advocated that.
You need a dictionary. The Bush admin is neither blackmailing nor bluffing. Blackmail is a payment in response to a threat. It is not a payment in compensation for inconvenience. It is not a payment for services rendered. Bluffing is making threats without any intention (or capability) of making good on those threats. The US has the capability and, I believe, will follow through.
The US has not gone out of control since the Republicans took over. They have restored a responsible foriegn policy instead of Clintons. On the military front, it appears that Bush was headed towards a more cautious stance, almost isolationist. They even studied ending the no-fly zones in Iraq. Until 9-11-01. America is awakend. If you don't like it, blame the terrorists.
Unless you believe that the 9-11 attacks are symptoms of our "paranoia", as you call it.
If you wish to debate the morality of a war in Iraq, fine. But it is better for your position if your argument is it is not filled with innuendo, half-truths and distortion.
Posted by: Pete Stanley ||
03/02/2003 14:27 Comments ||
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I can't get too mad about this seeing as it was submitted to a vote; that you have to respect.
However, this also means that we have to respect the nationalist aspiration of the Kurds. Ankara needs to be warned to keep out of the way in no uncertain terms.
#16
The Turkish legislative body has voted and that is it. We in the US need to accept that and move on. The thing that really wicks me off is the bloody haggling over the price of loyalty. A post-Saddam Iraq would have big benefits to Turkey, read pipeline fees plus stability. But we must move on, having been reshown the lesson that you cannot really buy friendship. I'm sure that our military has already readjusted to the reality. You cannot hold up a big operation like this with a bunch of haggling like merchants.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/02/2003 15:27 Comments ||
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#17
Wonder how thw financial markets in Turkey will fare on Monday? Maybe it will be a wake-up call for a few of those who abstained.
#18
I'm thinking a new pipeline through Jordan and Israel to Haifa? That'll cause some heartburn
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/02/2003 15:32 Comments ||
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#19
OK this may be way out there... but what if Turkey got a better deal from the French, Germans & Russians, and in turn was told to bar US troops. Now what if the Russians are planning their own invasion of Iraq from the north via Turkey, to make sure the triad (F-G-R) isn't completely shut out of any future plans for Iraq. I sure would like to see the intel on Russian troop movements. They're crazy enough to do this.
#20
Slightly OT, but it appears with Russia's veto threat that we have not cut them any deal either with oiiiiilll in a post-Saddam Iraq. Frank's idea of a pipeline through Jordan and Israel seems to be a reach, but with Sammy gone, Syria sanitized, and some of the other axis of evil folks dealt with, we may have some stability for this. Hmmmmm.............
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/02/2003 16:22 Comments ||
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#21
Murat, of course we can accept the democratic vote of the Turkish parliament. We'll respect your decision, we'll just continue to work against it.
After all, I don't hear all these calls from Europe to respect American democracy when we vote against the Kyoto Treaty, or anything. Rather, I've seen a lot of ridiculous accusations like your own. Oh well. Seems like you're the paranoid one.
Posted by: John Thacker ||
03/02/2003 17:05 Comments ||
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#22
Hold a minute, the Army hasn't spoken.
There are a lot of American aircraft already in Turkey. Lots of troops and equipment already unloaded. NATO stuff in place.
What I can see happening is an expedited movement of US personnel and material into Norther Iraq, before the politicians can react. The Army must protect the state and it cannot protect the state from the results of this action if it is let stand. Remember, the Turks plan to have troops in Northern Iraq. Under the current circumstances, I suspect troops movements might be treated as hostile by the United States.
#23
Interesting.... veddy, veddy, interesting...or should I say ..perplexing? They kissed $16 Billion! goodbye, rejected our assurances to assist with Kurds and refugees and also kissed goodbye our pro-Turkey post-Iraq solutions. Considering the might of our army and Bush's resolve to invade Iraq (with or without them), it's a very, VERY strange result. Unless, for reasons unclear they think they can totally screw us, it certainly is odd that they turned down the goodies we were offering when the end result will probably be the same. Wish I knew the "more to the story", cause there has to be one.
#24
MY,my,Murat
Such an emotional outburst,from an otherwise rational person.
Turkey's decision came about through Democratic process,Murat.I think you will see that most of us support that process,we may not like Turkey's decsion but it was arrived at democraticlly.
Now the question we Americans have to ask ourselves is "why".
What does Turkey have to gain in alligning with the Russ+Franco+German aliiance?
Iraq, using bulldozers, began crushing six more al-Samoud missiles under the supervision of United Nations (UN) inspectors on Sunday local time, stepping up efforts to eliminate the banned weapon as it tries to avert a possible US-led attack. In a new move to head off Washington's threat of military action to force it to disarm, Iraqi officials will hold talks later in the day with the inspectors on VX nerve gas and anthrax stocks it says it has destroyed. UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission (UNMOVIC) missile experts went to Taji base, 40 kilometres north of Baghdad, on Sunday, Mr Ueki said. "The destruction of six al-Samoud missiles began at 9am (06:00 GMT), the operation is still going on," senior Information Ministry official Uday al-Taei said in the early afternoon. Mr Ueki also said another team went to a site south of the capital to destroy a casting chamber. Iraq destroyed four of the white missiles with thin fins on Saturday at Taji by crushing them with large bulldozers. There's something about having 200,000 troops on his border ready to kill him that makes Sammy feel cooperative...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/02/2003 08:37 am ||
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via Tim Blair - more on the story from yesterday - edited, but read the whole thing it's hilarious/pathetic at the same time:
I've got the (annotated) whole thing for posterity on WOTWeek.
...'I am ashamed to be leaving you at this time of need, but I'm going out of pure, cold fear," Godfrey Meynell, 68, told the two Iraqi factory workers standing before him. His white hair was, as always, unbrushed; his navy windcheater zipped up to the chin. "This power plant is next to a bridge, surrounded by Republican Guard," he continued. "It's obviously a prime target." The men, who understood this fear too well, returned his handshake and thanked him warmly. grumbling, "yeah sure, thanks for the heads-up... asshole"
As he heaved his rucksack into the taxi, Mr Meynell, a former Colonial Office civil servant, was tearful. He was not, however, the only "human shield" fleeing Baghdad yesterday in a state of high emotion. Nine of the 11 British shields on the pioneering wave of red double-deckers left this weekend. At the Andalus hotel five kilometres away, Dr Abdul Hashimi, the official overseeing their mission in Iraq, had issued the shocked group with an ultimatum: deploy to the "strategic sites" hand-picked by the government or leave immediately.
It was a chilling twist in the saga of the human shields' mission to stop a war in Iraq. It was also inevitable. I accompanied the first wave of shields throughout their 3,500 mile, three-week journey aboard three double-decker buses from Europe to Baghdad and remained with them while they battled unsuccessfully with Iraqi officials to be allowed access to the civilians most thought they had come to protect. "No, the Americans won't target them. You must come to the pesticide.... er... baby milk factory"
The eccentric, eclectic nice way to say a buncha fruitcakes
group, none of whom fitted the "peacenik" stereotype, may have been drawn from all ages, backgrounds and experience, but they all shared one trait: naivety oh, and stupidity, and distorted self-esteem, oh, and group diagnosis as nutcases.
Beset by problems on the road, lack of sufficient funds or a clear, universally-shared agenda, most had been tested beyond their limits before they even arrived in Iraq.
Among the catalogue of dramas they experienced en route were numerous breakdowns of the creaking 1967 Routemasters, bickering over the preferred route and acrimonious departures and illness.
During one cold, rainy night in Milan, we were left without our sleeping bags after an Italian went AWOL with the support bus. Later, a £500 donation from a well-wisher in Istanbul was squandered on boxes of Prozac in a misguided attempt to cheer up the war-weary Iraqi civilians.
Conspiracy theories spread like a contagion through the ranks. Whenever a puncture occurred it would be blamed on the CIA. "It's sabotage," Peter Van Dyke, 36, had whispered to a bemused mechanic as he removed a thick screw from a flat tyre in a garage outside Naples.
Sue Darling, 60, a former diplomat from Surrey, had been eager to demonstrate her civil service credentials: most importantly, she confided in one shield, she knew how to recognise a spy. Her first suspect turned out to be The Telegraph's photographer.
Little surprise then that so few were alert to the real nature of the regime that welcomed them to the Iraqi capital two weeks ago. After a propaganda lecture from Dr Hashimi, one young American told me: "It's so interesting to hear what is really going on in this country." He scoffed at any suggestion that their good intentions might be misused by Saddam's regime: "All we have seen here is continuous kindness and hospitality." And bribes: cigs, food and electronic toys
Bruce, a 24-year-old Canadian wearing a T-shirt saying "I don't want to die", was one of a group of tanned young men who were drafted into protect a grain store. Initially, he, like others, had concerns about the sites, which included an oil refinery, a water purification plant and electricity stations. He was won over when the Iraqis provided televisions, VCRs, telephones and a Play Station. So much for principles
"Dr Hashimi has explained that we help the population more by staying in the 'strategic sites'," he explained. His friend added: "We play football in the afternoons and the Iraqis bring us cartons of cigarettes. It's just like summer camp."..... yah, he got beat up there too
Not everyone was upset by the latest turn in events. Ken O'Keefe, 33, the founder of the human shields movement who served as a US marine during the Gulf war, had always planned to protect Iraqi "installations" should bombs rain down on the capital.
During the journey, the heavily-tattooed O'Keefe, who earned the title "black Ken" on account of his penchant for the colour and outlook on life, had alienated his companions who felt he had developed both a death wish and a messiah complex. Prone to tantrums and mood swings, his credibility had not been helped by the fact that he had, for much of the journey, been accompanied by his mother, Pat. If he's the messiah, then that would be the virgin mary??
In Baghdad, Ken came into his own. Dressed in a thick, grey dishdash, he took to ambushing me in the Andalus corridors to brief me on his latest soundbites. "Dark forces have worked against me ooooooo," he said, "but I have survived. My mission is hard core, in-your-face activism." Right Mommy?
Tim's take down of them is his usual good stuff too
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/02/2003 08:43 am ||
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a £500 donation was squandered on Prozac in a misguided attempt to cheer up the war-weary Iraqi civilians...... That sums up the whole adventure nicely, doesn't it?
#4
This is great reading with my wake-up cup of coffee. A couple of sprays on the screen...no harm done. Thanks to the characters, the editors, and "Mom" for a thoroughly entertaining article!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/02/2003 12:36 Comments ||
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Good thing I wasn't drinking when I got to the part about Prozac...
The former Malaysian Armed Forces colonel arrested for alleged involvement in the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) had made contact with the al-Qaeda while serving with the United Nations peacekeeping force in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Oh, isn't that comforting?
Defence Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Col (R) Abdul Manaf Kamsuri was the only one who had made contact with the al-Qaeda while in Bosnia, and was subsequently advised to resign, mail.com reported. Najib said from their surveillance, it was evident that Manaf acted on his own and did not influence other personnel in the force. "No other armed forces personnel is involved with him or his activities," he said, adding that the ministry had been monitoring Manaf's movements since he started serving in the peacekeeping mission. "We continued to monitor his moves until the police decided to curb his activity under the Internal Security Act," he said after accompanying Agriculture Minister Datuk Effendi Norwawi on a site visit to the Agriculture Ministry's Incorporated Project in Pahang Tua/Langgar, here. The Inspector General of Police Tan Sri Norian Mai confirmed that Manaf was picked up from his house at Jalan Kebun in Shah Alam. Najib added that the Defence Ministry would continue to monitor all armed forces personnel on overseas missions. I should hope so...
In Kuala Lumpur, Norian said police were looking into Manaf's travels and activities, including his time in Bosnia and Afghanistan. Presumably, he went to Afghanistan after he retired...
Asked whether the police would treat soldiers arrested for involvement in JI any differently from others, he said this would not be so. "They are equal before the law. I have arrested my own men before," he said. Manaf is the third former or current Malaysian military personnel reported to have been arrested under the ISA for involvement in a terrorist organisation. Last month, a Royal Malaysian Air Force sergeant was arrested at the RMAF base in Labuan for alleged involvement in JI. The sergeant is the only known serving military personnel suspected to be involved in the group. Last year, police arrested former army captain Yazid Sufaat. Yeah, but I wonder if three represents a trend?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/02/2003 06:47 pm ||
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THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front bought $2-million worth of weapons from foreign arms dealers. This was disclosed by 6th Infantry Division chief Gen. Generoso Senga during a closed-door briefing with the members of the House Committee on National Defense at Camp Siongco, Awang, Cotabato City last Thursday. Opposition Rep. Rolex Suplico said Senga informed the committee that among the documents recovered by the military in the Buliok Complex was a receipt for the MILF's down payment of $1 million for a $2-million purchase of arms. Wonder who that receipt was from?
The committee members received briefing kits that contained the details of the receipt and other voluminous documents recovered from the Buliok Complex. Suplico did not state the names of the arms dealers and their country of origin. The lawmaker said the purchase may have been made in 1999. "The conclusion is that the MILF has money in dollars and they are trying to touch base with foreign arms supplier to supply them with modern weapons," Suplico told The Times. So it would seem. We can guess where the bulk of their money comes from, even though they pick up a few bucks on the side with kidnappings and extortion...
The opposition lawmaker saw the need for a thorough investigation to find out how the MILF acquired such a huge sum to buy modern firearms. "I would like to know whether the money was amassed by the MILF from kidnapping and other crimes," he stressed. Or "donated" by Islamic charities, perhaps?
Suplico noted that the preliminary conclusion of the briefing was that the Pikit incident, in which 14 civilians died, was initiated by the MILF. The military have identified the rebel group and the Pentagon gang, responsible for kidnappings in the area, as the occupants of the camp, indicating the two have an alliance of some sort. Or that the two are the same, just like MILF and Abu Sayyaf...
But the lawmaker said there is not enough reason to conclude that the MILF has absorbed the gang of kidnappers. He cautioned the Arroyo administration to think twice before entering an interim peace agreement with the MILF. "We have to distinguish a kidnap-for-ransom gang and a rebel group first," he said, "so we have to discover (first) whether the MILF and the Pentagon are one and the same."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/02/2003 06:19 pm ||
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wonder if the balance of $1mil was payed off? Washington just sent in the repo guys.
Posted by: john ||
03/02/2003 19:56 Comments ||
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âWe have to distinguish a kidnap-for-ransom gang and a rebel group first,â he said, âso we have to discover (first) whether the MILF and the Pentagon are one and the same.â
PRINCE SULTAN AIRBASE, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - U.S. warplanes were within two minutes of firing at an Iraqi Mig-25 fighter jet when it sneaked into Saudi airspace in an intensifying cat-and-mouse game between Western and Iraqi warplanes, U.S. air force pilots say.
The daring probe on Thursday by Iraq's fastest warplane -- a move apparently rarely attempted since the 1991 Gulf War -- indicated Baghdad was willing to take risks to test U.S.-led forces rapidly building up planes and troops in Saudi Arabia.
"He came 15-20 miles into Saudi airspace and went nose-to-nose with us at 70,000 feet," F-15C fighter pilot Lt. Col. Matt "Zap" Molloy told Reuters in an interview.
"He wisely turned around when we gave him a good hard radar lock ... We were two minutes away from firing an air-to-air missile in his direction," he said.
Saudi officials said they had no knowledge of any such incursion.
The MiG-25, code-named Foxbat by NATO allies, is an interceptor aircraft developed for the former Soviet airforce capable of flying at three times the speed of sound. It can also be used for reconnaissance.
U.S. pilots say that in the past two months they have encountered these planes more frequently in a "no-fly" zone over Iraq, set up after the Gulf War, while Iraqi troop activity has also intensified.
"They are stepping it up and trying to see what's out there ... listening and looking more," Molloy said.
"But we give them the benefit of the doubt -- when threatened we have to make a difficult call, and we coordinate with coalition forces in a measured way."
At present, coalition planes based at the Prince Sultan Airbase in Saudi Arabia are only allowed to take "defensive" action as part of strict rules of engagement agreed with authorities in the kingdom.
What this means is that Western planes could fire back only if under a "continuing" threat from Iraqi planes or missiles.
The Iraqi plane had posed a clear threat, U.S. pilots said.
As shots from the ground are normally wild and sporadic, Saudi-based U.S. warplanes just veer away when attacked, then call in jets based in Kuwait or from aircraft carriers to attack the guns on Iraqi soil.
"It's quite a dance, the rules are very strict. We don't want to act in an irrational way and we don't want to be doing anything illegal or politically untenable," Air Force Colonel James Moschgat, vice commander of U.S. planes patrolling a no-fly zone over southern Iraq, told Reuters.
The issue of what foreign troops on Prince Sultan Airbase, 50 miles southeast of Riyadh, will do if war with Iraq breaks out has become increasingly contentious as Washington builds up its forces in the region.
Saudi authorities have repeatedly said they are against an attack on Iraq and will not allow U.S. forces to launch any invasion of the country from their territory.
In the event of war the role of the airbase -- which until recently was off limits to journalists -- remains unclear.
"The real question is whether we will be able to do direct attacks from here. We will have the capability to do that from here but that option is still being discussed by our governments," Moschgat said.
"Our mission will be to deny Iraq offensive capability by having as robust a force as possible."
He said U.S. and British forces at the base were being built up to ensure that in the event of war, the existing coalition would be able to patrol southern Iraqi skies round-the-clock instead of several hours a day as at present.
He added that regardless of what happened, a command and control center at the base would probably remain in charge of all the coalition air forces in the region.
Moschgat said the number of foreign troops -- mostly American -- at the base had reached 7,200 from 5,000 in early January. More U.S. troops were arriving by air every other day.
The normal 90-day period for U.S. soldiers to stay was suspended in late January. The U.S. military is erecting a tent city for the extra troops and Moschgat said there would be room for 14,000 foreign soldiers when it was ready in about a week.
The base would be able to take about 200 aircraft when the buildup was complete, he added.
Posted by: frank Martin ||
03/02/2003 11:46 pm ||
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Serious? A MiG 25? Interesting. Sammy trots out a Foxbat. This is right of Dear Leader's playbook. The Foxbat is strictly an interceptor and a mediocre one at best....no dogfight capabilities to speak of. Looks as if Sammy could use a hot bowl of oatmeal as well.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/03/2003 0:27 Comments ||
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Meryl has designated March 15th as International Eat an Animal for PETA Day. Since PETA has managed to irritate nearly everyone on the planet with their combination of crassness, poor taste, and bluenosery, I thought I'd help by posting my favorite recipe for owl:
1 young owl (chicken can be substituted, but only if raised under cruel conditions)
1 cup cheap white wine (but not Ripple; Inglenook Chardonnay will do)
2 heaping tablespoons of tomato paste
1 sliced onion
1 chopped garlic clove
1 sliced green pepper
1 small box of mushrooms, if you have any fresh
1 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons ground black pepper
2 teaspoons oregano
Pluck, gut, and joint the owl. You can do this before or after you kill it it'll still taste the same. Roll the pieces lightly in flour and brown them over medium heat. Add the mushrooms while the beast is browning, then the garlic, then the onions, and finally the green peppers. Stir all together vigorously. As soon as the smell starts making your mouth water, throw in 1/4 cup of the wine, add the tomato paste, salt, black pepper, and oregano. When the wine is almost rendered, add the crushed red peppers, and finally the rest of the wine. Cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes.
Serves one, two if he/she wants to share and you have some linguini made up.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/02/2003 07:30 pm ||
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Outstanding. When serving exotic gamebird, the choice of wine is more difficult. A smoky fume blanc is good, as is a jammy pinot noir. In either case, remove the label from the bottle, wrap the bird's head in it and mail it to PETA's head quarters. If God did not want us to eat animals, He would not have made them out of meat.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
03/03/2003 0:39 Comments ||
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For North Korean Stuffed Stifled Owl:
Strangulate owl with zeal of aggression and substitute all other ingredients with moonpie. Substituting with chicken will create Dear Leader's favorite, "Choked Chicken on Jong Il Peak"
A 97-year-old Italian woman has received about 900 traffic fines for driving a Ferrari and other flash cars around the historic centre of Rome without the necessary permit. The only catch? She has never learnt to drive, let alone owned a car. Driving to work every day, I see lots of people who've never learned to drive...
"That's it. I've had enough of traffic policemen coming to my house every day with a pile of fines for cars I know absolutely nothing about," news agency Ansa quoted her as saying. The unnamed woman began receiving fines a few months ago for a motorbike and six cars, including a Ferrari and two BMWs. The mystery was finally solved when Rome police detained three men for fraudulently registering the vehicles in the pensioner's name.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/02/2003 06:04 pm ||
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She's the little old lady from Pasadena..er..Rome.
#2
Amd if you've ever been to Italy, you'll see the whole country hasn't learned how to drive. In Rome, the lines on the roads are suggestions. And parking? Put the Cinquecento on the sidewalk Luigi. It'll fit by that tree.
Libyan riot police fired tear gas to prevent angry crowds from storming the Saudi embassy over a Saudi prince's harsh criticism of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, witnesses said on Sunday, according to Reuters. Thousands of people marched through Tripoli before converging on the embassy late on Saturday, hours after Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah called Gaddafi "an agent of imperialism" during a heated exchange at an Arab summit in Egypt. The Saudi leader added that Israel brought Gaddafi to power. Gaddafi must of pissed off the Saudis, somehow.
Witnesses said the crowd chanted stinging slogans against Abdullah, de-facto ruler of the Saudi kingdom. As tensions rose, police broke up the protest with a tear-gas barrage that injured several demonstrators. The row at the Arab League summit erupted after Gaddafi attacked Saudi Arabia for hosting American troops as Washington prepares to attack League-member Iraq. A peek at Muammar's to-do list: 1. Contact Omars Rent-a-mob, arrange spontaneous demonstration. 2. Signal end of demonstration with tear gas. 3. Pay off injured demonstrators.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/02/2003 02:26 pm ||
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That summit must've been a kick...he he Charles at LGF posted some pics of Qhaddafi'sKhaddafy's Mo's girl bots protective service. They're hot....
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/02/2003 14:28 Comments ||
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A militant Islamic leader is suspected of fatally shooting a Palestinian policeman, who was also his cousin, on Sunday, the latest in a series of violent attacks inside Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp. The (Islamic) family tht prays together...
Pay attention, Frank. This is gonna be sordid...
Palestinian officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Nazih Shreidi was shot in the head and neck at close range allegedly by his cousin Abdullah Shreidi, the leader of the radical [Usbat] al-Nour group, as he going to his home in the Ein el-Hilweh camp. Site of future paleo civil war
Usbat al-Nour is a Paleostinian mini-mob that fights it out with Usbat al-Ansar in Ein el-Hilweh. Shreidi, its leader, appears to be a homicidal maniac...
The victim was a member of the Palestinian Armed Struggle, a joint Palestinian police force charged with maintaining law and order in the notoriously violent and lawless camp.
And doin' one hell of a job, we might add...
He died shortly after arriving at a camp hospital, the officials said.
"Nazih, would you sign this organ donor card, just in case?"
"Uh... Sure."
"Thanks." [BANG!]
Before the attack, the policeman had been attending a pep rally organized by Yasser Arafat's mainstream Fatah movement in the camp, located on the outskirts of Sidon and home to 75,000 Palestinian refugees. Al-Nour and Fatah must have differences?
In Ein el-Hilweh, they hold Hamas in contempt for its moderation. Fatah's beneath contempt. Al-Nour and al-Ansar, the two Usbats, are fighting it out over who's the biggest lover of bin Laden...
Neither the motive for the killing nor the suspected killer's whereabouts were immediately clear.
Motive? In Ein el-Hilweh, you don't need a motive. All you need is ammunition...
It was unclear if Palestinian police would attempt to arrest him. Such an act could trigger a violent confrontation between the police and the suspected killer's al-Nour group. Better to let him go - I'm sure he feels bad and will be a peacemaker in the future
Palestinian sources in the camp said Abdullah Shreidi had accused his cousin of planting a bomb in a camp area controlled by his 100-strong al-Nour group, a breakaway of the militant Asbat al-Ansar group, which is on the US list of terrorist organizations. But the motive of his killing was unclear?
Tensions were high following the killing, as Arafat's Fatah gorillas guerrillas and the Palestinian Armed Struggle policemen on one hand, and al-Nour gunmen on the other, fanned out in large numbers into the teeming camp's narrow alleys. Obviously not arresting him has settled things down
The incident came a day after an Egyptian Islamic activist with purported links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network was killed in a powerful bomb explosion in Ein el-Hilweh. Officials identified the victim as Mohammed Abdel-Hamid Shanouha. Now known universally as The Late Mohammed Abdel-Hamid Shanouha, or The Decomposer...
On Feb. 24, Palestinian vegetable vendor Abed Hourani, 44, was shot dead at an Ein el-Hilweh market. That sounded like settling a personal score
Except that Shreidi was named as the killer...
Rival armed Palestinian groups run the Ein el-Hilweh camp, which is believed to shelter numerous fugitive Islamic militants wanted by Lebanese authorities, including members of Asbat al-Ansar. The Lebanese army mans checkpoints outside the camp, but its troops do not enter. Nice to have given sovereignty over to the UNRWA and the Paleogangs
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/02/2003 02:46 pm ||
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Can I get a flow-chart on that?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/02/2003 19:39 Comments ||
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Sure. Dead cousin built bomb delivered by dead veggie perveyor inside a "welcome" basket of melons. Boom goes dead bigwig, annoying live cousin, who proceeds to shoot veggie vendor and dead cousin.
Via Drudge
HONG KONG: North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has offered political asylum to Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, according to a front page story in Sunday's South China Morning Post. The bizarre tale appears to be the kind of news story that newspapers like to publish on April Fool's Day, except for one thing: it has a credible source. He is Stanley Ho Hung-sun, the wealthy magnate who runs Macau's gambling casinos, through whom "high-level North Korean officials have offered the Iraqi dictator and his family 11th hour sanctuary in a mountain in North Korea". In a mountain? That's like the asylum we offered Bin Laden in Tora Bora
Oh, yeah. If I was Sammy, I'd take a premature mausoleum on Mount Jong Il over the fleshpots of Baghdad any day...
Chinese billionaires like Ho do not always possess political acumen Right, that's how they become rich in a communist country, by being political naifs
but it is usually difficult to take them for a ride. Ho told the SCMP that senior level North Korean officials "told me that there really was a chance to prevent a war and (they) said that Saddam Hussein could step down two days before the US and Britain started to bomb Iraq and he (Saddam) could call democratic elections". Heh heh there's so much there to deride: when is two days before the bombing starts? Who in Iraq knows what a democratic election even looks like? The Baath party will welcome the chance to have a shootout political debate with the 'loyal' opposition
Ho goes on to say that "one of the conditions of those elections would be that none of the candidates would be allowed funding from the US, no soft money - McCain has followers here
ensuring that there was no American interference in a future Iraqi democratic state. Anyone who did accept money from the US would be shot" âpresumably by a Saddam who had not entirely stepped down prior to the election. ???? Where did this come from â I thought Saddam would be in a mountain in NK
Ho extolled this initiative by saying that "it could be (Saddam Hussein's) trump card. North Korea is willing to give Saddam and his family a mountain in North Korea." It's not some fixer-upper mountain, it's in reaalllly good shape. You'll like it
The news story seems to be straight out of Ripley's âBelieve It Or Notâ except for one thing: Ho does have North Korean connections. The SCMP notes that in 1999 Stanley invested US$30 million in the North when he opened a Casino Pyongyang next to the Korean Workers Party headquarters.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/02/2003 02:24 pm ||
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Actually I missed one thing....I bet the "Casino Pyongyang" is a really happenin' place, huh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/02/2003 14:40 Comments ||
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Per Treebeard in "The Two Towers"-
"Put all the rats in one trap, said Gandalf; and I will."
Just imagine that, a mountain for Saddam, a mountain for Ghadaffy Duck, a mountain for Mugabe. Hell, an entire range for the Saudi princes with no clothes. I'm sure NKor has enough shitty rock strewn peaks for all the despots of the world!
Israeli soldiers have shot dead two Palestinians and wounded 40 others during an incursion into the Khan Younis refugee camp in the south of the Gaza strip. The attack follows the discover of a 100 kilogram tank buster bomb found near a roadway regularly used by Israeli patrols. Israeli troops and tanks backed by helicopter gunships pushed into the refugee camp in the middle of the night sparking a fierce battle with Palestinian militants. They blew up an eight-storey building which the army says has been used by snipers and damaged several houses before withdrawing. Two soldiers were injured when a bomb was thrown at their vehicle. The Paleos still seem to be having trouble with that cause-effect thing...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/02/2003 09:01 am ||
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Is it just me or does it seem like every Palestinian is armed to the teeth.
The leader of one of Ivory Coast's smaller rebel groups on Sunday has declared the country's fragile ceasefire is over after claiming that government helicopter gunships killed 20 people in an attack on a town near the Liberian border. Just coincidence it's next door to Liberia, of course...
"Once helicopters start bombarding I think the ceasefire is over," Felix Doh, head of the Popular Movement of Ivory Coast's Far West (MPIGO) said. "I have given orders to take the offensive," he said, whose group operates out of in the west of the country near the border with Liberia. Mr Doh said army helicopters had on Saturday attacked the town of Bin-Houye, killing 20 civilians and injuring several others. He said he had informed French troops policing the country's ceasfire of the attack. "President Laurent Gbagbo has violated the ceasefire," he said. "Nope. Wudn't me. But I have no control over my own actions..."
Mr Doh said he had combat planes at his disposal, but refused to give details. "The French troops must let us pass so that we can march on Gbagbo's positions," he said. "So you well-armed professional soldiers, you just get out of the way, and my rag-tag bunch of sadists and bully boys will just take over, okay?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/02/2003 08:58 am ||
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Mr. Doh??? Paging Homer Simpson...
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/02/2003 10:02 Comments ||
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Yes, well, they're French.
Just move around their positions. They'll stay there, and it's a lot easier than dealing with POWs.
North Korea has accused US intelligence of staging a secret drill for a surprise attack on its nuclear facility and warned that an attack would trigger "horrifying nuclear disasters". The North's ruling Workers Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun, argued the United States was pushing ahead with "actual military actions that came in accordance with the second Korean war scenario of aggression". No doubt. No doubt...
"What merits a serious attention is that a special operation group of the CIA staged a secret drill to make a surprise attack on the nuclear facility of the DPRK (North Korea) and destroy it," it said. "The US projected attack on the nuclear facility of the DPRK presupposes a nuclear war." Always assuming there's anything left of North Korea, of course...
The newspaper said its armed forces were ready to "mercilessly wipe out" a war of aggression. "If the US imperialists ignite a war on the Korean peninsula, the war will turn into a nuclear war. As a consequence, the Koreans in the North and South and the people in Asia and the rest of the world will suffer horrifying nuclear disasters." "We, of course, are absolutely incapable of controlling our own actions, so anything we do will be the fault of third parties."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/02/2003 08:54 am ||
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"The US projected attack on the nuclear facility of the DPRK presupposes a nuclear war."
Isn't that a bit of a presumtuous assumption on your part, Kim? Have some oatmeal and calm down a bit and we will talk soon.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/02/2003 12:41 Comments ||
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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.
Some analysts questioned whether Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had actually been arrested on Saturday and speculated he may have been held for some time. "I think he was arrested several months ago 
