A leader of the ousted Taliban movement refuted reports purporting that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden has been arrested in a joint U.S.-Pakistani operation, arguing that the U.S. most wanted man is still "at large and in good health". Al-Sayyed Mortada, leader of the Pakistani Al-Insaf Movement, said Wednesday, March 12, that bin Laden has been arrested by U.S and Pakistani joint forces and that Washington would announce his capture on March 17 or 18 after unleashing war on Iraq. Tehran Radio quoted Mortada as saying he was tipped of on Bin Laden's capture by his personal reliable sources. Pakistani political sources expected Washington to make public bin Ladenâs arrest on the eve of its looming war on Iraq with claims he was getting biological weapons from Iraq in a bid to justify the war. The source and organization given are different from the source and organization we got day before yesterday...
In a statement propped outside mosques in the Afghan border city of Khost and adjacent Pakistani border areas, a Taliban leader said that bin Laden "is free and steering al-Qaeda along with other leading figures including Ayman Al-Zawahri.â He voiced concerns, however, that Al-Zawahri, was "suffering from several diseases, and that his heavy body was hampering his movement among rocky mountainous areas." Put on a little weight, has he? That happens when you're hanging around the leadership of Pak religious parties.
The alleged Taliban leader said Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, described by Washington as al-Qaedaâs number three, was arrested two days before the Pakistani authorities announced his capture. Sheikh Mohammed was arrested after meeting "an Arab person he had met in Islamabad airport," he said in the statement. Al-Qaeda leadership suspects that the Arab figure might have been a lead to Sheikh Mohammadâs arrest, said the alleged Taliban leader. Ahah! Plots within plots, wheels within wheels. How... ummm... Islamic.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/15/2003 10:29 am ||
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Spirographs, huh Paul? I like that....
I was thinking Ayman mistook Binny's moral about the "strong horse" for the "wheezing big fat horse"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2003 13:57 Comments ||
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Plots within plots, wheels within wheels. How... ummm... Islamic.
Guess they borrowed the Ptolemic theory from the Greeks :-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2003 13:06 Comments ||
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Their Org Charts must come from drawings made from spirographs........
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/15/2003 13:38 Comments ||
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Spirographs, huh Paul? I like that....
I was thinking Ayman mistook Binny's moral about the "strong horse" for the "wheezing big fat horse"
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2003 13:57 Comments ||
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So al-Zawahri is packing excess poundage. Both the JI and JUI leaders in Pakistan are grossly overweight. Qazi's overworked kidneys occasionally cause him distress. Fortunately for him, he apparently has Rafsanjani type wealth. His books and pamphlets are copyrighted, and he squeezes everything he can get out of his publishers. I'm surprised that he didn't branch into Scientology. One has to ask these fat cats if they are in it for the good food that money brings, or for worship of that Arab tribal deity.
The police in Serbia say they have arrested a key suspect in the assassination of Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic. The Serbian police say they have arrested Mladjan Micic also known as "the Rat". It is claimed he is one of the leaders of the so-called Zemun crime gang which authorities believe was behind the assassination of Mr Djindjic. The arrested man was detained along with six other people at a house in the village of Malo Crnice, 70 kilometres from Belgrade. Weapons, ammunition, surveillance devices and car number plates were also retrieved in the raid. A police spokesman say they found evidence important for their investigation into the assassination. Mladjan the Rat? Life is very strange, living in a bad novel the way we are...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/15/2003 11:11 pm ||
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Via Drudge: U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur — speaking to a packed room at an East Toledo VFW post last night — apologized to anyone hurt by comments she made comparing Osama bin Laden to American Revolutionary War figures. Miss Kaptur (D., Toledo), who went to Post 4906 to attend its Friday fish fry dinner, briefly addressed the crowd of 45 people before sitting down to eat. "You have heard much about my earlier statements on terrorism, and I just wanted you all to know that due to the political nature of what happened with my original statements, if my remarks have hurt anyone, Iâm sorry," Miss Kaptur said. "Let me also say to each of you tonight [that] I am one member of Congress who will never make politics of war. It is too deadly serious."
So what the hell was that bonehead statement? That wasn't politix?
She was referring to controversial comments printed in a Blade article on March 1 in which she compared al-Qaeda members to American revolutionaries. "One could say that Osama bin Laden and these non-nation-state fighters with religious purpose are very similar to those kind of atypical revolutionaries that helped to cast off the British crown," Miss Kaptur said in the article. Several days after the article was published, she clarified her comment, saying it was meant to analogize the forces that motivate people to join a rebellion. Miss Kaptur was attacked by conservative radio talk-show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Matt Drudge and by Republicans and Democrats on television shows, such as CNNâs Crossfire. "Because of the raw emotion, I thought it was important to at least make a statement," Miss Kaptur said during her meal. "What I said was twisted [by other people]. People read the twist, not what I said." "I was framed!"
The VFW members greeted Miss Kaptur with applause and werenât critical of her.
"Everybody is human," said Dan Kosztak, post quartermaster. "She is entitled to her opinions, and we donât think she meant harm."
Not everyone agrees with that assessment, Dan...
John Gocsik, post commander, echoed those sentiments toward Miss Kaptur, who is an honorary lifetime member of the post. Miss Kaptur used the opportunity to criticize the Bush administration for the way it is handling the conflict with Iraq. She has been insistent that war with Iraq will worsen relations with 1 billion Islamic followers in the world. Didn't she just say that she would never make politics out of war?
"In this administrationâs zeal to win a war with weapons, the war of ideas is being lost," she said. "In a time of growing tensions, world opinion, so vital to U.S. victory, is turning against us, and within the Muslim world, the U.S. is becoming more hated to the point it is now viewed as the primary enemy." "In other words, I'm not really sorry. Just mad that I got called on it."
Posted by: seafarious ||
03/15/2003 10:34 am ||
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Memo to myself: Mark on my calender on next year in Novemver to be politically motivated. RE: Kaptur.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/15/2003 13:40 Comments ||
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My advice to Kaptur: Start typing your resume. Maybe your heroes in Al Qaeda will hire you. I hope the voters in your district don't.
#3
Nah. It's over a year until the next election. If she can let the issue die, the short national attention span will take care of the problem for her. By November next, it'll be "old news" and we should "move on." Bringing it up will be "politically motivated."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/15/2003 12:40 Comments ||
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Memo to myself: Mark on my calender on next year in Novemver to be politically motivated. RE: Kaptur.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/15/2003 13:40 Comments ||
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Time to ask any Dem running for President whether they want to explicitly condemn Representative Kaptur or would they prefer to equivocate and posture.
Pakistani authorities arrested a suspected senior al-Qaeda operative in the eastern city of Lahore today, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said. The suspect, Yassir al-Jaziri, also known as Abu Yassir al-Jaziri, was among the top seven men wanted by the United States, Ahmed told The Associated Press, although his name does not appear on the FBI most-wanted terrorist list.
"Al-Jaziri is definitely an important al-Qaeda leader and this is all I can say at this point," Pakistan's Interior Ministry secretary Tasneem Noorani said.
Court documents in which al-Jaziri is named describe him as a dual nationality Algerian Moroccan, responsible for al-Qaeda's business interests. But it wasn't clear where al-Jaziri stood in the hierarchy of the terror network.
"We understand that he is among those al-Qaeda leaders wanted by the United States," he said, adding that the American FBI assisted in the apprehension of al-Jaziri. The nature of that assistance was not immediately clear.
Al-Jaziri was arrested in the posh Gulburg neighbourhood of Lahore by Pakistani security agencies, Ahmed said. The Pakistani family with whom al-Jaziri was staying with was being interrogated but Ahmed said they were not under arrest at this time.
Al-Jaziri's name surfaced last month at a court hearing in Lahore for Dr Ahmed Javed Khawaja, a naturalised American doctor, who is in police custody for alleged links with al-Qaeda. In court documents, Khawaja is said to have been an associate of al-Jaziri's as well as two other wanted al-Qaeda men - Sheikh Said al-Misri and Abu Faraj.
The documents describe al-Misri as an Egyptian alleged to be al-Qaeda's financial chief and Faraj as head of al-Qaeda's North African network and a deputy to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Ahmed told the AP that information garnered from Mohammed led to the arrest of al-Jaziri.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
03/15/2003 10:42 pm ||
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I thought Sheikh Saiid al-Masri (Said al-Misri in this article) was picked up with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/16/2003 0:24 Comments ||
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The US has waived its last remaining sanctions against Pakistan, a key ally in its declared war on terror. The move will allow the US to resume aid payments to Pakistan. The measures were imposed after the bloodless coup in 1999 which brought General Pervez Musharraf to power. How much of this will the jihadis graft off?
President George W Bush said in a written statement that waiving the sanctions would ease the transition to democratic rule in Pakistan and was "important to US efforts to respond to, deter, or prevent acts of international terrorism." "And besides, we want a 'yes' vote if we put the resolution forward."
Sources in Congress said it cleared the way for Pakistan, a current member of the UN Security Council, to get about $250m of economic aid already approved by Congress this year. Pakistan - one of six undecided Security Council members - has been under pressure to back the US over a resolution which could unleash war against Iraq. But US officials have denied that the latest move by Washington is connected to the Iraq crisis. One State Department official insisted it was a technical matter - a waiver of sanctions because of the new financial year. Technically speaking, just ignore the timing of this.
The White House also announced on Friday that Mr Bush would meet Pakistan's Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali, at the White House on 28 March. High on the agenda is the war on terror, along with regional and international issues. In the wake of the 11 September 2001 attacks on the US, Pakistan has emerged as a key ally in efforts to fight terrorism. It severed its high-profile links to the former Taleban rulers of Afghanistan who had given refuge to al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and allowed his network to run training camps for militants on Afghan soil while leaving the other links in place. In response, the US lifted various sanctions involving weapons sales, government credits and financial aid which had been imposed because of nuclear tests conducted by Pakistan in 1998. General Musharraf, who extended his terms as president in a referendum last April, formally handed power to a civilian government last November but critics say parliament has little power to challenge his rule. Does a tiger change its stripes?
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2003 05:22 pm ||
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Chairperson of the Mutahida Khawateen Markaz (MKM), Razia Sultan, was taken into preventive custody along with fourteen party activists when they tried to take out a march violating prohibitory orders here on Saturday. The burqa-clad MKM activists, carrying playcards and banners demanding release of woman Hurriyat leader Zamrooda Habib and intervention of human rights organisations to stop alleged atrocities against women in the Valley, gathered near Partap Park and started marching towards the local office of the United Nations Military Observers Group at Sonawar, the sources said. Ah, yes. The UN Military Observers Group in Kashmir:
"Lookit dat, Alfonse! They're shootin' each other!"
"Why so they are, Gaston! Make a note of it, will you?"
They were stopped by police at Regal Chowk and fifteen of them including Sultan were detained, sources said, adding, other women participants dispersed on their own. Zamrooda, a general council member of Hurriyat Conference, had been arrested by the police in Delhi earlier this year on charges of receiving money from Pakistan High Commission for funding terrorist outfits.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/15/2003 01:10 pm ||
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Police said they found and defused six bombs at the main railway station in New Delhi yesterday, a day after a blast ripped through a commuter train killing 11 people and injuring 64 others. An investigation into the earlier explosion at a suburban Bombay train station focused on Islamic groups, but police declined to give further details. Thursday evening's explosion, which wrenched open the top and front portions of a train coach reserved for women, came a day after the 10th anniversary of a dozen bomb explosions in Bombay which killed 257 people and wounded at least 1000. Police suspected Muslim militants carried out the attacks 10 years ago to avenge the destruction of a 16th-century mosque by fundamentalist Hindus in 1992. The Maharashtra government said it had information there might be trouble around the anniversary. Ah, yes. The Koranic injunction to take Dire Revenge® for every slight, real or perceived, for every fault, your own or others...
Yesterday, police increased security throughout Bombay, India's commercial centre, with random searches of passengers and frequent warnings to be on the alert for suspicious packages. Police were flooded with phone calls from jittery commuters reporting unclaimed baggage.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/15/2003 01:01 pm ||
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Authorities arrested suspected al-Qaida operative, Yassir Al-Jazeeri, in Pakistan's eastern Punjab capital of Lahore on Saturday, according to the information minister. The information minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, said Al-Jazeeri was wanted by the United States because he is believed to be an operative of al-Qaida. Al-Jazeeri was arrested in the posh Gulburg neighborhood of Lahore. The arrest was carried out by the Pakistani security agencies, Ahmed said. A Pakistani family with whom Al-Jazeeri was staying was being interrogated, but Ahmed said they were not under arrest at this time. I wonder if, coincidentally, they're local bigwigs with JI? That seems to be the pattern...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/15/2003 12:46 pm ||
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Australian Opposition leader Simon Crean has moved to toughen his stance against a US-led attack on Iraq. Mr Crean now says he will not support military action without the backing of the United Nations under any circumstances. "Nope. Nope. Won't support it. Nope."
He says he will be asking the Labor Caucus for a shift in the party's position this week. Labor has previously said it might consider backing US-led military action if there was an unreasonable veto by one of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council. But he says this was dependent on whether there was evidence linking Iraq with the September 11 terrorist attacks or if there was proof Iraq posed an immediate security threat. He has told Channel Nine evidence has not been produced and his position has now changed. "The only circumstances in which we'd support action is if it had a decision of the United Nations," he said. "And even then, only if Mr Bush stands on his head and spits quarters."
Mr Crean says he believes Australia will join a US led war against Iraq this week.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/15/2003 11:16 pm ||
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Open acts of defiance by opponents of Saddam Hussein's regime have intensified in the past week, with saboteurs carrying out attacks against Iraq's railway system and protesters openly calling for the overthrow of the Iraqi dictator.
The most blatant act of sabotage took place 20 miles south of the north Iraqi city of Mosul when members of the Iraqi opposition blew up a stretch of track on the Mosul-Baghdad railway, causing the derailment of a train. Before fleeing back to their base in Kurdistan, they left piles of leaflets by the side of the track urging the Iraqi soldiers who were sent to investigate the explosion to join the "international alliance to liberate Iraq" from "Saddam the criminal". In a separate incident, a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at a train illegally transporting fuel from Baghdad to Syria.
Demonstrations were also reported to have taken place in Kirkuk, where an estimated crowd of 20,000 marched on the Ba'ath party's main administrative headquarters demanding Saddam's overthrow. Three posters of the Iraqi leader were torn down and a grenade was thrown at the government building. One senior Ba'ath official was reported killed in the attack.
There were also unconfirmed reports that another demonstration by Iraqi Shi'ites in the holy city of Kerbala last weekend was violently suppressed after the intervention of militiamen loyal to Saddam.
The escalation in attacks by Iraqi opposition groups has also been accompanied by widespread acts of anti-Saddam vandalism. Posters of the Iraqi president, which adorn every public building, are being openly defaced and vandalised throughout the country.
Until recently anyone caught carrying out such acts would have received the death sentence. But the mounting acts of open defiance against Saddam's regime is indicative of the growing confidence being displayed by the main Iraqi opposition groups. Looks like the festivities might be starting. Sammy's looking for Gulf War I — the "Hail Mary" this time might look more like what happened to Ceaucescu.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/15/2003 10:56 pm ||
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And so it begins. The people are going to rise up or stand quietly aside. The Freedom Train is about to leave the station...
Posted by: R. McLeod ||
03/16/2003 0:32 Comments ||
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Despite French denials, U.S. intelligence and defense officials have confirmed that Iraq purchased from China a chemical used in making fuel for long-range missiles, with help from brokers in France and Syria. Say it ain't so!
Bush administration officials said the sale took place in August and was described in classified intelligence reports as a "dual-use" chemical used in making missile fuel. Officials discussed details of the chemical sale after it was first reported by columnist William Safire in Thursday's editions of the New York Times. France's government, however, denied that the sale took place and disputed Mr. Safire's assertion that French intelligence agencies knew about it. In Paris, Foreign Ministry spokesman Francois Rivasseau said reports of the sale are not true. "These accusations are devoid of all foundation," he said. "Lies! All lies! Say, Pierre, who else says that?"
"They are a part of a polemic that we do not want to get involved in. In line with the rules currently in force, France has neither delivered, nor authorized the delivery of such materials, either directly or indirectly," the spokesman said. And just think it's going to look when we get conclusive evidence that you've violated numerous UNSC resolutions in doing this. I think it would be good if Colin Powell pounded the bench with your shoe.
Meanwhile, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz met yesterday with France's ambassador to the United States for what were termed "candid" discussions on Iraq. Having listened to Wolfie, I can only imagine.
The meeting at the Pentagon with French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte came at a time of strained U.S.-French relations. Mr. Levitte sought to lobby Mr. Wolfowitz against U.S. military action in Iraq, and Mr. Wolfowitz told the ambassador that 12 years of waiting had been too costly in terms of the growing threat from Baghdad, according to a U.S. official present at the meeting. The issue of chemical and spare-parts sales to Iraq were not discussed. That would have brought the meeting to a quick end.
The chemical transferred to Iraq was a transparent liquid rubber called hydroxy terminated polybutadiene, or HTPB, that is used in making solid fuel for long-range missiles, said U.S. officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. The sale of the chemical was known since last summer, when it was traced from China's Qilu Chemicals company in Shandong province, the officials said. "Qilu Chemicals is the largest manufacturer of HTPB in China," one official said. Although used mainly for making solid fuel for missiles, HTPB also is used for commerical purposes, such as for space launches. Disclosure of the Chinese chemical sale comes amid other recent intelligence reports revealing that an unidentified French company sold military-aircraft spare parts to Iraq in January. The spare parts for Iraq's French-made Mirage jets and Gazelle helicopters were sold to a company in the United Arab Emirates and sent to Iraq over land from a third country, intelligence officials said. Goodie — Colin can use your other shoe in his presentation!
The chemical sale to Iraq, according to the officials, involved a French company known as CIS Paris, that helped broker the chemical sale in August of 20 tons of HTPB, which was shipped from China to the Syrian port of Tartus. The chemicals were then sent by truck from Syria into Iraq to a missile-manufacturing plant. China to France to Syria. Inning's over!
U.S. officials said the Chinese chemical shipment was purchased by the company in charge of making solid missile fuel for long-range missiles. A CIA report to Congress made public in January stated that Iraq has constructed two new "mixing" buildings for solid-propellant fuels at a plant known as al-Mamoun. The facility was originally built to produce the Badr-2000 â also known as the Condor â solid-propellant missile. Wonder if we know the GPS coordinates?
The new buildings "appear especially suited to house large, U.N.-prohibited mixers of the type acquired for the Badr-2000 program," the CIA report stated. "In fact, we can find no logical explanation for the size and configuration of these mixing buildings other than an Iraqi intention to develop longer-range, prohibited missiles (that is, to mix solid propellant exclusively geared for such missiles)," the report said. I'm sure Blixie will think of something.
A second plant at al-Mamoun has casting pits that "were specifically designed to produce now-proscribed missile motors," the report said. Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney said France's actions in opposing its longtime ally should be punished. "Those who do not take part in the liberation of Iraq should not be allowed to take part in the reconstruction of Iraq," he said. One of the few ways GWB could lose my vote would be to let the Weasels or the Chinese in on the reconstruction.
A Chinese Embassy spokesman had no immediate comment on reports of the HTPB sale. But the spokesman, Xie Feng, said "irresponsible accusations" about China's exports have been made in the past. "Lies! All lies! And quit stealing our lines, Francois!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2003 05:59 pm ||
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Once officially confirmed, we need to put these kind of actions in everyone's faces. No diplomatic niceties here. Nobody will reform world diplomacy or interactions except us (read USA).
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/15/2003 15:13 Comments ||
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Once officially confirmed, we need to put these kind of actions in everyone's faces. No diplomatic niceties here. Nobody will reform world diplomacy or interactions except us (read USA).
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/15/2003 15:13 Comments ||
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Do you folks remember when the audience at the UNSC meeting applauded the French Appeasement Rep to the UN? I'd like to see each and every example of French duplicity laid out in front of the UN at the appropriate time, say about June 1st, 2003.
Posted by: Mark ||
03/15/2003 17:22 Comments ||
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Edited to stay "on target".
The United States has deployed a long-range bomber over Iraq's southern no-fly zone as President George W Bush prepares for emergency talks with his allies. The BBC's Pentagon correspondent says the use of the B-1B Lancer to attack two targets south of Baghdad for the first time since 1998 is another sign of US forces gearing up for war. Gives the B-1 crews a chance to get up to speed. Good idea.
Our Pentagon correspondent, Nick Childs, says US defence officials are trying to play down the new deployment of the B1-B Lancer bombers. But he says their use is significant nonetheless, and the planes would be expected to play an important role in the opening stages of any war. The Lancer bombed two radar sites in western Iraq, US officials said. That area has been a particular focus of air strikes recently, as it is from there that hidden Scud missiles could be fired at Israel. A number of B1-Bs have been deployed to the Gulf as part of the military build-up. Good huntin' boys, and fly safe.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2003 02:28 pm ||
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Jacques Chirac yesterday removed any lingering doubts about France's intentions on Iraq, confirming to Tony Blair in a brief phone call that France was willing to seek a compromise on disarming Saddam Hussein but would not accept any UN resolution that set an ultimatum. "As long as we do it my way, Tony, I'm willing to work with you."
In Berlin, Chancellor Gerhard Schröder also said Germany was convinced the Iraq crisis could still be resolved by peaceful means, telling parliament that UN weapons inspections could produce "sustainable and verifiable disarmament". But soon after he spoke his foreign ministry warned Germans "urgently" against trips to Iraq. Its advice represented a step up from a warning that made no mention of urgency 11 days earlier. "We can disarm Saddam peacefully, but until we do you'd better not travel there." Sure, that's consistent.
The French and British leaders' 10-minute conversation did little to ease rising tensions over Mr Chirac's pledge to veto any new resolution that gives the green light to war. Mr Chirac told Mr Blair that France was ready to shorten the 120-day timetable for arms inspections it had earlier proposed, his spokeswoman said. But he added that France wanted any security council agreement on Iraqi disarmament to continue "in the logic of resolution 1441". Funny, that's what we were trying to do.
In London a Downing Street spokesman reported that Mr Chirac had said he was "willing to look at the [disarmament tests for Iraq] that the UK had put down in the United Nations, but insisted there were no circumstances in which France would countenance a new resolution that authorised or implied military action". The grating thing is that you know Chirac knows how inconsistent this is.
In an address to parliament, Mr Schröder said: "We must have the courage to flee fight for peace as long as there is a scrap of hope that a war can be avoided. Together with our French weasels friends, with Russia and China and the majority of the security council, we are more than ever deluded convinced that Iraq's disarmament can and must be achieved by peaceful means." The chancellor said recent reports by the accomplices UN's weapons inspectors showed Iraq was cooperating "better and more actively". His stance was attacked by Edmund Stoiber, the Bavarian conservative who narrowly failed to oust him from office at last year's general election, and by Angela Merkel, the leader of the Christian Democrats outside Bavaria, who said: "Our opponent is not the American president, our opponent is Saddam Hussein. We would never have ruled out the military option as a last resort." Just have to wonder how a Chanceller Stoiber would have handled this. Would we have a German division joining us, the Brits and the Aussies?
Probably not, but we wouldn't have this mess, either. There would be a token German force, probably NBC cleanup, and the expectation of a piece of the action when Sammy was gone. I think they'll still expect a piece of the action, and my fear is that we'll be dumb enough to let that happen...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2003 02:00 pm ||
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Chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix said yesterday he's more worried about global warming than war. "The environment - that is a creeping danger. I'm more worried about global warming than I am of any major military conflict," the 74-year-old Swede told MTV. Do we need any more evidence this clown is not the right guy for this job?
Blix has come under fire by President Bush's aides who consider him weak understatement of the year!
and was called on the carpet last week for underplaying the discovery of illegal drones in Iraq that could deliver chemical weapons. In the MTV interview, Blix criticized Bush for nixing the Kyoto global environmental agreement early in his presidency. "You have the instances like the global warning convention, the Kyoto protocol, when the U.S. went its own way. I regret it," Blix said. "To me, the question of the environment is more ominous than that of peace and war."
I have the feeling Blix is going to end up in the history books somewhere in the vicinity of Chamberlain...
Posted by: Dar Steckelberg ||
03/15/2003 02:02 pm ||
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Blixey-Baby is just trying to hang on long enough to build up his official retirement plan [and the unofficial one, too].
#3
These windbags like Blix need to be sent a message and the only way to get their attention is to hit them and their institutions in their pocketbooks. They are the cause of global warming.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/15/2003 13:43 Comments ||
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Blixey-Baby is just trying to hang on long enough to build up his official retirement plan [and the unofficial one, too].
#5
I read the interview and what shocked me was his blithe attitude towards WMD relative to global warming. Sooner or later, someone will use nukes as a terrorist weapon. On that day the UN and its ilk should be held accountable.
#6
If we suspend payments to the UN, these clowns will have no retirement accounts. That will get their attention.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/15/2003 15:15 Comments ||
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Don't we already "owe" the UN something like $1.2 billion in dues? Are we making any payments at all on that?
Regardless, after proving the UN is impotent and irrelevant, we should withdraw altogether. Maybe they can impose "sanctions" to get the debt paid. Ha!
Posted by: Dar Steckelberg ||
03/15/2003 16:12 Comments ||
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I think it is a good thing he is interested in global warming, because frankly, he sucks as an arms inspector.
Bags are packed. Spouses and cooks have been dispatched. Letters of apology to the chief of protocol have been printed. Among the dwindling diplomatic corps of Baghdad, only one important official duty remains before ambassadors and consuls form their convoys across the Iraqi desert to Jordan, and that is their calculation on the timing of this war.
Tuesday. Maybe Wednesday...
Though the Swedish flag still flutters over the embassy in Baghdad, they, like most governments, long ago instructed their envoys to leave. At the latest diplomatic gathering in the Iraqi capital, just 24 representatives appeared from the 58 resident missions. Those left behind are absorbed in the motions of departure, but will take their final cue from New York, and the likelihood that the security council will take up Britain's proposal for a second resolution on Iraq. If there is to be no vote, the exodus could get under way immediately. Otherwise, the diplomats will wait until Monday evening to bid their final adieus. Aside from rumours of a few diehards or those stranded by political upheavals at home - like the Somali - leaving is a foregone conclusion. "It makes no sense to stay. We would merely be a burden on Iraq, and an embarrassment to our governments," said one diplomat, padding barefoot in his pyjamas through his cavernous stripped-down residence. Good question for the Somali delegation: where are you safer, Baghdad or Mogadishu?
"Do you think if I stay I would be seen as a hero at home? I would be crucified. People will say: 'You are too dumb to be an ambassador. Were you seriously thinking you could stop the war by being there?" Good question.
He paused to turn up the volume on the television set, tuned permanently to CNN. "The dilemma is to strike a balance between leaving too soon and leaving too late. The point will come when it will be impossible to leave."
Like when you get rounded up to "volunteer" as a human shield?
Yet despite the diminishing of their numbers since February, discussion of departure dates remains a sensitive topic among the shrinking expatriate community. Though they gather twice a week - in restaurants since the evacuation of families and support staff - only the most intimate of associates are open about their plans. When the ambassadors do go, it will be in a series of small departures, not the grand exodus that presaged the start of the last war. "Everybody is pretending not to leave," said one expatriate. "You see them at dinner and they say: 'Hi, we'll see you around', and the next morning you find out they have left." They never told you where they'd 'see you around'.
The realists admit there is little to keep the diplomats here. Except for the Chinese, the Russians and the French, commercial interests in Iraq are marginal. A few dozen Indian and Pakistani nationals remain - students of Arabic on Iraqi government scholarships or those with years of residence - and those who want to go will be evacuated over the weekend. The diplomatic corps is granted relatively little access to the inner power circles of Iraq. Aside from the ambassador from Vietnam - who first met Saddam Hussein as his translator during a visit to Hanoi before he rose to power - none has seen the Iraqi leader except on television. The closest they have come is the ritual group photo following military parades - and even these events occur only once every few years. "It has not been very stressful, let me tell you," said one ambassador. But the countdown to war has shaken them from their routines. As they gather around their TV sets, there is a sense they are about to become central to a drama that they do not yet fully comprehend. "Let's face it," one said, "We are the ones who know least about what is going to happen." Typical diplomats!
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2003 02:07 pm ||
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The story I find more telling is that many of these countries are giving Iraqi "diplomats" the heave-ho.
There was some reportage a while back on these Iraqis "casing" potential US targets in foreign capitals, e.g., we go in, they respond with a car bomb in, say, Sofia.
I know the Swedes and the Hungarians have booted out Iraqis in the last 48 hours so, despite some countries publicly saying Saddam hasn't been provably linked to terror, privately their security services must know Saddam has such a plan.
The government today dismissed Iraq's lie submission to UN weapons inspectors that it had destroyed its stocks of VX nerve agent 12 years ago. The foreign secretary, Jack Straw, and the Labour party chairman, John Reid, both cast scorn doubt on Baghdad's 25-page lie report, delivered to Has Blix earlier today. "Pull the other leg, Mr. Blix."
Mr Straw told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "At each stage what Iraq does is introduce lies concessions which are cynically calculated and calibrated to be the minimum possible to create disunity diversion and doubt discussion in the international community, but to avoid enforcement against them." Mr Reid said that Iraq's submission on the VX nerve agent was "just more lies game playing". Speaking to the party's eastern conference in Clacton, Essex, Mr Reid said: "If he (Saddam) had disposed of this material why wasn't it in the original declaration?" Three guesses, and the first two don't count.
The party chairman added: "Kofi Annan has already said that 'If Iraq's defiance continues, the security council must face its responsibilities'. Kofi: "We must then debate some more! Iraq will surely come to its senses if it sees how serious we are about debating this to death!"
"It was therefore doubly disappointing to hear the Weasel French chief designated apologist foreign minister last night say: 'We will not let the undecided countries take responsibility for the vote.' "Mon dieu! No one should take responsibility!"
"Is it any wonder that it is proving so difficult to reach agreement on a second resolution?" Mr Reid echoed the foreign secretary's insistence that war without a fresh resolution would still be legal. "While there is a legal base under 1441 and previous resolutions, we are working for a new security council resolution, because we want the world to stay united on this, to preserve UN unity and maximise pressure on Chirac Saddam. "If as a result of Iraqi non-compliance and French intransigence that is not possible, then it makes the diplomacy very, very difficult. But we will continue to work hard to change minds and get that second resolution." "Until George says, 'let's roll'."
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2003 01:31 pm ||
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Boy UN resolutions and Islamist fatwas. The former are absolutely worthless, the latter are documents by nuitcases. This is not a good thing to say, but at least the latter tries to implement theirs. More causes of global warming....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/15/2003 13:53 Comments ||
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Those worthless UN resolutions shouldn't even be called resolutions. The absolute last thing that the UN has demonstrated is any sort of resolve......
#3
"Is it any wonder that it is proving so difficult to reach agreement on a second resolution?"
IE its not the fault of the africans, mexicans, chileans or the Pakis. Its the fault of the FRENCH. This seems to playing well in UK. Chiraq clearly overplayed. game over.
Singapore has said it would back a US-led war against Iraq without a second UN Security Council resolution if Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein does not disarm immediately. "If Iraq gets away without disarming, it will send a very bad signal to extremist groups across the world," Foreign Minister Shanmugam Jayakumar told parliament on Friday, according to a statement. "The fact that the Security Council cannot reach consensus on a second resolution cannot be taken as an excuse for inaction." Singapore's a very pragmatic place...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/15/2003 01:04 pm ||
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Ah yes, the land of a thousand lashes. Looks like they get the point. (no pun intended... really).
#2
Pragmatic is a good description. They do what works.
They've noticed that the Security Council doesn't work, probably figure the UN's on the way down, and are going to do their best to get in a good position for later favors. Good for them.
Posted by: Kathy K ||
03/15/2003 15:51 Comments ||
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Philipines and Japan are also supportive. Essentially all of non-muslim, non-Communist East Asia is swinging our way. They looks more and more like an evolving global alignment.
Britain could take lawful military action against Iraq without a second U.N. resolution, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said Saturday as other British officials warned a military strike could be just days away. Like Tuesday...
On the eve of a summit between the leaders of Britain, the United States and Spain, Straw said resolution 1441, passed unanimously by the U.N. Security Council in November, provided the legal authority for war. Asked on British Broadcasting Corp. radio if there would be a second resolution before war, Straw said: "I cannot say that for certain. Plainly, if military action has to be taken, it is preferable, to put it at its lightest, that we could have the whole of the international community behind us. But that may not be possible. Any action we are involved in, or in the future are involved in, will be fully consistent with our obligations in international law. We are satisfied, as are many other countries, that we ... would have full legal authority" under 1441. Yep. Tony's bitten the bullet, and we're going to go ahead anyway. The UN is dead, if Bush and Blair want it to be. So what's all this yapping and finagling accomplished? A year ago, the U.S. withdrawing from the UN was a fringe position. If it happened today, most of the American public would approve, I think. A year ago, NATO was still a viable entity in theory. Today it's as dead as the UN — if Bush and Blair want it to be.
British ambassador to the United Nations Jeremy Greenstock said Friday that war could be just days away. In Greece, British Armed Forces Minister Adam Ingram agreed. "I think that language which has been used over recent days in London would lead us to that conclusion as well," Ingram said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/15/2003 12:03 pm ||
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It's time to wait and see. If the next elections bring even bigger fools than Chiraq & Schroeder, then you can safely assume it's a trend, and you can be sure consequences will follow.
As for the UN, it lasted as long as it did because of the Cold War. Now it's just a welfare project for unemployed diplomats.
The biggest shocker is that France & Germany are actually willing to put their friendship with the US on the line protecting some guy that everyone knows should have been made into fertilizer a long time ago.
#2
To RW
France and Germany are not friends, and the forces behind them are much bigger than many of us think. They are actively helping the enemies of the US and trying to subvert the international situation. Muslim countries are with them, some Churches, the whole subversive left of the world. It is an alliance against us: even if it looks a strange alliance, it exists, de facto.
#3
France and Germany have cast their lots with the terrorists by action. France especially has a large 5th column a growin' right in their own house. We cannot do anything about that problem, but we must develop healthy relationships with all those other European countries, though some small economically but large in principles. Nature abhors a vacuum, and China is waiting in the wings, enjoying the show between the west and the islamists. These are very dangerous times for our countries and it isn't just about terror.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/15/2003 14:03 Comments ||
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France will always be France...duplicitous, unwashed, Michael Moore-loving arrogant pricks (and those are their good qualities!).
Germany only needs Angela Merkel to become chancellor.
#5
during the cold war the UNSC was effectively useless cause of the Soviet veto. We stayed in the UN - it was useful for many other things, as long as we didnt pretend the UNSC was a world govt. After GW1 and fall of USSR some thought UNSC could act a little like world govt. This shows it cant. Doesnt mean we should leave UN, just return to a more realistic view of it - a good collection of specialized agencies, a convenient place to get a lot of diplos into one room, and thats about it.
#6
The UN has been an impotent organization for many years, long before this recent impasse...can anyone point to one constructive thing that the UN has done over the last 50 years? It hasn't prevented any wars, and has sat idly by while millions have been slaughtered in places like Rwanda and Yugoslavia...
as for France and Germany, I believe that one has to differentiate between French intransigence and Germany's...many of the Christian democrats in Germany are with us...it's only because of Schroeder that we're in the position...I think we can still count Germany as an ally (once Schroeder is out of office)...as for the French--fuck 'em!
Posted by: Bill ||
03/15/2003 22:02 Comments ||
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Hundreds of fighters from Iraq's main Shiite Muslim opposition faction put on a rare show of military force at their northern Iraqi base yesterday, with their leadership vowing they would act independently of the United States in the battle against Saddam Hussein.
Been conferring with the Ayatollahs, have they? Toldja this was gonna happen...
During a rare public parade by the Al-Badr Brigade, the armed wing of the Iran-based Supreme Assembly of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SAIRI), the group's number two said his well-disciplined army would quickly move to secure areas captured from the Iraqi regime in the hours following a US assault. "We will do it our way. We have our own plans," Abdul Aziz al-Hakim told reporters at the Al-Badr Brigade's recently installed base in a lush green valley near Darbandikhan, in the southeast of the Kurdish autonomous zone close to the Iranian border.
Then why don't you do it without the help of the Great Satan?
"The message is that it is Iraqis who should oust Saddam Hussein. Our role will be real participation, and we do not need outside help," al-Hakim said. "We are not going to sit here and wait, we will be providing on the ground security."
Don't need any outside help, is it? Then we can go home, huh? And save our money and lives. You just take care of it and let us know when you're done, Abdul.
When asked if his group was in any way coordinating its armed operations with Washington, he boasted that "on the level of field actions, there is no specific agreement with any country because we don't need it".
Can't recall having seen you do anything to date, Abdul...
The Al-Badr Brigade, which has up to now been largely kept out of the public eye, is believed to number between 10,000 and 15,000 opportunists fighters. Many of the fighters based here crossed from Iran in recent months in the countdown to an anticipated US-led war aimed at toppling the Iraqi president. SAIRI is also engaged in talks with Iran on allowing more of its fighters to cross into either northern or southern Iraq, officials here said. The parade outside Darbandikhan, 45km south of Sulaymaniya, included some 800 fighters from the militia's Imam Ali unit.
Oooh. I love parades. They're so... so... martial.
They were carrying Kalashnikov assault rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, heavy machine guns and communications equipment. Most of the fighters, who appeared to have been recently equipped with new uniforms and weapons, were in their 30s or early 40s.
Kinda long in the tooth for an effective fighting force. Early to mid-twenties is best â old enough not to be kiddies anymore, still strong and limber and able to function in adverse conditions. Once you hit your mid-30s, your knees start to go...
Dozens of new Japanese-made pick-ups, mounted with recoilless rifles, mortars and rocket launchers also rolled past a podium of SAIRI leaders to the beat of a small military band. Darbandikhan is situated in the southeast of the Kurdish autonomous enclave in an area controlled by the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) of Jalal Talabani. The PUK and the rival Kurdistan Democratic Party of Masoud Barzani have divided control of much of northern Iraq since the aftermath of the 1991 Gulf war. Precision Guided Munitions have changed the "Correlation of Forces" a bit for the Ayatullah's; if they concentrate their forces, they will be vaporized by the Great Satan. And guerilla warfare ain't exactly a bed of roses on the desert no more, with infrared sensors, C130 gunships and all (it's more like a bed of Sonoran Desert cholla). And then, the Demonstrations in Tehran may not be all that good for the morale of the brigadiers.
Posted by: George H. Beckwith ||
03/15/2003 12:57 pm ||
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It occurs to me that the Iranian clerics may have figured out part of the game, and are moving to oppose it. They probably don't realize that by doing so, they're drawing a target on their chest.
#2
You know, since they haven't allied with us, I see no reason to assume they're not hostile, and would bomb them back to Tehran accordingly
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2003 17:13 Comments ||
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I'm a little surprised at this. The marsh Arabs may be Shi'a but they're Arabs first. Consorting with the Meades and Persians ain't like 'em. In the Iraq-Iran war the marsh Arabs lined up with Sammy and not with the ayatollahs.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2003 19:16 Comments ||
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These guys are in the NORTH, in Kurdistan. To make an independent bid for power theyd have to go to the Shiite south. By staying in the North they can make mischief on behalf of the Iranians, but they cant be very effective, since they wont have the support of the locals.
On the eve of a summit aimed at rescuing his war resolution from probable U.N. failure, President Bush said Saturday that crucial days lie ahead for countries interested in promoting security and averting tragedy. Ok, lets clear this up at the start, you dont have a "summit" with the other three guys who agree with if you are going to come up with yet another resolution. If they were going to do that, they would have invited the French and Germans. They are only getting together to get their stories straight for public consumption next week. The UN game is over.
"Governments are now showing whether their stated commitments to liberty and security are words alone â or convictions they're prepared to act upon," Bush said in his weekly radio address, war perhaps just days away. Current Rantburg "ballon watch" concensus is for before next Friday, and I concur.
The address, focusing on a gruesomely detailed litany of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's reported atrocities, previewed Bush's one-day race across the Atlantic and back to huddle for a few hours with British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar. The three allies, at a Sunday summit pulled together in a rush, were seeking a way to break the impasse at the United Nations, where little support has emerged for the new resolution they introduced together authorizing force in Iraq. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, in an interview on Al-Jazeera, called the meeting in Portugal's Azores Islands "a last push to see if we can convince people to take on their responsibilities." Theres a jab in the eye towards the Franco-German bloc. I think the only open debate is whether or not to actually put the resolution to a vote or not.
Bush had pledged to seek a vote in the U.N. Security Council, even without enough support, but the White House backpedaled this week in the face of intransigent opposition. We've been repeatedly told by the other nations that its a waste of effort in light of the French veto-under-all-circumstances pledge.
Administration officials said any compromise the leaders devise would almost certainly provide a brief extension of the second resolution's March 17 deadline for Saddam to give up his weapons of mass destruction. U.S. and foreign diplomats said, however, another alternative was more likely: Blair, embattled at home over his war stance and needing political cover from his American ally, would ask Bush and Aznar to withdraw the resolution rather than face certain defeat. If so, the White House would shift almost immediately to a war footing. The speech, which could come as early as Monday, is expected to serve as a final ultimatum for Saddam before a military attack, said the aides, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Keep your TV remote close at hand, President Bush is expected to make an announcement on Sunday about noon. Could be interesting....
"Not acting to rid the world of weapons of mass destruction is neither politically nor morally acceptable," said Aznar, who supports an attack on Iraq but has not committed troops. Spain,like most continental european countries, doesn't really have any armed forces to begin with.
Blair, who has sent 40,000 British troops to join hundreds of thousands of Americans in the Persian Gulf, welcomed both the summit and a new U.S. push for Middle East peace that Bush announced on Friday. Even as the last-ditch diplomacy continued, tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators prepared for a weekend march on the White House and other cities around the world. Accomplishing nothing, signifying even less.
Bush, meanwhile, urged radio listeners and wavering Security Council members to "never lose sight of the basic facts about the regime of Baghdad." Calling Saddam a "reckless dictator," Bush said: "We know from human rights groups that dissidents in Iraq are tortured, imprisoned and sometimes just disappear; their hands, feet and tongues are cut off; their eyes are gouged out; and female relatives are raped in their presence. We have seen far too many instances in the past decade â from Bosnia, to Rwanda, to Kosovo â where the failure of the Security Council to act decisively has led to tragedy," Bush said. "And we must recognize that some threats are so grave â and their potential consequences so terrible â that they must be removed, even if it requires military force." How's that for a clear indication of how the old man is thinking.
However, with both sides showing little give, administration officials acknowledged there was little chance of changing opponents' minds during a mid-Atlantic meeting of like-minded leaders. Ok, one more time, President Bush is not flying to the Azores to try to change the minds of the only guys who agree with him. This is partially for Mr. Tony Blair, to consider whether or not to force the rest of the security council to actually vote, or to let them slide. It's also to get everyone on 'our side' together and ensure that they are reading from the same hymnal before the start of action. There wont be any action prior to noon on sunday ( that we start anyway, saddam may make things happen on his own.) so, rest up today, get your grocery shopping done, take a nap, clean your browser cache,set your tivo's on "stun", because my guess is that next week, its showtime. French President Jacques Chirac told Blair by telephone "he would not accept an ultimatum to Saddam," Blair's spokesman said. Russia rejected a British compromise plan that would give Iraq a short deadline and specific conditions to prove it had disarmed. German Ambassador Gunter Pleuger called the weekend effort to find a peaceful solution "wonderful and welcomed," while his boss, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, repeated his country's position that U.N. weapons inspections are enough to contain Iraq. For its part, the White House rejected as "a nonstarter" the latest bid for a diplomatic compromise at the United Nations, a plan from Chile to give Iraq a three-week deadline to comply with a set of new conditions. And a new report filed with the U.N. by weapons inspector Hans Blix, which a senior U.S. official said envisioned stretching out inspections for months, was sharply at odds with the Bush administration's stated timeframe.
I heard yesterday that Bush was going to give Sammy 72 hours to get out of Dodge. Assuming he give that ultimatum tomorrow, that's Tuesday for the festivities to begin...
Rice said the diplomatic window is now only days wide. "We're certainly not talking about weeks because this has gone on long enough," she said. Said Bush: "Crucial days lie ahead for the free nations of the world."
Yeah. Like the demise of the League of Nations.
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
03/15/2003 12:28 pm ||
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The only wildcard I can see is the French deciding to intervene to protect the Iraqis directly by landing "peacekeeping forces" directly into Iraq.
at this point Chirac is writing checks his ass cant cash, I dont put anything beyond him. By taking down Iraq, The president is driving a stake through the heart of the French economy, and Chirac knows it.
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
03/15/2003 14:45 Comments ||
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So, Chiraq won't accept an ultimatum to Saddam, but he might have to accept an ultimatum, and frankly, I really wonder how much of a "good friend" he is to Chiraq. He just might want him to go down and decide against shredding certain documents.
#3
Frankly, I think it is too dangerous to give Saddam 3 days notice. All that does is give him 3 days to pre-emptively attack our troops and Isreal with chem-bio weapons and begin laying waste to his own country. I think prior notice would be foolhardy. JMHO
#4
The only wildcard I can see is the French deciding to intervene to protect the Iraqis directly by landing "peacekeeping forces" directly into Iraq.
at this point Chirac is writing checks his ass cant cash, I dont put anything beyond him. By taking down Iraq, The president is driving a stake through the heart of the French economy, and Chirac knows it.
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
03/15/2003 14:45 Comments ||
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The Russians have a precedent of doing this, remember Kosovo? Wouldn't be surprised if they tried a stunt like that again.
#6
The French are sane enough not to get in the middle of "Shock & Awe". Their objective is geopolitical, not Sammy. The sad fact is they know better than we how bad he is (seeing they sold him most everything).
Posted by: john ||
03/15/2003 20:22 Comments ||
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To pull a Kosovo in Iraq means traversing the Northern No Fly Zone. Good luck...
Posted by: Brian ||
03/15/2003 23:36 Comments ||
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The French must pay a heavy price for the duplicities. If not, others will be emboldened to do the same. All military cooperation with them must be reduced to very low-level contact. No federal contracts or subcontracts. And certainly NOT any post-war reconstruction involvement.
The French truly believe they're going to get away with their shit without any real harm. That better not be the case. Ordinary Americans aren't going to forget their behavior...and the US government better not either.
The French need a lot of pushback, and we should give it to them. They're such pussies they'll fold at the slightest touch...
Posted by: R. McLeod ||
03/16/2003 0:41 Comments ||
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Turkey's new government signaled Saturday it would wait at least another week to decide about the deployment of U.S. forces on its soil, but the United States appeared to be losing hope of using Turkey to open a northern front against Iraq. A senior U.S. official said Washington has now retracted its offer to give Turkey $15 billion in economic aid if it allowed the U.S. deployment. "The package was time-bound and we have moved on time-wise," the official said on condition of anonymity. It's a deader...
The package of grants and loans was hammered out in tough negotiations and was aimed at cushioning Turkey's fragile economy from damage resulting from an Iraq war. But earlier this month the Turkish parliament rejected a resolution allowing tens of thousands of U.S. troops into the country. So now we don't give a färt...
The decision severely strained ties between the NATO-allies, and Washington appeared less confident about using Turkey to open a northern front against Iraq. There was no immediate confirmation from Washington that the package was off the table. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who took over as prime minister Friday, wants his government to win a vote of confidence from lawmakers before deciding whether to make a second attempt for parliament's approval of the U.S. deployment. He indicated Saturday the confidence vote wouldn't come until next weekend. "We'll get around to it... One of these days."
The official hinted that the United States had lost hope to see its troops launch an attack through Turkey, adding that Washington was now working to prevent Turkey from sending its troops into northern Iraq. "It is no secret that we wanted to have access through Turkey," a senior U.S. official said on condition of anonymity. "But we always said there would be ways to work around" a refusal by Turkey." Just make sure they stay the hell out of Kurdistan. Which they probably won't.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/15/2003 10:29 am ||
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Too bad, Turkey. Short term gain at home, long term loss world wide. NO EU, no special relationship with the United States.
#2
Guess we're going to have to start cranking these out soon, scouting out a location for our Kurdistan base, and figuring out where the US embassy to the Independent Republic of Kurdistan's going to go.
Posted by: Christopher Johnson ||
03/15/2003 15:29 Comments ||
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Too bad, Turkey. Short term gain at home, long term loss world wide. NO EU, no special relationship with the United States.
#4
Chuck---Your 100% right. Our relationship with Turkey has been dead horse damaged, and the EU will toy with Turkey until the end of time. They made the decision and they will have to live with it. SK are ya watching this, eh?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/15/2003 11:51 Comments ||
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Guess we're going to have to start cranking these out soon, scouting out a location for our Kurdistan base, and figuring out where the US embassy to the Independent Republic of Kurdistan's going to go.
Posted by: Christopher Johnson ||
03/15/2003 15:29 Comments ||
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PRESIDENT Arroyo on Saturday warned local government officials who are friendly with insurgent groups that they would be the last to receive government funds. In her meeting with local government executives Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog at Malacañang, the President hinted she knows âwho among the local government units have been sleeping with the enemy; so do not hope that you will receive further assistance from the government. In fact, if the national budget is restrained, they would be the last to obtain funds,â she said. If you know where the Fifth Column is, you'd better break it up, now, before it's too late...
Mrs. Arroyo said those who have ties with rebel groups should decide if they are for the government on peace and order or not. The President said the local governments can use their intelligence funds, but they have to account for them first if they want to ask for more from the national government. I suspect that a significant number of them aren't for "peace and order." They're out for themselves and their families, and their horizon is strictly short-term.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/15/2003 10:29 am ||
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In Cagayan de Oro City, the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines in Mindanao has joined antiwar groups in calling on President Gloria Arroyo to immediately renew a cease-fire agreement with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) to pave the way for the resumption of the suspended peace talks. MILF kills people, often by the dozen, and wants to gnaw off a rich part of the Philippines for its own little Islamic paradise. And these clownsusual suspects people want to sit down and chat...
For nearly four hours on Saturday, Catholic priests, Protestant ministers and representatives of various groups talked about the prospects of peace in Mindanao over radio station dxCL in Cagayan de Oro. Islamic preachers, a Muslim womenâs group and academics also had a dialogue with leaders of the MILF, and the communist National Democratic Front, represented by NDF-Mindanao spokesman Jorge Madlos alias Ka Oris. Rebel leaders spoke through their cellular phones. The multisectoral group pleaded to the Arroyo administration and the defense establishment to soften their stance and schedule the resumption of peace negotiations with the rebel groups to end the decades-old Mindanao conflict. "Yes. You should back off and let them resume building a power base. That way, a year or two down the road, you won't be able to dislodge them. Give them everything they want now, so you don't have to give it to them later."
From Kidapawan City, Bishop Romulo Valles read a pastoral letter for all Catholic churches in Mindanao. The letter said Church leaders were disturbed because the clashes between government troops and separatist rebels in Central Mindanao have already displaced hundreds if not thousands of families. âWe call on both parties in the armed conflict to immediately cease all forms of offensive, counteroffensive and other military actions [because of their adverse] effects on the economy and [because] of [the] displacement of civilians and noncombatants,â said Bishop Valles. Catholic leaders called for a cease-fire agreement between the government and the milf and for both parties to respect and follow it. Previous cease-fire agreements were reportedly violated by both protagonists. "Oh, yezzz. No difference between the two. The gummint has no right to preserve national integrity or to put down rebellion and subversion..." Sheikh Jaafar Ali, a Muslim leader, said future peace negotiations should be held in Mindanao or possibly in Pikit. An academic and Muslim womenâs right advocate, Cabaybay Abbubakar, said the continuing offensives and counteroffensives have taken their toll on the local economy. Badly hit, she said, are local agriculture sectors. âWeâre afraid that with more troops coming, the entire island of Mindanao will become a war zone,â said Abbubakar. Mostly affected, she said, are innocent Filipino Muslims. Of course, the turbans are always hardest hit. Nobody suffers like they do... Bishop Honesto Pacana of Malaybalay City in Bukidnon said the government, the MILF and the NDF should keep communication lines open. âThis is the only way for us to start having peace,â said Pacana. You mean, other than killing all the MILF and NDF gunnies...
But he could not hide his disappointment over the military offensives, which got the Arroyo administrationâs go-ahead. Opposition leaders have faulted Defense Secretary Angelo Reyes for allegedly discarding the peace process by giving the military the green light. MILF leader al-Hadj Murad, who was reportedly in Malaysia, said his group was willing to sit with government negotiators in search of a political settlement. âBut instead of resolving the root cause of the problem, the government is using all means to suppress the struggle of the Bangsamoro people. Even at the negotiating table, some of the demands were not fully implemented,â said Murad. "Yes. We need a considerable portion of the Philippines for our own if we're going to be able to live in peace and prosperity. And a considerable portion of Malaysia and Indonesia, too. And probably Singapore... And maybe a little bit of Mexico... Oh, and don't forget Tahiti. We definitely need that..."
I hate to say this, because it sounds so French, but the more of this sort of thing I read, the more anti-clerical I become. Apparently, any statement, by any bishop, anywhere, is going to contain the same drool.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/15/2003 10:29 am ||
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That's because catholic church is dead and rotting since the beginning of the 20th century, even if it is still numerically the proeminent christian faction. It has become a master of appeasement (remember the siege of Nativity ?), even if it means apologizing for the crusades, the cathars, the inquisition, the evangelization, etc, etc, ad nauseam. And nobody care anyway.
Pope John Paul II was very firm and courageous vs communism, but he failed to reform (a "Vatican III" would be much needed), and his sponsor, the ultra-conservative Opus Dei, is blind and deaf to the atheist/agnostic state of the western catholic world.
Japan has threatened to impose economic sanctions on North Korea if it tests a ballistic missile, according to government officials quoted by Japanese media. "Remember the last time we got seriously mad at you guys? Somewhere around 1910?"
North Korea has tested two short range missiles in recent weeks, prompting speculation it is preparing to launch a longer-range version similar to one it fired over Japan in 1998. Japanese government sources said possible sanctions would include a halt to cash transfers and exports to the North, according to the Kyodo news agency and leading newspapers. Japan's exports to North Korea totalled about $135m in 1999, while cash transfers from Japan's sizeable Korean community are also thought to be significant. The sanctions threat came a day after the United States resumed reconnaissance flights near North Korea, as the stand-off over the secretive state's nuclear programme showed no signs of abating. Japanese newspapers have reported that Pyongyang might be preparing to test-fire its Rodong ballistic missile, which has a range long enough to reach almost anywhere in Japan. The Japanese Government played down the reports, saying it had "no specific information" on a possible launch. But Japan's defence agency has confirmed that a Aegis-class surveillance warship has been sent closer to the Korean Peninsula, in what was described as "regular patrol activities". The US Air Force has also resumed reconnaissance flights in international airspace off North Korea, 11 days after a US plane was intercepted by North Korean fighters jets. Do we have air cover in place?
North Korea has maintained a self-imposed moratorium on ballistic missile tests since 1999. But in January it threatened to lift the ban, as fears over its nuclear ambitions mounted. Those fears were given fresh impetus on Wednesday, when Washington warned that North Korea's nuclear programme may be much more advanced than previously thought. It usually is. Witness Iran. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly said that Pyongyang's uranium enrichment programme could be only months away from producing weapons-grade material. North Korea has already re-started its Yongbyon nuclear reactor, which could soon be reprocessing nuclear fuel into plutonium - another way of making nuclear bombs. The BBC's State Department correspondent Jon Leyne says experts believe the North could soon have a production line able to make up to a bomb a month. Is this the export version of the bomb?
Mr Kelly confronted the North Koreans over the existence of a nuclear programme last October, triggering the latest crisis. He admitted that most of Washington's allies in Asia were pressing for the US to acquiesce to Pyongyang's demands for direct talks with the North. But Washington is sticking to its policy of pushing for multilateral talks, saying North Korea's nuclear ambitions concern the rest of the world, not just the US. Keep stalling. South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun has again called for "urgent" steps to resolve the nuclear crisis. Mr Roh said on Thursday that resolving the standoff was his top priority, as another war on the Korean peninsula would reduce South Korea's prosperity to ashes in a moment.
You wanted to be the big, equal partner. Go ahead. Handle it.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2003 02:32 pm ||
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Is Japan threatening to cut off NKor's supply of Pokemon cards? Kim Jung Il will go ballistic!
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The N. Korean expats in Japan are big in the Pachinko and other gambling industries. I imagine that's a major revenue source for Krazy Kim. Japan needs to cut that flow now - the money transfers I mean, the Japanese would never stand for Pachinko prohibition...there'd be riots.
Posted by: Tokyo Taro ||
03/15/2003 22:28 Comments ||
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Rebels loyal to the sacked army chief Francois Bozize have seized control of the international airport and the presidential palace. My, that was quick. President Ange-Felix Patasse's plane was shot at as it approached Bangui airport, but it has now landed safely in Cameroon. Mr Patasse had been in Niger, where he attended a pan-African summit on Friday. Hope he didn't leave home without his American Express card.
Witnesses say there is widespread panic among residents in the capital as they flee their homes to avoid the fighting. The rebels, who are thought to number about 1,000, are reported to be meeting no resistance from government forces. "Government troops are not visible on the streets - we can still hear shooting," a Bangui resident told BBC News Online. Taking pot shots from under cover?
More likely the rebels are shooting any of them they can catch. Pass the Mr Bubble. We're gonna have a bloodbath...
Mr Patasse, who was democratically elected president in 1993, has weathered numerous coup attempts. Following an outbreak of fighting last October, the country was divided into two - between rebels loyal to Mr Bozize, and government troops. Mr Patasse accused Chad of backing the rebels - a charge his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby denies. "It was Brian; Chad would never do this!"
Government troops regained control of the country this year, but the rebels were still believed to be at large in rural areas in the north, and in southern Chad. In the face of opposition, Mr Patasse has increasingly relied on foreign military support. In May 2001, Colonel Muammar Gaddafi surprised the international community when he sent a Libyan force to help the CAR president put down a coup attempt led by the former president, General Andre Kolingba. The Libyan troops stayed on until the end of 2002 when they were replaced by a peacekeeping force of about 350 under the umbrella of the Central African Economic Community (Cemac). Cemac troops had reportedly been controlling M'Poko airport which is now said to be in rebel hands. Sounds like another fine job by an international peace-keeping force.
Mr Patasse has also received backing from a Congolese rebel group - the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), led by Jean-Pierre Bemba - which controls the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo. MLC troops started crossing the Obangui River into the CAR on Saturday morning. They are expected to play an important role in the attempt by the presidential guard and army to push back the rebels. This will be a typical Charlie Fox situation for Africa.
Despite being diamond-rich, the CAR is one of the poorest countries in Africa. I was wondering why the heck people were fighting over this place. Now I get it.
The country's acute instability is partly due to ethnic tensions. Since independence in 1960, the better-educated southern tribes have dominated government institutions and the army.
"Hey! No fair! Them guys knows how to read and write!"
Mr Patasse - the first northerner to ever hold office in the country of 3.5 million people - has never been able to command their full support. Additionally, there has been an economic downturn since the French turned its back on the country in the mid-90s, withdrawing substantial contributions to the national budget. Ah, the French at their best!
At present, civil servants and the army have not been paid for months which has led to recent demonstrations. This is how you lose support, Mr. Patasse, pee on the people who work for you.
The CAR was due last year to qualify for World Bank assistance which observers hoped would turn it around - but fighting meant negotiations were put on hold.
Saved that money from getting pissed away on acrobatic blondes. Patasse probably carried the entire national treasury with him on his trip, which'll be enough to cover bus fare to Tripoli...
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/15/2003 02:25 pm ||
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The Libyans have been in and out here for years. I think one of the French interventions in the 80's was to defeat the Libyans.
And, why did the French turn their back on the Republic? Perhaps because its government refused to toe the Francophone line? After all, the French had little problem when it was the Central African Empire and its emperor ate people at state dinners.
And just how many places are some form of Congo rebels going to intervene? Maybe we should sign them up to help with Iraq. They seem to want to be everywhere else.
A Venezuelan union boss sought by authorities for leading a crippling strike against President Hugo Chavez was granted political asylum at the Costa Rican embassy. Carlos Ortega, a fierce critic of Chavez who spearheaded the two-month opposition strike that tried to oust the leftist leader, went into hiding last month ago after the government arrested another strike leader. Chavez brands his political enemies "terrorists and coup mongers." He has threatened to arrest strike leaders who he accuses of trying to sabotage the oil industry. Ortega is the third major foe of Chavez to seek political sanctuary overseas in the last year. Pedro Carmona, the opposition business chief who briefly replaced Chavez as president during April's coup last year, was allowed to leave for Colombia last year. Retired naval officer Carlos Molina, who faced an investigation for his part in the coup, was later granted refuge in El Salvador. Hugo's working hard at becoming Fidel...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/15/2003 12:53 pm ||
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A US aircraft carrier and stealth bombers prepared Saturday to join major war games with South Korea, while North Korea warned that the amassing of US military might around the Korean Peninsula increases the danger of nuclear war. Pyongyang has vehemently objected to the annual Foal Eagle military exercises by US and South Korean forces that began early this month amid a standoff over the communist North's nuclear programs.
Washington says it seeks a peaceful solution to the nuclear dispute. But Pyongyang accuses the United States of using the exercises as a pretext for dispatching its modern weaponry to the peninsula and rehearsing for invasion. "The US can attack the DPRK any moment," said Pyongyang's main state-run daily Rodong Sinmun on Saturday. "The US seeks to round off its preparations for a nuclear war against the DPRK at its final phase and mount a pre-emptive nuclear attack on it any time," it added. In recent weeks, North Korea has escalated tensions by test-firing two short-range missiles and intercepting a US reconnaissance plane off the country's east coast.
Meanwhile, in Berkeley, California, North Korea's UN ambassador met with officials from South Korea, the United States, China, Japan and the European Union for talks aimed at allaying tensions on the Korean peninsula. However, no one was appearing as an official representative of a country. "We are having a very lively discussion," said Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a University of Tokyo professor and co-chair of the conference.
What an appropriate place to gather to pass gas...
In Seoul, the South Korean Defence Ministry vowed to "strengthen the military alliance with the United States, based on mutual trust and cooperation, and pursue the joint goal of peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula." So we have no friends in the world. Well, as Lord Palmerston said: "We have no eternal allies and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are perpetual and eternal and these interests it is our duty to follow (Speech on the Polish Question in the House of Commons [1848])
The ministry has often made the statement in the past and it did not immediately appear that Saturday's comments, delivered in an annual policy report to the country's president, would lead to specific action.
The aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson anchored off the southern city of Busan on Friday, and US officials said they would take a group of journalists on a tour of the ship later Saturday. The US military on Friday displayed one of the six F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters it has brought to South Korea for the military exercise dubbed Foal Eagle. "One of the valuable parts of these exercises is we get experience flying in South Korean airspace," Lt. Col. Jay Lake said at Kunsan Air Base south of Seoul. "Our mission is going against big, valuable, heavily defended targets."
The Japanese government, meanwhile, has said it is considering strengthening its missile defenses amid reports that North Korea is preparing to test a medium-range missile capable of reaching Japan. The Tokyo announcement came a day after Japan's Defence Agency said it had deployed an Aegis-equipped destroyer - which includes top-of-the-line surveillance systems and ship-to-air missiles - in the waters between Japan and North Korea. Japan's Kyodo news agency reported Friday that the government was considering sending two more Aegis-equipped destroyers to the Sea of Japan in response to the possible threat. But Defence Agency spokesman Manabu Shimamoto said the agency "has no plans to fortify its presence in the Sea of Japan right now."
South Korea's military Saturday said it did not believe North Korea was preparing to test-fire its ballistic missiles.
Posted by: George H. Beckwith ||
03/15/2003 12:37 pm ||
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I guarantee NK is surprised at how this is progressing. They'd planned on Bush, Runny, et al acting like bill, Madeline, Jimmy C....and that hasn't happened. Meanwhile their circumstances are not getting better by any means
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/15/2003 19:03 Comments ||
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Once he is sworn in, the new Palestinian prime minister may be invited to the White House to meet with President Bush as the administration accelerates its drive for a Middle East settlement and a Palestinian state. "I think there would be nothing better, at some point in time when it is appropriate, for a Palestinian prime minister to visit the White House," Condoleezza Rice, Bush's national security adviser, said Friday in an interview telecast to the Arab world. After the appointment of Mahmoud Abbas, known also as Abu Mazen, as prime minister is confirmed, Bush plans to present Israel and the Palestinians with a "road map" for peace. A PaleoPM is a step in the right direction, but only a baby step. It represents Yasser giving the absolute minimum in the hope of getting off the poop list. We'll be able to deal when Yasser's out of the picture, if not with Abbas, two or three Paleoleaders down the road. Bush should still hold back on serious application of the carrot...
With his announcement Friday, Bush responded to European as well as Arab complaints of inaction. He declared Israel could not have peace without accepting a Palestinian state on land held by Israel since the Six-Day War of 1967. "There can be no peace for either side in the Middle East unless there is freedom for both," Bush said. "The time has come to move beyond entrenched positions and to take concrete actions to achieve peace." The Paleo movement beyond entrenched positions has been minimal. The Israelis have accomplished much more by rounding the gunnies and snuffies and hard boys up and locking them away.
From the outset, Bush has shunned Yasser Arafat, who has symbolized the Palestinian statehood movement for four decades, and never invited him to the White House. Last June, he demanded that a new Palestinian leader be elected and suggested that Arafat was involved in terrorism against Israel. Even though Arafat remains at the head of the Palestinian Authority, the Bush administration considers Mazen's appointment a shift in authority, with the prime minister taking charge of security and negotiations. Still wishful thinking at this point. I think that's what the Bush team is saying publicly, and that they have no real illusions about what's in place in Paleoland...
Rice told Al-Jazeera that timing for Washington talks between the prime minister and Bush "will be important, and we will be in touch with them about this." European leaders praised Bush's move. Palestinian officials said pressure on Israel was required, not further discussion the so-called "road map" to settlement. "Don't both us with this negotiation stuff. Bring us something that gives in to all our demands with no concessions."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/15/2003 11:55 am ||
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Yasser (she's my baby) Arafat symbolized Palestinian Statehood???? Never! He symbolized 'Death to the Jews', 'Drive Israel into the Sea' and 'Murder, Inc. Palestinian Branch' for decades. He could've had a State 40 years ago. Arafat prefered terrorism.
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The US floating some proposal is fine. It will not go anywhere, but it will buy us time while we clean up Iraq (AND little flunkie Syria). Then with the terror money being cut off, we may be able to start real negotiations with real folks that want to see things happen. In the meantime, airdrop babywipes to Ramallah as a good will gesture.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/15/2003 15:23 Comments ||
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An Israeli couple entered the Church of the Nativity on Saturday threatening to blow themselves up, according to a priest at the church. The man was holding a rifle and his wife appeared to be wearing an explosives vest, Father Barnodos said. The couple apparently made similar threats in the past at the church and were arrested by Palestinian police. Police say they believe the threats originate from a child care issue. Police were negotiating with the couple. The Army says the man has a history of similar threats. The man is believed to be Jewish, while his wife is believed to be Christian. And both are believed to be off their rockers. Is there something in the air that drives these people off the deep end?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/15/2003 10:29 am ||
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The Church of the Nativity? That doesn't make much sense. If they're hell-bent on blowing up something symbolic that's causing problems in Israel, they should ran a truckload of C-4 into the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Posted by: B. ||
03/15/2003 20:08 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.
