Cable TV made a West Bend man addicted to TV, caused his wife to be overweight and his kids to be lazy, he says. And heâs threatening to sue the cable company. Timothy Dumouchel of West Bend wants $5,000 or three computers, and a lifetime supply of free Internet service from Charter Communications to settle what he says will be a small claims suit. So you can add internet porn addiction to your next suit?
Dumouchel blames Charter for his TV addiction, his wifeâs 50-pound weight gain and his childrenâs being âlazy channel surfers,â according to a Fond du Lac police report. I pity the cops who have to write these reports, no wonder they get drunk and eat their guns.
Charter employees called police to the local office at 165 Knightâs Way the evening of Dec. 23 after Dumouchel showed up with a small claims complaint, reportedly intimidated an employee and made âlow-level threatsâ to employeesâ safety, according to a police report. The report states Dumouchel gave an employee five minutes to get a supervisor to talk to him or their next contact would be âin the ocean with the sharks.â Dude, this is the CABLE COMPANY!! They eat sharks for breakfast!
According to the report, Dumouchel told Charter employees he plans to sue because his cable connection remained intact four years after he tried to get it canceled.The result was that he and his family got free cable from August of 1999 to Dec. 23, 2003. According to the police report, Dumouchel called Charter to stop his cable service in August of 1999 and was taken off the billing but not the cable service. Gee, I wish I had this kind of problem.
In a written statement, he said he put the family TV in the basement in 1999 after he had called to get cable disconnected, but soon thereafter, his wife had moved it back and hooked up the cable connection, and it still worked. He stated he âmade a dealâ with her that âshe could watch TV as long as the cable worked.â He then went back to Charter and asked that they disconnect his service, which they reportedly never did. Tim, maybe your wife made her own deal with the cable guy.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/07/2004 4:31:33 PM ||
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Awesome, finally a class action I can join!
Well, we're movin' on up...
Posted by: Daniel King ||
01/07/2004 16:39 Comments ||
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Man, it's not the cable it's the Devil's Tool Tivo that made me an addict. I used ta watch football and disasters... now I have 18 hours of the Wonder Years that I just can't delete and can't watch either.
#4
Tommorow, he will probably get the cable bill for service back charges to August 99, plus interest, penalty charges, and disconnect fees. Shark bites hurt!
Posted by: john ||
01/07/2004 19:28 Comments ||
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That's It!! I'm suing Fred Pruitt. I've repeatedly requested that this site stop being so damn entertaining and informative. The only reason i'm attracted to this site is because of the proximity of its server to my house. Fred, you're gonna pay my Federal Hill rent for the rest of my life...bwaaahaaahaaaaa.....
Posted by: Chris McGrath ||
01/07/2004 19:41 Comments ||
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Chris,
Rantburg is about the only thing that's kept me from completely going postal and start playing "Muslims and Cowboys" in my neck of the woods. If you sue Fred, and Rantburg closes down, then I may not be able to restrain myself. It would be all your fault. Lucky for you, I hate lawyers. On the other hand, the government itself taught me some really nasty ways to turn human beings into wallpaper paste....... 8^)
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2004 21:34 Comments ||
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Hey, I hate the cable company as much as the next guy, but I have to piss on the fire:
...after Dumouchel showed up with a small claims complaint
Anyone can file in small claims court (up to 5K limit here in MA), just ask my ex-girlfriend. For that reason I highly doubt a lawyer's involved. He's dumb as dirt for doing this after getting a free ride for almost 4 years, though.
Oh, I am so surprised, I feel faint!
The Ohio woman who told police that she purchased--and then lost--the winning $162 million Mega Millions lottery ticket has several arrests on her rap sheet, including convictions for assault and credit card fraud, The Smoking Gun has learned. In addition, Elecia Battle is using an alias and has falsely claimed to be married to the man with whom she now lives. But other than that sheâs a model citizen.
Battle, whose real name is Elecia Dickson, apparently has borrowed the surname of boyfriend James Battle. The 40-year-old pharmacy worker remains legally married to husband Keith Dickson, though the couple is in the middle of a divorce action pending in Cuyahoga Countyâs Court of Common Pleas. Using the Battle alias, Dickson this afternoon filed a lawsuit seeking to block the awarding of the Mega Millions jackpot to Rebecca Jemison, the woman who came forward today to claim the lottery jackpot (and who was declared the winner by Ohio state officials). Lawyer helping her could get into some trouble when itâs shown that sheâs lying through her teeth.
According to court records and TSG sources, Dicksonâs rap sheet dates back at least a decade and includes busts for aggravated menacing, assault, criminal trespass, and credit card fraud. The latter conviction, according to Richmond Heights Police Department reports, stemmed from a 1998 swindle Dickson orchestrated at a suburban Cleveland business where she worked. She was nabbed for using the credit card number of a customer to make several purchases of groceries and pharmaceuticals at a Finast Supermarket. Pays to have experience in the legal system when you file a bogus claim.
The womanâs estranged husband--whoâs been married to Dickson for 13 years--told TSG, "My wife can stretch things out of proportion." He added, "Looks like she filed a bogus police report." But heâs just a jealous ex, what would he know?
When she went to cops with her tale of the lost lottery ticket, officers asked Dickson how she picked the six winning numbers. A couple of the numbers came from one sonâs birth date, while another number was another childâs age flipped. As for why she picked the winning number 49, Dickson told cops that her "husband turns 49 this year." That came as a surprise to Keith Dickson, himself a dedicated gambler and lottery player. "Iâm 44," he said. "I turn 45 in February." Must have another husband somewhere.
In addition to her criminal court actions, Dickson also has some familiarity with the civil side of the legal system. She is the plaintiff in two pending negligence lawsuits, one of which involves allegations that her daughter ingested a tainted milk shake at a Cleveland area McDonaldâs. The other lawsuit centers on an injury claim against the local gas company. Sheâll be made to look like a greedy fool, but sheâll consider it an honor. And donât forget to check out the mug shot.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2004 10:52:50 AM ||
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What all of the media has ignored is that lottery tickets are similar to bearer bonds - whoever holds it owns it. Read the lottery ticket and the hand-outs the lottery provides. The judge should rule this is a frivolous lawsuit, hit Dickson/Battle with a fine and turn her over to the police for filing a false police report, and tell her attorney to get his butt out of the courtroom.
Afghanistanâs ousted Taliban apologized Wednesday for a bomb attack in the southern city of Kandahar that killed 16 people, including many children, and called it a botched attempt to target U.S. troops. The ousted Islamic militia initially denied involvement in Tuesdayâs explosion near a military compound as children were passing on their way home from school. "Wasnât us, must have been somebody else."
"It was a mistake by our mujahideen (holy warriors)," senior Taliban commander Mullah Sabir Momin said by satellite telephone. "We wanted to target the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) office in the city, but because of a small mistake, this plan failed," he told Reuters. "Well, ok, it was us. We bad, sorry."
Momin said U.S. and allied forces regularly passed along the route where the explosion occurred. "How dare they not walk into our ambush!"
One person was arrested by Afghan authorities shortly after the blast, but Momin said he did not know the individual and that Taliban guerrillas had got away on motorcycles. I think they ought to stop and search every damm motorcycle rider in the country.
He urged residents of the dusty, bleak former Taliban stronghold to stay away from buildings belonging to U.S. or Afghan forces, adding that they would soon be attacked. "Weâll be back"
Posted by: Steve ||
01/07/2004 9:44:49 AM ||
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Think any of them "moderate" Muslims are going to condemn this?
#2
"...but because of a small mistake, this plan failed, ..."
Bet the families of the 16 who died don't consider it a small mistake.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2004 10:07 Comments ||
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This wouldn't be a problem if the AFL CIO unionized the terrorism industry; suicide bombers could be a skilled trade.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/07/2004 11:28 Comments ||
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The ousted Islamic militia initially denied involvement in Tuesdayâs explosion near a military compound as children were passing on their way home from school
#5
But isn't lying a sin in Islam?
Not if you're lying to kaffirs, or about kaffirs. The god of islam is very tolerant of what his followers say, as long as it's not to him. I hold islam and kwanzaa as equals - total frauds.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2004 13:52 Comments ||
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From Geostrategy-Direct. I was kinda joking yesterday about needing Syrian and/or Pakistanis for security at the Haj.
Pakistan has launched a major security project for Saudi Arabia. The project includes deploying thousands of Pakistani tough guys security officers to protect the Haj money machine vital installations in the Saudi kingdom, Pakistani sources said. The emphasis is on Islamic sites in Mecca and Medina. Wonder if the Saudis and Paks have the good boyz sorted out from the Pak bad boyz. Infiltration at Mecca would be a disaster for the Saudis.
Another element of the Pakistani program is the training of Saudi security forces. Islamabad has agreed to expand its current security-training program to include about 1,000 Saudi officers. On Dec. 23, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia discussed military cooperation for the coming year. The talks were led by Saudi Chief of Staff Gen. Saleh Al Muhaya and his visiting Pakistani counterpart, Gen. Mohammed Aziz Khan. Under the agreement, Islamabad will train 200 Saudi troops annually, according to the Pakistani daily newspaper, Khabrain. The newspaper reported the project would run through 2009. Pakistan has also agreed to expand its deployment of security officers in Saudi Arabia, Khabrain reported. The accord calls for deploying 8,000 Pakistani troops to guard the money machine Islamic sites. Saudi Arabia has denied an agreement has been made to accept Pakistani troops for security at Islamic sites. "It was not true that Pakistani troops were being sent to Saudi Arabia," Air Commodore Mubarak Al Dussri told the official Iranian news agency, IRNA. Anyone want to buy the Brooklyn bridge from this guy?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/07/2004 2:26:15 PM ||
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It may well be true that Pakistani mercenary troops would be more loyal to their employers than the native Saudis. A prudent more I think -
In truth, this is a religious-economic war. The occupation of Iraq is a link in the Zionist-crusader chain of evil. Then comes the full occupation of the rest of the Gulf states to set the stage for controlling and dominating the whole world.
That sounds just like one of the regular opinion columns at the Guardian. Or Ted Rall. Or even Chomsky. Actually, its Osama bin Laden. A transcript of his latest tape has been published by the Guardian. The piece is titled Resist the New Rome. The Guardian has finally come to its logical conclusion.
Posted by: Vivek ||
01/07/2004 4:58:47 AM ||
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the new rome--not like the old rome--more like the mongols--better watch your jihadi ass osama protein paste--cf.mohammed atef a/k/a abu hafs
Posted by: son of tolui ||
01/07/2004 11:31 Comments ||
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Viveck, you don't think that the money captured with Sadaam was his signing bonus?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/07/2004 11:57 Comments ||
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I'm disappointed. No, "Oh, jihadi martyr fruitcakes...Oh, Allah, smite them with smitely blows to their noggins...May their shiny crusader armor need turtle wax..."
Sex it up, Binny, if you want to hold a readership with an IQ of over 12.
A movie company has indefinitely postponed the screening of Ararat, a movie about the killings of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey, fearing violence from Turkish nationalists, the companyâs owner said Wednesday. The Culture Ministry agreed last month to allow the film to be shown, but ordered at least one scene, depicting the rape of Armenian women by Ottomans, to be cut. The film by director Atom Egoyan, a Canadian of Armenian heritage, was to have opened in mid-January. Egoyan said earlier this week he was disappointed but not surprised by the postponement.
According to the intelligence report of the Directorate General of Security prepared after September 11th terrorist attacks in the United States, two organizations and eight groups in connection with Al Qaida are active in Turkey. The Directorate General of Security prepared a report on fundamentalist terrorism after September 11th terrorist attacks. And then didnât do much about it, as far as we can see.
According to the report there are two organizations in Turkey which have connections with Usame Bin Laden and Al Qaida, namely ââBeyyiat-i Al Imamââ (union of imams) and ââCihat Hareketiââ (jihad movement). ââBeyyiat-i Al Imamââ is organized in Istanbul and Bursa provinces while the other is responsible for some blasts in Ankara. There are eight groups in mainly seven provinces bound to Wahhabism and another religious belief named ââSelefilikââ [that's a new one on me — Salafism?] These groups provided members of Al Qaida who were in difficult situation due to operation on Afghanistan with false passports and money. Turkish elements of the groups had battled in Bosnia, Chechnya and Afghanistan. These Turks had political training in Pakistan and military training in Afghanistan. Fifty of them lost their lives in ââregions of jihadââ while 150 of them are in Turkey. Well, you better start rounding them up.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/07/2004 9:35:22 AM ||
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Authorities across Europe are searching for a passenger suspected of having links to al Qaeda who failed to show up for an Air France flight on Christmas Eve. U.S. law enforcement officials believe the male passenger underwent terrorist training in Afghanistan. The ongoing search for the man â who was traveling with a French passport â is one of the factors contributing to the continuing security jitters about trans-Atlantic flights. French officials told ABCNEWS the man is feared to have a small bomb whose components might get past airport security. The man had a ticket for Air Franceâs Flight 68 from Paris to Los Angeles on Dec. 24, but the flight was canceled and the passenger never showed up at the airport. The man is being sought across Europe.
Former French defense official Alexis Debat says the French fear they canceled the flight too soon, tipping him off. "Nobody knows where he is and that is a big concern throughout Europe," said Debat, an ABCNEWS consultant. "The French are concerned that they may have dropped the ball." The manâs identity and description have been passed on to security officials in London, adding to other potential threats being dealt with there. "This person will also have several other pieces or documents, aliases, several passports," Debat said.
As part of the search for the one suspect, French officials today carried out two raids today near the city of Lyon and in a small town north of Paris, based in part on U.S. intelligence information. "You have to hit at the head, which is the logistical network that enables the person to travel back and forth," said Debat. As well as the Air France flights, several other U.S.-bound flights were canceled or delayed over the holidays, including British Airways flights from London to Washington.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 2:02:03 AM ||
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More info on the guy: The man, Abdul Hay, has the same name as an Afghan who escaped U.S. custody in Khandahar, Afghanistan, the French intelligence sources said. Abdul Hay was known to be close to former Taliban chief of intelligence Mullah Mohammed Abdul Haq, the sources said.
French intelligence sources also said U.S. officials told them Abdul Hay may have access to a concealed explosive device. There was no confirmation of this from U.S. officials. French and U.S. authorities do not know whether the Abdul Hay who booked a seat on the Air France flight is the same man.
If he vanished after buying a ticket, I'd say the odds are pretty good he was up to something, even if he's not.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/07/2004 10:57 Comments ||
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Maybe if we offered double the air-miles to terrorists ....
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/07/2004 11:55 Comments ||
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You mean the AmeriKKKans might have been right??
This is that Cincinatti flight from yesterdeay...
French authorities have removed a female passenger from a Delta airlines jet before it left Paris for the US city of Cincinnati, in the latest security alert around a trans-Atlantic flight. US media reports say American fighter jets shadowed Delta flight 043 to its destination but the woman was eventually cleared to take a later flight after it was determined she was not a threat.
"Sorry, lady. Though you were somebody else."
A Homeland Security Department official said: "The French called us and they told us about their concern and that they had removed her from the plane." The official said security measures had been taken "in an abundance of caution", for the arrival in Cincinnati but did not confirm reports of a jet escort. Passengers would be given detailed checks on arrival, the official added. The flight was scheduled to arrive shortly after 3:00pm (local time), according to Delta spokeswoman Anna Nova in Boston. "Since this is security related, we will not be able to release any other details at this time."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/07/2004 00:12 ||
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...FNC is saying as of 0100 7 Jan is that the lady was wearing a motorcycle jacket with a heating element - and the XRays picked up the wires in the jacket, so the Security types thought they had another inventive bomber on their hands. In retrospect, we can smile about it, but I figure if they're being that careful, then we're more or less on the ball.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/07/2004 0:57 Comments ||
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Turns out she had a bottle of California wine labeled "Champagne."
And itâs a doozy... (found on Drudge, not a permanent link)
NEW VIDEO UNCOVERED: MOVEON.ORG FINALIST IS PRODUCER OF ANOTHER BUSH/HITLER AD
Wed Jan 07 2004 17:06:59 ET
One of the finalists of the MoveOn.org ad contest is responsible for another heinous web video that compares Bush to Hitler, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.
An ad by "Take Back the Media" is one of 15 Finalists in MoveOn.orgâs Bush in 30 Seconds Commercial Contest. Produced by Michael Stinson [SYMBOLMAN], The ARMY OF ONE flash animation has been chosen out of over 1000 submission by nearly 3 million votes online.
But currently streaming on the Take Back site with ARMY OF ONE is another shocking advert produced by Michael Stinson [SYMBOLMAN] -- alleging Bush/Nazi ties!
Link Wasnât the owner of MoveOn.org giving some half-assed apology a few days ago? Talkinâ out of his ass on this one...
#2
I guess Michael Stinson is SYMBOLMAN... Apparently he's the Ted Rall of Flash animations.
I don't think those suckers can control themselves.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/07/2004 22:29 Comments ||
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WOW!!!!! He's good, I can't wait till I can write code like that, then I'll show the commies with a web page that rivals his. I'm practicing, I'm learning.
Posted by: Ron in Colorado ||
01/07/2004 22:47 Comments ||
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Copies of a B.C. Muslim newspaper have been turned over to the provinceâs hate crimes unit after it published an article accusing "the Jews" of everything from starting both world wars to staging the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The Canadian Jewish Congress made a complaint seeking a criminal investigation into what it called "a virulently anti-Semitic article" published in The Miracle, a weekly newspaper distributed in Vancouver-area mosques. The edition featuring the page-long list of misdeeds it claims were committed by Jews also includes a column by Liberal Senator Mobina Jaffer and an advertisement by local Liberal MP Joe Peschisolido.
"It isnât Arabs lying about and guilt-tripping us with âthe Holocaustâ - it is Jews," the article reads. "It wasnât Arabs who caused the Great Depression — it was Jews. It wasnât Arabs who started WWI (the First World War) - it was Jews. It wasnât Arabs who started WWII (the Second World War) - it was Jews." The Dec. 19 article, by Idaho resident Edgar Steele, blames Jews for 81 other items, ranging from pedophilia and organized crime to "race-mixing," militant feminism and "forcing us to allow homosexuals to lead Boy Scout troops."
The Miracle, published in Delta, has a circulation of about 2,500. Its editorial page claims it is dedicated to Islamic brotherhood and bringing "harmony amongst all Muslim and other communities." Chief editor Nusrat Hussain said he had no regrets about publishing Steeleâs article. "We try to keep freedom of speech and not necessarily that we agree with the article and that is what Canada is about," he said. ah. what a progressive guy NusRat is. I wonder if heâd be as openminded with an anti-muslim article.
"We certainly did not publish it with intentions of hate crime. nah. that was just a bonus.
But if the Jewish congress considers it that, then of course it is their right to think that way." of course theyâd think that. theyâre Jews! they probably wrote the article to get sympathy.
Hussain said the newspaper published the article because the editors found it interesting. The congress said the Southern Poverty Law Centre, a respected U.S. civil rights organization that tracks hate groups and fights them in the courts, identified Steele in its fall 2003 Intelligence Report as an anti-Semite and anti-black racist, including him in a list of top-40 extremists "to watch." "It is appalling to see that a Canadian newspaper would even consider printing an article by Mr. Steele whose earlier works include In Defence of Racism, a venomous piece on the purported intellectual inferiority of black people and their âpropensity for violence and primal satisfaction, and Itâs the Jews, Stupid, a particularly noxious treatise blaming the Jews for all things nefarious past, present and future," said congress president Keith Landy.
The B.C. hate-crime team operates within the Solicitor Generalâs ministry. The ministry web site says the role of the team is to co-ordinate hate- and bias-related investigations by working with local police, sharing experiences and information, and communicating results from the centrally maintained data base. Iâm really curious to see what they do.
#1
Let's see, "everything" was 'started by the Jews':
That means:
--- Adolf Hitler and Tojo were Jews. I believe there's some substantiating evidence that Hitler (Schickelgruber) did have a Jewish ancestor, but I can guarantee you NOBODY in Tojo's family were Jewish!
--- The young Serb anarchist that assassinated emperor Franz Joseph was a Jew. That's a new one on me. I was under the impression he was a Muslim.
--- From what I understand, the Great Depression was caused by idiocy on the part of the US population as a whole, special idiocy on the part of leading bankers and a raft of Government officials (including Herbert Hoover, the only engineer the United States has ever elected president), and the collapse of several European currencies, major defaults on debt, and a lot of other incidentals that snowballed into a mountain.
--- Finally, Osama bin wallpaper paste crowed about the success of HIS OPERATION to "bring death and destruction to the Americans" on 9/11. Is Osama secretly Jewish? Whooodathunkit!
Personally, this is just another case where the people who live only to hate find a way to excuse what they want to do anyway. Blaiming "the Jews" or "Bush" or "Cable Television" or anything else for their own character flaws makes them feel better, somehow. Frankly, I think they should all be deported to a desert island where the only thing to eat is each other.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2004 21:13 Comments ||
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Anyone but me see the irony of a "Muslim" publication publishing a basically KKK screed about Jews? Why didn't anyone ask the author what he thought about the "Brown People" that put out this rag?
Posted by: NotMike Moore ||
01/07/2004 22:49 Comments ||
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A loose confederation of cells, a common enemy in the West, a string of bombs planted to sow terror. Sounds like the work of Islamic fundamentalists? No, last week it was European anarchist groups that were accused of firing off a chain of letter bombs to key E.U. leaders and institutions. No one was hurt in at least four incidents, beginning with a wired-up book sent to the wife of European Commission President Romano Prodi at his home in Bologna. Similar explosive devices targeted the headquarters of the European Central Bank, Europol and Eurojust â the E.U. body charged with fighting cross-border crime â and all the packages traced back to Bologna. Authorities halted all outgoing parcels destined for E.U. addresses from the northern Italian city. But investigators believe that the anarchist network is international in scope, with Spanish, Greek and German cells. An Italian investigator says the European anarchists have taken tactical cues from al-Qaeda, evolving into a far-flung array of cells united by ideology and targets rather than coordination from a central command. "The different [anarchist] groups fall under the same ideological umbrella but donât necessarily work together," the investigator told Time. He estimates that there are at least 500 dangerous members of these groups across Europe.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
01/07/2004 6:04:00 AM ||
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FBI officials say al-Qaida continues to recruit members in U.S. prisons despite a government crackdown, WorldTribune.com reported Tuesday. "These terrorists seek to exploit our freedom to exercise religion to their advantage by using radical forms of Islam to recruit operatives," FBI counter-terrorism chief John Pistole said. "Unfortunately, U.S. correctional institutions are a viable venue for such radicalization and recruitment." Pistole told a recent session of the Senate subcommittee on terrorism, technology and homeland security federal and state authorities have faced an uphill battle to halt al-Qaida recruitment in prisons. He said al-Qaida and other insurgency groups have exploited the isolation of inmates and offer them protection, positions of influence and a network they can correspond with both inside and outside of prison. Officials said the federal prison system contains 9,600 Muslims, or 5.5 percent of the inmate population.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 2:29:39 AM ||
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Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday he is considering appointing a U.S. four-star general to oversee the security aspects of Iraqâs transition to self-rule. He said no decisions have been made but "it may very well be" that the command structure will be reorganized as the United States approaches the July 1 target date for restoring Iraqi sovereignty. Now, the top military officer for the Iraq mission is Gen. John Abizaid, whose Florida-base Central Command has responsibility for American military operations in Iraq, as well as Afghanistan, other parts of the Persian Gulf and Central Asia, and the Horn of Africa. Lotâs of eggs in that basket.
Within the new structure that is under discussion at the Pentagon, another four-star general would be given overall military responsibility for Iraq, leaving Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, who is currently the most senior commander on the ground in Iraq, to run day-to-day combat operations. That also would relieve some strain on Abizaid, whose has broader responsibilities. Peeling off Iraq, setting it up as a stand-alone command.
The proposal was first reported Tuesday by the Washington Times. Rumsfeld said this is one of two dozen or more issues under consideration as part of the transition toward a restoration of sovereignty in Iraq. What jumped out at me, and the press missed, was that the new four-star would be Commander, US Forces-Iraq. Just like US Forces-Korea, US Forces-Japan, US Forces-Europe, etc. Anyone else think weâre planning to leave soon? Me neither, theyâre setting up the force structure for the bases the new Iraqi government will "lease" us after they take charge.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/07/2004 10:05:25 AM ||
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The actual transcript makes this a lot more of an aside than a statment of intent.
General Myers and I have talked about it, but not in a fully structured way yet. He is going to coming back to me at some point and discussing that. And we've been discussing a whole host of things.
If you think of where we are, we have a situation where we have a coalition of forces in the country. We have a combatant commander in General Abizaid that has a large region with Afghanistan, and the Horn of Africa, and a whole host of things he has to think through. And we have a Coalition Provisional Authority that is the government of the country, for all practical purposes, working with the ministries and the Governing Council in governing Iraq.
We're engaged in a very extensive interagency process at the present time and have been for a period of several months, at least, I think. I can remember talking to Secretary Powell about beginning the process of transferring over responsibility to an ambassador at that point where the Coalition Provisional Authority head, Jerry Bremer, departs, and the responsibilities go into an embassy of some kind, probably a beefed-up embassy, to be sure, and how we do that.
So we've been working on that. We've got dozens -- not dozens, but a couple handfuls of interagency committees that are thinking through the governance pieces and how that works and the essential service piece.
One of the pieces is the security situation. And it may very well be that we will want to make an adjustment and have some division of responsibility, as between CENTCOM, the relationship with the embassy, military -- office of military cooperation type task, as well as somebody that has the responsibility for the tactical, low- intensity warfighting that's taking place. It's not been decided.
#3
We're engaged in a very extensive interagency process at the present time and have been for a period of several months, at least, I think. I can remember talking to Secretary Powell about beginning the process of transferring over responsibility to an ambassador at that point where the Coalition Provisional Authority head, Jerry Bremer, departs, and the responsibilities go into an embassy of some kind, probably a beefed-up embassy, to be sure, and how we do that.
This is interesting news. I hope we see more deals like this in the near future.
NEW YORK (al-Reuters) - PepsiCo Inc. (PEP), the No. 2 soft drink company, said on Wednesday it signed a deal with Baghdad Soft Drinks Co. to bottle and distribute its products in Iraq. Breaking in early to an emerging market is always a good move.
The deal calls for Baghdad Soft Drinks to bottle PepsiCoâs trademark Pepsi-Cola as well as its Seven-Up and Mirinda drinks. Baghdad Soft Drinks will distribute the products in central Iraq, home to about 40 percent of the countryâs population, starting in the first half of 2004.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
01/07/2004 7:57:13 AM ||
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This seems petty, but how long do you think it will be before our very own left uses this arrangement as a proof of Amerfican imperialism and 'cultural genocide?' I recall not very fondly of images on films and in books of Coca Cola as a representative of 'brutal American imperialism.' I didn't understand it then (1970s) but I do now and the concept sickens me.
Some brutality, eh? Of all the things the US makes and imports, it would seem that soda pop is the most innocent of all products. Beats Ak-47s and jihad that some nations export, and you don't have the strap on a bomb belt or attend a training camp in order to use the product. Just pay your money and enjoy.
Sad but true. Nevermind that free Iraqis can finally engage in free trade and the money it brings (and the improved standard of living that comes with free trade), we will still be labelled as "evil" because the products happen to come out of the American culture.
Respect ALL cultures EQUALLY, unless it's American.
#8
Then Coca-Cola came out with the "I'd like to teach the world to sing, in perfect harmony." commercials and lulled the idiots into a quiet stupor. Brains and dollars will beat howling baboons everytime.
Posted by: ed ||
01/07/2004 13:16 Comments ||
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What, no Mecca Cola? This story brings to mind the picture I saw a few months back showing a couple of auto mechanics hanging out at the end of a day on the banks of the Tigris -- having a cold (cool?) Bud. Looked pretty normal, therefore out of place in Baghdad.
U.S. forces in Iraq have discovered another mass grave in Iraq believed to contain the bodies of hundreds of Shiite Muslims slain by toppled President Saddam Husseinâs forces in 1991. The official said U.S. forces found the grave in the Baghdad area on Sunday. U.S. authorities believe the grave is filled with about 800 bodies of Shiites killed by Iraqâs military as they staged an uprising against Saddam following the defeat of his forces in the Gulf War. U.S. officials have said they believe there are up to 260 mass graves in Iraq containing the remains of at least 300,000 people murdered by Saddamâs forces. They said about 40 such mass graves have been discovered.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 2:16:47 AM ||
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#1
A thousand mass graves could be unearthed, and the antiwar folks won't feel one twinge of guilt.
#2
Bomb: We need to conscript the antiwar folks, send them to Iraq, and make them work unearthing these mass graves and restoring the bodies to their families. Even an idiot can get some sense knocked into them if exposed to truth hard enough, often enough.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2004 14:47 Comments ||
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#3
Reminds me of the (true) history of a guy who got arrested for driving while drunk. The judge sentenced him to serving in a hospital specialized in victims of car accidents hoping this would lead the guy to stop drinking. Instead he stopped driving
A key prewar U.S. intelligence report that said Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was "well-grounded," based on 15 years of information, and the hunt should continue. Stuart Cohen, vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council, which produced the October 2002 National Intelligence Estimate report on Iraqâs banned weapons, said he was "not at all" surprised that stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons had not yet been found. "Heâs (Saddam Hussein) had 15 years to hone his ability to hide this stuff. The footprints of these weapons is very small," Cohen told Reuters in a brief telephone interview after an interview with ABCâs "Nightline" scheduled to air late on Tuesday.
Since the ousting of Saddam in April and the inability to find banned weapons, U.S. officials have repeatedly pointed out that biological and chemical weapons can be hidden in relatively small areas. "I believe that our work was well-grounded," Cohen told Reuters. "We know he (Saddam) had it, he used it, you donât unlearn that." He said it was unclear what happened to the weapons.
Critics have said the National Intelligence Estimate report was produced under pressure for a Bush administration that had made it clear it wanted to go to war against Iraq. Cohen dismissed such criticism. "Assertions, particularly that we had shaded our judgments to support an administration policy, were just nonsense," Cohen told ABCâs "Nightline." The intelligence report said that Iraq did not have nuclear weapons and would not have them until "very late" in the decade, he said. Pressed about prewar assertions by some administration officials there could be nuclear weapons in Iraqâs hands within a year, Cohen told ABC that Iraqâs weapons of mass destruction programs had been underestimated in the past. "The National Intelligence Estimate judged that he (Saddam) could have nuclear weapons in as little as 18 months if certain conditions were met, namely if he had gotten a source of fissile material," Cohen said. "We did not believe that that had happened."
"We did not, in any area, hype our judgments," Cohen told "Nightline." The intelligence estimates "never use the word imminent" and the judgments carried varying degrees of confidence, he said. While Iraqâs missiles could not reach the United States, U.S. intelligence agencies were concerned about the possibility unmanned aerial vehicles could be brought within reach of the United States and about the possibility Iraqi intelligence agencies could bring something in undetected and use it. "My point is simply that it is too soon to close the books on this case," Cohen said, adding the search should continue.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 2:15:28 AM ||
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#1
It seems very disturbing if this is true then how will we find WMD in a country like Syria even if we were let in.
#2
bernardz- We don't! We get Syrians to say where they are. Of course this requires we remove the current regime, but IMVHO this will happen sooner rather than later. Shortly after Iraqi self-government in July is my guess.
If we can keep the pressure on the chinless wonder something will have to buckle pretty soon now, i predict some cool upheavels in the region the coming months
CIA interrogators taking on Saddam Hussein (search) must contend with the likelihood that some of their questioning could become public during his eventual trial. That means decisions now on how to conduct the questioning and record the conversations, U.S. officials say.
On the one hand, any admissions Saddam might make of human rights violations or responsibility for massacres would be useful material for prosecutors in a trial.
But any such statement by Saddam also would probably have to meet some kind of standard for use in a court case, much like an affidavit in the U.S. court system. That could mean officials might want the informal give-and-take of a typical interrogation to give way to a ritualized question-and-answer session.
That makes Saddamâs interrogation different in fundamental ways from the questioning by U.S. officials of senior members of the Al Qaeda (search) terrorist organization. It is unclear whether those Al Qaeda members, captured and hustled off to secret overseas locations for interrogation, will ever see daylight again, even if they are afforded some kind of military or other trial.
But if Saddamâs trial is to have any kind of legitimacy, he must be given a chance to speak and defend himself publicly, experts say. The location and form -- and date -- of his trial have not been finalized. U.S. officials have said they will work with Iraqi officials to come up with those details.
"We canât we treat him the same way as we treat Khalid Shaikh Mohammed (search)," said John T. Parry, an international law expert at the University of Pittsburgh, referring to a top Al Qaeda figure being questioned by U.S. officials. "He [Saddam] was an evil man, but he was the head of state. It canât possibly be in our long-term interests to be seen acting brutally or indifferently toward his welfare."
When Saddam eventually addresses his judges, he may describe the methods used to interrogate him. He may embarrass the government with revelations about its friendly relationship with his regime in the 1980s.
He might claim physical torture, even if none took place.
"Anything we do with him will almost certainly become public," Parry said. "If you were his defense attorney, you would run to the press. It will be blaring on Al-Jazeera within moments."
CIA interrogators are pressing Saddam for details on the insurgency in Iraq, on possible weapons of mass destruction and on his governmentâs ties to terrorists, U.S. officials say.
An interrogation is about control. The CIA now controls everything about Saddamâs life: his food, his surroundings, his information. Interrogators can befriend him, lie to him, confuse him -- all to get him talking.
U.S. officials say they donât resort to torture. But thereâs a gray area of interrogation techniques designed to stress and disorient a person through physical discomfort -- like preventing the person from sleeping. Some say that is torture.
At some point, the CIA interrogators will lose their control over Saddam. Presuming the former Iraqi leader gets some kind of attorney, that person can meet with Saddam and re-orient him by providing him with news from the outside world.
Jerrold Post, a former CIA profiler who directs the political psychology program at George Washington University, said he believes Saddamâs personality has three layers: On the outside is the builder of grandiose palaces, who envisions himself on par with Asian kings of antiquity. Beneath that is a man concerned primarily with his personal safety -- the Saddam who made massive bunker complexes beneath those palaces. On the inside is the remnant of an abusive childhood.
The world saw that innermost layer in the video taken after Saddamâs capture, as he submitted to inspection by an American medic, Post believes. But, according to intelligence officials, Saddam quickly grew defiant during initial attempts to question him.
It is unlikely, then, that interrogators will be able to penetrate much past the first layer, particularly because Saddam will have eventual contact with a lawyer, Post said. He recommends interrogators try to appeal to his vanity by, for example, trying to get him to brag about how skillfully he concealed weapons programs from U.N. inspectors.
"I would play to his swollen ego, recalling ... it rests on this fragile foundation," Post said. "Get him into a boasting mode."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 2:06:20 AM ||
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#1
"But if Saddamâs trial is to have any kind of legitimacy"
This phrase makes me cringe. Look, Saddam is a murdering, theiving bastard who deserves nothing but a bullet in his head. He IS guilty of mass murder, torture, and a whole host of violent and terrible crimes against the Iraqi people.
A trial is an epistemal process, designed to determine guilt or innocence, because quite often, there is doubt. In this case, there is none. The legal protections and rights everyone is talking about applies to the accused, and possibly innocent. not a means of protecting the guilty from the just punishment they deserve.
Posted by: Ben ||
01/07/2004 3:02 Comments ||
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#2
"Anything we do with him will almost certainly become public," Parry said. "If you were his defense attorney, you would run to the press. It will be blaring on Al-Jazeera within moments."
So what?
"Some say that is torture. "
No it's not, its no worse then we do to our special forces during hellweek.
#3
The thinking that as head of state, Saddam is entitled to special treatment is rubbing me raw.
Since Saddam was the law, we cant retroactively pass laws (not fairly anyway) which means an iraqi court cant try him in any meaningful sense. I may be wrong here, he may have broken his own laws...
He has broken international laws, but I have always thought international laws as being foolish, because their is no way to enforce them equally.
He has broken a slew of US laws, so maybe thats the way to try him.
I do believe we could arrange to just return him and see what an out of control crowd might do...
#4
Isn't that just the SEALs? (Hell Week; I'm aware of the Rangers' own final crucible but don't know its name, and at last check Delta concentrates more on your mental aptitude, with a solid but otherwise meager physical.)
Posted by: Lu Baihu ||
01/07/2004 15:56 Comments ||
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#5
We're talking about a sentencing phase here, not a determination of guilt. Head of state? Fine, you can have twice as big a firing squad as Chemical Ali.
#6
I dont know about the Delta's (I think you could be mistaken here and mean the Green Berets, but I could also be wrong), but most other special forces have some version of Hellweek at the end of the trainingphase, it's actually a simulation of combat enviroment and therefore by definition more a test of mental aptitude then of physical readiness.
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A representative of the U.S.-led authority in Iraq will attend a Jan. 19 meeting with the United Nations and the Iraqi Governing Council on determining the U.N. role as the country moves to self-government, officials said Tuesday. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he expects the United States to send a "senior delegation" that could include U.S. officials in Baghdad. However, a U.N. diplomat familiar with the U.S. position said on condition of anonymity only that the Coalition Provisional Authority, or CPA, would be represented in some form, and the meeting must primarily be between the United Nations and the Iraqis. Kofi yields to reality yet again.
Annan says the meeting is needed to clarify what role the CPA and the U.S.-appointed Governing Council want the United Nations to play before an Iraqi transitional government is handed power at the end of June. In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the United States is "considering appropriate ways to support this meeting." Coffee? Tea? Cookies?
Coalition diplomats say that so long as the CPA remains the authority in Iraq, it ought to be involved in the discussion. But the coalition wants to make sure that, before the meeting takes place, the Iraqi Governing Council has a clear idea of what it believes the United Nations should do in Iraq. Come ask us at Rantburg!
Annan pulled all U.N. international staff out of Iraq in October after two bombings at U.N. headquarters in Baghdad and says itâs not safe enough for the United Nations to return. If by "safe" you mean "zero risk", thatâs true, and the Iraqis will remember you for it.
Iraqi leaders and the United States have said they want the United Nations back in the country now. However, a November agreement between the Governing Council and the coalition on a timetable for the transfer of power does not mention the United Nations. Dang, MS Word musta deleted that sentence.
U.N. officials including Annan have said they worried the omission was intentional and that the coalition does not want a major U.N. role. Itâs a crucial distinction for Annan, who has said the U.N. role must be commensurate with the risks it takes - an indication he might send staff back to Iraq sooner if the United Nations is given a stronger mandate. Nope, donât bother, donât risk your necks.
Possible U.N. roles vary widely. Chief opponents of the war, including Russia, Germany and France, want it to play a lead political role, which could involve helping to oversee Iraqâs election process. Or the United Nations could be asked to deal strictly with humanitarian aid and refugee issues and have little influence on Iraqâs political future. Keep âem in Cyprus!
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2004 12:13:42 AM ||
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#1
Annan seems to think that the U.N. should have the leading role in determining Iraq's political future.
Somehow I don't think the CPA and GC see the U.N. in a 'lead role' in determining Iraq's future. But that is just a guess on my part.
Seems someone needs to realize the relationship between cause (not supporting the overthrow of a brutal monsterous tyrant and murderer) with effect (no say in Iraq's political future...).
#2
--However, a November agreement between the Governing Council and the coalition on a timetable for the transfer of power does not mention the United Nations.--
Hmmm, someone from phrawnce must have been paying attention, a draft of the proposed EU constitution was missing the word "NATO" more than once.
#3
Coalition diplomats say that so long as the CPA remains the authority in Iraq, it ought to be involved in the discussion. But the coalition wants to make sure that, before the meeting takes place, the Iraqi Governing Council has a clear idea of what it believes the United Nations should do in Iraq.
I think the UN should do what it is best at doing: absolutely nothing. Let the adults determine Iraq's future. Use the UN whining and foot stomping as a gauge of success.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - The second battalion of a new Iraqi army graduated Tuesday at a ceremony with traditional songs and dances, and a U.S. commander and Iraqi politicians said they soon will choose a civilian defense minister to lead the soldiers in securing a democratic nation.
Tuesdayâs ceremony was for 705 graduates that form the second battalion, the core of a 40,000-member army officials hope to field by September. The first battalion got off to a bumpy start when about 200 of 650 soldiers deserted in December complaining their salaries, which start at $60 a month, were too low. Two weeks ago, Bremerâs administration announced a new "hazardous duty pay" more than doubling the salaries of some soldiers and police.
Soldiers paid a fraction of that amount under Saddam complained the new salaries could not keep up with inflation that has spiraled since the U.S.-led invasion in March and the loss of subsidies and other privileges granted under the Saddam regime. So, how many of you jokers want to go back to the old way of doing things?
Some Iraqi troops have received threats from suspected insurgents who have carried out deadly attacks on Iraqis working with the U.S.-led coalition. Still the soldiers were upbeat. "We were very confused about this at first," said Capt. Nasr Abdel Jalil, a graduate who had stayed with Saddamâs army until the fall of Baghdad on April 9. When recruitment for the new army began in July, he said, "We volunteered because we had to work, and not with much enthusiasm. It was the only job I knew."
He was won over by the two months of training to prepare the Second or Honor Battalion for low-intensity conflict that will include patrols, reconnaissance, security for convoys and cordon and search operations conducted alongside coalition troops, which are expected to remain in Iraq for some years. "When we got to training, we were shocked!" he said. "This is the military the way we love it." Ah, your new officers didnât steal your money and your food, and didnât beat you for stupid infractions.
New to the military was another Shiite, Capt. Hassan Abdel Amir Aziz, who said seven of his relatives had been killed under Saddam. "My family didnât want me to be a member in this army, this is a risky job. ... But I told them it is our duty. We should be here now. If we need the freedom, we will make it. Nobody will give us that freedom," Aziz said in English. Now thereâs a sensible man.
U.S. officials say the number of recruits has increased since Saddamâs Dec. 13 capture. "We are now into the accelerated period of providing Iraqi security forces, and these soldiers look very proud, very dedicated," said the highest-ranking U.S. officer in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez. "I have high expectations that in fact they would help us bring security and stability back to the country."
A member of the U.S.-handpicked interim Governing Council, Muwaffak al-Rubaie, said the council is making headway in selecting "a small nucleus that can form the civil leadership of the new Iraqi army." Ex-soldiers would not be excluded since "these are our sons and the sons of the new Iraq, and for sure the new army will include these members." Just not the Baâath ones.
The U.S. Armyâs Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, an infantry officer in charge of rebuilding the Iraqi security force, said the U.S. military is looking at retired Iraqi generals who had bad relations with Saddam for the defense ministry. "It is something that we are very careful about," he said. It was "critical to find the right people" but he was "convinced that there is good leadership available in this country." Um, if you say so. Iâd keep those generals on a real short leash.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2004 12:08:27 AM ||
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A well-trained separatist group linked to extremists fighting for a regional Pan Islamic state was behind the attack on an army barracks and widespread arson last Sunday, the governmentâs new security adviser said yesterday. ``This kind of well-organised attack on the Fourth Armyâs barracks was unprecedented,ââ Gen Kitti Rattanachaya said. ``This is the worst attack they have ever made on our security forces. One should not underestimate their strength by playing down the incident. The situation will become much worse if we do not correctly deal with the problem.ââ Gen Kitti, former commander of the southern-based Fourth Army, maintained the perpetrators were not normal ``gun-trafficking banditsââ as believed by some senior government officials. They were members of a ``well-established organisationââ fighting to establish an Islamic state in the southernmost area.
Comes as a surprise, huh? I know. Floored me, too...
An estimated 100-150 separatists made a surprise attack on an army camp whose soldiers work on local development projects in Narathiwat, killing four sentries and making off with about 100 M-16 rifles from the armoury. Gen Kitti did not think that the stolen rifles were for sale to raise money. He was convinced the weapons would be used to arm combatant forces opposed to the government with the ideology of forming an Islamic state in Pattani. ``Does it sound like a good idea to raise money by stealing military rifles and selling them?ââ said the general, who played a key role in ending the decades-long struggle of the now defunct Communist Party of Malaya in the late 1980s. Gen Kitti said he was fully aware, through his Muslim sources in the southernmost area, of the connection between local separatists and regional Islamic extremists. Local separatists could get support from the Kampulan Mujahideen Malaysia (KMM), an Islamic militant group from Malaysia known to have ties with the Indonesia-based Jemaah Islamiyah (JI). Looks like I called that one right, it was the Malaysia connection that determined that much. The KMM is the military wing of PAS, the main Malaysian Islamist opposition party.
``How could a rag-tag bunch of armed men without special training make a daring attack on an army camp and simultaneously set our schools ablaze,ââ said Gen Kitti. ``It was well planned and organised,ââ he said but added he was expressing his own opinion. ``I have just made my views known, the other side of a coin,ââ said the general.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 5:30:03 PM ||
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EFL
....U.S. intelligence is now scrambling to figure out if either Stubbs or Mujahid are to be considered terror suspects back home. From 1990 to 2000, Stubbs worked at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, not far from his home in Antioch, California. (Livermore is home to one of the Human Genome Centers and is also known for its nuclear weapons lab.) Stubbs had "Q-Level" security clearance, the highest for employees. But as Livermore spokeswoman Susan Houghton explained, because he had access to top-level areas does not mean he had access to top-level documents, calling that possibility "speculation" at this time. "Itâs important to focus on the reality," said Houghton, "which is that he left here in 2000." Livermore is now cooperating with the FBI. Read the whole article here.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
01/07/2004 9:38:44 AM ||
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I understood he was a janitor?
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/07/2004 9:45 Comments ||
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#2
He worked in the heating and air conditioning shop. Would have had access to the whole building.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/07/2004 10:07 Comments ||
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#3
Steve:
If what you are saying is true, then how was he able to travel as much as the above article asserts? Hmm?
#4
I reported on this story several times last week. He was a HVAC technician at a government lab, looking at the Gov jobs site they hire at least at the WG-10 level, $20-$23 an hour. That would be the minimun, most likely higher in Cali. He left that job in 2000 after a long medical leave, his sister still works there. One of the reports from the Phillipines says they had found "interesting funding" evidence on him and his brother.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/07/2004 10:45 Comments ||
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A regional anti-terrorism centre will be set up in Indonesia following a conference to be co-hosted by Indonesia and Australia in Bali next month, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said Tuesday. The conference "would lead to the establishment of a regional transnational crime centre in Indonesia, the establishment of a central forensic laboratory and the establishment of a training centre of anti-terrorist units", Wirayuda said. He told a press conference that the objective of the regional ministerial conference on Feb 4-5 was to "translate political commitments into concrete co-operation". The foreign ministryâs director for international security and disarmament, Hamzah Thayeb, said the anti-terrorism centre would form part of the transnational crime centre. He said the idea followed the successful co-operation between Australia and Indonesia in the investigation into the Bali bombings of October 2002 which killed 202 people. The Bali meeting is expected to be attended by ministers from 10 Southeast Asian countries plus Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, Fiji, East Timor, New Zealand, the United States, Britain, France, Russia and Germany.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 2:23:23 AM ||
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Indonesiaâs Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by a militant sentenced to death for his role in the 2002 Bali bombings, a court spokesman said Wednesday. Frydayâs coming!
Lawyers for the militant, Amrozi bin Nurhasyim, said they had yet to be informed of the verdict, but added they would file a judicial review of the case with the Supreme Court - a process that could take months or years. Pri Pambudi Teguh, a spokesman for the Supreme Court, said a three-judge panel threw out Amroziâs appeal on Tuesday. "Iiiiiick! Somebody open a window!"
"The accusedâs objections were not backed by the judicial facts," he told The Associated Press, reading from a copy of the verdict. Masterful understatement!
Amrozi was the first of 29 militants convicted in the attack to appeal to the Supreme Court. The Bali Higher Court had turned down an earlier request to have his sentence quashed. A judicial review requires new evidence to be submitted before it is heard. If the Supreme Court rejects the review, then Amroziâs final chance to avoid execution would be appealing directly to the president for clemency. Sheâd better not.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2004 12:24:08 AM ||
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Two policemen were injured during a gun attack by assailants on a police station in Thailand's Muslim-majority south early on Wednesday in the latest assault in the restive region, security officials said. Aiyaweng police station in Yala province's Betong district came under attack by more than ten assailants after receiving a phone call informing police of a fire at a nearby bridge in order to lure police outside, Major Jiarapan Kasemsansuk, told AFP. "They attacked the police station in Aiyaweng area of Betong district for about 30 minutes," he said. A policeman at the station told AFP the attackers used M-16 rifles and said two policemen were slightly injured by pieces of shattered cement during the firefight. "Police are now in hot pursuit of the attackers," he said.
I hope they find them. I hope they aim better than the Bad Guys did...
The attack came as three senior ministers were scheduled to hold a second day of emergency talks with local officials in nearby Pattani province after two days of violence left six people dead in the region.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/07/2004 00:08 ||
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Wherever followers of the 'religion of peace'go they bring trouble with them.
I've just returned from a trip to central Thailand.
The Thai people (at least the ones I saw in the streets) are very gentle, kind and peaceful. Its a lovely country.
I really hope that the people in power kick some muslim ass before it becomes too late for them.
while "Frawnce" is a lost case with Sharia expected to inevitably kick in within 10-20 years, maybe with Thailand there is still hope if they act quickly and decisively.
Posted by: The Dodo ||
01/07/2004 1:49 Comments ||
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#2
Remember al-Qaeda's jihad-fatwah against "Jews and Crusaders?" I am of the opinion that a majority of Muslims are abiding by same if only by financing terror.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
01/07/2004 2:19 Comments ||
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Al-Qaida-linked groups are training and recruiting militants to carry out suicide attacks that have become Osama bin Ladenâs "greatest achievement" as his brand of extremist Islam spreads around the world, a terrorism expert said Wednesday. The greatest threats include Al Ansar Al Islam in Iraq, Jemaah Islamiyah in Southeast Asia, Al Ansar Mujahidin in Chechnya, the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Salafist Group for Call and Combat in Algeria, Rohan Gunaratna told a Southeast Asian outlook forum. Al-Ansar al-Islam is another name for Ansar al-Islam, while the al-Ansar Mujahideen is another name for Abu Walidâs mob up in Chechnya/Dagestan.
I was wondering what they actually call themselves...
Gunaratna said a fresh batch of Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists will graduate Jan. 15 from a camp in the southern Philippines. The camp is run by the secessionist Moro Islamic Liberation Front, or MILF, which is fighting for an independent Muslim homeland in Mindanao, Gunaratna said. He did not elaborate on the number of graduates or where he got his information, but Indonesia intelligence has also said thereâs a recruiting drive for the group, thought to have about 3,000 members. Sidney Jones, the Indonesian project director for the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, supported Gunaratnaâs assessment on the Philippines being a Jemaah Islamiyah training ground. "There are several MILFs, all using the same name," Jones said, adding that these factions were not the same as the group now conducting peace negotiations with Manila.
I'm confused. I thought there were factions in MILF, but only one disorganized organization...
Despite the arrest of Jemaah Islamiyahâs alleged operations chief Hambali in Thailand last year, Jones said there were a number of key group operatives still at large, including Azahari Husin and Nordin Mohamed Top. The two men are accused of planning the Bali bombings. Gunaratna, author of "Inside al-Qaida: Global Network of Terror," said the bulk of the terrorist attacks expected in 2004 will come from these groups — trained and financed by bin Laden and not the network itself. "Small, disparate organizations mounting operations are in many ways Osama bin Ladenâs greatest achievement," said Gunaratna.
Depending on your definition of "great," of course...
Before the Sept. 11, 2001 strikes in the United States, the al-Qaida network launched an attack every two years; since then, there has been one al-Qaida-linked attack every three months, Gunaratna noted. He predicted that pace will continue through this year, with the growing threats coming from the smaller, regional terrorist organizations. "As the memory of 9/11 recedes, the West is likely to witness another mass casualty attack on Western soil," Gunaratna said.
That's the confluence of the short attention span of the public and an election year...
In a paper presented at the forum, he said: "The threat of terrorism and its associated groups will persist throughout 2004." Maritime targets are vulnerable to attack, he said, adding "almost all the attacks will be suicide vehicle bombings, an al-Qaida hallmark." If left unchecked, Iran could emerge as a training ground for al-Qaida terrorists, Gunaratna predicted. Theyâre already hosting the top brass, so that makes sense.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 11:50:02 AM ||
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Then soon after hosting the new training camps, the camps receive a welcome wagon gift via a C-130. A gift wrapped MOAB.
Posted by: Brian ||
01/07/2004 19:04 Comments ||
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Looks like heâs moving up in al-Qaeda, heâs getting his own set of tapes.
Today, Islamist Internet forums posted an audio recording with the voice of Jordanian citizen and Al-Qaâida leader Ahmad Al-Khalayla, who is also known as Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi. Al-Zarqawi, who has reportedly been operating from Iraq, is said to have planned the Millennium attacks that were thwarted by Jordan and the attack on the Jordanian Embassy in Baghdad, for which the State Department offered a five million dollar reward for information leading to his arrest. The following is an overview and excerpts of his speech, which is reportedly the first time that his voice has ever been recorded:
Al-Zarqawiâs message is divided into three parts. The first, about 30 minutes long, is devoted to Qurâanic verses and Hadiths extolling Jihad and martyrdom. In the second part, 18 minutes long, Al-Zarqawi mentions his friend Abd Al-Hadi Daghlas, also known as Abu Ubayda, who was killed by U.S. forces in Iraq at the beginning of the war. Al-Zarqawi says:
"I will never forget our brothers, the martyrs, who were with us through good and bad, and first and foremost the dear and beloved brother, the living martyr Abu Al-Ubayda Abd Al-Hadi Daghlas. By Allah, since I was guided by Allah, I never experienced a catastrophe like the loss of this brother. He was a brother I felt small next to because of his courage, devotion, patience, and modesty. Eyes cry for people like Abd Al-HadiâŠ"
Later, in the second part, Al-Zarqawi attacks Muslim clerics and accuses them of abandoning the Mujahideen as they "confront the strongest power in the world:
"⊠You, our clerics, reconciled with the tyrants and handed over the land and the people to the Jews, the Crusaders, and their hangers-on among our apostate rulers when you remained silent about their crimes, feared to preach the truth to them, and did not succeed in bearing the banner of Jihad and monotheism⊠You abandoned us in the most difficult of circumstances, and you handed us over to our enemyâŠ"
In the third part, Al-Zarqawi continues his attack on Muslim clerics:
"⊠Hundreds of thousands of Muslims were slaughtered by the infidels because of your silence, oh clerics of Islam⊠Know that you will stand before Allah [on Judgment Day]. Prepare answers for God because He will ask you what you did for the nation. He will ask you about the Mujahideen and whether you supported them. He will ask you about the enemies of the [Muslim] community, and how much you loathed and hated them, [and whether you used] swords and lances, hearts and tongues. Allah will ask you why you did not rescue the prisoners held by the Jews, the Crusaders, and the polytheists. Allah will ask what you did for Afghanistan and for Iraq. Allah will ask why you abandoned Mullah OmarâŠ"
Al-Zarqawi further stated,
"Oh people, the wheels of war have begun to move; the caller has already declared Jihad and the gates of heaven are open [to the martyrs]. If you are unwilling to be one of the knights of war, make way for the women so they can run the war, and you take the cooking utensils and makeup [brushes] in their stead. If you are not women in turbans and beards, go to the horses and seize their harnesses and their reinsâŠ
"Oh Allah, America came with its horses and knights to challenge Allah and his Messenger [Muhammad]⊠Oh Allah, rend the kingdom of Bush as you rent the kingdom of Caesar⊠Oh Allah, curse the Arab tyrants and the foreign tyrants; Oh Allah, strike the apostate rulers; Oh Allah, kill them one after the other, sparing noneâŠ"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 2:09:17 AM ||
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#1
Oh Allah, America came with its horses and knights to challenge Allah and his Messenger [Muhammad]â¦
I love to listen to these Islamist idiots and their 7th century allegory.
Ummm...those are really big modern steel horses aren't they?
I also don't think we showed up to offend Allah or Mackmoud or what ever violent monkey pedophile you stone thowers are worshiping....We simply came to kill you and the likes of you for trying to kill us.
F*tard
#2
his friend Abd Al-Hadi Daghlas, also known as Abu âUbayda, who was killed by U.S. forces in Iraq at the beginning of the war.
What? There were al'Qaeda in Iraq?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/07/2004 8:25 Comments ||
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#3
Maybe they should stop asking Allah to bring death and destruction. Seems Allah has really crappy aim, what with the earthquake in Iran and then the meteorite.
#4
"...go to the horses and seize their harnesses...":
it always sounds like these big (pig-)leaders are anxious to SEND others to fight, they never say: "Now I will go, I will do, I will die...", they are not so willing to reach Paradesa (the Upper Garden in Parsi if I recall right).
#7
If best thing these people have got is to listen to this same lame bullshit day after day after day, no wonder they welcome the chance to blow themselves up. I'll bet even Allah himself probably wishes they'd STFU!
I just had to post this.
"The following is taken from a BBS exchange I have been watching. The thread is primarily a critical look at the American War on Terror and our use of force. I enjoyed the response below so much I requested, and was granted permission, by the author to post it here.
The author is yet another traditional Democrat voter who has a realistic view of the War on Terror. He caught hold of a lot of themes that a "neo-con" (I use that term half tongue-in-cheek) like myself has internalized.
Without further ado, I give you "Bouncer", in:
The response to the "your violence is just making things worse crowd" or..."why rewarding bad behavior doesnât work."
"If more time and money was spent on dealing with these issues then we will be on the road to solving this issue without turning to violence."
Bullshit.
Youâre burying your head in the sand again. The US tried buying them off with Saudia Arabia and it didnât do jack shit but fund OBL. The US tried the opposite tack in ignoring them in the case of Afghanistan and that didnât work either.
You cannot buy yourself out from this. Ever. You need to get over this concept that enough time and money can change things in these countries. They havenât and they wonât. UN pressure wonât either, because no one is willing to back UN words up and none of these countries respect the concept of the UN, much less itâs application. It is simply a tool to be manipulated in their view, and thatâs all it is. Itâs ideals are hollow nothings in their eyes. There is no fundamental respect for it as a body, and therefore it has no ability to change anything in these countries.
The only way to effectively deal with this is to engage each country directly. For those that we can talk to or (when necessary) who we can intimidate into compliance, we will. For those we cannot, they must know we will enter the country by force and remove the ability to wage war in this fashion and end the current regime.
Thing is, we are not just doing this for ourselves. We are, once again, acting to protect all of western civilization including some of our harshest critics. Weâre not making a deal with AQ or OBL or Khaddaffi, saying "The US is off limits but have at Australia or Canada or Germany or France and we wonât do anything". Which I honestly believe (donât you?) is a deal France and probably Germany would make in a heartbeat. What we are saying to these countries is that state sponsored terrorism of this type must stop. It will stop. You will stop it. Or we will remove you and replace you with people who will try to stop it.
And you know what? That IS a more mature and balanced response. The whole thing of trying to bribe the religious bullies and cut throat dictators into something approaching reasonable behaviour has a legacy of forty years of abject fucking failure. I defy you to show me a single nation that has emerged from under the rule of either theocracy or dictatorship because of buying them off. You canât. Not one. It. Doesnât. Fucking. Work.
The brutish truth is that the invasion and occupation of Iraq has done more to restrain these bullies and theocracies in one year than either the UN or your view has accomplished in your and my entire lifetimes. Thatâs the plain, nasty, ugly truth of it. It works. And this may surprise you ******, but I didnât think it would. But it has and it does. Khaddaffiâs 180 degree turn ISNâT a product of anything but this new direct policy. Iranâs sudden willingness to let IAEA inspectors in isnât a result of anything but this. The crackdowns in SA against AQ and associated elements isnât because of anything but this. The emergence of the Loya Jirga with actual live females sitting in it isnât the result of anything but this.
You see.. the fundamental difference is, you see the proper use of force as being not to use it at all. That is, to wave the possibility of force around in order to achieve compliance. And that sounds nice and keeps the body count low. But the thing is, if youâre not ever really willing to use that force then eventually it stops being a realistic threat. Eventually the bullies stop BELIEVING you.
There is one universal truth in the ME right now. Do not fuck with the United States. Because gosh golly, they WILL actually do it! Holy crap on the Koran theyâre NOT toothless tigers that will run when the first blood is shed! They ARE willing to pick up the gun when necessary. Thatâs the difference. They may not like us, in fact many of them hate us. But hereâs the weird thing. They actually respect us more because we stood up. Because they know for a fact that weâre NOT afraid to take on the Holy Jihad. Their most powerful weapon has always been the noise of righteousness and the belief that we were afraid of them and their Holy War. And they now realize that guess what. Weâre NOT afraid. Weâre NOT afraid of them. Weâre NOT afraid of their god. Weâre NOT afraid of their righteousness.
And you bet your sweet ass that changes everything. You do a lot less thundering in the pulpit against the Harlot after she marches right down the aisle and kicks you in the nuts. Because now, to them, for the first time in a long time, the threat of American action is a real thing. Machiavelli said it best:
"friendships that are obtained by payments, and not by greatness or nobility of mind, may indeed be earned, but they are not secured, and in time of need cannot be relied upon; and men have less scruple in offending one who is beloved than one who is feared, for love is preserved by the link of obligation which, owing to the baseness of men, is broken at every opportunity for their advantage; but fear preserves you by a dread of punishment which never fails."
He was right. He is right. Especially now, in the Mid-East. Nicolo cautions us though:
"Nevertheless a prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred; because he can endure very well being feared whilst he is not hated, which will always be as long as he abstains from the property of his citizens and subjects and from their women. But when it is necessary for him to proceed against the life of someone, he must do it on proper justification and for manifest cause, but above all things he must keep his hands off the property of others, because men more quickly forget the death of their father than the loss of their patrimony."
And this is why the US isnât declaring Iraq the 51st state or seizing itâs oil fields or itâs women. The US and the coalition is in the process of rebuilding Iraq, of that there can be no doubt. It is in the process of creating a civil government which is democratically controlled. Of that there can be no doubt either. The time table may be faster or slower than you or I or France likes, but consider that the US occupied Japan for SEVEN years after WWII and for FOUR years in Germany. Itâs not even been 10 MONTHS since the invasion began. Give it three years, and THEN start talking about how weâve been there too long or how weâre imperialistic.
The National Arts Club puts patriotism on explicit display with a new exhibit to feature the work of controversial artist Scott LoBaido. One of LoBaidoâs paintings, "Have Faith," depicts President Bush as a cavalry soldier holding al Qaeda leader Osama bin Ladenâs severed head in one hand and a American flag in the other. LoBaido, 38, was arrested in 1999 after throwing horse manure at the exterior of the Brooklyn Museum of Art to protest its display of a painting of the Virgin Mary festooned with elephant dung. "Iâm expressing myself creatively," he said as police led him away that day. Last year, LoBaido was arrested for hanging a large American flag on an awning outside the French Consulate as a sign of protest for what he considered Franceâs contempt for the U.S.-led war in Iraq. He is on one-year probation.
Now the artist has been given a more official platform for expressing his creativity. The Arts Club exhibit incorporates the American flag in almost every piece. A large canvas titled "The New York Giants" features former New York City mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a New York City firefighter and a police officer — all clad in armor and on horseback — in the midst of a battle scene. "Politics has always been bloody and we respect free speech and we think his activism through art is an exciting dimension," said National Arts Club President Aldon James. The exhibit debuted Tuesday and will remain on display until January 29.
The city of Rio de Janeiro will file a lawsuit Wednesday demanding an end to Brazilâs new practice of fingerprinting and photographing U.S. tourists, Mayor Cesar Maia announced Tuesday, and the State Department seconded his complaint. Maia said the procedures, ordered by a Brazilian federal judge who was angered by new U.S. screening of Brazilian visitors, discriminate against Americans by treating them differently from other foreign visitors. In addition, Maia contended that Brazilâs federal government, not a judge, should be setting the countryâs immigration policies. "It is the country that loses because of this infantile anti-American policy," Maia said in an e-mail. City lawyers will seek immediate suspension of the judgeâs order, saying it harms Rioâs business and tourism interests and usurps federal powers. The city will seek compensation for damages if the order isnât overturned. The move came after Brazilian Federal Police officials, unprepared for their new fingerprinting and photographing duties, took as long as nine hours on Monday to process bleary-eyed U.S. citizens whoâd arrived on overnight flights to Brazil from New York and Miami.
I really donât know what to make of this.....
A Muslim court in northern Nigeria has ordered that a 45-year-old manâs leg be amputated as punishment for doing the same to his wife. The Upper Sharia in the town of Bauchi made the order against Adamu Hussaini Maidoya, who cut off the right leg of his wife, Amina. He accused her of infidelity, after "over exposing" herself to a doctor to get an injection. Must have showed the doctor a bit of ankle the hussy so her husband lopped off her leg at the knee....
Judge Alhaji Abdu Yerima ordered that the convictâs right leg be amputated at the knee and that the person or doctor who executes the sentence should not administer anaesthetic or painkillers. The judge quoted relevant sections of the Holy Quran and the Hadith to support his judgment and gave the convict 30 days to file an appeal. "He must experience similar pain his wife went through when he cut off her right leg from the knee,ââ the judge ruled. Shortly before sentencing, Amina Hussaini, who just been discharged from the Bauchi specialist hospital, told the court how on August 21 2002 her husband accused her of infidelity, overpowered her and cut her right leg off at the knee with a sharp machete. Amina, who had been married to the accused for about 20 years and has eight children, including four-month-old twins, prayed for justice.
Eight kids? I'd think she'd be too tired to think about infidelity...
Maidoya, who wept profusely during the trial, pleaded guilty but pleaded for forgiveness, saying his act was destined by God. Maidoya, a trader, also told newsmen he was neither insane nor under the influence of alcohol when he cut off his wifeâs leg. Justice??
Barbarians, indulging in their barbarian customs. Ignore them, or they'll think their opinions matter on something...
#5
The Mohammedans should use their medical and robotic scientists, and their money, to develop implamtable transducers/nerve inhibitors and paralize both his legs for years.
#7
Woops, we seem to have experienced a slight topic amputation.
Speaking of 'bloody antipodes', I'm drinking some aussie cab- Black Swan, not too shabby. I'm a heathen so I judge the grape by whether the top unscrews or not.
Details of Bushâes plan emerge....
President Bush proposed a plan Wednesday that would allow illegal immigrants working in the United States to stay here for a limited time if their employers vouch for their jobs. Saying U.S. laws should allow workers to enter the country to fill the jobs Americans are not willing to take, Bush said: "We must make our immigration law more rational and more humane, and I believe we can do so without jeopardizing the livelihood of American citizens."
Try hanging a sign out saying "Dry-wallers wanted: $7.50 an hour... Bring your own tools." See how many people show up.
The "temporary worker program" would also allow immigrants to come to the United States if they can prove they have a job lined up and they donât plan to stay here indefinitely. I dont have a problem with this *if* they receiving the same background checks, medical checks, etc... as legal immigrants undergo now.
"Over the generations, we have received energetic, ambitious, optimistic people from all over the world ... our country is a welcoming society," Bush said. "America is a stronger and better nation because of the hard work and faith and the entrepreneurial spirit of immigrants." True... True...
The presidentâs plan aims to relieve the pressures on hotel maids, meat cutters, landscapers and a host of other illegal workers. Who now receive very low wages and no protections because they are illegal. Of course that is the choice they make when they choose to be illegal.
Plus, the administration hopes to better secure the nationâs borders and the homeland by making sure even illegals are documented. Excuse me but this is the dumbest thing I heard all day. If they are âtemporary workersâ and documented then, by definition they are not illegal. There will still be a massive illegal immigrant presence here unless we take steps to kick them (the illegals) out.
"As a nation that values legal immigrants and depends on legal immigrants, we should have immigration laws that work and make us proud," the president said. "Yet today we do not. Instead we see many employers turning to the illegal labor market. We see millions of hard-working men and women condemned to fear and insecurity in a massive undocumented and illegal economy. Illegal entry across our borders makes more difficult the urgent task of securing the homeland." If the United States can better account for those who enter the country, Bush said, it would alleviate current problems, such as illegal immigrants being hesitant to report crimes and authorities having to deal with illegal immigrant issues rather than focusing on the "true threats" terrorists pose. Will we truly strengthen our borders and actually start deporting illegal aliens?
"Americaâs acting on a basic belief that our borders should be open to legal travel and honest trade," Bush said. "Our borders should be shut and barred tight to criminals, drug traders, drug traffickers ⊠and terrorists." As they are not today.
The proposal comes in advance of a meeting with Mexican President Vicente Fox (search) next week at the Summit of the Americas in Monterrey, Mexico. The president had put immigration reform at the top of his agenda while campaigning for the presidency in 2000, but after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, it was placed on the back burner as administration officials and legislators worked to beef up border security. Now that Bush is into his second campaign for the presidency, he hopes to expand support among the Hispanic community, which broke ranks in 2000 by voting in considerable numbers for the Republican candidate. About one-third of Hispanic voters supported Bush in 2000.
On the other hand, if he was going to do it anyway, he'd be dumber than dirt to wait for after the election, wouldn't he? His history says was a good friend to Texas' often put-upon Hispanics...
The proposal is also likely to sit well with business leaders who already employ illegal workers in low-wage jobs. Officials estimate that about 8 million illegal immigrants, half of them Mexican, live in the United States already. The presidentâs plan would allow workers who live in the United States a reprieve from deportation if employers agree to give them jobs for three years and are unable to find American citizens willing to do the job. Would-be immigrants would also be allowed to apply if they line up a job in the United States. Illegal workers would pay a fee to apply immediately for a green card for permanent U.S. residency. The applicant would still have to compete for the visa, but would not be deported for three years while the application is under consideration. See below.. they still have to wait like everyone else....
The number of green cards will be increased but the total number of new cards is not yet decided. Currently, the United States issues 1 million green cards per year, though only 140,000 of them are employment-based. The program would be separate from the temporary visa program that allows technical experts to work in certain sectors of the economy. If workersâ applications are not processed in the first three years of their employment, then workers would have to return to their countries to await final approval. This sounds like they will have to wait like everyone else. I hope that they will receive a permanent or 10 year ban if they fail to leave the country.
Conservatives opposed to the idea of rewarding immigrants who break the law by illegally entering the United States say the president is basically giving blanket amnesty and encouraging more illegal immigration. But Bush said thatâs exactly what heâs not doing. "I oppose amnesty, placing ILLEGAL undocumented workers on the automatic path to citizenship," he said. "Granting amnesty encourages violation of our laws and perpetuates illegal immigration. America is a welcoming country, but citizenship must not be the automatic reward for violating the laws of America." He gets it!
Bush has sought to address conservativesâ concerns by proposing incentives to encourage workers to return home when their visas expire, including allowing them to collect Social Security benefits, which they would be contributing to as legal workers, after they return home. Other opponents of the program say it doesnât do enough to reform the system, despite provisions that would allow dependents to join their parents and freedom of movement inside the United States. "Extremely disappointing," said Cecilia Munoz, vice president for policy at the National Council of La Razaand well known Mexican agent. "Theyâre proposing to invite people to be guest workers without providing any meaningful opportunity to remain in the United States to become legal permanent residents." I call BULLSHIT on this! They have the exact same opportunity (perhaps even more so) then people from Russa or the Philippines, or Spain, or China, or Syria who do not have a open border with the United States.
The National Immigration Forum also issued a statement saying key components of the plan seem to create a near-permanent underclass of workers with only temporary legal standing in this country. "The White House also seems to ignore or inadequately address immigrant families, and without provisions to ensure families can remain intact the proposal will only encourage more undocumented migration," the statement continued.
While House Minority Whip Nancy Pelosi welcomed the movement on the issue, "immigration policy must not be the subject of election-year window dressing," said the California Democrat. "While the presidentâs framework is a start, we still need a committed effort to enact family-centered immigration policies that will reunite families, to end the uncertainty that thousands of businesses and millions of workers face every day, and to protect the nation." She said many Democrats are instead supporting legislation like that sponsored by Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., which would enable 500,000 agricultural workers to become legal permanent residents through earned legalization. This is rewarding lawbreaking (ILLEGAL) immigrants and punishing law abiding people who are trying to do things legally.
They also support California Democratic Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allardâs DREAM Act that would provide young ILLEGAL immigrants with more higher educational opportunities then american citizens have. But Republicans heralded Bushâs plan as a better way to protect the nationâs borders. "Immigration is a national security issue for all Americans and a matter of life and death for many living along our borders," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "A comprehensive temporary worker program will dramatically improve the situation at our borders," added Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. Note that this will only work if we ENFORCE EXISTING LAWS. This means actively patroling the borders, deporting illegalâ. Forcing state and local governments (such as Seattle and California) to enforce federal laws (by cutting off their balls federal funding if they donât).
#1
I am at odds with this proposal because on one hand we have done nothing to stop Illegals from coming here and once they get here they take jobs that no one else wants. But what will happen once they get legal status? Will even more illegals stream accross the borders? Can we realistically stop them from coming? And if they kick them all out who will cook and clean for the hollywoood elitists?
#2
Yep - this does nothing to address STOPPING illegal immigration. However, if La Raza is PO'd over this, I can't help but think that this is a good first step. This is part of the puzzle but not the whole solution....and California is still left holding the bag with no Fed funding to back up our border efforts here.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
01/07/2004 19:29 Comments ||
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#3
I'm not sure this is necessarily all that people think it is. If you read the speech itself, it sounds like he's using this proposal to (1) make illegal immigrants much more expensive to employ, (2) toughen up penalties on employers, (3) tighten up borders and (4) increase governmental scrutiny of people who enter this country. He's calling it a way of welcoming more immigrants into this country - but the fact is that tightening up the borders and monitoring the movements of foreigners is going to do exactly the opposite.
As with the amnesty in the mid-80's, illegals are going to gain legal status. But I suspect that this is the price Bush will have to pay in order to make any substantive moves to tighten up immigration controls. Illegals who stand to get green cards aren't stupid - they'll benefit from immigration restrictions, too - and they'll remember both issues at the polls when they get naturalized years from now. The message will be that the Republican Party can be their political home - tough on crime, encouraging of productive, law-abiding immigrants (apart from their coming over illegally).
Around the turn of the 19th century, about 18 million Americans out of a population of 76 million were foreign born. That's about 23%. Today's percentage is about 14-15%. I think these people are ultimately assimilable, given the lack of racism today, compared to the prejudice that was very apparent during the 1900's against Poles, Italians, Jews, etc. The immigrants of that era weren't regarded as benign either. The eugenics movement sprang from the idea that Southern and Eastern Europeans were somehow inferior and unassimilable into American society. And in truth, there were some serious problems with anarchists who decided to transfer their struggle against European governments to the US, where they conducted bombing campaigns, including one on Wall Street that killed dozens. A goodly number of the members of the American Communist Party were the offspring of these immigrants. But today, all have assimilated into the American mainstream. And if legalization is the price we have to pay for effective (not to say draconian) border controls, so be it.
As with the 1980's amnesty, this amnesty will apply only to people who have been in the country for some number of years (I believe it was over 10 years back then). This means that not all illegals will qualify. In any case, it's time that both immigration and immigration controls became a non-partisan issue. New immigrants do (or should) understand the connection between immigration controls and their standard of living. They are known to complain of lax border controls simply because wage competition gets too intense.
#4
I think that this is one shoe falling. The other shoe falling (i.e. real efforts to stop ILLEGAL immigration) will probably be after his meeting with Fox.
#5
Yes, sounds like a good idea IF the INS gets off its ass and enforces the laws a long, long time on the books! But what's with the attitude of blaming the illegal immigrants? If greedy farmers/landscapers, etc didn't ignore immigration laws like they have the past 30 years--there would be no illegal immigrants--because they couldn't work here! DUH! I'm just glad I don't live in the Southwest--the government's inaction--under both Dems and GOP has forever altered that part of our country
Posted by: NotMike Moore ||
01/07/2004 21:11 Comments ||
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#6
NMM: If greedy farmers/landscapers, etc didn't ignore immigration laws like they have the past 30 years--there would be no illegal immigrants--because they couldn't work here!
It's got nothing to do with greed. It's basic economics at work. If your competitor hires illegal foreign help, you had better be prepared to do the same - the alternative is to lose your farm because you can't match his prices.
#7
I think these people are ultimately assimilable, given the lack of racism today, compared to the prejudice that was very apparent during the 1900's against Poles, Italians, Jews, etc.
Only if efforts are made to that end. But, witnessing all this constant gushing over "diversity", seeing billboards in major CA cities in Spanish, bilingual education, providing a choice of ATM language in Spanish, "sensitivity training" (of a cultural sort), etc, isn't any indication that things are headed that way.
If your competitor hires illegal foreign help, you had better be prepared to do the same - the alternative is to lose your farm because you can't match his prices.
Or the government agency tasked with enforcing the law actually does so, leveling the playing field. After all, illegal foreign help is, well, illegal, isn't it?
#8
Or the government agency tasked with enforcing the law actually does so, leveling the playing field. After all, illegal foreign help is, well, illegal, isn't it?
The beauty of GWB's proposal? Economics will take care of it - benefits for illegals (raising the cost of hiring them) and sanctions on employers for breaking benefits laws (punishing employers) will take a huge bite out of employer demand for this labor. Instead of la migra jumping some some poor (in the liberal mind) illegal alien immigrant, the focus will be on law-breaking employers. From a PR standpoint, it's pure genius. Note that the Feds are getting all over Walmart's case - I don't think that was a coincidence - these are criminal, not civil proceedings.
The father of an 11-year-old boy beat a registered sexual predator with an ax handle for touching his son, and both men were arrested. Police said Roosevelt Reed, who is listed on the stateâs sexual predator registry, allegedly entered the room of other tenants at a private community home and touched the boy on the stomach before being scared off by another resident of the room. When the boyâs father learned of what happened, he beat Reed with an ax handle before police could respond, said Lt. James Troiano. Reed was jailed on charges of burglary and battery of an 11-year-old child. The father was arrested on a charge of aggravated battery. Reed was being held without bond and his case has been assigned to the Alachua County Public Defenderâs Office. The fatherâs name wasnât released to protect the identity of the boy, so the jail could no give information on his status or legal representation. I have many comments but there are not fit to print. I only want to say that Mr. Reed is DAMN lucky that is wasnât my Son (or Daughter) because they would not have to call the police. They would call the CORONER! If they start a defense fund for the dad I am good for a C note.
#1
When I working my way through college we grabbed a sexual predator in the mens room. My Assistant manager asked that I escort the father and assaulted boy to the hallway while he had a 'word' with the predator.
When the police got there the predator cried about the towel dispenser missing from the wall that he had been beaten with... the police politely indicated they saw no towel dispenser and no blood as they dragged him from the building.
#3
Another illustrious member of the Axehandle Brigade! Good on ya, guy! Only, if you didn't swing a few uppercuts to the groin, you mis-handled that axehandle. Come by for some tutoring, and I'll help you develop that "perfect slice" that gets both at one time...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2004 21:18 Comments ||
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Posted by: Steve ||
01/07/2004 2:56:39 PM ||
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#1
she lived the life of a minor jetsetter
I didn't realize there were minor league jetsetters. Makes me feel better.. I've been known to eat breakfast in Tallahasse, Lunch in Madison and pass out in Valdosta.
#2
WOT or no WOT, US support for former soviet despots should be a bit more selective. This guy has alot of fun repressing his own population with the tacit consent of the US. oh, sorry, forgot...they're muslims so it's cool and only 0.001% of the population has ever heard of Uzbekistan
Excerpt from long article:
In addition to numerous national problems of fuel scarcity, poverty, banditry, unemployment and ecological dangers, the people of the north-eastern region and indeed the entire nation were last week stunned by the eruption of a new form of civil insurrection by a group of youths who style themselves the âTaliban.â Contrary to early reports that it was a "Maitatsine" group, the Taliban, otherwise known as the Hijrah movement composed of young graduates and post-graduates most of whom were from highly placed and influential families with an understanding of the Islamic religion that completely denounces sin, corruption and immorality. Middle class/rich kids with time on their hands.
"I know what best for me and you, especially you..."
The society, to them, is so mired in moral and political poverty that the best thing for a devout Muslim was to migrate out of the sins and the corruption to a place or society where Islamic justice, lawful means of livelihood obtain. Hence, their name the Hijrah group. These objectives, prima facie noble raised no alarm when they âmigratedâ out of Maiduguri some months ago to the bush area around Kanamma in Yunusari local government area of Yobe State to "live in peace and engage in studies and farming," according to one source, and to release themselves from the âburdenâ of interacting with a âsinfulâ (Nigerian) society. Good devout muslims canât live with anyone who isnât, they have to have their own state.
In the Kanamma bush area, the Hijrah group members, along with their wives and children according to sources, established a âbaseâ where they engaged in religious studies among themselves, unperturbed by the people who pass by them every now and then between Kanamma and Geidam towns. Went off and set up a commune, complete with mosque and a rifle range for advanced religious study.
Although people did comment on their unusual presence in the area, nothing dramatic happened until one week ago when the group suddenly surfaced in Kanamma town and attacked the police station there. Weekly Trust gathered that in addition to attacking the police station and killing one policeman, the Hijrah members carted away a list of arms and ammunitions after reportedly setting the police station and other public places on fire. From Kanamma, the group marched to Geidam, headquarters of Geidam local government area where they also overran the police station, chased out the policemen and took away guns and other weapons. Standard practice for beginning revolutionaries, steal your weapons from the opposing force.
It was at this stage that the Hijrah group members distributed leaflets stating the principal theses they sought to uphold. Among the issues they raised were their plan to âcarve outâ the areas around Kanamma, Yunusari and Toshiya out of Nigeria and to bring them under the control of an Islamic state, to place the areas under the leadership of Mullah Omar, presumably the fugitive former leader of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan, to kill any âunbeliever in uniformâ (presumably policemen and soldiers) and to call on the Muslims in the country to rise up for Jihad (Holy War) to defend Islam and establish justice. It does sound like a page from the Taliban handbook. Of course, pretty much every islamic seperatist group tries the same thing. Interesting about Mullah Omar, Iâd say it would be spritual leadership unless heâs thinking about relocating. Weekly Trust reliably learnt that prior to the sudden attack on Kanamma, the group had been approached in the bush by a committee said to be set up by the Yobe State government and made up of a number of religious scholars to persuade them to leave the area when public comments regarding their presence began to grow high. Sources said that the members had initially agreed to disperse but then made an about-turn and attacked Kanamma. This has become one of the mysteries that shroud the activities of the âTalibanâ group. A number of people who spoke to our correspondent said that they believed there must be factors that could have made the members of the group to turn suddenly violent considering the fact that for the months that they spent in the bush, they never engaged the police or, for that matter, the local people in any sort of confrontation. No mystery to me, once the government became interested in them, they felt they had to act before their real plans were exposed and security forces arrived. Think Jonestown and Waco. Another reason for them having to steal guns, they had to move before they had time to import any. That may turn out to be a good thing.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/07/2004 1:58:40 PM ||
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#1
Update: Jan 7: Nigerian troops and border guards from neighbouring Niger have killed or captured more than 50 Islamic radicals who launched a Taliban-style revolt, officials said yesterday. A spokesman for the Yobe State government said 47 rebels had been detained since Friday and five killed, along with three women and two children caught up in a raid on their border hideout.
Seven of those arrested were picked up by gendarmes from Niger Republic acting as guards on its porous frontier with Nigeria's remote and arid northern savannah, junior spokesman, Alkali Jajere, said on telephone. The Muhajirun group, which openly claims inspiration from Afghanistan's hardline Taliban movement, was thought to count around 200 members, mainly middle-class graduates from the Maiduguri. The group has launched a series of attacks in the last three weeks on police stations in Yobe State and along Nigeria's northern border with Niger, killing at least two officers.
Many of the radicals are thought to have melted away into the population, but their leader, nicknamed "Mullah Omar" after the Afghan Taliban's fugitive figurehead, has been arrested, Jajere said.
Just a poser, the "real" Omar would have ridden off into the sunset on his bike, vowing to return.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/07/2004 14:05 Comments ||
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the "real" Omar would have ridden off into the sunset on his bike, vowing to return.
Would the wind have been blowing at a nice Hollywood 12 MPH? I can see the gradient screens now... Orange fading to blue... The KH-4s lifting over the horizon... it's beautiful man.
#3
The KH-4s lifting over the horizon.
You're in a time warp, Ship! THe last KH-4 was launched (and later burned up in the atmosphere) sometime in the 1970's...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2004 20:50 Comments ||
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Six homosexual students won a $1.1 million settlement yesterday against a California school district accused of failing to provide protection from physical and verbal abuse. Name calling in school? Wow I have some suits to file!
The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented the students, said the settlement includes "a comprehensive training program for administrators, staff and students to combat anti-gay harassment," reported the Morgan Hill Times in the San Jose, Calif., suburb of Morgan Hill. The ACLU said the sensitivity training program â required for all district administrators, teachers, campus monitors, custodians, school safety officers and bus drivers â should become a national model for "schools everywhere that care about protecting their students from harassment." The program will emphasize issues surrounding "sexual orientation and gender identity." Students will participate in an age-appropriate program on the same issues. Basically itâs a âbe nice to turd burglars/carpet munchers or elseâ seminar.
The settlement came after the federal 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, regarded as the nationâs most liberal, ruled the Morgan Hill School District and others must give equal protection to all students. The case, which began in 1998, was appealed several times by the school district but never went to trial, and the two sides finally decided to pursue a settlement. "The bravery of these students in speaking out about the horrific abuse they faced on a daily basis at school will reach far beyond Morgan Hill," said Kate Kendell, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights, according to the Morgan Hill paper. "Because these six kids came forward, schools now know they canât just ignore abuse of gay students when itâs happening in their hallways," Kendell said. "This training program isnât just the right thing to do â itâs what schools have to do if they want to keep their students safe." And then she picked up her $200k check from the district.
"This is not an admission of guilt," Thomas said, according to the Times. In a statement, school officials said: "Although the district believes it has no liability in the matter, it has agreed to this settlement agreement to avoid the costs and uncertainties of trial in order that the district can remain focused on its primary goal of educating students."
That makes me feel so... tired.
The students charged school administrators mostly ignored their complaints of taunting and abuse. Diane Ritchie, the attorney who filed the studentsâ original lawsuit, said last April the suit was not about money but about protecting the students and changing the districtâs ways, the Times reported. But she will cash her $200k Check just the same.
"All of them wanted to file to get protection on campus; they wanted the policy to change," Ritchie said then, according to the paper. And get some money to buy some really nice gay clothes.
Three plaintiffs who agreed to reveal their names publicly were former students Alana Flores, Freddie Fuentes and Jeanette Dousharm. Flores will receive $150,000; Fuentes and Dousharm, $100,000 each; two unnamed plaintiffs $80,000 each and the final student, $50,000, the Morgan Hill paper said. About $600,000 will go to the lawyers. That sounds fair.
"I am so happy that the district has finally recognized the seriousness of this problem and is ready to do something to stop it," said Flores about the settlement in a press release. "The kind of abuse I had to deal with every day when I went to school was horrible. No student should have to face that. Making schools safe for all students through this kind of training is something every school should do." Along with the ACLU of Northern California, the students were represented by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, the ACLUâs national Lesbian and Gay Rights Project, and a number of Bay Area attorneys. Show of hands of anybody who was teased or taunted in school? Everybody! The ACLU has a lot of work to do. I had red hair, a weight problem, and I was harassed CONSTANTLY. I donât see any red haired fat boys alliance to defend me! Also my school never held red hair fat boy sensitivity training for the faculty to protect my rights. Is there time limit on the charges? Is there a lawyers out there that wouldnât mind working pro-bono?
On the one hand, I have the impulse to holler "Peshawar" at this article.
On the other, I guess it's good that we keep a record of the silliness that's going on in the country while the grown-ups are fighting wars, negotiating with beturbanned dictators, and generally trying to stem the tide of international Islamism. I regard the problems afflicting the plaintiffs as more substantial than the story of Britney's marriage and immediate divorce, though marginally so, on about the same plane, in fact, as Britney's tongue trade with Madonna. I actually find myself embarrassed at the thought that 30 or 40 years from now our grandchildren will be reading the history of the WoT and they're going to notice the venality and lack of substance of a large part of our society.
I'm comforted by the fact that this article immediately follows the one on Rumsfeld and the Men of the Year.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) ||
01/07/2004 11:30:02 AM ||
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#1
Can I call them queer? They call themselves that, even on primetime TV.
Eh. They can take the pain of a penis in the ass but they can't take the "horrifying abuse" of being called a fruit.
Certainly a skinny Pollack like me who got beat up more than once should have a reciprocal case against my grade school and junior high school. Oh the horror.
#3
The ACLU said the sensitivity training program â required for all district administrators, teachers, campus monitors, custodians, school safety officers and bus drivers â should become a national model for "schools everywhere that care about protecting their students from harassment."
Nothing like forced sensitivity training to remedy a perceived "problem".
The obese (weight challenged) will soon be another victim group looking for their spoils.
However, on a side note, the article tells nothing about the kind of abuse these students received and what actions/inactions the teachers and administrators took.
More info would be better for our peanut gallery to comment further.
Posted by: Daniel King ||
01/07/2004 11:56 Comments ||
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#5
I have big ears. How much do I have coming? Do you think they will notice me in eighth grade? I can dye the gray out and continue to use poor grammar and ridiculous spelling.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/07/2004 12:02 Comments ||
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#6
You sued your school because someone called you names and hurt your feelings?
#7
CS, wasn't there a report the other day from your area about a kid who wrote an article in the school paper regarding the illegal aliens problem in CA?
For voicing his views, this kid was the target of school thugs, but the school abolutely refused to protect him. This was more than just name calling.
#8
Sorry for not including the unbiased ACLU press release: http://www.aclunc.org/pressrel/980421-students.html Yes itâs pretty much about name calling. On to my earlier point. At least they could have hidden their sexual preference and avoid the taunting. I could not color my hair or lose enough weight to ever make a difference in the name calling. SUCK IT UP! Thatâs Life.
#9
Verbal abuse? Maybe the "non-breeders" should remember the old sticks & stones nursery rhyme. As far as physical abuse goes; I'm pretty sure everyone of us on R-burg has had to stick up to a bully(s) at one time or another. I had my share of 'punch-ups' as a chunky pre-teen on the playground. I didn't win all of them but I made it not worth their while to mess w/me. Bottomline; I got tougher as a result, the bullies left me alone, and I found the will to lose the weight. Suck it up pansies. This is typical 9th circus. Maybe these kids need to learn the art of "black eye from the straight guy".
#10
We need to cut out this kind of crap in order to concentrate on the WoT. I put forth the motion that we declare war on the ACLU and 80% of our nation's overpaid, underworked trial lawyers. All in favor pick up your weapon of choice at your local Sears, Penneys, WalMart, or Costco store.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2004 14:19 Comments ||
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#11
I got picked on because I was so much smarter and better looking than everyone else, and I got all the girls. Where do I pick up my check ?
#12
It's taken me a long time to actually admit that I was that bully. Soooooooo!!!! sensitivity training program
Just another word for mind kontrol.
First they tell you what not to think or say, then they fill that space with the things you're only supposed to say and think according to them
Posted by: Ron in Colorado ||
01/07/2004 17:47 Comments ||
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Sounds like it's just a propaganda press release, but we can hope they occasionally get close to him. They've only got to be successful once...
2003-12-31 Ichkeria.dk edition reported referring to its own sources inside President Maskhadovâs circle that last Saturday near the village of Shuani Russian Spetznaz (special forces) and a group of collaborators made an attempt to physically remove President of CRI (Chechen Republic of Ichkeria) Aslan Maskhadov.
But missed. Dammit. But that's okay. They've only got to succeed once...
It was reported that over a hundred Russian commandos and at least fifty national traitors from Yamadayevâs group tried to set up an ambush on the route of the movement of President of CRI and the unit of the Presidential Guard covering the movement.
"There wuz 150 of 'em, all of 'em big guys..."
CRI President A. Maskhadov and Commander of Presidential Guard A. Avdorkhanov were forewarned about the Russian plans and decided to conduct a sudden attack on the enemy.
Ahah! Igor the Weasel, was it?
At around 4:30 AM local time Chechen troops attacked the enemy by using grenade launchers, assault rifles with lower-barrel grenade launchers, and large-caliber machineguns. On the order of Commander-In-Chief of CRI Armed Forces A. Maskhadov, the Presidential Guard withdrew to the woodland in the mountain area of Nozhai-Yurt District after an hour-and-a-half-long intense shooting at the group of invaders and collaborators. The overall enemy casualties were about 30 killed and wounded.
"Yeah! They wuz droppin' like flies!"
The edition reported referring to the Chechen Command that President of CRI A. Maskhadov took active part in that battle: he eliminated five Russian invaders by an assault rifle point-blank. The casualties of Chechen Armed Forces in this battle were two killed and five wounded.
"And they wuz just flesh wounds. The dead guys wuz just flesh dead, too..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/07/2004 11:26 ||
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This was mentioned on WBAL (Baltimore talk radio) today.
It isnât often that someone turns down an offer to be Time magazineâs âPerson of the Year,â especially when that someone is as important as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. But thatâs what Rumsfeld did when he learned that Time was planning to honor him in its year-end issue last month. Rumsfeld told guests at a holiday party that in this year of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. military deserved the honor more than he did, which is why Army Sgts. Marquette Whiteside and Ronald Buxton and Spc. Billie Grimes turned up on Timeâs Dec. 29 cover.
Time Managing Editor James Kelly appears to confirm Rumseldâs self-effacing act, if only obliquely, in an editorâs note recounting that when he and several other editors âmet with Rumsfeld at the Pentagon in November to talk about the war, [the Defense Secretary] made the pitch, unsolicited by us, that the Person of the Year should be the American soldier. (Or as he put it, the American volunteer.)â Kelly also noted that Washington bureau chief Michael Duffy and senior correspondent Mark Thompson were working on a profile of Rumsfeld in preparation for the issue, but set it aside to help two fellow Time journalists who were injured in Iraq. (The profile appeared in the Person of the Year issue.) The lasting image I will always have of this man is when I saw the news clip of him carrying the wounded on a gurney after the attack on the Pentagon.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
01/07/2004 11:26:08 AM ||
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Not only does this guy have a pair that clang like church bells, but he is honorable as well. Don't see nearly enough of that from public figures nowadays.
#2
Yup, this is why the internal leftists hate him and the international crazies are suffering high pucker-factor syndrome. They don't understand integrity because they don't have any.
#3
Agreed, Jersey. His only real flaw is an annoying tendancy towards penny-pinching (He's STILL trying to bring the war in on budget, without increasing the number of active duty troops in the Army). He tends to go deaf whenever someone in the service tells him we need more than 500,000 fulltime troops.
Still, that's a minor flaw, and one I hope he can be broken of if/when Bush wins a second term.
Yeah. He's got a pair.
Ed.
Posted by: Ed Becerra ||
01/07/2004 14:19 Comments ||
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He's also smart enough to know TIME would manage to smear him while pretending to pay tribute.
#5
His only real flaw is an annoying tendancy towards penny-pinching (He's STILL trying to bring the war in on budget, without increasing the number of active duty troops in the Army). He tends to go deaf whenever someone in the service tells him we need more than 500,000 fulltime troops.
Is that politically even possible? To pay, train and equip an additional 500,000 troops is going to cost (at say, $100,000 apiece per year) another $50 billion a year.*
* I know this is a way low estimate, because roughly $50 billion of additional - i.e. on top of their normal - funding was appropriated for the forces in Iraq alone, which number only 125,000. Picture a total increase of $200 billion for that 500,000 troops, and we're probably in the right ballpark. It's not that we can't afford it - the question is whether it's necessary. As soon as Iraqis get their government up and going, we can extract most of our troops from Iraq, leaving a division or so there. Note that we have done the same with other governments starting from scratch including Greece and South Korea during the Cold War period.
#9
Zheng Fei,
We don't need another half-million active troops, but another two divisions (~30,000 warriors, 10,000 support & garrison troops) would make life a lot easier for everyone, and allow better troop rotations in and out of such places as Iraq, Bosnia, Korea, and wherever else US troops are deployed. It would also give us a "cushion" in case we get tied up in somewhere like Iraq, and one of the other tinhats decides to play rough in the neighborhood. I'd also encourage another two to four reserve/Guard divisions be added. I know personally that the military was cut too deeply, too fast, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We're still trying to recover. It's slow, it's painful, and it's expensive. It's also NECESSARY.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2004 21:31 Comments ||
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The conventional wisdom is that Democrats should worry that a Howard Dean candidacy will spark an exodus of centrists to the GOP and cost the party the election. Leave. Stay. Who cares? The dems are toast in 2004 with the solid socialist base they have
Forget about it. Itâs wishful thinking by Republicans and just plain hooey spread around by Democrats who want to be front-runners but arenât. We will have to see, then wonât we?
The truth is that the party should worry about its progressives. These are the defections that could ensure another Bush victory. As I said; especially after this Bush eq Hitler thing, progressives are the central reason why America will remain strong and free after Nov. 2004
Yes, centrists can be, and often are, progressive. But weâre mostly talking here of folks who can describe themselves as liberal and not feel they have to make any red-faced apology for doing so. Nor should they apologize for saying they are liberal. We know where they are.
And there are more of these than the Democratic Leadership Council cares to admit. Ya think?
The more liberal wing of the party is where the passion - and the potential for defection or inaction - is keenest. The most vocal Democrats out there are not making impassioned pleas for establishment, e.g., centrist, candidates. Itâs why Dean is an early favorite. It is also where the socialists and traitors reside. Fonda apparently gets a pass for provable acts of treason, I am not letting any more liberals off the hook. They will pay for their perfidy in 2004.
They are making the case for whoever is most willing to take on Bush and his patently faux conservatism, cloaked with a veneer of compassion and false pledges of sound fiscal policy. I have yet to see any leftist make any case other than Dubya is stoopid. Whereâs the case?
You know, like how tax cuts are good for reducing deficits, that deficits are just dandy (except if they can be blamed on a Democrat), how an economy that sputters on jobs and fails to deliver appreciable wage gains is "booming" and how war in Iraq was about WMDs and international terrorism. Tax cuts do reduce deficits in a booming economy. This economy is on the cusp of booming and so there is no reason to think high deficits can be slashed at the beginning of a recovery. As for Iraq: for my money, GWII was as much as finishing the war, the ceasefire of which was violated so many times it literally has no meaning. Well Dubya gave it meaning and will be bringing Godâs gift of freedom to a long suffering people. What in the world is wrong with that?
Those inclined toward centrism will warm to Dean if he is nominated, Republican moderates among them. Wesley Clark and Joe Lieberman will be their first choices perhaps, but they will vote for anyone thought to be in the top tier of candidates. Actually I think when push comes to shove these so called moderate republicans will flee like UN staff workers once they realize how far to the left Dean really is.
Thatâs because they know Bush is anything but the moderate, centrist uniter he sold us in his 2000 campaign. Theyâve seen his true colors. Itâs red ink, socially conservative, partisan at any cost, internationally unilateralist and too cozily tight with corporate America. Let me get this straight: You think Bush is conservative, but in an earlier paragraph you think he isnât. Is this what I recently read in Rantburg as delightfully named intellectual gymnastics?
But listen to all this talk about Dean. Heâs allegedly unelectable because he will be tagged as a "flaming" liberal, a description generally unsupported by his mostly centrist tenure in public office. Itâs a tag Republicans will use on any Democratic nominee in any case. I understand that but the only reason why I would call Dean a flaming liberal is if he said something that makes sense. Until then he is a socialist.
Dean is labeled as liberal mostly because of his early and vocal anti-war stance. That makes him a traitor.
Itâs quite possible, however, that the more liberal wing of the party will not think that even this is enough. Ya think?
The danger is not that disaffected centrists will sit the election out or vote Republican. The real danger is in that small body of voters who are among the most passionate Iâve detected in this election. People like Dennis Kucinichâs boosters. Insanity does have compassion I guess
Look, Kucinich is a great guy with some good ideas. He is unfairly labeled as a wacky fringe candidate. He isnât. In his visit with The Republic Editorial Board, he did far better than a certain Texas governor who wanted to be president about three years ago. But Kucinich will not win the nomination. Well, he didn't do quite as well as Dubya. Look whoâs president.
The danger is that although Kucinich says he will support the ultimate nominee, his supporters might not listen. They are not numerous but, along with other left-leaners, are a big enough niche to matter in a close election. Just ask Al Gore. Close my ass.
After the primary, we will hear even more talk of Bush Lite to describe the nominee. This because any Democratic candidate will have to run more to the center in a general election. By Bush Lite you must mean GHW Bush, right? Thatâs Bush light. Run to the center, run to the right, doesn't matter. When we start to re-post the rantings and sayings the the leftists tied to the democratic party made since 2001, I wouldnât want to proudly say I am a liberal if I were you.
This could cause Kucinich supporters and those politically aligned to either sit out this election or, worse, embolden Ralph Nader to make another failed try, all for liberal principle. It won't matter anyway.
Many Democrats subscribe to these notions but are guided by one other inexorable fact: None of the candidates, Republican or Democrat, represents the purest personification of civic virtue, political wisdom and sterling resume. They know this by personal experience.
This person does not exist. Itâs about pragmatic alternatives. Of which Bush is the most âsterlingâ
Itâs not too early for Democrats to start worrying about what comes after the primaries. Youâre absolutely right. You all should have started to worry about this on 12 September 2001.
They shouldnât fret about the centrists or moderates in the party taking their marbles home. They should worry about liberals or progressives insisting on having it all but instead losing it all. Losing It All for 500, Alex
Posted by: badanov ||
01/07/2004 10:41:34 AM ||
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Many on the left seem to be hanging around with, reading, watching only people that already agree with their worldview. Reality may be very painful come election day.
#2
Ah, these predictions of an electoral quagmire for Bush, what original thinkers they are. They must just be filling in the names of possible quagmires, into a template.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/07/2004 11:26 Comments ||
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#3
"Those inclined toward centrism will warm to Dean if he is nominated, Republican moderates among them."
What the hell? Did this guy just escape from an insane asylum or something? Whatever, he's engaging in some seriously industrial-grade wishful thinking if he believes that any significant number of Republicans would vote for Dean over Bush.
"They shouldnât fret about the centrists or moderates in the party taking their marbles home. They should worry about liberals or progressives insisting on having it all but instead losing it all."
Actually, what he and every other professional Democrat should be worried sh*tless about is that a whole BUNCH of people, from every point on the spectrum, will take their marbles and go home in disgust.
I sure did: after 31 years as a Democrat, I'm now a Republican. If I can't have Jack Kennedy or Scoop Jackson, I'll take George W. Bush any day of the week, thank you.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
01/07/2004 13:29 Comments ||
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#4
Reality may be very painful come election day.
But don't you see, election day will be ABSOLUTE PROOF of the conspiracy by the Hitler-Bush-Halliburton-Israeli-Freemasons when the returns come in.
The 'republican wing' of the democratic party is being sickened by what they are hearing and seeing from the dwarves. If they don't see clark or leiberman, they'll flee in droves. The radical nuts are just too brainwashed and self-involved to be able to see what's coming.
#5
Sorry, but Jane Fonda's acts of treason are the smallest of her crimes. By helping to demoralize the US, by helping to comfort the Vietnamese in perseverating after their defeat during the Tet she has a major responsability in the martyrdom of the Vietnamese and Cambodian people. And she is unrepentant and happy of her actions. In my eyes she is a genocider and a baby killer. Wish there were a Nuremberg for that kind of "pacifists" and leftists whose hand drip with blood.
#7
Yawn. This screed is the usual product from Pimental. If it weren't for the Arizona Repulsive, this guy would be making a living writing rants for a throw-away alternative rag, to fill the spaces between the 'escort available' ads.
In a shocking revelation, an FBI whistleblower claims some Arab-Americans translating Arabic intercepts for the FBI spoke approvingly of the terrorist attacks on America more than two years ago. Former FBI translator Sibel D. Edmonds says translators of Middle Eastern origin working for the FBIâs Washington field office maintain an "us"-versus-"them" attitude thatâs so strong it may be compromising al-Qaida investigations. She cited examples of mistranslations and security breaches within the FBIâs language division, where translators with Top Secret clearance interpret sensitive terror-related information for agents. "The issues and problems within the FBIâs translation units range from security failures to questions of loyalty to competence of translation personnel to systemic problems within their low-to-mid-level management practices," Edmonds said.
She made the explosive charges Monday in a letter to the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, an independent panel investigating the 9-11 attacks and U.S. intelligence leading up to them. Edmonds, a translator who worked closely with FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence agents at an office within blocks of the Washington field office, said she overheard some translators express sympathy for the 9-11 terrorist attacks. "During my work with the bureau, I was seriously taken aback by what I heard and witnessed within the translation department," she said. "There were those who openly divided the fronts as âUsâ — the Middle-Easterners who shared certain views — and âThemâ — the Americans who were the outsiders [whose] arrogance was now âleading to their own destruction.â"
Not long after the attacks, Edmonds said one translator said: "It is about time that they get a taste of what they have been giving to the rest of the Middle East." She says the remark was made in front of the unit supervisor, also of Middle Eastern origin. "These comments were neither rare nor made in a whisper," Edmonds said. "They were open and loud." She says such attitudes call into question "the integrity and accuracy" of information Arabic translators are feeding agents. Edmonds says agents who donât speak Arabic have no way of knowing whether the information they receive from translators is tainted. "They simply have to trust the information given to them by translators," she said, "and based on that, decide to act or not act..." It is not only Arab Americans who are largely traitors. Pretend you are an anti-semite while in a Pakistani Americanâs taxi, and you will hear a murderous diatribe against Jews. The "us versus them" idea can work both ways.
Posted by: Paris Airhead ||
01/07/2004 3:30:37 AM ||
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#1
So what is are the Feebs going to do about?If true these people are guilty of treason and need to be shot.
#3
Sadly, this isn't a new story. I don't know if the earlier reports came from the same source, but in at least one case the FBI translator's spouse was a member of the organization the translator was listening to.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/07/2004 8:05 Comments ||
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#4
At the same time there are dozens of Arabs Jews in other words,Jews that emigrated from Arab countries to the USA,particular from Syria, that volunteered to be translators for the FBI, and all of them were told "No, thank you", without explanation, Maybe somebody can explain this idiotic policy.
#5
At the same time there are dozens of Arabs Jews in other words,Jews that emigrated from Arab countries to the USA,particular from Syria, that volunteered to be translators for the FBI, and all of them were told "No, thank you", without explanation, Maybe somebody can explain this idiotic policy.
#7
What is worse is the fact that if these "translators" know the methods being used to "listen in" then they can warn the terrorists what forms of communication not to use.
Posted by: Barry ||
01/07/2004 13:32 Comments ||
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#8
..they can warn the terrorists what forms of communication not to use.
That would be treason, beyond the shadow of a doubt.
#9
Our government is so rotten, it's only due to the miracle of its origin that it works at all. We need a thorough and complete house-cleaning, from top to bottom, with enough nasty stuff happening to the crooks, panderers, and downright traitors to slow the next generation from creating more. I doubt it'll happen without an armed rebellion, because the government has too much control over what people can and can't do now. It's been done incrementally, but the controls are in place. The good news is, there's a growing sense of patriotism and citizenship among many Americans, and the possibility of a rebellion, either peaceful or otherwise, is increasing rapidly. In addition, more and more Americans are seeing the problems with our government, and demanding that something be done about them. Maybe we can clean house without having to kill 10% of our population, but I tend to be a bit cynical.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2004 14:35 Comments ||
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#5 At the same time there are dozens of Arabs Jews in other words,Jews that emigrated from Arab countries to the USA,particular from Syria, that volunteered to be translators for the FBI, and all of them were told "No, thank you", without explanation, Maybe somebody can explain this idiotic policy.
Typical bureaucratic overreaction to the Jonathan Pollard spy case. In a nutshell, a Jewish intelligence analyst sold classified intel to Israeli intelligence (allegedly passed on to the Soviets). From that case, it is inherently obvious to any anal, risk averse bureaucrat
the most casual observer that Jews can't be trusted with Middle Eastern intelligence affairs.
Posted by: not a troll ||
01/07/2004 16:10 Comments ||
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And this is just about interpreters working for the FBI. Consider this part of the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure that there are many similar stories waiting to be told about other levels of the US intelligence, diplomatic and military organizations which allowed 9/11 to happen. Maybe in 50 years the rest of the story will be available.
The phone rings. âHello,â Moufid El Khatib says, but no one answers. âHello?â Only silence. He hangs up. âI donât know what they mean by that,â Moufid says. âIs it a marketing company or some Arabic guys?â Living in Dearborn, amid the highest concentration of Arabs outside the Middle East, Moufid is caught in a web of conflict and tension. For Moufid, who was born in Palestine, raised in Lebanon and later lived in Kuwait, the mysterious phone calls could mean several things. Maybe some local Arabs are upset that Moufid would let his son join the U.S. military. In his house, an American flag is displayed in a living room corner. A portrait of his son, Sgt. Talal El Khatib, 24, wearing his Army uniform, hangs on the wall. Talal, who was born in Kuwait but is a U.S. citizen, is a member of the Army Reserve and was called to active duty last summer. Or maybe some Arab men are upset that Talal is stationed in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, at a prison for Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorism suspects. There are about 20 Muslim members of the armed forces at the base in Cuba. Four workers from the base have been arrested as part of an investigation into possible security breaches at the prison. One is from Dearborn. The phone calls make Moufid wonder, playing with his emotions.
Moufid has never heard any negative comments about his sonâs involvement in the U.S. military, but he can sense it from some Arabs in Dearborn. âTheir eyes talk,â Moufid says. Sitting on his couch in a small, tidy bungalow filled with pictures of his children and paintings that he did himself - it was always his dream to be an artist - Moufid looks out the window at his neighborhood. âMy neighbor, there, is American,â he says, pointing out the window. âMy neighbor there, Don, is an American. Believe me, when they know my son was leaving to Cuba, they came to say good-bye. They came and hug him and this and that.â
He pauses. âNone of the Arab guys come to say hi or good luck or wish you the best,â Moufid says. âThey feel my son is Arab. He is from the Middle East. He is not supposed to be in the U.S. Army. It is the wrong feelings. âYou come to this country. You are American, as we say, like it or leave it. Either you have to be American or not. There is nothing in between in such cases... Loyalty is the cement of nations. If Arab American Muslims are working on behalf of the countryâs enemies, they should be treated as a traitor-class.
Posted by: Paris Airhead ||
01/07/2004 3:19:16 AM ||
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Paris,I'm glad I saw your secound post,I was just about to slap all Muslems living in America with a very broad,dirty brush.
#2
He pauses. âNone of the Arab guys come to say hi or good luck or wish you the best,â Moufid says. âThey feel my son is Arab. He is from the Middle East. He is not supposed to be in the U.S. Army. It is the wrong feelings."
This is the result when nothing matters except race. Look around; it's more prevalent than you might think.
#3
On the other hand, when I get a phonecall and there is nobody there, just silence, I hang up before the computer kicks over to a marketing company. They allude to this in the article but then continue with the darker story without providing any real foundation.
#4
Moufid, change your name to Mike Collins. Move away from the angry, seething, scum and never look back. Suggest to your son to becom Ted Collins and do the same. No baggage, no problems.
#5
Careful with those broad brushes and buckets of tar there, guys. Moufid and Talal are living proof that there are loyal Arab-Americans and loyal Moslem-Americans. (Hell, these guys are more loyal than Mikey Moore or James Earl Peanut!) "American" is not a race or an ethnicity, or even necessarily a description of citizenship -- it's a philosophy. All those who wish to stand with us are welcome.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/07/2004 13:05 Comments ||
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Hmmm...there's something missing here. Like, say, any actual abuse? I didn't see any claimed name-calling, vandalism, anything. Just "their eyes talk". And mysterious hang-up phone calls. Uh huh. Get on the Do Not Call list, Moufid. That'll take care of those phone calls.
#8
The hyphenation myth. You are either an American, in spirit and substance -- or you're not.
When some group, whether based on ethnicity or race or religion or any other superstition or imaginary pivot point, refuses to integrate itself with the American Society (or philosophy, as Mike pointed out), then it declares itself a tumor on the body of America. Allowed to flourish, and multiplied by the number of such asinine distinctions, it can eventually become deadly - whether politically or economically or socially. In fact, though it has no actual substance, it is the one insidious notion which can actually threaten us - far more than weapons or ideologies. Rainbow crap and cultural diversity - this is the real danger posed by PCism and mindless liberalism. Pfeh.
Talal and Moufid deserve the ultimate compliment - that they are simply Americans. And good Americans, at that - I'd like to meet Moufid and buy him dinner. "Schway, schway", bubba - you're not alone. Those "local Arabs" in Detroit that the article refers to, if they are hounding Moufid, are actually a stupidity tumor and should be excised... painfully, if possible. Local police should investigate - and stomp on them with jackboots if they are responsible for this harassment.
Dubya said it so clearly and so well: "Either you're with us or you're against us." Us. Melike simplisme.
Whoa! Competence and good sense rear their pretty heads!
Nigerian security agencies on Monday looked into the origins of a student groupâs deadly armed campaign to create an Islamic state in Africaâs most populous nation - paying special attention to sources of the studentsâ weapons and any local or foreign backing.
Find out who paid for the guns and the ammuntion and you're halfway to finding who's behind the whole thing. When you're interrogating and where they got the weapons, don't accept the first-line anwers. These will include "We found them," "I don't know," "They're my Dad's," and "Somebody gave 'em to us but I don't know his name"...
The known death toll in last weekâs five-day uprising in northeast Nigeria rose to 10, including eight of the militants, Yobe state Gov. Abba Ibrahim said. Authorities had previously said six students and two police officers died in at-times fiery gunbattles between militants and the army and police of Nigeria and neighbouring Niger. Seven militants were now in Nigerian police custody and providing useful information, Ibrahim told reporters in the Yobe state capital, Damaturu.
"Ouch! Ooch! I'll talk! Put the pliers away, dammit!"
With the uprising crushed by Saturday, the priority now was finding out how the little-known group came to become a serious security threat, Ibrahim said. "We want to find out who really these people are, where they got the guns and the buses with which they were moving around, who gave them money?" he said.
That's the big question, isn't it? Without money, you don't have a revolution. All you have is a bunch of guys sitting around smoking cigarettes and sneering...
The attacks were launched New Yearâs Eve by the movement Al Sunna wal Jamma, an Arabic name meaning "Followers of Mohammedâs Teachings." Made up mainly of Nigerian students at polytechnic schools and high schools, the sect attacked government installations in several Yobe state towns - looting police stations of arms and ammunition, and setting the buildings afire. The group gave its aim as creating a Taleban-style Islamic republic in Nigeria. It was the first armed push for a strict Islamic regime in Nigeriaâs predominantly Muslim north since 12 states in the region - including Yobe - began adopting the Islamic Shariah legal code in 1999.
It won't be the last, though. Nigeria'd be well-advised to get rid of the shariah abomination, but that's stating the obvious...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 2:58:45 AM ||
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It another article, this group was named as Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah. There is an organisation in Australia of the same name, lead by a man named Sheikh Omran, who is a self-confessed friend of Abu Qatada.
So from this I gather that they belong to the neo-fundamentalist or Tawhid stream within Islam. So they might be opposed to the Saudi government, as it isn't Islamic enough for them, but of course it is probably some Saudis sending them money.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
01/07/2004 3:11 Comments ||
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"The attacks were launched New Yearâs Eve by the movement Al Sunna wal Jamma, an Arabic name meaning "Followers of Mohammedâs Teachings."
Made up mainly of Nigerian students at polytechnic schools and high schools, the sect attacked government installations in several Yobe state towns - looting police stations of arms and ammunition, and setting the buildings afire."
----
"Followers of Mohammed's Teachings" = murderers, terrorists, and killers.
Even though the truth stares people in the face, Islam is still called the Religion of Peace⢠by our leadership.
One can only hope that the Islam-stroking is used as window dressing only, and that behind the scenes the truth is known and understood.
"Kofi! Make 'em stop!"
Sudan has complained to the U.N. Security Council that Eritrea is arming and training rebels in western Sudan. "The Sudan government on Monday presented to the security council and the secretary-general of the United Nations an official complaint against Eritrea for its instigation of, support for and financing of the outlaws in the Darfur region," Sudan's news agency reported. Two main rebel groups launched a revolt in the remote western Darfur region of Africaâs largest country last February, accusing Khartoum of marginalising the poor, arid area.
Isn't the remote western region kinda far from the remote eastern border, where you normally find Eritrea?
The news agency quoted Foreign Minister Mustafa Osman Ismail as saying Eritrea was unhappy that Sudanâs other conflict â its 20-year civil war with rebels in the south â was nearing a peace deal, so it had begun to support the rebellion in Darfur. "Eritrea contacted the outlaws, set up training camps for them and supported them with arms," the minister added.
I'll bet they're FedExing them arms and ammunition. Can't trust those Eritreans, y'know...
He did not say why he thought Eritrea, which borders the northeastern corner of Sudan, would want to prolong the conflict in the south or how it was transporting arms to the west. The border between the two has been closed since October 2002, when Sudan accused Eritrea of backing rebels on its territory. Eritrea later accused Sudan of backing Islamic insurgents in western Eritrea. Those Islamic insurgents would be the Eritrean Islamic Jihad, an al-Qaeda affiliate. It looks like Sudan may well be trying to set up a casus belli for a good old fashioned war of conquest to offset its recent overtures to the SPLA. The formation of the Sanaâa Coalition should serve as a pretty good indication that Ethiopia and Yemen want part of the pie too.
Last week Eritrea denied backing the rebels in Darfur and said Sudan was only trying to hide deep internal problems and attempts to export "terrorism". Sudan has begun legal proceedings against the western rebels under anti-terror laws and will try to have leaders extradited from abroad to prosecute them for crimes against the state.
I don't buy it. I agree with Dan that it's a setup. Logistically it doesn't make sense â It'd be like Mexico trying to smuggle arms and ammunition to stir up trouble in Montana...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 2:53:49 AM ||
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Sudan is the nastiest regime of my lifetime. Its corpse count of 6 million far exceeds that in any other country. So I am sympathetic to say the least to anyone who opposes the Sudanese regime. I was suprised to discover that Eritrea is split 50/50 between christians and moslems, and religous tolerance seems widespread. They have been cracking down on prosletyzing prodestant sects like the Jehovas Witnesses, but by the standards of the region it appears mild. Anyone who want more information can go here.
From my perspective, country where moslems and christians can live together without serious problems is to be encouraged.
#3
What's surprising about slavers whining to the UN? It would be surprising if the UN decided to crack down on slavery.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/07/2004 8:07 Comments ||
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difficult balancing act for US. Eritreans may be good guys, but Ethiopia has been strong supporter of WOT (with eye on Somalia) and Yemeni, on top of the heart of darkness, has been helpful too.
#5
The Khartoum regime has for years funded the rebel Eritrean Islamic Jihad (EIJ) and the Eritrean Liberation Front-Revolutionary Council. It was the policy of the Bashir-Turabi government to form a single line of Islamist governments grom Sudan through Eritrea to Somalia. Eritrea under Afewerki has blocked that dream. Second, look at a map and you will find one hellish long distance from Eritrea to Darfur. That being said, if Eritrea is supplying arms it is understandable. Better that the Khartoum government makes mischief in Darfur than along the Sudan-Eritrea border.
#6
I agree that Ethiopia has been helpful, but they've got a lot of bad blood against Eritrea because of the war during the 1990s and aren't too likely to cry too hard if Afewerki falls. My guess would be that the same is probably true with Yemen as well.
It'd be a lot more probable for Bashir to claim (as he initially did) that Chad is supporting the Darfur rebels.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 11:34 Comments ||
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Etritia offered us basing rights before the Iraq War. I beleive we turned them down in favor of Dijibouti in order to stay out of the Etritia/Ethiopia negotiations.
I was unaware that Etritia was divided down the middle with respect to religion. Based on the fact that these two groups are living together in semi-tolerance, I think we missed a chance to support tolerant behavior by basing our troops there. (Might have upset the UN, though.)
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/07/2004 11:44 Comments ||
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Chad has the military experience to stomp Bashir's ill-equipped, ill-trained and totally undisciplined army. It's much easier to blame Eritrea than Chad. Chad has not been either helpful or hostile to the Darfur rebels, but the Sudanese ignore most of Chad's behavior.
The situation betwee Eritrea and Ethiopia is complex, and has its roots in things that happened 1800 years ago. The targeting of the Coptic Church in Ethiopia by muslims hasn't helped much. The collapse of Ethiopia after Silase's downfall was as much because of inter-tribal and religious animosity as it was because of Silase's failure to provide an heir or establish some form of transitional government. And, of course, the fingers of Saudi Arabia were everywhere, helping speed the collapse of the region.
The whole damned Middle East is due a good enema and a total restart, from ground zero - literally.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2004 13:47 Comments ||
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#9
Yikes! OP local cold reboots can change the OS.
Ugandan troops killed 11 rebels and captured 18 others in heavy fighting involving attack helicopters near the border with Sudan, an army spokesperson said on Tuesday. In a co-ordinated attack on Monday, ground troops supported by helicopter gunships attacked a camp used by the Lordâs Resistance Army near Acuga, 300km north of Kampala, 2nd Lieutenant Chris Magezi, the regional army spokesperson, said. Government forces also rescued 20 children the rebels had used as child soldiers and concubines, he added. "Those killed included two senior LRA commanders," Magezi said. "It was a joint operation involving ground and aerial forces."
Were the concubines part of their harems?
A transport helicopter carrying supplies journalists to the scene on Tuesday crashed in the area after the pilot lost visibility and the tail rotor struck a tree, Major Shaban Bantariza, the army spokesperson in the capital, said. No one was injured in the mishap. "Fortunately, the chopper was already 20 metres above ground though, the rear rotor cut into some branches and shrubs as the pilot hovered around to land well, consequently damaging the rotor. The chopper finally landed," Bantariza said in a prepared statement.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 2:36:55 AM ||
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The army said yesterday that it had killed three senior commanders of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army.
A spokesman for the 5 Division, Lt. Chris Magezi, said 'Lt. Col.' Opio, Nyeko Yardin and Raska were killed at midday yesterday at Koyo-Lalogi in Lapul sub-county in Pader district.
The rebels were reportedly holding a meeting at the confluence of rivers Agago and Aswa.
Magezi told The Monitor by phone that the army took the rebels by surprise. It recovered 11 bodies.
"We are still searching the bushes for more dead bodies," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 2:57 Comments ||
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A senior officer was killed along with other officers in pro-democracy rebel attacks in the Sorra area in the west Sudan Darfur region, a source at Sudanâs Darfur local branch of the dictatorship said Tuesday.
No name or position associated with that statement...
The rebel group Sudan Liberation Movement has held the Sudan military dictatorshipâs army and allied Arab militias responsible for killing 200 villagers in Sorra County. The executive director for civil administration of Sorra, Abdalla Abdrahman, was also reported to have been captured by the rebels. The dictatorship said that the attack targetted mostly key dictatorship personnel in the area. Darfur is a non-Arab Muslim province in the west of Sudan bordering Chad. The Islamist dictatorship in Khartoum has misused the religion of Islam to attempt to justify the dictatorship. Therefore according to Muslim law the blood of the Arab dictatorshipâs Islamist personnel and its allies is "Halal" (lawful) to the pro-democracy combattants.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 2:35:39 AM ||
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A man suspected of participating in one of the largest hostage takings in southern Russia in 1995 has been arrested in Chechnya. The 47-year-old gunman, who was not identified, was detained Monday, Itar-Tass said, citing the regional Interior Ministry office. Officials say he has been wanted since the 1995 attack on Budyonnovsk, near Chechnya, where 200 heavily armed fighters took 2,000 people hostage at a hospital. In the end more than 100 civilians, police officers and soldiers were killed in gun battles. After those attempts failed, Russia negotiated the hostagesâ release in exchange for the rebelsâ escape.
That did a lot of good, didn't it? "Pay me now, pay me later..."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 2:32:04 AM ||
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Mexico has begun a formal investigation into whether terrorists plan to use Mexican flights to launch an international attack, the top organized crime investigator in the country said Tuesday.
The United States, Canada and Interpol told Mexico that officials suspect terrorists might be using Mexican soil to plan an attack, Deputy Attorney General Jose Vasconcelos told reporters.
Officials canceled two Aeromexico flights from Mexico City to Los Angeles last week because of terrorism concerns, but Mexican authorities found no evidence of an attack plot.
A formal investigation was opened in the first days of January ``because of the exchange of information about the probability that there could be some attack or terrorist act against some airport installation in Mexico,ââ Vasconcelos said.
The type of investigation Vasconcelos announced is an essential step toward filing criminal charges under Mexican law. Vasconcelos wouldnât say if authorities planned to charge anyone for conspiring to commit acts of terrorism, however.
He said investigators did not have specific information about whether there was going to be an attack against an airplane. ``It is just the probability of a terrorist act in flights that are leaving Mexico City,ââ he said.
On Monday, Mexico said it had increased security measures for international flights two weeks before the canceled flights, and had placed armed Mexican agents on some flights bound for the United States. The measures have delayed many flights by at least 30 minutes and sometimes for hours.
Unarmed U.S. agents also have been seen at the airport, apparently checking passenger lists and sharing information with Mexican officials.
Miguel Angel de la Torre, chief of the police Special Operations Group, said Tuesday that about a dozen patrol cars have been circling the airport watching for suspicious activity.
Officials say that hundreds of police and security agents from a battery of agencies are involved in the security operation in Mexico City.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/07/2004 2:19:51 AM ||
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Aisha, a young vibrant girl of 15, had planned to further her education in the university and eventually settle down with the man of her dreams, Umaru. She believed her parents had the same visions for her as an only child. But little did she know that fate had another plan for her. One night after supper, Aisha was called to her fatherâs chambers where an elderly man of 54 was introduced as her husband to be. Without much words, she refused the offer. But was shocked beyond words when a date for the wedding was announced to her. Her dreams, hopes and love died that night.
Many months after the wedding, Aisha became pregnant. It wasnât easy, but as a strong-hearted child, she was determined to pull through. The day of delivery came and Aisha discovered that strength had nothing to do with it, despite the pushing and screaming, the baby refused to come out, but when it finally did, it was discovered that the motherâs bladder was affected because at her age she was still too tender to undergo the rigors of childbirth. When told of the situation, her husband was devastated. He left the hospital and till date nothing was ever heard of him. Left to face the pains alone, Aisha and her parents did not know what to do. But the reality stared them in the face — she had become useless for life.
Vagina Vestula Fistula (VVF) as it is popularly known, has been in existence from the onset. It occurs "when the bladder is suppressed and damaged by the weight of an unborn child in the uterus of a young female whose systems are not matured enough for the process of child-bearing. This brings about complications whereby the woman starts leaking urine uncontrollably from her private part," says Dr. Idiong Mbang of the Lagos State University Teaching hospital. Over 60 per cent of young girls are affected with the scourge every year. And statistics show that 50 per cent of them are northerners. "It is a very serious issue in the medical world, just like HIV/AIDS, it has no cure. The only solution is to place a cellophane bag tied around her waist to prevent the urine from spilling out. It is a terrible situation," Dr. Mbang states. The victims of this circumstance are young, under-aged girls, most of them from the northern part of Nigeria. It is a serious issue that must be addressed.
Out there in the streets are many helpless innocent girls, who may fall victim to this scourge. Asabe Abdullahi, a JSS 2 student of Sardauna Memorial College, Kachia, testifies: "At the age of 12 my parents wanted to give me away to a man they claimed was my husband. I vehemently refused, but after much treats by my father I succumbed. Only to find myself in this situation. Everyday I curse my parents for allowing me pass through this pain and misery." A VVF patient is a sight to behold. She smells of urine all over and most times is easily identified with the tied cellophane bag around them. Several conferences have been held to stop the idea of early marriages among the teenage girls. "In places like Kano, Sokoto, Zaria for instance, local counselling and campaigns are conducted in villages and small communities to discourage the inhuman act," Mrs. Esther Ajoko of the Save The Girl Child From VVF Association, says... I wasnât aware of this medical condition. Keep this young girlâs tragic story in mind, when your local Muslims attempt to import "Islamic Personal Law" into your state or country.
Posted by: Paris Airhead ||
01/07/2004 2:16:28 AM ||
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This may sound terrible but: with the Islamic policy of pedophilia, this disorder will help keep the populations of future jihadis down. Tragic story nonetheless.
#2
Very interesting; I hadn't heard of this before. I checked UpToDate, an on-line medical resource, and learned this:
"In developing countries, vesicovaginal and other urogenital fistulas occur at a rate of 1 to 3 per 1,000 deliveries [NB: article notes that this may be higher in Africa, and I bet the observed rate is very low considering the social situations]. Even after successful closure of the fistula in these patients, over 60 percent are left with problems such as foot drop or leg contractions from sciatic nerve injury, amenorrhea, vaginal atresia, stress urinary incontinence, fecal incontinence, and dyspareunia. Since most victims in these areas are adolescents, the disabilities are often lifelong. The overall burden of urogenital fistulas in the developing world is immense, with significant social isolation and ongoing human suffering among those affected."
The article goes on to describe several surgical methods for repair, which didn't fit with the info in this post. However, it's clear that experienced surgeons and operative teams are required for these procedures to be successful -- something Nigeria probably don't have.
So it's another case where the best management is the same in both medicine and politics: prevention.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2004 10:21 Comments ||
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"Over 60 per cent of young girls are affected with the scourge every year."
"It is a very serious issue in the medical world, just like HIV/AIDS, it has no cure."
"It is a serious issue that must be addressed."
--------
This should read:
"Over 60 per cent of unfortunate female slave-children, controlled by scum as dictated to by Nigerian and Islamic law are affected with the scourge every year."
"It is a very serious issue in the medical world, just like HIV/AIDS, it has no cure, especially since preventing it through an educated, modern belief system which respects not only modern science and medicine, but the individual rights of the girl as well is impossible under our 'peaceful religion'"
"It is a serious issue that must be addressed, but we are too busy trying to resurrect the world of 1000 years ago instead of embracing life-affirming concepts such as individual rights and allowing 21st century medical knowledge to pass though our borders"
A Nigerian man has been sentenced to death by stoning for doinking having sex with his teenage step daughter. The court in the northern Nigerian state of Bauchi has ordered the execution of a man who admitted having sex with his 15-year-old step daughter. The man, Umar Tori, is facing death by stoning. His step daughter, who accused him of rape, has been sentenced to 100 lashes. The girl says her step father forced her to have sex with him in a field near the family home in July last year. She is now pregnant and the court has ordered that she will not be lashed until she delivers her baby.
My initial gut reaction on reading this was "Yeah, do him in!" Then my brain kicked in, about the time I got to the part about the girl getting 100 lashes. Pop deserves the 100 lashes, though not to be buried under a pile of rocks. The girl's 15 years old, which to me would make it statutory rape in a civilized country; even if she was a willing particpant, she wasn't old enough to say "yes." The more episodes like this that crop up, the more likelihood, remote though it may be, that the rest of the world will sneer at the word "shariah." My personal opinion is that putting on a turban turns you into a pervert.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/07/2004 00:22 ||
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At least she wont be lashed until after she has her child. That's something that, I think, everybody, Jews, Christians, Calender-people, and, god love them, Vegetarians can get behind.
And I know some Calender-people also don't eat meat, as well as others. Group Hug!
#3
Wonder when NOW, Human Rights Watch, AI, etc. will take up the case of the young girl?
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2004 10:24 Comments ||
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If I lived in a muslim country, I would arm my 10 year old daughter with a machete. She would use it too; I afraid of what she will be like during PMS.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/07/2004 11:38 Comments ||
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SH I hear that this phase only lasts 40 years or so. :)
EFL
Israel has slated 28 unauthorized West Bank outposts to be torn down under the U.S.-backed "road map" peace plan, security sources said Tuesday. But critics argue the plan requires Israel to dismantle more than twice that number. The roadmap required the Paleos to do a few things too, as I recall.
The list was disclosed a day after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told a convention of his hawkish party that even some of the larger veteran settlements would have to be removed - either under the roadkill road map or under his own proposed unilateral plan to disengage from the Palestinians. The road map requires Israel to remove all outposts erected since March 2001. The Peace Now watchdog group says there are at least 60 of them. Several dozen others established before March 2001 are not addressed by the road map. The 28 outposts identified by the Israeli Defense Ministry include 18 inhabited communities housing about 400 settlers, security sources said Tuesday. The largest is Migron, home to 43 families, the sources said. Raanan Gissin, a Sharon spokesman, said the premier has given approval "in general" for dismantling outposts, often just a trailer or water tower on a hilltop. Those should be easy. Do them and challenge the Paleos to respond on the roadmap.
The security sources said Israeli military officials had preferred to keep the list secret, fearing settlers would flock to them. But the list was made public after a request by a lawmaker from the dovish Meretz Party. It wasnât clear when, or if, the 28 outposts would be removed. A formal order must be issued, and settlers have 15 days to appeal after that. "We will struggle against this and intend to appeal to the Supreme Court to stop this process," said Yehoshua Mor-Yosef, a settler spokesman. Ah, lawyers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/07/2004 12:18:36 AM ||
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The number of settlements in question aside, Israel is actually dismantling some of them. Contrast this with the Palestinians, who haven't even made any kind of effort to dismantle the terrorist organizations in their territory.
#2
These are Illegal settlements: They've got to be dismantled in order to prove that Israel can deliver its end of any bargain, irrespective of what the PA actually delivers.
My views are expressed here, here, here, and here. In summary: Dismantling ANY settlement will coalesce Iraeli opinion and finally reveal a clear majority in favor of a specific course of action. I think that's been lacking.
#3
Israel needs to do more than that dismantle some illegal settlements to bolster their flagging reputation. OP floated the idea of reparations early this morning. Of course, he meant Palis paying Israel. I think Israel owes them much more - in land, in lives, in grief.
Put up the dang wall. Wherever they've decided. Call it the spoils of war, -whatever. Make it 100 ft. high. Keep the Palis out. (and the christians and kaffirs of any stripe) Only use the aid we currently give Israel for the rebuilding of communities for those 5 million people living in the aft-mentioned U.N. ghetto. (Or possibly resettle them in Iraq - nicely. Enough money has been lost to have done it 10 times over. Start with Saddam's dough.)
So much blood and trouble would have been avoided if they had simply BOUGHT the land they wanted to expand into. They started out doing that. Then got impatient. The salient fact is: Israel is going to have that land. Right now they've got the power, both there and here. They'd better use it wisely, because eyes are starting to squint in places where they haven't before. The rest of the world doesn't marvel or fume at Pali boomers. They know Israel brought it on itself. They're way ahead in the game. Maybe they'd be better off by doing some righteousness.
Posted by: Scott ||
01/07/2004 16:20 Comments ||
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#4
Scott, I will let others fill in the details, but one problem with your brilliant "buying the land" plan is that historically Paleos will not sell land to the Jews.
I don't care to comment on the rest of your "points" since your opinions are, um, WAAAY different from mine...
Posted by: Carl in N.H. ||
01/07/2004 17:09 Comments ||
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#5
Only use the aid we currently give Israel for the rebuilding of communities for those 5 million people living in the aft-mentioned U.N. ghetto.
What a great idea - contributing to our enemies at the expense of our friends. Punishing friends and rewarding enemies - what a concept.
The rest of the world doesn't marvel or fume at Pali boomers. They know Israel brought it on itself.
Opinions vary. Europeans hate Israel for the same old anti-Semitic reasons. The Third World dislikes Israel because they think of Israelis as white imperialists. Of course, there's also a lot of hypocrisy out there. China has slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Tibetans (out of 5 million or so) without provoking anywhere the kind of animosity Israel has. China carries out executions of male relatives of Muslim guerrillas without taking any flak from the press. Pakistan killed hundreds of thousands of Bangladeshis during the war of secession, but today, it is as if no one had ever heard of incident.
But there is one respect in which Israel has brought these problems on itself. If it had taken the Pakistani or Chinese route of resolving the problem by slaughtering hundreds of thousands and crushing the will of the conquered people, Israel would not now be continuously on the hook. Syria killed 10,000 in Hama decades ago, and no one remembers it today. The Israeli tendency to bend over backwards in efforts to preserve enemy lives is what has cost Israel significant casualties, and will continue to do so in the future.
#6
So if people won't sell you their land, forcibly push them off? Sorry, Moses and Joshua are dead. The mandate from God to kill Canaanites has expired. Nowadays, civilized people usually purchase their retirement homes. Where I live, a man will protect his land with his life. The Pali response to Israeli expansion is both understandable and predictable. (Even still, I wish they would adopt a Ghandi approach, if CNN would broadcast the Israeli reaction - fat chance. But then didn't you already say, 'hypocrisy'?)
Slaughtering hundreds of thousands. This is a solution? Besides, Israel has tried it. (just a magnitude less. And it was done to them - a magnitude more)
As for friends, whatever happened to the USS Liberty and the Pollard intel? Israel is our friend only when it suits it's purpose. Otherwise they just use us. The Palis are definitely NOT our friends. No surprise there. We turned a blind eye to their mass graves. What I suggested is a solution.
Speaking of China, they are still in bondage today. They should be pariahs, except that we are whores for their cheap goods and the 'promise' of a large market. Follow the money (Ditto, Israel. I hear Sharon laughs about how they control America. Where are the Americans here?)
You could consider Pakistan in bondage also, if you switch the nonsense of communism to the nonsense of Islam. Syria? Syria has sucked ever since Hadadezer.
I don't think Israel bends over too dang far, considering they are the ones who invaded. And they are way ahead in the body count. I just don't think OUR young people should have to die protecting them from the ire they called down on themselves.
Posted by: Scott ||
01/07/2004 21:33 Comments ||
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#7
Scott: Besides, Israel has tried it. (just a magnitude less.
But the magnitude is the point. 6 million dead Jews are a pretty big statement. And the Jews weren't rebelling against German rule. The Palestinians have a de facto state, but instead of running it like other de facto states like Kurdistan and Taiwan, want to drive the Jews into the sea.
Scott: As for friends, whatever happened to the USS Liberty and the Pollard intel? Israel is our friend only when it suits it's purpose. Otherwise they just use us.
The Liberty canard is pure horsepoop. The Iraqis did something similar against the USS Stark in the 1980's, two decades later, when sensors were presumably more advanced. The Israelis asked the US about the Liberty's presence - when the US said no American ship was there, the Israelis starting attacking it, figuring it to be a false flag operation - a ploy from thousands of years ago - used most recently by the Germans in WWII. As to Jonathan Jay Pollard, I would be very surprised if we don't read our allies' mail and run agents against them. Pollard's sin was that he got discovered.
As to allies using us, how is this different from South Korea and Germany, where we've had our troops ready to act as speed bumps for decades? The US spent huge sums of money on rebuilding these and other countries, in Europe and in Asia, that was never repaid. The interest alone for some of these countries would be more than the aid we provide to Israel. And what about the fact that Israel provides the US a reliable invasion route in the Mid East in the event that events spiral out of control? Is any Muslim country similarly reliable?
Did France even provide us overflight rights during the retaliatory raids on Libya in the 1980's in return for losing tens of thousands of men while liberating France? Are South Koreans big fans of American troops because we lost 50,000 men keeping them free?
Note that we kept the Saudis independent of either Iranian or Iraqi rule and they financed 9/11. We freed the Afghans from Soviet rule and they repaid us with 9/11. We helped the Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo and the Muslim world repaid us with 9/11.
#8
Scott,
Don't twist my words you f***ing a$$hole. Hear this loud and clear: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A "PALESTINIAN" PEOPLE. The so-called PALESTINIAN is an Arab. He could be from any one of twelve or thirteen different countries. There may be a group of people who have equal, Biblical "rights" to the land of Israel, but the current crop ain't it, sh$$head.
To compare Israel's actions with that of the Arabs who have tried to totally exterminate every Jew in the world, is to act out the kind of sickness that filled Adolph Hitler. Sorry, you are not "supreme leader", and your stupid little rant isn't going to change the fact that Israel has just as much right to exist as Britain, France, Tibet, or New Zealand. The Israelis need to stop being nice, kick all the damned non-Israeli Arabs out of the territory allotted them under the Balfour Declaration, and totally destroy any country that tries to do anything about it. If you feel different, go take Rachel Corrie's place. I'm sure it'll give you a "warm fuzzy" - until the Merkava tank treads leave track marks across your body in longitudinal stripes.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2004 22:14 Comments ||
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#9
So if people won't sell you their land, forcibly push them off?
That's exactly what was done to the Jews by Arab invaders over a millenia ago. We have not reached the end of history. Territorial disputes will occur - and they will have to be settled by force. All this talk of settled rights is beside the point - *all* territorial disputes are eventually settled by force if the stakes are high enough. The Arabs settled the question of who would become Muslims by conquering Persia, the Mid East, North Africa, Central Asia and the Byzantine Empire and Southern Europe. Spaniards reconquered southern Spain for Christendom. The Jews are simply retaking a sliver of their ancient land. The Arabs clearly have a problem with this, but I don't see why we should support them. There are sound strategic reasons for not supporting the stronger party (the Arabs) - the offshore balancing idea remains a good one - ally with the weak against the strong - with the less numerous against the more numerous. More to the point, we share important values with Israel, and none with the Arabs. Again, the right principle is to reward friends and punish enemies, not the reverse. In sponsoring terrorists against America, Arabs have proven themselves to be our enemies.*
* Of course, Muslims don't see themselves as discriminating against America - they sponsor terrorists against a wide variety of countries. What angers them is the American reaction - why shouldn't we avoid confronting them like the other countries out there? They want to be able to continue sponsoring terrorists against the US, but are now afraid for their lives if they don't desist - the examples of Iraq and Afghanistan have made them think twice. Note that Malaysia was about to release an Indonesian terrorist when they suddenly had second thoughts - they are really trying to keep their noses clean in case Uncle Sam comes looking for trouble after another attack.
#10
Israel needs to do more than that dismantle some illegal settlements to bolster their flagging reputation.
Flagging reputation? Who is teaching ethnic hatred in their schools? Who is indiscriminately blowing up civilians as opposed to only going after known terrorists? How many Jews hold positions in the Palestinian governing body?
Even if you don't care for the Israelis, the Palestinians are a far worse bunch.
#11
First, OP, potty-mouth, you wanna try talking to me that way in person? Just name the time and place in the Springs. Keep a civil tongue.
I only said you brought up reparations, but I thought yours were going the wrong way and said so. Palestinian is a corruption of Philistine. Possibly Roman. Those people have been there for centuries
and no amount of revisionism is gonna change that. I have never said that Israel didn't have a right to exist. Just pay for the land they expand to. They're extending past what Balfour declared. I don't even mind that, just do right by the current inhabitants. Otherwise, besides being immoral, it seems to cause everybody trouble.
Zhang - The Liberty a canard? Ask the families of those killed. No apology, reparations, -nothin. There should be a memorial. But the senators, bought and paid for by Israeli pacs won't let it be brought up in congress.
Pollard's sin was that he was a traitor. And cost us plenty. They have tracked his info to Red China. I wonder how they got that?
As for allies, YOU compared them to France and Germany. That's probably about right. But I would expect more from Israel. Considering the way we stood alone for them for years.
As for the muslim nations, -I expect nothing from them. Except invective and possibly danger.
(especially as a christian) We KNOW they are enemies. It's our FRIENDS that keep letting us down. I am all for tracking down those who kill for religious reasons. But I believe those poor, goofed-up Palis have a just beef. They're possibly the only muslims who do.
Bomb- I don't hate Israel. (I don't hate anybody. It ain't worth it.) But I don't trust them anymore. They are a separate, sovereign nation with foreign policy goals that are not always congruent with ours. But don't let anybody say so. They'll be called 'antisemitic'.
Posted by: Scott ||
01/08/2004 4:31 Comments ||
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Iran has announced it will launch the Muslim world's first satellite within 18 months. Defense Minister Ali Shamkhani said on Monday that Iran will "go into space with a locally produced satellite and launch pad system". Shamkhani added "the aerospace capacity of the Islamic Republic is among the most genuine areas for bolstering the country's deterrence force, which is acquired through the cooperation of the defense industries and universities".
And Pakistan and North Korea...
However, no details on the type of satellite Iran planned to launch were given.
"It'll be... ummm... big. With a turban."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/07/2004 00:05 ||
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Link ||
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#1
There's no way a satellite can be ... kosher? It has to be an affront to allah somehow, someway. Unless it's got la bamba on board to drop on the infidel. If they'll tear down buddhas in Afghanistan and cheer, some of the nuttier ones will get upset about a satellite during ramadan.
#2
...Don't laugh, 4thInfVet...some poor turban got himself fatwa'd once because (and I hope I'm explaining this right) he told a Mullah that astronauts had defecated while on the moon - and since the crescent moon is a symbol of Islam, that statement was de facto blasphemy.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/07/2004 1:00 Comments ||
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#3
he told a Mullah that astronauts had defecated while on the moon
#4
This is no joke dudes !
There's nothing more dangerous than modern
up to date technology in the hands of mentally defective religious fanatics.
would any sane rantburger feel safe knowing
a monkey armed with an AK47 is running amuk on the trees in his back yard ????
Posted by: The Dodo ||
01/07/2004 1:26 Comments ||
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#5
Why don't we encourage this? Let's build it up even more - let's make it a MANNED shot! We can give the Iranians tons of non-military assistance in building an Iranian rocket that can be launched into space with, oh, let's say, 20 people aboard! Let's even use a little reverse psychology and make sure it's all BLACK HAT TURBANTOPS that are "chosen" for the flight! I'm sure every Rantburger will be glad to pitch in a few bucks to see that happen, even!
Of course, we might be a bit clumsy, and forget to tell them how to make sure it gets back DOWN safely, but we'll apologize, I promise!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/07/2004 1:39 Comments ||
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#6
To Old Patriot
There's one logical flaw in your otherwise highly recommended plan.
The hafwit turbans will not be able to figger how to bow towards Mecca from a satellite in orbit. They may even wind up with their heads between their legs due to the complexity of orbital mechanics.
Additionally, even the space shuttle does not have enough payload capacity for 20 peaces of 18X18 foot tabrizi heavy duty prayer rugs.
Sorry Old Patriot we will just have to shoot them
to avoid additional SNAFUs with Nassa's Budgetary woes.
P.S.
Great work with the Spirit Mars Rover !!! Thats the way to go !
May Allah bless the American Space Exploration Program.
Posted by: The Dodo ||
01/07/2004 1:58 Comments ||
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#7
OK guys
It's spelled NASA (not NASSA)
I must be getting tired
Posted by: The Dodo ||
01/07/2004 2:01 Comments ||
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#8
IIRC, muslim fundies are much into the conspiracy theory that the moon landings were actually faked. The rationale is there is an hadith about how islam is "going to last until men go to the moon" (that is, forever in the mind of medieval writers). To be specified by someone more fluent with islamic theology that I am.
So, you see, in space, nobody can hear you scream, but there are still blasphemies to be found around by the pious follower of the one true religion.
#9
OK - some good target practice for our ant-satellite tech...
Posted by: Dan ||
01/07/2004 10:28 Comments ||
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#10
Anyone remember why Sputnik was such an earth-shaking event?
Because, coupled with the Soviet's bomb, it let them threaten the US directly, with little chance for defense: Once you can put a satellite in orbit, you can drop a warhead ANYWHERE.
So, do you think the Iranians view their space program as a way to get to the stars, or a way to get ICBMs?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/07/2004 11:13 Comments ||
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#11
So the Iranians want to get a space program going, since the Nuke program is getting into rough times, and they can't build a mud building that will stand up to earthquakes. Mullahs, better watch your sixes.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/07/2004 13:59 Comments ||
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#12
Think about it this way - once again, the Jews beat them in getting to space :P the Star of David beat out the crescent and can be found, on the Israeli flag, on Mars, alongside the name of the late Ilan Ramon :D
Posted by: Lu Baihu ||
01/07/2004 16:37 Comments ||
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#13
Wasn't there protests in the Muddle East around the time of the Apollo Program due the fact that we were defiling the Moon's purity or some such drivel. If the prophesy was that Islam would last till men go to the moon then they sure are dragging their asses about going away
#14
Robert Crawford is right. The mullahs want the capacity to nuke New York, in case the U.S. gets uppity when thay nuke Tel Aviv. This is serious. Time is running out. Deterrence only works when both sides are rational.
Posted by: Alan Sullivan ||
01/07/2004 19:01 Comments ||
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Mikhail Saakashvili has clinched victory in Georgia's presidential election six weeks after the 36-year-old, set to become Europe's youngest elected head of state, led protests that ousted veteran leader Eduard Shevardnadze from power. The head of the election commission, Zurab Chiaberashvili, said in televised comments that Saakashvili had obtained 62% of all votes cast in Sunday's ballot. With 63% of ballot papers counted, Saakashvili had obtained 1,096,349 of the 1,761,936 votes cast. His inauguration has tentatively been scheduled for 25 January, which ironically falls on the 76th birthday of the man he drove from power - Shevardnadze.
Happy birthday, Big Ed...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/07/2004 00:02 ||
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#1
Here's hoping he can overcome his American legal training . . .
Israeli troops have banged shot dead a member of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas. Palestinian security sources said Hisham Khrewesh, 20, was killed during clashes in the Tulkaram refugee camp in the occupied West Bank early on Wednesday. Gun battles erupted between occupation forces and resistance fighters after 10 Israeli jeeps invaded the area.
"Jeeps! They're driving jeeps!"
"Jeeps, is it? By Gawd, Hisham! Where's my gun?"
The killing came less than a day after Israeli occupation forces withdrew from the heart of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus following a 11-day-long invasion. Fifty armoured vehicles and more than 200 troops who had invaded the Old City were seen leaving on Tuesday.
"G'bye! See you later!"
But some houses suspected of sheltering entrances to tunnels used by resistance fighters to hide weaponry were demolished by the Israelis.
Wonder what caused that effect? Or did it just occur?
Residents began sifting through the rubble after spending 11 days under a strict curfew. But shortly before they pulled out, troops arrested a "wanted" Palestinian from the Islamic Jihad resistance movement.
"Avner, I had such a good time! What do you say we take a souvenir with us?"
"Like what, Moshe?"
"How 'bout him?"
Sharif Tahineh, one of the groups leader's in Jenin, named the arrested man as Yahya Mukbul, 27. Six Palestinians have been shot dead by Israeli troops since the launch of the operation on 26 December, a day after a bombing near Tel Aviv left four Israelis dead. The bomber was from the village of Bait Furiq near Nablus, and belonged to the secular left-wing Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
Eery, isn't it? It's almost like the two things were related in some way...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/07/2004 23:57 ||
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#1
I bristle every time these hellholes are called "refugee camps." Let's do ourselves the courtesy of calling them what they are: UN ghettoes.
#2
The killing came less than a day after Israeli occupation forces withdrew from the heart of the occupied West Bank city of Nablus following a 11-day-long invasion.
How's that work? Your territory can be invaded by the same force occupying that territory?
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.
