I read some reporter saying that times have changed — there was a lot less drinking among the press corps in New Hampshire. And reporters no longer start their mornings with a belt. Well, the problem hasnât gone away. Only now itâs the campaigners getting soused.
Hereâs hoping all of you Rantburgers are having a much better week than this guy is having!
It just wasnât Erik Carlson-Coulterâs day. The Pizza Express deliveryman started out using his wifeâs car for pizza runs Monday. But he had to switch to his own car, after getting struck by a hit-and-run driver in Jamestown. While making another delivery, Carlson-Coulter drove into what he thought was a pile of snow. But it wasnât snow, it was a toilet. Police say the john had apparently fallen off a pickup truck. Officers responding to the mishap discovered that Carlson-Coulterâs insurance had lapsed. He also owed $125 in unpaid parking tickets. To make his bad day worse, Carlson-Coulter was hauled to police headquarters. But he finally made it home after paying his parking fines.
John Kearney, New York Times John Kearney is a student at the Columbia University Graduate School of
Journalism.
And no more a theologian than I am...
Sunday is one of the most important holidays in Islam: Eid al-Adha, the feast celebrating Abrahamâs faith and willingness to sacrifice his son to God. It would also be a good occasion for the American news media to dispense with Allah and commit themselves to God.
I'm in favor of a secular press, myself...
Hereâs what I mean: Abraham, the ur-monotheist, represents the shared history, and shared God, of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Many Christians and Jews are aware of this common past, but seem to have a tough time internalizing it. Lt. Gen. William Boykin, a deputy under secretary of defense, made headlines last year suggesting that Allah is not "a real God" and that Muslims worship an idol. Last month in Israel, Pat Robertson said that todayâs world conflicts concern "whether Hubal, the moon god of Mecca known as Allah, is supreme, or whether the Judeo-Christian Jehovah, God of the Bible, is supreme." Never mind that Hubal was actually a pre-Islamic pagan god that Muhammad rejected. Mr. Robertsonâs comments, like those of General Boykin, illuminate a widespread misconception - one that the news media has inadvertently helped to promote. So hereâs a suggestion: when journalists write about Muslims, or translate from Arabic, Urdu, Farsi or other languages, they should translate "Allah" as "God," too. A minor point? Perhaps not.
Or perhaps it is. It still doesn't change the mechanics of Islam. Jews, Christians, and Muslims all view God and their relationship with God differently, and within those religions there's a wide variation in the actual relationship among schools of thought. The fact that Allah is or might be the same God (or god) as Elohim â one of the older versions of the Old Testament God and plural to boot â doesn't mean that 3000 years later they're still the same. But I'm no more a theologian than the writer is. I'm still trying to pick my way through the Homoöusian Controversy, so I'll probably never get caught up...
Last August the Washington Post Web site posed this question to readers: "Do you think that Muslims, Christians and Jews all pray to the same God?" One Muslim respondent wrote yes, each of the three major monotheistic faiths "pray to the God of Abraham." Christian respondents, however, were equivocal or hostile to the notion. "Jews pray to Yahweh," one Virginia woman wrote. "As a Christian, I pray to the same God." But she insisted that "Muslims pray to Allah. Allah is not the God of Abraham." This woman might be surprised that Christian Arabs use "Allah" for God, as do Arabic-speaking Jews. In Aramaic, the language of Jesus, God is "Allaha," just a syllable away from Allah...
Jews don't pray to Yahweh. The YW symbol was substituted for the Name of God, which isn't to be uttered. On Jewish websites, for instance, you'll usually see God rendered as G-d, out of the same principle of respect, even though God (or gods) is the class, YH is the specific. Christianity is an outgrowth of Judaism, but with elements from a number of other religions which were thriving at the same time Christianity was born. The duality of God and Satan, Good versus Evil, for instance, takes much from Zoroastrian thought. Some of the ceremonial and lots of the miracle tales come from Mithraism. Christianity is also an outgrowth of only a part of Judaism, rather than the entirety of the religion; its roots seem embedded in the Essenes, who rejected most of what the Pharisees and Sadduccees practiced, or perhaps in a subschool of Essene thought. The Teacher of Righteousness of the Dead Sea Scrolls doesn't seem to have been Christ, and probably not John the Baptist. Modern Judaism is an outgrowth of the dominant schools of Christ's time, whereas the Essenes were pretty much wiped out by Vespasian and Titus. Islam on the third hand, reinvents Judaism, and a rather bookish Judaism at that. Man's relationship with God is entirely different under Islam and still retains the oriental butt-in-the-air, face-to-the-floor ethos that's gradually worn off both Christianity and Judaism. That's because the overlay of the religion is the Arabian culture. That leaves us with a Jewish G-d and a Christian God who're noddingly close acquaintances, and a Muslim Allah who's more a distant cousin.
#1
muslims purport to have the same ideological roots as Jews and Christians, but in truth Islam more closely follows the Microsoft practice of "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish".
#3
I think Allah is actually the name of a pre-biblical moon/fertility god in Babalon. I may have the details wrong but Allah does not equate to Yahweh.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 14:06 Comments ||
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#4
Anyone who thinks the god of the pedophile and murder known as Muhammed is the same God as the Jews and Christians worship, obviously has little grasp on reality. The author also shows their ignorance by stating that Abraham was a monotheist. He was not. And in actuality worshiped the god, El. Try getting your head out of your ass. Not to mention the messages of the three religions are vastly different. Jews and Christians (at least in modern times) espouse peace and love. Islam, like its pedophile founder who stormed through world leaving a wake of blood behind him, speaks of jihad and conversion or dhimmi-hood. The false prophet Mohammed is currently burning in hell. And one final point, as a Christian, Jesus was not a prophet, he was the Son of God. You ignorant piece of shit.
#5
John Kearney is a student at the Columbia University Graduate School of
Journalism
Making him an expert on comparative religions and the history of religions.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/28/2004 14:08 Comments ||
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#6
When they embrace Jews and Christians and the Old and New Testaments with tolerance, then we'll talk.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/28/2004 14:09 Comments ||
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#7
In Aramaic, the language of
Jesus, God is "Allaha," just a syllable away from Allah...
And Shiâite is just a couple of letters away from shit (Hyper is just a couple of letters away from âhipperâ but THAT doesnât pan out either!).
â¦Allah is not "a real God"â¦"whether Hubal, the moon god of Mecca known as Allah, is supreme, or whether the Judeo-Christian Jehovah, God of the Bible, is supreme."..."Jews pray to Yahweh" ... "Muslims pray to Allah. Allah is not
the God of Abraham..."
Blah, blah, blah; more âmy God is better than your Godâ religious masturbation. Idiots all around.
It doesn't matter Whose name you call in your prayers, itâs what you DO in Their name that you get splattedjugged judged for in this life...
#9
oh.my.god.
Is the Times sponsoring a Freshmen in Journalism day? What naive, embarrassing blather. I'm sure John Kearney will have a desk and leatherette chair waiting for him at the Times when he graduates.
Posted by: Seymour Paine ||
01/28/2004 14:58 Comments ||
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#10
Hyper, I will have to use Icy Hot on the mussle pull in my stomach. LMAO.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 15:07 Comments ||
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#11
So John Kearney your point is what exactly?
Methinks you have imbibed too often of the mirrored version of EVIAN, N-A-I-V-E.
I know of no Catholic, Protestant, or Jew who believes, as a matter of faith, that anyone who does not believe as he does should convert to his faith or be killed or enslaved. Unfortunately, that cannot be said of all followers of Islam.
#12
Christians and Muslims indeed do not pray to the same god.
Then again, Christians and Jews do not pray to the same god either. There are differences between the concept of the Hebrew and Christian deities that are just as sharp-pointed as the ones between Allah and the Christian deity.
And as a sidenote, going by the bible, I've no reason whatsoever to think that Moses was any less murderous than Mohammed -- q.v. the incident where Moses orders all the men, women and children of the Midianites killed, except for the virgin girls -- the virgin girls of the Midianites would be kept for raping purposes.
Christians and Muslims have the common element that they believe their religion a global one, (to be spread throughout the world) versus the Jews' ethnocentric one...
And Muslims and Jews have the common element that their holy texts seem to have their God espouse utter ruthlessness in warfare as a means of advancing their people's status. Besides the strict monotheism, ofcourse, as contrasted to the Christian trinitarianism.
So, any reason for you people to be thinking that the Jewish God has any more in common with the Christian God than the Muslim God does?
#13
GK, neither of today's trolls have added annoying comments under multiple pen names. Maybe, Fred's message sunk in. - except the part about not posting moronic opinion pieces.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 17:31 Comments ||
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#14
Muslims believe Abraham was going to sacrifice his son, however, they do not believe it was Isaac he was going to sacrifice but instead was Ishmael. Muslims also do not believe Jesus was the son of God. Now if God of the Bible and Allah are the same He either lied in the Bible, in the Qur'an or both. It is so elementary to understand that God of the Bible and Allah are not the same. It takes a journalism student not to grasp the fact. Another award-winning reporter in the making.
#15
SH, I just checked, there really is John Kearney at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He has written a couple of things. One was titled, Experts Debate Best Way to Win "Hearts and Minds" of the Arab Public. So his masters must be in Middle East Studies. I haven't a clue if he actually wrote this piece because I refuse to sign on with the NY Times.
#16
Christianity is far from being dualistic: The Existence of the Devil is implied in the Old Testament, became a realistic, working thesis in the New, but there is no question that Evil Spirits are weaker than Good Spirits: One of the base promises Jesus gave his followers was that they would be able to cast out demons, and reminded them that the CASTER is necesarily more powerful than the CASTEE.
Difference between Judaism and Christianity: Jesus is the promised Messiah, who makes believers FIRST CLASS Sons and Daughters of God (1 John 3:1-3). Jews regard themselves as God's servants. Different order of things.
Judaism is intrinsically non-imperialist: The extent of the Kingdom of Israel never exceeded the bounds set for it by God: The fertile crescent Between the Nile and the Euphrates, and for much of its history, it was confined to current day Israel and Yesha.
Aris, You must belong to the Michael Moore School of Editorial Documentarism: Like him, your summary leaves out critical facts and points that make Moses' actions less henious than you paint. The incident is recorded in Numbers 30 and 31: The Lord explicitly ordered the operation, and preserved the strike force to such an extent that no man was lost, prompting the troops to give a thank offering of the spoils.
How you get "saved" in each religion differs, AND makes a difference: In judaism, it is obedience to the requirements of the Pentatuch and trust in God's forgiveness. There is no command in the Old Testament to propagate the faith, even though provisions are made for foreigners to join themselves to the Jewish people. Judaism becomes a personal and a national religion, because God prescribes laws that only a nation can enforce.
In the New Testament, Salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ alone. "Faith Alone" means man need not add anything beyond faith, and God does not demand anything beyond faith, for salvation. I challenge anyone to find a command or implication of a command In the New Testament that belief that is forced by physical threat is a saving faith. Indeed, faith and fear are viewed as opposites, so "conversions" via threat of force is not true conversion. Christianity is a personal and an assembly (church) based religion, but not a national one, because guidelines are directed to the church, not national leaders: Men are told that homosexuals are sinners, but are NOT told to kill them as God commanded the Ancient Israelites in the Torah. It was an error for the Catholic church to reach back into the Old Testament for laws to run a nation: They were driven by ambition and the lust for power, rather than a desire to care for the flock of God.
Islam is closer to Judaism, being both a personal and national religion. Salvation is by works, most notably the five pillars. Even then, Allah is capricious, makes no promises, and does not have to keep them. The only sure guarantee of salvation is death during Jihad. The use of Physical force to force conversions and obedience to the Prophet and Allah is counseled, encouraged, and upheld repeatedly throughout the Koran and the Hadiths. "People of the Book" are made to pay a tax which, as we know today, produces incentives to convert in order to avoid it.
Our modern day distain of hypocrites comes from the Christian tradition. There are no denunciations of pride or hypocrisy in the Koran: Indeed, lies and dissemulation to preserve one's life (to fight again another day) and to further the "True Religion" and permissible and automatically forgiven.
*sniffs* dimestore theology for dummies. Like Michael Moore, is able to give some of the facts and still tell a lie...
#17
Aris-I think the "Jewish God" is trying to keep the "Muslim God" from killing all his people, meanwhile the "Christian God" has the "Muslim God" attacking him too.
The "Hindu God" is pissed at the "Muslim God" as well, due to the "Muslims God's" massacre of his people.The "Buddhist God" got mighty pissed about the statues the "Muslim God" blew up, that's for sure.
The "Muslim God" better watch his back, eh?
The "Atheist God" is really confused, and thinks the "Christian God" is after him, and is therefore really pissed about those roadside crosses.The "Agnostic God" is starting to believe in himself, and is thinking it might be a good idea to start taking sides.
#18
Ptah: "Like him, your summary leaves out critical facts and points that make Moses' actions less henious than you paint. The incident is recorded in Numbers 30 and 31: The Lord explicitly ordered the operation, and preserved the strike force to such an extent that no man was lost, prompting the troops to give a thank offering of the spoils."
So your argument is that Moses was ordered by God to be a genocidal murderer who endorsed rape, and that makes it okay?
While Mohammed was ofcourse *not* ordered by Allah (because Allah doesn't exist) and thus Mohammed is a murderer and Moses is not?
Am I understanding you correctly?
Now, from my *own* perspective, in which neither Moses nor Mohammed were inspired by anything other than the voices in their heads, why is Moses one iota less a murderer than Mohammed?
Remember than my post was in response to Swiggles whose first sentence was: "Anyone who thinks the god of the pedophile and murder known as Muhammed is the same God as the Jews and Christians worship, obviously has little grasp on reality."
To which my response was a "Huh-huh. And why was Moses any different than Muhammed in this?"
#3
Not impressed...it's too slow, doesn't make good use of flash, the music loops, and it just does a slideshow. I don't like to look at images of 9/11 at all, unless it's for a darned good reason. E for effort but a D for execution on this one.
#5
Nobody LIKES to look at the horrors of 9-11, but to NEED a "darned good reason"?!? Everybody MUST look at them from time to time. Itâs important to look at them and remember that it WAS our friends and sisters and brothers and heroes and our selves who were attacked and murdered.
Itâs important to see that it IS reality, not TV, or Hollywood, or anime, or fantasy. And when some spineless, cold-hearted prick complains about the bad old USA imposing itself on the rest of the innocent world, point to these images. Point to them, and know that the reason we are kicking their cave dweller asses, is so our children can live in peace AND freedom.
#8
No, I haven't forgotten but I'm sure the Deanistas have. And the Islamic world should be damn glad that we have a compasionite Christian for President. Our actions since that day are no where near what they could of been. And probably would of been if somebody like Howard was at the helm.
From the Weekly World News....a CIA briefing thatâs probably about as accurate as what Clinton and Bush have been getting the past few years.
Tiny, bearded terrorists from the Middle East are infiltrating the United States -- disguised as garden gnomes. I know they busted that one midget guy in Pakistan last year....
"These guys are typical Al Qaeda operatives," says a top CIA source, "with beards down to their belt buckles and a burning hatred for all things American. But they are tiny and are being shipped into this country disguised as garden gnomes. A suicide gnome may be small, but he can still strap on a lot of explosives, walk into a crowded mall and . . . BOOM!" Paging Yasser & Hamas!
The terrorist gnomes are the result of a genetic breeding program that began in the early 1970s, a joint effort of Libya, Iraq and Iran with Chinese medical advisers. It was Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda mastermind Osama Bin Laden who first realized that garden gnomes stood in the front yards of millions of homes in the U.S. "So what better cover for a terrorist than to pose as a harmless gnome until the time comes to strike?" the CIA source asks. food/drink alert....
"You can pass a garden gnome hundreds of times and never suspect that a human heart beating with hate lies within." That little bastard is coming out of Grandmaâs garden right now! Never did like it anyway!
Posted by: Desert Blondie ||
01/28/2004 5:52:13 AM ||
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#1
Seems that Scott Ott, over at Scrappleface, has some competition.
#2
Exploding gnomes aren't nearly as messy as this:
"A dead sperm whale being transported through Tainan City on its way to a research station suddenly exploded yesterday, splattering cars and shops with blood and guts."
Yuuck.
#9
the infamous Gnomes of Zurich have nothin' on these guys...
(thinking of the Arabian gnomes depicted in "Secrets of the Gnomes" at home on the coffee table. Not to mention the counterpart Orthodox Jewish Gnome in black cap, with beard and shawl...)
Afghanistanâs powerful regional warlords will face a shake-up as democratic reforms are implemented, the commander of the US-led coalition in country said on Tuesday. âI think that thereâs got to be an internal Afghanistan sorting out of the various regional leaders out there,â Lieutenant General David Barno told AFP. âI think thereâs a tremendously positive political process on the way right now to bring all parts of the country under a representative form of government. I think the regional leaders out there of various types will have to fall into place with that particular system be they governors, be they provincial officials, be they Afghan militia force leaders.â Until now the US-led coalition of 12,000 troops has concentrated on hunting Al Qaeda and Taliban militants in the largely mountainous country. But in a wide-ranging interview with AFP, Barno also outlined the coalitionâs evolving strategy in Afghanistan which will include more civil-military reconstruction teams and a greater focus on building relationships within communities. The US military was âprimarily in the stability phase which includes both combat operations as well as enhanced emphasis on security throughout the countryside and the development of Afghan institutions,â Barno said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/28/2004 12:05:47 AM ||
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#1
I wonder if there's an Afghani Warlords Union?...
#6
So they're trying the old "layoffs imminent rumor" trick. That usually spikes an increase in productivity. Wouldn't want to be the guy that has to tell the warlord to clean out his desk though. Maybe they can retrain them as Afghani Postal Workers?
Hat tip to Instapundit!
By JOHN R. BRADLEY FOR THE STRAITS TIMES
The tiny city of Sakaka in the remote al-Jouf province that borders Iraq may seem an unlikely setting for the beginning of a revolution against the ruling al-Saud family. But one does not have to spend too long here to realise that this is what is happening. Al-Jouf has witnessed an extraordinary level of political violence in recent months. The deputy governor, say local residents, was assassinated. accidently shot by a group of armed men?
Also shot down was the police chief, executed by a group of men who forced their way into his home. Even before these bloody incidents, the regionâs top Syariah Court judge was shot down as he drove to work early one morning. Seven men have so far been arrested over the shootings, according to Saudi officials. They admit that the attacks are linked, and that the seven may have been aided by as many as 40 others.
Elsewhere in Saudi Arabia, such violence could be put down to tribal feuds or the general lawlessness of a remote region. And there are also, everyone agrees, new social problems in al-Jouf, of the kind that is now plaguing this once crime-free Islamic state. Archaeological sites, defaced by the graffiti of the alienated, are also littered with the evidence of widespread drug abuse. But residents of the provincial capital Sakaka insist that the violence here is political. They say it stems from the fact that al-Jouf is the historic power base of the al-Sudairy branch of the royal family, which includes King Fahd and his six full brothers. Known as the Sudairy Seven, they include Prince Naif, the Interior Minister, Prince Sultan, the Defence Minister, and Prince Salman, the Governor of Riyadh. They make all the important economic and political decisions in Saudi Arabia, with the Kingâs favourite son, Abdul Aziz, standing in increasingly for his father. But all members of the vast al-Sudairy clan consider themselves, and expect others to treat them as, princes and princesses. When it comes to business and local government in al-Jouf, the clan has ruled the roost for the seven decades since the kingdom was founded. For more than 40 of those years, the governor was one of their own.
But other merchant families and tribes which were prominent before al-Jouf was incorporated into the Saudi kingdom and al-Sudairy took over are rebelling. The five streets of Sakaka are now deserted after dusk. Since the series of killings, members of the al-Sudairy clan have not been able to venture out of their walled villas without an armed guard. Special security police in bullet-proof jackets and wielding machine guns man permanent roadblocks on the approach roads into the city. Outsiders allowed in are closely observed by secret police. On the odd occasion that the visitor is a Westerner, his car is tailed day and night, as much for his own protection as out of inveterate Saudi suspicion.
The families and tribes here are exploiting the vulnerability of a perhaps fatally weakened Saudi ruling family to reassert their territorial claims over those of the al-Sudairy. As many as 60 per cent of Saudis identify strongly with a tribe. Since the increased instability following last yearâs bombings in Riyadh on May 12 and Nov 8, the ruling family has been eager to show that it has the full support of the tribal sheikhs. But al-Jouf shows what everyone knows: that tribes will switch their âallegianceâ as soon as it is convenient. Residents say the final straw was the build-up to the invasion of Iraq, when United States troops took control of the airport in the nearby Arar, the kingdomâs official border crossing with Iraq. This was deeply resented by all Saudis, but especially by al-Joufâs residents, who have historic tribal links to Iraqis across the border. Many local officers in the Saudi army resigned at the time in protest against being relieved temporarily of their duties by US soldiers, say Saudi opposition groups.
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Saudis have since sneaked across the border into Iraq to join the jihad against US-led occupation forces. A number have been arrested by the Iraqi police, who describe them as âArab Wahhabisâ, in a pejorative reference to Saudi Arabiaâs austere, jihad-oriented brand of Islam. Other Saudis have been implicated in suicide attacks in Iraq, including one that targeted the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. Only four people have so far been caught before they managed to get into Iraq, according to official Saudi government statements, leading many to wonder whether the border guards in al-Jouf are turning a blind eye. The natives are restless
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/28/2004 12:35:32 PM ||
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#1
John Bradley used to write anti-American fiction at a Saudi paper. Now that he's writing for a Singaporean paper, he's writing anti-Saudi fiction. I think this guy needs to quit his day job as a newsman and concentrate on writing a novel, since his imaginative screeds are wasted on the news pages.
I saw the byline and my excitement subsided. John Bradley, f'cryin' out loud! I mean, a guy can hope a little, but . . . Bradley! Sheesh!
Posted by: Mike ||
01/28/2004 13:07 Comments ||
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#3
I left that in for that reason
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/28/2004 13:10 Comments ||
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#4
Well...
I have been under the impression since the early 90s that the Saudis had a very low level rebellion brewing out in the provinces - we were told that when I went there in 94. Perhaps it's just finally catching up with them.
Or worse, maybe someone is taking advantage of lousy/corrupt/nonexistent government combined with religious extremisn and feudal social conditions to establish a base for further operations. Not like that's ever happened before in a Muslim country...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/28/2004 13:38 Comments ||
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#5
The famous Sudairi seven. For what it's worth, Crown Prince Abdullah's mom was not a Sudairi, but had tribal ties to the As-Sham region up north where the border stops going northwest and starts southwest. Naif and Sultan are said to have always eyed him suspiciously. What a state, but folks, it was always bound to happen, so why not now. I can only hope Condi is giving Bush the best info she can access, and I don't mean the CIA.
Posted by: Michael ||
01/28/2004 16:46 Comments ||
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The Saudi Interior Ministry on Tuesday denied recent reports that authorities had found al-Qaida training camps in the Saudi desert.
"Nope. Nope. Nothin' there..."
The comments by Interior Minister Prince Nayef contradict earlier reports by an official who told The Associated Press, but declined to be named for publication, that authorities discovered al-Qaida camps in the desert where militants were training for terror attacks. The daily Saudi Okaz also reported the discovery of the camps in early January. But its editor stressed they were not sophisticated operations but private resthouses used by the militants. "I would like to assert that there are no training or terror camps in the kingdom, not yesterday, not today," Nayef told reporters. The interior minister also rejected accusations that Saudi Arabia was a center for terrorism, saying the terroristsâ "thinking is alien to the kingdom," he said. "He who says the kingdom harbors terrorism should reconsider his words."
Reached another "accomodation," I see...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/28/2004 12:20:36 AM ||
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#1
"He who says the kingdom harbors terrorism should reconsider his words."
#5
Now that he's so obligingly identified himself as part of the problem, shouldn't he have a heart attack or something? Maybe fall in the shower and crack his skull. Get incinerated from space by our Ion Cannon. Something.
#6
Sooner or later, we're going to have to realize that the only way to end Islamofascism is to crush the "magic kingdom", where 90% of the money, and 100% of the inspiration, comes from.
That may not be a bad idea on another plane, too. Conquering Saudi Arabia will really draw the nutcase jihadi monkeys by the millions. Have them assemble in Mecca and Medina to "protect the holiest places in all Islam", then slam those two cities with all the nasties the Allies can bring to bear. Let the Islamic world learn just how NASTY the rest of us can be when we get tired of their idiocy. I mean blast the two cities with nukes, biological and chemical weapons to the point where even the sand 100 miles away becomes deadly. Let all the nutjobs in the world perform "haj", and let it become a one-way trip.
The only thing these people respect is force. I think an overwhelming display of force is the only thing that will end the stupidity. Rough on those on the receiving end, but if you can't take a sting or two, you shouldn't have whacked the hornet's nest.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/28/2004 11:12 Comments ||
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#7
Nayef is one of the two prime candidates to succeed the King. He controls most of the security apparatus in Soddi, and is not, and never was, our friend. He believes he can ride out the storm by supporting the terrs. He's, err..., dead wrong.
#8
With the out-of-control piliferation of nukes, I think we need to develop a new WMD. We should assemble a crack team of mercenary penis-snatchers from around the globe. We could loose them upon the Saudis and any other foe that irks us. How could they respond? After all hold all the world's known reserves of Enzyte.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 11:35 Comments ||
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#9
Chuck-
I think you're on the right track, but let me look at it from another angle. I think Those Wacky Sauds - especially the senior princes - figure that yesa, they can still pay off Al-Q, and when crunch time comes they'll have enough time to bail out and get to those villas on the Riviera while leaving the rest of the country to face the music.
Where they make a mistake there is that they really have no control over what the people they are supporting are doing. If and when the next big hit comes - and God forbid, but I think it'll be a bad one - they won't have enough time to even grab the overnight bag. We'll just start turning keys.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/28/2004 11:38 Comments ||
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#10
Can we just send Special Forces in to unplug King Fahd's respirator? His death and funeral would open the way for a public and bloody battle for control of the Crown. As long as he lives, Nayef and Abdullah can only vie for power behind the scenes, and grow stronger each day. Like Emeril says, let's kick it up a notch!
#11
For all the conspiracy talk about Bush connections to the House of Saud. I still think the real reason we did Iraq is that the administration does see the writing on the wall for the Big Sand Box, and is trying to cover its bets.
#13
Amen, Old Patriot, amen. It has been over two years since a gang of Saudis took down four planes and killed thousands on our home turf -- and the Saudis still don't get it. I'm increasingly of the opinion that we should target the lot of them with nukes and yell them to clean out their vermin promptly or die.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/28/2004 14:20 Comments ||
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#14
Seafarious is King Fahd on an honest to blowing respirator? How far gone is he? Ronald Reagan gone or further away?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 15:10 Comments ||
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#16
Shipman, your guess is as good as mine. I have no personal knowlege of his condition. He could be on a respirator; he could be hanging out with Ted Williams in the cryo-lab in Arizona for all I know. But as long as he's "alive" in the official pronouncements from Riyadh, the princelings are free to plot and buy even more influence. If we could prove King Fahd to be officially dead, with a large state funeral and a nice wooden stake through the area where his heart should be (and perhaps some garlic-flavored pork rinds in the coffin just to be sure), then the Naif and Abdullard will have to battle in public for control. There could be several nasty "accidents" and perhaps some of the funding channels and C&C operational chains would be disrupted.
#17
Gulf News reported yesterday that Fadh had addressed the Makkah (Mecca) Conference organised by the Muslim World League. If true he's still a step or two away from death's door.
BBC chairman Gavyn Davies has resigned in the wake of Lord Hutton's criticisms of the corporation's reports.
G'bye. See ya! Best of luck in your new career in the food service industry...
Mr Davies told the corporation's governors of his decision as they met at 1700 GMT. It comes after Lord Hutton said the suggestion in BBC reports that the government "sexed up" its dossier on Iraq's weapons with unreliable intelligence was "unfounded". And he criticised "defective" BBC editorial processes over defence correspondent Andrew Gilligan's broadcasts of the claims on the Today programme.
No problem with the Professor and Maryanne, thank Gawd!
Announcing his resignation, Mr Davies said the people at the top of organisations should accept responsibility for their actions. "I have been brought up to believe that you cannot choose your own referee, and that the referee's decision is final," he said. He would be writing to the prime minister to tender his resignation with immediate effect.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/28/2004 14:24 ||
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HA HA,this just makes the day even better,i'm grinning from ear to ear!
Posted by: Carl in N.H ||
01/28/2004 14:33 Comments ||
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#3
Yet, I'll bet the BBC staff is rallying 'round him, making excuses and convincing themselves that the error is minimal; that they in fact are being targeted and victimized. That it really wasn't that big a deal. Groupthink at its best.
And, I'm just as sure no one at the beeb is considering that mebbe they haven't been too fair in other coverage. Like the poooooor, helpless paleovictims versus the Joooooooos.
The BBC used to be the worlds best news agency. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
#5
Let's see if everyone agrees on me: this guy has diverted a tax-payer funded entity for supporting his own private cause. I for one, think that he should be sentenced to refund the tax-payer for the cost of every single minute (broadacsting included) where the BBC has benn making propaganda instead of providing information. That includes his salaries for all these years of course. Plus interest. If he cannot pay then he should go to the most sordid prison we can find: watch the "Midnight Express" movie or reread "Gulag Archipielago" for ideas.
Posted by: Carl in N.H ||
01/28/2004 15:39 Comments ||
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#8
These changes are merely cosmetic. What needs to happen is the privatization of the BBC and the repeal of the BBC tax. If Blair puts forth the motion, I suspect he will get a majority to endorse it (composed of Tories and Laborites).
#9
Shipman, my digital surprise meter scored it as 7.8994 :-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/28/2004 18:03 Comments ||
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#10
I will calibrate, assuming you have the Rantburg S1 Model with the turned aluminum wafer sink while I must make do with last year's Turkish built MB-3.
Aris has your Sundial/Surprise Meter twitched? (I like to get two data inputs).
#11
I got a better idea: We don;t send ANYONE to prison, and the BBC sells out to the highest bidder. Genteel justice at its finest. We win, the BBC wins, and the Brit taxpayer wins.
#12
For true poetic justice, force the BBC executives to live on Tristan da Cunha for a few years. Place doesn't have an airfield, the water's chancy, and most of what is eaten has to be imported. Not to mention the climate's not exactly salubrious, and it's a LOOONNNGG way to a theater or pub. If they survive, they can ask for a job at Fox or Sky News. "Ask", not "get".
My older model surprise meter only registered a 3.3. Guess it doesn't consider what happened actually the result of "cause and effect", but as "politics as usual".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/28/2004 21:07 Comments ||
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#13
Wow, Planet Dan!... Unionized, Report from the Bar, Journalists! Who'da thunk!... My Surprise Meter's jammed at 7.3... Still doing a Happy Dance of Gilligan's demise and Marianne's sudden, newfound Availability!
Posted by: Jack Deth ||
01/29/2004 0:13 Comments ||
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EFL:
The claim in BBC reports that the government "sexed up" its dossier on Iraqâs weapons was "unfounded", says Lord Hutton. The retired law lord is delivering his long-awaited report on the death of weapons expert Dr David Kelly in a televised statement. He cleared the government of embellishing the September 2002 weapons of dossier with intelligence it thought was unreliable. Meaning Tony Blair didnât lie, the BBC did.
And he criticised the BBCâs checks before the broadcast the claims about the government and the way it rebutted Downing Streetâs complaints. Lord Hutton also said he was satisfied that Dr Kelly had killed himself after being named as the suspected source of the BBCâs controversial weapons dossier story. "I am satisfied that Dr Kelly took his own life by cutting his left wrist," he said. Lord Huttonâs statement at the Royal Courts of Justice in London came ahead of his full 328-page report being published at 1330 GMT. More details at the link, but the jist is the BBC got bitch slapped.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/28/2004 8:55:40 AM ||
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BBC is the world's leader in misleading and editorialized versions of "news" stories. I can't believe that the Brits are so masochistic that they continue to allow their tax dollars to be wasted on a "news" agency which advocates UK national suicide.
#2
My wish has come true,for a BBC hater like myself this day will be remembered.Now to try and stop the thieving bastards nicking my precious cash for thier fuckin licence fee.
#4
I remember there used to be a ship out in the channel that broadcast music that wasn't available on the BBC (big brother channel). Radio Caroline I think. Desperados.
I find it hard to believe that commoners still allow the BBC to have it's way.
You obviously don't know the French press: the French people have been for yers under a coordinated attack from ALL news sources aimed at making them hate America. And the degree of hate between the chattering classes is unbelievable.
It would be time the Voice of America started targetting France.
#7
heh, heh...at least the chairmans head rolled. But he's probably already been hired by NPR or the Ford Foundation. They need to drain the whole cesspool before it will make a bit of difference.
Posted by: B ||
01/28/2004 14:09 Comments ||
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EFL - these jokers make Wesley Clark look like a brilliant political tactitian.
The Spanish Socialist party damaged its already slim chances of winning the election in March yesterday after becoming embroiled in a scandal over secret contacts with the armed Basque separatist group Eta. The scandal broke after Josep LluÃs Carod-Rovira, deputy head of the regional Catalan government led by the Socialist Pasqual Maragall, admitted having met Eta leaders earlier this month. Mr Carod-Rovira met two Eta leaders for talks in the southern French city of Perpignan three weeks ago, while he was standing in as acting leader of Cataloniaâs semi-autonomous government for Mr Maragall, who was abroad. He denied reports by the conservative newspaper ABC, which broke the story, that he had tried to broker a deal which would have seen Eta pledge not to carry out any of its bomb or shooting attacks in the eastern Catalan region. "The aim was to help contribute to the possibility that Eta might declare a ceasefire and stop its armed fight," he said. "We thought it could be of service to the cause of peace." Must have been talking to that Carter guy.
Why does the "cause of peace" always seem to involve snuggling with guys with bombs?
The focus of international investigation on nuclear technology transfer to Iran and Libya has shifted this week from Pakistan to several European countries, including the Netherlands that harbours designers and developers of uranium enrichment centrifuges used in the nuclear programmes of Pakistan, Iran, Libya and North Korea, a source in Hague told The News. After Pakistani authorities indicated that debriefing of top Pakistani nuclear scientists is reaching its culmination, IAEA and European investigators undertook investigations into nuclear proliferation. The probe would identify the role played by European scientists and nuclear managers associated with some top companies in Europe in illegal transfer of nuclear technology to Iran, Libya and North Korea, the source said.
The core question that European investigators are probing is whether designs for uranium enrichment centrifuges, developed by the Dutch unit of Urenco, which Tehran allegedly acquired from a middleman in 1980s, came from inside Pakistan or Urenco provided it to Tehran, or their source were the companies that supply components to Urenco. Dutch Foreign Minister Bernard Bot and Economic Affairs Minister Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst in their written replies last week, to questions from a Dutch member of Parliament (MP), have already admitted that there were "indications" North Korea and Libya might have acquired potentially arms-related nuclear technology developed in Europe that Pakistan and Iran are known to possess, the source said. The Dutch ministers confirmed that the authorities in the Netherlands were investigating the source of supply, to Iran, of designs for uranium enrichment centrifuges developed by the Dutch unit of Urenco, which is suspected to have been done by a middleman. The ministers also confirmed that the same technology, developed by the British-Dutch-German Urenco consortium, may have found its way into Libya and North Korea. In their reply to the MP, the two Dutch ministers said "the source supplying the Urenco technology to Libya and Iran was not clear", adding, "the matter was being probed".
Urenco is the same Dutch/German/British uranium enrichment facility in the Netherlands where the father of Pakistani nuclear bomb, Dr Qadeer Khan, had been working in 1970s. Despite his repeated denial of all charges related to alleged involvement in nuclear espionage, a court in Amsterdam sentenced him in absentia to four years in jail in 1983. Pledging the Netherlands cooperation in the investigation the Dutch ministers in their reply to the MP said, "The Netherlands has offered full cooperation to the IAEA in investigating the technologyâs origins." The Dutch ministers said, "The IAEA investigations into the origins of Iranâs enrichment technology led to a clear conclusion" adding, "it would concern Urenco technology from the 1970s."
Buoyed by the information ascertained through a professional but preliminary scrutiny of the nuclear programmes of Iran and Libya, IAEA inspectors and experts have concluded that scientists, nuclear manager and companies from the Netherlands, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the UK, France and other western European countries need to be investigated thoroughly to ascertain the truth on the basis of the evidence in possession of the IAEA. Dutch and German intelligence agencies are engaged in investigating what they describe as the "crucial leads" related to some officials of the Dutch-British-German consortium, the Urenco.
Urenco has been named as one of the companies that had allegedly been playing a role in Iranâs centrifuge programme, but the companyâs spokesman has vehemently denied the allegation of supplying nuclear components to Iran or Libya. European investigators do not rule out that the European countries that supply components to Urenco might have sold the same pieces of technology to Iran. Based on the conclusion drawn by experts associated with the international watchdog, the probe in Europe has been widened. Authorities in Switzerland, Austria, Germany, the UK, France and the Netherlands have also been asked to investigate the companies across Europe that had been supplying the components to Urenco, the source said. European investigators are concentrating on identifying the source which allegedly supplied the first drawing of centrifuge technology to Iran in late 1980. The investigators expect to unravel covert activities of more than two decades through investigations launched to identify cartels of the "middle men" who had been helping in illegal transfer of nuclear technology to Iran and Libya.
Some intelligence outfits in Europe believe that the investigation to identify the source or sources that had been supplying nuclear technology to Iran could not be completed without launching a thorough probe into the companies which had been providing Pakistan the most sophisticated nuclear components to build its nuclear programme, the source said. "The nuclear investigation in Europe will be a multi-pronged exercise. Its main targets will be those âmiddle menâ who had been helping in nuclear programme of any country in the world," the source said. Meanwhile, European investigators are also examining a brochure which had been allegedly handed out by some Pakistani scientists at trade shows in France, Germany and other countries. The brochure with a picture of Dr AQ Khan on its cover page, according to the interpretation of European investigators, implied that "Pakistani scientists were willing to sell sensitive centrifuge know-how to whosoever wanted to purchase that," the source said.
Posted by: Nick ||
01/28/2004 4:54:42 PM ||
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The Netherlands have long been a lucrative crossroads for arms deals. The Iranians were buying materiel from there during their war with Iraq. It's not that big a stretch to move up to dealing in nuke-related stuff.
A French government mission visiting detainees at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has turned up a seventh French national in American custody, the foreign ministry said Wednesday. The team, sent last week to examine six French detainees who were already known to be in detention at the base, found all of the suspects in "satisfactory" physical health, ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous said. "A seventh detainee, who until now had not identified his nationality but claimed French nationality, was able to speak with members of the mission," Ladsous told reporters. "After a quick verification, they identified him and confirmed that he was French," he said, without providing any further details about the suspect.
#2
The biggest clue to his identity was the fact that he had surrendered.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/28/2004 15:00 Comments ||
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Mr Crawford
By your own logic Georges Washington was a French. A squared French since he surrenderred to the French.
There are two things I hate: people who blame the soldiers for the faults of the leaders and people who spit on graves.
1) The 1940 French soldiers didn't fail in the part about dying for their country (3,000 a day, more than at Verdun. Two Vietnams and half in just fourty days). What they failed was in making the ennemy die for his country (four french killed for evry german).
2) The Russians spent 1941 surrenderring and withdrawing at a quicker pace than the French. But the Russians could afford to lose far more space and far more people. BTW Stalin tried to surrender negotiate with Hitler. But Hitler refused to negotiate.
3) The British spent 1941 and most of 1942 providing fresh inmates to Germany's prisoners camps. And the US Army's own official history tell that American soldiers performance in their first clashes with the Germans was far from stellar. What I am trying to tell here is not insinuating that the {Russian, British, American} soldiers were cowards but that until the Blizkrieg was really assimilated evryone was having his ass kicked. But some nations got a breathing time either from the sea or from their immensity.
4) In the few places where teh French had half decent leaders it was the Germans who surrendered.
5) Appalling generalship was what destroyed the 1940 Army. And covert maneuvers by ambitious politicians what brought Petain to power. It wasn't a vote.
If you are interested I can mail you a text I am writing who gives a bird's eye view from the campaign of France. Blame the 2004 French as much as you want, I will even provide you material about infamies they, not their ancestors, have perpetrated but you would oblige me if you didn't deride all the French soldiers in history from the 1940 people whose main tort was to have the wronbg establishment to the 1914 soldiers who charged machine guns nests in bright red trousers and still won.
#4
JFM - IMHO your comments are right on, and I'm sure most here would agree. WW2 French who lost their lives defending their nation have nothing to apologize for. Vichy were another subject, but still in the long-past. I think most Americans revel in the schadenfreude of the decline of the French state because of the post WW2 and Cold War actions and attitudes of the French government, media, and their followers, which we Americans perceive as anti-american, ungrateful, and falsely projecting moral superiority. Nobody expects France to forever thank the US for WW2 sacrifices on their behalf, but don't f*&k with us and tell us how "stupid we are for getting riled, because, after all, we are allies". They have actively supported our enemies and done their best in thwarting our actions for our national security.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/28/2004 18:43 Comments ||
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#5
Frankly, I don't care where these jihadi monkeys come from. The fact is, they took up arms against my country. That only entitles them to a short list of consequences: killed in action, hanged from a tall tree with a short rope, or locked in a 3'x7'x7' cell until WE decide they should be set free. We should tell anyone that doesn't like it to piss up a rope in a strong wind.
If they make war against us, they are our enemy, regardless of where they may have called home before picking up a weapon. The rest is bulls$$$.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/28/2004 21:21 Comments ||
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#6
JFM - so you're saying that the man in detention is a soldier? What country's constitution did he swear allegiance to upon enlisting? What was his rank? What badges did he wear on his uniform?
All that aside, still it would be nice to have a copy of that treatise you mention. The Battle of France is a personal favorite of mine, not because France loses, but becuase it shows what can happen when a democracy gets lazy and loses its way.
More fun & games & dead witnesses. EFL:
France could be made to pay USD 600 million (EUR 476 million) in fines to the government of Taiwan because of illegal commissions that massively inflated the price of warships sold to Taipei in 1991, according to an official report leaked on Wednesday. Taipei paid more than 16 billion francs (EUR 2.44 billion) for the six La Fayette class frigates, and judicial investigations have since revealed that around a third of that was spent on a complex lobbying operation to secure the deal by the then state-owned French defence-electronics giant Thomson. Thomson - now the privatised Thales - and the Taiwanese government have resorted to an international commercial tribunal to settle the dispute. The controversial frigates sale was "easily the biggest politico-financial scandal of the last ten years" in France, according to a recent investigation into the case by former judge and European parliamentarian Thierry Jean-Pierre. Two French judges looking into the affair have been consistently refused access to documents that could be used to trace the commissions, as successive French governments have invoked a "defence secrecy" law - prompting speculation about a top-level cover-up. "Cover up? Us? Non!"
Last October the Taiwanese govermnment became a civil plaintiff in the judgesâ investigation, giving it access to the legal dossier that contains the proof that commissions were paid. Oops!
Armed with this evidence the Taiwanese case before the commercial tribunal is unanswerable, Bot warned. According to Jean-Pierreâs book, Thomson paid out millions of euros to persuade Taiwanese officials to drop plans to buy warships from Korea, and then to defuse obstruction to the deal from Beijing and parts of the French political establishment. And now the French are jumping in bed with Beijing to sell them arms. Now, whatâs the word for that, oh, yeah. Whore.
The Taiwan frigates formed the background to the trial of former foreign minister Roland Dumas, who was cleared a year ago of being bribed by his lover to drop his opposition to the sale. It also featured in last yearâs mass trial of officials at the oil group Elf, which ran part of the lobbying operation on behalf of Thomson. Jean-Pierre said that at least eight people linked to the affair had died in suspicious circumstances, including a Taiwanese naval official who was about to report his suspicions of bribe-taking and a French intelligence agent tasked with following the negotiations for the deal. Remind me again why weâd want the French as allies?
Posted by: Steve ||
01/28/2004 2:20:07 PM ||
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Remind me again why weâd want the French as allies?
Because you keep your enemies closer. And it's easier to do by calling them "friend". Sick, but, whatcha gonna do?
EFL The Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, I could take. This, I'm not too sure...Danish scientists say they have developed a genetically modified plant that will detect unexploded landmines. There are believed to be about 100 million unexploded landmines around the world, posing a daily threat to life. Niels Bohr was Danish and he was smart; Iâm enthused.
Plants developed by Copenhagen firm Aresa Biodetection are said to turn from green to red when they come in contact with explosives in the soil. Thatâs almost like a stoplight. I like this better than the terror warning system.
Aresaâs aim is to plant its GM plant - an altered thale cress - in landmined areas. Scientists say that within three to six weeks it will change colour in areas where roots come in contact with nitrogen dioxide (NO2) evaporating from explosives in the soil. Cress also makes a good salad.
Ummm... (Oooh! Oooh! Pick me!)... Don't you have to... ummm... plow to plant those things? And wouldn't plowing the ground render the function of the little cressies... uhhh... redundant?
Aresa Chief Executive Simon Oestergaard said the project was still in its early days but it had great potential for land that could be used for different agricultural activities. "We donât think our invention will completely replace other methods," he said. I tend to agree.
Landmines are traditionally located by a number of methods including the use of sniffer dogs, heavy machines or metal detectors. The mines can then be carefully removed. Aresa says the seeds could be sown by using an off-the-shelf pump or a crop-spraying plane. Letâs go with the plane option. I donât know that I would want to walk about seed spraying the ground with the hopes I might know where mines were in the are I was walking in. I would be afraid of receiving more immediate results.
Carsten Meier, of Aresa, told the BBC that they were working with the Danish army and hoped that field trials in live-mine areas could take place within two years. "We have to convince people who are actually clearing mines that this system is reliable," he said. Please demonstrate. I will be right ........back here about 100 meters behind you.
Geir Bjoersvik, senior adviser on landmines for Norwegian People Aid, said the development was likely to be "a welcome addition to current methods if successfully passing further testing in areas of operation. This is a promising development in the efforts to find a safe and cost-effective solution to detect mines," he said. Gier is not very smart.
But the Halo Trust, the Scottish-based international mine-clearing charity with 5,500 deminers and 120 heavy mine-clearing machines around the world, has raised some concerns about the project. Director Guy Willoughby said he was worried that the fresh growth could attract livestock into the mined areas. (Wouldnât it be just as effective to seed the area with regular cress and then loose a herd of goats to find the mines.)
As long as you're seeding from the air...
Bob Gravett, senior technical advisor to the Mines Advisory Group, was also sceptical: "Over the last couple of years we have had bees that can detect mines, then rats and now cress." It would be a pain to follow a bee around looking for mines; my arms would tire.
He said relying on the NO2 seepage would not guarantee that all the mines had been detected, as some are specially sealed. Being prone to false negative indications is not an acceptable fault in a mine detection alternative.
Firing up the combine for harvest would probably find all that the cress and the goats missed...
"The biggest task in mine clearing is proving that there are no landmines in an area," he told BBC News Online. "This is not going to give you any more than an indication and we already have that, from the local population." We donât actually even have to talk to the villagers. Usually we can tell by watching them walk around.
Or not walk around...
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 12:47:15 PM ||
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Shhhh! Don't tell anyone but Bohr's mother was ,oy vey! Jewish.
So, by Jewish law so was he.
Posted by: Barry ||
01/28/2004 13:49 Comments ||
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#2
Aresaâs aim is to plant its GM plant - an altered thale cress - in landmined areas.
I await the inevitable clash between those concerned about finding landmines and such (wasn't the late Princess Diana on a NGO commission of that type?) and the anti-GM crowd as it will expose even further the latter's hypocrisy about self-aggrandizement 'concern' for humankind.
#3
Raj, you forgot the PETA kooks who will be afraid that the red cress might taste better. Millions of people starving in Africa and the Danes decide to improve crops in a way that inadequately addresses another issue.
I saw another article documenting bizarre stuff from Denmark. It is called Danes Investigate Reported Jail Stand-Ins. Maybe they are the Pakistan of Europe.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 14:25 Comments ||
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#4
There is a funnier way of finding mines and unexploded shells. After WWI in France and Belgium from time to time the growth of trees caused their roots to contact the mine and then KABOOM. It also worked for detecting gas shells.
#5
I hope the anti-GM crowd and its anarchist/anti-globalization allies go tramping through the landmines to rip out the cress... thereby finding LOTS of MINES.
Therefore... the GM plants have done their job and a whole load of asshats ... well, you know.
#8
cross the cress with Kudzu and you've got a winner
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/28/2004 18:50 Comments ||
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#9
Wanna really scare the bajesus out of the lefties? Talk about escaped bioengineered Kudzu in the produce section of your local market. Lost an elder dawg to the stuff once.
EFL
The EU will be able to name and ban airlines causing concern. An initial report is expected to be compiled by the end of this year, using information from member states. The EU members, individually, know which airlines airlines are unsafe. They may decide to tell each other which airlines those are within a yearâs time.
MEP Nelly Maes, the European parliamentâs rapporteur on the safety of foreign planes, welcomed the move but attacked the EU for waiting for a tragedy before acting. While not perfectly satisfied, she agree that it is a positive step that the EU might take action in a year.
Under the new regulations, any EU country which finds a plane or company so dangerous it deserves to be banned will be able to alert the European Commission. Countries will have the option to let their friends know about incredibly dangerous transportation carriers.
If the commission recommends an EU-wide ban to the council of ministers, it is believed the airlineâs name would be made public at this stage, even if no ban was agreed. We might even tell the public.
The European transport commissioner Loyola de Palacio recently told MEPs she supported EU-wide bans and wanted holidaymakers to know which charter company they were scheduled to fly with -down the road, maybe next year or so, if everyone agrees. A BBC News Online investigation has found that six airlines, including Flash, had aircraft grounded on safety grounds in one of three European countries in 2002 - and that two of them still fly to the UK. Their names are not known. Weâll tell you next year. Could you remind us? We get off-track sometime. Keep flying, though. We think the other carriers are safe.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 12:22:16 PM ||
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Actually I see this as a way to pressure America. Suddenly someone in the EU can have concerns about an American carrier, make it public, and do nothing about it that might require the concerns be substantiated. Nicely avoids WTO restrictions.
#2
another reason for Americans to See America First.
Posted by: B ||
01/28/2004 13:56 Comments ||
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#3
Having flown several thousands of miles on Seaboard World, the US government's primary carrier to/from Europe and elsewhere, and still able to sit here and talk, I wonder if this isn't another EUseless tempest in a teapot. We don't have to wait to know which airlines aren't doing proper maintenance - the daily newspaper keeps us pretty well informed. If that's not enough, there are a couple of websites online that post all airline problems, from crashes to maintenance problems to on-time statistics. I wouldn't trust the EU bureaucrats to tell me whether the sun was still shining or not.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/28/2004 21:31 Comments ||
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A photo of PM Ariel Sharon alongside one of Adolf Hitler is currently being exhibited at the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam, reported Army Radio Wednesday. The photos are presented as part of an exhibition on âborderline casesâ aimed at testing the borders between freedom of expression and discrimination, according to the museumâs spokesman. Viewers are shown a video, in which demonstrators held a poster of Hitler and Sharon in protest over Israelâs policies in the Palestinian territories. They are then asked to vote on whether in the name of fighting racism, freedom of speech may be infringed on.
Posted by: TS ||
01/28/2004 11:32:33 AM ||
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Maybe this is a misguided effort to have the museum spared during the upcoming, Europe-wide, night of broken glass.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 11:39 Comments ||
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SH,I'm not clear on what you mean.
The Kristallnacht,the beginning of the Holocaust, occurred on Nov. 9, 1938. Is something special happening soon regarding that event? They just had a 65th year rememberance of The Night of Broken Glass in November.
#5
GK, I was trying to voice/vent my frustration with why morons would use a historic site dedicated to the rememberance of the holocaust as a venue for anti-Israel propoganda.
While it might be understandable to equate Sharon's treatment of Arab citizens with FDR's treatment of Japanese citizens, equating Sharon and Hitler is a pure abomination.
Even a parallel drawn between Sharon and FDR with respect to human rights would be unfair to Sharon as FDR didn't have to deal with Japanese human bombs massacrering innocent civilians in NY and LA.
While I admit to my exaggeration in predicting that another Kristallnacht is coming, how much worse can this get. The Anne Frank Museum should be hallowed ground, not a venue for pro-Arafat loving. I suggest that the kooks fund and found theirown Rachel Corrie Museum to hang this disgusting poster in. Those who missed the message of the holocaust ought to at least have the decency to ignore Anne Frank and not twist he legacy. She was an innocent little girl that was murdered by thugs; she wasn't a little girl inconvenienced by being fenced off from her school or relatives.
Sharon is not my favorite guy, but I haven't seen anybody else produce a plan that will curtail the terror in the absence of jailing all the killers of Hamas, Hizzbola, Islamic Jihad and the PLA.
I am an odd defender for jewish people as I am a complete gentile - as far as I know. Also although many of the Jews I have met have been big government liberals, I am supportive of their right to thwart my cold-hearted conservative aims.
P.S. I think the settlers are nutters as well and should be locked out on the kook-side of Sharon's fence. Here is a link to an article that indicates their desire to thwart the disengagement.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 14:03 Comments ||
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Thanks, SH, sometimes I'm a little slow on the up take, but I agree with you on all points.
The head of a San Diego relief agency that accepted more than $350,000 from a charity suspecting of funneling money to al-Qaida also personally received thousands of dollars from the Saudi government, a prosecutor said Tuesday. Omar Abdi Mohammed, the president of the Western Somali Relief Agency, was paid monthly by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabiaâs Ministry of Islamic Affairs and traveled frequently to both Saudi Arabia and Australia, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Parmley said in court. The prosecutor made the allegations during a lengthy hearing in U.S. District Court to determine whether bail should be set for Mohammed. Magistrate Judge Louisa Porter said she was not prepared to make a ruling and continued the hearing until Feb 3.
Mohammed, 41, a Somali refugee who is a permanent legal U.S. resident, pleaded innocent Friday to two counts of lying to an U.S. immigration officer about receiving $351,036 from the Global Relief Foundation. President Bush has designated the Bridgeview, Ill.-based foundation, as a suspected fund-raiser for terrorists, including Osama bin Ladenâs al-Qaida network. Defense attorney Joan Bader did not address the Global Relief money. She said the money from Saudi Arabia was intended to support her clientâs work in the community, where he has taught the Quran and educated children about the dangers of gangs and drugs. Saudi Arabia also paid for what she called his family visits overseas. Mohammed earns $800 a month as a part-time teacherâs aide at a San Diego elementary school. He has no criminal record. "There are hints and allegations of al-Qaida here, which would suggest violence, but we donât have any link," Bader told the judge.
"Y'see, y'r honor, there's a big diff'rence between paying for violence and violence..."
For three hours, more that 100 members of the tight-knit Somali community, including Mohammedâs six children,
... the ones he supports on $800 a month...
packed the small courtroom and waited in the hallway until late afternoon when the case was called last. Five community members offered money for bail, Bader said. Parmley asked the judge to detain Mohammed without bond, saying his frequent travel and access to vast sums of money raised concerns that he was a flight risk. Mohammed is being held in a segregation unit at a federal jail in San Diego. "Unless there is something to hold the defendant here, heâs not going to be here," he said.
Parmley said more than $300,000 sent to the Western Somali Relief Agency between 1998 and 2001 by Global Relief was relayed overseas by Dahab Shil, part of an informal, international system of money transfers known as hawala "never to be seen again." The rest of the Global Relief money, about $40,000, wound up in Mohammedâs pocket, the prosecutor said. Mohammed also received $1,750 a month from the Saudi government plus an annual $5,000 housing stipend, Bader said. Payments from the Saudi government have totaled more than $100,000, according to Parmley. Over the past three years, Mohammed has traveled once to Africa, twice to Saudi Arabia and made four trips to Australia, where he has a second wife, Parmley said.
Say! That's a grand idea! I used to know this really cute Australian blonde, who had the most lovely, round... ummm... eyes. Perhaps I could look her up again, propose, and we could set up housekeeping. I'm sure the Soddy gummint would be happy to fund it, since they seem to be into domestic bliss...
The prosecutor also said that Mohammedâs past contacts with the U.S. government have been "rife with fraud." He entered the United States in 1995 as a religious worker with a job teaching Arabic at a local mosque, Parmley said. But Mohammed showed up for work only one day and was never seen again.
That was nine years ago...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/28/2004 12:19:06 AM ||
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Mohammed also received $1,750 a month from the Saudi government plus an annual $5,000 housing stipend, Bader said. Payments from the Saudi government have totaled more than $100,000, according to Parmley.
If ever there was a barometer to how badly the Soddies and the leftist sympathizers want to destroy this country, here it is.
21000+96000+5000=35600
plus vacations paid for by Soodies
plus being a charity it is tax exempt.
(and these are just the perks we know about)
Hmmm,pretty neat deal this guy has going.
#5
He entered the United States in 1995 as a religious worker with a job teaching Arabic at a local mosque, Parmley said. But Mohammed showed up for work only one day and was never seen again.
Nice to see our Immigration laws so rigorously enforced. Why wasn't his ass deported for visa fraud? Why isn't his PR status being revoked?
#6
Because the government cares about immigration law as much as I care about Islamic jurisprudence.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/28/2004 10:27 Comments ||
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CF, because the INS has absolutely no nutz or accountability to speak of. Not too mention that local authorities are in some cases told not to alert national agencies on illegal aliens in their custody (i.e. Frisco, LA, San Diego, New York - go figure). Insane as it is, there you go. Our lack of immigration standards and justice there of makes me seethe worse than a jiahdi on Rashashan.
#9
Hmmmmm, our SD Union paper notes his attorney as Kerry Bader, not Joan....so is his attorney working under a fake name as well? His supporters should STFU or get out of America as well.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/28/2004 13:17 Comments ||
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The United Statesâs patience could finally be running out with Pakistan and its nuclear program, even though Islamabad is scrambling to reassure Washington that any proliferation in the past was an aberration on the part of rogue individuals. Disclosure by Iran to the United Nationsâ International Atomic Energy Agency of the names of people who provided Tehran with nuclear technology - including Pakistani scientists - has clearly alarmed Washington, even though these events took place some years ago. All of Pakistanâs scientists are also now under heavy surveillance to track their every move, and the government has issued a circular stating that Dr Khan, a long-time celebrity in Pakistan, is not to be invited to any ceremonies or official functions, or in any way treated as a VIP.
Parallel to this Pakistani investigation, though, the US has launched its own independent probe into Pakistanâs links to the nuclear programs of Iran, Libya and North Korea, and, depending on the results, according to insiders in the Pakistani administration, Washington could lean on Islamabad to completely abandon its program. Such action would conform with the USâs broader agenda to defuse tension on the sub-continent. That would be something very difficult to pull off, I shudder to think how Musharaffâs fellow Generals would react. Besides which, Washington would probably have to put pressure on India to disarm in order to pacify the Pakistanis, and it has much less leverage over New Delhi than it does over Islamabad.
US attention is also focussed clearly on Dr Khan. US and UK investigators have already made known evidence of him traveling on a personal rather than a diplomatic passport to Iran, North Korea, the United Arab Emirates and the UK. The UK government unofficially informed Islamabad several times of the visits, but received no response, leading investigators to conclude that he was, in fact, on official business. Tehran authorities have also released information concerning a property near the port of Bandar Abbas, officially given to Dr Khan by the government of Iran.
A Pakistan scientist who was affiliated with Pakistanâs nuclear program spoke to Asia Times Online, on condition of anonymity, about the countryâs nuclear program. The program was the brain child of former premier Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who was a champion of Third World countries and their rights. "If India develops nuclear weapons, Pakistan will eat grass or leaves, even go hungry" in order to develop a program of its own, he said at the time. But somehow I doubt Bhutto missed many meals..
Pakistan became the main supply line of arms (mostly from the US) to Afghan mujahideen rallying to fight the Soviets, who had invaded Afghanistan in December 1979. In 1981, because of its importance in the Afghan puzzle, the US Congress granted Pakistan a six-year exemption from the Symington Amendment, which prohibited aid to any non-nuclear country engaged in illegal procurement of equipment for a nuclear weapons program. Pakistan also accepted a US$3.2 billion, six-year aid package from the US that included the sale of F-16 planes. Free from the threat of sanctions, in 1982, there was a cold test at a small-scale reprocessing plant in Pakistan. Another case of blowback from the Afghan Jihad..
Around this time, Allama Ariful Hussaini, the chief of the Tehrik-i-Nifaz-i-Fiqa-i-Jaferia Pakistan, the largest Shiâite organization in Pakistan, emerged as a go-between for Tehran and Pakistan, first for arms, and ultimately in the transfer of nuclear technology. Hussaini was shot dead in Peshawar in North West Frontier Province (NWFP) a few days before General Ziaâs death in a plane accident in August 1988. Hussainiâs party blamed then corps commander and governor of NWFP, Lieutenant-General Fazal-i-Haq, who was Ziaâs right-hand man. Haq himself was later murdered by a Shiâite assassin. Wheels within wheels
By the late 1980s, then, the US was aware that Pakistanâs nuclear program was well advanced, and knew that Pakistan and Iran were cooperating in weapons transfers - most likely including nuclear technology. In mid-1988, a US oil tanker was fired on and it emerged that US missiles that had been given to Pakistan as supplies for Afghan mujahideen had been used in the attack. The US was outraged, and proposed an audit at a large ammunition dump at Ojri in Pakistan. Mysteriously, on August 17, 1988, the dump went up in a huge blast that killed about 100 people and injured thousands. An inquiry did find, however, evidence that the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence was involved in selling Stinger missiles and other American arms on the black market. The Former director of the ISI, Javid Nassir, openly admitted to smuggling Stinger Missiles to Chechnya and Bosnia. His forceable retirement was on of the conditions Clinton gave Pakistan to give them of the State Sponsorship of Terrorism list back in 1993.
And that ammunition dump explosion isnât the only time convenient fires have destroyed incriminating evidence in Pakistan.
Since Pakistan was still a trusted ally in the Cold War, the US did not take any action. In June 1989, then prime minister Benazir Bhutto visited Washington DC. Before Bhuttoâs trip, though, production of highly-enriched uranium was stopped, a step that was verified by the US. It is believed that production was re-started after heightening tensions with India over Kashmir in 1990. During these years, the deep seeds of suspicion over Pakistanâs trustworthiness were planted, and they are now bearing the fruit that could poison Pakistanâs nuclear program, with the countryâs scientists already feeling the ill effects.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
01/28/2004 11:54:57 PM ||
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"KHAAAAAANNNN!" Now that weâve gotten that out of the way.
Amid possibility of action against Father of Pakistanâs nuclear bomb Abdul Qadeer Khan for allegedly proliferating nuclear technology to Iran and Libya, Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad met the scientist at his residence guarded by military intelligence officials and reportedly discussed the results of the probe which pointed to his involvement. "Dude, youâre screwed"
The meeting on Tuesday night came shortly after President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali reviewed the progress in the investigations and the action to be taken against the two scientists who have been identified by the investigating agencies. They also took crucial decisions regarding the safety of Pakistanâs nukes. The two leaders refuted speculation that the countryâs nuclear programme would be capped as a result of international concern over the charges of proliferation of nuclear technology, media reports said. Asserting that the nuclear programme would not be rolled back at any cost, they said action would be taken against proliferators. They must mean those shrewd nameless operators.
Ahmadâs meeting with Khan Tuesday night is the first official acknowledged meeting between a top Minister and the nuclear scientist ever since the government instituted an inquiry and questioned him along with eight scientists and officials connected with countryâs nuclear institution Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) three months ago. No details were provided about the outcome of Ahmadâs meeting with Khan. The Minister reportedly discussed results of the probe with Khan which pointed at the scientistâs involvement. Wonder if he left him a revolver and a single bullet?
Posted by: Steve ||
01/28/2004 2:36:54 PM ||
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More details from Hi Pakistan, EFL:
Pakistani investigators have made an independent confirmation of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) allegation that nuclear scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan had direct ties with international black market dealers who sold non-peaceful nuclear technology and hardware to Iran and Libya, and offered similar deals to Syria and former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein. "To show its commitment and international responsibility to nuclear proliferation, Pakistan has assured the IAEA of strong legal action against the culprits," said a senior official, who confirmed that Dr Khan has been advised to stay home, which is now being guarded by the military intelligence sleuths. Sleuths investigate, thugs guard. Itâs a union thing.
Pakistani investigators have been told while the nuclear black marketeers arranged continued practical support from the senior Pakistani nuclear scientist for Iran, the deal for Libya got stuck because of Col Qaddafiâs decision a few years ago to freeze his programme, but no progress was made with Syria and Iraq after some initial contacts in mid nineties. Syria didnât have the money, and Saddam was most likely frozen out by Iran and Saudi pressure on Pakistan.
"They are shrewd nameless operators who routinely change their identities, not like Pakistanis who operated upfront," according to an informed official, who said that Pakistan failed miserably in preventing Dr Khan from seeking publicity unlike other countries where the nuclear scientists are kept from public glare.
The first half of that sentence made me squirt stuff out my nose...
"Not many years ago when the father of an extremely successful Chinese nuclear programme died the Peoples Daily carried a three-line story on its inside page," the official recalled while disclosing that since 1988 Dr Khan spent about Rs 50 million to finance media events eulogising his role as Father of Islamic Bomb. Building up his reputation as builder of the Holy Bomb, itâs helping him now if you look at all the demonstrations supporting him.
"Money trail is one solid piece of evidence," said one official. "But most importantly the governments of Iran and Libya have exposed the racket. They made no attempt to hide their sources as if they wanted to settle score with Pakistani scientists." They got caught and are sharing the blame. Libya gave up its program and Iran most likely doesnât need them any more.
Pakistani investigators said that they have strong reasons to believe that misusing a benign government authority for peaceful nuclear cooperation with Iran, Dr A Q Khan authorised transfer of related information, including blue prints, names of third party contacts to Iranian authorities. He later helped Iran produce centrifuges for the uranium enrichment in early nineties. Pakistani officials have privately acknowledged that the recent events exposed highest levels of negligence, financial impropriety and security lapses at the Khan Research Laboratory, the nationâs most sensitive nuclear installations throughout the nineties. "It was a no-question asked regime for the KRL," said a nuclear scientist who had spent 30 years in the countryâs nuclear programme. "Dr Khan was never supposed to answer or explain his most frequent trips. He spent billions of dollars without any check." And it looks like he was skimming off some cash.
Several Pakistani nuclear scientists guessed that Pakistan must have spent close to US $10 billion on the programme since early seventies, but no one in the country can give the exact amount as no accounts for this largest expenditure in the nationâs history were ever maintained. Thatâs handy.
"It was no secret that big chunks of procurements are made through companies directly or indirectly operated by the son-in-law and the Dubai-based brother of Dr. Khan," said a retired military intelligence official. "It is a matter of record that for his daughters wedding the top nuclear scientist imported an exclusive US $400,000 Teflon Tent from Florida. He gifted BMWs and houses to his daughters. At one time he got so excited that he gifted a house in Islamabad to his palmist." Sounds like he would have fit right in at Enron.
Several Pakistani officials argue that the fact that Iranian money in exchange for the nuclear technology landed in the personal accounts of two Pakistani scientists and stayed there for several years is the biggest proof that it was a rogue operation planned and executed by nuclear black marketeers in collusion with Pakistani scientists. Or they took advantage of a government approved operation.
Well-informed Pakistani officials said that after holding information on financial impropriety to the tunes of hundreds of millions of dollars at the KRL for several years, Dr A Q Khan was first confronted with evidence by the previous ISI chief Lt Gen Mahmoud Ahmad in 2001, on whose recommendation President Musharraf ordered his transfer from the KRL. "Even at that point the president decided not to further investigate the corruption charges or to prosecute Dr Khan," said an official. He had too big a profile as the Holy Bomb creator, his PR operation saw to that.
Several Pakistani officials informed that aides to the president are still divided on the nature of action to be initiated against Dr Khan. "President is all out for the prosecution, but many aides think that deseating Dr Khan from his present cabinet position is enough to send a strong message," a senior official said. Nope, itâs gone too far for a slap on the wrist.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/28/2004 10:00:50 AM ||
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#1
More stuff coming out here: Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, 'father' of Pakistan's nuclear programme, was given a villa on the Caspian Sea and lucrative fishing rights for caviar in exchange for delivering nuclear secrets to Iran, Pakistani exiles in London have alleged.
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In Pakistan Khan became a national hero. Long before the tests, one local magazine Hurmat, wrote: 'A special function should be organised, which should be attended by the federal Ombudsman, members of the Cabinet, chiefs of armed forces, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, all of the four governors and other dignitaries of the country, in which the President should confer on A Q Khan the highest award in Pakistan.'
Flush with success, Khan wrote abusive letters to Western publications that dared to comment on his activities. To the German magazine Der Spiegel he wrote, 'Western journalism takes pride in false and malicious reporting. These bastards are God-appointed guardians of the world to stockpile hundreds and thousands of nuclear warheads. But if we start a modest programme, we are the Satan."
Another newspaper that asked why Khan had been given access to sensitive technology in the West received a mouthful of abuse. 'After all your mischief and slanderous reports, what do you expect from Dr A Q Khan -- to lick your ****holes and send you sweets and flowers?' Khan asked.
But Khan's 'hero' status is now being questioned in Pakistan. One reason is the personal wealth he has accumulated through the private companies he set up allegedly to export nuclear secrets. It was one of these private companies that got the Caspian Sea contract. Another company was used to receive 'gifts' from Libya and North Korea, where Khan has been invited several times as an honoured guest. Such super-VIP status started to rankle among thousands of Pakistani scientists who receive no more than their allotted government salaries for their valuable contributions to their country's nuclear programme. They have been dismayed by reports of Khan living the high life as he travels first class several times a year under an assumed name to foreign countries of his choice.
Looks like the "little people" are out for revenge, leaking details on Khan.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/28/2004 10:40 Comments ||
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So, you could describe him as having a "Qadeer in the headlights" look?
A journalist who has been missing since he was arrested with two French reporters five weeks ago has been produced in court on sedition charges, officials said today. No winner in the dead pool yet. Khawar Mehdi Rizvi and two others were produced before a judicial magistrate in Quetta. "He was produced before the judicial magistrate and the magistrate remanded him to police custody for investigation," a Baluchistan police official told AFP. Rizvi was arrested on December 16 with reporters Mark Epstein and photographer Jean-Paul Guilloteau of Franceâs LâExpress magazine because the French pair had violated their visa restrictions by travelling to Quetta. Rizvi, Syed Allah Noor and Abdullah Shakir have been charged with sedition, criminal conspiracy and impersonation for allegedly preparing a film of a fake Taliban training camp between Quetta and the Afghan border.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/28/2004 9:25:28 AM ||
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I don't understand the purpose of creating and filming a fake terrorist camp. "Pakistan" is the only explanation that I can think of.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 12:00 Comments ||
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I don't understand the purpose of creating and filming a fake terrorist camp.
The only reason I can think of (assuming it was fake) is to relieve journalists of their wallets.
"Yes, I can take you to meet some Taliban. Very dangerous, have to bribe the border guards, make a contribution in order to get a interview. Plus, food, lodging, a small gratuity for your guide, sales tax..."
Posted by: Steve ||
01/28/2004 12:51 Comments ||
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Severely EFL, and from an Indian intell website..
Pakistan is not the original birth place of the Islamic fundamentalist and jihadi organizations. Islamic fundamentalism and jihadi terrorism were born elsewhere in the Islamic Ummah and thereafter spread to Pakistan after the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. But, Pakistan is the original birth place of the concept of the nuclear jihad, which highlighted the need for an Islamic atomic bomb and advocated the right and the religious obligation of the Muslims to acquire weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and use them, if necessary, to protect their religion. The jihadi terrorists and their ideologues in Pakistan perceived the nuclear weapon as the ultimate weapon of retribution against States which they viewed as enemies of Islam, particularly the USA and Israel. It was, in fact, the late Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto, a Western-influenced liberal and not a religious fundamentalist, who first projected Pakistanâs clandestine quest for an atomic bomb as the quest for an Islamic bomb to counter what he described as the Christian, Jewish and Hindu atomic bombs. He used this depiction in order to convince other Islamic States such as Libya, Saudi Arabia and Iran to fund Pakistanâs clandestine military nuclear programme.
The late Gen.Zia-ul-Haq, who ruled Pakistan from 1977 to 1988, strengthened the Islamic motivation of not only the Pakistani Armed Forces, but also of its scientific community in the nuclear field. Just as he started projecting the Pakistani Army not only as the Army of the State of Pakistan, but also as the Army of Islam to serve the Islamic cause, similarly, like Z.A. Bhutto whom he overthrew and sent to the gallows, he started providing a religious justification for Pakistanâs clandestine quest for the atomic bomb. Ziaâs policies resulted in the injection of the fundamentalist virus into the Pakistani Army and the scientific establishment. While the increasing influence of fundamentalism in the lower and middle levels of the Pakistani Armed Forces received the attention of the analysts of the world, a similar increase in the influence of fundamentalism in the scientific establishment did not receive similar attention despite the fact that sections of the Pakistani media had been reporting about the presence of unidentified scientists of Pakistanâs nuclear establishment in the religious conventions of Pakistani jihadi organizations such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LET).
The first indications of the presence of pro-jihadi scientists in Pakistanâs nuclear establishment came to notice during the US military operations in Afghanistan against Al Qaeda and the Taliban when documents recovered by the US forces reportedly spoke of the visits of Sultan Bashiruddin Ahmed and Abdul Majid, retired scientists of Pakistanâs nuclear establishment, to Kandahar when bin Laden was operating from there before 9/11. At the instance of the USA, the Pakistani authorities detained the two for some weeks and interrogated them. They reportedly admitted visiting Kandahar and meeting bin Laden, but maintained that the visit was in connection with the work of a humanitarian relief organisatiion for helping the Afghan people. Since no evidence linking them to Al Qaedaâs Abu Khabab project could be found, they were released, but banned from traveling abroad.
Since 9/11, one of the major concerns of the US intelligence and counter-terrorism agencies has been over the dangers of Al Qaeda and its jihadi associates in the IIF managing to acquire a WMD capability. In this connection, attention was particularly focused on Pakistan as the most likely spot from which such leakage could occur. Pakistan has been the epicentre of State-sponsored nuclear proliferation since the late 1980s. Having benefited from funds contributed by Libya, Iran and Saudi Arabia for its clandestine military nuclear project, the Pakistan State had to agree to requests from these countries for helping them in acquiring a similar capability.
Bingo. Large, dark mark in the middle of my forehead, as I wonder why I didn't ask myself where they got the money for a nuke program. The Paks don't have any money of their own...
Large sections of the media and the community of strategic analysts have been writing as if the Pakistan Stateâs collusion with Iran in the nuclear field came to light only last year. In fact, this came to light in the early 1990s when Nawaz Sharif was the Prime Minister. If one goes back to the 1990s—immediately before and after the first Gulf war of 1991—one would find reports of the role played by Gen.Mirza Aslam Beg, the then Chief of the Army Staff and Dr.Abdul Qadeer Khan, in the clandestine nuclear co-operation not only with Iran, but also with Iraq. Dr.A.Q.Khan had been the honoured guest of Saddam Hussein, the then President of Iraq, on many occasions. The reports of those years were dismissed by the apologists for Pakistan in the US on the following grounds: first, the reports about the co-operation with Iran came from sources in the anti-Teheran Mujahideen-e-Khalq, which were not reliable. Second, it did not sound logical that Pakistan should be helping Iran as well as Iraq, both sworn enemies of each other. Such arguments have no validity in the case of Pakistan. Duplicity has been the defining characteristic of Pakistanâs foreign policy ever since it was born in 1947. It co-operated with China against India and with the US against China. It co-operated with the USA against Iran by allowing the USAâs Central Intelligence Agency to use Pakistani territory for its operations against the Islamic regime in Iran and, at the same time, had no qualms about helping the Islamic regime in strengthening its conventional capability and developing a nuclear capability. The political and military leadership of Pakistan clandestinely helped not only other Islamic countries, but also North Korea. Initially, Pakistan paid for North Koreaâs missiles and related technology with dollars and wheat purchased from the US and Australia and diverted to it. The supplementary agreement to help North Korea in developing a military nuclear capability was reached after Musharraf assumed power in October, 1999.
Yeah, y'might say duplicity wears a turban and a cloak of pious denials...
Right from its inception, the clandestine nuclear and missile projects in Pakistan were treated as a top secret intelligence operation of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) to ensure deniability. All payments to the foreign suppliers were made not from the accounts of the Government of Pakistan, but from private accounts in the BCCI, which collapsed in 1991, and other Dubai and Geneva based banks. The financial contributions from Libya, Iran and Saudi Arabia were transferred to these accounts from numbered secret Swiss accounts and payments to the overseas suppliers were made from these accounts. Till now, strategic analysts have been focusing only on the dangers of a possible Talibanisation or Al Qaedisation of the Pakistan Army. It is time now to pay more attention to the dangers of a Talibanisation or Al Qaedisation of Pakistanâs scientific community.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
01/28/2004 12:13:40 AM ||
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a little gerald bull shot in the forehead to a dozen or so of these greasy paki nuke scientists would send a more important message to them and their peers than that of the profit mohammid--piss be upon him
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
01/28/2004 0:51 Comments ||
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What's EFL? This site does get new visitors from time to time, you know. It gets a little too jargon-y here on occasion.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
01/28/2004 5:53 Comments ||
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Someday, somewhere I fear one of therse cretins will set off a nuke in New York, LA, London,somwwhere... If they do I don't think there will be enough body bags to take care of the casualties from Morroco to Indonutsia
#9
I hope we have moved to shut down the Malaysian company that sells turnkey centrifuge units.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 12:01 Comments ||
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The Pakistani bomb fits into the Elders of Islam model. The Saudis are the money men. The Paks are the muscle who did the actual stealing of technology and jury-rigging it together.
Wheels within wheels. That's always the Islamic way. Syria doesn't attack Israel. It funds the PFLP to do it. Libya, SA, and Iran don't build their own bombs. They get Pakistan to do it for them. SA doesn't fight Saddam Hussein. It gets the US to do its dirty work.
God they must take us for simps. They openly proclaim an "Islamic Bomb" and we put on our western cultural blinders and describe it to ourselves as a "Pakistani Bomb." Saudi Arabia openly pumps over $300M into Hamas and IJ in 2001 and we fail to see this as a causus belli. Saudi funded missionaries travel unmolested everywhere and the mainsteam press sees them as modern day Franciscans rather than Comintern agents in turbans.
Prince Nayef and the men that think like him must curse OBL and his romantic notion of Jihad. If it hadn't been for 9/11, Libya and SA might be stockpiling nukes right now. Iran could have relied more on Pakistan and would not have been forced to invest so much in their own program. Islamists might rule triumphant in what used to be Soviet Central Asia.
#11
Ok, they've got their Islamic bomb. Whoop-dee-doo.
Did they ever look into the publicly available information on what the US was willing to do to the USSR during the Cold War?
Mutually Assured Destruction ring a bell?
Such goodies as tactical nukes, city busters, enhanced radiation weapons (neutron bombs), MIRVs, MARVs and many more are in the US arsenal.
A *single* Ohio class submarine has about 192 warheads, of up to 320kT yield *each*. The US has (I believe) 18 of these submarines.
If these countries think that by doing a 'pick and mix' to build a bomb that is then detonated in NYC harbour, that the US will say "Oh, there goes the Big Apple, but we can't pin this on one country, so we'll have to let it go", then they are fucking mistaken.
They're playing with the big boys now, and the rules were worked out by people who seriously contemplated the end of humanity. I'd like to say I hope they know what they're doing, but it doesn't seem to look that way.
Prediction: After November, assuming GWB is re-elected, the gloves will come off. Rogue nations will be told 'give up WMDs - or else' and that damnable country Saudi Arabia will cease to exist in its current form by the end of GWB's second term. I really like Steves' idea of having creating a new democratic, secular, US defence-pact guaranteed state in .coms' 40km in the east of Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
01/28/2004 15:25 Comments ||
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The Bush administration, deeply concerned about recent assassination attempts against Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and a resurgence of Taliban forces in neighboring Afghanistan, is preparing a U.S. military offensive that would reach inside Pakistan with the goal of destroying Osama bin Ladenâs al-Qaida network. U.S. Central Command is assembling a team of military intelligence officers that would be posted in Pakistan ahead of the operation, according to sources familiar with details of the plan and internal military communications. As now envisioned, the offensive would involve Special Operations forces, Army Rangers and Army ground troops, sources said. A Navy aircraft carrier would be deployed in the Arabian Sea.
Referred to in internal Pentagon messages as the "spring offensive," the operation would be driven by certain undisclosed events in Pakistan and across the region, sources said. A source familiar with details of the plan said this is "not like a contingency plan for North Korea, something that sits on a shelf. This planning is like planning for Iraq. They want this plan to be executable, now." Such an operation almost certainly would demand the cooperation of Musharraf, who previously has allowed only a small number of U.S. Special Operations forces to work alongside Pakistani troops in the semi-autonomous tribal areas. A military source in Washington said last week, "We are told weâre going into Pakistan with Musharrafâs help."
Yet a large-scale offensive by U.S. forces within the nuclear-armed Islamic republic could be political dynamite for Musharraf. The army general, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1999, has come under growing political pressure from Islamic parties, and his cooperation with U.S. anti-terrorism efforts is widely unpopular among average Pakistanis. Nor can Musharraf count on the loyalty of all of Pakistanâs armed forces or its intelligence agency, members of which helped set up and maintain the Taliban in Afghanistan and are suspected of ties to militant Islamic groups. Speaking on Friday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Musharraf again rejected the need for U.S. forces to enter Pakistan to search for bin Laden. "That is not a possibility at all," Musharraf said. "Itâs a very sensitive issue."
The U.S. military is operating under the belief that, despite his recent statements, Musharrafâs thinking has changed. Musharraf said last week that bin Laden and his followers likely were hiding in the mountains along the Afghan border. He also said "we are reasonably sure that it is al-Qaida" who was behind the two attempts on his life. Musharrafâs vulnerability is of deep concern to U.S. officials. If he were killed, Bush administration officials say, it is unlikely that any successor would be as willing to work toward U.S. goals to eliminate Islamic extremists.
The U.S. military plan is characterized within the Pentagon as "a big effort" in the next year. Military analysts had previously judged that a bold move against Islamic extremists and bin Laden, in particular, was more likely to happen in spring 2005. A series of planning orders - referred to in military jargon as warning orders - for the offensive were issued in recent weeks. The deadline for key planning factors to be detailed by the U.S. military was Jan. 21. Sources said the plan against al-Qaida would be driven by events in the region rather than set deadlines and that delays could occur. But military sources said the push for this spring appeared to be triggered by the assassination attempts on Musharraf, both of which came in December, and, to some extent, the capture of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. Saddam was captured after eight months of an intense military and intelligence effort on the ground in Iraq. Pentagon and administration officials, buoyed by that success, believe a similar determined effort could work in Pakistan and lead to the capture or killing of bin Laden, said sources familiar with the planning. Thousands of U.S. forces would be involved, as well as Pakistani troops, planners said. Some of the 10,600 U.S. troops now in Afghanistan would be shifted to the border region as part of regular troop movements; some would be deployed within Pakistan. "Before we were constrained by the border. Musharraf did not want that. Now we are told weâre going into Pakistan with Musharrafâs help," a well-placed military source said.
Internal Pentagon communications indicate the U.S. offensive would rely on several areas of operation, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and other countries in the region. The U.S. also is weighing how and if Iran can be persuaded, through direct or indirect channels, to lend help, according to internal Pentagon communications. The U.S. is eager to avoid a repeat of the Afghan war in 2001, when some al-Qaida fighters were believed to have escaped into Iran.
Military planners said the offensive would not require a significant increase in U.S. troops in South Asia. But Special Operations forces that shifted from Afghanistan to Iraq in 2003 will return. "We donât have enough forces but we can rely on proxy forces in that area," said a military source, referring to Pakistani troops. "This is designed to go after the Taliban and everybody connected with it."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/28/2004 12:04:13 AM ||
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#1
Nuttin' like having people trying to kill you to help you get your priorities straight.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/28/2004 0:29 Comments ||
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#2
Who's Mush'riff gonna play ball with. The jihadis who have tried to tag him or Uncle Billy from accros the big water.
#5
MHW is probably right, with the addition of American troops on the Afghan side of the border to ensure that the bad guys have nowhere to run. Oh, and those special ops advisers would probably have access to call in JDAMS or a spooky gunship circling overhead in case lots of firepower is needed.
#8
" "We don¡Ãt have enough forces but we can rely on proxy forces in that area," said a military source, referring to Pakistani troops."
Didn't we learn our lesson about relying on proxy forces when we relied on hired Afghanis at Tora Bora? Sorry to rain on the parade, but if this doesn't include significant American involvement, as in "boots on the ground", I suspect it will be a waste of time.
#11
I wonder if the incursion will actually be into Iran, Syria or Lebanon.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 12:03 Comments ||
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#12
Things that make you go "hummmm": The US-led coalition in Afghanistan is confident of capturing al-Qaeda terror network chief Osama bin Laden, who has long eluded determined efforts to catch him, by the end of the year, a US military spokesman said Wednesday. Lieutenant Colonel Bryan Hilferty said that the hunt for militant remnants of the ousted Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime, including its leader Mullah Omar, bin Laden and former Afghan premier and warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, was continuing.
"Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar and Hekmatyar represent a threat to the world and they need to be destroyed. We believe we will catch them within this year," Hilferty told reporters in Kabul.
I can see the headlines now: "Osama Captured; Dems Claim Bush Knew Where He Was; Planned October Surprise."
Posted by: Steve ||
01/28/2004 15:53 Comments ||
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Documents from Saddam Husseinâs oil ministry reveal he used oil to bribe top French cheese-eating surrender monkeys officials into opposing the imminent U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. "Non! eeet wass nut a brribe, wee ware seemply surrendeuring!"
The oil ministry papers, described by the independent Baghdad newspaper al-Mada, are apparently authentic and will become the basis of an official investigation by the new Iraqi Governing Council, the Independent reported Wednesday. "I think the list is true," Naseer Chaderji, a governing council member, said. "I will demand an investigation. These people must be prosecuted." Such evidence would undermine the French position before the war when President Jacques Chirac sought to couch his opposition to the invasion on a moral high ground. morality. such a relative concept. why is it that the french continually think theyâre morally superior?
A senior Bush administration official said Washington was aware of the reports but refused further comment. his short comment was punctuated by snickering, guffaws and outright laughter
French diplomats have dismissed any suggestion their foreign policy was influenced by payments from Saddam, but some European diplomats have long suspected Franceâs steadfast opposition to the war was less moral than monetary. the french have such bad judgement. Hell, they think Jerry Lewis is funny.
But look on the bright side: we could be European diplomats. Think of the free lunches...
"Oil runs thicker than blood," is how one former ambassador put his suspicions about the French motives for opposing action against Saddam. Al-Madaâs list cites a total of 46 individuals, companies and organizations inside and outside Iraq as receiving Saddamâs oil bribes, including officials in Egypt, Jordan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Sudan, China, Austria and France, as well as the Russian Orthodox Church, the Russian Communist Party, Indiaâs Congress Party and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
#1
Jacques chitrac looks like he could be in hot water now-more excellent news this.lets all hope that chitrac is somehow dragged into this.I'm hoping george gallaway might be involved in this little lot too.
#2
I think france should lose its 'permanent' seat on the Security Council over this. Give it to Australia (there are too many EU members on the council anyway).
I wonder if Koffe's (Pres of the UN) is on that list anywhere.....
Everyone else... How can we do this? This highlights an excellent problem with the UN... Who did you vote for in the UN? They aren't held accountable to the people they say they represent.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
01/28/2004 16:10 Comments ||
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#9
Scumbag chiraq is guaranteed immunity as long as he holds office. Don't expect a perp walk from this scumbag anytime soon (but it would be nice to see the quisling foreign minister in jail).
#11
Given the iron grip the French elites have over the media the French populace will not hear about this or so strongly distorted Chirak will pass for a hero. Anyway the French political system does not allow the people to meddle in the selection of candiadates so in the end it will be a fight between the "Official candiadte of the Left" (but the left is in coma) and the "Official candidate of the Right". And Chirac has virtually locked the people who select the Right wing candidate.
#20
One of the names on the list, a Canadian, appears to be Arthur Millholland, a director of Oilexco, a Canadian oil company. 9 million barrells to someone called Arthur Mill Holland in the story. Same guy? Sure looks it.
Posted by: R. McLeod ||
01/28/2004 21:07 Comments ||
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Coalition forces conducted a cordon and search north of Ar Ramadi to kill or capture Hassan Mohammed Oswald (ph) and Mohammed Hamad Oswald (ph). Hassan Oswald is believed to be planning attacks on coalition forces in the Ar Ramadi area, while Mohammed Oswald is suspected of being the key leader of a paramilitary force in the region. He was a colonel in the Iraqi police and a former national branch committee leader in the Baâath Party. Both primary targets are considered suspects in the assassination of Lieutenant Colonel Mohammed Salah, and the operation was conducted without incident and resulted in the capture of both targets. Just a snippet from the briefing. Are these some of Lee Harveyâs relatives, seeking revenge after 40 years?
#4
At least there aren't any grassy knolls in the desert
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
01/28/2004 16:12 Comments ||
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#5
Hey, Chuck be careful about using "Family" and "Ties" placed next to each other.I think it attract old pervs looking for hot pix of Mary Kate and Ashley. :-)
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 20:53 Comments ||
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Several people are reported to have been killed in an explosion in Baghdad. The blast hit the Shaheen hotel near the banks of the River Tigris and close to the former US embassy at around 0630. Black smoke was seen pouring from the hotel as dazed guests emptied out onto the streets. A Reuters correspondent at the scene of the blast said it appeared to have been caused by a car bomb. "It blew out the whole front of the hotel and there are at least five burnt out cars scattered around. There are also several bodies," he said. Iraqi police spokesman Ahmed Abdul Karim told AFP news agency at least three people had been killed. He said witnesses said the bomb was hidden in an ambulance which was driven at the hotel at high speed. Ambulance, eh? Did it have a Red Thingy on the side? Was it driven by a Paleostinian?
A police post across the road was also hit by the blast. The hotel is said to be popular with foreign businessmen. Time to talk with Mahmoud at the ambulance dispatch office. He has some explaining to do.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/28/2004 12:53:16 AM ||
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the bomb was hidden in an ambulance which was driven at the hotel at high speed
another example of these people's World-Famous Honorâ¢
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
01/28/2004 1:09 Comments ||
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another example of these people's World-Famous Honorâ¢
All the more reason for terrorists to be simply shot on sight, wherever and whenever they are found.
Iâll just bet they did!
Arabs and Westerners accused by Iraqis of receiving Iraqi oil proceeds in exchange for supporting Saddam Hussein denied Tuesday they had accepted bribes or participated in illicit deals.
"Lies! All lies!"
The accusations surfaced this week in a report by one of the dozens of new newspapers that have begun publishing in Iraq since Saddam was ousted last March. Since, members of the new provisional Iraqi government and Saddam opponents have distributed a list of the accused, based on documents from the Iraqi Oil Ministry. "You canât believe a newsrag in Baghdad! Itâs not like they have the credibility of the New York Times or ... um, wait."
About 270 former Cabinet officials, legislators, political activists and journalists from 46 countries are on the list, suspected of profiting from Iraqi oil sales that Saddam had allegedly offered them in exchange for cultivating political and popular support in their countries. In Jordan, former parliament member Toujan Faisal, who is on the list, said she never took Iraqi bribes, but had served as an intermediary between the Iraqi government and a Jordan-based oil dealer. "I wanted to help this dealer who happened to be a good of friend of mine do business in Iraq," she told The Associated Press. And got paid well for it too, I imagine.
Mrs. Faisal, suspected in the selling of 3 million barrels of Iraqi oil, said the deal was brokered in late 2001 and her friend sold 1 million barrels for a commission that didnât exceed 3 cents for each barrel. "I had nothing to do with this," said the former lawmaker, who was known for her support of the Saddam regime.
Former French Interior Minister Charles Pasqua, among Europeans on the list, on Tuesday denied receiving bribes from Saddam. "Thatâs far-fetched," said the conservative hard-liner who headed Franceâs Interior Ministry in the late 1980s and early 1990s. "First, I was never interested in oil. A French official not interested in oil? Thatâs a first.
"Second, I am not a friend of Saddam Hussein and I do not see how my name came to be in this," he told Europe-1 radio. It was on the list, thatâs how.
In Baghdad, Iraqi Oil Ministry Undersecretary Abdul-Sahib Salman Qutub said the provisional government found documents proving the alleged bribes. He threatened to "sue those who stole the money of the Iraqi people. These documents show that the former regime spent lavishly Iraqâs wealth here and there on persons, politicians, head of parties and journalists who were backing its corruption." Wonder if Ramsey Clark will volunteer for the defense? Iraqi National Congress spokesman Entifad Qanbar, speaking to reporters in Baghdad, said his party had the list of people allegedly bribed with Iraqi oil in return for support to Saddam. "We have thousands of pages of Iraqi intelligence documentation which back up those lists. What you are seeing in those lists is only the iceberg of what you are going to see in the future," he said. I think the French health service is going to be buying a lot of proton pump inhibitors. for the ulcers, gang. Cheez, have to explain all the medical references, takes the fun out of the joke.
Qutub, the Iraqi oil ministry undersecretary, said some of the documents had been stolen to "avoid any condemnation to persons who were collaborating with (Saddamâs) regime." Wonder why they werenât burned?
The documents, as published in the Iraqi Al-Mada newspaper, showed people who allegedly received Saddamâs graft came from 46 countries, including Arab states, Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric in New York said he wasnât aware of any investigation related to the U.N. oil-for-food program, which had allowed the Saddam regime to sell limited quantities of oil to raise funds to help the Iraqi population. The program ended three months ago. "The oil-for-food program has been repeatedly audited by internal and external auditors. It has been satisfactorily audited both internally and externally," he said. "Anderson Accounting said our books were the best theyâd seen since Enronâs!"
Jordanian businessman Fawaz Zreiqat, whoâs on the list of accused, told AP he had sold Iraqi oil for five years starting in 1998. But he said all his deals were conducted under the U.N. oil-for-food program. "Selling Iraqi oil is a legitimate business, itâs not like selling drugs, itâs much more profitable than that" he said. "All my deals were done with the approval of Saddam and the United Nations and the money I received was from international conduits and cut-outs firms I had sold the oil to and not from Iraq." He said his profit was marginal and did not exceed 10 cents per barrel. He declined to say how many barrels he had sold. Letâs see, 10 cents, carry the 3, times the square root of 48, plus six toes ... damn, thatâs a lot of money!
In Cairo, Abdel Adhim Manaf, editor in chief of Sawt al-Arab newspaper, an Egyptian newspaper published in Cyprus, told AP: "I have official letters from Iraqis offering me this issue (oil), but I turned them down and I have documents to prove that... Even if I had received (oil), whatâs the problem? The Iraqis are saying the Arab oil is for all Arabs. This is not a crime, this is not forbidden. I have always supported Saddam and believed in him, and I still do. I will never backtrack." Gotta admire the consistency. Truly the power of a small mind!
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/28/2004 12:42:29 AM ||
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EFL:
GOVERNMENT forces intensified their drive to flush out the New Peopleâs Army (NPA) rebels believed to be hiding in the hinterlands of southern Negros Oriental. The intensified drive followed a series of terrorist attacks in Negros Oriental, the most recent of which was the burning of a stone crusher and a power plant of China Estate Corporation in Nagbalaye, Sta. Catalina, Tuesday. As this developed the provincial command of the PNP deployed additional men to the China Estate Corporation compound. Bet they didnât pay their revolutionary tax.
Senior Supt. Morrok said military and special security forces were also combing the hinterlands of Sta. Catalina where the rebels might have fled after burning the construction equipment. "Flee! Flee to the hinterlands!"
The Sta. Catalina hinterlands, particularly the rich Tamlang valley that straddles the common borders of Siaton, Zamboanguita, Valencia, and Pamplona, were the hotbeds of insurgency at its height in the late 80âs and early 90s. At least two helicopter gunships are continuously patrolling the skies above while ground troops are moving in those areas. Spot um, flush um, kill um.
Initial PNP reports said before the incident, an unidentified woman rented a van from one of the rent-a-car firms in Dumaguete City and then proceeded to Sitio Litid, Nagbalaye.
Upon arrival, five armed men joined the woman inside the van and entered the China Estate compound. The armed men then disarmed the compoundâs two security guards of their .38 caliber pistol and shotgun and burned the two facilities. Grampa and Cousin Enos, Security Specialists.
He said police investigation confirmed the attackers were NPA rebels or dismissed workers who could have joined the armed movement. Meanwhile, Sr. Supt. Morrok said that witnesses refused to cooperate with the ongoing investigation into the attack. They have a thing against being killed in the middle of the night.
He said staffers of a non-government foundation refused to offer information about the incident prompting him to suspect that it might be a secret supporter of the leftist movement. Thatâs strange, NGOâs are usually quite open about being supporters of leftist movements.
Moreover, villagers denied knowledge about the attacks, Morrok said. "Attack? What attack?"
Tuesdayâs attack came 10 days after NPA rebels burned two Ceres passenger buses in Canlaon City, allegedly to force Vallacar Transit to increase their revolutionary tax. Damage was placed at P2.5 million. Hours before the Sta. Catalina attack, Gov. George Arnaiz dispelled public concern over the reported heightened NPA activities. "Nothing to see, move along!"
Governor Arnaiz told newsmen the arrival Monday of two military Huey helicopters and an armored personnel carrier did not mean that the province is heading into a war zone. The governor explained that the military hardware was part of the preparation against the reported build-up of the armed mainstream communist presence in Negros Oriental. Which is different from a war zone how, exactly?
Earlier, the PNP confirmed the arrival last month of about 100 armed NPA rebels from the nearby provinces to the northern municipality of Guihulngan, Negros Oriental. The same group was later confirmed to have landed aboard motorized boats in Siit, in the southern town of Siaton. With all this intel youâd think they could find them.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/28/2004 3:08:18 PM ||
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"Yar!"
Pirates have started using a new tactic to board merchant ships at sea and such attacks are getting deadlier, the London-based International Maritime Bureau warned in its report on the piracy situation worldwide in 2003. Released yesterday, the report cautioned that pirates have resorted to using several small but fast boats to attack a ship while simultaneously firing at the bridge. "Give em a broadside, you scurvy dogs! Standby to board!"
The bureau listed 445 cases of piracy last year, up from the 370 cases reported in 2002. Itâs a growth industry.
Tankers are a favoured target for the new style of attacks and some 23 per cent of pirate attacks last year were made on these lumbering vessels. In one recent incident, an oil tanker nearing the Singapore Straits sailed unmanned for nearly an hour after armed pirates tied up the crew and looted items from the ship. "Yar, give us your gold!"
"No gold, do you take Visa?"
The new tactic of surrounding slow-moving ships while firing at them to force them to stop also drew blood. The bureauâs census showed that 21 sailors were killed last year, with 40 assaulted and 88 injured. This was an increase from 10 killed, nine assaulted and 38 injured in 2002. Attacks involving guns rose to 100 from 68 in 2000. Obviously, we need more gun control.
No pirate attacks took place in Singapore waters last year but the sea lanes between Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia were described as âpiracy proneâ. Singapore takes these things seriously and will cheerfully hang pirates from the yardarm.
Attacks in the Malacca Straits jumped to 28 last year from 16 in 2002. Waters off Indonesia and Bangladesh are also hot spots. Tap, tap, nope.
Commenting on the findings, Captain Pottengal Mukundan, a bureau director, noted: âShips are also hijacked in order to abduct the crew for ransom. These kidnappings are believed to be largely the work of militia groups in politically vulnerable areas.â Translation: Gangs in corupt nation states.
Incidents of sailors taken hostage ânearly doubledâ to 359 from the previous year. Mr Roger F. Carver, 61, managing director of security company Nemesis Maritime, said the report might not tell the full story and the situation might be worse. He said: âSailors donât report all incidents for various reasons. Either they were chased and nothing happened, or they could be worried the shipâs insurers would bump up the insurance.â
Posted by: Steve ||
01/28/2004 11:11:53 AM ||
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#1
A company could make a good living by providing sea marshals.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 12:07 Comments ||
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Sea marshals? What, and spend money? Merchant shipping cuts costs to the bone. They make Wal-Mart look like Saks Fifth Avenue. These pirates are just desperadoes...nowhere does it mention that the pirates typically aren't after the ship's cargo like the olde tyme variety. They simply rob the crew and take all the DVD players and TVs out of the crew's quarters. Pretty pathetic for Blackbeard's spiritual progeny.
#3
Are there any flightworthy Douglas Skyraiders available still? Perfect anti-piracy tool. Set up patrols and a couple of rapid reaction groups in strategic locations, and piracy will cease to be a problem.
#6
Sea marshals? What, and spend money? Merchant shipping cuts costs to the bone. They make Wal-Mart look like Saks Fifth Avenue.
Ah, somebody else who knows the maritime industry.
The most common anti-piracy recomendations boil down to 1) keep the ship brightly lit 2) run at the highest "economical" speed through trouble areas 3) if you get boarded, go to a secure area and wait it out. Insurance (if any) will cover some of the ship's loss. As for the crew, well, jobs are hard to come by in the home country...
>These pirates are just desperadoes...nowhere does it mention that the pirates typically aren't after the ship's cargo like the olde tyme variety.<
There are quite a number of cases where the ship was taken and its cargo sold elsewhere. On occasion the ship is found with a new name and registry. Most of these types of attacks occur off Western Africa and the China Sea and tend to be highly organized and sponsored.
#7
I guess I wasn't really thinking of the shipping companies footing the bill. I don't know that we do ourselves much good by letting piracy continue. It seems to me that we could a get a pretty good bang for our buck return on our investment by buying a likely scow, fill it full of contractors that could be carrying a gross or two of the excess RPG rounds that we have found stock-piled in Tikrit.
Oh well, I guess I had too much Stephen Decatur jammed down my throat. I am also partial to sting operations of the lethal sort.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 21:09 Comments ||
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#8
Just a consideration - weren't we all sort of OK with the hijacking thing a few years back? Everybody remember when we'ld just get teh guy with the bullhorn out there to see why the guys had taken hostages and what we could do for them. I'd feel better if piracy was more generally regarded as a real chancy endeavor. Either way, though, I sleep fine in Indiana. They would need to boom a pretty big LP gas boat to threaten my sorry ass.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 21:17 Comments ||
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#9
I'd feel better if piracy was more generally regarded as a real chancy endeavor.
The answer is applying the same analysis and tactics used by law enforcement agencies, tied in with not-so subtle government to government stick/carrots. Unfotunately, the areas where piracy occurs tend to be waters that have little government, impoverished government, corrupt government, or government that uses piracy as a tactical weapon.
It is similar to the attitude taken towards hijacking some years back. Shipping companies figure the odds presently are low, and when it does happen they and the crews are out of luck materially. It wouldn't take an LPG ship to do damage, just pirates whacking container ships at choke points on a regular basis and disrupting the flow of commerce.
EFL:
Malaysia has ordered a U.S-trained biochemist suspected of assisting the Sept. 11 hijackers and trying to set up an al-Qaida chemical weapons program to be imprisoned for at least two more years, a government official said Wednesday. Yazid Sufaat, a former Malaysian army officer arrested two years ago as he was returning home from Afghanistan, remains the most high-profile terror suspect among about 70 detained in Malaysia, with important ties to both al-Qaida and its Southeast Asian ally, Jemaah Islamiyah. Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also home minister in charge of security, signed a detention order effective from Friday to hold Yazid for two more years under the Internal Security Act, extending an original two-year term about to expire. The act allows for detention without trial and the two-year orders can be renewed indefinitely. Excellent.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/28/2004 9:10:59 AM ||
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Could they also cease operation of the Crazy Mohamed's Little Cetrifuge Shop or is that asking too much?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 21:12 Comments ||
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More than 1,000 schools have closed and some monks began evacuating their temples as tensions intensified Wednesday between Buddhists and Muslims in southern Thailand, officials and press reports said. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra met with local leaders from the Muslim-dominated south at Government House in Bangkok in a bid to stop escalating violence. Public schools will remain closed this week while government officials discuss ways to increase security for teachers, some of whom have reported death threats against them.
Posted by: TS ||
01/28/2004 8:51:25 AM ||
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This guy Thaksin is such a liar - first he denies Muslim terrorism and then he denies bird flu. Malaysia's execrable Mahathir may have lied about Malaysia-based terrorists, but at least he was competent enough to keep his crazies under control. Thaksin seems to lack even that capability. I never thought I'd say it - but Thaksin actually appears to be even more incompetent than Mahathir.
The Office of the Maguindanao Provincial Prosecutor ordered yesterday the Provincial Warden of Maguindanao to release the primary suspect in the Jan. 4 bombing in Parang, Maguindanao for lack of evidence and conflicting allegations of the lone witness to the crime. Fiscal Rodolfo Yanson, officer-in-charge of the Office of the Maguindanao Prosecutor, said the prosecution found "no enough ground to continue the investigation of the charges filed against Hadji Omar Ramalan whose aliases include Commander Bagi-Bagi and Kusain Taha." Yanson explained that the witness was not sure if the person on the cartographic sketch that the Police and Army had shown and the one who parked the Sky Go motorcycle near the Parang gymnasium on Jan. 4 was actually Ramalan. The 81-mm mortar bomb, reports said, was placed near the Sky Go motorcycle. "There were conflicting allegations and circumstances as regards the case. In case of doubt, the doubt shall be resolved in favor of the accused," he stressed. "If there is another witness who would testify against the suspect and could present sufficient evidence, there is no reason that Ramalan would not be arrested again," the prosecution said.
Meantime, the case against the town's vice mayor, town councilor, and nine other suspects linking them to the Jan. 4 bombing still holds. Three of the suspects who turned witnesses alleged that Parang Vice Mayor Adnan Biruar, Parang Councilor Henry Abdul Kitab, and several others "participated in the plot to assassinate Parang Mayor Vivencio Bataga." "The statements of the suspects-turned-witnesses seem credible as they themselves admitted having participated in the planning stage to the execution of the crime," said Yanson.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/28/2004 05:06 ||
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sounds like Bagi-Bagi cut himself a deal.
Posted by: B ||
01/28/2004 18:01 Comments ||
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Relatives have asked for the release of Tayuan Dimaloloy, one of the primary suspects in the May 10, 2003 blast in Koronadal City that left 10 people dead and 30 others wounded, after he was hospitalized for a serious kidney disease.
"None of the victims is dead anymore, and he don't feel good, so you should let him out..."
His sister-in-law Maimona Dimaloloy asked on Monday the help of the Mindanao Truth Commission, a citizen-led body investigating the series of explosions that rocked Mindanao last year, in working for his release from jail. Dimaloloy, an alleged member of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, was arrested on May 23 last year in his hometown Midsayap, North Cotabato in connection with the May 10 blast. Maimona said Dimaloloy was taken to the hospital in Koronadal days ago after complaining of severe stomach pain, which physicians diagnosed to be a kidney disease. "He's gravely ill at this moment I'm speaking to you. He was confined for medical treatment under tight security watch," she said.
Sounds like kidney stones. Very painful, though prob'ly not as painful as being shredded by high explosives...
Dimaloloy was accused of multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder, along with Junnie Mangadta and several others. Mangadta, a confessed MILF field commander who surrendered in September 2002, told MindaNews in December last year at the provincial jail in Koronadal that he was just a "fall guy".
"Yeah! I been framed! The real killer wuz... it wuz... [thud!]"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/28/2004 05:00 ||
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Maybe he can help O.J. find the real killers on golf courses......
Testifying before an independent team investigating the series of deadly explosions in Mindanao last year, Moro rebel chairman Al-Haj Murad Ebrahim denied Monday his groupâs participation in the attacks and pointed to a âthird forceâ as responsible for the deadly incidents. Speaking by telephone to an independent multisectoral Mindanao Truth Commission, Murad also again dismissed allegations that the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has ties with the regional terrorist group Jemaaah Islamiyah. He also claimed that a group has been working hard so that the MILF would be included on the United States list of terrorist groups. âI would like to repeat the statement of our late chairman Hashim Salamat that we have no ties with any terrorist groups in the country or abroad,â Murad said. âIn behalf of the entire MILF, I am again denying accusations that weâre behind the series of deadly explosions in Mindanao last year,â he added. According to Murad, the MILF has a standing policy ânot to resort to terrorist activities in advancing its cause.â
Following the deadly Davao airport blast last year, authorities filed charges of multiple murder and multiple frustrated murder against top MILF leaders, headed by the late chairman Salamat; Murad, then the groupâs vice chairman for military affairs; Ghazali Jaafar, vice chairman for political affairs, spokesman Eid Kabalu and some others. Murad also denied that the alleged suicide bomber in the airport blast, Montasir Sudang, was a member of the MILF, a claim made by the military. He stressed that a third force, which he did not name, is allegedly working hard to link the MILF to Jemaaah, the supposed Southeast Asian cell of Osama bin Ladenâs al-Qaeda terrorist group.
I'll bet it's Zionists. It usually is...
Murad told the commission that the allegations that Salamat and Jemaaah leaders have reached an agreement to help the Moro group advance its cause in exchange for accommodating Jemaaah members in MILF camps are just fabrications to malign the rebel group. âI have been with chairman Salamat until his death and we donât know who the leaders of Jemaaah are until the September 11 attack in the United States,â he stressed.
Last year disgruntled junior military officers who carried out a foiled mutiny at Oakwood Premier apartments in Makati City blamed the series of explosions to the government. The names of then-defense chief Angelo Reyes and then-army intelligence chief Victor Corpus also came out as the alleged architects in the bomb attacks in Mindanao. They, however, denied that the State was behind the terrorist activities that year, putting the blame instead on the MILF.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/28/2004 12:13:48 AM ||
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#1
MILF still cracks me up. I wonder if they know what it means in Innurnut terms?
The Nobel Peace laureate and Ulster Unionist leader David Trimble called human rights organisations a "great curse" yesterday and accused them of complicity in terrorist killings.
"One of the great curses of this world is the human rights industry," he told the Associated Press news agency at an international conference of terrorism victims in Madrid.
"They justify terrorist acts and end up being complicit in the murder of innocent victims."
His words drew an angry reaction from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, two of the worldâs biggest human rights groups, with about 200,000 members in Britain and more than a million worldwide.
Steve Crawshaw, director of the London office of Human Rights Watch, said:"It is extraordinarily regrettable and disappointing that, above all, a man like that says something like this.
"His own emphasis, together with other politicians in North ern Ireland, on the fact that violence against civilians on all sides of any conflict cannot be justified, has been so important in recent years."
Kate Allen, Amnesty Internationalâs UK Director, said: "The threat of terrorism must never be used as an excuse for abus ing peopleâs human rights. David Trimble should remember that human rights organisations have condemned killings and other abuses by terrorist groups all over the world, while at the same time criticising governments who use the âwar on terrorâ as a pretext to abuse their citizens."
A spokeswoman for the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo, which awarded Mr Trimble his prize in 1988, declined to say whether it considered itself a member of the "human rights industry".
"We donât comment on what former laureates say. We have no reaction to that," she said.
Mr Trimble was joint winner of with the former leader of the SDLP, John Hume, for their efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Northern Ireland.
He made his comment as one of the keynote speakers at the first international congress of terrorism victims, which ended in Madrid on Tuesday night.
He backed another politician at the conference, the Colombian vice-president Francisco Santos, who said that human rights groups were hindering progress towards peace in his country.
"For human rights organisations to call [the Colombian rebel group] Farc âarmed opposition groupsâ undermines the struggle of those who have decided to side with democracy," Mr Santos said. "That is not right. It is unacceptable."
After hearing of Mr Trimbleâs comments Robin Kirk, a researcher on Colombia for Human Rights Watch, said: "Human rights defenders are under attack in Colombia, so these are dangerous comments to make."
Human Rights Watch has criticised Colombiaâs anti-terrorist legislation and calls groups such as Farc either "illegal armed groups" or "leftist guerrillas".
The Madrid conference ended with a declaration which went some way to supporting Mr Trimble.
It said: "We call on NGOs and other civil organisations that stand for the defence of human rights to make a commitment to defend victims of terrorism and to identify terrorist acts for what they are, regardless of their cause or pretext and without striking balances or blurring the distinction between victims and executioners."
#1
Oh yes. Dont you all remember AI's loud and clear comdemnation of Kimmie-boy-the-baby-killer's murder of newborn infant (because they might be of mixed race) and and Saddam and his rape squads?
Not to mention their condemnation of Hamas for the murder of innocent civilians.
I mean how could you all forget?
The Madrid conference ended with a declaration which went some way to supporting Mr Trimble.
It said: "We call on NGOs and other civil organisations that stand for the defence of human rights to make a commitment to defend victims of terrorism and to identify terrorist acts for what they are, regardless of their cause or pretext and without striking balances or blurring the distinction between victims and executioners"
[Warning, above is a video] of Iranian troops parading for the mullahs. It contains all of the memes - the US and Israel as greater- and lesser- Satans, swastikas, the whole nine yards.
If anyone has any doubt about the antipathy of the Iranian regime towards the US, just point them to this. Itâs guaranteed to clear up any misconception in seconds...
Years after the Cold War threat of a Soviet submarine attack ended, the U.S. Navy is confronting a new danger â the growing fleets of quiet, diesel-electric subs among potential enemy nations. As a result, the service is creating a San Diego-based command tasked with training and developing strategies and tactics for hunting undersea foes. "We have a couple dozen plethora of relatively safe to operate capable diesel submarines throughout the world," said Bob Brandhuber, a retired Navy sub captain who is spearheading the opening of the Fleet Anti-Submarine Warfare Command at Point Loma. Added military analyst Patrick Garrett: "The Navy is in dire straits. If you canât track down submarines, itâs impossible to control the seas." I think weâre doing OK, Pat.
Over the past decade, the submarines that once cruised the ocean depths waiting to launch nuclear missiles at U.S. cities have rusted away at Russian naval bases. Relieved, the Navy mothballed many of its anti-submarine forces, including sub-hunting submarines and aircraft based in San Diego. Naval training has largely eschewed looking beneath the waves, instead focusing on long-range missile attacks and escorting aircraft carrier strike groups. The Burke Class can do ASW as well as AAW, but the Spruance class was an inferiour AAW platform.
However, several nations, including potential adversaries such as Iran and China, now have small but growing fleets of almost undetectable diesel-electric subs. Undetectable is a stretch. We can take out Iranâs subs at a time of our choosing.
A hostile, seafaring nation that wants to influence world events has only to go out and buy a diesel sub, Brandhuber added. Newer models, plus older surplus ones, are being sold by Germany, France, Italy and Russia. There are cheaper ways to influence world events with a much higher chance of success than trying to train bedouins to fight underwater. self-serving alarmism by various naval analysts continues
Realistically, there are better ways to spend our defense dollars than going full-bore to combat the diesel sub threat. Those that are buying these knock-offs have limited operational budgets. Here are some quick thoughts:
1. Replace aging P-3s with an airframe similar to what we are going to lease for tanker aircaft. Diesels subs generally donât operate in the blue water. Unescorted P-3âs are not safe for patrolly an enemyâs contiguous waters.
2. Use more boomers to launch tomahawks. Use the fewer atttack subs against deisel subs. Heloâs are even safer to use against subs but sub on sub engagement has its advantages with respect to thermal layers.
3. Unmanned subs should be explored as a cost effective alternative to attack subs.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 9:49:39 PM ||
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Don't be so sure that we can catch them - diesels, with all the quieting of modern (US-UK) Nuc boats (well designed and machined screws, vibration damping, anechoic coatings, and now composite material to reduce the magnetic signature, etc), these things can be essentially undetectable when turning slow screws and running on battery.
Also given the noise in brownwater ops and coast/littoral, these guys can hide quite well.
Best counter are FG/DD's and helis.
Or to be proactive and lay mines in their harbor mouths, then fling missles at their ports to drive them into the mines :-)
#3
Unescorted P-3âs are not safe for patrolly an enemyâs contiguous waters.
My question: how does an airframe similar to the proposed tanker improve upon that?
Use more boomers to launch tomahawks. Use the fewer atttack subs against deisel subs. Heloâs are even safer to use against subs but sub on sub engagement has its advantages with respect to thermal layers.
Agreed. However, there are places a boomer can't go.
Unmanned subs should be explored as a cost effective alternative to attack subs.
Perhaps a more cost-effective method would be to use USVs in concert with attack subs as an ASW system, (thinke German anti-mine Troika system).
#4
Any chance of using a modified SURTASS type array off an FFG? Try laying it outside the littorals as a kind of SOSUS? Or expand keeping track of the diesel boats' cows and re-supply ships?
Posted by: Jack Deth ||
01/28/2004 23:55 Comments ||
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The US State Department has sent a memo to Saudi Arabiaâs embassy in Washington in which it annulled the diplomatic visas given to 10 people working there, according to Aljazeeraâs correspondent. A senior official at the Saudi embassy, however, said that the 10 do not work for the Saudi Foreign Ministry but are employes of the Institute of Arab and Islamic Sciences (IAIS) in Washington. "The US State Department has not clarified the issue yet," our correspondent said.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
01/28/2004 17:26 Comments ||
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#2
the Institute of Arab and Islamic Sciences
for the Development of Improved Anti-Personnel Explosives
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
01/28/2004 17:32 Comments ||
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#3
State actually taking action against a Saudi? Did aliens invade Earth?
Posted by: Charles ||
01/28/2004 17:33 Comments ||
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#4
The IAIS must not provide very good job opportunities for prior State employees.
Posted by: B ||
01/28/2004 17:41 Comments ||
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#5
Well,B,there are now ten openings. This probably reduces the staff to half or less. The IAIS at University of Exeter in the UK has a full time staff only ten. I couldn't find similar information on IAIS in the US. But I'll bet that 'Sciences' in the name does not refer to hard sciences.
A court here Wednesday sentenced 19 Egyptians to one year in prison each for having joined an extremist religious sect, overturning a previous ruling of suspended jail terms. The High State Security Court issued its verdict after President Hosni Mubarak asked the court to reconsider the case of the 19 who were each given a one-year suspended jail term in another chamber of the same court in 2002. The court immediately ordered the 19, who were not present in court, to be arrested and begin serving their jail terms. The 19, including two women, were arrested in March 2002 before they were sentenced in September of that year. The groupâs leader Sayyed Tolba was at the time sentenced to three years in jail, while another member of the group, Gamalat Suleiman, was given a one-year prison term. The presiding judge, Gamal Badran, said Wednesday that the 19 were guilty of "having adhered to the doctrine of the sect leader, supported him and together practiced his extremist ideas," the AFP correspondent said. How awful, what did he do, exactly?
Tolba, 48, a civil servant with the Egyptian Atomic Energy Authority, had declared himself "prophet of our time" and said he had powers to cure "incurable illnesses." He claimed to have received letters signed by God and to be able to speak to the angels. Somebody check Tolbaâs radiation badge, I think heâs done.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/28/2004 4:07:57 PM ||
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had declared himself "prophet of our time" and said he had powers to cure "incurable illnesses." He claimed to have received letters signed by God and to be able to speak to the angels.
Proof positive that smoking yellow cake is detrimental to your health.
EFL Northrop Grumman is proposing to develop a laser potentially capable of defending civilian airliners at U.S. airports from terrorist-fired missiles.
This'll cause the lefties to go scurrying to see how much Northrup donated to Bush-Cheney...
Placed at or near an airport, the laser would react "at the speed of light" to destroy any heat-seeking missile streaking up at a passenger jet, said Pat Caruana, vice president for Northrop Grumman Space Technology, in an interview... Dubbed the Hazardous Ordnance Engagement Toolkit, which shortens to the more user-friendly HORNET, the system is a direct descendant of the companyâs Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL)... "Transit time from energy source to target is the speed of light," said Caruana. Being tied into the airport radar would save money by not requiring an independent radar. Also, the more HORNET is integrated into airport infrastructure, the better for its effectiveness and for public acceptance about its use, he said. Although company literature shows a drawing of a HORNET system mounted on a truck, Caruana said that idea is really notional. "The idea would be to put this somewhere where it would be as unobtrusive as any other feature aligned with an airport," he said. "Conceivably, you could put this on top of a tall building somewhere and nobody would ever see it."
While hitting a 152mm howitzer shell or a Katyusha rocket in flight is an impressive feat, those projectiles fall along a predictable path. Surface-to-air missiles are different, but still follow a "fairly proscribed route" on their way to intercept an airplane, Caruana said. "The development of algorithms to accommodate this is well within hand," he said. "There is always a technical challenge, but I believe that the solution is bounded by virtue of what weâve done to date." Caruana acknowledged that there would likely be public concern about using a high-energy laser around airports and inside urban areas, but emphasized that the system does not pose a hazard. For one thing, it is eye safe. Furthermore, the systemâs design would prevent it from obliterating an airliner or something else by accident, he said, because it would be programmed only to track and destroy surface-to-air missiles, which have distinct characteristics. SAMS, whether command guided or heat-seeking, present sensors with the same signature: They are hot and moving very fast. Civilian airliners do not jump off the ground and accelerate immediately to the speed of sound, making them hard to confuse with missiles, he said. The laser is also precise enough to go after a missile in a crowded airport environment without hitting other planes. Caruana could not comment on the size of the beam or how long it takes to destroy a missile, but he said the strength of the beam can be varied and the time is "very short." "If it were not adequate to do this mission, we would not have proposed HORNET as aggressively as we have," he said.
I prefer this solution over the plane based solutions for several reasons:
1. The cost of the plane-based solution sound like it would be unfunded requirement placed on already struggling airline industry.
2. The requirement would not have been feasible to place of foriegn airlines.
3. Small commuter air planes would have been unprotected.
4. This solution can eventually be transfered to better protect our military heliocopters.
5. This system can be backfitted on ships which will eliminate some of the need for AAW missile systems. Every AAW missile displaced is another TLAM in the holster.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 3:29:28 PM ||
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Every AAW missile displaced is another TLAM in the holster. Except that these sorts of lasers usually require large amounts of noxious chemicals....
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
01/29/2004 1:24 Comments ||
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Dreary January is usually a busy month for Americans visiting sunny Cuba as part of a cultural exchange program. But this year is different, as a chill continues between the communist island and the White House. The chill wind has become a leftist rhetorical leitmotif. Maybe they are all just earthworming Chilly Winds by the Partrdge Family
The Bush administration has eliminated cultural exchange licenses that allowed just about any American to travel to Cuba, which has been subject to a U.S. trade embargo for more than four decades since Fidel Castro seized power. The Clinton policy pretty much defeated the embargo which fellow travelers refer to as the "blockade," a real misnomer in all senses except that some Cubans actually do have to rifle through garbage and hunt rat meat.
These so-called "people-to-people" licenses, introduced in 1999 by the Clinton administration, were intended to let Cubans and Americans learn about each other through educational trips. I think we learned that Cuba was subverting Venezuela, Bolivia and Brazil. We learned enough.
But federal officials now say the exchanges had become little more than thinly veiled tourism and eliminated the program. The last licenses expired Dec. 31 and some travel agencies are scrambling to find a legal alternative. I guess their really not buying in to the whole letâs not prop up repressive government idea. Altruism wasnât doing it for their bottom-line.
About 160,000 Americans visited Cuba legally in 2002, the last year for which statistics are available, according to the U.S. Treasury Department. Many others travel there illegally by departing from airports outside America, without having their passports stamped by Cuba. I think the illegal traffic was mostly just transit by Castroâs minions and bagmen.
Bob Guild, program director for travel service provider Marazul Charters Inc., said the number of Americans traveling to Cuba should be much lower in 2004. His company sent 2,500 people to Cuba in January 2003. This year, Guild said, the numbers are off by 50 percent. Heâll have to raise prices for the remaining Hollywooders engaged in their leftist Haj.
"The idea of using individualsâ right to travel as an instrument of foreign policy is not right, itâs not constitutional or moral," Guild said. Letâs create a new right - especially one that compromises our security.
"It was creating dialogue," added Common Ground marketing coordinator Laura Sitkin. "The dialogue was changing American policy." The dialog was weakening American policy without curtailing the subversion of Latin America. The policy was surrender.
Both houses of Congress voted last year in favor of lifting the Cuba travel ban. But the language of the bill was changed at the last minute because President Bush threatened to use his veto power if the bill was passed with those provisions. Both houses of Congress caved to agricultural lobbiests.
The Treasury Department, which stopped issuing people-to-people licenses, argued that Americans werenât using the cultural exchange program for what it was intended, but rather were just going to vacation on the Caribbean island, according to spokeswoman Tara Bradshaw. "Tourist travel puts hard currency in the hands of Castro and his cronies and does very little to help the Cuban people," said Bradshaw... The Center for Cuban Studies, one of the oldest groups offering cultural exchanges between Cuba and America, has been forced to halt its travel services, said Marcos Meconi, who coordinated Cuba trips for the New York-based center. Good. Global Exchange, based in San Francisco, managed to extend its last trip of 2003 to Cuba into the New Year by combining people-to-people licenses with humanitarian licenses. Found a loophole. Fidel salutes you.
"In the end, we feel itâs a lot of bureaucracy, red tape," said Rachel Bruhnke, coordinator for Global Exchangeâs Eco-Cuba program. "We feel that the intention of the policy is to keep American people and Cuban people separated." No the intention of the policy is to prevent some US dollars from flowing into a repressive regime that is also engaged in undercutting the US throughout Latin America. Castro doesnât mind sticking it to us by helping Iraq, Iran or AQ when he can either.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 3:05:44 PM ||
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SH it's 90 miles from KW to Habanna. A private boat can get in and out with no trouble. The Cuban customs people look the other way if they are presented with a US Passport. You don't need a visa... all you need are $ and an appreciation of bonefish. It may not be right... but hey fish are fish.
#3
Shipman, I understand that a percentage of people can and do break the law. My point is that our government does us no good by presenting an incoherent policy with regard to rogue states. Our Cuba policy has been very conflicted allowing Castro to stick it to us repeatedly with the result being instability throughout Latin America.
While an embargo that is easily circumvented is not a strong policy, it is better than enagement. The "moonshine sunshine" Clinton years was rife with the engagement of regimes like NK, Saudi Arabia, Sadaam's Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Syria and even China. Some truly believe that engagement will work. It didn't work.
While we should remain a free-market society, we are better served by maintaining some dicipline with regards to embaros of rougue states. All people should be free; let's make some strides towards being a country of citizens. We don't need to be a society of scruffy dudes hanging by the package store to make five bucks for buying booze for kids that will be alcoholics before they reach legal drinking age.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 17:25 Comments ||
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#4
We don't need to be a society of scruffy dudes hanging by the package store to make five bucks for buying booze for kids that will be alcoholics before they reach legal drinking age.
You're right. That's what older brothers are for.
#5
Shipman, if you get a chance, there is a guy, Gustavo Coronel, from Venezuala that is writing some good stuff about the Latin American situation. I read an article, Poor Petroleos de Venezuela, in which he charecterizes a new scam that Chavez is running. He is using the national oil company like an IV bag for social programs to buy votes. His plan is dispicably brilliant. It sort of looks like a mini version of Oil for Food, but Chavez doesn't have a hold on food distribution so his grip may be breakable.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 20:42 Comments ||
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Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com
He is the author of a book that criticizes the U.S. government for being too soft on terrorism. He was an advocate of invading Iraq - and most of the other Arab countries in the Middle East - long before 9/11. He wants us to give up a lot of our civil liberties, including submitting to a national ID card, and heâs taken to the hustings promoting an approach to the "war on terrorism" thatâs more royalist than the king. His name is Richard Perle, and heâs one of the leading and certainly one of the most visible neoconservatives in Washington, D.C., whose combative style and clear contempt for his opponents has earned him the sobriquet "Prince of Darkness."
He is also a supporter of terrorism. Why else would he have agreed to speak at a January 24 fundraiser, billed as "A Night of Solidarity," supposedly to raise money for Iranian earthquake victims - an event sponsored by groups that have links to the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK), listed by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization? MEK is a formerly Marxist group with odd, cultic overtones. Led by Maryam Rajavi, the self-proclaimed "President Elect" of Iran, and her husband, Massoud, head of the groupâs military wing, they originally supported Khomeini when he overthrew the Shah, and carried out terroristic attacks on Americans, only to turn against the regime...
I think we discussed this the other night. Nothing's changed in my opinion since then. Certainly nothing Justin Raimondo says is going to change my opinion.
#1
Justin Raimondo is neither a news source nor a worthy opinion source. He's a fanatic who would prefer to see millions slaughtered rather than lift a finger to stop a tyrant; a position he calls "anti-war".
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/28/2004 14:07 Comments ||
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#2
Hey Justin! My hand has a message for you: ,,|,,
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
01/28/2004 14:13 Comments ||
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#3
Hey Justin! My hand has a message for you: ,,|,,
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
01/28/2004 14:13 Comments ||
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#4
The above post is simply another trolling exercise, courtesy of that "Rabbi Katz" guy, or "Friendly Jew", whatever his name happens to be today.
#5
Not only is this from a disreputable source,the logic doesn't hold up either.I'd like know what are these "groups with links" - allegedly - to MEK,and why antiwar.com doesn't feel the need to name them while trying to link the whole thing to Perle?
Posted by: El Id ||
01/28/2004 15:25 Comments ||
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#6
El Id -- the lack of logic goes along with the source.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
01/28/2004 15:43 Comments ||
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#8
If you let garbage like this to
foul your site, pretty soon you won't have any
non-insane readers left.
Please throw away the dim-witted trolls.
Posted by: Boris A.Kupershmidt ||
01/28/2004 18:38 Comments ||
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#9
Usually we just make fun of them until they get tired and go away.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/28/2004 19:27 Comments ||
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#10
RC, while I agree that the site is rather dodgy, I don't recall the sudden warm and fuzzy feeling towards the Iraqi people as being the reason used by the US Admin for military intervention.
The 2-17th Cavalry Regiment, an aerial reconnaissance asset of the 101st Aviation Regiment and the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), is now at Camp Doha, Kuwait, preparing for redeployment. The unit has been in theater since February 2003. Fifteen of the 2-17th Cavalryâs 24 Kiowa helicopters were carried into theater for the deployment. They have flown more than 12,000 flight hours during Operation Iraqi Freedom, an average of more than 800 flight hours per aircraft just this past year. The marathon for the 2-17th Cavalryâs pilots and crews is nearly finished, but first the aircraft need to be washed to pass U.S. Customs inspections. âFor the most part for these aircraft, this is the first time theyâve seen water,â said Chief Warrant Officer 3 Scott A. Moyers of Northfield, N.H. âTheyâre still going to need washing when we get back. You could never get all the desert out of these aircraft.â Sand, dirt and grease have accumulated in nearly all of the unitâs aircraft, especially in the hard to reach places. Wednesday, the pilots and crew took about five hours to wash the aircraft piece-by-piece before a 3 p.m. inspection. The unit is scheduled to fly back to Fort Campbell early next month.
How about a nice, rousing "No!"?
Khartoum is seeking the release of Sudanese held at the US navy base in Guantanamo and US-occupied Iraq, as well as in Israel, Foreign Minister Mustafa Ismail said in remarks published on Wednesday. Ismail told the official Al-Anbaa daily that US authorities had promised to allow their Sudanese counterparts to visit Sudanâs nationals held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. âContacts with the US administration are continuing and have reached an advanced stage,â Ismail said, expressing hope they would be freed soon. He did not give numbers or specify under what circumstances they were taken to Guantanamo, where the US authorities have been holding hundreds of alleged Islamic militants as part of their war on terror.
Normally, we toss 'em in Gitmo for terrorism...
The foreign minister said his countryâs embassy in Baghdad had contacted the US-led coalition authorities about freeing an unspecified number of Sudanese detained in Iraq. âThe coalition authorities promised to set free those detainees, or at least some of them, soon,â Ismail said.
"The ones that haven't exploded, anyway..."
Sudanâs embassy in Beirut, meanwhile, is following the case of three Sudanese detainees in Israeli prisons who are due to be freed under a deal between Israel and Lebanonâs Hezbollah militia. âThe embassy will follow the case of the Sudanese detainees in Israel until their release and return home,â Ismail said.
#2
The tee should be customized to read," My favorite jihadi was imprisoned by the Great Satan for a year and a half and all he got me was this lousy tee-shirt."
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 17:35 Comments ||
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#3
I think all Sudanese jihadis, whether they're imprisoned at Guantanimo, in Iraq, in Israel, in Afghanistan or Chechnya, or any where else in the world, should be repatriated as soon as possible.... in a pine box.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/28/2004 20:46 Comments ||
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The conclusion of an imaginary barroom discussion:
"But isnât George Bush himself a fascist, more or less? I mean-admit it!"
My own eyes widened. "You havenât the foggiest idea what fascism is," I said. "I always figured that a keen awareness of extreme oppression was the deepest trait of a left-wing heart. Mass graves, three hundred thousand missing Iraqis, a population crushed by thirty-five years of Baathist boots stomping on their faces-that is what fascism means! And you think that a few corrupt insider contracts with Bushâs cronies at Halliburton and a bit of retrograde Bible-thumping and Bushâs ridiculous tax cuts and his bonanzas for the super-rich are indistinguishable from that?-indistinguishable from fascism? From a politics of slaughter? Leftism is supposed to be a reality principle. Leftism is supposed to embody an ability to take in the big picture. The traitor to the left is you, my friend . . ."
The piece is by Paul Berman. Go read the whole thing. And then, if you havenât already, go read his book "Terror and Liberalism." Itâs a must.
Posted by: growler ||
01/28/2004 10:39:09 AM ||
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The old liberal slogan USED to be "fascism means war"..they even had bumperstickers.
Yet nowadays, they embrace fascist Islam and make excuses for it and try to teach American children to submit to it's fascist ideology as just another religion no better or worse than Christianity, Buddhism, etc.
I don't know about California, but down here in the south we will never submit to liberals teaching our children to honor Islam's murderous oppressive ideology.
(I know, I know, they will call us redneck rascist white trash, whats new, the only approved rascism according to liberals is towards white southerners)
Anyway, liberals can take thier appeasment of Islamists and brutal dictators and shove it.
Unfortunately, with the defeat of Joe Lieberman, this kind of muscular liberalism is in eclipse - i hope temporary. (it is worth noting that John Edwards for. pol advisors include some strong democracy supporters. Hes been keeping his own stance on Iraq under wraps - perhaps less forthright than Joe, but maybe a smarter strategy)
#4
I liked the part about his freind staring increduously. Some Liberals get it, a lot more don't. To a large degree they are still blinded by the passions aroused in the 2000 election debacle. Pre 9/11 I was ready to vote for just about anybody but Bush. Now I'm not sure. Liberals like to make jokes about his speaking ability and his gaffs with the English language. Well if they want somebody who can talk the paint off of a lamp post they can vote for a used car salesman. I'd rather vote for somebody with the balls to see what's right and try to do it and damn the political consequences
Our friend Bodyguard sends me this rebuttal to somebody's new age frothing. Both originally published in Sierra Vista Herald...
To the Editor:
I am writing in response to the letter posted on the 17th of November by Mr. Frank Heinrich opposing all wars, past, present, and future. I do agree with Mr. Heinrich on the fact that wars are very expensive, and that humanity does suffer, yet I believe that there will never be a utopia free of madmen whose crimes against humanity must be halted.
If 15% spoke out against the revolution, we would still be subjects of the Crown. If 15% spoke out against the Civil War, we would still be a divided nation of sharecroppers and slave owners. In both World Wars, our quiescence would have left us in a devastating state of isolation in which the European/World economy would have been in total ruins at the hands of people such as Stalin, Hitler, and other âmodern, forward thinkingâ individuals. On the Korean Peninsula, the UN would have been stretched to the breaking point in an attempt to halt the spread of communism, and if they would have failed, the whole of Korea would currently be under the living conditions that the North are currently enjoying. As for the Vietnam Debacle; Politically, âsometimes the road to hell is paved with good intentionsâ to coin a phrase. In 1990, 15% of the American population could have turned the entire Arabian Peninsula into Saddamsâ playground, and the world has seen what he can do to a place. (Kuwait, the Kurds, etc.)
Unfortunately, the entire world economy is closely tied to the production of oil, and the planet cannot afford a gallon of gas at $8.59 or so. I just recently returned from Iraq, and I wish that 15% of the population could have their hands and faces kissed by joyous Iraqis, or gaze into the unearthed mass graves of untold thousands of earthlings whom Saddam found to be undesirable. Or perhaps visit the Terrorist training camps we have discovered, or the special places (prisons and camps) where the Iraqis (whole families sometimes) went to be tortured, raped, mutilated, discarded. Those are things you donât see on the mainstream media. I had the pleasure of staying at one of Saddam's Palaces just outside of Baghdad and the Airport. There were marble and crystal as for as the eye could see. The cost of the palace and grounds had to be in the tens of millions, all of which were probably paid for by oil for food dollars. Yet 100 yards from the outer perimeter, his subjects lived in abject squalor, in cinder block shacks with no power or plumbing.
Quite often Mr. Heinrich, the price of peace is much greater than the price of war; not so much for the average American Citizen, but for the world at large. Regional stability has Global implications, (viz. The Holocaust) and as we stick our collective military noses into other Nations' problems, the Greater Good is almost always the driving motivation. (viz. Genocide in Sierra Leone, The Balkans, etc.) As a Soldier, child of God, and Freemason, I am driven towards acts of philanthropy and altruism to aid and assist all who may be in need. That applies not only within the great community of Sierra Vista, but throughout the world which we all share. I Pray not only for peace, but for freedom and justice, for the organization in which I am proud to serve in is the Governmental purveyor of these fleeting, yet solid entities.
In closing, if you had posted your letter publicly in the places where we go to fight, you and your family would have faced dire, if not the ultimate consequence. Honor your country, pray for world peace, and open your eyes to the world at large, not just here at home.
Rick Parks
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
01/28/2004 10:29 ||
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Good response by Rick Parks, not that it will make a bit of difference to Mr. Heinrich.
#2
Well said. Interestingly enough, according to many history books - only about 35% of Americans supported the revolutionary war at the time. Roughly 40% liked the status quo & wanted nothing to do w/it. About 25% either tacitly or actively backed the crown. Just some minutia to mull over that I'm not sure many are aware of. Despite the less than majority that supported the war, looks like things turned out okay ;)
#3
Well done, Sarge, and glad to see you're still "ranting" in good form.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/28/2004 11:34 Comments ||
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TH White, a pacifist with actual moral convictions, highlighted the struggle against oppressors in The Once and Future King. Fittingly his book ends with a slaughter. I think that the Tutsi were quite happy that world pacifism ruled the day a decade ago. The 15% should really high-five each other over that one.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 11:48 Comments ||
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I read an account of a soldier fighting in the latter part of the revolution. He wrote that most who were now fighting on the kings side were revolutionaries at the beginning of the war and that most of those now fighting for the colonies had been loyalist to begin with. It was as if both sides had exchanged members.
#6
Regardless of majority or minority support for a particular action, when the goal is increased freedoms, opportunities, and the commonners' control over their own person and property, history judges the world as improved over what came before the action...
#8
I've run into this attitude in public. Generaly the Left in this country and around the world seems to have the attiude that if you got killed by Saddam or are persecuted by Mugambe(sp) its your own damn fault for being the nail sticking up. The freedoms we enjoy here in the west are not for the rest of the world. It is the fate of others to live in oppression, ignorance and fear. At least thats the way it seems to me.
North Korea has agreed to share missile technology with Nigeria, Africaâs most populous nation and a regional military giant, the government announced Wednesday. Well, isnât that special.
Officials gave no details of Tuesdayâs deal, including whether Nigeria would receive assembled missiles or just technology to make them. Nigeria said any missile help would be used for "peacekeeping" and to protect its territory. I guess it depends on your definition of "peacekeeping".
Vice President Atiku Abubakar agreed to the "program of cooperation that includes missile technology" with Yang Hyong Sop, the visiting vice president of the North Korean presidium, Abubakar spokesman Onukaba Ojo, told The Associated Press. The North Korean was to be in Nigeriaâs capital, Abuja, through Saturday. Weapons sales are a major revenue source for financially strapped North Korea. That and sales of "White Slag".
In 2003, the United States imposed sanctions on a North Korean company, Changgwang Sinyong Corp., for selling missiles to Pakistan. A shipment of North Korean Scud missiles bound for Yemen was briefly stopped in December in the Arabian Sea. Long sea trip to Nigeria, lots of things could happen.
A statement issued by Abubakarâs office said the West African nationâs "government would continue to cooperate with the Korean government in the defense sector, an area in which both Nigeria and North Korea had cooperated over the years." Yes, and donât think we havenât noticed.
Nigeria hoped the United States and other Western nations opposed to North Korean nuclear and weapons proliferation would respect the deal, Ojo said. "We are a sovereign nation. We should be able to cooperate with any nation we wish to cooperate with as long as it is in the best interests of Nigeria," Ojo added, stressing the West African government "is not shopping around for nuclear technology or weapons of mass destruction. Whatever we are discussing with them is only to enhance the capability of our military for peacekeeping and to protect Nigeriaâs territorial integrity," Ojo added. "Cameroonâs been making faces at us. And we donât trust Mexico either."
Nigeria, with 126 million people, is a political and military heavyweight on the continent and a frequent recipient of U.S. military and law enforcement assistance. Which needs to be looked into.
Its military supplies much of the manpower of regional peace missions. North Korean scuds being just the thing to keep the peace. It is Africa, peace agreements usually mean fighting will resume after nap time.
Posted by: Steve ||
01/28/2004 10:20:41 AM ||
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Nuclear e-mail scams!
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
01/28/2004 10:45 Comments ||
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Sounds to me like a blockade is in order. No outgoing shipments from NK via air or sea. Fun and games time is over.
#3
Why worry? Soviet designed, North Korean engineered and Nigerian operated. So ya end up with a 1/3! chance of any given flight being a success. It'll only work properly 18% of the time and that's not factoring in the weather.
#4
Let 'em go -- and sink 'em just outside the Nigerian port. How much longer are we going to put up with this. Not long after Election Day, I hope.
Posted by: Tom ||
01/28/2004 11:23 Comments ||
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They joined Kim's team soon after they uncovered our evil plot to immunize their children against polio. I knew the Jews were steering us wrong on that one. Now what will we do without Nigerian ... Anybody know what we're going to have to do without once we sanction them?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 11:29 Comments ||
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Ship-
I'm not giving these guys an 18% chance of getting it out of the shipping container in one piece, or fueling it without killing themselves.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/28/2004 11:32 Comments ||
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those stupid nigerian bastards,i mean what sort of a cock head goverment allies up with Kimmie,hey wonder if kimmie will rip em off like he did to saddam.
#11
I wouldn't be suprised if we sink it in the Indian Ocean. It's not like either country has deep-sea exploration equitment. The best the have is SCUBA.
Poor SCUBA divers...
Posted by: Charles ||
01/28/2004 17:53 Comments ||
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C'mon guys, Africa is a big place, I'm sure the Nigerians can hit it with a Scud.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/28/2004 18:00 Comments ||
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How confident are you Steve? Are you $3 Confident? I say the Atlantic Ocean is even bigger.. and I say human falibility makes Africa look like the 12 green at Augusta.
#14
If you stop and think about this, does the Scud make sense as a delivery vehicle for conventional explosive warheads? Especially for a military probably as pressed for cash as Nigeria's? So this brings up the question, are they planning to put some less conventional warheads on the things?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
01/29/2004 1:21 Comments ||
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Four members of what the government calls the "Virginia jihad network" have waived their right to a jury trial on charges they conspired to aid Taliban forces fighting the United States. The unusual move by the defendants, set to go on trial Feb. 9, puts the verdict solely in the hands of U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, the same judge who has presided over the case against alleged Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.
The four defendants are all U.S. citizens who live in northern Virginia and the suburbs of Washington, D.C. The government alleges they used paintball games on a field near Fredericksburg for military-style training. The government says the training started before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as preparation for joining Lashkar-e-Taiba, a militant Pakistani group that wants to force India out of the disputed Kashmir region. After the Sept. 11 attacks, prosecutors allege, the groupâs aims changed to joining Taliban forces in their fight against U.S. forces. Only one of the four, Masoud Khan of Gaithersburg, Md., traveled to Pakistan after the Sept. 11 attacks and trained at a Lashkar camp, according to court documents. There is no evidence that any of the defendants actually joined the Taliban. Khan faces more serious charges of conspiracy to levy war against the United States and conspiracy to support Osama bin Ladenâs al-Qaida network. Khanâs lawyer, Bernie Grimm, said he thought it would be difficult to empanel an unbiased jury in northern Virginia, where the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon affected so many people. The other three defendants are Caliph Basha Ibn Abdur-Raheem of Arlington, Hammad Abdur-Raheem of Falls Church, and Seifullah Chapman of Alexandria. A fifth defendant is scheduled for trial in March.
I think his name is "Ernie"...
Six others charged in the case have pleaded guilty to assorted charges, and some have been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison. Most of them are expected to spill their gutz testify for the prosecution.
Posted by: TS ||
01/28/2004 9:05:15 AM ||
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I must say...I'm not surprised. Brinkema seems like a card carrying member of the LLL. She/He/It has bent over backward to make this case as hard as posisble on the prosecutors.
#2
1. Don't play games with Sicilians when death is on the line.
2. Avoid land wars in South East Asia.
3. Terrorists shall forgo the jury option in Virgia and avoid change of venue (inevitably to Virgina Beach) as well.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 11:53 Comments ||
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And never, ever get in a fistfight with anyone you suspect was ever a British NCO.
Edited to release the chi. ;) Anybody surprised about where heâs from? San Francisco Assemblyman Leland Yee says feng shui would create a positive work environment in all state buildings. The DMV office at Alma Street in San Jose might have to abide by the new rules of feng shui, if the resolution passes. Sounds like a Monty Python or SNL skit....
Yee says this is what all state buildings need to create that positive work environment. So, heâs introduced a resolution to promote feng shui in state buildings. "Itâs only in California that we have this diversity. We should enhance it," Yee said. The publisher of El Observador newspaper, Hilbert Morales, in San Jose was appalled when he saw the proposal. He wondered why lawmakers are even discussing feng shui when the state is in crisis mode. "I canât believe (Yee) did this, because there are more important issues to deal with," Morales said.
Actually, I consider Ben and Jen, or either of Britney's breasts more important...
San Jose Assemblyman Manny Diaz says the stateâs focus should be on those other issues. "My highest priority right now is dealing with the state budget crisis," Diaz said. Yeeâs proposal is not a bill, but rather a resolution. So the recommendations would only be advisory. But it still has to go through the committee process, taking up valuable staff time.
Posted by: Desert Blondie ||
01/28/2004 6:11:33 AM ||
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In 2002 the city of Sausalito, across the the bay from Kooksville, voted down a proposed, badly needed police station because, according to testimony by a feng shui (pronounced fung shway) expert, it "cut off the mouth of chi" and compromised "the arrows of sha" of the town. Whatever that means. Anyone know if they ever got the new station?
Curious about feng shui?
Never forget, never forgive.
Shortly before Flight 11 slammed into the World Trade Center, the American Airlines operations center received a calm phone call from one of its flight attendants. "The cockpit is not answering their phone," said Betty Ong. "Thereâs somebody stabbed in business class and, we canât breathe in business. Um, I think there is some Mace or something. We canât breathe. I donât know, but I think weâre getting hijacked." Ong, 45, known as "Bee," was on the American Airlines Boeing 767 flying from Boston to Los Angeles on Sept. 11, 2001, before suspected 9-11 ringleader Mohammed Atta and four others took over the plane and crashed it into the North Tower of the Trade Center.
The Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States heard portions of her 23-minute conversation with the American Airlines operations center on the second of its two-day hearing Tuesday. Nydia Gonzalez, who was on duty at the operations center that morning, told the panel how she received Ongâs call at about 8:20 a.m. "Several media accounts of what occurred on Flight 11 claimed that Betty was âhysterical with fear,â âshriekingâ and âgasping for air,â she said. "Those accounts were wrong. In a very calm, professional and poised demeanor, Betty Ong relayed to us detailed information of the events unfolding on Flight 11. I honestly believe after my conversation with Betty that the 81 passengers and new crew members on Flight 11 had no idea of the fate they were to encounter that day." In the tape played before the commission, Ong tells the operations center her flight and seat number and describes the scene on board. "We canât even get into the cockpit. We donât know whoâs there," Ong says, before the call ends in a dial tone. Betty was a professional.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/28/2004 12:49:03 AM ||
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I'd like to see some of these MF'ing jihadis try and weild some knives and mace on a plane now, because they would promptly get their asses kicked and would be lucky to come off the plane alive and still in possesion of two testicles.
Rebels in eastern and western Sudan say they have forged a political and military alliance to better fight the government in Khartoum. The alliance is partly meant to show deep anger at being left out of Kenyan-sponsored peace talks between the Sudanese government and southern-based rebels. A member of the political wing of the Beja Congress, Ali al-Safi, says his eastern-based rebel group recently signed a joint declaration with the Sudan Liberation Army, the main rebel group based in the Darfur region of western Sudan. Mr. Safi says the overall objective of both groups is the same. "The Beja Congress is struggling for a federal arrangement for the region here in eastern Sudan where the people can govern themselves. And the Darfur people are also struggling for the same objective, that is a federal arrangement within a united Sudan. The details have not been worked out yet, but both parties will struggle together in a very closely, coordinated way."
Beja Congress rebels began their armed struggle in eastern Sudan nearly seven-years ago, protesting decades of economic neglect and exploitation by the government in Khartoum. Mr. Safi says both rebel groups would rather negotiate a settlement than fight. But he says Khartoum has made it nearly impossible for them to take part in the long-running peace talks in Kenya between the Islamic government and the mainly Christian and animist southern-based rebel group, the Sudan Peopleâs Liberation Army. Those talks, aimed at ending their 20 year-long civil war, are in their final stages, with both sides having agreed to share wealth and two disputed areas of central Sudan. The Sudan government, however, says it considers Beja Congress and the Darfur rebels as traitors and has vowed to crush them. Mr. Safi insists as long as the Sudan government refuses to discuss and solve the problems in eastern and western Sudan, the people there have no choice but to escalate their rebellion.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/28/2004 12:29:58 AM ||
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The details have not been worked out yet, but both parties will struggle together in a very closely, coordinated way." This statement ought to be featured on the Daily Show.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 11:23 Comments ||
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Thanks SH, the above is a reason I always read the comments first.... now I know there is no reason to read the article.
Rebel groups fighting the government in western Sudan have suffered heavy losses, according to a senior government official.
This is the government side of the story...
Gutbi al-Mahdi, President Omar al-Bashirâs political adviser, made the claim as the military bombarded rebel camps in the region in a bid to crush an insurgency. The official denied rebel accusations that the government was targeting civilians, but said the mlitary was bombing four rebel camps in Darfur, an impoverished region that borders Chad. He said the rebels had suffered "a lot of losses".
They're all rebels, of course, so it doesn't matter who you bomb...
Reporters in the region heard loud explosions on Tuesday as planes circled over the border town of Tine. Al-Mahdi said there is a rebel camp in Tine on the Sudanese side of the border. Refugees fleeing into Chad have said their villages were destroyed by bombs and raids by Arab militia. They accuse government forces of practicing a scorched earth policy in fighting the insurgency. The UN refugee agency said on Tuesday it was registering thousands of newly arrived refugees along the Chad-Sudan border.
Rebels, every one of them...
Refugees from the village of Habila told UN officials that a large aircraft and helicopters bombed their homes 10 days ago. Armed men then entered the village on horses and camels, stealing cattle and chasing people away, the refugees said. Al-Mahdi said the government was isolating the rebels and talking to community leaders to solve the regionâs problems. He said the rebels were making unreasonable demands. "In the beginning... we had an agreement, but when the politicians started to use the situation, things changed and the talks broke down," al-Mahdi said. "So the government felt its responsibility, number one, is to maintain order in the country, and second, it is to try to solve the problem on a political level."
"Sometimes you just have to kill most of the population to maintain order, don't you?"
He said the rebelsâ new demands included self-determination for Darfur and a large share of Sudanâs oil wealth. Their earlier demands - "mainly services, development in the region, securing the villages" - were very reasonable, he said.
"We didn't bother accepting them, but they were very reasonable..."
The rebels, however, say they are fighting for an equal share of the nationâs wealth and greater political representation, not self-determination. Zakaria Muhammad Ali, secretary-general of the Justice and Equality Movement, said the government wanted to deal with the rebellion as a "security problem", not a political issue. "The people in the central government do not want power and economic sharing, this is our issue," Ali said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/28/2004 12:28:31 AM ||
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The only ray of sunshine in this entire mess is that it keeps a few turbantops too busy to become "martyrs" and blow up OTHER people, in such nice places as Malta, Cyprus, Kenya, South Africa, and the United States.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/28/2004 11:02 Comments ||
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More of that charming Saudi humanitarianism ...
MEMBERS OF the Tanzanian branch of a Saudi charity plotted last year to attack several hotels in Zanzibar. "The scheduled attacks did not take place due to increased security by local authorities, but planning for the attacks remained active," US officials said. The charges came as the US Treasury Department called for international financial sanctions against the Tanzanian and Kenyan branches of the Al Haramain Islamic Foundation. The two East African organisations, along with Al Haramain affiliates in Indonesia and Pakistan, are involved in terrorist activity, the US said. The Kenyan and Tanzanian groups are specifically linked to al Qaeda. The two branches are also said to have ties to an organisation in Somalia that the US says is involved in terrorism.
Acting jointly with the government of Saudi Arabia, US officials last week asked the United Nations to order its member states to freeze assets belonging to the al Haramain groups in the four named countries. Individuals associated with the Kenyan and Tanzanian branches are said to have been involved in the plots to destroy the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam in 1998. An unnamed former director of the Tanzanian branch of Al Haramain assisted the advance team that plotted the bombings, which killed a total of 212 Africans and 12 Americans. The US Treasury Department also revealed that an Al Haramain employee had indicated how the Nairobi embassy would be attacked a full year before the bombing actually took place. This source disclosed in August 1997 that a suicide bomber would crash a vehicle into the embassyâs gate. And that is indeed how the bombing was carried out 12 months later.
The allegation of the terrorist plot comes five months after the US State Department issued a travel advisory on Tanzania, which included warnings of threats in Zanzibar. Attempts by The EastAfrican to raise the issue with the government and Bakwata - Tanzania Muslims apex organisation were unsuccessful. A few months ago, however, two Al Haramain leaders were declared prohibited immigrants - one for cheating in his real citizenship papers. It could not be established immediately why the second one was deported.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/28/2004 12:11:03 AM ||
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Camping is looking more and more attractive.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/28/2004 11:24 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
